Tag Archives: purchase

Sage + Rain Barrel Overflow + Yam Leaves + Sprouts

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10:54am Happy “Blame Somebody Else” Day!!!… Go out and blame someone for something!!!… hehe #

6:01pm I showed a coworker how big my Sage plant has grown :: he then told me about a Brown Butter Sage Sauce j.mp/cdclHW #

Sage Overflown Rain Barrel

6:18pm Our rain barrel overflowed during the last two days of rain #

6:19pm Found out Turmeric comes from a plant in the Ginger family :: j.mp/9RAU0n #

11:19pm Got some Yam leaves from the grocery store. We’ll cook the leaves like Spinach, and save the stems to root and plant #

Yam Leaves

11:32pm Just 4 days after sowing the Envy Zinnia, Whirligig Zinnia, Fruit Smoothie Zinnia and Lettuce Leaf Basil are sprouting… #

iLuv Vibe Plus Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker (First Impressions)

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I first heard about the iLuv Vibe Plus Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker on TUAW’s website (iLuv iPhone dock includes “bed shaker”) and immediately placed an order for it on Amazon (product page) even though it was not released yet.

iLuv Vibe Plus Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker

After waiting about a month, I finally got it in the mail… My first impression: I love my new Alarm Clock!

The first thing I did when I opened it and plugged it in was dock my iPhone on it and it automatically set the time and date on its own. My Mom thought it had it’s own atomic clock.

I really like the Alarm Features:
– There is two separate alarms and each on has its own button to turn it on/off.
– Frequency: M-F, Sat+Sun or Everyday
– Using the wheel, you select the hour, then the minute. You can set it forward or backwards.
– Wake to Shaker, Buzzer+Shaker, iPod+Shaker, Radio+Shaker, Buzzer, iPod, Radio
– If you pick Radio, you can set the volume level.

You can play the radio/iPod through the Alarm Clock Speakers, through the Shaker or both. The Shaker itself has 3 volume settings (low, medium and high)

I set the alarm 1 to play the radio at a low volume 30 minutes before I want to wake up. I then set the second alarm to shake (not buzzer since it takes a really loud ring to wake me up and it’ll wake my brother up first)

I didn’t actually get to see if the alarms wakes me up the first night because I woke up too early, since I have a lot of work today.

New Lens + Chicken and Pork Posole…

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  • 5:10am I just discovered that I can save 2 twitter characters if I type www.j.mp/dmsvTz instead of j.mp/dmsvTz #

  • 10:42pm Got my new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens!!!… Whooohoo!!!… #

  • 10:50pm Chicken and Pork Posole for lunch… Leftover Chicken and Pork Posole for dinner… Yumm!… I need to learn how to cook this!!!… #

Excellent Camera Tutorials…

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I’m sitting here under candle light since our whole neighborhood has had a total blackout for more than 1.5 hours. I was just about to post a journal entry when the power went out, so I lost everything :( I’m on my laptop now (running on batteries), so I’ll try to remember what I previously typed…

…

If you have been following my journal, you probably know that I have been researching a new DSLR camera with a swivel screen and/or a new lens. While I was researching, I found a website that had tons of video tutorial for my camera. The website lbguides.com doesn’t have videos for every camera, but luckily for me they have videos for both my Canon Digital Rebel XSI and Canon PowerShot A650IS.

For the XSI they have three many sections:
1. Getting Started: Learn about your camera’s basic features and some quick tips. (2 videos)
2. Scenes: Learn how to optimize the camera for specific scenes. (18 videos)
3. Functions: Learn how to set specific functions, e.g., delete, flash, etc. (30 videos!!!)

I went through several of the videos and learned more about ISO, spot metering and white balance than I learned from reading the manuals that came with the cameras. Now that I have a better grasp on how to set those up on the camera and I’m so surprised how much better some of my photos, especially indoor photos and pet photos looks.

With that said, I think I will put off getting a new camera (unless Canon comes out with a DSLR with swivel screen)… stick with my Canon XSI and keep practicing with it… With that said… hehe… I did buy some accessories for it.

First, I got an inexpensive Vivitar flash. I think it’ll greatly help my indoor photo with lighting, since the camera’s built in flash is way too harsh. I can direct the light up or to the side for an indirect flash. I’m hoping that this coupled with my new found knowledge of white balance will greatly improve my indoor photography.

Second, I bought an inexpensive prime lens; the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens. It was under a $100 which is pretty good for a lens (I think) and I saw some really nice photographs on Flickr using this lens. So I’ll keep practicing with my camera and stick with it for a bit.

Friday Tweets…

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  • 12:35pm Going to the cemetery to visit my father. He passed away 7 years ago on this day… … I miss you Tatay! #
  • 2:53pm It’s 2:53!!!… Wacka-wack… #
  • 4:46pm is driving my Mom around town to do her errands and of course go shopping… #
  • 5:56pm is Island Pacificing… #
  • 8:00pm is Seafood Citying… #
  • 9:15pm I’m going to attempt to cook another clay pot dish. This time, veggies in a peanut sauce… #
  • 10:46pm Bought 9 seed packets from 99c Only Stores for just 99c: Flowering Kale, Aster, Statice, Larkspur, Tomato, Celsosia. 11c each :) #
  • 11:07pm I didn’t know I can use Apple’s Image Capture program to scan from our fax/scanner/printer. No need for a scanning app or Photoshop plugin. #

Mangosteen

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This evening, me and some friends bought a bag of fresh Mangosteen at an Asian market at the Ranch 99 Shopping Center in El Cerrito. (I forgot the name of the shop). I don’t recall ever having Mangosteen, so I was really curious to see what it taste like… plus, I wanted to get seeds to try to plant.

I was surprised at how thick the skin was and how hard they were to open… but once opened, they smelled good. I don’t know how to describe it; kinda tropical fruity. The texture of the fruit inside was kinda jelly-like, like a Lychee or Longan. It even tasted similar to a Lychee or Longan. It was pretty good :)

I saved the seeds and will try to plant them in the spring.

Mangosteen

Official Start of My Fall/Winter Garden…

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I haven’t been gardening much during the summer, but on Saturday, I made a point to get my butt to Mid-City Nursery to see if they had any fall/winter vegetables to plant. They had a lot of variety of cool weather plants and I ended up with three kinds of Kale plants, a White Alpine Strawberry and Brussels Sprouts in my cart.

When I was at the counter, the cashier asked if I found everything okay. I reply yes… then remembered that I wanted a Chilean Guava plant, so I asked if they carried it. She actually knew what it was because she called it Ugni (its genus). She then lead me to the shrubs area and found the plant right away. There was one left and it’s now mine :)

When I got home I took photos of the plants, but I haven’t uploaded them to my Mac yet, so those are still to come.

Can’t wait to start planting!!! :)

Car Tune-up + Garden Purchases

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I took my car into the shop for a tune up early this morning before going to work. I wish I had the knowledge and energy to fix my car on my own, but I don’t… so I pay for it. It costed me more than I thought, but hey someone did it for me…

New Garden PurchasesOnce I got it, I passed by an large discount store to get some q-tips… I noticed that the garden department was still open and I saw tons of seeds and bulbs and they already had Tomato seedlings for sale… but I didn’t get some ‘cuz it’s still too cold in the mornings.

I ended up buying:
– a bag of Potting Mix
– Jiffy Peat Pots
– Zinnia ‘Envy’ seeds
– Carrot ‘Big Top’ seeds
– White Onions (bag of 80 small bulblets)