The city of Niños - part 1

You will have movies named after you.

Weekend of festivals

This weekend for me is one of the more productive ones. Even though I did not have two full days of activities, I was still able to visit two festivals, have a short river cruise, revisited the observatory, and do my week's groceries.

We decided to go back to see the Prime Meridian but this time we didn't take the train. We took the a short river cruise to Greenwich. It only took 30 minutes but there are many things you can see from the river. It is also this weekend that the mayor's Thames Festival is taking place around the south bank of the River Thames. The festival wasn't going to start until noon so we decided to go to our stuff in Greenwich then come bakc for the Thames Festival.

It was a good day in Greenwich. The air is noticably clearer although you can still hear a lot of the echoing traffic hum from the city...

After Greenwich, we took the second to the last boat back to Tower Hill. On the way back, the river festival has already started and is in full steam. One of the activities was a row boat race on the river and our boat passed many forms of rowing boats - from 4 man boats to full team dragon boats with drums. The festival is not only on water but it is spread out on the south bank of the river from Tower Hill to Westminster. It is here I witnessed the Tower Bridge raised for a passing boat. I'm sur eit happens all the time but as I am seldom by the river bank, it is a special site for me.

As with any festival I go to, I look out for food and there were plenty of food around. Unfortunately I couldn't try them all....if only a have 5 stomachs. Dusk approaches and we reached the half way point of the festival area where we noticed there is a river bank/beach party going on under the Millenium Bridge. So we decided to go down...it is not often yo are allowed to go down by the river bank I think so we took this chance.


There's the Millenium Bridge. When it was first opened to the public, an architectural flaw caused the bridge to sway uncontrollably and it was shut down for 2 months for repairs...


The river bank is full of shiny pieces of 'rocks' but upon closer look you will see glass and assorted river pebbles. The water is very murky. I was on a constant look out for bones as back in the medieval days, bodies were thrown into these waters...

The following day...i.e. Sunday...The plan was to go to the 24th Barrio Fiesta in London...The location is about 50 mitnues from central London and I wasn't even sure if it was happening. I first found out about it when I walked passed this 'Beauty Parlour' owned by a pinoy...I saw a bunch of pinoy community papers, very much like the ones we have in Auckland, and took some home. One of the ads is the fiesta but it didn't state a time...

So I decided to go in time for lunch...The fiesta is not much different from what we have in Auckland except you have more people, bigger place, and much more and better tasting food. Oscar Catoto's food is no match of course.

The place is called Lampton Park and is very close to the airport...

Lots of yummy food. At first I do not know what to get...there were just so many and I want to try them all...

In the end I opted for Dinuguan and Bopis...not enough rice though...The stall I visited was makuripot sa kanin.
I didn't try this but I thought El Nino would like this photo very much.

I also had a serving of Chicharon Bulaklak, incorrectly named Deep fried Pig's fat. Correct me if I'm wrong but chicharon bulaklak is deep fried pork intestine sinew. Yummy but a bit stale and not enough vinegar...

Next weekend is a whole new story...

Crack up Spore Video

Dedicated to the pillowbiters Jigs and Kit

Star Trek: Young Spock

perfect casting: Zachary Quinto as the younger Spock

Pammy Jackson?

what's not to like!!

A whole new level of stupidity.

Gender-biased choc

Necessities

I've recently learnt that I can survive a day/week/month without two
things - television and a microwave oven!

After moving to my new flat two months ago, amongst other things I
have tv and microwave in my mind.
The first to pass the time and catch up on my fave shows which
includes documentaries, and the second, to heat up food since I
usually cook in bulk.

I thought about them for the first couple of weeks and the next thing
I knew is that it's been 2.5 months and that I've adapted.

I don't get to watch tv a lot to begin with due to other chores but
when I do I watch tv online through the BBC iPlayer or Rove online.
I've also started downloading video podcasts but funny enough I don't
watch them on my pod.

Food also started tasting better as now I heat them up on the stove
other directly or by steaming. They end up being hotter too unlike the
uneven heated food you get from micros.

So moving to London changed a couple of things (among many I bet).

What will be next? Let's see...since I don't have a tv, I don't have
any consoles either. No dvd player and surround sound system. I don't
have a coffee table. I don't have a car and haven't driven in four
months... No garden but I don't completely miss it.

Actually I haven't thought about any of them until just now.

There is one thing for sure I can do without and that's the Internet.

------------------------
Pogz Unplugged

Hypocrisy or Redemption?

Safety & the Environment

Alienware

Just arrived at my hotel in brussels ... But my room wasn't ready so
first order of business for a digital child is to find a computer/
Internet .

Found a free one I'm the lobby so logged in and started typing my
email but like some kind of weird dream, the wrong words are appearing
on screen.

Look at the keyboard and the keys are shuffled all over the place.

Are you ready for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince?

Random mobile photos

Would be a shame if these photos go to waste. Here are some random photos from my faithful old Sony Ericsson.

A chocolate snack. The stilts in black beside the rubbish bin is Lesley-Ann's (colleague) who, unlike the chocolate snack, is a Filipina. The guys were teasing her with the chocolate..

Fat content comparison between Human, Cow's, and Whale's milk.

Shisha pipe I smoked a few weeks ago.

Spider Cow - completely random. Just saw this through a window one night on the way home from work. I had a few so I took this photo to make sure I am seeing what I'm seeing.

iPhone apps 3/3

This is my useless but fun apps page. I think it is compulsory to have
one.

Scratch - while you are playing your music, run this to do your own
scratch effects.

iPint - Virtual pint of beer. Need I say more?

8 ball - For making life changing decisions like moving to London.

PhoneSaber - choose your saber colour, wave your phone around and may
the force be with you.

The other two are kinds boring. They may not last long on this page.

iPhone apps 2/3

This is my games page. Taptap is like guitar hero. I'll give you one
guess what Bubblewrap is for...

I'm waiting for a free Texas hold'em.

iPhone apps 1/3

My first home page is now full. There wasn't much space to begin with.
Palringo is among the latest I've downloaded from the app store. It
allows you to combine several IM accounts into one single one. It
supports MSN, ICQ, AOL, Google Talk, and Jabber.

Mobile blogging attempt no 2

There we go. I had to attach an image first...saw this 'revolutionary'
jewellery at a Selfridges store today. The lengths some people will go thru...

Mobile blogging

Tried making a post using my iPhone Safari browser but the browser
cannot detect the body text field.

So now I'm trying the mail to blog option :)

Hmm can't attach an image. Maybe I need to choose the image from the
beginning.

Brb!

Sent from my iPhone

Protection

Went to the Tower of London today to get my mind off the iPhone but it didn't really work.

I found the Tower of London kinda boring. But I did find this exhibit there.

This will protect your future in two different levels.

iPhone 3G Disappointment

After weeks of waiting for the iPhone 3G, the week was finally here. I was excited to hear the news that the only two store chains selling the iPhone 3G opened their doors online to allow pre-orders. This was different from the pre-registrations a month ago which the Carphone Warehouse and O2 used to gauge public demand.

So I attempted to pre-order last monday (9th July) but due to high demand, the Carphone Warehouse and o2 Web site crashed a few times. I decided to phone Carphone Warehouse and the lady behind the phone was kind enough to process my pre-order via phone. BUT, they want three years of UK address history and as I've only been here since April, I cannot give her what she needed to process my pre-order.

Somehow it didn't matter that I'm already an O2 customer so surely this requirement can be bypassed.

As I was at work, I decided to wait until I got home. Unfortunately all online stocks were sold out by the time I got home. The sites instructed visitors to come back on or after July 10th, with 11th being the big day.

Three days ago I went back on the Carphone Warehouse site and YES! there it was the pre-ordering is back online. This time I didn't take any chances and ordered online. I received confirmation in the mail that my order was submitted successfully. So I am happy and more relaxed now. The email instructions said my order will be ready for pick the following day if it was ordered before 3pm. My order went through around 3.30pm so I thought saturday was ok for me as long as my order went through. Come friday morning...the big launch day....on my way to work I swung by the Carphone Warehouse store closest to my work. There was a queue of about 2 dozen people. I thought about waiting in line but since I have a lot to do at work I decided to trust the pre-ordering system.

Around mid-morning, I received the terrible news the my pre-order was cancelled! I was furious! I called them up straight away but no one at Carphone Warehouse knew the reason. There is nothing much I can do that day as I am busy at work.

Saturday...hoping....by friday midday all iPhone 3G 16 GB stocks have sold out. But I was hoping that I can walk into a Carphone Warehouse or O2 store and get one yesterday. All bad news except for Carphone Warehouse the 8GB version is still available. I spent the whole day yesterday very tempted to just settle for the 8GB but since I'm getting into an 18 month contract and that 16GB is only 60% more in price, I kept pulling myself back. Today I wake up still considring it.

VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!

What I don't understand is why they don't allow current O2 customers to order an upgrade online. I understand there is no stock but at least they can take the order and upgrade orders can be fullfilled as the products get delivered from Apple. All I want to is order mine so I do not have to physically go to a store and queue. We are in a digital world and gone should be the days where we physically queue up! Ok, they have security checks and in-store activation....fine but at least allow online ordering for upgrades and when the time comes I'll go to a store and pick them up! The least O2 can do is take care of existing customers. But then again this is London where you get charged 10% for non-existent service.

I'm still waiting to get my hands on an iPhone! Arrrgghh...