Before I leave…

We’re headed for Singapore this weekend. I’ll be back on Monday.

It’s a bummer I don’t have a camera with me since I plan to just do some sight seeing when I get there (because I focused on shopping the last time I went). But now that I don’t have anything to document it with, I guess I’ll just look for some cool stuff to buy.

Onto other stuff:

iTunes

Here are more bugs (or rather, “stupid design decisions”) I found in iTunes 4.9.2.

The Podcasting feature apparently does not respect the “manual” setting of managing your iPod library.

I usually set my iPod to “manual sync” (meaning it doesn’t sync with my main library in the laptop by default) whenever I go on a trip, unless I bring my HDD which contains my whole music library. Manual sync, otherwise known as the “manage ipod manually” feature, is also useful as you can play your tracks from your iPod through iTunes, and believe me, there will be times when you want to play your tunes from your laptop while not having your main music volume handy (assuming you use external hard disks).

Well, I did it as usual, and what do you know, it still deleted my Podcasts because it couldn’t find the sources. Boooo.

If I were to request something, is to add another sync option to still use the “auto sync” mode, but have an intermediate stop-gap (or immediately disengage, or switch to manual) whenever the main library is unavailable. Setting to “manual” does the trick, but you have to remember to set it back and forth, which can be a hassle. There is also a hotkey you can press when launching iTunes to not sync even if you’re set on auto-sync, but that is if you only remember to do it all the time 😉

If you set it on manual forever, then either you update the iPod only or the main music library only… and the only reason I set to manual is just so that it doesn’t wipe out my iPod, other than that, I’d prefer to use the “main” library for managing what songs will be in my iPod

Also, I never liked how they implemented the “played” flag. Because with regular music files, it marks the song played only after it has ended… not so with podcasts. As soon as you start playing it, it marks it “played.”

How is this annoying? I set my iPod to only sync podcasts I haven’t listened to, which is a reasonable thing to do to save space. Now if I start playing a podcast, I have to make sure I finish it, else the next time I sync to iTunes, it will take it out of my iPod. What use is the bookmarking feature with this setting when you can’t even access a file you’ve started listening to the next time around?

On the flipside, there are some nice improvements I noticed. One is that it’s smarter with the music library location now. My problem before was that if the HDD wasn’t present it would obviously reset the default music folder locally (the laptop HDD), and I would have to reset it if I wanted future rips or whatever to use the external hard drive again. I see now that if I don’t have the HDD present, it will rip locally, but if you plug it back in, it will revert back to the external hard drive. (Of course you have to be using this setting to actually experience everything I’ve just said)

These are mostly power-user peeves, which is why Apple probably missed them on rollout, since most users are simple-minded enough not to use any of the more advanced procedures. I just hope they get them fixed someday.

Condo

I visited the sample unit of my soon to be condo-unit in Fifth Avenue, Taguig (right beside Essensa) The fixtures really suck! So come a year before the unveiling of the condominium in 2007-08, I will have to have a list of what I want inside it, cuz I’m sure as hell not letting them put their cheap-assed floor-tiles, or whatever the hell else they’ve got “stock.”

Then we visited the Serendra complex, near Market-Market, where Mom plans to get a unit and we’ll all migrate to the Fort area. Which I really think is cool since it would be easier to have family get-togethers if you’re all in one place. I plan to get a mountain bike when the time comes and just bike to and from the different homes.

The Serendra residential complex is an Ayala project – as against Fifth Avenue, which is Robinsons’. And I must say it is better in every way. Bigger, and the stock fixtures are really cool. So there would be less renovation required should you decide to go “custom.” What I plan to do is get ideas from magazines and the internet for my unit, and worst case is just copy the Serendra interior design – and renovate the hell out of my unit.

Both are 2 bedroom units, but Serendra has a maid’s quarters. Assuming everything goes according to plan, this would be cool since it’s easy to just have the maid come once in a while as a “cleaning lady” and I could just go to Serendra to stock up on food, which I’ll just heat at my place. And of course there’s also the possibilty to simply eat there (Serendra) and not have to wash dishes, etc. Hehehehe, I’m soooo lazy.

In terms of location, both have their advantages, Serendra is ridiculously close to Market-Market, so I guess shopping/supermarket for the women are solved. Fifth Avenue on the other hand is right next to McKinley Rd. So instant access to Makati, Edsa, Fort (obviously), C5, etc. And since Fort Bonifacio in general isn’t that big, having a bike can do wonders with gas/car expenses… not to mention can be great excercise (assuming I do a lot of it, which I probably wont).

One most important fact here is the fact that I love my Mom for being thoughtful enough to think of the long-term practicalities. She herself decided to make it a point not to become “baggage” to her children when she grows old.

We all love our parents, but we can’t deny that no matter how much we love them, they can and will be “baggage” to some extent in their older years… as we were/are to them. It’s a cycle and fact that cannot be avoided. And of course due to “utang-na loob” we are obliged to do our part wether we like it or not.

Wether it be sickly, or lonely, they will need us to be there for them more than we would care to be. I was thinking about this, and I noticed that for me in particular, it’s not really an issue of being there for them. But the whole “taking care of them” bit that will mess with my regular life. And a huge chunk of the concern is geography – which usually makes it such a “hassle.”

I guess I would subscribe to the perspective that you want your parents to be close… but not too close (e.g. under the same roof).

Sure you can have your parents live with you, but that might drive you crazy. And how are you supposed to bring women home to a place where every nook and cranny is within earshot? Putting them in a home of course is just plain cruel, and I don’t think I would like the same thing to happen to me. So the next option would be for them to live somewhere else and have you visit them regularly. So being really close geographically will help out a lot in that transition. Having the maid there even makes for a natural incentive anybody can appreciate and rationally justify. That way, you’re all there for each other as far as emotional support/affirmation goes, and the nitty gritty “chores” will be handled by hired help. And living really close together means you can even share help and save tons of money. It’s a win-win situation.

We’ve tried our best to cover long term insurance and investments, and I think we’re doing more than a decent job compared to how we started out as a family. And now we’re trying to solve residence and old-age issues, and so far everything seems to fit into place. If there’s one thing I love about our family, is that we aren’t caught up in traditions – we see and call life as it is and try our best to roll with the punches. Mom has made a tremendous sacrifice in the mere fact that she has transformed herself from a typical pinay mother to a modern, independent individual who is prepared to live “alone.” (hell, she’s even got all of our deaths covered). Should that time come (knock on wood), Pia and I are going to make sure that her babies are, and always will be there for her… and she doesn’t have to worry about a thing.

Suddenly, the future isn’t as daunting as I thought it would be… if everything goes according to plan that is.

Have a say

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.