General

General

Department Christmas Party

By on Saturday, December 22, 2007

Yesterday, we had our Department Christmas party. We first went to Global Gutz for paintball. It was tough going there because of the horrific traffic. But we all eventually got there and Sir Sonny himself briefed us. We then played 2 rounds of capture the flag and 2 rounds of speedball. It was tiring but fun especially since I racked up 3 or 4 kills. It helped that everyone else were newbies >:)

After playing, we went to Marina, a nearby restaurant where we had a late dinner, an exchange of gifts, and a raffle. I got a 7-piece pitcher and glass set in the gift exchange but didn’t win anything in the raffle :P

After dinner, we proceeded to Malate. It’s my first time at Malate and I hated it. It’s like SM malls on a 3-day sale weekend except instead of shopping, the people were out to dance and drink. Maybe to eat too though there certainly are better places with better food to eat in. Maybe also to be seen but I can’t figure out how you could be seen in that crowd or why you would like to be associated with them.

I’ve decided not to drink and without the benefit of an alcohol-induced haze, I came to the conclusion that the whole damn thing is mindless. At one point, people started cheering when they heard the first few bars of Teriyaki Boyz’s Tokyo Drift. It’s actually something they always do before they start bouncing around to any overly-played bouncy song. Mindless.

Without anything better to do, I went off to sulk at a corner table and drank coffee till it was time to go.

I’m so not fun. Haha.

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General

x25by8 Get Together

By on Saturday, December 15, 2007

Got together with former officemates from 25by8 for our annual Christmas get together yesterday at Jay-j’s, Ortigas HomeDepot. It was one of the bigger gatherings. As usual the girls gravitated towards each other and started talking about marriage, babies, and other such girlie things. And as usual the boys gravitated towards each other and started talking about computer games and programming languages and other such geeky things. Haha. 25by8 people sure are a swell bunch. Wish I could replicate that in my current company.

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General

Tissot Le Locle

By on Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I’ve been looking for a dress watch to complement my outdoors watch, a Suunto Observer. My requirements were standard dress watch: round, simple white or silver dial, and black leather strap. And it has to have good bang for the buck. I started by researching on the net and gradually narrowed down my choice to the Tissot Le Locle. It took a failed online order with Amazon and trips to The Podium, SM Mall of Asia, Rockwell Power Plant, Trinoma, and finally Shangri-La before I finally found it.

The Le Locle uses the ETA 2824-2 movement. It is a tried and tested automatic movement with manual wind and quick date set. Both features are useful for when you haven’t worn the watch for long and it dies. With manual wind, there no need to swing the watch around (and maybe bang it on something) to get the movement started. Quick set allows you to set the date directly without having to spin the hands through the 24 hour cycle. Less stress for you and the movement.

The 40mm case is round and made of stainless steel. The sides are vertically brushed while the lugs, bezel, and caseback are mirror polished. The face, of course, is sapphire. The caseback has engravings and a two-panel sapphire window where you can view the movement in action: the gears, the gold-plated rotor, the incabloc, etc. The view is a little cramped since instead of a one-piece, it has a two-piece sapphire window. The crown is a non-nonsense crown signed with a “T”. Simple and elegant.

The dial is silver with a crosshatch pattern (guilloche I think it’s called) Roman numeral hour markings. It has several other markings. On the upper part there’s the brand “TISSOT” and just below it “1853”. On the lower part, there’s the model “Le Locle” in script and just below it “AUTOMATIC”. Also at the lower part, near the edge of the dial is “SWISS MADE” just in case you forget it is. The three hands are black with a classic design.

The strap is black leather with a polished stainless steel deployment clasp. When closed, the only visible part of the clasp is a small strip with a “T” sign. It’s great, but I still think a standard buckle assembly is better.

The overall look and feel of the watch is that of a timeless classic. Exactly as I wanted.

More comprehensive reviews here and here.

Rating: 5/5

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General

Beowulf

By on Sunday, November 18, 2007

I was already planning to watch Beowulf but on regular cinema when Val clued me in to the fact that it will be available in full-length 3D on IMAX. Who would pass up seeing Angelina Jolie in 3Delectable goodieness, right? So tonight, I watched it at SM Mall of Asia’s IMAX Cinema.

Beowulf, as you all probably know, is an old English poem. And I do mean old. Unless you’ve been living under a rock… for centuries… then you probably would have heard of it. If you haven’t, suffice to say it is all those stories that you love to hear before bedtime rolled into one: kings, queens, warriors, monsters, and treasures.

But what can I say about the movie? “AWESOME!” would be a good start. Beowulf is already a great tale in itself. But the retelling by Neil Gaiman, Angelina Jolie, the great acting as usual by Anthony Hopkins and John Malkovich, seeing it on the BIG screen, on IMAX, in 3D, and did I say Angelina Jolie? All these makes it even bigger and better.

Shell out those hard-earned bucks and watch it on IMAX. It’s worth it.

Rating: 6/5 (extra point for the extra dimension)

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