1163: Car Thoughts

Yesterday brought the news of a massive fuel price hike this coming Tuesday, the 24th of June, 2025. I've started bracing myself for the increase in fuel costs, as well as basically deciding that we'll use the Wigo as often as possible and have the Grandia as the coding car / back up. This news also made me think about the ideal second car to own, assuming the Toyota Wigo G we have is the "first" car. So here are the cars in order of preference.

Before I start listing off the cars, let me first give some context why they are my chosen cars. We already have the Wigo G, which is a relatively small "5-seater" that we can use everyday as a city car/daily driver. It fits the need, except maybe when heavy rains happen and flash floods appear. So for a second car I've decided it would be ideal to have a 5-to-7 seater. This is in line with having a bigger car that we can use for out-of-town trips. I'm also confident my folks, wife, and daughter can all fit comfortably with no fear that the tires will rub on the wheel well, which I predict will happen if we all ride the Wigo. Plus the second car should have a bigger cargo space while accommodating all five of us, plus a few more passengers if needed.

1. Toyota Zenix HEV Q CVT. This is the hybrid Zenix, priced at almost PhP 2.0M but I honestly feel is still my dream choice. Hybrids and EVs, as far as I know, are still coding exempt until 2028 in Metro Manila, meaning you can drive this vehicle everyday with no fear of violating number coding, or the impending odd-even scheme. Hybrid will also hopefully help improve fuel economy and help out with my fuel budget by giving me better fuel economy.
2. Toyota Avanza 1.5 G CVT. This is my original choice as the second car. It's got a decent size, amazing bang for the buck, and is relatively fuel efficient. It also looks good both inside and outside. I've ridden a few of these when using Grab and they've all been very roomy and comfortable.
3. BYD eMax 7 Standard. This is the first EV I've considered, and it's a 7-seater. It's the cheaper variant of the eMax 7 (with the more expensive variant being the Superior Captain), since this doesnt' have the captain's chairs for the second row. It seems to have decent range so hopefully we can still use this for out-of-town trips. Plus as far as I know the local distributor of BYD is Ayala so I do sort of trust them. It looks like ACMobility has a decent amount of charging stations not just in Metro Manila so hopefully charging won't be an issue. SM also has an EV charging station in SM Lucena as well as a couple of other SM malls outside of Metro Manila.
4. Suzuki XL7 Hybrid. This is the hybrid that isn't. Meaning the local authorities didn't include this in the list of coding exempt hybrid vehicles. I'm choosing this over the Ertiga because this has a higher ground clearance. Though honestly I'd still rather get the Avanza since that's almost PhP 200k cheaper.
5. Honda BR-V 1.5 V CVT. The last choice for a second car is the BR-V. Not the top-of-the-line spec, but the one below that. I'm not picking this over the Avanza because of the bang-for-the-buck.
   

If I'm willing to shell out more than an Avanza but less than the Zenix Hybrid, then I'd rather get an EV with all the benefits of coding exemptions. That's the only reason why the eMax 7 comes in as my 3rd choice.

Out.

1162: New Glasses

I recently got a new pair of prescription glasses. Basically my nearsightedness did not change, but my astigmatism and reading glasses got worse. I guess it comes with age.

The cool thing is I wasn't even expecting to get these glasses until the 14th of June, but it was done and ready for pick up on the 7th. Not bad, and I've already adjusted to the new prescription and frame.

That's it.

Out.

1161: Recharge

Last week from June 10 to June 13, 2025 I joined our company co-work/outing in Punta Fuego. While it was fun and productive, it was also very draining for me.

So way, way back around maybe May or April I already filed my leave for today, June 16. I knew I needed an extra day to recharge my social battery, and possibly catch up on some much needed sleep. Good thing I did.

Earlier this morning I went to Toyota Global City to pay for the insurance premiums of our Wigo for 2025 to 2026. I arrived to early in BGC and had breakfast at Randy's Donuts, where I met up with a former colleague of mine and we hung out to catch up for a few minutes.

Once I was done with the insurance premiums I walked back to Market Market and went home. Overall a very productive morning.

Then after lunch I fell asleep for at least on whole hour, maybe longer. I was tired, and now my body was recovering and recharging.

It feels good for some time off for myself, and I'm glad I got to finish some crucial adulting chores and get some rest so I can be ready to report back to work tomorrow.

Out.

1160 Revisiting My Dream Bike Build

Yes, I have nothing to post. No, the bike isn't changing. I've just decided to change some components. Tastes change and nothing is permanent. Plus since this is a dream build it will be expensive.

Take note that the bike I'm building is less of a gravel race bike and more of an all-road adventure bike. So it will be relatively heavy, it will not be built for speed, and it will most likely be built with comfort in mind.

• Ritchey Outback Steel Break-Away frame set. My dream frame since it can easily fit in a luggage-sized and luggage-shaped container. I have no idea if the Break-Away Travel Bag is included so add this to the list, as well as a couple of Break-Away cable disconnectors for both brake and derailleur cables.
• Cane Creek Invert CS gravel suspension fork. Surprise, I've decided to go for a suspension fork instead of a suspension stem. The logic I have here is with the suspension fork your wrists don't have to compensate when it bounces versus a suspension stem.
• Ritchey WCS Zeta Disc Wheels.There's this Youtube video from Ritchey that shows you how to disassemble the Outback Break-Away. I don't know if through axle bikes have this tech but if it does might as well get the same wheelset so you can protect the bike more as it is packed. Pair this with Panaracer Gravel King SS tires at 35 or 40mm wide and that's it. 

Those are the new parts I've considered. For the groupset and brakes I'm most likely sticking with the Microshift Sword 1x and Juintech hybrid calipers and 160mm disc rotors.

Out.

1159 My Dream D&D Character

Before anything else, I'll be writing about the 2014 (?) 5th edition of D&D, not the latest set of rules that were released a few years ago. I have not read the newest ones.

There is an entry in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes about the Drow Shadowblade. Since reading it I've gotten curious how to create a build that could do some of the things it could. In the end I came up with this crazy build.

Before I continue here are the reasons why I got curious about the Shadowblade. They have this Shadow Sword, and they can Shadow Step. Aside from that, if I understood the write up correctly, they're basically assassins. No, I am not an edgelord (I hope).

I haven't played nor done a full build yet. I've done lots of theorycrafting sure, but it's literally been years since my friends and I last played a D&D game. I do know that with the DM's permission I will be doing this build, whether the game is serious or not. I won't be doing a deep dive with the build, just some generic details. So here we go.

I'll be using, of course, a drow. Yes, I understand the penalties that race gets when adventuring under the sun. That will be part of the fun. Being the optimizer that I am, I'll be giving him the Variant Criminal: Spy background. So basically he's being trained by an organization to have special skills. Think of the League of Shadows in Batman Begins.

From an optimizer's perspective this is also a nice background to have as it gives your character proficiency in thieves' tools, which I think is always a nice thing to have in case of emergencies.

We're starting out the build with a warlock. Pick your patron, pick your pact. I'm probably going with fiend and pact of the blade. I'll most likely reach level 3 for warlock before multiclassing. Level 3 gives you access to level 2 spells, and I'll be taking Shadow Blade, which was added in Xanathar's Guide to Everything and is allowed to be used by warlocks.

Once we reach level 3 I'll be multiclassing to Monk, Way of the Shadow. Then I'll be leveling this up until level 6, when the Way of the Shadow gets Shadow Step. The final build will have Warlock 8 and Monk 12, or Warlock 4 and Monk 16. It depends on what features I want or how the storyline goes.

So that's it. My Drow Shadowblade build would take effect at level 9. The biggest issue here is that by then I'll only have had one ability score increase so I need to be smart with where I assign the ability scores, or if I pick a feat instead.

Finally the ability scores. I usually go with standard array so here's the starting values with the Drow racial bonuses applied: STR 8, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 15, CHA 14. I was thinking of getting the Resilient (WIS) feat at Monk 4 so I get proficiency in Wisdom as well as an AC of 16.

So that's it, at least in vague and general terms. My dream Shadowblade build. Hopefully I get a chance to play this character in the future.

Out.

1158 Super Beetle Post

I haven't ranted, er, blogged about the Super Beetle in quite awhile.

I recently found out that CIP1 sells left and right door adaptors so you can mount drip rail side mirrors without having to cut the door metal. They also sell the drip rail mount side mirrors.

Now I know that this kind of mirror isn't effective. This post from The Samba has an interesting discussion about the "peep side mirror" and this was an early introduction to this kind of side mirror. People have said it was not very functional and more aesthetic but I don't really own a Super Beetle either so I can just dream about this crazy set up of mine.

I can have either the peep side mirror on the left side and a bigger, traditional side mirror for the right side. Or I can just opt for a more practical, bigger aftermarket side mirror.

Anyway that's it. I guess I still have this impractical, aesthetic focused side of me when it comes to cars.

Out.

1157 Mamak Kopitiam

Yesterday my wife and I had lunch at Mamak Kopitiam in Glorietta. This was the second time we ate there and to be honest I do like eating there.

Our first experience, way way back, wasn't that great. We ordered chicken satay and it was more burnt than tasty. However our other orders, that I can't remember anymore, were good enough for me to want to give the restaurant another chance. Good thing too.

Yesterday my wife had the steamed chicken, I had the char siew, and we ordered roti telur as a "side dish." Everything was great. They were delicious and hearty. Price wise it was also very bang for the buck. I'm probably out of touch with prices and costing because I found my char siew order a wee bit small. Still, we enjoyed the food a lot and will most definitely eat there again.

I just hope they don't close soon, and here are some of my thoughts why I think this might happen. First of all, we ate around 12:30pm and there were still plenty of seats available. I'm not sure if they're just in a relatively "bad" location in the mall where foot traffic isn't heavy, of people aren't a big fan of Singaporean/Malaysian food.

Second, they phased out a lot of menu options. Now I personally think this is a good thing for sustainability since they will need to stock less ingredients. Plus maybe the items they phased out weren't selling so cut your losses and focus on what works.

Bottom line, please give Mamak Kopitiam a try. It's great, it's worth it, and it's relatively quiet.

Out.