After over two years, one my Philips VisionPlus headlight bulbs finally died out. I was very happy with them so I decided to go Philips again, this time the Philips X-treme Power. It’s got the same attributes as the VisionPlus except this one offers not just 50% but 80% more light than stock bulbs. This, again, without requiring new wires and ceramic sockets. Installation was easy as usual and it was bright. I can’t say really say for sure that it’s 80% brighter than stock but it sure is as brighter than the VisionPlus.
So Michelle and I spent the whole morning doing government transactions. She with LTO for her student permit and I with NBI for my clearance. It never ceases to amaze me how much time government transactions waste. And to think we we’re getting useless things. Student permit? Is there any government involvement there? Maybe parts of the proceeds go to transportation infrastructure repair and maintenance. Part because for sure the rest is diverted to dubious uses (like LTO employee bonuses) or even outright graft. NBI clearance? Maybe it is useful but here‘s what I think about the way it is right now. Here’s a thought: To improve the GDP, speed up necessary(?) government transactions and get rid of the unnecessary ones. But then that would mean lesser opportunities for making money.
So the company suddenly decided to ask me for an NBI clearance. No sweat, right? NOT! The way things work is that you apply for a clearance, they get your personal details, fingerprint you, then run you through their database, and if your name matches a known person with a “derogatory record” you get a “hit” and getting a clearance is suddenly so much less straightforward.
Wait a minute, name match? Yup, you got that right! If your name say matches that of a known criminal, then your clearance gets delayed from quite some time as they check you further. This can vary from a few days to a month or two. You can just imagine the grief of people with pretty common names.
But why name? Don’t they have a more unique way of identifying people? Like maybe fingerprints?!? I mean that’s why they fingerprint you, right? If there’s a name match, you would think the next thing they’d do is compare fingerprints, right? But apparently that’s still not the case because why would they already call a “hit” on just a name match? Why do they still bother interviewing you and having you sign a written and notarized denial?
Fifteen(!) years ago, I worked with DOST and NBI at preliminary efforts towards an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS). Guess nothing has changed since. Sadness.
A few months ago, I got myself a Nokia 5310 XpressMusic. However, I haven’t been playing music on it much. One of the reasons is because I didn’t like the look of Nokia earphones that came with it. Maybe it goes well with the original editions of the phone but definitely not my all-black edition.
And then I saw the plain and simple all-black Sennheiser MX-160 hanging on the store shelf for P550. Not bad for a respected audio brand. I bought it without even testing.
And I wasn’t disappointed. Remember, this is Sennheiser’s entry-level earphone so you can’t possibly expect mind-blowing bass and spine-tingling clarity like those high-end in-ear earphones. But audio quality is quite obviously better than my Nokia earphones. Sound is reasonably crisp, clear, and very audible. Definitely a good deal.
They did it again. The same fast food joint almost shortchanged me for the third time (that I know). They did it before twice, shortchanging me about 20 centavos. Good thing I noticed while I was still inside the store and I was able to go back to the counter and ask for the missing amount. Today they shortchanged me 93 centavos. But this time I was ready, I asked for the missing amount right away and, as usual, they gave it to me right away. Imagine if on the average each customers get shortchanged 50 centavos. It can add up pretty quick.
Then there is the deferred change when the cashier doesn’t give you your change right away (mainly because of the coin crisis, but that’s another story). Sometimes you forget and when you finally remember, you are already too far away and you decide it’s too small to bother going back for. But it can add up pretty quick.
Finally, there’s there’s the combo savings when you order several items and there’s a combo package of items that’s exactly the same but is priced quite a bit lower (in my case P10). The cashier usually don’t tell you about the savings. Probably because of way too many combo packages available to begin with. Again, it can add up pretty quick.
The savings may be small, but they can easily become a quite significant amount. At times of economic hardship like these, that’s quite important.