When life doesnt seem to be adding up… Blame math.

So here it goes. Almost a week into owning the iPhone. Rants and raves are a must by now…

I won’t compare it to the old iphone, one because I never owned one, two - I was not impressed by that phone.

If you were a prior owner of something generic like the Motorolla Razr or 2-3 year old sony ericssons and nokias, you would love the phone. The functionality, the ease of use, it’s sleek design and highly personalizable interface makes it a good buddy. It has features that most phones have. Multiple calling features, text messaging, e-mails (also supports VPN for your office), games, a 2 megapixel camera and of course internet access.

Calling is easy. The unit came with a familiar headset, the one that comes with your ipod. This one however, has a small mic. It’s so small though, it was just as if you wrapped taped around the broken part of the wire. Texting will need some getting use too. The touchscreen keypad is far from the qwerty keypad I was used to with my old phone… I could not feel the keys. Quick e-mail access - I have at least three e-mails online on my phone, I don’t even check my email on my computer anymore. The camera is easy to use, but I hate the fact that it does not have a flash nor video capabilities. The internet access is the best so far that could be used with the 3G network. It is almost flawless, it’s quick and aside from the smaller screen - it’s as if I was surfing on my laptop computer.

The extras are the applications. There are tons and tons of applications available for download. Some a free, but most range from 0.99 cents a pop to 25.00 per download and install. CNN and Reuters are one of my top applications. It’s another excuse not to turn on the TV. I have immediate access to myspace and facebook, weather and stocks. I’ve downloaded translators for italian and french, hangman, blackjack, poker, super monkey ball and the finger version of the dance dance revolution… Yes! On my ipod!

In addition to all of that, the GPS mapping provided by Google Maps is flawless. It is way faster than any other GPS enabled phone I tested. The program also provides so much more information on, say the restaurant I was looking for, including the web address, physical address and of course the telephone number… and in just a couple of taps, I can call and/or save the contact.

I also downloaded Pandora. It’s this free online radio service that I subscribe to. I create my own radio stations. Just type in an artist, then it starts playing music that it thinks you would like… 9 out of 10 times a day it is almost right. It even helps me find new artists at the same time! Well, I went running last night and I kept it on my Metallica Station. It kept on playing and never had a problem with it. It was it works well with both EDGE and 3G networks.

It has a dedicated application for youtube… need I say more?

Here’s another cool thing. It dims the backlights automatically to your surroundings. This makes the colors more vibrant and saves batteries when its dark.

Now for the downsides: Yup! There’s a bunch…

A third party will charge me 20$ so I can download and install a program that will allow me to be video capable. yeah, I know… The iphone has the capability to detect what angle you have it in, so sometimes when I’m in bed and I want to play a game, the game does not respond because I’m holding the phone upside down. E.g. super monkeyball. It’s an obstacle game and in order to move the monkey in the ball around the virtual world, you need to tilt the phone in different angles…

It does not have MMS. Well, sure, in this world of blackberry’s, VPN, blackjacks and 3G, MMS should be the last thing I need to worry about yeah? Nope, it should be as available as SMS… if it’s not a big deal, why not just include it?

Camera is 2 mega pixels… 2 mega pixels? C’mon…

It does not have an application for a user friendly Yahoo Messenger interface. Im a heavy YM user… Nope, unlike the blackjack, I need to download my program for this one… and the worst part is, It logs me out when i leave the application.

The Sudoku is great and all, but wait… where’s the skype capabilities? I have yet to see a VOIP program that would work on this phone.

And the thing that bugs me the most - well, I’ve had other 3G capable phones, I guess this is not new… is the battery life. The battery dies within the day if the 3G is heavily used and applications such as games and of course the GPS is utilized. My solution? A charger at work, at home and in the car… I do plan to buy a solio solar powered charger. I can use this as a back up power source because it stores the power for about a year and could charge my phone full twice on a single solar or wall outlet charge… (will review this later…)

Sow why did I buy the iphone when I knew I would have lost alot of capabilities after being used to high end Nokia, Sony Ericssons and the Samsung BlackJack2?

It’s cheap… I dropped $214 (tax included) for it. I did nt even need to increase my data plan with AT&T because I already had one for my PDA. If I wanted something at par with what I need and used too… I would have dropped at least double that.

So the fact that I have my phone, text messaging, contacts, ipod, youtube, emails, a decent camera, internet, tons of games, translator, news, google Maps with GPS, alarm clock and my Holy Bible in one gadget (yes you can download an E-Bible) is great for the price!

For those who think that the iphone is a step back from a Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson P990 or K850i… You might be right. But thinking again, It’s a good step back. It’s a cool step back… If I needed a good camera, I have my DSLR in my backpack in my truck, if I need more entertainment with the longer battery life, my old U2 version ipod video is in the same bag - if i needed to play Command and Conquer and go seriously surfing the web, well, my laptop is there too… All I have is a phone, with mini versions of my other gadgetry’s and virtual wants in one packet for a small price.

I’m sure I will end up spending more downloading irresistible cute games, but hey! it’s a consumer driven world… that is what we are and that is why you are reading this post.

Philippine All Stars wins 2008 World Hip Hop championship

The multi-awarded Philippine All Stars gave Filipinos another reason to be proud of when the group bagged the title in the 2008 World Hip-Hop Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, August 3. More than 1,000 dancers from 33 countries gathered in Las Vegas in quest for the gold.

The All Stars, however, ruled the dance floor with their two-minute performance packed with flips and steps in harmony. The dancers went off stage with high hopes of winning after finishing a near perfect dance. When they received the award, group members said they were glad for the success as they united Filipinos in that moment of glory.

“This is just a moment where everyone could just unite. In our own part, to be an inspiration not just for the people here in the championship, but to all the Filipinos out there,” said group member Sheena Vera Cruz.

She added that the group wants to give other Filipinos hope that they could also become winners given the same opportunity. "We want to give them hope that if we have this opportunity, all the Filipinos out there can also have the same opportunity as us,” she said.

Lema Diaz, another group member, called on other Filipino groups to dream big and strive to realize their aspirations. "Our main purpose is to wake up the youth of the Philippines and and Filipinos around the world to rise up to go for what theybelieve and to dream big,” Diaz said. In the end, the three judges gave the All Stars an aggregate score of 8.94. A large part of the score (5.35) was earned by way of the group’s infusion of artistic steps in their choreography.

And to that, competition judge and multi-Gramy awardee MC Hammer said: “The Filipino artists…they continue to evolve in a global basis. They take art and dance seriously.I am very proud of the level that the Philippines over all have developed into.” Judge Shane Sparks also had high praises for the group. “Great kids, great dancers and choreographer…I think they’re some of the hottest dancers that touch the stage of the America’s best dance crews and I know there’s more to come ,” Sparks said. Ging Reyes and Bev Llorente, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

April 22, 1982 - 7:35 am, the world
welcomed ME! I was born to Annie and
Wally Buhay. If you’re from Manila, you
know where Polymedic is. I think it goes
by some other name now. Oh well…

April 22, 1970 - 20 million people
celebrated the first Earth Day. This was
also when the first clean air act was
also enacted in the US.

When I was a kid.

During my summer vacations and weekends
when I was in grade school, I would
gather all my art materials and oslo
paper that my mom brought from work and
called on the help of my brothers and
friends from our street. I had one bike,
my brother Yoyo had another. As early as
6:30 in the morning, my friends Mark,
Mischelle, Kristine, Camille, Theresa
and my brothers Yo and Li would help me
start working on hand drawn posters.

The posters read:

"Reuse, Reduce, Recycle"

"Conserve and Preserve"

It would have hand drawn pictures of
three types of trash cans. Of the three
arrowed recycle logo… It would also
have our little groups name "Go For
Green Earth".

That’s what we called ourselves. That
was our little group. We would go around
our area on our little bikes. We braved
the neighborhood dogs and bullies. We
would make around a dozen oslo paper
posters and put them on lamp posts,
trash cans, walls, gates and fences. We
did this for months… Sometimes, we
would find that some kids and grown ups
tear our posters down. But we would be
back the next week to put a new one up.
Go For Green Earth was not going down
that easily.

By lunch time we would be done. Proud of
what we’ve done. Proud that we were
doing something good for Mother Nature.

Years later in college, I was climbing
mountains with my awesome friends from
the UP Badgers Club. We were bringing
down trash that other mountaineers left
on the mountain. We were cleaning creeks
and streams. We were teaching other
concerned individuals to appreciate
mother nature face to face…

We did this while watching sunsets from
the vantage point of gods. Something
that only a few of us can do. A reward
for nature freaks.

————————————————————————————————————————-

Growing up, my birthdays we’re normally
filled with drama. My wish was always,
for a good number of years, to see my
family be back together again. That I
would wake up after my birthday and see
my family enjoying a nice breakfast just
like before. Or go to church on Sundays
just like what we normally did before…

Oh well… Some wishes don’t come true.

Here’s a wish though, that I’d like to
share with you all so that you can help
make these wishes a reality.

Do something for the Earth. Do something
for yourself.

Quit smoking for one day… Make it
earth day. See how nice it feels.

Instead of throwing that litter on the
street, ball it up and keep in you
pocket and throw it later when a rubbish
bin is available.

Tell the guy or girl who threw their
litter on the ground to pick it up.

Carpool.

When you brush your teeth, do not leave
the tap open.

Quick showers are Ok… Tabo’ and balde’
is better. Bath tub? No good…

Walk when the distance permits.

Paper or plastic? Bring your own bag
man… Bring Back the Bayong.

PLANT A TREE!

Thanks guys. Do one of these things, and
you’ve just fulfilled a birthday wish of
mine.

Happy Earthday everyone… Happy 26th
B-Earthday for me!!!

Passion - Obsession - Determination

Fuel for the soul.

Some of my friends had described me as being sporty and outdoorsy. Yet I find myself enjoying the comforts of my ipod and typing away on the internet. I never played basketball nor kicked with a team in futbol. I never was in a track and field team nor did I compete in a swimming competition.

I enjoy mountaineering, rock climbing, running, swimming, mountain biking and just quit recently, I found out why there is a craze in the sport named golf. Is it just me? Or is there really a different level of challenge when you don’t try to outrun, out swim or out jump an opponent? Is there a certain high when you face that big towering mountain, or that powder riddled rock wall? Is there something that lures free spirits into the depths of the oceans and the mysterious treks in the woods? Is there something about hitting a tiny white ball so perfectly and precisely that drives men mad and train their two year old boys become tigers?

Sporty, yes. But I’m no player. I didn’t wear a jersey or craved for new cleats or air Jordans. I did not sport a skimpy swim wear not did I played with a dozen other guys trying to get a hold of one ball.

Now, I don’t mean to demean those other sports. I’m sure people who love them enjoyed them as much as I enjoy a nice hike. But all I’m saying is - I didn’t.

I find my passion tuned to challenging myself. Challenging a question I pose myself like - "Can you make it?", "Can you last?’, "Can you make it out alive"? I think there is something about exceeding the expectation or preparation for a horrific experience or even death that attracts breed like me.

I dream to climb mount everest. It’s every mountaineers dream to conquer the most immovable God made object on this planet. There’s an allure to seeing all your hard work behind you, where your steps where. There’s a kick to knowing that every step must be sure, that every step or hold could be your last.

It’s not about towering above everybody else. Nor is it about showing that you are stronger than everybody else. In situations like that, all you can hope is that everyone makes it and has fun. All you can think about is reaching that one point. All you can dream about is that big long breath and look at where you came from, what you went through and where you are at. The weird part is… we don’t walk off a court. We don’t rest on a bench. We don’t have cheerleaders or crowds watching us. It’s just us, the mountain, the wall, the trail, the sky, the wind - and most importantly it’s just us and our own limit to what we can reach.

You’ve gone a long ways in a relationship when you find yourself reading 5 year old journal entries about each other. You know you’ve matured and achieved a lot as a couple when you hear how you had hurt feelings and had insensitively affected the others life.

2003 - Mads and I met. College. UPLB. Humanities. We met and had a falling out. Well, it’s not her fault. It was mine. It was me being a jerk. Me being self centered.

I want to write something. Somehow I can’t find words. Somehow all these memories are things that I want to stay in the past and not be resurrected. May all these bad memories rest in peace. In peace.

On the flip side though, if it weren’t for everything that had happened, we wouldn’t be where we are right now. We just want to see it as lessons learned, as battle scars. Diamonds were made under extreme pressure. The sharpest blades we forged in flames.

These lessons, as they were being learned were to only be looked at one way or the other.  Looked at with disdain and bitterness… Or looked at with a smile. We’re looking back with a smile. If only I can give her a hug and hold her hands really tight… If only I can let her feel how much I love her… love her so much.

If I find that…wait, when I find that sanovabich who stole my bike, my bear hands will turn into BEAR hands. My bike! Im 25 years old! I shouldnt be this upset that someone stole my bike. I’ve never had a bike of mine stolen. I’ve gone through more than half a dozen mountian bikes and this is the only time something like this happened. Im 25 years old. I shouldnt be this upset over a bike.

But it’s my bike. I had so many plans for that mountian bike. My SUV now looks so naked inside without a 24 speed mountain bike strapped inside.

When I have a pen in hand, it starts flowing out like ink from a fountain pen. It starts messing up my fingers and begins to creat blots on the paper… But when I start to write about something that I want to write about, the keyboard just cant cut it…

The keyboard can keep up with my thought… well, with my train of thought that is. It can catch up with what I want to say… Then, if I change my mind, I have the backspace button will suffice. When pen my thoughts though, I have very little room for error. Not spurprising is the fact that I can write longer when typing… I guess it’s a mater of muscle. It does get tiring actually penning the words.

I wanted to write today about Mads. She’s been bugging me for a while now about writing something about her. All Ive been doing is cramming my feelings in the pages of my blank journal. She wants something on my blog about her. Well, here it is…

I guess I’ll write something about how she makes me laugh when Im sad. I would like to write about how nakikilig ako pag naririnig ko boses nya when I call her sa phone. Wow… so sossy… tama ba?

Anyways, I also enjoy our conversations. Specially the ones when we’re not suppose to take long sa phone and we end up talking for an hour. Bad… hehe. pero oks lang talaga. Better this than not having it at all.

Wala talaga akong masabi eh… sa totoo lang po. Either way… one thing that I do not get tired of penning or typing on a keyboard are the words…

I love you Mads… I love you.

In my 24 years 11 months and 28 days on this planet, I’ve encountered my fair share of filipinos that make crazy icky stuff crawl up my spine in the worst possible way. I have not, however, until now had felt loath and discompassion towards another person of whom I share the same honorable ancestor with. If it was Jose Rizal who met this absurd woman, he would have stuck his mighty pen through her eyeballs and slapped him with an unabridged version of El Filibusterismo left and right. I however, would want to just let the steam off of my tingled spine and let my honorable ancestors take care of her soul when they all meet her sometime in the future.

I walked into the office with all the positivity that I can muster becuase it was a wonderful day in Las Vegas. Sitting in front of my Boss, who is hawaiian-filipino, was a tiny older lady speaking (trying though) in a familiar sounding english. She boasted of the thickest promdi accent I have ever heard. I’ve heard of better accented english from people who have not stepped foot on american soil (including the US embassy in Manila). I am not here to complain about her accent (I have one too, for all I know), rather I am here to report to you reader how someone would rather pass herself as chinese (no offense to the chinese and their descendants) rather than Filipino.

She says she tells people she is asian, or chinese or japanese rather than proudly saying "I am a Filipino". She hails from Cebu, and from what I have gathered she is married to an american, does not have TFC at home, or so she says and would rather go to europe than go back home to the Philippines.

I expressed my optimism about going back home to the Philippines raise my kids the way I was raised and start a business there. My Boss Weilani, who has never been there, shares this sentiment. We both understand the potential of the Philippines in both cultural, artistic and of course business wise. She raises her daughter with the same strict and loving discipline her tatay raised her.

This cebuana loaths at the idea of going home. (No offense towards cabuanos as well) She complains that her relatives suck all the money out of her. She says that her relatives make "parinig" about how they need help on certain things, maybe they really do need help, right? She hates that now she has money that her family asks her to give them money every single time. I figured in my head the reason why she had wanted a better life in the first place? To become better off in life and step on the unfortunate others? No one can be that mean… right?

She complains how there is rampant corruption back home and that here in the States there is none. This, of course we had a laugh out of, my Boss and I. We had explained to her that the worst biggots and thieves are the same people who pluck their piece of your paycheck everymonth before it even gets directly deposited to you checking account. We had explained to her the War in Iraq and Afghanistan… That this is purely a war that makes these manipulative and powerful people richer at the price of the lives of innocent and hard working citizens. We paused to hear her reaction. She paused with us. I guess she just didn’t want to digest this piece of logical information.

Deep inside I thought, here is a woman who said that she will never go back to live again in the Philippines. She does not want to be called Filipino, she’d rather be mistaken as chinese or japanese.

Yes our country has got a big share of things we can be ashamed of. Yes we might not have the cleanest government or streets, nor do we have good paying jobs. What we do have though is a sense of pride, of history and of good values. For some reason she has turned her back on her homeland. I wish I can figure out why she is the way she is.

Now that I have almost finished writing this, I can say that my anger towards her is turning into pitty. I wonder if one day she will realize that she is living in a country where you don’t have people stealing your money becuase you are voluntarily giving it to them (the crooks). I hope one day that she might see that she lives in a society where your childrens classmate might come to school on a monday and kill them one by one becuase he saw it on TV, heard it from a song or was influenced by his friends. I hope she sees that she is in a world where respect for oneself, elders and your neighbor has been long forgotten. I pray she see’s that the songs, litterature and entertainment do not preach hope, love and good values, rather it hypnotizes you to spend spend spend, kill kill kill and fuck fuck fuck. I hope she realizes that she lives in a society that will forget her when she is old and frail and useless, that she will be sent to a nursing home to become an unappreciated grandparent. I hope one day she will realize that she lives in a country where people die of loneliness… the same people who wish they were just in a tropical country sipping iced tea under a coconut tree, not worry about credit card debt, interest rates or a threat of terrorist attacks or even their neighbor coming to kill them at night. For her sake I hope for all of these.

She is not ashamed of being a Filipino… No she’s not.

I am ashamed that she IS Filipino…

In a couple of minutes, I will be enjoying my Purefoods cornedbeef. Mads, on the other side of the world will be enjoying the famous quarter pounder from Isis. We wanted to eat at the same time. i wanted the burger, she’s been craving for the corned beef.

We are a month shy from celebrating our 2 years of officially being a couple. Of course we have our unofficial count but we’d rather commit that to the gallows of our fun filled memories.

The setting was on a restaurant on stilts, on a coll summer night with thunder storms brewing on the horizon. Words were expressed of which was how we really meant for each other. Words were expressed but was left to battle it out with the storm.

I remember that summer as if it was just last week. Most of the time, you tend to forget the sad memories and keep them locked in a dark dusty crevice of your mind. It was sad. Very sad for both of us. It hurt her the most I’m sure. Her feelings were in a tug of war for the past years and never letting go, always standing up no matter how many times she has fallen in mud. She won eventually.

Yesterday as I was driving home from a meeting at the office, I phoned her. I heard her voice and it sounded like any other wake up call I make to her at 3 in the morning. Squeeky, cute and so warm that you’d want to leap through the phone lines and just give her a great big loving… (they’ve invented so many things from Star Trek, can’t they start working on the teleportation transporter next?) While on the phone driving, I started to cry. Tears rolled down my cheek as I rolled up the car window, useless becuase the front part is not tinted. I told her that I was crying. She likes knowing when that happens for some reason. I also thanked her for being there on the tough and soft moments of my life. She encourages me both ways. She does it like Dr Phil and sometimes like Freddie Roach. Now, Im not saying Pacquiao needs Dr Phil, but I guess Solis’ punches were not strong enough to knock some sense into this knucklehead.

I cry alot these days because Im happy. I used to cry alot because I was so fraustrated. There was a time when I knew I wanted to be successful because I was bitter. So many people did not believe in me that I wanted to prove them wrong. Those successes are short lived. I’d rather do one simple thing out of inspiration than a big thing out of desparation. I cry becuase I am happy. I am happy becuase of Mads. We may not be together physically… It’s now a year and 15-16 days that we have not seen each other, but just like 63 million seconds ago, it seemed as if it was this morning that I last saw her. I can still smell her hair and feel her tiny fingers on my face… another reason for another tear to roll down to my lips.

My food is getting cold. I will just zap it later in the microwave once she logs on with her burger.