[smartads] Finally my internet is back up. It’s been down since Friday afternoon and since it was a holiday weekend, no one was available to repair it. I couldn’t call anyway because even though I can now call locally, I still can not call long distance. They were suppose to have that fixed. They told me 4 times already that it would be fixed. Today I got a hold of someone on the phone, in Manila and they now tell me that I can’t authorize changes to the account because the account is not in my name, it’s in Ramil’s. Why is it not in my name? Because they won’t let it be in my name…I’m not a Filipino. About 2 hours from now, I will be heading to the Globe office and I will be confronting them about my recent issues and ‘maybe’ making a payment. They got my internet back up at about 1030 this morning. They say it was a bad modem and they replaced it. They did get here pretty fast after ‘Ramil’ talked with them on the phone. When they arrived there were 4 guys. One of those guys did all the work, 2 of them watched him, the last one never even came in the house. What a waste of manpower. On top of all that, when they left, they took my pen that I had on my computer desk.
I’d also like to apologize for the poor quality of the pictures recently. It was because of the cheap batteries, or so I thought. I now think that the camera is not so great anymore.
I’ve got some days to make up here. All of them have pretty good information too. I’ll just start where I left off and get as much information in as I can without making the posts too long. I’ve got 3 1/2 pages of notes and I’m going to be going by those. I’m just saying because on one day I may say I’m going to do something and the next paragraph I may say I did it. Of course they’d be under different days.
30 Dec 2010 – When I went to bed at 0207 the hits were at 63718. When I got up at 0727, I forgot to check the hits though. Oh well. I did watch the 100th episode of Bones this morning though. I made some Maya mix pancakes. Today did start out slow. I started an online course in Excel. I’ve always wanted to learn that properly and since I’ve got a little extra time, I figured I do it this time. I’ve got the basic basic’s down already. When I get that down good, I’m going to learn how to do something else on line also. I don’t know what yet, but I’m sure there is something out there I’d like to learn that has free course online. Going to rearrange my desk area tomorrow. I’m going to put the transformer and surge protector on top of the table. They are both getting too much dust on them from being on the floor. At night time I will be covering them up with a towel or something, just like I do the vents on the computer at night. Maybe after/if we get tile or linoleum on the floor, I will put it all back on the floor. Probably not, but maybe.
- Lechon Baboy
- Clowning in the kitchen.
I was talking to Jaclyn, via e-mail, before the Internet went down on Friday and she said that they might not be able to come in May. They were still trying to, but there might be circumstances that prevent them from doing so. If they are unable to come, then I will be looking for tickets to anywhere cheaper as long as the place we are going has a US military base. I want to go shopping on base/post and visit the NCO Club. Osan (Korea), Kadena (Okinawa) or Yokota (Japan) are the most likely options. Probably will just go to Osan as we have been planning already.
Titing gave me an early birthday present. He gave me a battery charger with 4 batteries. It is just one that he had in his house that he only used once in a while, so he decided to give it to me. Just exactly what I needed. I got it, put the 4 batteries in it and plugged it up. I figure it will be charged by the time I wake up in the morning. Even though I have the batteries charged, some of the pictures are still not coming out right. We plan to get a new camera when we go to Texas so hopefully that will solve the whole problem. Maybe I’ll get one in Korea, when/if we go.
When I went to bed at 0215, hit’s were at 64899..so that was 1180 hits in about a 24 hour period. That’s pretty good compared to what I have been getting, but still not near the people getting 1180 hits per hour.
I’m sorry..I know it’s been a long time since I’ve done a post, but I need to take a nap. I have to go downtown in about 1 1/2 hours and I don’t want to fall asleep while talking to anyone. I’ll be back in a bit.
Back now…already been downtown for today too. More on that later, but it’s going to be hard to suppress what happen today. I might let some of it slip out before I want to talk about it fully. If you notice any of it, just know that it was not a good trip downtown today.
- Let the feast begin
- End of 2010 feasting from end of table.
It started raining hard today. It’d rain hard for awhile, then slow down. After awhile it’d be hard again. All the rest of the day it followed this same pattern.
Found out today that J is back in Tambis trying to recruit good workers to come over here, hopefully relatives so Lita will be more comfortable. His goal is to get at least 2, one for us and one for Judith to work in Joyous Eatery.
31 Dec 11 – Up and happy at 0650. Before I did much today I made sure I accomplished the computer desk rearrangement that I talked about yesterday. The surge protector and transformer (regulator) are now on top of the desk. I cover them at night just like I do the keyboard and vents on the computer. Think I’m going to start covering the screen too. It’s always just so dusty around here. This will also make it easier to sweep under the computer desk. Now there is nothing under there except the floor and dust.
Ramil stopped by while I was looking for a picture to use in today’s blog. He saw a picture of the Loboc River restaurant and said that he was just there 2 weeks earlier. I found out that it is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, or as they say in the Philippines, eat-all-you-can. The price is P450 ($10.50). I also found out that there is actually more than 1 restaurant, in fact, there are several. Ramil was pretty sure that they served different types of food on some of them. I watched a video on you-tube and it also looks like they have entertainment boats. I didn’t see anyone eating on these, but a lot of singing and dancing. Maybe the person that was taking the video was eating, but he never showed it.
- Goofing in front of the music.
This “Bebie Dancing” video is from the New Year Eve party we had. It’s only 11 seconds long, but, at least on my computer, it takes a lot longer to load than 11 seconds.
It did it again. My computer has been just shutting itself off in the middle of me doing something. Not rebooting, shutting down. At first I was thinking it was the transformer because the needle was a little lower than normal, like it did when we had low power before. Now I think it is the surge protector because I noticed that the green light on it would blink several times right before the computer powered itself off. Then I over-thought it, thinking that it could still be the transformer because the surge protector is plugged into the transformer. I was driving myself crazy.
Later on in the day the Internet went down. I waited all the rest of the day for it to come up because I couldn’t call anyway. Ding dang phone was only partly fixed. I can now call local, but no long distance or international. I’ve asked them 4 times now to fix my phone problem, and they always say they will, but don’t. Not much I can do about it either because I either have little or no choice as to what Internet service or phone service I have here in Bagacay. Service is limited in this area.
I ended up playing games like Plants vs. Zombies, Text Twist and Zuma. I can’t seem to beat Level 9-3 on Zuma and every time you don’t complete through Level 9-6 with 3 lives, you have to start over. Level 9-1 is too hard to have to keep doing over, but I need to do it if I’m ever going to get through it. I’m getting pretty awesome at the Plants vs. Zombies, especially since I never played it before I got here and even then it’s only been a couple of months. Just one of those games I can connect with, like the original Mario Brothers. It doesn’t happen that often, but it did in this case.
Useless Knowledge: Most newborns cry without tears until they are 3-6 weeks old.
More Useless Knowledge: In 1938 DuPont scientist Dr. Roy Plunkett accidentally created Teflon, but his company wasn’t excited about it. As DuPont dragged its heels, a Parisian named Marc Gregoire learned of Teflon, and at his wife’s urging managed to apply it to her pots and pans. Within several years, this entrepreneur sold in excess of 1 million pieces of Tefal (his name for Teflon) cookware. But the concept of Teflon did not stick in America. When UPI reporter Thomas Hardie encountered one of these coated pans in France, he saw a niche in the domestic market and contacted Marc Gregoire. Hardie then pitched the product to every major U.S. manufacturer of cooking utensils, but to no avail. Finally, he convinced a buyer at Macy’s to take 200 pans off his hands. All sold within two days, despite a major snowstorm. But Hardie could not keep up with the demand. While he was building a plant to produce his product, other companies seized the opportunity and forged their own coated cookware.
Tagalog Word of the Day: tasa (ta-sa) means cup.
That’s all I have for this post. I will have another post tomorrow so I can start out with 1 Jan 2011. I will do the first 2 days of the new year tomorrow. The next day I will get caught up with the 3rd and the 4th.
Salamat, Palaam
Welcome back, JJ! Thought you might have come down with the flu or something. Glad it was just an Internet problem. 🙂
You really are hilarious although you try not to show that side of your personality. Or do you? :0 LOL
I encountered THE long-distance problem while in downtown Tacloban. Horrific experience trying to walk under the 90-degree blazing sun [easier than trying to snag a parking spot] from one place to another. Even the telephone office does not offer the service, I kid you not. I had to drive to Palo and use a private phone to call long-distance! Nothing makes sense.
On the other hand, a first cousin in Anahawan who uses a Globe landline and his sister in Cebu whose landline service is also provided by Globe, can call each other “locally.” No LD charge. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. 🙂
Read you tomorrow. Keep typing.!
No, no flu…but a case of the ‘pissed offs’.
Maybe I’m funny, maybe not, I am complex. More complex than even my wife knows, or am I?
All I know is that the phone system here sucks. Titing agrees with me too.
I have Globe and I can call locally free. In fact, I hear, any phone system here can call their phone system for free, no matter where in the Philippines, but if you call someone on another phone system and they are standing next to you (which would be stupid, but to make a point) it’s long distance. Let the pipe smoking continue.
I’ll type ya later.