BACK TO BLOGGING

BACK TO BLOGGING
I forgot my password to this to this account because I haven’t posted anything since I made that Flikcr account....I’ve been busy with photography you know. I guess I’m just those wanna be photographer that they call. That damn digital thing is so in right now that it can be compared to the lechon manok phenomenon.

Anyhow, I got no time to do my photography anymore. Lany’s mom is leaving Bahrain for a couple of months and we’ll be having a handful of stuff to do with Diego now at our full time watch. What seem’s to be a luxury lifestyle before is now just a memory.... But if I get that super macro lens I won’t have to worry so much.

It’s not so bad being with the family. I might actually enjoy myself watching and molding this 3 year old to what he’s suppose to in the future. FYI you’ll be surprised to hear that he’ll be wearing eye glasses in a couple of days. Our doctor assessed that he has Astigmatism. There’s a problem with his Cornea that makes it impossible for him to see clearly. No worries! By the time he’s 18 years old we would have had the money needed for a LASIK surgery.

Back to the baby sitting thing, I started calling Diego “Slumdog” a couple of days ago. Poor guy, he will have to deal with the fact that we have to leave him at the babysitter’s house. It’s no palace. But there will be other kids there. We’re just hopping that he will learn to get along with the other kids. His kind of play is based on the “Power Ranger” TV show. One day he’ll go home with bruises, but it will define his personality...tougher!

PUZZLED

MADE IN HELL

(I wrote this for www.pinoyatbpa.com . Now it doesn't exist anymore! huhuhu! I just want to share this with you.)

Alam kong maraming kalalakihan ang madidisappoint sa announcement ko na hindi ko isusulat ang karanasan ko sa “Vaginismus”. Pero wala akong magagawa dahil sisipain daw ako ni Patrice sa gilagid kapag nabasa nyang bastos ang entry ko. Kaya naman naisip kong ibahin na lang ang topic. “MADE IN HELL”, ito na siguro ang expertise naming magasawa…hindi dahil magulo ang married life namin pero dahil mahilig kaming bumili ng electronics.

In the past 10 years dumadami ang mga kilalang producto tulad ng Sony, Philips, HP, etc. ang ngayon ay may mga factory na sa ibang bansa. Kaya huwag kang magugulat kung pagbaligtad mo sa DVD player mo ay makikita mong ito ay gawa sa China or Malaysia or India or even Philippines. What the hell??? OO, ang binili mong Sony na originally made in Japan ay ginagawa na rin sa Malaysia. Maging ang HP na dati ay galing ng USA ay gawa or assembled na rin sa China. Ang tawag dito ay “outsourcing”. Ibig sabihin ang mga malalaking company na based sa US, Japan at Europe ay gumagawa ng factory sa mga third world countries para dun ipagawa ang kanilang mga product dahil mataas ang tax nila sa sarili nilang bansa. Sa pamamagitan ng outsourcing bumababa ang production cost tulad ng manpower, tax at ng iba pang patong nila sa mga goods nila. But does it mean na bumaba ang presyo ng goods nila? Feel ko hindi. So this is bads if the goods are high not low. Dahil mataas pa rin ng presyo nila sa market.

E ano nga ba ang pinagiba ng mga product na ito kung gawa sila sa third world country? Personally hindi ko talaga alam. Ang kaya ko lang bigyan ng comment ay yung mga product na nabili ko. Here are some of my tips kung bibili ka ng mga producto nabili ko na:
Kung bibili ka ng Whirlpool automatic washing machine be sure na gawa ito sa US at hindi sa India. Yung nabili namin isang araw pa lang pinalitan na yung board nya (motherboard ba tawag dun?) dahil nag-error na agad. Tapos habang naglalaba sya may mga nalalaglag ng screw, akala ko tuloy sa ulo ko galing yung mga screw. Sabi kasi ng nanay ko maluwag daw ang turnilyo ko sa ulo. I don’t know kung aling ulo ang titutukoy nya, but it scared the hell out of me…

Kung bibili ka ng digital camera na gawa ng Sony or Canon piliin mo yung made in Japan. Di ko alam ang difference ng made in third world pero para di ka magsisisi pumili ng made in Japan dahil for sure heavy duty ang mga ito. Yung anak ng kapitbahay namin na Japayuki ay made in Japan. Yung relasyon nila ng hapon ay nasira agad or short lived…pero nainisip ko baby naman ang ginawa nila at hindi digital camera. Kung iniisip mo na itutuloy ko pa ng kwento ko sa kapitbahay ko nagkakamali ka dahil hindi ako chismoso. Che!

Kung bibili ka ng HP printer humanda ka kapag nasira ito dahil hindi ka bibigyan ng Hewlett Paksyet ng bagong printer. Instead bibigyan ka nila ng refurbished na bagong ballot ng plastic. Masama pa rin ang loob ko sa kanila dahil 1 month ko pa lang nagamit ang 5 in 1 printer na may 3×3 inch LCD ay nasira na agad yung LCD, tapos pinalitan nila ng lumang printer…take note, printer ang pinalitan at hindi LCD. After nito sinunog ko lahat ng pictures at CD ko ni Jennifer Love Hewlett. After browsing the internet nagsisi ako dahil “Hewitt” pala ang tunay nyang apelyido.

Laptop. Dito ko napraning! Lahat ng features na gusto ko ay na sa HP. May remote, light scribe, quick play, 5 in 1 card reader, duo core 2.2Ghz, 2000 plus ram, 200GB memory, true bright 15.1 LCD, scratch proof finish pa! Talagang malufet! May Dell kaming nakita pero nagtataka kami kung bakit bigla syang nagmura. Yun ang type ng wife kasi daw made in Ireland. Ang sa akin naman kasi nabasa ko sa diaryo na naglabas sila dati ng defective na battery na bigla na lang nagliliyab. E papano kung bigla na lang magliyab sa kandungan ko ang laptop habang nagsusurf ako ng internet habang nagpapagasolina? O-M-G! Hindi na masusundan ang anak ko! Thats why I settled for an HP na assembled in China. Mas importante sa akin yung features, specs and my balls.

Ang balita ko sa mga fellow OFW ko ay basta maging maingat sa pagbili at pagpili ng gamit. It doesn’t matter kung saan gawa basta matindi ang quality control nila. Maiging magbasa ng mga product review sa internet at magbrowse ng mga products na may consumer report sa internet. Ang alam ko may website sila, para naman hindi masayang ang hard earned cash mo. Ikaw ano ang pipiliin mo?

EXTREME DREAMS

I couldn't seem to pay attention to the Extreme Stunts at the Toyota F1 Extreme Stunts show near the Diplomat Hotel. It is so typical...just like watching TV.

While taking a few snap shots of the jetskiers, I saw this Arab man watching from where I was standing. I immediately positioned myself so that he won't notice me. Click!

SHARING THE SUNSET

It's a picture of two friends spending the sunset at the Budaiya shores. What are they discussing? I don't know...I don't speak Indian.

WORLD TRADE CENTER

This is a view of the WTO Bahrain from the Sitra Bridge. There was a lot of Photoshop needed for this shot. The weather isn't really being very cooperative.

HAZEL

Shot entirely with my 50mm. My favorite photo to date.

DIEGO'S PORTRAIT

Both of these pictures were taken by Lany (D80/50mm f/1.8), Photoshop editing by yours truly.

PAROKYA NI EDGAR

This is what Parokya Love really means. This was taken by Red Wacky Worm at the Rakrakan Overload Concert, Marina Club Bahrain.

GROWING PAINS

Sometimes you forget a lot of things especially when you’re busy. Ako pa naman parang may early Alzheimer’s kaya maraming nakakalimutan. Most of the time pabalik-balik ako sa bahay dahil lagi akong may nakakalimutan. But you can test my memory on names and face’s ayun medyo malakas ako dun. I just associate them with an event and the memory just pop’s up in my mind. Usually alam ko pa yung first and last name.

When I came here to Bahrain I left all my worries in Pinas. I was liberated from the day to day urban chaos and the never ending problems at home. My family life is far from perfect. Here, I run everything the way I want it to be run. I have full control (almost) of my destiny. And then I got married...married life turned my life around. I wouldn’t say that its bad, there are a lot of good things that happened and one of them is having a family. The bad thing about it is that I have an enormous responsibility that came with it. No problem naman because I share it with my wifey.

Simple lang ang principle ng pag-tackle ng mga problema. I got a two step plan for this. First, you deal with the problem and never run away from them. Second, kahit mas malaki pa sa iyo ang problema you don’t lose hope and get intimidated by it. You have to do what you got to do! Laban kahit hindi mo kaya.

But what if the problems keep coming at you from every angle like villains in a Jet Li movie? Does the two step approach apply to it? Puede rin! Minsan nagiging “drunken master” pa nga ako but it doesn’t mean I give up. Technique lang yun!

Right now I got a problem and there is no easy solution to it. It keeps coming like ninja’s on steroids. This time I might need to come up with a third step.