My Tita Yeyit and Tita Ising will arrive from Manila today and stay with us for two months.
I hope to show them around to places they have not been to yet!
Tita’s Arrival
The Witching Hour at the PSE
While the Philippine peso is falling like a stack of cards (similar to the ones used in PAGCOR casinos), the PSE Composite Index (Phisix) has amazingly—perhaps to show its resiliency—held its ground and even rebounded on days when the currency was free-falling.
This only demonstrated that moneymen, who were almost exclusively playing the peso-dollar game when stock prices were in the doldrums, were again beginning to show interest in speculating in the stock market.
Market makers and foreign investors—prime movers of the PSE—who had long been gone even before the series of parodies that happened in Manila’s top corridors of power unraveled in 2002 seem to be stepping in once more in the Philippine stock market after the Gloria administration showed its desire to clean up its act.
Recently, blue chips—which are currently at dirt-cheap levels almost similar to the turbulent days (post-coup) of the Cory Aquino era—were seen being plucked up by enthusiastic foreign fund managers who are betting that the Philippine economy will fare much better under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s new mandate.
Had the early departure of foreign money (players and investors alike) during the fading months of Erap’s ill-fated administration been a boon, and had the index indeed bottomed out?
Or were these just the omen of even dire things to come? While the Thailand baht – the currency that triggered the economic crash in Southeast Asia in 1997 – had considerably recovered much of its value, the Philippine peso, on the contrary, is now at levels even much lower than when the financial crisis started. Can we learn our lesson from the Thais? Or, is our sociocultural heritage and brand of politics such a volatile mixture that only a cultural revolution can, perhaps, cure? Can the Phisix -like the bamboo – continue to show its resiliency?
Too bad. For a country that contends its population to be the most educated in Asia, how can these things happen quickly and frequently? Do we love chaos and confusion that much that these are all by
sociopolitical design? Are we emulating the carnival in Rio — but with Manila’s nauseating political overtones?
Questions and still more questions will continue to be poised upon the minds of forward-looking Filipinos who still dream of the good life in their homeland and…not just to be relegated as yet another 7,000-plus island backwater in this part of the globe.
The G5 iMac
Exactly two weeks ago, we went to the new Apple Store in Pleasanton, CA, to see the remarkable G5 iMac that Apple released in mid-September.
The new store – opened Sept 18 – was inside the Stoneridge Shopping Mall, which, in turn, was conveniently situated at the junction of Interstates 580 and 680 — two busy freeways that connect Central California and North Bay commuters to the East Bay portion of Silicon Valley.
From our house, the closest Apple Store prior to this one was either the outlet in Palo Alto (inside the Stanford University campus) or that spacious store also located inside a huge mall along Stevens Creek Blvd in Santa Clara.
Store employees—clad in black T-shirts with the white Apple logo—eagerly greeted customers and almost automatically ushered them to the area where the new iMac G5 was showcased.
There were four (4) iMac G5s on hand – two 17″ and two 20″ – for customers to try their hands on. I immediately seized the opportunity to demo the 20″ model – with an Apple iSight camera on top of the screen – after a bearded Apple fanatic was done with his turn — closing all his Final Cut Pro rendezvous — on the dazzling snow-white colored machine.
The first thing I did was examine the physical details of the machine – top, side, front, and back. I tilted the screen to varying angles and observed whether the anodized aluminum stand was stable. I was also very impressed with the G5 iMac’s simplicity while not having to skimp on the needs of today’s digitally addicted computer users. All the ports – digital & analog sound jacks, USB, FireWire, 56K (V.92) modem, 10/100 Ethernet, and video out – were neatly arrayed at the back, including the power switch.
The front was so pristine – no controls to distract the user’s visual interaction with the stunning display – with the exception of the silver Apple logo imprinted on the white plastic case — to probably serve as a reminder to the users of the company that brought computing Utopia to them.
The machine’s technical elegance can be seen mostly at the back. Heat dissipation was done via a 1/4″- wide horizontal slit on the machine’s removable back cover. You can feel a very light wisp of hot air gently blowing -courtesy of three (3) microprocessor-controlled fans inside – when you place your hand along this slit.
I’m skeptical whether this method will be ample enough (even without room air-conditioning) when the unit is used in tropical/humid countries like the Philippines. Also, I was not so sure of the machine’s reliability and stability when used as a 24/7, 365-day-a-year web server. I had long proven the reliability of their G4 (Sawtooth)—as well as the much older G3 iMac (the original, multi-colored model)—because of their bigger cooling fans.
The sound may be a bit on the minus side, but the quality was not lame. The two stereo speakers were hidden from view—cleverly crafted at the bottom of the 2″ wide panel—to enable sound to bounce off the desk or table where you place the unit.
The new G5 iMac was spiffy enough, even with only 256 MB of DDR RAM installed. I opened several programs while simultaneously playing two (2) video playbacks via QuickTime and iDVD and noticed only very minimal video refresh delays, even when the other programs were opened and put into action. The machine’s default OS X Panther (10.3.5) seemed to be a good match for the processor’s 64-bit capability.
Lastly, the bundled keyboard and mouse -while not their top-of-the-line models – complement the overall simplicity of the G5 iMac. As advertised, the keyboard is tucked neatly under the stand when you’re done using this nice piece of computer cum art piece.
Although I noticed that the base of the aluminum stand already had some minor scratches, I’m not sure whether they were caused by the keyboard’s feet rubbing constantly when stowed underneath or by some other reason.
The price also surprised me: a modest $ 1,299 for the entry-level, 1.6 GHz, 17 “screen model with Combo Drive-this is their cheapest compared to Apple’s previous iMac releases.
As much as I would have liked to get one that very same day, I was disappointed to come home empty-handed. The Apple G5 iMacs are selling like donuts. There was a long waiting list even if you buy one at a brick-and-mortar Apple Store!
Ordering it online will set you back for almost a month, time that will be spent in extreme anguish or even mild paranoia.
Meanwhile, Apple fanatics like me will just continue to drool and hope for the best: that one day, they will be able to snag one of these new creations from the Mecca of Computing in Cupertino.
—notes:
Almost three weeks after we dropped in at this store and after contacting all the Apple Stores in Northern California and signing on to their waiting lists, this author finally went home with a 1.8 GHz, 17″ screen model of the G5 iMac — from nearby Santa Clara, CA.
—links:
View the author’s iMac G5 slide show: LOW (320 x 240) | HI (640 x 480)
Rehabilitation
Pardon me for being unable to update the site as frequently as possible for the past few weeks. But I have an excuse: I was busy rehabilitating my right knee, which underwent arthroscopic surgery on July 7.
The rehab was not grueling, but it was enough to remove my usual daily activities. The first two weeks were difficult to bear. The muscles and underlying tissues around the operated area were still painful, and moving them—laterally—rang up the pain notes in my nervous system.
The exercise set was simple and designed to regain mobility in the affected area in the least possible time. But the frequency—five times daily—was too time-consuming, so I had no other recourse except to deal with them during most of my waking hours.
While lying on my back, I did knee-joint presses and simple leg raises. Again, the hip raises require both knees to be flexed. Another routine involved bending the lousy knee as far back as possible while my legs were dangling on the bed’s edge.
While seated, I had to bend my hips towards the knee with the awful leg straight up and the excellent leg flexed. A challenging routine involved both knees bent, my back against the wall, and then moving the hip joints up and down. It was painful.
Some exercises required using a rubber tube (for resistance) attached to the ankle of the good leg. The excellent leg propped me up and involved moving the affected leg in all four directions as far as possible. One exercise involved trying to walk as straight as possible on a 3″ wide by 8″ long piece of wood.
Finally, there was the one that required me to move up and down a flight of three-step stairs—backward.
They all stressed movements on the muscles around the lousy knee to drain any fluids accumulated in the knee joint areas. When used up after a rigorous exercise, the myofibrils (tiny fibers that comprise the muscle) tend to ‘soak up’ any fluids around them. Much like the same way we crave water when we’re exhausted.
—links:
www.healthatoz.com
www.kaiserpermanente.org
www.arthroscopy.com
Arthroscopic Surgery and the PICC
The symptom was innocuous: a sudden fever after I ate a bad piece of “bao’ – “siopao” as we call it back in Manila. My body reacted by trying to throw it out of my system when I took a brief shower. I was sure that I didn’t get rid of all of it. The fever swung to highs and lows as I tried to battle it by taking only Tylenol every four hours.
On the 4th day, I felt way much better and tried to work myself back to my normal routine by doing some yard work and light household chores. It was not back-breaking work, but it was all the bacteria needed to strike back at me at the end of the day.
The following morning, not only I had the fever back, but I also had severe pain in the top portion of my right knee. There was no swelling, but merely touching the area elicited sharp pain, and walking was extremely painful.
After the sixth day, I gave up all hopes of self-medication as the fever shot up to record highs, and walking was now excruciatingly painful. We called the hospital and immediately got an appointment for the following day.
At the hospital, blood, urine, and synovial fluid samples were taken, as well as x-rays of my chest and the right knee. The fluid drained from my right knee didn’t look too good, and I was wheeled directly to the ER. There, further blood and synovial fluid samples were taken, and I was put on IV.
An orthopedic surgeon was brought in and talked to me briefly about my kidney operation of 1981 – when my right kidney was removed due to hydronephrosis and pyelonephritis. He suspected that I had a urinary tract infection and that it had caused the fever and the severe pain in my right knee. He tapped my left -and remaining – kidney to elicit pain, as well as the area above my bladder. I told him that there was no pain in either place.
The surgeon returned to explain to me that he had to perform an emergency arthroscopic surgery on my right knee to get rid of all the “bugs” and infections in there. Worse, he will have to open up the knee (arthrotomy) in case the infection is much more severe than he thought to eliminate the possibility of the infection doing more damage to my still intact knee.
The knee X-rays revealed no ligament or meniscus damage, but having the infection remain in the knee for some time can severely damage those healthy tissues in a short amount of time.
So, that same day, very late at night, I was wheeled into the OR for either a quick arthroscopic surgery or a much longer, open-knee surgery. Inside the OR, I was probably awake for only five minutes and quietly prayed for the best.
It was way past midnight when I woke up to find myself on the recovery room, with my right foot heavily wrapped in elastic bandage and a much thicker foam wrap secured by Velcro straps to immobilize the area from the top knee down to my ankle. There was also a MediVac (drain) coming out of my right knee via a rubber tube.
After the second day at the hospital, the drain was removed. The following day, all the straps and bandages were removed. I was glad to find only three slits on my knee (two at the bottom and one on top): ONLY arthroscopic surgery was done, and my knee was not opened-up. Still, without the pain-killing medication (Vicodin), moving the knee -especially sideways – elicited severe pain that rang up my entire CNS (central nervous system).
Throughout this ordeal, a wide array of antibiotics were administered on an 8-hour cycle via IV while the doctors awaited the result of the blood culture and sensitivity (C/S) so that the best antibiotic could be used for the specific bacteria that caused the infection. My right knee was still swollen like an overripe papaya.
On the fourth day, the most effective antibiotic seemed to have been found, and the doctors informed me that a PICC line would have to be inserted so that I could administer the antibiotic at home.
On day five, the PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line was inserted after a 45-minute OPD (outpatient department) procedure. It was a very slender piece of plastic tube inserted through a vein in my right arm (the nurse informed me that this route was shorter) and initially guided by a thin piece of wire.
The tube snaked all the way up to a large vein (subclavian vein) situated very near the heart. The main idea was to deliver the antibiotic rapidly to my bloodstream while diluting it at the same time in that area where plenty of blood rushes by for a longer period of time than drip IV (usually good only for 4 days).
As a standard procedure, an X-ray was taken to ensure the PICC line was in place. Otherwise, the entire procedure would have to be redone. I was also informed that the PICC line would remain in my body for two weeks.
That done, I was out of the hospital after a few more hours of briefing — all related to the arthroscopic surgery on my knee and the PICC line they had embedded in my body as well as how to administer the drugs at home.
For now, I’m simply looking for better days ahead—returning to my daily routine. But this time around, I will simply be more thankful for each and every day that passes.
Simply being healthy is, indeed, a feeling of already being wealthy.
—links:
www.arthroscopy.com
www.thefurrymonkey.co.uk/picc.htm
A Piece of Paper
He never complains and talks even less. He’s industrious to a T and is well off by ordinary people’s standards. Yet, he’s not the type to wallow in the extemporaneous showmanship of one’s material accomplishments.
Forever humble, he goes through the motions in life as if he is on a divine mission — to an end only very few people can see.
It is rare to encounter such a person, but I did again, and I plan to hang around and learn more from him. In this world full of braggadocios and trying-hard hangers-on, it is like finding a gem that will last you a lifetime.
In my almost five decades of existence, I have had my fair share of friends. They have come and gone. Some have died along the way, and some have simply disappeared in the course of time—the consequences of aging, the sign of the times, or simply, the call of destiny.
True friendships are rare because they are matches made in heaven — a total ‘synching’ of two people’s mindsets and spirits. But to discover them requires a bit of patience.
They are not mere acquaintances that we had come to like in a short period of time. They are good starts, though, and could lead to one of those people we had tried so hard to look for in this complex jungle called life.
Over the course of one’s lifetime, I’m sure that one’s list of friends will have gone down from a volume to a single sheet of paper. Keep it and fold it close to your heart.
The memories you have shared with these people are enough to keep you aglow and lift your spirits as you amble along in the twilight times of your life.
I Remember June (And the Glorious Years of the PNB)
After the May festivities, it’s time to put things into their proper perspectives once more. The summer parties are over for the students, and it is time to troop into the classrooms again. For the fresh grads, it’s time to push those resumes into the fax machines or attach them to e-mails and hope for the best. The Philippine economy may not be rosy, but it can only get better from here (we hope so). The only difference between Manila and the rest of the third-world countries is the former’s penchant for being in this situation more often.
June will also be remembered as the month in which the Philippine National Bank‘s (PNB) shares were first listed at the then-dual exchanges of Makati and Manila in 1989.
This was made possible because of Edgardo Espiritu‘s leadership. His moral integrity and high ethical standards should be an example to our current crop of government officials. He quit as the Finance Minister during the Estrada administration and pursued his interest in running private corporations. The reason was obvious.
Over at the PSE, investors are digging their trenches and are preparing to be in for the long haul. The trend had been established, and the administration was offering no clear signs of relief. Short-term rallies will offer a “quick fix” for those who jumped the latest in this pain-bringing, if not perplexing, stock market. But many ‘long-termers’ who were blindsided by the sudden reversal of fortune in the early going of the forgettable Estrada administration – and which had remained in the doldrums during the equally anemic Arroyo transition period/administration – could either bottom-fish or average down at their comfort levels.
In June, many of these prominent and honorable businessmen, politicians, and stock investors will be seen in churches and other religious edifices attending weddings and shelling out huge amounts either out of necessity, love for social gatherings, conceit, or to perpetuate the Filipinos’ bent for the ‘padrino system.’
We can only guess what litanies will be heard during the ceremonies. We could also wish that in their prayers, they would fervently ask for the country’s economic salvation and not simply to recover—and then some—their political investments, or the country may ultimately be the most rotten one among the banana republics.
May the June wedding bells toll on the country’s economic recovery. Hang tough, Philippines!
—link:
War Driving from Fremont to Reno, Nevada
During one of our trips to the gambling mecca on this side of Nevada, we usually leave the house at around 7:00 in the morning.
When we arrive, that normally gives us enough time to ensure that someone has already heated any of our favorite nickel or penny slot machines. But on this particular trip—which was on a Sunday—we left the house two hours earlier than usual.
We’ll drive much slower and try to cover more secondary roads in selected cities and towns. Armed with my relic-of-the dot-com-bust but still-trusty, WiFi-equipped notebook, a booster antenna, and the notoriously popular “wireless sniffer,” NetStumbler, we’ll be war driving from Fremont to Reno, Nevada.
The rapid popularity of wireless Internet access spawned the fine art of war driving, a computer-cracking technique that involves driving through a neighborhood with a wireless-enabled notebook computer and mapping houses and businesses that have wireless access points.
Some states deem this practice illegal, but not in tech-savvy states like California and Nevada, home to Silicon Valley and the Comdex Expos.
But why war drive? It is because of my distaste for cell phones. While cell phones are convenient for emergencies, non-yakkers like me want Internet access – the world at your fingertips – as we drive. The tiny screens in cell phones and other WiFi-enabled gadgets like the Palm Tungsten C don’t compare to the full glory of a big, crisp 12″ or 14″ TFT computer screen.
We utilized the I-580 East to 205 to I-5 North to 120 to CA-99 to Highway 80 East route to reach Reno, Nevada, and in the course of the almost 4 and a half hours of leisurely cruising/war driving,
I concluded that bringing your notebook computer is not only indispensable if you embark on a long-haul drive, but it is also a convenient way to get in touch with the world—all for free—while giving your tired eyes a lot of relief!
The world is indeed a small place with the Internet and WiFi access. Access points abound—except for the major portion of the uphill stretch from Placerville (California) to Sparks, Nevada—in most areas we drove by!
However, in time, war driving may suffer the same fate as using your cell phones while driving- which is now widely implemented in densely populated cities- unless a highly secure and selective encryption standard comes along the way. One that will be good enough to separate the free-for-public-use wireless networks from the private ones.
—links:
www.macstumbler.com
www.netstumbler.com
www.palmone.com
EPILOGUE:
This article was written twenty years ago, and ‘war driving‘ became a fad. Wi-Fi had become ubiquitous, Bluetooth had become more efficient, and cellular connectivity had become faster and more affordable.
Today, older vehicles with no built-in cellular service (paid or complimentary) and fancy multimedia consoles use their mobile phone’s cellular service and share Internet connectivity with their other devices with bigger screens.
The Lusty Month of May (Sad It Is to Fiesta)
May is Manila’s “fiesta” (feast) month. Streets are crowded with people attending town fiestas.
Will the merry month of May also herald the coming months – or even years – of festivities in the country?
Something to cheer and to be merry about?
While jaded business traders may not care, true investors hope so. The country—already badly battered from the spate of tragedies during the post-Ramos administration—hopes that the hot but breezy month of May will be the spark to propel it in the right direction.
Fiestas had been part and parcel of Filipino culture.
Its roots go back to when Spain ruled the world, and its brand of religion was the panacea for all ills.
These yearly gatherings of families and friends feature lots of food, free-flowing beers, and hot gossip. Streets are festooned with streamers, and bands play constantly, reminding the residents of the good times ahead.
But sadly, fiestas also bring a false sense of prosperity, especially in these hard economic times. People, in the spirit of celebration, are sometimes forced to shell out meager savings to get by these ostensibly marked cultural events.
In the same way, investors may be lulled into a false sense of fiesta by the prevailing economic conditions. The naive investor must rid himself of this false sense of bullishness (or bearishness) in the economy and should rather assess each day either as an opportunity or a day to scale down.
Manila’s current political and economic climate is just too testy. It’s better not to fiesta but rather hold that bag of goodies for the rainy days ahead!
But, if you already made your stash in Manila, regardless of the economic direction it moved, then…fiesta on! And don’t forget the lechon!
The Netpliance hack parts….
The iOpener hack parts arrived via UPS a week after I had ordered them from an East Coast computer parts company. I could
have also bought the parts locally -and cheaper – but I don’t like to bother with the hassle of assembling them – specially the 44-pin IDE cable for the laptop HD that will hook up to the iOpener. The driving time to buy them locally will also offset whatever savings I can.
Aside from the cable, there is also the IDE adapter as well as the actual laptop HD (3 GB).
Total cost: $50.
