My Cockatiel has finally layed an Egg!!!

My Albino(female) and Lutieno(male) pair of Cockatiel have finally had their egg. They shave been with me for almost 4 months now and for 2 months they have been practicing, always kissing each other and always so sweet with each other and now, now, she finally got an egg.

The saleslady at Bio Research was right, she told me the pair will take at least 4 months before the female will lay an egg. Here is the video of my fowl friends and was recorded about a month ago with my Olympus T-100 digital camera:

Taxi Cabs in 3rd World like Metro Manila

With the introduction of Official Receipts in 3rd World countries where it is such a challenge to earn a decent living, it is now easy to spot who is honestly earning for a living. It is really so fascinating how people would do anything to just to survive in a highly competitive world.

I have collected several Official Receicpts issued by 3 taxi cabs the past 3 days. The route is just the same but the difference is huge. I will leave the rest for my readers to interpret what is in the OR itself.

Taxi 1 Fare : Php 173.00 + Php 7.00(I gave him Php200 be he returned Php20.00 only and drove off quickly)

Taxi 2 Fare : Php 138.00 + Php 2.00(I gave him Php140 and did not bothered getting the change)
Taxi 3 Fare : Php 169.00 + Php 1.00(I gave him Php170.00 and did not bothered getting the change)

I am still puzzled why there is huge difference between the three OR's when the distance has not changed. I am so glad I still have my Olympus T100, it is so useful to take pictures as clear as those pictures shown  here.

The Best Way to Save Money

I did not noticed that for the past 2 weeks, I have been buying things like crazy. I have never realized that I am not saving any money at all and so I have been thinking what is the best solution to save money while not depriving myself from spending a lot of money. See the shopping bags I collected on my China made Tulip Chair.

I thought it is not wise to keep on buying electronic gadgets since these gadgets are just not so useful for me except the latest DSLR Cameras but then it is just too expensive for me so for now, I will still be so happy with my Olympus T-100. The advantage of buying useful electronic gadgets such as laptops, dslr's, video camera and cellphones is you get to use them so that you can become more productive and be more entertained but these electronic gadgets can be easily be outdated in just a few months and worse it depreciate very rapidly.

The second option which I think is also not a good idea based on my experience is buying cool furnitures. While there so many good looking pieces of furnitures which are designed to make home living more comfortable, it too are depreciates very rapidly just my China made Tulip chair which I bought 4 months ago from SM Homeworld. I did not know that it was made in China, not until the saleslady told where it came from just after I paid for it. I bought it because it is so good-looking but after a few days of using it, I felt that sitting on my old monobloc chair is more comfortable than sitting on my tulip chair. And worse, the chair earned its irrepairable crack even though I hardly use it. So I told myself, goodbye to my Php3600 which I could consider not well spent.

Then the 3rd option is buying jewelries and this seem to be the best option. Gold and Diamonds are as good as cash in the bank. It never depreciates and never lose its quality. In fact, it even gets more expensive every year. But to buy the real gold and diamonds, you should consider the reputation of the seller, you must be familiar with the current market value and trends. The best part is the buying experience. It really is fun and exciting. To check how much the real cost of the jewelry, say for example a 4 gms Italian 18k gold necklace,  a jewelry shop in Cubao, would normally sell it for Php2500/gram. The reason why they sell it for Php2500/gram is the storage fee(it is understandable they, the store owners, will not be able to sell it immediately so this is an added cost), the quality and labor cost in the creation of the jewelry itself, and lastly, the store owner needs to make some profit from selling the product. So, check the actual market trading value of gold which is currently at Php1850/gram. Multiply the Php1850/gram amount by 18/24(18 is the gold purity of the jewelry), which results to Php1387.5/gram. So, upon buying the jewelry, you already lost Php1112.5/gram assuming that you plan to sell the jewelry as scrap gold or in other words, you are selling the jewelry without taking into consideration the cost of assembling the jewelry, its sentimental value and age, 

then you will need to keep it for at least 10 years before you can recover the cost if there will be no financial crisis, prices of gold will increase constantly at 5% to 10% annually. But if you have bought it 5 years ago, the price of gold has increased by 125% because 3 years ago, there was the US financial crisis. It is not advisable to sell jewelries as scrap gold, because obviously, you loose lots of money. If you plan to sell the jewelry, look for jewelry shops that buys second hand jewelries, these shops usually buys jewelries much higher than scrap gold prices.

There is another way to save money from gold. I found a product in Amazon that can be cheaper than buying a gold jewelry. The gold bar is 24k and upon buying the gold, you will only lost at least $10/gram which means its only Php430.00 at the current exchange rate. The product link is as follows:

I Just bought a new wireless mouse

The old mouse I bought from CDR King has worn out after 3 months I bought it. It was cheap wired optical  mouse. I really did not know why it got busted (it still working but the left button is already hard to press. I have to press it 5x to click on something and is already affecting my productivity)but anyway, I am really planning to replace it with a wireless mouse.

So I went to Asianic(a computer shop that has branches in almost all SM Malls) and found this A4Tech wireless mouse. It looks ok, no wires, but it needs to be powered by 2 AAA batteries, a little more comfortable to hold on because it is heavier than my old mouse and I no longer have to click 5 times anything on the screen. Now that has really solved my problem.

It was a lazy weekend and I still have time to stroll around and I thought I should take some more random pictures of Metro Manila because I know that almost everyday went back to the provinces so the streets are almost empty. I have chosen Luneta Park because well, there is quite a number of scenic spots that is perfect for my Olympus T-100 digital camera.  Here are some of the pictures I took:

And after walking several kilometers taking pictures of the park, I got so hungry so I went to SM Mall of Asia to dine at Racks(I like famous ribs that is unique to RACKs and much better than Kenny Roger's and cheaper too).

Ooopppsss...I still have some left overs....but really...I enjoyed the meal.

Some brownies for deserts

I went to Cubao this afternoon to check again the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e. I can't see any computer shop that displays the netbook not even the Lenovo shop at the SM Cubao Cyberzone. So instead, I just walk around and check each of the available netbooks that has almost the same specs as the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e and these are the Asus EEE Pc 1201T and the MSI Wind U230.

Of all the three netbooks, MSI Wind U230 has better specs compared to the two netbooks while the Asus EEE PC 1201T is the cheapest, and the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e has the best appearance and of course the classic ThinkPad boxy design.

As of today, I still think that the Lenovo Thinkpad X100e is the best choice but I am not planning to buy it locally although I haven't made up my mind yet. Before I went home, I happen to pass by a stall that sells lovely brownies so thought I should buy some, and took some pictures of it using my Olympus T-100 digital camera.

Random Pictures with my new Olympus T-100

Earlier today, I got the chance to take random pictures using my new Olympus T-100 digital camera. Like I said, I am not an expert in taking nice pictures and I did have the time to explore the most scenic spots in Metro Manila because of my day job but probably I will post some more pictures in this weekend.

I took some pictures of the clouds above me:

Then before I ate my dinner at PureGold Sn Mateo, Rizal:

 

And my new DVD Collections(all my VCD Collections were also destroyed by Ondoy):

I have also uploaded a sample video recording using my Olympus T-100 digital Camera while I was browsing my blog using my Samsung SyncMaster EX2020.

Update:I took some more pictures yesterday.
While I am on my way to the office:

I also took a picture of the noodles I cooked for my dinner:

I just bought a Digital Camera!

I have really been on a hunting mode for digital camera for the last 6 months. And finally, today, I had the guts to check out digital cameras ranging from Php 4000 to Php 5000 and based on my budget, I have chosen the Olympus T-100 over its closest rivals, the BenQ Digital Camera(Php 4500), Kodak(Php 4500) and the Samsung(Php 4150). I don't know the exact models of the other three but I almost chosen the BenQ because it is able to record 720P video but then, I was turned off by poor demonstration. The Kodak Digital Camera is also good because it is quite a bit cheaper than the Olympus but the salesman can't show me how the recorded video looked like on a TV Screen and I was standing and waiting patiently for almost 30 minutes to no avail so I decided to leave. While the Samsung Digital Camera was just a dummy, the salesman do not want to show me the real gadget. I have chosen the Olympus T-100 because the salesman did a good presentation over the others. Aside from that, I like the form factor, it has the highest resolution(12MP) and well, it's because it is very easy to use.

I am a newbie in photography so I need to do some research and probably I will attend a short term course on Photography in the coming days. I am so excited to use this new gadget of mine. I can already shoot quality and original pictures for my blogs because that is my main motivation why I really should buy a digital camera.

I took a couple of pictures of the Olympus Digital Camera using my 5MP China made dual sim cellphone.

Just a few minutes after I have arrived at home, I immediately took a sample shot to see the quality of the image.

Wow! I am so amazed! Even though it was an ordinary shot. It looked fabulous. By the way, that bottle was placed on top of my M1 Qube Netbook and in front of my Samsung SyncMaster EX2020. It was the same place where I took the picture of the Olympus T-100 using my cellphone. It was a huge difference!