technology – BRYOLOGUE

Kindle scare

November 2, 2012bryologue Leave a Comment

It has been a long time since I tinkered with my Kindle and today, I had to open the wireless connection to wait for the book I converted to arrive. To my surprise, it automatically went to the screen above. Of course, it was just a normal update and I just let it do things on its own.

When the ‘loading’ screen was done, it then went into the screen above. But what happened after gave me a good scare. For a good ten minutes, it seemed on loop with the ‘reboot’ screen. O_O It scared me a lot and I was already blaming myself for carrying on with the update (though I have no idea how to stop it mid-way because it was automatic when it detected WiFi connection). It went on and on and I was already Google-ing DIY troubleshooting given the scenario. And all of a sudden, this screen appeared:

It was just a notification that my Kindle was now updated. LOL Anyway, it contains what are the new things that my Kindle can do now. So aside from the ones listed above, it also has new function for viewing children’s picture books, enhancement on table and image viewing, as well as Whispersync for Voice. I was unnecessarily scared out of my wits and it could not have happened if I were not neglecting my Kindle. I now promise to do more reading with it and periodically keep the wireless connection open, so I get more familiar with updates. =D

Photographing constellations

October 28, 2012bryologue Leave a Comment

Last night, the skies finally cleared up and we (Mon, JB and I) found ourselves in between wooden posts in the construction of the rooftop next to our house. I was very eager to finally test my brother’s bridge camera in photographing the stars without any help from a telescope.

I was really happy with the photo above because you can see the fuzzy clouds in group of stars or the Orion nebula (M42). I used an ISO 1600, an aperture of 3.4 on a GE X500, and with a 30 second time lapse. I was also delighted because the camera was able to capture a lot of stars, which we can’t even see with our naked eyes, even JB who has a 20/20 vision.

I tried taking a closer image of the Orion constellation but this time, it was on an ISO 800. It was still a decent shot.

Last but not the least, I was able to get three pictures of the Pleiades star cluster (top left), Taurus (off center) and Jupiter (bottom) with three 30-second time lapse shots. Of course, because the Earth is rotating in its axis, the subjects in the the pictures taken seemed to have been moving slowly. The above image was a combination of the first and second shot because the third photo had a glare from a passing vehicle. Ugh. Jupiter was looking amazing in this photo.

All these photos just made we want to desperately have a better telescope. I tried taking a picture of Jupiter (whose equatorial bands were visible even on 38.9x magnification) but as I do not have an equatorial mount, there was a ‘startrail’. Anyway, I hope I’d have more luck in the future, and I’m optimistic of that. =D

That awkward moment when Uranus is over the Moon

October 27, 2012bryologue 3 Comments

No pun intended, but when I was checking Stellarium to check what was supposedly up in the heavens if it were not cloudy surprised me. I knew that the Moon was almost in West but I had an unexpected planet. Not to sound like Professor Trelawney on Lavander (“It is Uranus, my dear.”) but I really did not expect the planet because: 1) I was very sure that given my limited equipment, I will be having a hard time searching for it, and 2) IT WAS CLOUDY, so no use wasting my time.

It stopped raining but there was zero visibility of whatever celestial object of interest. I have been hoping to try my luck with my brother’s bridge camera (a GE X500) because I saw other amateur astrophotographers having great luck with the ones they have. But given the current weather condition, I contented myself with playing with the dials/buttons that I don’t normally touch.

My jaw dropped because I did not expect the photos to look like that. It was honestly very dark in the room and very dark outside as well, and I can barely see any details of the clouds in the sky. LOL That was amazing. Now, I can’t wait for the skies to clear so I can try my luck photographing the Jupiter, Taurus and Orion grouping almost directly above around this time.

I’ve been ranting all afternoon about how much I want to buy another telescope — a more powerful one. I really want to do astrophotography but I’m on a budget. I originally wanted to buy a webcam with a CCD sensor, but since my brother has apparently ceased using his bridge camera, I can settle for it now. Back to the telescope question, I really want to research hard on which scope will best fit my needs. If only budget were not an issue. Anyway, I’ll just push what I currently have to the limit and hope for clear skies ahead!

BIG BANG ALIVE TOUR 2012 (MANILA) POST!!!

October 25, 2012bryologue 4 Comments

So yesterday, I had a fantastic day with Mon, Lot (his sister) and Faye. We initially intended to go to Music Bank in Diosdado Macapagal Avenue at around 2:00 PM, but remembered that it will not open until 3:00 PM. We then ate first in Sol Restaurant, few meters away from Music Bank, as we will definitely have a hard time eating a proper meal during the concert. There were few people in the restaurant and all of them were Koreans having, presumably, their late lunch.

So at around 3:30 PM, we finally went inside Music Bank and started singing our hearts out. We had a little hard time looking for some of the KPop songs we would like to sing, but we got there in the end. We spent around two hours, while we were slowly frozen to death by the airconditioning. By the time we got out, I have already developed a runny nose; though I didn’t know if that was because of the room’s temperature or Faye’s virus finally contaminating me (she was not feeling well since Monday). LOL

We didn’t actually know if it was a good idea to go to a noraebang before going to a concert, because we would most likely be losing our voice. But we still have a couple of hours to compose ourselves before the mayhem in The Arena. When we got in the Mall of Asia, we saw this crowd at the back of the venue:

We were to enter in the Coral (Blue) Entrance and there were already a lot of people queuing for the mandatory bag inspection. We did not immediately fall in line because I wanted to make sure that I can sneak my point-and-shoot camera inside. I just observed how the inspection was done and I saw a couple of DSLRs and even point-and-shoots were confiscated by the guards on duty. So I just shoved it deep inside the side pocket of my bag, covered in unused tissue and with my iPod on the top so the guards would immediately see I had nothing to hide. Well it worked but we did not take pictures until we were finally seated in our respective seats.

We were seated in Section 401, which was directly in front of the stage. One of our tickets was in Section 404, but as the person who was to sit next to us did not arrive (or the people, because seat numbers four to seven were vacant), there was no need to push through with our original plan of snatching that one seat.

(We haven’t seen any light stick similar to Faye’s <3 We bought this from the souvenir shop in Doota Mall last year)

And then the concert started! After the curtains fell, the boys were revealed to be inside these illuminated tubes, as if teleported from somewhere.

I did my best with what my camera can do and I noticed that it was far easier and better to take videos, as my hands were not that stable to take photos in low lighting. I managed to take several videos, but bothered only in resizing three of them. I also have uploaded the first one in my previous post. And also, I was not screaming like a banshee in these videos (unlike the 2NE1 videos I took, where I was screaming Bom’s name like it will lead me to salvation). (*Note: Change the quality to “480p” ([in the gear icon above] to view the best quality)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fZyedMYS-8&feature=plcp]

Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila – Fantastic Baby

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdbh1rK45_A&feature=plcp]

Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila – Haru Haru

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJJp3YdpNns&feature=plcp]

Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila – Lies

If I have to be perfectly honest with the whole experience, I sat during most of the middle of the concert because: a) I did not know the songs they were singing, and b) I was really too low-energy (a.k.a. old) to match the energy of the people around me. However, the line-up of the songs was perfectly-made that I cannot NOT stand up and sing along with the songs I knew and loved (e.g. the songs I recorded above). LOL My mental discography was very archaic and I was stuck in Big Bang circa 2008-2009.

At Php 3,900, we got our money’s worth. =D Compared to the three-thousand plus we shelled out in that joke/milk-the-opportunity strategy called “The Party” last year, Big Bang’s first concert here in Manila was very good, production-wise. Although it was apparent that most of the boys gave a very vocally lackluster performance (Tae Yang’s voice was cracking, and as how Sharon Needles put it, he was Christina-ing it out a lot; and GD seemed to have quite a lower energy). Daesung was the most consistent among the boys and I have new respect for him because of that. There were also a lot of Roselle-Nava-sing-with-me moments, which I didn’t like. =/

Another theory given by our friend China (who had to brave the fiasco at the topmost seats, along with two other people), was that GD sensed the overwhelming bias of the crowd towards T.O.P. and he was already resigned over that fact. LOL I didn’t even know how factual that theory was but I think that he still gave a decent job, albeit the low energy. Also, we were wondering why he did not perform his latest single, Crayon (whose video shown before the concert even started has sent the crowd to a shrieking frenzy). But I was extremely envious of his Givenchy Rotweiler shirt. Ugh. LOL

Naturally, we were hungry after the event but as almost all the establishments were closed by 10:30 PM (the show ran few minutes over two hours), we did not even bother eating a snack. We actually had the choice of going to McDonald’s but it was jam-packed, so we decided to just part ways. The rain also did not help. I forgot to bring an umbrella and I just had a gray cardigan inside. As I was more worried of the vachetta parts onn my backpack, more than myself getting wet, I just buttoned it around my bag, liek a new-born baby. I didn’t want any watermarks to ruin the leather. LOL

We’ve heard that SNSD (or some other group from SM Entertainment) will be going to Manila next year. Lot is one BIG SNSD FAN and she will most likely watch their concert, if ever they would organize one. But as the light sticks are probably insanely marked up here, we will be just buying some in Seoul this December when we go back. I might even buy a few more just to sell when that happy day comes. LOL

WOW! Fantastic Baby!

October 24, 2012bryologue 1 Comment

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fZyedMYS-8&feature=youtu.be]

So tired but happy! I just want to share this video I took from the Upper Box (Section 401) when Big Bang performed ‘Fantastic Baby’! I knew I had to take a video of this performance because my nephew loves this song so much! He even reminded me about it when he was about to leave for school. LOL

Big Bang light stick against the light-strewn background - Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila

I still have to edit the pictures I took earlier! Time to hit the sack! (And yeah, I created a YouTube account just to upload that video LOL)

2012 Astronomy Day – Clouds throwing shade

October 20, 2012bryologue Leave a Comment

Not literally. But since October 20, 2012 is Astronomy Day, I decided to take my telescope out after several months of being inside its box and look up to the heavens. Any amateur enthusiast or professional astronomer must do something astronom-ish for the night. LOL However, the wonderful clouds went in the way and I wasn’t able to see other things, except for the Moon.

Don’t get me wrong. I am in LOVE with the Moon, but I was hoping to catch a glimpse of other celestial bodies. I took this photo of the moon almost half past six, and Jupiter wasn’t due until about almost ten from where I was located. I borrowed my brother’s bridge camera, just to try my luck in capturing Jupiter, because I had been having a hard time with my point and shoot camera (which I used for the photo above — but I was also wondering why my photos using the same camera this time were not that good as before). As I went out of the house four hours after, I immediately saw Jupiter almost above me and unobstructed — perfect condition because it meant less turbulence in the atmosphere for my optics to penetrate through. But as I was already searching for it, first with the 25mm eyepiece, then with the 9mm eyepiece, I could no longer see it. Thanks to the clouds. Ugh. I was cursing under my breath, no, loudly and Mon had to remind me to lower my voice. We were in the middle of our street.

It’s no longer the rainy season but I just hope that those dense cloud formations would give way for me just to get a good glimpse of the Orion Nebula, Pleiades and Jupiter. >_<

My first backpack in years

October 14, 2012bryologue 4 Comments

If you take a look at the things I own, you can immediately identify the absence of a backpack. But why on earth I didn’t have one? It was a very interesting story because I used to be backpack-only type of guy — well that was when I was in grade school until college.

The last backpack I owned was this red Nike backpack (which I dug out of the bowels of my closet for picture’s sake. It literally has cobwebs on the bottom):

It was what I used to carry because I also had everyday training and it was very easy on the shoulders for the weight was pretty much distributed evenly. Unfortunately, when I was on my way back to UP for training with the squad and as I passed by Philcoa, a little, dirty girl stood in front of me and grab my legs. I was of course taken aback and was trying to get out of her embrace. A few seconds after when I was about to pay the jeepney back to Aldaba Hall, I’ve noticed that the front pocket was open. It felt like being doused with cold water because upon first sight, I knew right away that my cellphone (a Nokia 3230) was stolen. That was my bat signal to curse the backpack for eternity and I have gotten a big, slouchy messenger bag from American Boulevard in SM North a day after.

(Screencap from the movie ‘Hairspray’)

Years went by and I still wasn’t convinced that I needed a backpack. I forever associated it to being prone to stealing because a person is definitely blind when you have the bag at your back. However, when I first saw Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) carrying the leather satchel backpack in the opening sequence of Hairspray, I realized that it might have been time to reconsider having one. I think the one in the movie is similar to the type of bags that Cambridge Satchel does, and I highly doubt if they did not issue a backpack-type. But as I was already disenchanted by the price of a Cambridge Satchel, I was just confronted with the idea of having even just one backpack.

As the old adage goes: NEVER SAY NEVER. First of all, I’ve said before that I’m already growing out of my monogram phase. But can you resist something that suddenly comes up without a warning (i.e. a good deal) for an insanely significant fraction of the retail price? When the Louis Vuitton Montsouris GM backpack was initially released, it was sold at US$ 1,300. I see that a lot of online sellers selling it at an average of US$ 500 (and Luxury Exchange even sold one for US$ 910!) Can you fault me for getting it in a snap because the seller offered it to me for an extremely reasonable price? 😉 I bet you would even beat me to it if you can!

(Photo from Fashionphile)

My knowledge of Louis Vuitton, albeit limited, is sufficient, especially when it comes to monogram canvas and epi leather. However, I will not assume that I know a lot so even when I was inspecting the bag, I was secretly Google-ing “Montsouris GM” because I was not really sure if the style in that size was made. The initial search results was of Kanye West carrying the same bag from Fashionphile. Okay so the style do exist, but I needed to inspect every hardware, date code and heatstamp to make sure that everything was okay.

I still cannot believe that I got a good deal for this bag! Of course, it was not perfect, with minor issues such as that ‘stain’ near the heatstamp by the back, and I had to clean some parts of the canvas with a damp cloth, but nevertheless it was in excellent condition. What bothers me the most, however, was the amount of vachetta the bag has, especially at the bottom. I never owned anything that has this much vachetta, and I’m afraid that it might get ruined under my clumsy hands.

I’m only 5’6″ and the bag doesn’t look small, so that’s a good thing. But Mon and I agree that he’s going to use it for our trip back to Seoul. (Yes, I can’t stop talking about our Seoul trip because I’m extremely excited!) As much as I want to use it there, I’d just stick with a messenger because I’ll be most comfortable with it than this bag that I’m still not used to. =)

J’adore mon Epi Noir!

October 12, 2012bryologue 1 Comment

And it finally arrived! I can’t even remember that I was disappointed with the Globe GCASH ‘fiasco’ I had yesterday the moment I opened the parcel.

I know I loved my lost Marc Jacobs coin purse, whose lost I had constantly complained about, but I can’t be more happy of this replacement! I knew deep down that I did not have to rush in buying any coin purse because I was secretly hoping to find a reasonably priced epi leather item or even just a nice looking leather coin purse. And after more than two months of searching, I finally have another one! Frankly, I’m not a big fan of the key-ring because it makes the item more feminine. But as I can easily hide it inside, it wasn’t that big of a deal anyway. The compartment itself isn’t that roomy, though. Sure I can fit in a few cards and train tickets, but it can’t fit the usual amount of coins the same way my old one did.

Today is Friday and I was originally about to go to UP and return books that are already overdue (not just for a month, but even more!). I can’t wait for tomorrow because we will be ‘treasure hunting’ and most of all, I’ve been wanting to watch ‘Taken 2’ since last week! Happy Friday it is!

Oh… new Globe GCASH Fees = BYE BYE GCASH!!!

October 11, 2012bryologue 1 Comment

Last night, I had decided to get the Epi leather Cles I’ve been considering since Monday to finally have a replacement for my lost coin purse. I woke up relatively early because I had to pay for the item via GCash in Gateway Mall and cash-in (i.e. put credits in my account) because I still have a few hundreds in my account. I just needed to augment it before sending to the seller through my own cellphone.

While I was in the couch and about to send the money, I received a notification that the transaction was failed because I had no sufficient funds. I was initially shocked because I never had such problem with sending money. I re-checked my balance and saw that I had sufficient amount. I approached the counter to ask what was the problem, then she informed me that they now charge Php 10/ Php 1000 sent from one account to another. WHOA!

I can’t remember when was the last time I paid for something via GCash. Was it that long time ago that I did not even know that such transactions fees were already imposed? Turned out that it has been like that since August 1, 2012. Well, since I was putting cash into my own account, I did not have to pay any fees. But the fees are also different from OTC to cellphone-to-cellphone transaction. In my case earlier, Php 10 / Php 1000 had to be deducted from my current balance. However, it will be Php 20/Php 1000 if the transaction will be done OTC. And take note that I was reminded that it will remain to be Php 10 or Php 20 for every fraction of a thousand. So does it mean that the fee will be Php 40 if one would intend to send Php 2,001 to another account via OTC? Most probably yes.

Globe used to charge differently before, with the 1% transaction fee as an acceptable rate, at least for me. I’ve been using Globe GCASH both as a seller and buyer on Ebay.ph since 2008, and this move by Globe definitely put me off from using this service? Will I still be using Globe GCASH? Definitely not. I was already put-off by the interbranch charge by BDO so I decided not to use it as a payment option for buyers, and I will also be removing the GCASH option — their service just lost one customer.

HELLO BRYOLOGUE.COM!

August 17, 2012bryologue Leave a Comment

Bye bryologue.wordpress.com! I finally have my own domain! All thanks to my enabler friend, Faye (and her magic card), I decided on a whim to ditch the .wordpress.com to get bryologue.com! I’m barely three months blogging here but I might as well give all my love to my virtual refuge. Now, off to explore what makes having your own domain better than the free one. ♥

P.S.

I need a new banner to mark this event.