Tribute To My Camera

In my personal travels, one thing certainly had been in my top of the list of thing to bring. This is my digital camera.

It was in 2004 when I first bought my own digital camera, a Sony Cybershot DSC-P91. I bought it at around Php26K back then as it was just newly released in the market.

It was in time for my first leisure trip outside the country and my first to Singapore. With it, I was able to capture our moments and memories while we were there and that started my facination with taking pictures.

With the years I had my camera, I've captured quite a number of memories and moments. I was able to bring it on top of the mountain in Mt. Maculot and Banaue, on the beaches of Boracay and Bohol, into the caves of Sagada, up to the Great Wall, and the Grand Canyon.

My Cybershot has produced me very high quality pictures and great flexibility with my choice of using preset modes or doing manual adjustments just like in a DSLR. I loved how I was able to capture beautiful night shots with it though I had to buy a tripod to give me better shots. One good thing with it is that it uses 2 rechargeable AA batteries, which is easy to find in case I lost charge.

Through the years it had been with me, it sadly endured some misfortune like when it was dropped by a photo staff in Disneyland when I was in Los Angeles in 2004. Then in December of 2007, it suffered from the wintery chills in the Grand Canyon when it whites up all zoomed shots. But lastly in 2008 it finally bade goodbye when it plunged down a pool.

Overall, it served me very well and I can say that it had been one of my best properties whom I've bought in a very good price. Irrepairable it may be, I have kept it still as a memorabilia.

Anyways this year, I have acquired a new camera. It is a Canon 450D DSLR camera. Going forward I'm looking into the future of having a very good relationship with my new camera. I'd hope I'd be able to bring as well to odd spots to capture my future memories.

Well, so far from my kid's birthday to our hike to Mount Pinatubo, it has not failed me. But I've still need to take more time to learn all the capabilities of this new camera and maybe later buy an additional lens and flash.

Moving to Another Company

Just October of last year, I made the decision of leaving my old company, WeServ Systems which is a subsidiary of Fujitsu Philippines hoping for a better opportunity to another company. And so, I've decided to move to ProV International which is located in Makati.

It was such a hard decision to make. After all, I have spent 8 long years in WeServ and have made a lot of friends and stature in the said company. But again, due to economic reasons and having a new family I have decided to proceed on moving to ProV. Well ProV offered me about double of what I earn in WeServ. Such an irresistable offer.

And now, jump 6 months after. I did not realize that I'll be again undergoing a transition to a new company. This is something I have not thought of doing but due to the current situation I had to do it. Since January, ProV had laid off a number of people. Since last year, many employees are disheartened by how things are going on. Some have left and some were forced to leave.

And so, starting tomorrow, I'll be joining the fleet of people who decided to move on to another opportunity. I feel fortunate that I landed on a project which has offered to take care of us in this times of economic crisis. As other felt the burden of looking for a new employer, I had a hand who caught me from being thrown out of the window.

As I face a new opportunity beginning tomorrow, I hope this would end up better. I hope I won't get disappointed like I had with ProV. And hopefully in the next few month, we finally join Besix.

Driving in the U.S.

The United States of America is one of the most car-centric countries that I have been to or I'd say the most car-centric. In the past four years that I have been able to travel internationally into Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the US, it is only here in the land of Uncle Sam where a car is a necessity to travel from one place to another.

In Vietnam, Malaysia, and China, taxi cabs are easy means of transport. In Singapore, the public transport system is too organized that it is easy to hop from a bus and MRT to get from one place to another. But in the US, it would be a pain if one doesn't have a car.

In my past two business travels to Texas, my company had to provide us car rentals for us to drive ourselves from the hotel to office. Buses is not a common thing to see around. On my first vacation visit in California, we depended on car rentals or personal cars to get around.

The good thing about having a car in the US is driving. Driving in the US is very much different to the normal driving that I experience in the Philippines. In the US, traffic rules are strictly implemented and many street crossings are being watched by traffic cameras. Cars maintain their own lane and they follow proper right of way.

The first time I've experienced driving in the US is during my second visit to Austin. We rented a car from Hertz and they lent me a Mazda 6. While on my California visit, we had to rent a car from Avis and they lent us a Chevrolet Impala. Most cars in the US are automatic transmission.

Having automatic cars compared to manual transmission, driving is less challenging as one would not need to think of using the clutch to change gears. Also cars are usually power steering.

US roads are generally neatly paved and wide making driving less straineous. In Texas, roads and highways are very wide that traffic is not usually heavy. In California, traffic is a bit heavier. But anyways, with the US freeway system, one can get from one city to another in a quicker way. US Freeways allow an average of 65 miles per hour speed while streets generally have a 45 miles per hour limit. Compared to the Philipines where traffic is heavier and roads are narrower, driving here is a lot easier.

One would easily feel the need for speed while driving here specially while on freeways. With the smooth roads there are less noise produced by cars. And with all cars speeding on the highways, one would usually not realize that you are driving very fast already at 70mph or more. In the Philippines, driving at 90kph is already fast. And a 20mile destination can be reached in 20 minutes in the US unlike back home that takes about 2 hours.

Boy, I hope the Philippines also build freeways for quicker travel.