Auto repair by repairpal

Monday, March 7, 2011

Will you buy a new car? this might seem to be a very good question in our economy today. A lot of people for some reason need to buy a new vehicle but doesn't seem to have the budget to do so. My answer, why not repair your old one to save money, or at least until the money comes back in. The next big question is which one to choose, my answer is a website that does just that, informing you where to repair your precious vehicles its repailpal.com. 

I had a friend in Dallas area and just went to Dallas auto repair http://repairpal.com/dallas-auto-repair . The link doesn't just let you know where the best repair shops in Dallas are, but also give you a small background of the area and what common problems you might encounter because of the environment. Their pages also gives you a small map to look at and other useful links and information for your vehicle and the vehicle savvy.

For those looking for a vehicle to use here is one you may look at its the Chevrolet Silverado  http://repairpal.com/chevrolet-silverado_1500-2005. Since they deal with vehicles, its just normal to see some in this website, and the good news is that it also features reviews by some of the owners, helping you decide or if you just want to know what other people think of the vehicle.I do know some of you like to tinker in your own vehicle, for example brakes, you can check brake job http://repairpal.com/brake-rotor-replacement which will give you information about breaks, best practices or you can check other links which will give you a ton of information.  this truly is a one stop shop for vehicle repair.

Skyline: A movie that could have been a blockbuster

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

During the last few days, movie goers seem to flock to only one line and that would be Harry Potter 7 part 1, and that almost no other movie was available nor seemed interesting to watch except for one, Skyline. We have seen the trailer before as well as the posters and the movie seemed to offer an alternative, or so we thought.

The movie is just all about the title itself, a group of people who's last few hours of their lives revolved at the top of the tower, evading an alien invasion. Aliens seem to hypnotize human being and suck them to their ships or sometimes not for the purpose of getting their brains to make more aliens. The graphics seemed good enough and the actors seem to know what to do with themselves but the story not that good. Not much action was seen only, people avoiding capture. 

And it seems that the best part was barely shown on the last part where the lead actors brain was somehow still in control when it was transferred to an alien body and tries to protect his girlfriend and started attacking enemy aliens. I guess that should have been the part where they should have concentrated, but then the title would not have been skyline. Its just a shame to see that this could have been a good movie, something like of War of the Worlds mixed with Ben Ten.

Blue Sky Scrubs

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Image from www.blueskyscrubs.com/ 

Healthcare has always been a sensitive issue, and in recent times we have seen a drastic rise in the demand for healthcare professionals. I am not a healthcare professional myself, but there was a time where I almost started to be one, not that I have any regrets but sometimes its nice to think what could have happened otherwise. During those times, I always wondered what was the uniforms being used by nurses and other healthcare professionals, they always have the same look but different designs, until I found out, they were called scrubs. 

Scrubs clothing is something that healthcare professionals , medical professionals or even patients wear inside a hospital or clinic, but they are most commonly associated with nurse uniforms. They come in a variety of colors and sizes but seem to follow a relatively same design in cut and feature, we can even call them nursing scrubs, since the majority of its users are nurses. They all seem to be comfortable and easy to wear and emphasize that the person wearing it is supposed to be sterile and clean. I even saw a veterinarian wear the same type of clothing.

But for all those who are wondering, where to buy cheap scrubs? I say the availability of scrub clothing is very high not only in department stores but on the world wide web as well. I even found a website which would allow you to choose not only cheap scrubs but with good design and quality as well. You can go to http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/ or click on the link to see more information. The website is very useful specially to those in the medical field or to anyone who wants to be fashionable whenever a time would come to visit or to stay a while in the hospital for a day or two. www.blueskyscrubs.com/

Gamer: A movie that could almost be a reality

Monday, November 15, 2010

Every now so often, we would come across a movie that would make us think. Just recently, I was able to view such a film, at first I thought it was another action film from the guy who made Sparta look cool from the movie 300, but then the film was in fact for me a possible reality.

The movie is about in a time on a not so distant future when social networking has taken an advanced step into human life, and that nano-technology as evolved into something that can not only be controlled but can reproduce as well. Gerard Butler plays as Kable a framed convicted criminal who is part of an online reality game of kill or be killed "Slayers", as a character he is being controlled by a kid named Simon played by Logan Lerman. Kable then works his way to freedom from being controlled including his wife who is also part of an online reality game "Society", and his child.

Certainly, the technology imagined in the movie has its roots in todays world. The virtual reality used by Simon could be the future of Telepresence, possibly a room filled with sensors, walls of HD screen, a very high speed connection via fiber and probably a multiple times faster than the current I7 processor of Intel. Even the nano technology is not that far from imagination, even today experts are working on nano technology to help save lives and improve performance on how we work, maybe not as small as a single human cell but certainly did we think we could pack billions of transistors the size of our thumb 20 years back which makes up todays processors?

With regards to signal transmission, that could be something that needs a lot more work, since there are a lot more things to consider specially the environment and signal strength to ensure seamless connection, specially if your playing online games, but even that is not fictional. Either we fill the entire city with access points (which some cities are now working on) or improve our RFID technology.

But probably what is scary is that it is a great possibility that every single one of us could be fitted with an IP address. A unique set of binary or hexadecimal digits that would allow us to be reached much like a mobile phone but with much more direct access. We value our privacy and that is reflected on the way we protect our personal information specially on the internet where everything could be accessed with the right hardware and software. With social networking being one of the biggest income generating sub-industry in the field of IT, people will certainly invest on how to entertain and get their attention as well.

Mobot

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Going back on my college days during the time when we were still working on the initial stages of our design project, we had to practice with something common, or rather do something which already was existing. Our group then decided on making a robot. Nothing like the Star Wars Interactive R2D2 Astromech Droid Robot found on stores but something a bit more complicated, thus we worked on what we call "Mobot".

Its basically a device or a toy that would follow a path and avoid collisions. I forgot the model of the processor that we used but it was I believe a very primitive type of processor.

We used an IDE and if I remembered correctly a serial cable to connect to the computer for us to program the robot. We also used 3 infra red sensor at the front, together with two independent dynamo to act as the engine and an old Motorola battery pack for power.

Transformers at SM Makati

A couple of months back, when me and my girlfriend were off buying a new DVD player, I just could not help but notice a familiar image Transformers Leader Optimus Prime on the cat walk together with other characters of the movie Transformers. Even though, the even was probably for kids, I did saw a lot of adults posing with the mascots, I myself included.

It was just reliving the times when I used to watch the cartoon version of Transformers.

The guys inside these mascots would have been sweating but then again they still looked cool even though I'm not so sure if these were real characters from the movie.

Taco's for breakfast

Monday, August 23, 2010

Here is another breakfast blog, sometimes it nice to have breakfast that's a bit out of the ordinary, at least for our dining table. My mother tried serving taco's, but because beef is a lot more expensive, she improvised in using tuna. Tuna right out the can then cooked with onions served as the protein part of the meal.

With the other ingredients as lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, cheese and a bit of sweet chili sauce. I thought at first it was not a heavy meal, but after two or three of these I felt I was wrong.

http://www.makemychoice.com/

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Do you need to make a new decision? or simply want to see how other people answer your questions. I just stumbled upon an amazing website, its called makemychoice.com, the website allows you to make easy and free feedbacks on choices for your questions. You can also make feedback to the choices of other people making this site a very social way of providing you feedback in some of the decisions that you need to make.

The results for the choices are shown immediately together with the comments, and if your profile has picture, it will show them as well. I think there is a lot of potential in this website to be one of the next great social websites since, users are allowed to make feedback to other users as well as send messages and create your own profile. It might also be possible to link makemychoice.com in the future to other social websites, which would allow the website to reach to a wider audience, as well as to allow other people experience what makemychoice.com has to offer.

We will always have questions that needs to be answered and,  makemychoice.com is a great venue if you have something you just cant get off your head and at same time, get feedback from people, who may provide a good reason for a certain option. The best thing about the website is that, feedbacks are no longer bound by text alone, now you can send a feedback in a form of mp3, pictures and even documents.

Sorcerer's Apprentice Movie

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Just recently I had the chance to watch a movie a couple of weekends back, and find this film interesting. It tells of a story of a sorcerer named Baltazar (Nicolas Cage) who is searching for the prime merlinian, someone who is destined to be the next Merlin and the only sorcerer who can defeat Morgana, this happens to be Dave (Jay Baruchel). During the course of their acquaintance Dave releases Horvath (Alfred Molina) Baltazar's arch enemy. As time goes by, more and more enemies brakes loose and Dave being the next great sorcerer is trained by Baltazar, until Dave finaly meets and defeats Morgana.

The story wasn't that great, or maybe its just meant for younger audience but in my opinion the only part that made this movie great is because it had Nicolas Cage and that it had a cool sound track "Secret by OneRepublic". The movie would have been better had they added more twist or depth, they did however, add room for a sequel, which would need to be a lot better than the first. The story would also be good if it was made for a TV series first, then add a finale as a movie.

One great breakfast

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A good breakfast is probably the most important meal in your day, to make this meal special I decided to make something I just craved. A good rice meal with omelet and sauté'd vegetables. A lot of butter and hot sauce really made a good breakfast and ended up with a great day.

Secure locks

A time came when I had to keep my things inside a locker but for obvious reasons I had to buy my own locks. I have heard scores of instances where locks were opened and valuables taken. That is why I looked for something that seemed secure enough, I ended up with this certain type of lock.

At first glance, it just looks like any ordinary lock until you take a close look at the keys.

I know it looks like a phillips screwdriver but its really the key hole.

Speaker quick fix

Friday, April 2, 2010

Going green and saving planet Earth has suddenly become a priority for a lot of people, and the hysteria is slowly creeping into the minds of almost every person, sometimes unintentionally they become environmentalist. That was not the case when I decided to have a new set of speakers for my rather old PC. It took me four old computer speakers and create a personalized home sound system for myself.

I would not call this one as a modern work of art, but the fact is it works, and it works just fine. I took old parts from one speaker and soldered them to another. I made a few wire jumpers here and there, and a few electrical tapes did the job. Not only did I recycle, I also saved a couple of bucks in the process.

Indulgence before the holy week of 2010

I always believed that sometimes we should enjoy our life and give in our small desires. Such as what I did a few days before Lent, eating an entire bar of dark chocolate while drinking a nice hot cup of coffee. This might sound simple yet there are just things that no matter how simple, simply skips our minds when we start to do something else. Eating something you like helps us keep our minds whole in a time when we feel an event  would turn  everything otherwise. Maybe there will always come a time when we feel that the road just keeps on moving in different directions and that no matter how hard ones effort is to go straight we just end up being hurdled a little more to unhappiness. And the short term solution that I found, was to sit back, relax and find something you enjoy at, no matter how simple, as long as it is easy to get.

My 2010 New Years Arsenal

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Every New year here in the Philippines, it is imperative that we celebrate with a bang, weather you have a lot or just a few, what is important is that fire crackers has always and probably will still stay in the Filipino tradition. I am not good in history but some say that we got our firecrackers from the Chinese who lived and traded with our ancestors and with it, the promise of removing bad luck for the new year and to bring about good luck in the coming year. Firecrackers have been lit for a long time every new year and 2010 is no difference, except for the fact that I had a tight budget, so I just bought and lit some of the basic and probably the most practical.

This obviously is not a firecracker but this is what I use and recommend to lit those nasty firecrackers. Accidents happen, but we cant let a few accidents defer us from having fun and celebrate the new year, so here is a pretty good suggestion. Firecrackers are thrown first on the ground before you lit them using this "katol" or mosquito coil on a stick, so your hands have a bit of distance from the explosion.

The classic 5 star fire cracker, it never looses out of touch, but some have poor quality and explodes as soon as it feels heat. Extra care should be taken if playing with these guys. I bought one box which has 10 packs and each packs have 10 pieces, giving me 100 ways to be a bit concerned on my hands.

Piccolo, this has become a favorite, its cheap and gives a good bang. its also relatively small, a little bit thicker than a match. I bought one box which has 10 packs and each packs have 60 of these nasty guys, and blowing up 600 fire crackers is a good way to wake up the neighbor.
another favorite and classic, the "kwitis", this baby is not just used during the new year but during fiesta's as well. It shoots up in the sky and makes one bang,, leaving behind a trail of nasty smoke, but its fun to see something go up like a rocket.

My finale, I lit this up just before 12 o' clock 25 small rockets in sequence going straight in the sky. I just did not know how they would fall, but what is important is that they did go up and gave a bang.

Blogging, Microblogging and social networks

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Its amazing how the world seems to be a lot smaller thanks to our present technology, communicating regardless of distance or language. A lot of people has taken advantage on what our technology now has to offer, and that includes myself. We can tell what we want and sometimes earn a couple of bucks in the process. Blogging is an online entry of any topic and usually it tells the feelings of the writer. Microblogging is simply a shorter version of Blogging, since some entries or feelings or topics can actually be written in a few words.

Social Networking Sites allows people to create a place to see their friends, acquaintances and people they dont even know and connect with them and share with them a part of their life as well. For every symbol that we press into the keyboard, for every word that comes out of our screen, and for every entry that we publish, someone eventually reads them and makes and interpretation on their own of what the group of symbols mean.

We have these technologies that are acctually opportunities to connect and create a feeling of freedom to say and be who we are to everyone.

Typhoon Ondoy a.k.a Ketsana

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

last September 26 the Philippines witnessed one of the worst calamity man has had to endure. Typhoon Ondoy a.k.a Ketsana was barely as strong as the previous storms but brought far more havoc than anything we have ever witnessed. I was on my way to my Girlfriends house and it was already raining but suddenly the water began to rise. The rain was not that strong but it did continue to rise at such a fast pace that the water started to go up through the floor of the bus in less than two hours.

Then as fast as the water came, it went away with just the same rate, but unfortunately the bus that I was riding had its engine damaged due to flood water so I had to walk a few meters to look for a new bus (the water was still ankle deep). The new bus went forward, it was a bit higher but by the time we were on the overpass we saw the extent of the flood which was a bit scary.

After 12 hours of travel I arrived at my Girlfriends house bringing with me a couple of canned goods, candles, bottled water and biscuits as they do not have any foods stored. We ate what we had and hoped that the rain would stop and that the water do not rise any further as the water was already chest high. We stayed at the second floor hoping for sunshine.

Flowers from Alfonso

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

last August 31 I went with my Girlfriends family to visit some of their relatives at Alfonso, Cavite. The place was far and on high ground, the temperature was mild and humid, that was probably the reason why my girlfriends grandparents choose planting flowers as their past time. I personally don't know what these flowers are but they are pretty, here are some of these beautiful plants:


Nice purple and violet colored flowers that seem to hang upside down.



I guess this is an orchid of some sort.



Another orchid, this was pretty high so I had to tip toe to catch a good shot.


I find this vine interesting since the leaves only grow on one side and grow in a spiral manner.


Bright yellow flowers that have been damped by the humidity.


Another flower at the top of a tree, it seems to have a smaller flower within.


The violet leaves makes the flower glow, or might just be the flash of my camera.


Like all gardens, insects play a vital role to help flowers bloom.

Im not sure about this insect, some say a type of cockroach but Im not sure, all I know is that it has a hard exoskeleton and is huge.

Jewerly and Watches

Monday, August 24, 2009

Precious items needs precious time when your looking for them, good thing there is the internet to help us and I just found a great website for such items, its Jewelry and Watches Buying Guide from Shopwiki.com. The website features a load of information for people who are having trouble looking for the right jewelry for that special moment or for those who are just looking around.

For Engagements and Wedding Jewelry Guide they help you in choosing Engagement rings, Diamonds, Wedding Rings and even Wedding Day Jewelry. The Guides they provide are very useful and informative providing excellent information when choosing the right accessory for that very special moment. Personally I liked their Engagement Ring directory, because it does not only provide images but filters as well to help me choose in the future the right ring for that magical moment.

The site also has information about Women's Jewelry Buying Guide, Men's Jewelry and Watches Buying Guide. They also has information on Buying Gemstones which gives you everything you need in choose the perfect stone

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Sunday, July 19, 2009

One of the biggest movies this year Harry Potter and the half blood prince is the sixth movie from the Harry Potter movie franchise based from book of the same title. The movie continues the struggle of Harry against his enemies in the world of magic. I dont really want to tell much about the story as I have not yet made any synopsis of any Harry Potter Movie in my blogs, so I would suggest you read the book or watch the movie since it has an excellent story.

As you would expect from any movie adaptation, there are missing chapters and edited story lines, but I must say the producers of the movie did a good job in keeping things in-line with the book so to speak. Even if there were missing chapters you would not feel as if your having a hard time understanding the story that much, you might feel you don't need to read the actual book (but I suggest you do...). The characters were also great, maybe because they are more mature and more at ease with their characters (they are doing the movie franchise for the sixth time...), seeing them grow is fascinating indeed, from the first movie till this one.

Effects, cinematography and all the stuff that makes the movie is really superbly done, they maintained that quality that was seen on the previous movies. There weren't really that much action as it told in the book but i would have loved the movie even more if more chapters were included the movie. Its like you can watch it for the movie and not just because of the book, it was a balanced film as far as action, story and effects were concerned, in all it was a great movie and my opinion one of the best among the Harry Potter Franchise.

Dengue

Saturday, June 20, 2009

According to the World Health Organization Dengue is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with any one of the four dengue viruses. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Symptoms appear 3—14 days after the infective bite. Dengue fever is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults.

Symptoms range from a mild fever, to incapacitating high fever, with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and rash. There are no specific antiviral medicines for dengue. It is important to maintain hydration. Use of acetylsalicylic acid (e.g. aspirin) and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. Ibuprofen) is not recommended.

to sum it all up, its a very nasty virus from a mosquito. Here in the Philippines Dengue is quite common and to prove that today my brother was diagnosed with type 1 Dengue, the second in our family, I'm not sure where the mosquito came from but it was definitely not from our home.

here are some tips from http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/10deng.htm on how to avoid and detect dengue:

The fever comes within eight days of the mosquito bite.
How to detect if you are infected:
1) Serological test to detect IgM, IgG antibodies: IgM antibodies appear in blood at the end of eight days and persist for 1-3 months. It indicates acute infection. This is the test that most people undergo. It has an accuracy of 80-90% and is referred to as the preliminary test.
2) Isolation of virus in blood: This is a sophisticated test, conducted only by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology. Can be undertaken 10 days after the first blood test. Quite expensive, but it can confirm if the person is infected by dengue.
3) Polymerized Chain Reaction: This test involves amplification of the DNA (Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid). Very expensive and hence, undertaken only in rare cases


Dengue is also known as Break Bone Fever. If the infection is treated on time, the mortality rate is less then 15%.
How to avoid it:
1. Water from flower pots should be changed at least once a week
2. All containers storing water should be covered with a tight lid
3. Water stored in barrels, drums etc should be replaced by fresh stock (at least) once a week
4. All large water tanks, like those in buildings, should have single piece cast iron, tight fitting cover. A suitable ladder should be provided to enable civic staff to climb and examine the tanks at frequent intervals. The overflow pipe should be protected by a net that can keep away mosquitoes.
5. Discarded container-like objects like tyres, coconut shells, bottles, etc should be disposed off or destroyed.
6. Water fountains should be kept dry once a week
7. Surface wells should be well-maintained so that mosquitoes do not breed in the vicinity
8. Rain water collected on terraces/roofs should be cleared (at least) once a week