I've been trying to create an entry since 4am this morning. At first the entry was supposed to be sent via email but I thought I'd do it at home when I arrive. But my blasted PC wouldn't turn on, and it took me 8 freakin' hours just to make it work. We need to have this fixed whatever's causing the problem. My hunch is more of a hardware one since it hasn't been upgraded for years already.

Anyway, so goes my last post for November. It's officially December, and there are a few more weeks to go before Christmas. And then New Year.

I've just turned 27 almost 2 weeks ago and it seemed it was just yesterday. I was with my girlfriend 8 months ago before she left the country again but it just seemed to be like yesterday. I was in Singaopre 3 years ago, almost 4, but it seemed to be like yesterday. So it is true what our substitute teacher once told us before when we were in 3rd year high school - each year will pass by faster than the previous one. He said that 11 years ago. Seemed like yesterday.

When December 1, 2006 comes, I hope I'll look at this entry again this time with a smile, with my wife already beside me. <sigh>

Whew! Just arrived an hour and a half ago from our "Team-Building" activity at the beautiful beaches of Puerto Galera, Mindoro. I've had company outings before, but this one really stands out! 

Day 1

I wasn't really sure of joining 'till early morning Tuesday. I've finally given my go signal to my teammates that I'll be joining them. 9 of us, including Borne, our coach and her boyfriend left Manila an hour before lunch time. Fortunately, I was able to seek permission (last minute as always) from my dad to borrow the Kia Ceres for the trip. Yeah it's big for 9 passengers, but it's the only one available for us to use and my team has no reason to complain about the lack of air-conditioning at the back of the truck. Only the 3 in front, including myself as the driver, have the luxury of using the air-conditioner all to ourselves! We parked the truck outside the Batangas City Pier and was in the nick of time to ride the ferry boat to Galera.

after several screwed-up plans since February 2004, it's nice to see the the familiar beach from afar

Ah! It's been almost 2 years since I last touched foot on the white sands of White Beach! Weather was nice and it's not yet too late to swim! Nice to see clear waters and white sand again, I tell yah!

first few shots I took after setting foot in my favorite beach

Something seems to be wrong. Where are the beautiful people??? They're in Manila of course! It was a Tuesday and nobody would go to the beach during a weekday. Probably if you see a group of people wondering around in a beach during weekdays, you may think of them working in a call center  

Thanks to Rigs, who seems to know everyone we bumped in to, we were able to get a couple of rooms and eat our late lunch.

The 2 ladies sitting in front are Karen and Jeanne. Sitting at the back are Argy, Joppet, Kenneth and Borne. Standing at the back are Poms and Rigs

After the heat suffered by most of the team, thanks to the Kia Ceres, they all wore their swimsuits and jumped in to the lovely, inviting waters.

Ah! How refreshing!!!

while they swam...

... I took pictures of myself! Gimme a break guys, I need to be vain even once in a while!

There are a lot of things I really miss in Puerto. One of them is their food, especially their kebabs! So I ordered one.

Others did too, and not only kebabs!

Boss Borne and her Halo-Halo

Drinking session has begun a couple of hours later. The team is known for its members who would drink anything as long as it has alcohol content with it. Since the Greek God Bacchus is the God of Wine and we were assigned to choose a god name for our team, Bacchus was the most appropriate. 

I strolled the beach while listening to my mp3 collection and reminiscing the first time I was there with my girlfriend. While strolling, I saw a tattoo parlor which also does Henna. I remember my girlfriend thought of having a tattoo on her breasts and I quipped that I will give her permission as long as my name is her tattoo.

Joined the team later for several shots of Mindoro sling then we all slept afterwards.

Day 2

It rained during the wee hours of the morning but thank God it stopped before sunrise. After we all ate breakfast, some of my teammates went back to the beach to sunbath.

Then a wild idea hit the team - riding the Banana Boat! The boat is inflatable and is pulled by a speedboat.

I thought it was that simple. Until...

SPLASH!!! Riding the banana boat at high speed is not the big idea, but to give us a big splash once the speedboat goes into a wild turn! We did this around 3 times. A fourth one was supposed to follow but the speedboat headed back to the beach. In some act of desperation, some of us crazy folks deliberately overturned the boat, and everyone did get the splash!

Care for another ride? Hell Yeah!!!

It was almost lunch time and White Beach is at its most beautiful sight. So I siezed the opportunity and took pictures of it.

One word: WOW!!!

It was so cool I want to have a picture of myself in the beach.

(To Be Continued)

Yes, yes, yes...

I have said it not once, not twice, but a lot of times that it will be a long time again before I can own a Pocket PC Phone edition. After having a bad experience with the XDAII when it was lent to me last year, I stuck to my belief of having a 2-piece device rather than using a convergence phone.

And then a couple of months ago, I was lent a HP iPAQ 6500 Mobile Messenger by Carlo Ma. Guerrero, president of our group Pinoy Windows Mobile and Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional). Though I only used it for 2 days, it changed my perception of using a Pocket PC phone. It wasn't really that buggy after all, compared to the XDAII where I encountered a hard reset every day of using it.

The other night, Howard, a fellow officer of Pinoy Windows Mobile offered me either his iPAQ 6500 or XDAIIi. I was caught in a dilemna. These are Pocket PC Phone editions and I would rather get a HP iPAQ 4700 if I'm going to buy a device along that price range. But I need to give myself a chance to use a PDA Phone, expand my horizons as Howard used to tell me before.

For almost 24 hours, I've been trying to get opinions on which one to pick. Here are the pros and cons of each.

HP iPAQ 6500
Pros:
1. Size factor
2. Built-in Thumboard
3. Built-in GPS
4. Free Sceptec WiFi card
5. Built-in 1.3 Megapixel camera with light
6. It's made by HP!

Cons:
1. Low RAM
2. Slow processor
3. GPS Software buggy
4. Doesn't have built-in WiFi
5. 240x240 screen size


XDAIIi
Pros:
1. 520 MHz Intel Processor
2. 1.3 Megapixel Camera
3. Built-in WiFi
4. Huge RAM and ROM
5. Huge Storage Folder

Cons:
1. No Thumboard
2. Afraid of its bugginess (phobia from XDA2 experience)

A part of me wants the HP iPAQ 6500 because of the great service HP is giving to its customers. Knowing that O2's service center (Brightpoint) sucks, the features of the IIi have a lot of benefits for me compared to the 6500's. Sure I want a GPS, but I haven't been travelling lately so I don't need it for the meantime. Also, I'm sick and tired of bringing along a WiFi card no matter how small it is.

I ended up getting the XDA IIi.

So here I am, feeling like a newbie again on the Pocket PC World. Let's see if convergence will work for me.

And so far, I've been getting a lot of attention in our workplace of owning a very expensive device!

Too busy for me to write a blog. Not even my tech blog, my current favorite section, are now in cobwebs.

I'm sorry... I really like to write, but I guess I'll have to do it next time, when I feel like it.

I'll just post some pictures to give you an idea what I've been doing recently.

... okay, I was about to post them then I just changed my mind. Later na lang.