Just a Tad Bit Too Late...

"If I've known this sooner..." is a phrase I'd like to use for this post.

If you've read my previous entry, you probably think its a lot to spend on ink. You're right... because I just found out a way to cut the cost to 1/3. I won't be popular with HP once I blog about this but hey, being practical is important.

After finishing my printing spree, I came upon this in DataMax@SM san lazaro. It's a Do-it-yourself(DIY) refill kit from Fullmark. Its priced at 390Php (vs 1200) and contains enough ink to refill a cartridge thrice(which is also the reuse limit a of catridge). Ink quality is acceptable so far (paper, photopaper, iron-ons) ; with that many cartidges, I won't need to buy genuines for a while.

disclaimer: I'm neither affiliated nor paid by datamax/fullmark. Such products are still 'try at your own risk'.

Odd Stuff

For me, not being afraid of new things is part of learning. I've accepted rakets, challenges and requests that come my way if only for the slightest chance that I discover something that I did not know before. But for the life of me... I sometimes end up doing some pretty odd things.

Costly Certification
During college, I was asked if I can produce colored certificates. I was able to clear that but it killed my Epson Stylus printer. Should have learned from this XD.

Domestic Help
I recently finished a project with the Department of Foreign Affairs(DFA) and International Labour Organization(ILO) entitled "Protecting Domestic Workers from their Vulnerability to Forced Labour and Trafficking" which is an interactive cd training tool made in Flash. After months and months of content revisions, I was reminded that I had to make 200 copies complete with packaging and a 12-page printed manual. I had difficulty in looking for a printer(offset/publisher) that can do this for me (6 unique color pages @200 copies each~1200sides, is too costly to run). So after busting my wallet for ink cartridge cost, my beloved HP Deskjet 5740 had to bear with me in this foolish attempt at printed production.

8 hp 95 cartridges(1200php each), 3 hp 94 (1000php each) busting a wallet was never this easy

What was I thinking?

Had to hire my cuz (thanks kat!) to help me out with cutting and packaging. It was lauched at the DFA on Aug. 30, 2006 and I'm grateful to them for the experience and the chance to help train those who will help our domestic workers.
Saintly Shirts
My mom requested me to take on a task: Photo Quality Tshirt printing. This guy does not learn, does he? My excuse is: 'these shirts are for priests and religious people'. The order was 80 shirts, and I had a hard time looking for and buying Iron-on transfers. I ended up using 3 brands (HP, ImageFlow Pro and APLI). HP and APLI were acceptable (73 and 70php per sheet respectively) while ImageFlow (63php) was dreadful because it was so thin(the printer kept jamming). The difficult part was the ironing and I wasn't even bad with ironing itself. Some browning occurs if you iron it too long; the print doesn't stick as well if done too quickly. That's an average of 5min per shirt, 1000Watt Iron and full-body weight pressure (200lbs of purely brute brymac XD).

The one on the left is a reject/experiment; center is the Iron-on transfer print; right is the print on the back of the shirt.

Often times reason is abandoned for things like rewards, charity, lessons or blessings. How long will I learn and live like this? For as long as I can I guess...

Humid Dreadful Rain

Soft glow of the overcast sky and green leaves

My first High Dynamic Range(HDR) Photo

HDR of Adrian's shots

I was invited to join Adrian, Josephine and Andy in a PhotoOp at the La Mesa Ecopark. Had fun tagging along with them and talking to Andy about Miyazaki stuff.

It was a good opportunity to try HDR so I took time to compose the shot I wanted. Even with the brute power 'Rebirth' has, creating and editing HDR required me to leave my desk and do something else while it processed all that info. Imagine, an HDR PSD file is 93.3MB! The results are a little gloomy and washed out, but that was the mood as the rain was about to fall. A simpler way to get a better shot would be using graduated nd filter (don't nosebleed now, think tinted eyeglasses). Since I don't have one of those (yet), an HDR attempt is fine.

S is for Seven Years

Together with Mic's blatant slander on my err... unfulfilled desire, she gave me an S to post this:

1. September - Phats and Small feat Earth, Wind and Fire
2. Sets Go Up - Juvenile (OST Need for Speed Most Wanted)
3. Sucked In - Jerk (OST Need for Speed Underground 1)
4. Standing Right Next To Me - Arnee
5. Sugar We're Going Down - Fallout Boy

Comment on this post to receive a random letter from me. You will then be tasked to pick five (5) songs from your computer with titles that begin with that letter. And you are to post the five songs on your journal.

Any takers? :3

Brymac on Ice

There is no such thing as a practice life.

I've been thinking of this simple phrase since I came across it. It has furthered my desire to go out and live life. I'm also slowly taking down walls I probably built through the years. Given the chance, I'll go and try it. The amount of failures can be shadowed by successful attempts, its a matter of probability.

Swedish
I recently got my first formal massage. Aidz and I went on a night photo op, then decided to get one. Around 20 minutes in the sauna, a bath, ate some shabu-shabu then finally 30+ minutes swedish massage. I received a lot of elbows and knees, but all in all it was great. Whatever was causing my stiffneck probably got elbowed away.

Ice Skating
We went to MoA to celebrate Aimee's birthday. Ice Skating was part of the plan so we looked over the rink and weighed our chances against a battalion of kids. I've tried rollerblades now and then so I was brave enough to not use the rink wall. So after three hours, getting extremely wet, falling N times, straining my wrist and getting my hand 'toe-picked'... Ice skating is either not for me or I need tons of more practice.

Photo Op
While in MoA, I took some pics including Kimi's F1 that was on display. [Other pics here]

Like Losing A Friend
I said goodbye to something important. We've been through a lot together and I'm incredibly thankful to her. She held well enough and helped me buy her replacement. Bye, Tsunami(AMD Duron700)...
Here's how my station looks now:

Panography

Thanks to Gail for posting about panography. In a nutshell, its crazy panorama by taking lots of pictures in different orientation. So I present to you my attempt at it.

Would like to try High Dynamic Range Photography next. It is a good wake-up call on how limited dSLRs are compared to the human eye.

Cosplay

Last Sunday, I went to enjoy "O-zine fest" where the National Cosplay Competition was held. Click here for some pics of the event.

Is Pakistan Ready For You?

Mic had the idea of giving Marlon a better send off, so we planned this Friday night out. We thought we wouldn't reach 10 people... final count was 19 :). It was also Joey's birthday (hbd!). Thanks to all who joined us. Pictures are here.

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Pirated Sunday

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with Tubs, Emir and Lea. Johnny Depp ran away again being Jack Sparrow and kept the whole movie interesting.

We went to visit Dingdong at St. Luke's. It's a relief to see him smiling and telling jokes (it could have been the pain relievers though :P). Get well soon :)