The House of Queens: August 2010

Cuff Link Scottie

The Westminster champion for the year is Sadie the Scottie. The last time I was in Bangkok – there was a cuff link store which offered buy two take three deals on their cuff links. One of the design they have is the Scottie cuff link. Naturally – I got them. The other pair that I got are my initials. The free cuff link pair I got has a simple round design with Mother of Pearl embellishment.

Midori Beagle’s Twitter Feed

My Beagle Midori has a Twitter account. When I read the twitter feed, I swear I sometimes think that the Beagles are actually Tweeting. It’s very entertaining to read the “conversation” the Beagles are having. Here is a sample of that exchange:

BuddyTheBeagle: The crow just bit my nuts! I was focused on my food; he sneaked from behind, and OUCH! I got so mad! His beak felt like tweezers.

iamabeagle: @BuddyTheBeagle hahahaaa that just fowl! Get it fowl … of forgive me. it was a rough morning at the vet.

iamabeagle: Ok soo never again will I go to the stupid vet. 3 people held me down. He uses biggest needle I’ve ever seen. Not cool. I cried.

iamabeagle: Screamed. Serious pain. I’ll never go there again. And his cookies suck! Didn’t take it. Now I’m going to bed so upset I can’t even eat.

sleepytyson: @iamabeagle If it takes 3 people to hold you down. I think I need 8. I shiver violently every time I go to the vet. :-(

sleepytyson: What jab did you take anyway? Hop you feel better & get more noms later. It’s fatal when a beagle screams. :-(

iamabeagle: Suprelorin http://tiny.cc/ymque that's what I got today. Sure there r pros & cons. Just happy I could keep my googlies! :-)) c how it wrks.

MidoriBeagle: @sleepytyson @iamabeagle : daddy leaves the room when I get shots.

sleepytyson: @MidoriBeagle Ooh that’s scary. I could never go in alone. The vet’s scary and I can’t help staying stock still when he’s around. :O

MidoriBeagle: @iamabeagle: Good you can keep your googlies. Just stay away from Crows or you might end up with bitten Googlies like @BuddyTheBeagle.

iamabeagle: @MidoriBeagle BOL...poor @BuddyTheBeagle. For the next days he'll bark like a lady! :-))

I am Foursquare Mayor – So What?

I have religiously checked into these locations for lunch or breakfast. Now I’m Mayor So what does this mean? BTW – I’m no longer mayor of Starbucks and Tapa King.

Is it safe to check into Foursquare places and let people know you’re not home?

I have badges – a lot of them don’t mean anything. Photogenic just means you checked into a place with a photo store. I tried to log a boat – and check in there but I didn’t get the badge.

Walking Home with My Retro Cam

I go to the gym three times a week. It’s an hour of grueling exercise with Rico, my trainer. We have been trying to recover the body that I had prior to my life of sloth and avarice of the recent years. So three times a day I do penance to get me out of this monstrous figure. Penance composed of crunches, lifts, and the most of dreaded of all – the lunges.

Part of this regular ritual is to walk to and from the gym and back home. Today, I felt inspired to use my Retro Cam to capture scenes during that walk. I have always raved about the fact that I live in the middle of the business district. It allows me to get to key locations in the city in under 10 minutes – even by foot. I must admit that Makati is not the most beautiful city in the world – but it is home. That’s why for a resident like me, I find beauty and interesting scenes in the mundane.

Shot using the Barbl in Retro Cam

Smart BRO Degradation of Service

In July, I bought the Huawei E585 in Hong Kong. This is a nifty device which allows me to have a mobile WiFi router that is battery operated and can be used with my WiFi enabled devices like my iPad. The purchase was timely because Smart has started to offer a SIM card only unlimited internet plan. This means that I do not have to pay extra for the Mobile broadband Dongle.

Prior to this purchase, I already have another Smart Bro line – this is the Smart Bro Share It. The E585 and the Share It devices do the same thing – they allow WiFi devices to connect to them and share internet service through a Mobile Service provider. I was happy with the Share It device ( which incidentally is also made by Huawei ). However – the device is not too portable and you always have to look for a power plug to make it work.

So I thought I will now be in internet heaven with the E585 and unlimited Smart Bro SIM only card. Apparently – I was wrong. Instead of paradise – I found myself mostly in Internet Limbo. That place when you see internet websites just clocking and never reaching its destination.

At first, I attributed this degradation of service to SMART’s Friday Freedays. These were two Fridays in July and August in which they offered unlimited internet service to anyone. This caused huge dissatisfaction to paying customers like me. However – I noticed – that after these Freedays – Smart didn’t seem to recover. The service speeds had just been unreliable. One brief moment, Speedtest on my iPad will register their promised 2 Mbps. But most of the time – the service is just too slow – reminding me of the speeds we have with dial-up. There are even times when I get zero speeds.

I know that this is not a question of signal availability. When I do these tests, I have a strong HSDPA or 3G signal. So this is about a clogged network. I don’t know why Smart’s internet network is clogged all of a sudden. Did they sell too much too soon? Note – that I am actually experiencing this on both the Share It and the E585. So I’m sure that it’s not the device causing it. Or is Smart a victim of a Degradation of Service (DoS) attack?

Whatever the reason for these problems, SMART better find a solution soon. Note that I am also an Infinity subscriber and I’m very close to loosing my patience and thinking of switching to Globe not just for my internet service but also for my Mobile Phone service.

Smart Bro – needs to be Smart about this – and show brotherly love to their customers and get me to the Internet heaven that I thought I signed up for.

The 2Mbps is the maximum speed advertised. When I hit 1 Mbps I’m happy

I’m still happy with these speeds. They’re decent speeds for Browsing.

Unfortunately – this is what I have been seeing mostly. This is Internet Limbo.

Fun Camera Action on Android

iPhone users have Hipstamatic. It’s the Camera App which makes digital photography mimic vintage cameras. For Android users like me ( I have the HTC hero ) – we could only look at our friends’ fantastic photos with envy. However, this camera envy is a thing of the past – as Android gets Retro Cam which provides the same functionality.

Four types of shot settings; Barbel, Orange Box, Xolaroid, Pinhole

View your pictures in Dark Room Style

I am posting some of the photos that I took using the application. I am happy with the results – and I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun taking interesting shots using my phone camera. BTW – did I mention that the App is free?

Pastries from the Local Bakery

Honey Almond Popcorn

Lunch at Figaro

Bonifacio High Street Interactive Art

Bonifacio High Street Trellis

Stuck in Traffic

A Great Performance Deserves an Encore

I am too old to go to clubs. The last time I went to a club was for this year’s pride party in Bed. You all know how that turned out – I lost my wallet which luckily just contained a little bit of cash, one ATM card, my Driver’s license and one Credit Card. Of the things that I lost – it was really just the Driver’s license which turned out to be difficult to replace.

This weekend – my friends decided to be hospitable our company’s guests. We originally planned to go to Republiq – which was a good choice because if I didn’t find the whole scene fun, I will just excuse myself and head out to the Resort World Casino which is housed in the same location. The problem is that Republiq – being the hottest thing in town requires two weeks notice to reserve a table. Of course – at this age – I refuse to queue up for a club – and if I don’t get a reserved table --- I would rather not go to the club.

So we ended up in Encore which didn’t have the waiting list. Encore is the resurrected Embassy. Embassy was closed down due to a stabbing incident. If you ask me – the club’s name is a bit lame. The tag line is lamer. BTW – the title of this post is that tag line. I did not come up with it.

I have to be fair though – the club was fun. They played Hip hop and R&B. The music spanned three decades.

The question of course – you will ask is --- does my clubbing gig deserve an Encore? Nope --- my gig as the Clubbing queen is way over.

Coming Out – Together

The Filipino Gay Community is speaking out together. The first topic is about “Coming Out”. I have tons to write about the topic which is why I think this will be a challenging assignment – since it will be difficult to edit and keep the post short and sweet.

If you are gay – Filipino – and has a blog, join us. Follow this link for details: Theorgy.

My Harry Potter Treasure

I first read Harry Potter when the second book: “The Chamber of Secrets” came out. I bought book one and two simultaneously and finished both books quickly as I was captured by the story of the little Wizard boy. I watched the first movie – and I can’t remember which one of the subsequent movies I watched on the big screen and which one I waited to come out on HBO. I guess that goes to show that I am a big fan of the book but not the movies.

As much as I am a big fan – I have a confession to make. I have not read the concluding book: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. I know the story via the different spoilers that came out. However – due to a combination of getting into an episode in my life when I stopped reading – and the disinterest in the story telling style of JK Rowling on the last two books prior to the Deathly Hallows – I did not read the last book.

Today – however – I am back to reading books. I have been reading electronic books due to the iPad that I bought. I realized that I missed reading. I think that it’s time for me to read the last part of the Harry Potter saga. What better way to do that than to buy the collectors item of the book – which comes in a box – shaped as a treasure chest. I am tempted not to read this version for fear of soiling the book – but I quickly told myself that a book that is for mere display does not live out its essence. Books need to be read not displayed.

I’m excited about this set. Growing up, I inherited books from my uncles. These were the stories of “Sleeping Beauty”, “The Call of the Wild”, “Jungle Book" and others which were the first novels that I read as a child. I am hoping that this boxed set becomes one of those prized possessions that I can pass on to the next generation of Queens in the house. I actually hope that the children in our family will come to love Harry Potter and its characters not just through the movies but through the pages of the books.

Grace Before Treats

Bless us oh Lord

and These thy treats

which we are about to receive

from Thy bounty

Blog post via BlogPress on iPad

I have read numerous reviews on the iPad and how it is the ideal gadget for consuming content – but not the best gadget for creating content. I wanted to test this personally and downloaded BlogPress. Reading through the application’s description on their website – it is a WYSIWYG editor. This is an accurate description. This is the blog post that I wrote using the editor: “The Glee Singing Community”.

What I like about the editor: It allowed me to post a blog entry via my iPad without using the HTML editor that Blogspot has. It allowed me to insert photos into the entry. It also allowed me to use Tags, Categories and set a Future Publish date for the entry. It also allows the user to choose the position of the picture ( center, embedded into the paragraph, or left-justified ). The picture options also include an ability to choose the size of the photo.

What I didn’t like about the BlogPress editor: The text formatting is very limited. It does not even have options for justification style. You will notice that I have a fully justified format for my blogs. This is actually a result of years being part of the school paper and painstakingly justifying the right margin manually via a typewriter. Ever since word processing applications were invented – and this function can automatically be done – I never looked back. Most of the office and personal documents that I produce have fully justified formats.

It does allow pictures to be attached in the blog entry. A user can also choose the size of the photo. However – the size you choose can be a hit or miss – and requires a little bit of Math to figure out what the proper length or width is appropriate. It may just be me – but it took me three tries to get the right size. It would be great to see the pinch action of the multi-touch screen in future releases.

For now – BlogPress will be parked on my iPad – and I will continue to use Windows Live Writer to write my blogs. However – when I am on the road – I think that I will definitely use BlogPress for the first draft and just adjust the cosmetics when I get to my laptop. At the end of the day – the limitations that I see on the app – are purely cosmetic needs. It’s a great tool – and worth the money that I spent on it.

The Glee Singing Community

I have downloaded the Glee app so many months ago. I was excited to use it during the first few days. Having an app which allowed me to sing to the tunes from Glee was just awesome. I was able to sing most songs but I realized a lot of them were beyond my vocal capabilities. You see, I sang bass/baritone in the glee club. This means that the songs of Finn are beyond my vocal range. I can sing the girls' songs just an octave lower.

I sang hundreds of times but I've only uploaded less than a dozen. These were the renditions that I was not embarassed to post. Luckily,I get nods of approval from the listeners around the globe.

Today, after so many weeks of not checking out the app, I discovered that someone joined me in two renditions of "True Colors". Initial reaction? I felt violated but i got over it in two minutes. That's the essence of the app. It's a venue for Glee fans to sing, listen, and sing together.

Location:Valero,Makati City,Philippines

Reading via Kindle

One App that I downloaded immediately after getting the iPad is the Amazon Kindle. I have not had close encounters with the Kindle gadget – so I don’t know if reading the books via Kindle is different from reading them via the iPad. Apple has it’s own reader via iBooks. I have also downloaded free titles on that App and I am now revisiting “Alice in Wonderland” via iBooks. You may ask – why did I get the Kindle?

The answer is simple – there are so many titles that I’d like to read and are available via the Amazon store. One of those books is the latest by Timothy James Beck. The title of the book is “When You Don’t See Me”. The physical version of the book was priced at $16.95. I also have to pay for shipping because I don’t live in the US. Shipping can be at least an additional $ 5. The electronic book version costs $11.60. That’s a lot of savings and I get the book instantly.

Like many bibliophiles, I am not letting go of Physical books. Reading is not just about the words – there’s something about the smell and feel of books that I just love. However – for reasons of cost savings and instant delivery – I’d be happy to take advantage of the electronic version.

Before I end this – I’d like to highlight a neat trick that comes with the Kindle. If you highlight a word – the meaning of that word as well as a link to Wikipedia will be brought up. I find that really useful.

(This is an iPod snapshot of a page in the book “When You Don’t See Me”)

Philippine Airlines – Personal Screens

Flying on Philippine Airlines from Cebu to Manila, we discovered that the Coach seats actually have personal screens. That was a pleasant surprise. The flight was less than an hour. If you fly Cebu Pacific – you have the in flight games lead by the Flight Attendants. Not all Flight Attendants from Cebu Pacific are “fun”. So I’ve been to a number of those flights when those games end up as dry attempts to amuse the passengers.

With the Personal Screen of PAL – a passenger actually has access to a number of games. One of them is a Trivia game which you play against other passengers who are interested in the game. My competitive streak got the better of me and I took the game really seriously. Another game is a favorite: Bejewelled. I love the game on Facebook. I love the game on my iPod and iPad. Of course – I love playing it on the PAL personal screens.

Grindr Conclusion

I am concluding my experiment on Grindr. For my regular readers, you already know that I have been trying to figure out what attracts the men who use Grindr. The methodology that I used was not scientific. “Attraction” is measured by the number of messages I get depending on the picture that I used in my profile.

The last picture that I used is my picture with the Giraffe from Calauit:

This picture yielded good results. It was actually as popular as this picture with Char Siew my Shar Pei:

For both pictures, I get opening messages from men indicating that they find either the Giraffe or Char Siew cute. They then proceed to ask how I am doing and then go back to talking about the picture and the animals in them. After a number of exchanges – that’s when they focus the conversation on me. They ask more questions about me and make an assumption that I love animals ( which is true ).

Why these pictures work:

1. The animals are neutral topics. Men don’t like being rejected and ignored. They seem to know that if they talk about the animals first – they will get attention.

2. These pictures provide a glimpse about my personality. It starts the conversation. It’s a lot harder to approach a man ( even online ) when you don’t really know anything about them.

3. The picture is not intimidating. Depending on whether a person is better looking or not – they can be intimidated by a very good looking face picture. I do get asked for a clearer face picture after a few exchanges – I’m happy that they continue with the conversation even when they see the face picture.

I am finished with my experiment. It was fun to meet new friends while doing it. For now – I will stick with the Giraffe picture.

Globe User Again

I have been a SMART user for the past three years. My personal mobile and my company issued mobile are both with SMART telecommunications. I have two internet connections both on SMART.

Today – this changed. I am no longer an exclusive SMART user. The company phone has switched to GLOBE. This was not unexpected. SMART’s corporate account officers for our company had not been responsive to our requests. The most recent event that triggered the actual switch is our company lines getting disconnected because of inter-departmental non-communication between billing and support of SMART. Our company phones are heavily used by the support people like me so that definitely prompted us to look elsewhere.

GLOBE have had problems in the past year. Their phone lines as well as data lines suffered heavily from their UNLIMITED promotions. Their network could just not handle the added users. They seem to have fixed that. SMART – on the other hand is now playing catch up. As a loyal user – I hope that they catch up fast.