We met a guy yesterday. As usual when Jeanne’s around, the conversation veered towards Jeanne (we love talking about Jeanne) and kids in general. So somewhere there, he mentioned that he’s a a single dad. That he raised his 2 kids, now age 10 and 11, from the time they were babies. Being a parent is already a tough job. Doing it alone is like 2x as tough. And raising 2 kids? That’s like 4x!!! If that’s not awesome, I don’t know what is!
Yesterday was our anniversary (Happy Anniversary, mommy!) and we went to our customary Tagaytay trip. I was actually planning a surprise drive past the Sta. Rosa exit (the expressway exit to Tagaytay) and proceed all the way to Batangas and then Laiya. Unfortunately, last minute events led us to just go to Tagaytay.
We first tried Discovery Country Suites (where we stayed for our wedding). It was fully booked (Note to self: Book for next year already). We then went to Moon Garden (where we had our wedding reception). Again, it was fully booked. Michelle researched for other hotels and we ended up at Lake Hotel. Good choice. Nowhere near as good as Country Suites in my opinion but still quite good.
The Lake Hotel is not too big so it’s not as busy as, say Chateau Royale. But there’s a good range of rooms to choose from. Some even have a view of Taal. But even if your room doesn’t, you can simply go to the lobby or the pocket garden for a good view. The staff was nice, friendly, and very accommodating. There’s also WiFi (common these days) in the rooms and lobby, but it’s slooow (also common unfortunately). Overall, the hotel has that nice and upscale feel.
For dinner, Michelle, suggested Bag of Beans which has branched out to more than just coffee and dessert. It’s actually rated quite highly in some reviews but personally I found the food (we ordered porterhouse steak and pink salmon steak) to be just average and the crew not very well-trained in protocol (e.g. how to inform the customer that a table has a time-based consumable rate without sounding condescending). Transition pains, maybe.
Back to the hotel, buffet breakfast is complimentary and they let kids below 5 years old for free. There’s a wide choice of good dishes to choose from and you can eat to your heart’s content. Unlike, say Chateau Royale :P
Overall, it was a good weekend. Tagaytay remains one of the best places to spend a weekend. Probably even one of the best places to settle down. And I’m not the only one thinking that: Fully booked.
Jelly beans are Jeanne’s favorite treat. And it could just be my favorite… mobile OS. Maybe :P Along with the Nexus 7 (and a host of others), Google has announced the latest version of Android: Jelly Bean. It’s an incremental update, carrying a version number of 4.1, but it offers a lot of updates:
- Project Butter has brought smoother and faster feeling user interface
- Improved notification center with expandable and actionable notifications
- Updated widget behavior
- Improved camera and gallery apps for easy photo snapping and sharing
- Improved keyboard behavior with with word prediction
- Added Accessibility options with support for external Braille input
- Enhanced Android Beam allowing transfer of photos and video
- Offline Voice recognition and typing
- Google Voice search is more intelligent than ever
- Updated Google Search user interface
- Google Now adds automatic information feeds to your device (weather, traffic, sports, etc)
- Bi-Directional text and additional language support
- Truly high-resolution contact photos
- USB audio output and HDMI multichannel audio output
- App encryption and Smart App updates
Source: GSMArena
Google has announced their much-anticipated own brand tablet. At $199 it competes squarely against the older Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and Amazon Kindle Fire. More importantly it moves closer towards the high-value price points set by the iPad. Way to go, Google!
| Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 | Amazon Kindle Fire | Google Nexus 7 | |
| Size | 193.7 x 122.4 x 10.5 mm | 190 x 120 x 11.4 mm | 198.5 x 120 x 10.5 mm |
| Weight | 344 g | 413 g | 340 g |
| Display | PLS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| 1024 x 600 pixels. 7 inches | 1024 x 600 pixels, 7.0 inches | 1280 x 800 pixels, 7.0 inches | |
| Processor | Dual-core 1 GHz CPU, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4430 chipset | Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4430 chipset | Quad-core 1.3 GHz processor, 12-core ULP GeForce GPU, Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset |
| RAM | 1 GB RAM | 512 MB RAM | 1 GB RAM |
| Internal Storage | 8/16/32 GB storage | 8 GB storage | 8/16 GB storage |
| External Storage | Up to 64GB | No External Memory | No External Memory |
| Data | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n |
| Operating System | Android OS, v4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) | Amazon-customized Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread) | Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean) |
| Primary Camera | 3.15 MP | none | 1.2 MP |
| Secondary Camera | VGA | none | none |
| Video | 1080p at 30fps | none | 720p at 30fps |
| Apps | Android Market + access to non-market apps | Amazon AppStore | Android Market + access to non-market apps |
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-Ion 4000 mAh | Standard battery, Li-Ion 4400 mAh | Standard battery, Li-Ion 4325 mAh |
| Battery Life | 8h | 8h | 8h |
Apple has just opened up the iTunes store for South East Asia area (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam). Guess what songs I immediately got? Manic Monday and Friday I’m In Love for my iOS 6 alarms :P