I heard from Roly that our boss at a previous company died last Saturday during the height of Typhoon Ondoy. A wall at their home, weakened by floodwater, collapsed on him.
DTF or Sir Dave as he was fondly called, was a certified techie. He was one of my mentors. Mine and of many others. He will be missed.
Typhoon Ondoy (aka Ketsana) struck and Metro Manila hit really hard. I was supposed to have a business meeting with Tina at High Street but she texted me that the weather is not cooperating and that we should postpone. The driving rain was quite persuasive so I agreed.
But I didn’t realize it was so bad until late afternoon when James texted about impassable streets and houses flooded up to their second levels! We went out today and devastation was quite evident along our way. But we didn’t see the worst of it till we saw the news. Debris, submerged houses, vehicles stacked like dominos,hundreds if not thousands of refugees. One of the hardest hit areas was Pasig. To think we were not-too-long-ago considering moving there. Horrible.
If you want to know how to help the victims, check this Google docs spreadsheet.
Michelle and I finally decided to subscribe to Sun Wireless Broadband. We were quite reluctant at first because of all the horror stories about wireless Internet access. Not just about Sun but also Globe and Smart. In fact, I think Smart Bro started it all, the horror stories.
But recently, there have been better feedback about Sun’s product to the point that people are even saying that Globe and Smart is a waste of time and money. That’s a big turnabout since Sun is really notorious for their poor signal and poor interconnection (but I’m sure it’s not entirely their fault there). And although the horror stories are not completely gone, we decided to take a leap of faith and get one.
Of course, we chose the no commitment option: Buying the modem for less expensive promo price of P1,595 (instead of the overpriced P1,895) and getting the unlimited account for P799 a month. The transaction was reasonably fast and painless. I guess they were eager to make a sale. We filled up two forms (one for the account and one for the credit card billing) and then were given a Huawei E1550 HSDB USB modem. After a short tutorial where the only thing I really heard was about some 24 hour activation, we’re off.
So after getting home,plugging in the USB modem, installing the built-in software, and waiting the requisite 24 hours, here we are surfing wirelessly. And the speed was a miserably slow 150Kbps or so. There are times when it struggles, and there are times (early in the morning) when it’s pretty fast but it’s usually just around 150Kbps. So I guess some of the horror stories are true.
But still it’s not too bad for unlimited wireless for P799 a month. Of course, I definitely want Sun to fix and improve it. Who doesn’t, right? I hope Globe and Smart wake up from their stupor on their self-imagined laurels and goad Sun to fix and improve. And they should all have service level commitments. But for now, Sun is it.
Was walking around NYC with Cez and Euge when we saw this poster advertising the new Stargate Universe TV series. It seems interesting since I liked Stargate the movie, followed Stargate: Atlantis, and plan to watch the original Stargate TV series. But what caught my eye is the URL in the poster: syfy.com instead of scifi.com. What is wrong with these people?!? As Cez said, it’s the dumbing down of the USA. Sheesh!
It’s September 11. A day that lives in infamy. And here I am in NYC (across the water at Jersey City actually). Outside my hotel room window, I can see twin beams of light shooting upward to the sky, part of the city’s memorial activities. May we always remember this day, may we always remember that the enemy is still out there, and will always be there for as long as intolerance exists in this world.