'Canon' Fodder

Nope, exactly the opposite. Canon is serious about its commitment to customer service, not leaving you alone once you buy one of their products. Here's a little story with regards to my 350D.

Cameras and lenses are sensitive to prolonged exposure to humidity. I learned this the hard way after around 4 months, I noticed snowflake like crystals growing in the inner elements on my 18-55mm lens. I postponed getting it checked at the Canon service center, anticipating that it might take too long.

I recently bought an EF 50mm 1.8 II lens and needed to submit the warranty form. I took this chance to have the camera and 18-55 checked as well. The head service guy definitely had a frown when I showed him the lens, but they took it in and told me to wait as much as 7 days.

Alas, 24hours later I received a call from Canon telling me that my stuff is ready for pick-up. I went there the next day and w00t, a new/replacement lens. The best thing about it? I didn't have to pay for anything :D

On a side note, the sensor cleaning wasn't perfect. I still see 4 medium dots and a large one. It's a lot better that if I do it myself so that's fine.

Batista vs. Superman

Ask any pinoy kid and they'll tell you Superman's got no chance :))
(smallville S06E08)

Mayonaka no DOOR by Liu Yi Fei

This is the first end song of PowerPuff Girls Z
I simply love this song, and I'm putting it up since they decided to use a new one.

Ham or Egg?

In a recent episode of Grey's Anatomy, a character made an analogy between relationships and food. He said that the level of commitment is either from a pig, which goes all out resulting in ham... or a chicken which safely lays eggs.

I've been laying eggs, and its painful that I realize it now. How do I turn myself into a ham person?

edit: Ham means going into a relationship/endeavor in full-blast. A pig's life ends when it is decided that food will be the outcome. Nothing half-assed.

SONOLUMINESCENCE

SONOLUMINESCENCE:
The Music When the Lights Go Out
The PSHS Fair Concert 2006

Other [Pics]

GRAW: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

A friend of mine has been raving about this game for quite some time. I first had a go at it when we tested the PCs in his shop:GAMESquad Internet (along Kamuning Ave). GRAW is badass, addicting and extremely hungry. The game play is geared for true strategy and teamwork. Imagine having to properly plan the weapons to bring, team positions, map routes and avoiding heavy armory.
Story: The plot is set in 2013 where a coup in mexico occurs and not only is the mexican president in danger, but so is the US president himself. You (Capt. Mitchell) and your ghost are sent all over the place, given insane objectives and ultimately need to recover a briefcase that can shake the whole world.
Likes: It's both a First Person Shooter(FPS) and a strategy game. There are missions that commanding 3 other ghosts is crucial to the success of the mission, and at others you're just a lone warfighter trying to beat the odds. Fun moments are getting to control flying observation drones, using ZEUS heat seaking rocket launchers, ordering airstrikes(reminds me of starcraft), calling forth Apache choppers, commanding tanks, and just bursting forth as Rambo.

Dislikes: Sometimes the ghosts act like stupid pricks who can't even follow a simple order, but most of the time they're freaking brilliant. To avoid lag and to speed up the game, you have to look down so that the system doesn't have to render a building lightyears away.

Hungry! This game has insane PC minimum requirements:
* Processor: Intel or AMD, 2 GHz
* Memory: 1024 MB RAM
* DirectX: DirectX9.0c
* Graphics Card: 128 MB DX9.0c compatible card (GeForce 6200 or higher, Radeon 9600 or higher)

So even with my system: AMD64 3000+ , 1.5GB RAM and GeForce 6600 128MB... there are still crappy moments.

All in all, it is an amazing game... if you have enough CPU and GPU power to run NASA. I wouldn't mind playing the game in unrendered 3D because the story and the challenges are awesome.

If you want to see how good it is, try this trailer and this.

I'm Google Earthing, Earthlings

It's been a week since I started using this fun tool from google.

I've found my house,

the family house in bulacan,
the insane islands UAE people are trying to build
and Nazcan Lines (Hummingbird).
Try it out! Its tons of fun.

A Shining Star Amidst an Otherwise Dreary October Day

Tsk, tsk... this would have been a great picture. That's if it wasn't overshadowed by the two people in its foreground.













Why? Why did they have to pose in front of the camera? That bonklers with the goatee and that 'ever so pretty, charming and angelic host of Us Girls' Francesca (Chesca/Cheska) Garcia.


Seriously, I was having an absolutely rotten day. I got stuck on my way to Makati and arrived incredibly late. I accidentally left my phone with her the previous night so I had absolutely no line of communication. The reception desk of Renaissance Hotel was adamant that she hasn't checked out yet. I wasted 3 hours having the operator call her room and going up to knock on her door.

There was a 'thank you for respecting my privacy' tag on her door so the staff are not allowed to barge in. That really worried me with the what-ifs. What if she dozed off and missed her flight? What if she slipped an knocked herself out? What if some crazy bloke sneaked in and... *shudder*. I wanted to call my mobile that was with her, but how? All they had that can call outside was fonkard payphones and their business center/landmark didn't sell cards to use on it.
Long version of the story removed from here to save you from boredom
So abandoning monetary efficiency I found a way to get my mom's mobile number and then found out that my sister left the hotel 30 mins before I arrived and barely made it to the flight. Up to this moment, I'm still flummoxed about the 'privacy' and 'hasn't checked out' bits of the story.

I was tired, sweaty and pissed so walked back to grab lunch then head home. With a determined indifference to what was happening in the world I could have missed it, but I didn't. An angelic phantasm appeared to my left. My heart skipped a couple of beats then raced like mad. Such brilliance! The old me would have shied away and regretted it for the rest of my life. I did want to be reborn, with a love for life and enjoy it as if there is no tomorrow. I fiddled and checked the 350D's settings and made a beeline towards her. I waited for her to finish her yo, stepped up and said:

"Excuse me..." she turns to me with an encouraging smile.
"Can I take a picture with you?"
"Sure :)"
Fiddle, fiddle. Click.
"Thank you :3"
Then I walked away.

With wobbly knees but giddy happy, I realized later that I got to screw up this magical moment. [tech] I prefer having just the center AF point active instead of all 7 of them[/tech]. So the trees behind us is in focus and we are a bit soft and blurred. But heck, this is a success for my courage, screw the perfect photo :P