Lost Then Found (Updated)

Day Before Yesterday: Office PC monitor finally gave out, so right now we're having to make-do w/ second hand monitor Boit brought over from his office. Brightness/contrast adjustment has been difficult and it hurts to look at for more than a few minutes at a time. It's almost as if it was meant for those w/ already poor eyesight (i.e. BoiT). At the very least it will induce it.

Yesterday: After getting my haircut at H Salon (Ma's treat) I speed-walked to SM Appliance Center 'coz Sis said she saw those Creative Zen cases that have long alluded me. Those I found before were not for sale but instead came free when you purchased said mini-media player. (Bad enough the Japanese store overpriced their products, but they weren't big on the concept of freebies, either.) The cases on sale were the 3-in-1 Skin Pack (w/c sounds like a facial package) and the Clear Case w/ keyring attachment. Since the former had 2 more skin wrappings than I needed (reminds me of those extra sets of lenses that came w/ my Rudy Project sunglasses), I chose to buy the latter. It had 2 things going for it: first it was cheaper (and obviously more available) than getting it on Amazon, and second the case was hard acrylic and not the plastic book cover-like material I thought it was.

And speaking of the latter latter, I then stopped by NBS for some plastic covering, and was surprised at how much the price of gauge 6 (or 8) type went up. It was almost 40 bucks a meter (P38.25, to be precise), and again I overestimated by asking for 6 meters worth. Even though I knew I would use this all up eventually (hardcover book purchasing won't go away anytime soon), given that plastics will still be here when I'm long gone I wish I bought huge rolls of it when it was half the price it is today.

(Yes, petroleum products are not limited to crude oil, cooking oil or gas. Plastic covers are also affected by rising oil costs.)

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Today: After I dropped the 'Rents off the front entance of Sta. Mesa Market, instead of using the main parking area I drove up to the spot nearer the fruit stands. I wanted to park in reverse (front facing the street), but a bum (the type locally known as Taong Grasa) was crouching in front of the post between the parking spots. Not wanting to risk hitting the guy I opted to drive straight through (front facing the market) and settled in to read the Sunday papers I brought w/ me.

No sooner do I start reading does TG Guy walk to the front of the CRV then point and rant about the license plate numbers. He wasn't speaking in Tagalog, but his disheveled look and nonsensical ranting was enough for me to think he was a few bulbs short of a Bat Signal. I kept on reading, hoping either he'd go away or at least when he's done deciphering the Da Vinci code in the license plate not hang around near the back door of the car when the meat and veggies come in. Eventually he disappeared, leaving me in suffocating safety inside the car (open a window/door already!).

UPDATE: On a completely related/unrelated note (relatively): BoiT brought in the replacement monitor. It was gorgeous looking ASUS VK191 series LCD. After opening and setting it up I immediately wished I ordered one that was 1-3 inches bigger. And the speakers are crap so I had to reattach the old ones.

On the plus side, images on the screen are brighter and sharper than ever before. And since it's in widescreen multi-tasking (i.e. typing while watching videos) looks less cluttered, and I can display my comic 2 pages a time now. On the other hand I should probably adjust the brightness before I go blind/burn my face.