chewychua

10% of the kids’ loot last night. Merry Christmas!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:56:41 +0800

10% of the kids’ loot last night. Merry Christmas!

Family portrait :-)

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:13:45 +0800

Family portrait :-)

Breakfast at UCC

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:36:37 +0800

Breakfast at UCC

Cheers, lui :-)

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:59:01 +0800

Cheers, lui :-)

Okay. I‘ve never done this before…

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:23:22 +0800

Okay. I‘ve never done this before…

Amanda‘s fav carousel :-)

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:49:49 +0800

Amanda‘s fav carousel :-)

And with that, power's down...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:07:11 +0800

Gloomy morning to everyone

Smart buddy izzat you???

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:31:01 +0800

Smart buddy izzat you???

What Lui missed out on.

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:06:02 +0800

What Lui missed out on.

Go DDB :-)

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:08:42 +0800

Go DDB :-)

Closer view of my dad’s old Seiko watch

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:36:44 +0800

Closer view of my dad’s old Seiko watch

Why I Pity Philippine Airlines (and it's not their fault they have crappy planes flying to the US)

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:31:59 +0800

Since the late 90’s PAL has been a troubled national carrier. Coming from a proud heritage of being Asia’s First, it’s now seen as a tired, old and rickety airline (like it’s planes.)

There are many reasons for this, and surprisingly, it seems that it’s not entirely their fault.

Let’s focus first on PR 102 - MNL to LAX flight, which with God’s grace landed safely with 402 people on board.

Turns out, this Boeing 747-400 is pretty vintage already, having taken flight back in 1993, much like the troubled PR102 flight back in August 5 which had to make an emergency stop over in Japan.

Of course PAL management considered replacing the planes already with some really nice an modern Boeing 777 planes, but alas, because of our government’s incapacity to comply with FAA standards, the Philippines and all it’s airlines were demoted to Category 2.

Under Category 2, Carriers are not allowed to increase flights or add destinations, nor are they allowed to change aircraft or render significant modifications.

According to the FAA Website (http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa/definitions/) a Country would be in Category 2 listing when:

the country lacks laws or regulations necessary to support the certification and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards;
the CAA lacks the technical expertise, resources, and organization to license or oversee air carrier operations;
the CAA does not have adequately trained and qualified technical personnel;
the CAA does not provide adequate inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of, and compliance with, minimum international standards;
AND
the CAA has insufficient documentation and records of certification and inadequate continuing oversight and surveillance of air carrier operations.

If you notice the text, the pressure or obligation to comply rests within the Government.

We were demoted to category 2 back in January 2008 http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=10154

Too bad for PAL and the flying public because the intent to upgrade the planes was stated as early as 2006 http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2006/11/20/210646/philippine-airlines-to-order-boeing-777s-instead-of.html

PAL received it’s Boeing 777 planes in 2009 http://www.philippineairlines.com/news/1stb777.jsp

PAL invested in the best planes they can get for us, but we were ultimately denied this luxury because of technicalities that no airline can address on its own.

Smart Netphone flash tour, not bad for Php9990

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:34:00 +0800

Smart Netphone flash tour, not bad for Php9990

New discovery. Yummy pumpkin seeds

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:17:59 +0800

New discovery. Yummy pumpkin seeds

Sam loves his tic tacs

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:42:28 +0800

Sam loves his tic tacs

Georgina’s post bath bliss.

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:33:17 +0800

Georgina’s post bath bliss.

Retro time. My dad’s old Seiko watch. Probably 30 years...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:14:49 +0800

Retro time. My dad’s old Seiko watch. Probably 30 years old.

Here’s a photo of PAL’s business class food, taken...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:08:25 +0800

Here’s a photo of PAL’s business class food, taken back in 2006. I was flying home from Sydney then.

Taken using my D70s and a Tamron 17-50mm f/1.8.

Original photo posted on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chewychua/290438509/in/set-72057594139049244

Smart's new mobile data plans need 3G Watchdog!

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 07:17:24 +0800

Smart recently launched their tiered-data plans for Buddy and Bro. Check out their site here: http://store.smart.com.ph/default/article/view/543/

For Php300/month, subscribers can enjoy unlimited (in terms of time) mobile internet, provided that they only consume 250MB worth of data during that time. Of course there are other variants

If you use your mobile as your modem for your laptop, don’t bother. 250MB won’t cut it at all. But if you want to tweet, go on facebook, check in on foursquare, send a few emails and play Game Center or Open Feint connected games, then the cap may just be right for you.

Question is, do you know how much data you’re consuming right now? Do you even know which variant to avail of?

If you’re on android (like me) you can check out 3G Watchdog! https://market.android.com/details?id=net.rgruet.android.g3watchdog

It’s a nifty little app that lets you to monitor your data consumption, give you relevant statistics, and even allows you to put in the maximum allowed data based on your plan.

Best of all, it’s free from the android market.

Avail of the plan and then download the app - it’s only 650KB :-)

Rbs ramen. Mmmmmm

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:52:03 +0800

Rbs ramen. Mmmmmm