Thursday, August 28, 2008

A sign of things to come? --

... or is it already here?

Our desktop went kaput about a month ago and we never got it serviced because we were merrily using the Mac. Last week, we had free time so we decided to bring it to the repair shop. We were fairly optimistic, expecting to probably have a battery (CMOS) or a small part replaced or something cleaned -- when the technician called, he told us our motherboard is dead and we need to replace it.

He gave us several options --
#1 To replace it with a similar motherboard but that it would be "old stock" and not covered by any warranty

#2 To replace it with a more current motherboard

I know I shouldn't have been surprised to hear that our motherboard was already *ahem* obsolete, considering that it's only 2 years old -- but I was.

My initial reaction was to ask them to just take apart the PC so we could sell off the part and use that money to buy an iMac. I asked the technician if I could think about it and that I would call him back after an hour.

I decided to research on the current cost of the individual parts of our PC -- I was confident that we would be able to sell it for at least 15,000 pesos.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the Kingston 1gb RAM (which we paid over 5 thousand pesos for) costs 1,800 pesos BRAND NEW! I thought Johann had made a mistake and misread the price -- but there it was, in black and white.

For our 2x 1gb RAMs, we were only going to get about 2,000 maximum.

I readjusted my expected price to 10k -- which, I later realized, was a mistake.

We also discovered that our optical drive, a Lite-On DVD-RW only costs 1,300 pesos brand new (and this is with better specs).

The biggest blow came when we checked for the price of our video card -- we were so proud to have gotten that video card and even had to wait for it to be released 2 years ago. Now, not only is it obsolete, people can't even sell it for 2,000 pesos. (We were offering it to a friend for that price and he told us he could actually get a better one for the same price. Ouch.)

I became really contemplative (and disappointed) at this point --

On one hand, my dreams of getting an iMac (now) had disappeared like the value of our PC. ~sniff~

BUT, on the other hand, I am really happy to see just how inexpensive this technology has become -- only at this period of our history can something like this become a reality.

I'm also very excited because it means that the techie things I plan to buy will be cheaper in the future.

Yay! ^_^

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Techie and Gadgets meme --

Mobile Phones:
1.) First cellphone unit - a black Nokia 3110

2.) Favorite cellphone unit - I'm still amazed by my T28's longevity. It's what made me switch completely to Sony Ericsson, but I love my current phone as well.

3.) Current cellphone unit - an Ericsson W710i

Handheld Consoles:
4.) First Handheld game console - A Game & Watch! I remember "Octopus" and I knew we had other games as well.

5.) Favorite Handheld game console - my husband has a DS Lite, which I play with sometimes.

6.) Current handheld game console - I don't own one. My husband does. ^_^

Desktop PCs
:
7.) First PC (Desktop) Specs - I forget. But it was lovely. We bought it from a friend's uncle's shop and they actually held it for testing for a week just to make sure all the connections and installations were roadtested before they released it to us. It kinda set the bar for me in terms of service.

8.) Current PC (Desktop) Specs - we don't have a desktop anymore. I have a lovely White Macbook now. ^_^

9.) The PC Specs you always wished for: an Mac Pro with 4 video cards (for the whole crossfire thingy) and 2 quad-cores and 32gb RAM. I wouldn't really know what to do with it, but it would be a WOW thing, wouldn't it?

Laptops:

10.) First Laptop - this White Macbook is my first. I did inherit my brother's old laptop, which died a few months ago after so many years of service to both me and my brother.

11.) Current Laptop - White Macbook

12.)The Laptop you always dreamed of - maybe a Macbook Pro.

Game Consoles:
13.) First Game Console - We had an Atari.

14.) Favorite Game Console - Dreamcast. My sister's.

15.) Current Game Console - We really don't play console games now.

16.) First PC Game ever played - Lots of game shows -- Family Feud, etc.

17.) Favorite PC Game ever played - SimCity.

18.) Last PC Game played - Heroes of Might and Magic 5

19.) Palm or Pocket PC? - Pocket PC

20.) What's your MP3 player and capacity? - I bought a Samsung Yepp with my salary from my first teaching job. My brothers gave me a Shuffle 3 years ago. My current phone can also play MP3s.

21.) Aside from your cellphone, PDA and laptop - What other gadget you can never be without? - A Camera

22.) First Wristwatch - a Swatch, I think

23.) Favorite Wristwatch - I don't have a favorite. I have a thing about wristwatches. I don't like buying very expensive ones because I don't like to feel "committed" to just one watch.

24.) Current Wristwatch - I have a nice Kenneth Cole one that matches Johann's watch but I don't wear a watch anymore because Seth might get snagged on it or something.

25.) Ultimate Dream Gadget - A self-driving car. I plug in the destinations and it takes me there.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Busy watching --

We are in TV-Series-watching mode and it started with Top Chef season 4.

We recently finished watching Dead Like Me season 1, which is the precursor to Pushing Daisies (another great TV series)

We found season 2 of Dead Like Me yesterday so we are busy watching that one now. ^_^

Monday, August 18, 2008

Gashapon love --

I love gashapons -- whenever were at Toys 'r' Us or Toy Kingdom in Manila, Johann and I "splurge" on a token and get something from the gashapon machines there.

When my brother was in town recently, he gave us this --

Photobucket

It's a gashapon from the series "Tales of Agriculture" (Moyashimon). This is a Lactobacilus bacteria. =^_^=

Very cute!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Some random things --

The last post I wrote (last August 7) was my 707th post. What lovely coincidence!

* * *

Top Chef! --

My sister and I found a copy of Top Chef season 4 and watched it every afternoon while my son was napping. It is a very addicting show and now we are trying to find copies of the previous 3 seasons.

(I was first introduced to Top Chef by my cousins on our way to Tagaytay -- my cousin has a nifty video setup in his car and we watched some episodes going to and back from Tagaytay.)

An incentive to watch? One of the contestants in Season 4 is Filipino -- and, for a dessert competition, he made ... Halo-halo!

* * *

Finished reading --

Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture, which made me cry. Not tear up. But cry.

He had an amazing view of life and the world ... and I wish I could remember to see things the way he did.

* * *

On the Olympics --


I wasn't very happy with how Solar covered the opening of the Beijing Olympics (too many commercials!) -- but I am enjoying their coverage of the various competitions.

We were able to watch the Archery event between the Philippines vs Taipei -- and a lot of the swimming and gymnastics events. (Seth even tries to copy the swimming strokes. Hahahah!)

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Anyone interested?

I have a friend who is selling a brand-new EEE PC.

Brand New Asus EEE PC 900 only for P18,500

Here are the complete specs:

Pearl White
Linux OS
20GB (4GB + 16GB )
1 GB DDR2
Intel Mobile CPU & Chipset
Wifi 802.11g/b
1.3M Camera
10/100 Ethernet
5800 maH battery

If anyone's interested, PM me and I'll give you his contact info. ^_^

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Hahaha! Cute test! --







what flavor pocky are you?


[c] sugardew



Seth recently discovered Pocky and loves it! (One lunch, he alternated strawberry-flavored Pocky and noodles.)

One more:




You Are Chocolat Orange Pocky



Your attitude: funky and flavorful

Rich and deep - yet zingy and zesty

You are the perfect partner in crime

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Yet another reason to consider getting a DSLR --

J bought a Gocco from me early this year and she sent me the link to her blog where she chronicled her Gocco projects (1 & 2). Am really happy that she loves her Gocco and even participated in a swap.

One of the things I love about her blog are her photos and she uses something called a Lensbaby --

From what I understand, it's a lens you can attach to your camera which will create a special effect. It's lovely!

I want! >_<

For those with DSLRs already *sniff*, Lensbabies are available at JT Photoworld in Paco.