Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Snow Leopard in September

Apple will release their newest OS X ver. 10.6 Snow Leopard by September '09. For all of you who made a purchase of any Macbook, MacbookPro, Macbook Air, iMac, Mac Pro on or after June 08, 2009, you are entitled to order the Snow Leopard at http://store.apple.com/ph for only Php 590.00, it will be delivered to you free or charge. That is why Apple products are premium and are priced higher compared to others because you also get premium and quality service.

I am glad I shifted from Windows to OS X. It won't be the world's best operating system for nothing. So hurry and order your Snow Leopard OS X 10.6 now!!

REMEMBER: Buy Apple products from Apple Authorized Resellers or Apple Premium Resellers (AAR's or APR's). You will see the sign posted on their signboards or doors that they are Apple Premium/Authorized Resellers.

PHILIPPINES' APR's and AAR's

Apple Premium Resellers (Tier 1): Accent Micro Products, Inc., Digital Walker, The A.Shop, iStudio, Powermac Center, Anson Emporium, ....

Apple Authorized Resellers (Tier 2): PCworx, Complink, Datalink Technologies, Liteware, LMK Commercial, Microstation, Electroworld, ....

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Percy Jackson & The Olympians

I am a fan of Greek Mythology. I am fascinated about how the gods in Mt. Olympus have their own specific responsibility whether it may be the sky, the water, someone who brings and delivers messages, fertility, love and etc. Upon my search in www.amazon.com that has a greek mythology theme in it, I am quickly amazed that there is a series written by Rick Riodan entitled: The Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Without 2nd thoughts, I quickly rushed to Fully Booked to get hold of copies of books of this series. Wow!! You can view and visit the official website at http://www.percyjacksonbooks.com.

The story line is similar to Harry Potter but it has a different plot and a different theme. Harry Potter is concentrated basically on wizardry and witchcraft while Percy Jackson is concentrated on greek mythology, gods, goddesses, demigods, cyclopses, satyrs, centaurs and etc. There will be a movie which is set to release on 2010 for the 1st book entitled: The Lighting Thief (I can't wait, I bet it will be amazing!) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814255/, for more information regarding the upcoming movie.

I am a fan of young adult/children fantasy books nowadays. I started and finished reading The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, The Mortal Instruments Series (City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass) by Cassandra Clare. The faery love-story which left me hanging wanting for more; Wicked Lovely, Ink Exhange and Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr. I am not on the 3rd Book of the series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians:

2005 - The Lighting Thief2006 - The Sea of Monsters2007 - The Titan's Curse2008 - The Battle of the Labyrinth

2009 - The Last Olympian

Saturday, June 27, 2009

My New Macbook Pro (MB990)

Today, I get a chance to toy around my new purchase, it is the new Apple MacBook Pro (MB990). I have been wishing to get an apple for myself for quite some time now, luckily, this time I was able to purchase my very first Mac. I grew tired of Windows and PC since those were my companions for the longest time. I said to myself, I needed a change, a new outlook and truly the Mac is an alternate choice. This was also my first major purchase that costs over Php 65,000.00. It is really worth it.

Opening the box is already exciting for me as I can't wait to get a hold of my new MacBook Pro. I downloaded softwares and programs that would buff up my Mac. I spent the whole day toying with my new best friend. And now, I am blogging using my brand new MacBook Pro... yay!!!

MacBook Pro 13" MB990

• 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight® video camera
• two USB 2.0 ports
one FireWire 800 port
SD card slot
• one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery
• 60 Watt MagSafe® Power Adapter

Friday, June 26, 2009

Goodbye Michael Jackson

The "King of Pop", an icon in the music industry, left us on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50 in UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Reports said that he was not breathing when the Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at 12:30am, the paramedic performed CPR and took him to the hospital.

I was also a fan of this icon believing not only in his music but also on his call for unification of black and white Americans as well as putting an end to racial discrimination. Songs such as "Black & White" & "They Don't Really Care About Us" gives us an eye-opener on how we treat each other. Peace and unity throughout the world was one of his call as well.

It is really such a big loss for everyone that the King of Pop succumbs and left us at such a young age but we are thankful that he left us with songs that will truly inspire us and will still be played for generations to come. Songs such as Heal the World, Bad, Billie Jean, Thriller, Man In The Mirror, I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Smooth Criminal and etc.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Pink Sisters Convent - Tagaytay City

The Pink Sisters convenent is a must stop when one travels to Tagaytay City. Why? Wait until you here the sisters sing as they pray. Not only you will awed by the beautiful sweet voices but you will feel that you are being renewed spiritualy as you drown yourself in the church as you hear and watch them sing. No words can ever describe the feeling of being inside the church and hearing the sisters adore and pray as they sing their prayers.

It is not always that you will be lucky enough to catch the ethreal hyms of the nuns of their afternoon prayers, it was my first time and I am blessed and lucky enough that I experienced and watched and heard them sing. Remarkable, breath-taking, hypnotizing.. whatever you want to call it.

You can write your request and petitions on a piece of paper that can be found on the left and right side of the church and you submit them. You will be welcomed by some donation boxes wherein you can share any amount as you desire for them.

Pink Sisters Convent is located along Brent Road, Tagaytay City having contact numbers:(046) 442-3856 or (046) 442-5203

Tagaytay City

Tagaytay City is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Philippines. It is only 55kms away from Metro Manila, the National Capital Region. There are many routes that you can ply to go to Tagaytay, the most famous of which is you travel south via the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and exit at Sta. Rosa. Upon paying the toll, turn right and go straight up to Tagaytay City via Silang. Tagaytay City is part of the province of Cavite.

Tagaytay is very famous for its retreat houses because of the calm and serene atmosphere. It also has a very cool and comfortable atmosphere due to its high altitude as compared to Manila. It is over-looking the famous Taal Volcano and its lake that surrounds it. This is where you can also find the best restaurants as they offer very delicious dishes ranging from different cuisines such as Italian, American, Filipino (Native), Japanese and etc.

We always go to Tagaytay to escape the heat and the rush of Metro Manila but have we stopped at check the history of the place? Well, upon my research using wikipedia, it gives a short narrative history of Tagaytay. It goes: Legend has it that the word Tagaytay came from "taga" meaning to cut and "itay" which means father. A father and son were said to be on a wild boar hunt when the animal they were chasing turned and attacked them. As the boar charged towards the old man, the son cried "taga itay!". The boy's repeated shout reverberated in the alleys of the ridge. Heard by the residents, hunters and wood gatherers, the cries became subject of conversation for several days in th countryside. In time, the place where the shouts came from became known as TAGAYTAY.

Buon Giorno in Tagaytay City

I am a very big fan of pizzas and pastas and when you hear those two wonderful words, one will say, truly Italian! Yes indeed! I love Italian. I am fascinated with their way of cooking and the taste of the wonderful herbs that plays in your mouth when you bite a pizza or twirled some pasta on your fork.

Located in Tagaytay City in Cliffhouse is a wonderful Italian restaurant: "Buon Giorno" The feel inside the restaurant is very Italian. The colors that they played with in creating such atmosphere is exquisite. Tagaytay is known to have a cool climate compared to Manila, thus sitting outside, open air, is always an option plus you get a good view of famous Taal Volcano and the lake that surrounds it.

We ordered the cream of pumpkin soup which is by the way one of the most delicious pumpkin soup I've ever tasted. The house bread is also very fragrant and delicious spiced with Tarragon leaves as you dip it on the olive oil with vinaigrette and parmessan cheese, simply amazing! As for the main course, we ordered the Seafood Pizza in Basil. The aroma of the basil isn't overpowering the seafood flavor in the pizza, there is harmony in the ingredients which makes this pizza remarkable. The crust is crunchy and fresh as you can smell the dough and the flour even after it was cooked. The highlight of the dinner was its Shrimp and Funghi Ravioli in Tomato Sauce. The ravoili is still chewy as dente, which I like my pasta that way, the more al dente, the better! The tomatoes used are very flavourful and very delicious. The funghi inside the ravioli is remarkable as well as the shrimps.

This is one place you shouldn't miss when you visit Tagaytay City. It is located in Cliffhouse. Address is # 4 Cliffhouse, Tagaytay City. This Italian restaurant in Tagaytay is highly recommended!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Happy Independence Day

Today is the Philippines' 111st Independence Day. This is where we gained freedom from our conquerors. The Philippines is among the first independent nation in Southeast Asia. We gained our independence last June 12, 1898.

The Philippine Flag, our symbol of nationhood and solidarity. We often see them flying on posts near hotels, schools, hospitals, government buildings, roads, airports and etc. but do we remember what does it stands for? What does the color blue, red and white symbolizes? The 3 stars as well as the sun and its rays mean?


The blue horizontal band represents peace and justice, below it, the equally red horizontal band represents courage. In wartime, the bands alternate, having the red on top and the blue at the bottom. The white triangle represents equality.

The sun's 8 rays represents the 8 provinces that sought for independence against Spain. The 3 stars on the corners of the triangle represents the 3 main islands of the Philippines, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The NEW Macbook Pro Family

Apple recently launched their new Macbook line-up. Eliminating the 13.3" Macbook Aluminum and changing all Macbook aluminum to Macbook Pro line-up. This was announced just today by Apple. Believe me, even us, working in the IT Distributor industry didn't know about it until today. Even the people who works at Apple Premium Resellers doesn't know the release as well. This is the bad side of Apple as a vendor to the distributors and resellers, they don't announce the upcoming release ahead of time so that we can actually forecast. We have upcoming stocks of the old model considering there are new line-up that is coming. Sigh!!

Anyways, for all of those who are planning to buy, I believe the new line-up is a better choice considering it is around Php 2,000 cheaper as compared to the Macbook Aluminum which sells at Php 71,990, now the New 13.3" Macbook Pro retails at Php 68,990. In the United States, the New 13.3" Macbook Pro retails at $ 1,199.00 ( Php 59,950). For all those who are interested, MSI-ECS, one of Philippines' Apple Distributor has placed their orders already. Power Mac Center, one of Apple Premium Resellers already placed their orders too. It should be available in the market in no time. It is now available in the online apple store here in the Philippines, address is at http://store.apple.com/ph

Downside I see in this new line-up is that its battery is non-user-replaceable unlike the old Macbook Aluminum. But its battery life lasts 7 to 8 hours of power.

Please find the complete specifications of the New Macbook Pro Family series.

MacBook Pro 13" Better configuration
• 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight® video camera
• two USB 2.0 ports
one FireWire 800 port
SD card slot
• one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery
• 60 Watt MagSafe® Power Adapter

MacBook Pro 13" Best configuration
• 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display
• 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight video camera• two USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• SD card slot
• one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery
• 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter

MacBook Pro 15" Good configuration
• 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display
• 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight video camera
• two USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• SD card slot
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 73WHr lithium polymer battery
• 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter

MacBook Pro 15" Better configuration
•15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display
• 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 video memory
• 320GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight video camera
• two USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• SD card slot
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 73WHr lithium polymer battery
• 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter

MacBook Pro 15" Best configuration - USD2,299
• 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display
• 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory
• 500GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight video camera
• two USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• SD card slot
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 73WHr lithium polymer battery
• 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter

MacBook Pro 17" configuration
• 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200, glossy display
• 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache
• 1066 MHz front-side bus
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory
• 500GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support
• Mini DisplayPort for video output
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• built-in iSight video camera
• three USB 2.0 ports
• one FireWire 800 port
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard
• built-in, 95WHr lithium polymer battery
• 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Swine Flu hits Manila

The global phenomena hits Manila, Philippines. We have confirmed 29 cases of Swine Flu in the country, 2 of which are De La Salle University students that made DLSU announced the suspension of classes from June 04 to June 14 to quarantine the campus.

Swine flu first hit Mexico City and spreads globally. Now, it is spreading in other countries in Asia such as Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and now it is here in the Philippines. The strain that is spreading globally is A/H1N1 and it is spreading fast here and elsewhere in the world.

Swine Influenza (A/H1N1) is throughly explained in wikipedia as:

Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, also known as A(H1N1), is a subtype of influenzavirus A and the most common cause of influenza (flu) in humans. Some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans, including the strain(s) responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic which killed 50-100 million people worldwide. Less virulent H1N1 strains still exist in the wild today, worldwide, causing a small fraction of all influenza-like illness and a large fraction of all seasonal influenza. H1N1 strains caused roughly half of all flu infections in 2006.[1] Other strains of H1N1 are endemic in pigs (swine influenza) and in birds (avian influenza).

In March, April and May 2009, thousands of laboratory-confirmed infections and a number of deaths were caused by an outbreak of a new strain of H1N1.

Just a gentle reminder dear readers: Please be careful and should you feel any symptoms of flu consult your physician immediately. We don't want you catching Swine Flu and affecting others around you. It is always better to be safe than be sorry later on!

*** Illustrations were taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N1