In the first part of this series, you’ve seen how cool Costa Marina Beach Resort looks like and I’m fortunate that I was able to visit the place for the first time (though it is not the best resort in the Island Garden City of Samal). The location was just an add-on to our enjoyment, the main fun were highlighted from our swimming and the games we played during our mini-reunion. We acted as if we were all elementary pupils with nothing in mind but games and fun.

The Beach

The sea was still high the time we arrived at Costa Marina Beach Resort. However, the sun was overhead that time and none of us dared to immerse into the sea waters due to fears of getting sunburns. We killed the time by taking pictures, cooking pork barbeques, and taking our lunch.

After few hours when it was a little cloudy, we poured lots of lotion to our skin and protected ourselves from harmful sunrays, then run into the beach!

I noticed that the sea water was extremely salty. Was it weird or was it just me since I’ve never bathe in the sea for so long? ^_^

The Games

After we jumped into water and spoiled ourselves with swimming (or splashing), which was rather a little frustrating due to our bad timing (it was low tide when we jumped into the sea), we decided to go back ashore and play the traditional Filipino children’s game called Patintero.

Patintero

The game is prepared on the ground by drawing a rectangular field (usually five to six meter with four parallel lines inside) using either water, stick and charcoal on the ground to define the boundary.

To play, one set of taggers or the ‘it’ situate themselves inside the lines of the rectangle while the runners will try to get through both ends of the field and back without being tagged or blocked. When caught, they right away change roles. The group that has lesser tagged incidents is declared winner.

We laughed our butt out when we played the game and we were thinking that we were silly to play such game meant for kids. Nevertheless it was fun and my group lost, so we tasted the consequence: roll five times in the sand!

Limbo Rock

The next game we played is called Limbo Rock. We used a long cloth with two persons holding from each side. The rest of the group must bend and pass beneath the cloth without touching it otherwise you’re out. The height of the cloth decreases (to increase difficulty) when all members of the group are able to pass through.

Of course it was difficult for me to pass through and I didn’t reach greater difficulties due to the size of my body — LOL. Besides patintero and limbo rock, we also played tug of war and skipping rope.

Departure

When the clock hit 4 PM, we decided to wash and prepare leave for the final boat transfer at 5 PM. Costa Marina’s bathrooms were very private and the place and water is clean and great — a basic requirement before I will like a beach resort. The overall reunion experience was very good and remarkable.

When we returned back to Davao City mainland, we were all exhausted and very tired. The whole-day event was fun. Before we drifted our own ways back home, all of us wondered when this kind of gathering will ever happen again and if so, what changes will the span of time will bring to all of us. In my head I’m more excited to know what 2009 will bring me. Certainly, this year sparks new beginning and continued passion for success through Web and computers, and stronger pursuit of happiness and better life.

Readers of this blog like you will be the witnesses. Thank you for reading and leave some comments!

From what it seems like a computer and technology-only blog, in the recent months my writings have been shifting into more personalized topics surrounding my day-to-day life (and somehow I am beginning to like this kind of style).

It has been very difficult to write for this blog in the past weeks because I’m so preoccupied (and still am!) with lots of web development work, technical and customer sales support, and as a freelance Internet marketer and writer for several Web-based companies. Additionally, there have been emotional struggles since November because I’ve recently made a irrevocable conclusion about my identity. I believe it is highly necessary for me to be able to do what I want, to be able to become who I want to be, and to be able to live a life with no more denials with what I feel. Now, this is too much information, so I’ll reserve the rest of story in my future posts. For now, be intrigued.

While my social life is pale, my career life has been good. Many companies are trying to pull me to work for them because they believe that I have the skills. I have many possibilities for next year and I might land a job outside the Philippines — which is what I really want. So, this blog will witness most of the events that will happen to my life and I welcome you with open arms to read it.

I will continue to write about technologies and computers because that is my career. Likewise, I’ll mix some true-to-life stories about myself to break the monotony. Surely I don’t want my readers to read blank faced with all the computer terms. I personally want to thank you for continually reading my posts on this blog!

What You Need

You basically need money to buy a brand new mobile SATA hard disk either second-hand or brand new. Remember if you buy to tell the computer store’s salesperson that you need a mobile SATA hard disk and not just SATA hard disk. A mobile SATA hard disk is meant for a laptop/notebook and is a lot smaller (2.5 inches) making it mobile than the normal hard disk equipped on personal computers which is 3.5 inches. Mobile SATA hard disks are costlier than regular HDDs but its price is worth the mobility. I’ll leave up to you to do online research or do in-store canvassing regarding the price of mobile SATA HDDs.

So, you got the mobile SATA HDD? Another thing you need to buy is a 2.5′ external hard disk enclosure. You will manually setup this and put the mobile SATA hard disk you bought inside. A good mobile SATA hard disk enclosure is made from aluminum or any material that is a good heat conductor. This will let the tiny hard disk’s heat to dissipate more quickly when it is in operating mode. Hard disks are known to produce a lot of heat when used frequently. Once you’re done with the enclosure setup, you’re good to go. You can bring and hook your hard disk at virtually any computer using a fast USB 2.0 connection. Plus, unlike enclosures meant for 3.5′ HDDs, you don’t need to have an external power for your external drive to work. It’s truly mobile. I just bought one in the past weeks as described on a blog post about my disk shortage with my current hard disk and so, the external mobile SATA drive is a great addition. So far I’m loving it.

My hard disk enclosure’s power cable is similar to the power cord of personal computer systems. For me, it was a bit hard to detect why my enclosure had no power until I found out real cause. It came into my mind immediately that if the problem happened on my PC, it could potentially damage other hardware components. As I recalled, the computer cords I had were made in China. There have lots of news about questionable products from that country, especially imitations. I’m not saying that all products from China are substandard, but it seems for me that digital products (computer cables in general) made from United States are far better in terms of quality and reliability hands down. The cord’s rubber coating is usually thicker and sturdier.

I realized now that buying quality products are better investment than getting cheaper versions that do not last long or could even pose a risk. As for my old computer’s power cable and my hard disk enclosure, I’m going to find a new one – definitely ones made from USA. I would do the same with my other hardware electronics, otherwise it could potentially cause fire.

August last year my employer got me a laptop (Neo 540NVP2i) with the following specifications: 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 GB DDR2 memory (RAM), 80 GB SATA hard drive, a DVD writer drive, an integrated graphics RAM, and Genuine OEM Windows Vista Home Premium operating system.

My laptop felt great in the beginning. However, when I started to install some software that I used to work with when I was still using my old PC, my system went very slow despite the promises of large RAM and two-core processor. I can still remember that my old PC only had 512 MB RAM, yet it was able to carry out my need. Historically, I added another stick of 512 MB DDR PC2700 memory to it and I was able to gain additional measurable performance on my Windows XP Professional system especially when it comes to video editing, Photoshop editing, and other RAM-intensive applications.

Now with my Vista, I was thinking the same. The package default 1 GB RAM feels like having 512 MB on Windows XP, so I decided to do some upgrades. I bought another stick of 1 GB RAM for my laptop few months ago and the performance gain was rather significant. Still, it is hard to think that with 2 GB RAM, my Vista system still throttles when I am doing multiple tasks. I’ve never encountered an operating system as resource hog as Vista is. Next month, I am thinking of upgrading again to 3 GB. I hope it will work for me, otherwise I could conclude that the problem is not my system but Vista.

The case would be the same for iMac users. If you have enough dough to upgrade and add iMac memory to its default package, go on. It would significantly extend the performance of your system.

The best upgrade and most efficient way of improving the performance of laptops and computers is by adding computer RAM – hands down. You can try browsing the RAMs sold online by Memory Deal. I heard it is good, and it claims to be the “first and only online store offering customers genuine factory original memory modules for each and every memory upgrade.”

If adding RAM doesn’t work for you, check if you need to buy a new laptop or computer.