The Beanster Blog

Finally was able to try Ristra’s I had come early because I got a table for our group and I was starving. I ordered the Burrito / Nachos / Sugarcane Lemonade. It was made in-front of me: Burrito: I had the 3 kinds of  meat toppings placed plus everything except sour cream. The result was great. I then made it swim in white garlic sauce and their hot sauce. My side of Nachos I got with cheese dip which is like warm cheezwiz (nothing special here) The Sugarcane Lemonade was sort of weird for me. I did not enjoy this one. Here is my meal sans the Lemonade total 705PHP Pricing was a bit steep but the quality of ingredients was ok. Ordering and service could be better. I mean the lady on the cashier would not write down my order which was complete already until she served pending orders from previous customers (who were paid already BTW). I look forward to trying other dishes from Ristra’s. I think it has great MEXIFILI cuisine (I wouldn’t call it really Mexica...

Today I finished talking with palm support and trooped to Makati to get my palm Treo Pro replaced AGAIN! This my 3rd Treo Pro… this is getting ridiculous… What the hell!? The keypad frame was falling off on the refurb unit I got. BTW I haven’t dropped my device yet. [here are some pics of the faulty device] When I got there the guy gave me my replacement unit I inspected the keys and found out the start button was stuck so I asked for another unit. Thankfully this one had better keys. Hard reset my defective TP, took out the SIM, microSD, stylus, battery and back cover. I then installed those to the new one and powered it up. The guy at the drop off zone moved the screen protector for me too. I setup google sync so I had my contacts/calendar until I got back to the office. Finished signing stuff and I was off. My 1st device’s d-pad failed after six months the 1st refurbed units keyboard frame failed in 2 weeks. I hope this device lasts longer… I really don’t have the mo...

I was at the Nokia store while I was waiting for my Treo Pro to get replaced. Of course I went straight to the dummy models (they don’t display live phones anymore; fear of stealing I guess). I was playing with the N97’s slider and tilt system. Looks really sturdy, however it seems that it goes tilt only; you can’t just slide it up. The guy noticed I had to smartphones so he smelled a potential sale. He comes up to me and starts spouting specs like an frakin’ sub-machinegun. He knows his product great training Nokia. So WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, 5MP, wow… pretty impressive ey… touch screen ooooooh… Finally I got tired of playing with the slider and asked him the most important question. Does this phone recognize similar numbers? At this moment the guy already new that he has lost this sale. It is not your fault well groomed, well trained but of questionable sexual orientation sales dude/tte it’s the product’s fault. You see folks in the year 2009 Symbian Series 60 Feature Pack...

The King of Pop is dead… One of the best singer/songwriters of our time has passed away. My earliest Michael Jackson memory was being scared yet amazed at his Thriller video, I got a red jacket for some holiday (probably Christmas) and had a phase where I kept on trying to dance to ‘Thriller’ Trivia: Heal the World was the song used as our graduation (grade 7) Over the years though Michael Jackson has become a bit controversial and eccentric to say the least but we will not sully the memory of the King with these. He is and forever will be one of the best entertainers in the world. Thank you for the music.

Fortunately it's not about picking my nose or some other gross thing! http://twitter.com/bnycastro

A few days ago I had written to SMART telecom’s president Mr. Manny V. Pangilinan about their new International Roaming Deposit policy. You may read it HERE . Today I went to the SMART Wireless Center where I had my plan changed. I explained [although I must admit not in the calmest way] why the whole thing was #1 offensive #2 unfair #3 bad for business #4 their fault the service rep promised that she would elevate the matter and true enough I received a call moments ago from a SMART representative. That’s 3 hours turn around… raising hell and my blood pressure at the wireless center works wonders for response time. Resolution: Of course the lady on the line apologized profusely for any inconvenience that beset me. Ok apology accepted. They also activated my international roaming and waived the ridiculous deposit. Ok very good. Thank you SMART. She was about to let me go but I would not have it. I pressed her to let me know what they were going...

If you still don’t have yours get it now at: http://facebook.com/username Keep in mind the URL you choose is permanent choose wisely… http://facebook.com/bnycastro

RT @gibishoes: [Timberland] From 6/19 - 6/21: Buy 2 items & get 50 off on the cheaper item. More info: http://tinyurl.com/halfyfathersday http://twitter.com/bnycastro/status/2216523268 Sent from my Palm® Treo™ smartphone.

Ok 1st off I want a smartphone better if it is qwerty bar. Less moving parts means less chances of breaking something OS: Windows Mobile 6.5 Pro or Google's Android Display: res should be 480x640 or higher Bands: Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE Triband UMTS w/ HSDPA Camera: 3.2MP w/ auto-focus & flash Input: Resistive or Capacitive Touchscreen and QWERTY with real alt + ctrl + shift + tab keys! And a nice dpad or trackball. Expansion: microSDHC Output: Dual speakers, 3.5mm jack Sync: mini or microUSB Batt: 1500mAh minimum Processor: 500mhz minimum WiFi and BT required, IR optional Any manufacturer who comes up with this device then I will buy from you. Sent from my Palm® Treo™ smartphone.

16-Jun-09 Trance Tuesday -- Paul van Dyk - Home - Paul van Dyk Club Mix U2 - Elevation - Vandit Club Mix -- Today's tones... #trancetuesday

Here is my letter to Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan president of SMART Telecommunications Inc. I also sent a copy to their customer service address just in case the email address I was provided with was not real. I am hoping he reads it and responds to it. subj: SMART TELECOM INT'L ROAMING DEPOSIT IS DISCRIMINATORY, UNFAIR, and WRONG Mr. Manny Pangilinan Dear Sir I am SMART subscriber in good standing. I pay all my bills on time. A month or so ago I decided to lower my plan from 1200 to 500. I did this because I had noticed that I was not hitting 1200. As I was getting this done I asked the service rep to make sure that international roaming and data services would still be active. She said it would. Now early this month I went on a business trip to China. To my surprise my roaming had been turned off. Upon my return to the PH I gave the SMART hotline a ring. I was surprised to find out that my roaming had been cut because my plan is bellow 1800PHP. I asked t...

excerpt from: I Am What I Am by OceanLab I know you feel you need to prove that you are good in simply everything that you try to do and people hang on your every word, that you deliver with conviction, though they just may be absurd. excerpt from: Breaking Ties by OceanLab I may return to empty places on my own where I remember all the things you want me to forget and You and I, truth and lies. I’ve been fooling myself too long. You and I, breaking ties. How could we be so right and so wrong? these definitely made me smirk. Nice job OceanLab :P

[Amazing Joker Costume] Last Saturday me and some friends went to SM MEGAMALL to take a look at the 2009 ToyCon. Lot’s of toys and lot’s of folks in costume! :D Posted some pics on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bnycastro/tags/toycon0609/ I got myself some LEGO magnets and a concept Fett by Ralph McQuarrie [it was his 80th birthday on June 13]. [Happy Birthday Ralph. Thank you for your vision…] I was thinking of conscripting to the Philippine Outpost but I don’t have a costume yet. I had thought they would help you make one but it looks like you need a costume before joining. [501st troopers from the Philippine Outpost] Had a lot of fun for my 1st toy convention. Will definitely be back next year.

Trust in Trance -- OceanLab - Beautiful Together - Signum Remix OceanLab - Sky Falls Down - Armin van Buuren Mix -- 128Kbps 28sec Stereo MP3 -- @bnycastro

10-Jun-09 Wednesday -- The Killers - Human - Armin van Buuren Mix The Killers - Human - Ferry Corsten Mix -- Are we human or are we dancers? #house, #tod_wednesday, #ringtones

Category: Music Genre: Dance/DJ Artists: Above & Beyond pts. Oceanlab ft. Justine Suissa Released June 08, 2009 this 2 disc album is a vocal trance and progressive overload! If you listened to the original Sirens of the Sea album you’ll be amazed on how well these remixes are made! As I mentioned in my review of the original album; the tracks would really shine when they are remixed. True enough today’s best and brightest DJs/Producers/Remixers have leant their talents to make an AWESOME album. This is a must have release remember TinT… Trust in Trance! You can listen to sample tracks and get your copy from http://www.cdjshop.com

I had recently changed my service plan from 1200 to 500 [last April] because I had a SUN 350 line and I wanted to lower my monthly expenses. When I was getting this done I expressly asked the service rep about roaming. Fact of the matter is I was only keeping SMART because SUN had weak to zero coverage outside Metro Manila and because I assumed SMART [being bigger and older] had more roaming partners over SUN. When I went on my 4 day trip to China last week, roaming was not working. Good thing I had brought my SUN SIM card which did roam successfully take note my SUN plan is only 350/month. That is even lower than my SMART plan. So I decided to call SMART and have roaming activated on my SIM. I was surprised when the rep on the phone said that activating roaming now required a 2500PhP roaming deposit and that this deposit can only be credited to your account as bills payment when you decide to deactivate roaming. I asked if this deposit would be used if I roamed and she said no. I argu...

Here in Guangzhou, China. For the 28th International Footwear Conference and the Shoes & Leather Guangzhou 2009. I am here as a proxy for my father with my mom and 1 of our purchasers. My uncle is the Philippine representative for the conference. AFAIK there is a Shoes & Leather exhibit that parallels this conference. US: the economy is bad but footwear is holding up relatively well vs other industries. People are still buying shoes. EU: manufacturing/importing are down. Consumption of shoes is not dropping significantly. Imports are down because stocks are being sold off.

Here in Guangzhou, China. For the 28th International Footwear Conference and the Shoes & Leather Guangzhou 2009. I am here as a proxy for my father with my mom and 1 of our purchasers. My uncle is the Philippine representative for the conference. AFAIK there is a Shoes & Leather exhibit that parallels this conference. US: the economy is bad but footwear is holding up relatively well vs other industries. People are still buying shoes. EU: manufacturing/importing are down. Consumption of shoes is not dropping significantly. Imports are down because stocks are being sold off.