Daily Report: Crossing More Shit Off My List

Some new information came to light about the camera that went missing. It appears it was an "outside" job as opposed to an "inside" job. That's good: If there is one thing I rely on for my peace of mind, it is my ability to know who to trust. The possibility that I had actually been so gravely mistaken about somebody was unsettling.

I left two of the three walkie talkie chargers in the living room. As they are 110 volts instead of 220 volts (being from America), I had to plug them into the power converter behind the TV which runs the Playstation 3. However, I didn't have a spare power strip so I made the plan to go out and buy one. Susan apparently didn't bother to let my explanation sink in about how electrical items from America explode when you plug them in to Filipino electrical sockets, and plugged in both chargers to the 220 volt outlets while I wasn't looking. Jesus F-ing Christ. Fortunately the walkie talkies themselves weren't fried. Now we only have one charger left (up in my office on the 220-110 converter there) to charge all 6 walkie-talkies.

I failed to realize, by the way, just how "line of sight" walkie talkies are. The range on these Uniden units I bought is 28 miles... but apparently only if you're standing on a mountaintop 28 miles away from another person standing on a mountaintop. When Epril and I went to a restaurant about 1500 feet away from the house, we couldn't reach Susan sitting in the living room. However, when Susan went three stories up to the rooftop to transmit, she came through loud and clear. Same for talking to MaNila's house in Kimaya, one mile away: From the rooftop, loud and clear... otherwise nothing. (Fortunately we have a three-story house at the highest point in the village... or we'd be limited to a few hundred feet at best, it seems.)

When I was growing up, my father had a 2-way radio in his car for his job, and he could go anywhere within 10 miles of town and still talk to everybody else loud and clear. I thought that was going to be the same for these... especially with 25 years of technological advances powering them. Nope.

The girls just haven't been scolding Doberman Puppy Tyson or correcting him or guiding him at all, and he's getting into "the terrible twos" now. I put it to the girls bluntly: When Tyson grows up, he'll be able to kill anybody he gets angry at... even me. If he isn't trained before then, he'll be deadly, and we'll probably have to have him sent away... either figuratively or literally.

I've given Houseboy Kirko the job of training Tyson. I've given him priority on the computer downstairs to look up dog training information, and he's going to be working with Tyson constantly from now on. (Or he better be if he wants to get paid.)

I made some Jil's World Famous Cagayan Cocktail and put it in a glass pitcher in the freezer. When it was finally frozen, I took the pitcher out and stirred the mixture (alcohol doesn't freeze, so it turns into a slushie). The pitcher shattered from the stress of stirring and hitting the warm air.

It's amazing how much of what is sold in The Philippines is junk. My brand-name microwave went stupid after 4 months (just the beeper noise wouldn't stop... it still cooks, but we have to unplug it every time after use to shut it up). The office chair I bought lasted a year. The wood veneer is peeling off my desk. One of the lamps I bought a year ago is broken. Two of the 4 fans I bought are broken. Five of the 30 energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs I bought just two months ago have burned out.

Hell: Even the silverware I bought is falling apart.

Is it really that hard to make stuff that doesn't break? Is it really that hard to sell stuff that doesn't break? All of those things mentioned above were purchased at SM Department Store... the swankiest joint in town. It used to be the same case in Thailand too: No matter what I bought, name brand or just cheap... it always broke. I've gotten used to it now really, which is sad in its own way: I don't expect anything I buy to last more than a year anymore. At least with that thinking I'm not let down (most of the time).