Internet access was down from 2 p.m. Thursday, July 19, 2012 until early evening of Saturday, July 21, 2012, when I finally got through a CSR of PLDT (that's after 3 days and several tries to contact them!!!). In every call I did, a recorded message says "Sorry, you may have difficulty to access the internet due to major network failure." So, PLDT admits they have ISP problems that even waiting for hours to get a CSR on the phone was close to impossible!
Finally, I got through a CSR, Saturday 7 p.m. I requsted to speak with a supervisor for assurance that the issue will be attended to immediately within 12 hours. They tried to troubleshoot over the phone but was not able to fix or even make a conclusion what was wrong. I gave details on what was going on with connection status and the fixed light-on of the DSL lamp of the modem. The supervisor said the modem was stable but still we do not have access to the internet.
As I was about to leave the shop, my son suggested that I get a spare modem at home so he could try if it will have the same effect. In 10 minutes, or less, he called to inform that our shop now had access to the internet! The tech support of PLDT at 172 surely lacks knowledge or training on how to troubleshoot. Their inefficiency could have cost us a couple more days lost business until their local technician could come over and find the defect.
Last November 30, 2011, I was persuaded by an employee of Enigma Technologies in Baguio to get the Canon MP287 All-in-One printer instead of the HP All-inOne printer that we were already taking to my car. He said the Canon had the CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) that would be less troublesome refilling. It was a good idea, so we went back up to their office to see if it would really only cost me 90.00 pesos more.
In short, I was convinced and exchanged the HP for the Canon. I was informed also that warranty would be shortened to only 3 months because it is a conversion to CISS. Just right after 3 months something went wrong and I had to have it serviced. Then after another 4 months another servicing again that did not really work out well. When I had the time after 2 weeks, I returned to the service center and the serviceman told me that it was the end of the service life of the printer and needs to be reset.
With all the debate we had, it came out that dealers of Canon purchase the software that could reset the printers. The serviceman told me that resetting was their only way to profit because they sell the printers at a low price. This was very disgusting because in less than a year the printer would go useless if I do not have it reset for a fee. Could this be only in the Philippines?
The best printer I had was an Epson that provided service for more than 10 years and I had it serviced only once. HP is a second choice for me as any problem I encounter with it is easy to resolve. All had refillable cartridges.
The Milkfish known as Bangus in the Philippines is hardly, or not even mentioned among the species of fish for food in international cookbooks. Of course, that's aside from those authored by Filipinos. The most delicious of this kind of fish comes from Pangasinan and is referred to as Bonuan Bangus. Once one has tasted this bangus, it will be hard to savor any other bangus that come from other places. It can be cooked in different ways and still retain its delicious flavor. A favorite recipe for this fish is inihaw (grilled) stuffed with minced tomatoes and onions. The Bonuan Bangus is one that you can easily tell apart from other bangus with the taste of its stomach fat alone.
The Bonuan Bangus are raised in ponds called "palaisdaan" from their fingerling size. When the fish reach the size of one foot or larger, they are harvested and sold at the market. There is no reference why it was called Milkfish but this could be the reason as their size at one foot or so is too young against the size of a full-sized adult bangus that could grow to six (6) feet.
I have tasted the adult bangus and it does not have any flavor even close to that of its young. The flesh is tough and has many tendon or muscle-like meat around it.
News-casting in Philippine television has been using the Filipino language for quite some time now. But it is so disgusting that their news writers put in some wrong words in delivering the news. For example in English, a news would go like, "A large residential area was burned down. There were no reports of casualties and there was no one hurt." In Tagalog or Filipino it is narrated as, "Malaking lugar ng kabahayan ay natupok ng apoy. Ayon sa mga balita walang nasawi at wala ring nasugatan." The word nasugatan means wounded. It would be more appropriate to use the word nasaktan which directly means "got hurt".
Another is the use of the word "namataan" that means seen or spotted. It is alright to use it for weather reporting like, "Ang bagyo ay namataan sa sa hilagang-kanluran." A reporter used the word in reporting an earthquake that occured and said, "Ayon sa mga balita ang epicenter ng lindol ay namataan sa bandang karagatan na malapit sa Bicol." Instead of namataan, it should have been said "ay nagmula", which means "it came from".
Sport casters have been using the word "bumubulusuk" when referring to "flying fast upwards" when the word really means "on a steep dive". The right word for flying fast upwards is "pumapailanlang".
