Ohohoy!

The intense heat we all have been experiencing the past weeks have taken its toll on most of us, not to mention the increase in energy consumption due to the use of our airconditioning more than 8 hours a day just to keep us and our kids cool these summer months. But keeping ourselves cool is not the only problem we face right now but we also have to contend with summer diseases that thrive during these months such as sore eyes, measles, flu, and dengue.  Babies and toddlers are the most vulnerable to these germs and bacteria going around since their immune system isn’t that developed yet. That’s why parents must give the necessary protection for their kids, and proper hygiene is one simple and effective way to ward off these bacteria.

Use of high quality wipes has been an effective way to keep my kids clean most of the time. Not those kind of low quality wipes that you normally buy in tiangges or wet markets where most have been tested and found positive for harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, Candido albicans and S. aureus, which causes complications such as skin irritation, eczema, severe diarrhea, stomach cramps and urinary tract infections. Not to mention the awful smell it emanates once you’ve opened the packaging.  You might have saved a few pesos in buying these kinds of wipes, but spend a few hundreds or thousand of pesos for medicine.

One brand of wipes that is safe to use is the Pigeon Baby Wipes. The brand has attested that their product has gone through an extensive micobiological testing to ensure that the wipes are free from fungi and bacteria that can cause skin irritation and discomfort.  It also has chamomile oil which acts as an excellent natural skin cleansing agent and ensures that its option pH5.0 level retains your skin’s overall moisture balance. It also provides that cooling effect your child needs during these hot months!

For kids still bottle-fed, we always have to ensure that the bottles are well cleaned and sterilized to ensure proper hygiene. One product that is harsh to the bacteria but not to the bottle is the Pigeon Liquid Cleanser. This not only cleans the feeding bottles but it can also be safe for washing fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables as well as removing those agricultural chemicals producers have been using in our food. It’s also safe in sanitizing toys and other baby and toddler’s accessories to protect them from these summer-borne germs!

Let our kids enjoy the summer months, but at the same time let’s equip them with the proper protection against germs by using high quality products such as those from Pigeon.

We have seen a lot of mobile handset brands trying to penetrate the Cellphone TV market, but nothing can still beat those china brands that has proliferated in the local market for the past few years. The only problem with those products is the quality of the TV reception you get out of these generic brands. Torque has again came out with a new and updated version of its Torque DTV100 model, the DTV90. Though this model was priced a thousand bucks more than its predecessor, but it has updated some of its features to bring more viewing pleasure. The reception quality was quite exceptional compared to its older model. You can also adjust the quality of the reception (though I can’t still seem to get numbering of its quality adjustment). Also the orientation of the screen adjusts automatically from portrait to landscape everytime you change adjust the unit. Channel reception though will vary on your location, just be sure on your first attempt to program the channels, you are in a very good location to get most of the local channels available. Based from experience, channels 7, 11 and 23 has the best reception quality within the Metro. One thing I don’t like with the DTV90 is the mini USB type headset provided when you buy the unit. I don’t know if you can get a superior mini USB headset in the local market, but for now I’m stuck with this kind of headset, one thing for sure sound quality is not good. The DTV90’s screen is a bit smaller than its predecessor, but the improvement in the clarity of its reception made up of on its smaller sized monitor. It has a 2 megapixel camera mounted on the front and back of the phone both capable of recording videos.

Aside from the TV feature, the Torque DTV90 sports all the basic features that you can get from any model from this brand, its Dual Sim Dual Standby feature, Quadband, GPRS/WAP enabled, MP3/MP4/3GP video and audio player and its motion sensor feature, with just a shake of the phone, you can either program the unit to change the wallpaper, skip to the next music track, etc.

The DTV90 sells at P 4,999.00. At this price you can get 2 phones.

Recently got hold of the latest product offering from Torque, the D110 Metal. You will really love the look of this one, elegantly styled with its classic metal casing and wait till you get to actually hold the actual unit, it’s a heavy unit for its size and thickness. It’s truly leaving up to its name - D110 METAL. Though the keypad buttons are a bit bothersome after a period of using it. At first you would think that those cute stainless buttons would make texting easier, but its tiring using after a while. But I get to give it to the designers of this brand, this is really one beautiful handset.

Looking under the hood, the D110 Metal is a Dual Sim Dual Standby phone, quadband, sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, its Bluetooth enabled even for a Bluetooth headset, it can play videos on its 2.2” QVGA monitor and play mp3/mp4/3gp files. It doesn’t have WIFI but you can connect to the internet using its GPRS/WAP connectivity function. I can say that this model just provides the basic comforts of a basic phone for calls and texting. After testing this unit for a few days, i noticed that the SMS is quite slow after typing in more than ten words or so. After typing in a few words, you will notice that you are not already typing in the words in real time, there is a lag of two or more words. People behind Torque should do something about this, its really frustrating sending SMS like this.

One cute feature of the D110 Metal is its motion sensor. With just one shake of the phone, you can program the phone to either change the wallpaper, play the next music track, or silent your phone when you are in a meeting.

If you are a style conscious person but don’t have the budget to afford those big name brands in the market, the Torque D110 Metal is just right for you. It retails only at P 3,299.00. Heavy on the hands, but not on your pocket.

Cagayan de Oro is synonymous to white water rafting:The adrenalin pumping activity that sets you rapidly going down stream and holding on to dear life with a paddle. Derived from the word “Kagay” which means river and “Oro” which means gold. As per the old folks’ tale, the river that separates Cagayan and Bukidnon, did have gold back in the day. It might as well be so as river rafting seems to be one of the major tourist attractions of the city and various outfitters’ bread and butter.

I have had numerous river runs with the Redrafts, one of CDO’s pioneers in the sport. I progressed from being the official entertainer to an extra paddler. Entertainers throw in fun facts, trivia, occasional jokes and whatever stories they can muster to keep the energy level up when passing steady waters. Extra paddlers come in handy for a relatively weaker team (group of old folks and or kids). I have come to know that the integral part of rafting lies in the hands of the river guide who possesses the skill and knowledge to get their passengers through the activity safe and sound but more than the expected criteria, they too must be very good in assessing a team of rafters.

Each participant will be given a helmet, a paddle and a life vest. Once everyone is fully equipped, the designated speaker/senior guide will gather all the participants and brief them on safety precautions and demonstrate the right way to paddle.

MEMORABLE AND VERY USEFUL TIPS:

If you fall into the water, do NOT try to swim, just float facing down stream, relax.

Your river guide is trained and equipped to get you at all costs.

IF YOU PANIC, YOU DIE.

Briefing is also the time for the senior guide to assign a guide to a particular team of rafters. The more daring guides are usually assigned to the equally daring team. It’s incredibly scary until you’ve passed the first rapid. The water looks so intimidating you’d want to back out soon as you see it. Lesson learned: when the guide screams “LOCK YOUR FEET, SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!” you better do so. I was so overwhelmed I forgot to shut my mouth. I ended up swallowing a good amount of murky river water. I was more relaxed though after the my first taste of a decent rapid.

The usual river run starts at Aura, which brags of 14 rapids that’s perfect for beginners. The more adventurous ones can start at Ugyaban with an additionall 7 wilder rapids. Either way you get to enjoy varying rapids from levels 1 to 3. In between the blurry battle with the rapids is a relaxing sight seeing activity where the guide’s people skills come in. It’s like watching National Geographic live! You come across giant fossils of clams (apparently the river used to be part of the sea), snakes, caves, naked locals bathing, lava rocks (where the locals wash their clothes, get it?) and a wide assortment of trees, animals and flowers.

Towards the end of the activity, the guests have an option to take one last challenge: To climb and jump from a 18 ft rock aptly called “the graduation rock”. It’s not much to look at from a spectators point of view but it’s way intimidating when you’re at the peak and looking down at the cheering crowd below you. Even scarier is the guide’s warning to never swim to the left as the current will take you tumbling like a piece of laundry in a washing machine. Some climb up and jump. Some climb up, wait, then jump. A number climb up, wait, wait some more and finally climb down. At least there’s something to look forward to the next time they go rafting.

As with any water sport, the 3 hour activity just leaves you so damn hungry! The Redrafts offers packages that include food. Food package includes a variety of barbequed treats like chicken, shrimp and tuna belly, fresh fruits, steamed rice and a bottle of Cagayan’s unique blend of Pinakurat (local vinegar made from coconut and spices) served picnic style by the river replete with white and red checkered table cloth. Everything prepared just in time when you get off the raft and ready to devour almost anything. Nothing beats capping an activity with a well deserved sense of accomplishment rewarded by a very well prepared local gastronomic experience.

For reservations and inquiries call Lyle X (Redrafts) 09179045298 or Rex 09228973175

Gadgets are becoming even smaller with manufacturers finding ways to create smaller components giving the word “handy or portable” a new meaning. Take for example Torque’s latest product, the ES-5HD, one of the smallest HD video camera in the local market. It claims to have an 11 megapixel maximum still resolution for its digital camera while for its High Definition video recording, a maximum of 720p/30 frames per second. The ES-5HD has a 64MB internal memory with an expandable storage up to 16Gb SD card slot. I only have a 1Gb SD card that usually give me about 25 to 30 minutes of HD videos, for the D1 video resolution (PAL/NTSC), it will give you about a little bit over an hour worth of videos.

Aside from the usual Audio Video jack output, the Torque ES-5HD is equipped with HDMI for those who want to directly show their videos on their LCD screens at home. With its small size of about 100 x 57 x 17.9 mm, it easily fits the palm of your hand or in your shirt pocket. It’s almost the size of a regular pocket pc phone. Video quality is quite good if you compare versus the camera phones. But with its very portable size, video output seems to be a bit shaky. Not recommended for those suffering from trembling or pasmado hands. But there is a built-in stabilizer; the drawback using this feature is that it disables the digital zoom feature. Having that trusty tripod at hand will greatly improve your shots.

This is also useful on “spy” missions due to its very compact size.

Also the function buttons and the jack outputs are all located on one side of the camera, easy for those who have petite and cute fingers.

Picture resolution is good especially for outdoor shots. But for low light conditions, it just gives you dark or sometimes blurry pictures even with the use of the built-in flash. Video output is relatively good both for outdoor and low light conditions. Turning on the night mode function improves it a little bit except if you are shooting moving objects.

Sample outdoor shot taken from the ES 5HD during one of our out of town trips. Color registration is quite good

Indoor shot of the packaging taken from the ES 5HD

It also has a motion detect function useful for monitoring purposes. It stops recording when it doesn’t detect movement anymore. Perfect to spy on your nanny and kids if you are always in the office.

The ES 5HD can also function as a Web Cam so need to buy and upgrade from your Winnie the Pooh web cams if you have this camera. It also boasts its music player capabilities but it can only play mp3 files. Sound quality is average using the stock earphones, though you can use your iPod earphones for improve music experience.

For the price of the ES 5HD at P4,999.00, not bad with all the features you get in just one small gadget . Though not recommended for the discerning photo enthusiasts or videographer, but very useful for your everyday use.