[1052] Leap Year Post

This will only happen once every four years, and I have no idea if this blog or myself will still be around in four years so let's do a random blog post on this day, the 29th of February. These are the hot topics in my head as of this moment, either because I'm talking about it with my friends or because I've been reading about it online.

• The Fujifilm X100VI that costs over PhP100k as a pre-order locally. I've been getting the photography itch lately and to be honest these high end P&S cameras are really something that might fit my needs. It's either that or a cheaper mirrorless camera body with a decent, all-around lens. Not that I have any money at the moment.
• Doozy UI for Unity. I've been tasked with helping out different art teams and so I'm trying to learn a few things about this to help our UI/UX artist to animate. It's pretty challenging because the only videos on youtube are from the actual team and the way they present isn't for me. I'm more a Brackey's guy with how he presents stuff. Also the online documentation isn't the same as the one I'm using in our version of Unity. Still, a fun challenge.
• Sensah SRX Pro 1x11 hydraulic brifters. It's relatively expensive for me, and I'm not really sure if it's worth replacing my brifters just to get hydraulic brakes or just get some Juin Tech R1 post mount hybrid calipers. I'm using some "cheap" hybrid calipers but I've read great things about Juin Tech, specifically that they're almost similar to Yokozuna brakes if not rebrands.
• Speaking of bicycles, I've been torn between going 1x or 2x and my last crazy idea was to get a 2x 10-speed Microshift sword with a 46/29T chainring and 11-34T cassette. This would go hand-in-hand with the Juin Tech brake caliper upgrade.
• I'm still torn between a heavily customized Japan surplus DA17V and a locally sold second-hand car. Not that I can afford either but both have pros and cons. What I can agree on is that both options should have great fuel economy, like 8 to 9 km/L consumption in city driving with heavy traffic and three to four passengers with cargo.
• I'm also starting to get curious about the hybrid and EV cars being sold here locally. The Toyota Yaris Cross HEV and the Jetour Ice Cream, to be more specific. The former is more expensive but is also more versatile, while the latter wouldn't work if you lived in a condominium where finding a power outlet would be a challenge.

Those are the things on my mind (that I don't mind blogging about, obviously). I do have more personal stuff I'd rather not let you know.

Out.

[1051] The Mitsubishi L100 Minicab EV

I recently read an article about the Mitsubishi Minicab L100 EV in Autoindustriya's website. The TL;DR is that a Mitsubishi factory in Indonesia has started manufacturing said L100 EV. The writer was wondering if the EV could be brought over here.

I'm sort of excited. First, based on the Minicab's Wikipedia article the non-EV ones being sold in Japan are just rebadged Suzuki Every Vans. So that means there's a chance that if they do bring it over here they may sell it with second row seats instead of just as panel vans.

Second, EV. I've always been curious how practical and economical owning an EV is. Yes your gasoline bill may go down, but are the savings enough to offset whatever increase you get in your electric bill? Also, how reliable is an EV and can it really achieve the ranges mentioned, which in the case of the Minicab L100 EV is around 180 kilometers.

Finally if it is based on a DA/DS17 Suzuki Every gone EV then it's a kei van and I've always wanted to own an Every Van.

Biggest concern of course is if it is indeed sold here "legally" and not from the gray market is the price. I have a feeling the price may reach a little close to PhP1 million (or more since it's an EV) so I have a feeling those Every Van enthusiasts expecting it will have a price point similar to the Japan surplus Everys will be very disappointed.

We shall see.

Out.

[1050] Training Thoughts

I've been walking around 5am or so everyday since I can't remember anymore. Definitely early 2023. Maybe even 2022.

I think one of the reasons why I started walking earlier was as a "precaution" in case I need to suddenly drive someone to work or school. I wanted to get my walk in. I do remember a time when I would start my morning exercise routine after my wife and daughter left for work/school.

Though now that I'm writing about it, I think I switched to earlier times because my schedule changed from 10am to 6pm to 9am to 5pm. Knowing me and my "addiction" with my computer games I probably wanted more time to play games. It seems legit as well as I usually go straight to my computer, such as I am doing now.

Except today I didn't go out for my morning routine. Let's just say it was a bad day. However while I was bringing the car in to the garage I saw a neighbor wrapping up his morning walk, and he asked me if I was done with my walk. I told him not today, but then it hit me.

Why don't I start my routine again after my wife and daughter leave? There's nothing wrong that, and honestly I could do with less time on my computer.

So tomorrow I will go on my walk when my wife and daughter leave. That will be around 6am, so after getting back, washing my clothes, taking a bath, and having my coffee I should still have around one or so hours before 9am.

This may also give me more time to help my wife prep for the day before they leave. I'll still wake up at 3am to 4am, but rather than focusing on going out I'll make myself useful here.

Basically I'll try to allocate more time to being useful and less time to being "useless."

Out.

[1049] Photography

As a quick background I used to consider myself a hobbyist photographer. I even have a DSLR but I'm not really keen on keeping it anymore. It's too bulky for what I would rather own now. I also own a point-and-shoot camera, but it's old and the controls are not as responsive as before.

Anyway I was chatting with a friend of mine who wants to get back to photography as well. As I usually do during chats I suddenly started browsing google for point-and-shoot (let's just call them P&S) cameras and I stumbled upon the Panasonic Lumix DC-LX100 II.

Quick edit: Here is the Philippine website of the DC-LX100M2P and this is where I discovered that you can use the control ring on the lens as a manual focus ring. I've watched a youtube review and supposedly the manual focus is slow. That youtube review also had a few complaints about it's dustproofing.

It looks like an older model but I am intrigued by it. The biggest reason is there's supposedly a ring around the lens that you can customize what it controls, and it can supposedly be used as a manual focus ring. This intrigues me since my biggest complaint with my P&S Canon G16 was the lack of a manual focus ring.

As much as I want to get back to photography though, I don't have enough saved to consider getting one. Nor is it a priority to get me a nice P&S camera (or even a mirrorless camera).

Anyway I've come to realize that the Lumix LX100 II is a pretty old model, and I'm too lazy to look for newer alternatives. Plus considering how expensive it is, I'd rather not look. Or maybe I will.

Out.

[1048] Bags

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about bags. He had a 40L travel bag recommended to him on youtube. He sent me the link and I told him that I had seen a similar video about the same bag a few months ago. The backpack in question? The Tomtoc Navigator-T66 Travel Laptop bag.

It's way cheaper than some of the dream travel backpacks we used to talk about. Way cheaper. One of my dream backpacks was the Goruck GR2 which is five times more expensive. Yes, five times. The Tomtoc is being sold for around USD80.99, while in Goruck's backpack the GR2 is sold for USD405.00 and there you have it.

I'm not sure about the pros and cons of the Tomtoc. All I know is there is a local reseller of Tomtoc, but unfortunately the Navigator-T66 is (as of this writing) sold out. If that is the backpack. They changed the names here, and I have no idea why.

Anyway it's being sold here a bit more expensive than the USD80.99 price but it's still way cheaper than some of the bags I'm looking at locally. Some Timbuk2 and Pacsafe bags here sell for over PhP7000 which is way over USD100.

So I'll be keeping an eye out for this Tomtoc backpack. It seems like a good option for a multi-day travel backpack. Hopefully once I'm done decluttering I hope to have the following lineup of bags:

• Timbuk2 Rogue 25L backpack for overnighters
• Pacsafe Metrosafe 300 sling bag for day trips
• Nike Elite basketball backpack/duffell bag for multi-night trips (this is the bag I'm thinking of replacing with a 40L backpack)
• A small yellow dry bag I have for beach trips
• A versatile tote bag for shopping and groceries
• Whatever laptop bag comes with whatever laptop I'm using at the moment

And I think that's all I need. I have too many bags in my cabinet and I honestly think I should try to sell some of them We'll see.

Out.

[1047] First February 2024 Blog Post

I honestly felt January was moving too slow. Maybe February will be different.

I have a feeling it won't be that different considering it's a leap year so February will have 29 days, which is basically just one day short of a "typical" month.

The past month was interesting with a lot of wins and new challenges I will face. I just hope I have the strength to actually push through with these.

Out.