Reading Beyond the Blogosphere

32-in LCD TV Best Deal

beyondthelines — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:21:37 +0000

I just got a very good deal in buying my LCD TV. It’s a 32-in Samsung Series 4.

Before I went to shop, I searched online for good deals. I found one that offered 30,000 pesos.

http://satchel.sulit.com.ph/

It is actually a pretty good deal because the list price is as much as P37, 900 and on Abenson you can buy it for 3,500 less if you’re going to pay cash upfront. I then went to Abenson and tried my bargaining powers. The promo guy found me looking at the Samsung TV display and as expected did the salestalk and all but the bottom line is it would have cost me 33,000 in cash and he said it’s a good deal. I tried to appear unconvinced and said, “Well I can get this for 30,000 from somewhere else and I’ll definitely get that TV for 29,000 in cash right now”. He was kind of surprised and suddenly told me he’ll ask the manager the lowest price they can give me. As a technique, while shopping, I learned that looking at other brands especially, their closest competitor, can boost your bargaining power. Remember, these promo guys have quota and they have to meet it and losing a customer to the competitor is a big NO, NO. So the guy was back and found me looking at a Sony Bravia 32-inch and right there and then he offered the 32-inch Samsung LCD TV Series 4 (LA32B460B2XXP) for 29,500 pesos (the guy was kind of begging already…). Now, that’s a pretty good deal, don’t you think?

I didn’t really expect to get that good a deal and I was actually ready to spend as much as 40,000. I also bought the home theater package for 4,900 (originally, 20,000 or so) and a TV rack for 15% less. All in all, I spent a good 38,000 for the whole entertainment package. Not bad at all for me.

From that I think it wouldn’t hurt to research or ask around first before buying your TV and if you’re buying from a store, don’t take the list price as the buying price. It always costs much less than that.

The Filipino Tabo. What the heck is it?

beyondthelines — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:42:02 +0000

One thing unique to the Filipinos is Tabo but what is Tabo anyway?

Tabo is a dipper. It is a DEVICE, a wonderful INVENTION to fetch water from the pail or to be used for TORTURE (#5). A bigger version of mug but with a set of different usage.

The many uses of Tabo:

Taking a bath. We use tabo when taking a bath. Instead of using the shower, many Filipinos prefer tabo and/or some prefer to use both the shower and tabo at the same time.

How? Dip the tabo in the water from the timba (pail of water) just enough for you and pour it from the top of your head or from wherever. If you are rinsing a particular part of your body, splash the water on that part. Do this step up to your heart’s content.

On this particular usage, you have to master the skills of accuracy and precision to get the water to hit the right spot and as the saying goes “Practice makes perfect”.

Advantage: It forces you to exercise! Yeah tabo can help you stay fit. Not only that, it develops the skills of accuracy and precision.

Disadvantage: Some say you waste a lot of water, especially kids who forget the shampooing and everything else and just pour the water indefinitely. Kids love water. If you don’t have a pail of water to go with the tabo, well you have to open the faucet and wait for the pail to be filled and sing a merry song while waiting.

2. After we pee or after the second deed. Filipinos are known clean freaks and we feel that rinsing with water feels cleaner and hygienic than just using the toilet paper. Actually, most people that I know of have to clean with water and afterwards the tissue paper to dry up after doing their thing J

This use of the tabo also requires accuracy. Most definitely you have to hit the right spot, pour from the front or the rear (Use your imagination people, you know what I’m talking about.

3. Dishwashing. I don’t think a lot of people still use the tabo this way but my lola in the province still does and I just love seeing the tabo on top of their modern kitchen. It looks so out of place! Also, don’t attempt to use the same tabo used in the bathroom for the kitchen. It’s not sanitary. Also, though a few people may practice using it while brushing their teeth, I really discourage it, not healthy!

4. Watering the plants. I think this is easier than #1 but you have to be careful not to drown the plants so you have to pour the water gradually and pour just the right amount of water. Again, precision!

5. Waking up lazy asses. Not a lot of people do this but I saw this several times in the movies. Pouring a tabo of water onto a snoring sleepyhead is mean but hilarious.

I know I must have missed a lot of uses of Tabo, so to anyone who’s as bored as I am, feel free to add to this list, thanks!

PBB Melissa-Jason (MeLason) Love Team

beyondthelines — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:59:04 +0000

Okay, obviously I’m a fan. I’ve never been a huge fan from the previous PBB seasons but now I am. I just find the Melai and Jason tandem so amusing. At first, it’s weird to see Melissa making those funny faces all the time but as you watch the show day after day, you get used to those funny faces she makes (well, I did). I can’t explain it but she just has this charm and it makes you wanna be around her because she is so natural and spontaneously hilarious! On the other hand Jason is this weird, kind-of-shy guy but in fact he’s an older version of Dennis the Menace. He’s crazy and well he doesn’t look so bad. Actually, he doesn’t look bad at all.

I bet, this two is going to be a new sensation after this PBB season? Who’s with me?

By the way, I think either Melai(my fave PBB housemate) or Jason is going to win this season and they’re going to have a sitcom with Dengue

Ellen DeGeneres is hilarious

beyondthelines — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:45:44 +0000

I still have tummy cramps from laughing just a while ago. I just moved our old tv to my room to keep me company while working (I work at home, uh huh..). I stumbled upon Ellen’s show and it had me laughing to tears. I just can’t help comparing her to Oprah. I love Oprah as well. She does not disappoint with every show and very intelligent conversation keeps flowing throughout the show but Ellen is just so fresh. She is a ball of energy and did I mention she is hilarious? Isn’t she soooo natural? Unbelievably funny!

Do you know that she likes scaring people in restrooms and one time she scared the hell out of Taylor Swift. I think she almost had a heart attack! Poor girl… but that was so funny and it reminds me of how it’s just so fun being a kid and that’s Ellen, she’s a kid and a very amusing one! I simply love her! I’m a fan now

It’s always good to laugh every now and then and if you need a good dose, watch Ellen’s show.

Kids sometimes are SMARTER! really @@

beyondthelines — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:02:49 +0000

Yesterday, I was goofing around with my 6-year old cousin and she was asking me “How old are you?” I was feeling retarded and decided I’ll give her a hard time and make her guess (I’m so mean!…BTW, I’m 24 and acting my age except on this story.) I said… I’m 8 why? I said 8 because that’s close to her age and I wanted to tease her about she is so short for her age and how I was way taller than her. She said, “no way! How old are you really?” My other cousin was sitting beside us and she blurted “She’s only 1 year old!” The kid went huh (with the browse forming almost one line, imagine how kids are when they’re like huh?!?!?!)? and then she turned to me and said, “What happened to you? DID YOU RESET?”

Holy Cow! A flying car?

beyondthelines — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:38:43 +0000

We see it on television, on movies, but have you seen a flying car in a garage? For sure, some of us can’t live without cars especially if you live in LA where traffic is unbelievable. How about China’s roads or Manila? Beat the traffic there! And here I am coming across this news of a flying car. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to take off in the middle of that heavy traffic? Woohoo!

Terrafugia’s Transition is surely a must have for those rich car enthusiasts out there. Surely, this kind of vehicle doesn’t come cheap but who cares? It’s a FLYING CAR! The said flying car is expected to be delivered in 2009 and expected price is $148k (maybe after 10 years we will have more flying cars and prices will drop, dream on!). Well very affordable for the rich. I’m wondering if they will come in different colors too?

More about the flying car

A Funny Little Detail Programmers Overlook

beyondthelines — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:59:15 +0000

Plural for, add “s” or “es”. This is basic right? well except for special nouns like “mouse” or “news”, that rule applies generally so it’s funny how often I stumble upon such phrases as “1 views”, “1 messages”, “1 notifications” hahaha! Well I believe this is just some small detail that programmers overlook. Instead of adding a conditional statement like

if x>1 then add “s” or “es” -> more or less

It’s a small detail really so pardon me for having an eye for details. It wouldn’t hurt to correct that I guess. =)

Possibility of Googlers Reranking and Commenting on Google Results

beyondthelines — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:21:20 +0000

Lately, I’ve learned of Google’s testing with this new Google search functionality. If this pushes through, google users would be able to arrange, comment and delete google results. Whoa! Interesting… that means giving more control to the users eh? My question is, how will it affect the accuracy of google results and do we really need this new functionality? Been googling like forever and I must say that it’s unthinkable to live without Google search. I virtually google everything! As far as I’m concerned, as long as google gives me the relevant results, it’s perfect and if they can improve on that, that would be great. Fast results! That’s what really hooks me to googling and I don’t think I have much time rearranging results or deleting them (the commenting part would be nice though). I’d rather spend my time browsing and clicking through the search hits and find what I’m really looking for more than anything else. Who knows? Maybe this would be great features though… it’s yet to be seen.

More details at Google May Let Users Comment on, Rearrange Google Results

Yahoo Mail Sucked Big Time

beyondthelines — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:32:07 +0000

Yesterday, Yahoo mail really sucked big time! At least for me… and I’m wondering what went wrong? I have been using yahoo mail since time immemorial and I haven’t had so much trouble with it for a long time. I encountered those few short downtime or maybe the internet is just so slow and my page timed out while logging in. Anyhow, yesterday was different! I have two yahoo accounts, one is a .ca and the other .com. I first logged in into the .ca inbox and everything went smooth. I decided to check the other inbox so I logged out of the .ca to switch to the .com account and still no problem, I was able to log in. Here goes the problem, when I clicked on the INBOX button… instead of my .com inbox showing up, yahoo mail showed me the .ca account! Weird! I did the whole thing over and over again and sometimes switching to one inbox to another (I logged out before switching of course) worked and most of the time it did not. Most of the time Yahoo mail showed me the wrong INBOX. This is something yahoo must act upon. Cookies and session problem perhaps? Should I completely switch to gmail?

Google Not so Great Anymore?

beyondthelines — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:34:10 +0000

I read an article about Google losing its mojo. It sure caught my attention… why? Well it’s Gooooogle! Once I thought “how could I ever live without Google?”. Whenever I have a question, what do i do? I google it. I have developed the habit of giving people answers such as “Google it!”. Also, there’s gmail (my primary mailbox), the amazing google earth, google adsense (money, money, money), google desktop etc. and I use ‘em all so seeing that article sort of struck me and it’s funny cuz that was a link in a newsletter I received through Gmail! Anyhow, it was mentioned how working in Google is not uber cool anymore. One of my friends really got to have that Google tour and she said that yeah food all around and all those perks an employee could wish for. The article said that those golden days might be gone? How true? really? Well, I really can’t tell but if it’s true, what will happen to that Google dream? I have been in the web development business for a few years and I can remember back in college there was this obsession among programmers to become part of Microsoft and meet Bill Gates and then it shifted to “I want to work at Google!” mindset. I used to be a part of a company which even has this mission “To be the next google!”, which sounded quite far fetched to me at that time.

The article also mentioned of Sergey Solyanik who is now back at Microsoft. Apparently, the guy worked for Microsoft and then moved to Google and then now back to Microsoft. His blog has a lot to tell, a very interesting read, reminds me why I left my previous company lol. This article actually brought back to memory a blog my friend wrote about how she’s turned off by some google translation Pig Loves Cow

Opinion: Why Google has lost its mojo — and why you should care

On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Ramble

Pig Loves Cow