Just got back from a 3-day leave of absence due to illness. It’s that time of the year when the latest flavor of the bug makes its rounds. I usually catch it every year and get downed for 3-4 days. But now I’m back to work. And although I’m still coughing, it’s not significantly worse than some of the other folks around. So where did I most likely get it? From work, of course. The sick leave mechanism discourages people from staying home until they’re completely well and not spread the bug. Me included now. Heh.
RIP Stephen Covey
Stephen Covey, one of the most influential personal development gurus has passed away due to complications from a prior cycling accident. His influential works, notably 7 Habits of Highly Effective People will ensure his legacy.
Bonding Day
Jeanne and I have been having lots of occasion to bond the past few months but today was particularly intensive!
We started in the morning when we went to Val’s place for gown fitting (Jeanne is going to be a flower girl. Yay!). When we got there, she was initially shy but soon she warmed up. With some more effort, we were able to convince her to put on the dress (actually another flower girl’s). Then the next challenge was to convince her to take it off :P
After that, we went to Power Plant for lunch. I invited Crissy for a play date with Cassel and they agreed to meet up. While waiting, we went to Toys ‘R Us where I had a bit of a scare when I couldn’t find Jeanne for several minutes. That place is a maze!
When Crissy, Jimmy, and Cassel arrived, we found out that there’s no Gymboree yet. So we drove over to Serendra. As we hadn’t had lunch yet, we had a kinda late lunch at Sentro (yummy catfish adobo flakes and kare-kare!). Then it was off to Gymboree where Cassel and Jeanne had a blast playing.
We still had to do grocery after Gymboree. I asked Jeanne where she wants to do her grocery: Market! Market! or Power Plant. She chose the latter. I already had an idea of her choice because yesterday, on our way to watch Ice Age 4 at Market! Market!, we passed by the grocery and she declared “I don’t like Market! Market! grocery!”. Also she likes the car grocery carts at Power Plant. So we went back, did groceries, and finally went home.
What a day!
Casio G-Shock GW2310FB-1CR
Leslie finally came back from his onshore assignment and he dropped this off at my desk: My new Casio G-Shock GW2310FB-1CR. Casio G-Shocks are known for their resistance to shocks (e.g. hard knocks and strong vibrations). They are designed primarily for sports, military, and outdoor adventure oriented activity. Of course, they’re also water-resistant to 200M. Operators may have Rolexes and Omegas but when they’re actually operating, they wear G-Shocks. And the color of this particular model, all black, backs up the walk with the look.
Aside from being a helluva beater of a watch, it’s also a gadgety watch. Consider the specs:
- Tough Solar Power – Solar rechargeable battery with power saving function and battery power indicator
- Battery life – 10 months on full charge an no further exposure to light
- Multi-Band Atomic Timekeeping (US, UK, Germany, Japan, China) – Receives time calibration radio signals which keep the displayed time accurate, accuracy: +/- 15 seconds per month
- EL Backlight – With auto (glance to light) and manual (press G button to light) Illuminate and afterglow (1 or 3 seconds).
- World Time – 31 times zones (48 cities + UTC), city code display, daylight saving on/off
- 4 Daily alarms and 1 Snooze Alarm
- Hourly chime
- 1/100 second stopwatch – Elapsed time up to 24 hours, split time, 1st-2nd place times
- Countdown Timer – 1 minute to 24 hours
- Full auto-calendar (pre-programmed until the year 2099)
- 12/24 hour formats
- Button operation tone on/off
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the compass, altimeter/barometer and thermometer function of the recently departed Suunto Observer. Also, this particular inverted display is a bit hard to read especially since the numbers are smaller than those on the Observer. Finally, the backlight doesn’t remain on while being operated but shuts down in 1 or 3 seconds, depending on the setting. On those, Suunto had it beat. But at $150, it’s still a lot of bang for the buck.
Rating: 4/5
22GO | !22GO
We needed to ship Elwyna’s stuff to Iligan. She already called Pambato, a freight forwarding company, but they never picked up the boxes. So I had to look for another shipping company. After some research I came down to two: Air21 and 2GO. 2GO’s website is crap so I decided to call Air21 first. They gave me an estimate of P24K!!! Apparently, they only ship via air (duh!). I quickly dialed 2GO and got a better estimate of P3K for shipboard freight. No brainer.
UPDATE: Less than 30 minutes after my call they’re picking up the boxes. That. Is. Fast. Way 2GO, 2GO!