Marking Our Territory Soon at Our Cool Home in Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Inilabas uli ang umbrella marked as Wazzup Pilipinas!

As usual, umuulan uli dito. Rain comes most of the time here especially at night kaya mas ideal mag gardening dito. If hindi umuulan, malamig talaga sa gabi until morning at paggising namin ay puro hamog ang ibabaw ng mga kotse.

We are back in Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal to give in to the special request of one of our sons, and that is the installation of air conditioning.

Basically, aside from making the house a weekend getaway, we are going to make it our workshop too. If this pandemic is not going away soon, we should have a place to use as a blogging, vlogging and livestreaming studio.

Seeing fireworks! Dahil sa paggawa ng metal housing for the aircon.

Actually, malamig dito tuwing gabi at umaga pero need mo pa rin ng aircon dahil mainit sa tanghali kahit may double-sided insulation foam na yung loob ng ceiling namin. You're fine if you'll open all windows and doors but your privacy is gone. You could also stay outside under the shade where it's cooler. (We are lucky our house here is facing east where the sun rises every morning), but we need a cooler ambiance indoors since we need to be plugged in most of the time.

The installation of window-type aircon for our Montalban, Rizal home was necessary. Kinunan ko uli nung naikabit na.

Bought the 1 hp Kelvinator brand for 13k. There are more expensive brands, especially the inverter split types which they say will save you on electricity cost, but the investment cost is higher at almost double.

My first familiarity with the brand is as a refrigerator brand. So air-conditioning is still a similarly cooling product.

The brand is owned by Swedish manufacturing giant Electrolux which Gen X peeps would remember by their 80's commercial which used a revised portion of the lyrics of the song to sound like this:

"I'm gonna knock on your door, ring on your bell, tap on your window too. So why don’t you open your door…  So I can show you more…
I’m your friendly Electrolux man.”

"I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door", written by Aaron Schroeder and Sid Wayne, is a song that was originally released by the Isley Brothers in 1959 and became a hit for teenage actor Eddie Hodges in 1961.

Electrolux is one of the smaller players in Australia's air conditioner market which is good enough for me as long as it's not a brand from China. But the box says it's a quality product of Concepcion-Carrier ...hhhmmm

Kelvinator's products usually perform well in Canstar Blue's customer satisfaction ratings, so the brand is evidently doing something right. Canstar Blue is Australia's most trusted comparison site, comparing over 120 consumer product and service categories, including energy.

Kelvinator air conditioners are, on the whole, a little cheaper than the more popular 'premium' brands out there. Nowadays, there seems to be very little difference in quality and performance among brands because most of our appliances that are still working are not among those high-end brands.

But after inspecting the box, nakalagay na it is a Concepcion-Carrier ... Hindi yata updated info na research ko online

Pero bakit ba tayo naglolokohan. Sa hinabahaba ng kuwento ko, doon pa rin tayo sa totoo, yun lang kasi ang extra budget namin for now. ..hehehe :)

Oh Christmas tree, my Christmas tree!

Nabasa ng ulan yung box at nasira kaya binuo ko na itong punong simbolo ng Pasko

Kapag hindi pa ako nauna sa pag greet sa inyo ng Merry Christmas ay ewan ko na lang talaga :)

Inabutan na ng dinner time!

Bought pork barbecue outside the main entrance to our phase where commercial establishments can be found. Ito talaga favorite ko kapag nandito kami sa Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal home namin.

Grilled or barbecued is supposed to be healthier than anything fried that fastfood restos sell. Kaya kanina ay litsong manok from Baliwag ang lunch namin.

May nagsabi na masama daw yung sunog na parts but for me iyon ang mas masarap

Naturally, wala ng freshly cooked veggies or any other viand in the evening. Curfew here starts at 8pm so you have to buy early para hindi masaraduhan.

P15 each lang pero before Covid-19 pandemic ay P13, tapos lumiit pa.

I bought only 10 sticks for the five of us dahil may tira pang litsong manok kaninang tanghali.

I would also normally buy milk tea to accompany the barbecues, but I think the milk tea store now closes earlier than the usual.

Done installation of the aircon at almost 11pm na. They started after lunch and ended before midnight. Wow!

We let it run all night for testing.

The Story of the Common Filipino Pre and During Covid-19 Pandemic

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The story of the common Filipino before covid:

Wakes up every day at 4 a.m., travels for two hours to get to work, then another two hours to get home

The monotony continues for six months—because most of these workers are only under contract for a short period... Big companies hire people only for a short while so they can’t be forced to regularize employees, who later struggle again to find another job

The story of the common Filipino during covid:

Wakes up every day at 4 a.m or even earlier., then walks, bikes or takes chance getting a ride from the few public transpo available, while wearing a face mask and avoiding close physical contact with others else getting arrested for violating quarantine protocols - for several hours trying to get to work, then does the same routine going home, but worried about infecting family members since mass testing is not among the plans of the national government so takes a bath before checking up on their kids 

While for the many who got laid off or had to close down their small business, logs on to social media to post their items for sale or barter. Government then schemes to tax online selling and bartering.

We are unsure when this monotony will end

Next election, please make sure that we vote for only those who truly understands and emphatizes with the plight of the common people, and makes it as his top priority.

While some of us are so in touch with reality, many are a major disappointment. Hindi lahat ng oras at pagkakataon kailangan mong maging masaya.  Minsan kailangan mo rin buksan ang kaisipan sa nangyayari sa paligid mo.

When so many things that are happening affect so many lives, insisting on positivity will only make us insensitive, uncaring or worse, a privileged douche.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

Hati rin ba ang pag-iisip mo kung ikaw ay kakaliwa o kakanan? Anong direction ba ang mas kapaki-pakinabang sa iyo lang o sa nakakarami?

ABS-CBN's Strategic Move: From TV Network to Online Content Creator

Wazzup Pilipinas!

We may be exaggerating a bit on the 11k employees losing their jobs.

One of the reasons ABS-CBN is letting people go (for now) is because they won't be earning as much as before since income from advertising ops on television will be reduced ...and we know how even brands alone can generate their own online ads even by just using their internal Marketing peeps....and since the Covid-19 pandemic is still around, producing teleseryes or other shows requiring a group of actors interacting with each other is out of the picture too...thus again, no room for the previous type of shows to continue which means brands won't have a show to match for their commercials. We can't make a mini-movie with actors wearing face masks or PPEs, otherwise we will be risking their safety against the veerus. Zoom videoconferencing will eventually become too boring to watch. That will look too awkward if it will always be the case. Brands will just choose GMA. ABS-CBN might just as well continue playing reruns or produce animations...or follow the leads of online influencers like vloggers who are thriving online.

With ABS-CBN still existing online, there are obviously still people assigned to manage tasks involving their online presence. Maybe not as much right now since they won't be having an extensive list of shows initially, but they could operate just like other online Influencers featuring online content -  news or entertainment. Anyway, going digital or online is really the way to go, and if vloggers could earn a considerable amount, imagine what ABS-CBN can do if it takes advantage of its existing resources and workforce.

So the real threat is for the digital and/or peeps currently existing. This former TV network can produce better and more elaborate content, thus competing with vloggers in collab with brands, ad agencies in producing commercials, etc. ...Aside from outsourcing, I'm betting that ABS-CBN could already be doing these small time, but they could expand and become a giant on this field as well.

Again, with the current pandemic, everyone is obviously limited to do the usual stuff too. The other TV networks could not produce and air their usual teleserye shows too..all reruns.

Thus the playing field seems even for all, but ABS-CBN has a backpack full of advantage that will be its competitive edge.

But don't get me wrong. The non-issuance of franchise leading to the network's closure as a television entity was also unnecessary regardless of its many faults, if ever there was. No matter how the government (Congress) defends it's decision, it will forever be seen as wrong, especially now that we are still in a Covid-19 pandemic. But this is a different (horror) story.