Review: CD-R King 3G Wireless-N Broadband Router

Been using this for a while now, and so far, it is out of warranty and still works. Living in a 2 story apartment with wooden floors, it is placed on our living room and the signal reached our upstairs bedroom as well as a good 10 feet outside of our apartment.

We used a SmartBro prepaid USB modem (Classic Black) and it worked fine. With 1 desktop connected via ethernet and 1 laptop and 1 android phone wirelessly, we were surfing at decent speeds.

Of course the router's performance is relative to the bandwidth of the service provider but so far with Smart, even while the desktop PC is on DOTA on-line gaming mode, we've still managed to use a smartphone or laptop with little lag on the game.

We've tried Sun as well, but not Globe because it had the worse all around performance/cost at that time (I don't know now) so we did'nt even bother, it worked as well. Actually, the router seemed to boost the bandwidth of the USB modem.

But when my old trusty black matte SmartBro stopped working and my Sun Broadband got lost, I worried because, through initial testing, it did not work on newer models of the USB modem. I had to look for an old model predating the pointy streamlined shape HUWAEIs. So after getting one (SMART), I was back in using the router, but after considering cost, I was searching for an old SUN modem, since SUN has a more affordable pre-paid plans.

I got one from my brother but it is the lastest modem from SUN, I would use it directly without the router, thinking it would not work on it. But one day, just fiddling around the router and the new SUN modem, I was shocked it, suddenly worked!

So now, I'm using 2 USB modems on the 3G router, but with the Sun broadband, it takes time to make it work, a lot of resetting, and plug/unplug cycles.

Hey, at least I still have options with my broadband.

How Green Is Your Fastfood? [From Treehugger]

I remember eating at Jack in the Box, sure they called it Crap in a Box, but they had Solar Panels on their small branch.

Locally, no one has yet started any green trend for sustainable energy consumption.

Despite that, fastfoods still create wastes like styrofoam food container, after all that carbon footprint from manufacturing to transporting, on average, you'll be using it in a matter of minutes then throw it away and then will become another environment problem.

It just baffles me as some branches of McDonald's uses paper to serve spaghetti's while others use styros or why Gateway Mall in Cubao mandates most of its foodcourt tennants to use styros and plastic spoons and forks.

I smell a list coming up.

Link: How Green Is Your Fastfood

Funny Bird Cage

We bought a bird cage at a mall last night and while waiting at a bench for my better half shopping for shoes, people curiously looks at the cage the pass by with some sort of disappointment...as if "where's the bird?" I'd expect kids to look at it but the adults seems to be looking for something inside the cage. Weird

Serious stand on plastics on my former hometown.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20101002-295517/Muntinlupa-to-ban-plastics-starting-January

"The Muntinlupa city government has reminded residents and business owners that the grace period of a ban on the use of plastics, Styrofoam and other nonbiodegradable materials within the city would end by 2011."

This is a tough one to follow through. Let's see if it happens and hopefully it will. Though I'm not a big fan on non-biodegradable containers, the issue may have an impact on the sanitary handling of food.

But, putting softdrinks in ice plastic bags creates less solid waste than a PET bottle doesn't it? Remeber those?

Glass feeding baby bottles

I've never been a fan of plastic feeding bottles for my baby. But one made of glass is either limited or expensive (had a hard time looking for one retail in California as well). It was a cause of concern when I noticed that sterilizing of plastic bottles by boiling(!) based it on tradition was commonly used at our household. And sure enough when you forget about it and overboil the bottles, it melts or deforms meaning the plastic composition has been compromised and could leak.

Good thing there are still glass bottles being sold here. The particular one we bought (since it's the only one we found) is the Pigeon brand. But its almost Php 400!

So ok, you don't skimp on your baby's health, the issue is the downside of baby bottles, once baby learns to walk around or feeding outside the crib, bottle slipping occurs and breaks it. Now sure, you can replace it again but with the plastic one going as low as Php 200/3pc pack (Disney pa!), you'll really be tempted to go for that.

Recently, I found at Toytown, Evenflo (made in Mexico) distributes glass bottles as well for less than Php 250. Now I started to replace my baby's plastic bottles one by one every payday and would matter much even if she breaks it. It looks retro too, hexagonal in design and the cap and rim reminds me of the old bottles.The only issue with Evenflo is it seems to have a lower quality plastic rim and cap compared to Pigeon and has a very small hole on the nipple. I'll retrofit a Pigeon nipple on the next grocery round.

I'll keep the remaining plastic bottle when I complete 6 of the glass ones, to use for travel.

Flooding arise

I was surprised watching the early morning shows about the flooding that happened in the metro except in my area of Cainta! And I'm thankful for that considering when the rains started, paranoia sets in everytime.

Still have time to stock up on supplies, hopefully, since I'm low on funds to buy everything.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20100725-283052/Metro-areas-flooded-as-ITCZ-hovers-over-Luzon-Visayas

Insult

Overheard ko sa elevatorfrom a group of call center agents nagkukukulitan going home: GUY agent: BAKLA KA!, GAY Agent: LALAKE ka! -- moral of the story: hindi insult to call someone the obvious