Fun interactions in Manila

Posted on February 17, 2016 by mathan

Normally I am pretty oblivious to the reactions of others. I simply don’t care what anyone thinks if, say for example, I’m holding Scott’s hand somewhere or show a quick PDA.

In Manila, I seem to be almost hyper aware of reactions.

At the office where I am working, I got on an elevator. A relatively petite woman gets on after and just stares at me. Alright, I am a good foot or so taller than everyone here. Still, I’ve not been stared at like that in.. a long time?
On my first trip here, I went to the gym and got what I call the cruise of death, it was that intense. I admit, it kind of weirded me out a bit.
Security on the corner saying, “Hi Sir” when I least expect it.
When walking into the stores and malls, the number of “Hi Sir”s that I get but I’m aware that no one else seems to get it if they look like a local. I also feel like I’m getting special treatment.

I am sure there are others as well.

The latter of all of these really somewhat irks me. Just because I look a certain way, I don’t feel I should get any different treatment from anyone else. I understand, to a degree why – I’m not saying it’s right.

My favourite interactions so far have been around going into a high end shopping mall like Greenbelt, or even Glorietta, walking into a store – whether name brand or independent, and starting to haggle the price for something.

For example, walking into Oakley at Greenbelt, and the guy starts haggling with me for a backpack that I wasn’t about to buy. CA$200 is a little too steep and I’m not about to pay that for a backpack.

I always though haggling was just tacky or left for contracts that people negotiate. Set the price, be fair, and people will buy. But hey, if you’re going to talk lower prices and such, I’m game to play, especially if I have a net connection and a calculator.

Walking into an electronics shop in Glorietta and looking at a relatively higher-end Android Wear watch, and haggling for well under what it’s being sold for in Canada – That’s fun!

All in all, I do like it here.

Back in Manila

Posted on February 17, 2016 by mathan

The past three weeks have been non-stop travel for me between Orlando & Bahamas with Scott, Waterloo for an on-site, and now Manila. I have one more week here after this and then it’s back to either Toronto or Waterloo – I’m not sure which.

I am a creature of habit. Routine is something I crave wherever I am, and if I can get on one, then life is peachy.

The first time I was here in December, I really found my groove. Up at 5:45am, breakfast with the client at 6:00am, pickup at 6:45am, arrive at the office at 7:30am, check-in call at 8:00am, lunch at 12:00pm, pickup at 3:30pm, gym or swim, dinner at 6:00pm, free time and sleep, doing it all over again.

That routine seems to be working well for me, and I can somewhat replicate it, though I admit, 9:00am meetings seem to mean late dinners, which then means I might not get the gym time – especially in North America if I have to drive to the gym, etc…

I could be a morning person here in Asia. I was in Japan, Hong Kong and again in Manila.

Android Wear vs Apple Watch

Posted on February 9, 2016 by mathan

FullSizeRender I admit it. I love watches. Always have, and I feel like I’ve owned some cool ones like the Seiko Data 2000 that I still have and is in working condition.

For years I stopped wearing watches, the last being a Timex DataLink I bought 21 years ago. However three years ago, after visiting the Caribbean, I fell in love with watches again picking up a Citizen Proximity (horrible ‘smart’ watch), and a Citizen Blue Angels Skyhawk (love it!).

The current set of digital watches, or wearables, especially between Apple and Google is intriguing to me. For the longest time period, I resisted getting an Apple watch and then finally did.

As for Android Wear, I didn’t think it would work with the iPhone and it turns out it does – sort of. So I picked up a Fossil Q Founder while in Orlando.

Honestly – I’m not impressed with Apple Watch anymore. I find:

It’s very slow for what it is.
It often thinks I want to take a screen shot when I’m clicking the crown.
The flow of the UI is not that intuitive – Why would I press the crown for Apps? It makes more sense to swipe.
Apps are slow and have very basic functionality.
Lack of available watch faces.
Connectivity is questionable – For example, right now my iPhone recognizes I am in Waterloo yet the watch can’t bring up the weather details.
The Apple Watch app seems like an after thought and doesn’t feel cohesive with the rest of the iOS ecosystem.

What Apple Watch has going for it, though is:

Activity tracking – I love that it tracks steps, translates it to calories, standing and also exercise time. Along with that, the heart beat/rate monitor is cool.
It’s a small package.
Wallet is awesome for checking in for flights, loyalty cards, etc…
NFC payments with the watch instead of the phone is really neat too.
Messaging from the Apple Watch is great.
The haptic engine is awesome! So much so, I feel phantom taps on my wrist occasionally.

The Fossil Q blew me away with how responsive it is, given it’s based on an Intel Atom processor, I’m not surprised. I like ARM cores as well, but I really do think Apple could have created something a bit more reponsive.

What the Fossil Q has going for it:

Did I say it was responsive?
It feels like a big chunky watch, which has been my preference recently
It came with a nice charging stand. Apple really missed the mark here.
The sheer number of apps and watch faces is way higher than Apple Watch. Again, Apple has really missed the mark here.
The UI is way more intuitive.
You can have the watch with an always on mode that doesn’t seem to have that much affect on battery life.
The simplicity of gestures and buttons is beautiful.

What the Fossil Q implementation of Android Wear seems to be missing

This one isn’t the fault of Google, but the lack of being able to get to the Android Play store to upload apps and more watch faces. There has to be a way of being able to get access to, at least, the free watch faces on the store.
Activity tracking – Sure it has a pedometer, but not much more. Although, do I really need a heart rate monitor? Not really, but in these days of activity trackers and such, I’d expect something like that from such a big watch. As CNet’s review calls out, “This isn’t a sport watch, it’s a fashion one.”
It doesn’t look like with the base watch that you can send text messages using “OK Google” like you can with Siri.
Wallet although I know Google Pay when synced with an Android device is available.
The haptic engine isn’t quite a cool or configurable as Apple’s.

What I won’t miss in Android Wear versus Apple Watch is the NFC payments capabilities. I just don’t use NFC these days, and I see it more as a gimmick. Although it sounds like on other Android Wear watches, NFC is available.

What both have going for them

I like the size of the Apple Watch as well as the Fossil. Both have a place.
The range of bands is good for both, although I am partial to the bands available for the Fossil, which are interchangeable with other bands from the brand.
The displays on both watches is gorgeous
Voice recognition is great on both although I think I find Siri a bit faster to recognize and process my voice.

If you’re using the Android Wear with an Apple iPhone, it does seem to work well other than not being able to download many more watch faces and apps. This is more because Apple doesn’t allow non-Apple stores to be accessed from the iPhone. This is not surprising and I wouldn’t count on Apple supporting devices outside of their ecosystem.

All in all, I think Android Wear is probably the better platform. Apple Watch, it will be interesting to see what comes out from Apple, but I have to admit, I find myself drawn away more and more from Apple. I am just not impressed anymore. So much so, I could almost see myself switching to an Android phone. Almost.

The best way to describe the Fossil Q is the right balance between the Apple Watch and a Pebble.

Universal Studios Orlando

Posted on February 9, 2016 by mathan

61390_013116_000494785 Where to start with Universal Studios Orlando…

Universal Studios Orlando has kind of blown Scott and I away, and we didn’t think it was possible to out-do Disney.

We spent our first day at both Diagon Alley and Hogsmead, making this pretty much into a day full of Harry Potter.

Before, we go there, here are some tricks for Universal Studios:

Buy your tickets online in advance
They sometimes have deals such as buy for two days and get the third day free, which we took advantage of
Save your money to buy stuff as there’s a lot of merchandise at this park including pins, wizard gear, and even Transformers!
You can get a quick service dining plan which there are some healthy choices – such as getting a salad with roasted chicken on top for your main.
That said, we experimented with one day of quick service, and two days of not – And honestly, I think we saved money as we didn’t buy extra snacks we would have felt that we needed to eat.
Get the refillable cup the first day for $9.99 or with the quick service meal and get refills for the next day at $6.99.

Scott and I got up around 8:30am, choosing to take out time to get to the park by 10am.

6171_020716_000387545 How did we approach the park? You could do everything in two days but keep in mind that lines are regularly 30 to 45 minutes or even longer. We did one day all Harry Potter, one day dedicated to Universal Studios and then one day for Islands of Adventure, with extra time to hit things we wanted to do again.

We also got Photo Connect which works great, although you won’t find as many photographers around the park, practically none in the Harry Potter areas, and you have to hunt them down. You do get all your ride photos.

It was a gamble of a strategy. Harry Potter is (and has been for years) the most popular attraction at Universal Studios Orlando, which means it is perpetually busy, and it’s very clear to see why. The area is stunning!

You walk in and you are completely immersed into the world of Harry Potter, Diagon Alley and Hogsmead when you head over to Islands of Adventure.

Highly recommended… Everything, but the key points:

Get yourself a magic wand at Ollivanders
Try the ice cream at Florean Fortesue’s Ice Cream Parlour
Get your gear at Devish and Banges at Islands of Adventure – They seem to have more stuff than Magical Menagery, Quality Quidditch Supplies, and Wiseacres

Talking generally about Universal Studios – It’s clear that Universal Studios has the 4D ride experience down pat. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey are amazing, especially the latter. Just amazing! Transformers 4D, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Revenge of the Mummy… All great!

Also a word of warning – We got Photo Connect for three days, but it was three consecutive days, and we were doing two days and then one a week later. When we went to look at photos on our phone we noticed watermarking. As a result we stopped in at one of the stores and they thankfully comped us a day, saving all the photos we had taken that third day. *phew* Thank you!!

Another thing that was awesome – We were at the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman which had a 45 minute line. Given we had very limited time at the parks we were going to go on the single rider lines. The ride attendant asked us what our next ride was going to be which we weren’t sure. Ultimately he let us on the ride on the Express line and told us to drop his name at any other ride we wanted to get on and it would put us through the Express line. Admittedly, we didn’t go on any other rides that day, and I always feel awkward about dropping names to get special treatment. It’s just not my way, but it was appreciated.

Some other notes about Universal:

Marvel Super Hero Island was awesome!
Toon Lagoon was a very pleasant surprise!
There is fun merchandise at Seuss Landing if that’s your thing.
Universal definitely has more thrill rides than Disney, I think that’s a given.
Beyond the 4D rides, the thrill rides are amazing!
If you are bigger, there is a chance you will not be able to go on all of the rides. That said, Scott fit on all of the rides except for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Other than missing the current two coolest rides in the park, I am VERY happy that Scott could go on the other rides, which was a fear of mine.

Admittedly, Scott and I kept on going back to the glory days of “Paramount Canada’s Wonderland”. Admittedly, Wonder Mountain’s Guardian, after seeing what Universal has done with their rides, just pales in comparison. That could be a way cooler ride than it is.

We spent a bit of time at Universal Citywalk. Comparing it to Disney Springs, I think I prefer Citywalk as it’s more upbeat and has places I’m interested in such as the Fossil Store, and restaurants-a-plenty. By the way, we also saw local Joey Fatone (N*Sync) walking around, who was very gracious while talking with some fans.

That said, Disney Springs is kind of like the elderly statesman of the industry with shops like Art of Shaving, etc… It’ll be interesting to see what happens as Downtown Disney transforms into Disney Springs as it is looking rough around the edges, especially the west side. It’s a little more chilled every time I’ve gone there.

Also it’s worth noting that everyone has to go through Universal Citywalk to get into the two parks, so that could also explain why it’s a bit livelier, where Downtown Disney/Disney Springs is a destination unto itself.

Both have their demographic and are worth checking out

Food-wise, you can eat healthy. There’s always a salad option available at most restaurants which is on dining plan.

The upshot? We were very surprised by Universal Studios Orlando and it is worth checking out!