Shooting with Ty!

Thanks Ty for taking the time to introduce Grace and me to competitive shooting using your STI Airsoft set up. It rocked bro! I think a couple more sessions and we can level up to the real deal ;)

My daily gear

I've always had an obsession for bags and what people carry with them. You can tell alot about a person by what's on them most of the time. I have to admit that I even have more bags aka man purses than my wife.

My current bag of choice is the Lowepro Classified 100 AW. It's the perfect bag for me. I'll be doing a quick review later about why I love this smart little piece of kit.

Here are the basics that I carry with almost daily.

First off is my wallet, it's nice and small and has just the basics. I don't carry around a lot of cash so it's just right. I think someone gave it to my Dad for Christmas and I just pocketed it. It's nice and simple, soft black leather Fino wallet.

Second are my keys and attached to it is my Lacie 4GB Key thumbdrive. It's a cool little thumbdrive with a solid feel to it. It has taken a lot of damage while it's been with my and it's working fine.

Third is my iPhone. I hate to sound like a tendoid packaloid but I really love my iPhone 3GS. It rocks paired with my Globe Super Surf and Super Duo plan. I use it as a portable wifi hot spot which my iPad and laptop can sync to. It's also a great gaming platform. It is near perfect except for the ridiculously short battery life.

Fourth is my Swiss Army Knife, the Cyber Tool 34. It has gotten me out little jam so many time that I've lost count.

Fifth is my GF1, is my current favorite camera. It's basically a mini SLR. Check out my review on Techie.

And finally 6th is my Kodak Playsport HD camera. It's a relatively inexpensive camera that shoot full HD and is waterproof!

7th but not least is my iPad. When I have this on me I feel like I am living in the future. It's the ultimate media consumption device. Loaded it with hundreds of ebooks, comics, my photo's, and games. I will never have a dull moment. I have even set it up to stream video from my home media server!

If the 10 year old Ibba saw all this awesome kit that I bring me everyday he would be blown away. He'd say "Old Ibba, you're DOPE and PHAT and still FAT!"

Ode to the GF1

 

click for the full article

Ah, the geeks poetry is a gadget review. Here is my sonnet dedicated to me new love. Ode to the GF1.

Tita Grace you look silly - Euri

 

24 hours with the Panasonic GF1

24 hours with the Panasonic GF1

Here are some shots I took my first 24 hours with the Pany GF1. Click to see the album

GF1 Artsy fartsy settings

Wasn't really planning to post this. But while I was showing off my new toy to Carlo Estrella, I took some picts using the "Art" setting of the GF1. The wifey looking as classy as ever :)

Giving back the geek way

"Buhay Ko sa Smokey Mountain" aims to teach 25 scholars from the Smokey Mountain Community how to document and share their lives via prose, photos, videos through personal blogs. The workshops will be taught by prominent Bloggers, Photographers, Writers and Directors. The Manila Jaycees, together with Young Focus Foundation, are working together to empower these kids with the tools and skills to tell their story.

About 2 months ago, I came up with an idea. The concept was pretty simple. Use my most basic geek know how, blogging, photography, videography some post prod and teach it to kids in Smokey Mountain.

The motivation is teach them to document their lives and share it with the world. I'm not special, my life is pretty good, I like bikes and toys and even I have a blog! A boring blog, which is sporadically updated but I have one nonetheless.

Imagine teaching these skills and giving tools to these kids who have so much going on in their lives. Empowering them to share their triumphs and struggles with the world. My daily struggles revolve around waking up early, traffic and parking. It's embarrassing actually, these kids have lived through more than I can imagine and their still just kids!

So I had an idea and luckily I had just joined a group that wanted to help. The Manila Jaycee's. I was sponsored by my friend Charlie Paw, he is such a nice guy and has been nothing but good to me and I just couldn't say no. Needless to say, I joined the group with some trepidation. I always thought these things where networking for networking's sake. I'm part of a lot of groups which create real social interaction and friendships through common interest, be it Motorcycles, Sci Fi, Video games, photography, food etc. I really didn't get the concept of JCI Manila in the beginning. The appication/ invitation process didn't help either. It was all formalities and fancy schamncy. Not my cup of tea. I'm a T-shirt/ cargo pants, mcdo kind of guy. I only wear formal attire at weddings.

Long story short, our initiation to become a full member was to do an outreach project. I wasn't into the "normal" outreach stuff, medical dental missions, giving out food etc. If I was a doctor I would have done medical missions, If I was a lawyer I could have helped out those being oppressed by da Man. But I'm a geek! There is no real clear way a geek can help. Until now :)

Then an epiphany. I know how to take pictures. I'm not great but a few of my shots have been published in the Inquirer, Mabuhay, GamesMaster and T3. So I can teach really basic photography. I also edit my photo's in picasa, again I can teach basic photo editing. I love shooting video, doesn't matter if it's on my phone or digicam. Ok so I can teach videography. I enjoy editing and uploading stuff in FB and youtube. So I can teach basic post prod. And I know how to make a simple blog...

Being a tech geek means I'm a bit of an early adapter. It pains me to admit I've got quite a few cameras that I no longer use and are just gathering dust. It's old tech and not really worth selling, but they work. So I realized I could donate them to the kids. I figure other geeks out there have the same situation going on. I could probably get a few cameras from friends.


This all came together when I presented my idea (part of my initiation) to the JCI Manila board.


They really liked it and my project was green lit. JCI was focused on helping the kids in Smokey Mountain and had tied up with an NGO called Young Focus.


I was part of a team of JCI applicants and they mistakenly voted me as the chairman for the team. I seriously lucked out with this team. They rock! Alvin, my number 2 is the whip cracker. This details oriented and is an incredible task master. Howard Paw of Digital Walker and Game magazine, had all the connection to make this project work. VJ Sianghio business is Film for movies, he's taking up a course in Photography and has taught in other community out reach projects. Dexter Que, part on an events planning group, he has been instrumental in fund raising for the project. It was a geek dream team. Randomly selected but perfect for this project.


So this is how the "Buhay Ko" project began.