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

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.

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!

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.

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

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

The Alchemyst, The Magician and The Sorceress

I recently bought 3 new books by Michael Scott in Fully Booked - Eastwood Mall. It is a 6-part series of "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel". It is a contemporary urban fantasy with a different plot. According to sources, movie rights are being sold already to some producer.

Series are the following:

1.) The Alchemyst (2007)
2.) The Magician (2008)
3.) The Sorceress (2009)
4.) The Necromancer (2010) - Soon!
5.) The Warlock (2011) - Soon!
6.) The Enchantress (2012) - Soon!

Plot Summary (by Wikipedia):

THE ALCHEMYST

When the necromancer and immortal magician Dr. John Dee steals the ancient book the Codex from its keeper, Nicholas Flamel, two teenagers named Sophie and Josh Newman are caught up in the danger and magic. Dee also captures Nicholas Flamel's wife, Perenelle. Flamel takes the twins to a magical warrior Next Generation Elder (who is 2,517 years old) named Scathach, who travels with them to another Elder's shadowrealm. This Elder is known as Hekate and has remarkable magical power. Hekate is over 10,000 years old.

Sophie and Josh are working at a bookstore and a cafe when Dee comes for the Codex. Here, they witness Nicholas and Perenelle using magic, and discover that Nicholas is not a bookseller, but is indeed an ancient alchemyst being kept alive by making the elixir of life (a secret from the Codex) for him and Perenelle. He can use magic. He needs the Codex back to make the elixir of life again, or he and Perenelle will die before the month's end. Also, if Nicholas does not retrieve the Codex, Dee will summon the Dark Elders to destroy the world and return to an age in which humans are but slaves and food.

Flamel quickly takes them to a Dojo to enlist the aid of Scathach, an extremely powerful ally. Dee assaults the Dojo, but is thwarted by Flamel and Scathach. Flamel then leads the twins and Scathach to attempt to secure the aid of Hekate, who can awaken the twins' magical potential. Dee discovers this, and enlists the aid of Bastet, and Morrigan. The trio mount a massive assault on Hekate's shadowrealm, attempting to destroy the Yggdrasill that is the heart of Hekate's power.

While the Yggdrasill is attacked, Hekate Awakens Sophie; she does not Awaken Josh, as the Yggdrasill is then lit on fire and she rushes to defend her home. After a long, grueling battle, Scathach clears a path for the twins and Flamel. While escaping, they encounter Dee, and witness the power of the ancient sword known as Excalibur, which he draws. They see him transform a wereboar into pure ice, then shatter the statue. Flamel remarks that he thought that Excalibur had been lost when Artorius died.

The twins, Scathach, and Flamel escape the shadowrealm rapidly after, shortly before the destruction of Hekate, the Yggdrasill, and the entire shadowrealm. As they escape, Dee uses Excaliber to freeze the Yggdrasill, and Hekate, whose life and power is linked to the tree, transforms to ice as it does. As this occurs, Dee is informed that Flamel and Scathach have escaped with the twins. In his rage, he shatters the Yggdrasill, which crushes Hekate into dust, killing her. At this point, they travel to Scathach's grandmother, the Witch of Endor (also called "The Mistress of Air"), who teaches Sophie her magical secrets.

While they are there, Dee has found out that the prophecy in the Codex speaks of Sophie and Josh. He tempts Josh to join him, while practicing necromancy and raising thousands of corpses to assault the Elders and Sophie with. Josh almost agrees, but at the last moment he realizes he will lose Sophie if he agrees, and distracts the necromancer long enough to escape with Scathach, Sophie and Nicholas using a leygate (where lines of energy, or ley lines on the globe cross) to escape to Paris, where the book ends. The book ends with the conclusion that the Witch has survived and Dee is still searching, leaving the book with a cliffhanger.

THE MAGICIAN

Sophie and Josh Newman are in Paris with Nicholas Flamel and Scathach, and now face Niccolò Machiavelli, and his colleague and rival Dr. John Dee. The twins seek out a friend and student to Nicholas Flamel named the Comte de Saint-Germain, who teaches Sophie to use Fire magic. They encounter three Disir, more commonly referred to as Valkyrie. The Disir are ancient enemies of Scathach and bring along the soul-devouring Nidhogg, a ferocious monster once trapped in the Yggdrasil. The monster attacks Scathach but fails to slay her. Instead, he captures Scathach in his claws, but flees with Scathach when the ancient sword Clarent, wielded by Josh, wounds it. The monster escapes and flees through the streets of Paris, followed closely by one of the trio of Disir, as well as Josh, who seeks to save Scathach. Meanwhile, inside the house, two Disir duel Joan of Arc

and Sophie. After a lengthy battle, Sophie combines her elemental powers of air and fire and freezes the two Disir in an iceberg. Soon after, Flamel deduces what has happened, and Sophie, Joan of Arc, and Flamel pursue Josh.

Josh manages to fatally wound the Nidhogg, who is being ridden by a Disir. The Nidhogg flees as its skin begins to turn into magma. As the Disir prepares to kill Josh, Dee arrives and saves Josh by placing a wall of fire between him and the Disir. The Disir, furious, attacks Josh and Dee, who escape back to a car with Machiavelli, and the three drive away, just as Joan and her companions arrive. Joan assaults the Disir while Flamel and Sophie try to save Scathach from being entombed within the Nidhogg's molten claws. Joan easily defeats the Disir and Sophie, at the same time, manages to kill the Nidhogg. As Scathach is pulled clear, Machiavelli's driver, Dagon, attacks her. The driver, who was an enemy of Scathach after she annihilated his entire race, drags her into the Seine, apparently drowning her.

Josh is convinced to follow Dee to a Dark Elder who can awaken him. Machiavelli and Dee guide him through the Paris catacombs to the Sleeping God, who is guarded by Phobos and Deimos. The God Awakens Josh, but seeing Josh's true power, grants him a second gift, possibly his memories. As this is happening, Sophie, Joan, Flamel, and Saint-Germain track Josh through the Catacombs, arriving at the cell in which the God slept. Sophie, through the memories of the Witch of Endor, realizes who the Sleeping God is. She sees him as Mars, the defender of Humanity for a very long time, whose son Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. The Witch had loved Mars, but Mars fell into darkness for an unknown reason and became Mars Ultor, the Avenger. Also for an unknown reason, the Witch cursed Mars, turning him into a statue, whose Aura would turn his skin into stone. Sophie then retrieves her newly Awakened brother, but leaves Mars cursed because Mars cannot reverse their Awakenings. Mars, furious, attempts to attack, but Flamel turns the floor into half-melted bone. As Mars attempts to wade through, Flamel and his companions leave. Dee and Machiavelli are ordered by Mars to pursue and capture Flamel, but Dee refuses to do so on Mars' orders. Mars attempts to kill Dee, but is unable to move through the half melted bone, and Dee collapses the ceiling before refreezing it into bone, killing the War God. Machiavelli is ordered by Dee to travel back after Flamel with him. They raise the gargoyles and grotesques of the Cathedral of Notre Dame to stop Flamel, but fail when Joan puts an arrow through Machiavelli's leg and Josh combines his power with Sophie to destroy the rest of the gargoyles. Flamel then takes the twins to London so that Gilgamesh can teach them the mastery of Water magic. Josh bitterly remarks that Flamel doesn't seem to feel anything at Scathach's death at this time, and Flamel acts surprised, before telling them that Scathach, being a vampire, did not need to breathe and most likely killed Machiavelli's driver, Dagon.

THE SORCERESS

The well known immortal Alchemyst Nicholas Flamel must take a risk and take Josh and Sophie Newman (twins foretold to save the world) to London, where the oldest immortal human lives: The master of the element of water, Gilgamesh the King. But what Nicholas Flamel withholds from the twins is that Gilgamesh the King is insane. Though he has no aura - and hence cannot use his powers, he can still pass on his knowledge to an awakened human. If Gilgamesh refuses to teach the twins they will be unable to escape back to San Francisco using the Ley Lines, and will be trapped in Dr. John Dee's city. Even worse, they will be in his hometown of London, where he is at his strongest. Unfortunately, the Dark Elders have awakened an ancient being even more powerful and mysterious than them: an Archon. The Archon is known as the Horned God and is the leader of a pack of wolf people called the Wild Hunt. He has amazing brute strength and retains the power to make people members of his pack. According to myth he was once extremely beautiful, but now only his face is. He is part beast, and Dr. Dee believes that he has little or no magical prowess. Simultaneously, Perenelle is trapped on Alcatraz with the friendly but untrustworthy spider elder, Areop-Enap after narrowly escaping the Sphinx and defeating The Morrigan. A.K.A The Crow Goddess. Morrigan has been suppressed sufficiently by the Words of Power that resided on the island that her body was retaken by her two sisters, Macha and Badb. Perenelle can make fleeting contact with Nicholas and the twins using scrying.