Honey Mae and I are back from Hong Kong, and I just finished a new webpage about our trip. See it here:

http://www.chrispforr.net/row2/chrisphil7/hongkong/hongkong.htm

Over the past several months I’ve had terrible computer karma:

Lenovo SL500 Thinkpad

I bought this laptop in May, 2009, over the internet to use while I was in the US over the summer. It worked OK for a few weeks and then died. Took it to the shop and after three weeks they discovered the heat sink had fallen over; this was causing the computer to overheat and shut down. They finally fixed it, just in time for me to carry it back to the Philippines to sell.

Compaq Presario

This desktop machine was donated to my mom by my niece’s husband; It worked OK but took me a week to get it connected to the Internet DSL.

Dell Inspiron

This is a ten-year old laptop owned by my Seattle host Domenick Dellino. He offered it to me to use while my Lenovo was in the shop. Initially it was running so slowly that it it took several minutes to open an application like WORD or a browser. It took 20 minutes to open Internet Explorer and navigate to my e-mail.

I added an additional 256MB RAM chip and removed a number of software applications which were slowing the machine down; but it still runs very slowly and needs a full reformatting and reinstalltion.

Toshiba Satellite

A friend, knowing I was having computer troubles, gave me this laptop for free. She said it was “running great.”

The laptop had a number of problems, including the left button on the touch pad mouse not working, making it impossible to perform many fundamental activities. I spent parts of three days trying to install a USB mouse and finally realized the USB ports were malfunctioning. I gave up and took the laptop to a computer recycling center.

IBM Thinkpad

I bought this five-year old, second-hand machine from Craigslist in Seattle and it is a winner! I used it for two weeks, but then left it in Seattle for use when I return next summer. At least now I have a nice computer waiting for me there.

Nu-Tech Desktop PC clone

This has been my workhorse PC in Cebu for the past five years.

When I arrived back in Cebu from Seattle I couldn’t get online via my usual DSL connection. After half a day trying all my network-repair techniques, I gave up and took it to the shop. They diagnosed computer viruses and showed me a temporary workaround to get online. The tech recommended a re-format and reinstall. I updated my anti-virus software but it could neither find nor repair the viruses. I did a full re-format and re-install of all my software. It ran well for a few days.

Yesterday the machine failed during boot up and gave a “Trap 00000006 Exception” error. This points to an as-yet undetermined hardware problem. The machine will not boot, even from a CD. Time to go back to the shop. New hard drive?? New motherboard??

1. Clink clink
The flight from Taipei to the Philippines was uneventful and after two hours we circled to the east of Manila and came in to land at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The wheels touched down, the flaps went up to slow the plane down, and immediately I heard “Clink clink clink clink clink.” This was the sound of Filipinos releasing their seat belts and was followed by an orchestra of electronic startup tones as they all turned on their cellphones. A moment later they began to gather their belongings in prepartion for disembarking, and by the time the plane had slowed to 50mph, Filipinos were already standing up and jockeying for position in the aisles to get off the plane.
Nevermind that it would be another five minutes before the plane came to a stop at the terminal and then another 10 minutes before we started filing off the plane: Hurry up and wait.

2. Three glances
In the US during the summer, I watched pretty women at the stores and on the sidewalks. 99% of the time they completely ignored me.
At the Taipei airport, I wathed the beautiful Taiwanese flight attendants and airport workers in their cute uniforms and the hundreds of women travelers in the airport. They all ignored me.
On the ground in Manila and getting ready to disembark from the plane, I watched a pretty Filipina standing in line in the aisle. She returned my glance and then turned away. She moved two paces forward and then glanced over again to see if I was still watching her. She moved another five steps, and then just before moving forward out of sight behind a cabin bulkhead, she glanced my way a third time and flashed a big smile, signaling that she didn’t mind the attention at all.

3. Filipina ESP
After getting off the plane, I got through Philippine Immigration, retrieved my bags from the luggage carousel and then sailed through Customs. I entered the Arrival Hall and visited first the bathroom and then the ATM to get a stack of Pesos. I organized all my bags in preparation for dealing with Manila, and then just before going outside to do battle with the taxi drivers, I turned on my Philippine cellphone: it still had a nearly full charge and a good signal. I didn’t try to call or text anybody yet because I was preparing for the sometimes-stressful ride into the city.
After I found a taxi driver and got in and we headed towards Ermita, I heard a message alert tone on the cellphone in my pocket. The screen showed that in the five minutes since turning my phone on, Honey Mae in Cebu had tried to call me and sent me two text messages (“Welcome back to the Philippines bb ko!”)
I had told her that I would be flying in to the Philippines today but hadn’t told her anything about my flight.
Q: How did she know I had just arrived in Manila?
A: Filipinas just KNOW this stuff.

I had a productive two weeks staying with my mom:
· Got her new (used) computer set up and connected to DSL;
· Created and printed instructions for her to use email, word processing and internet search on the computer;
· Installed ViaVoice (voice recognition software);
· Used ViaVoice to dictate the entirety of my mom’s novel Ysobel onto the computer; then I printed a copy and got it ready for her to finish writing the story;
· Helped her to modify/update her Will/trust documents / went to her attorney to get the documents legally updated;
· Did thorough scrubbing of birdshit-covered floor in the “Lovebird room” (formerly known as my mom’s bedroom);
· Fixed the leak in the bathroom toilet.

My mom and I went over to my brother’ Gary’s house in Alamo yesterday for dinner. His wife Nguyet cooked a big meal of Vietnamese BBQ pork, along with eggrolls, spring rolls, stirfry chicken-and-tofu, papaya salad; and my mom brought along her trademark potato salad. My niece Kimberly and her husband Chris drove up from San Jose for the dinner too.
It was a very nice afternoon, with no fights. Thank you.

 

Here I am at my mom’s in Brentwood, California. Current house population stands at one human (Beth, my mom), 7 lovebirds, 2 cockatiels, 2 doves, and 1 pigeon.

When I was last here a year ago, the birds were picking at the mattress in my mom’s bedroom, tearing off fabric scraps to make nests. I helped her buy and install a plastic mattress cover (giant plastic bag) to try to stop the shredding. The plastic cover apparently didn’t slow them down at all and eventually mom had to throw the mattress away. She considered buying a new one but decided instead to just get rid of the entire bed and turn the bedroom over to the birds.

She tried sleeping in the guest bedroom for awhile which has a single bed, but then she started sleeping in the living room; at first on the couch, but now she sleeps on a folding cot with a thin foam mattress.

My mom basically spends most of every day, from 7:30am until 10 or even 11pm at night, taking care of her menagerie. There is breakfast preparation (fresh seed bowls and often corn muffins baked up fresh for the little feathered friends) and then dinner of fresh seeds and often a fresh salad. Meanwhile, she spends hours a day providing each cage a twice-daily bowl of fresh water and then removing and cleaning the bottom tray. The kitchen and bedroom floors get swept and mopped daily because the birds are allowed “flight privileges” during daylight hours: they fly, perch and drop little puddles of birdshit all over the house.

Here’s a pic of Bobby the cockatiel eating a fresh corn muffin with butter (just the way he likes it.) Did anybody say PAMPERED?

 

Yesterday my brother Gary dropped in for a visit at my mom’s house, on his way home from a five-day motorcycle trip to Utah. He had gone to Utah for a meeting of his POW-MIA veteran buddies.
He came in and spent an hour talking about his trip and his job. Then he got on his bike, a Harley police special, and left. See you next year, Gary.

 

I just rode the Amtrak train from Tacoma, Washington, to Martinez, California to come visit my mom. As usual it was a great trip, and as usual I spent virtually the entire ride in the domed observation car. I’ve found that somehow a train ride is conducive to meeting and getting into long, relaxed conversations with total strangers and I availed of this opportunity several timers. You could probably do the same thing with people you already know, or alternatively, the train ride would also probably be enjoyable even if you wanted to sit and watch the world go by without saying a damn thing to anybody. Your call.

The day before the ride I visited the “Dollar Tree” and “BigLots” near Chris Martin’s house in Tacoma, and for less than $10 I purchased a stash of triscuits, salami, chips, chocolate-covered popcorn, Arizona ice tea and bottled water which got me through the whole trip without a single visit to the dining car where one can partake of fettucine alfredo for $18 (that’s without a beverage, salad, tax or tip). Who needs that?

To all ye would-be travelers I advise without a moment’s hesitation: Go Amtrak!
(FYI: My Tacoma to Martinez one-way ticket cost $85, purchased online)

 

I’m here in Seattle for my annual visit to the USA. I’ve been housesitting at the home of Marcy and Dom, taking care of their four cats (Bilbo, Fusito, Crystal, Zorro) while they (the humans) vacation in Mexico. It’s been a great time: every day I try to spend a few hours doing e-mail and reading news online, do a little yardwork, go for a bicycle ride around town, and have a friend or two over for dinner. This last item is usually the highlight of the day, as it gives me a chance to catch up with my long-time friends in Seattle . Here’s a record of my social schedule to date:
June 15: Elanor and Paul (dinner at their house)
June 16: Boyd, Lena and Amy
June 17: Ruth and Andy
June 18: Chuck and Lou
June 19: Vicki and Doug
June 20: Todd and Molly (Fremont solstice parade and Fremont Fair)
June 21: Bea (hike around UW) and then Chris LaRoche (dinner)
June 23: Lenny, Gladys and John
June 24: Jean Davis

It’s such a tough gig

May 1, 2009 will mark a little-known but important anniversary: on May 1, 1898, Admiral George Dewey steamed into Manila Bay and sunk the Spanish fleet defending the capital. The event marked the beginning of 111 years of American intervention in the Philippines.

Dewey’s attack was one of four against the already-collapsing global Spanish empire in response to the sinking of the American battleship Maine in Havana Harbor. The Americans also attacked the Spanish in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Thus began the Spanish-American War, which the Americans easily won against the decrepit Spanish colonial forces within a few months.
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