Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog
A serious and sometimes not so serious personal blog
I was looking through the electronics section at Wal Mart and noticed the prices on the 320 gb and 500 gb Seagate external hard drives are a little weird:
Maybe one price is wrong, or maybe they’re really charging the same amount for both hard drives. Who knows? Regardless, I know I’d rather get a 500 GB hard drive if I’m going to pay the same amount for a smaller one. The only difference I could see is that the 320 GB version had more variety in colors.
… you might wind up with a ride that looks a little something like what you see above.
Over the last 10 years or so, New York City has really been cleaned up. I heard recently that crime has gone down by a third during roughly the same amount of time. Still, that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down when it comes to making sure you keep yourself and your property safe.
Without checking actual statistics I would say that New York City is probably a safer place than Manila, but even so I know people who don’t go out after dark, just to be on the safe side. Women get snatched up and raped, people get robbed, and there have even been fatal shootings in the neighborhood around where I’ll be staying.
In the week that I was in New York (before the trip I’m currently on to visit family in Georgia), we heard someone fire off about 6 rounds from a pistol on the street behind our apartment building and we walked down a street just a few short hours before two people were found dead in a vehicle there.
So, while I can relax a little bit compared to being in Manila, I’ll still be keeping my eyes open and listening for trouble.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, a jeepney is a popular mode of transportation in the Philippines. They stop at somewhat regular places to pick up passengers and will drop passengers almost anywhere. The jeepneys on the road range in style from old and junky to new and pimped out with young guys running the show and jamming music.
The last full day I was in the Philippines I road in a jeepney with my wife and I decided to record some of the action. What you see in the video is an assistant, or conductor, who rides in the back. He calls for passengers, announces the destination, signals stops and resumes to the driver and also collects payments. This is a good way for the jeepney driver to make sure he doesn’t get ripped off by people who sneak in and out without paying.
Enjoy!
Just look at those sneaky bastards, over there in their red shirts, with their kiosk set up along the only way to the departure gates. You just can’t get to your gate, or to the baggage claim, without going past these guys. As you walk past, they try to rope you in by calling out, “Hi! Are you flying on Delta today!?” I took one quick glance and then kept moving, the preferred method of dealing with people trying to sell something.
Later, as I sat at departure gate 1, I saw a few people stop momentarily, probably confused about why they were being asked about their flight carrier. They quickly moved on, though, once they found out what it was all about. As you can see from the picture, they were trying to get people to sign up for credit cards with Sky Mile bonuses, but who the hell needs another credit card these days?
What I really want to know is what Delta was thinking. Flying is stressful enough without being bothered by people who are trying to solicit credit card sign ups.
My overall trip to Georgia on Delta was fairly pleasant. We got the standard drink and snack, which is all I expected. There was something on the TV, but we weren’t given headphones, unless they were passed out while I was asleep. That’s how I spent most of the flight. Hell, I even slept through take-off. I didn’t get much sleep the night before.
This trip to Georgia has been interesting so far. It’s nice to see wide open spaces, blue skies and giant Wal Marts.
Yesterday I went out to New Jersey with my mom. She clued me in on something that I’ll have to keep in mind if I plan to keep up my bad smoking habit here in New York City. The clue? It’s damned expensive! If you want to buy a carton of smokes here, you’re going to pay somewhere around 100 USD, average. New York City taxes the hell out of a pack of cigarettes. They’ve always been expensive and in the past when I’ve come to visit I brought cigarettes with me, but nowadays it’s just insane. You either have to quit, or you have to get creative. One way of getting creative is to leave the city, and the state entirely, to get your cigarette fix.
Sorry for the cheap stitch job, but it wouldn’t have lined up right anyway.
If you hop on the PATH (Port Authority) train at 6th Avenue and 14th Street, you can head out to New Jersey where the shopping is cheaper. The PATH train is 3.50 one way, so 7 dollars for a round trip, but it’s worth it, because that same carton that would cost you about 100+ in the city will only cost you around 65 to 75 in New Jersey, depending on your brand. So, even with the transit cost thrown in, you’ll still save money.
Besides being cheaper for cigarettes, the Newport / Pavonia area of New Jersey is actually pretty nice looking. It has a real southern city feel to it that reminds me of Columbus, GA or Atlanta.
Even the skies there were clearer than in Manhattan. When we left Manhattan the sky was gray and overcast. In New Jersey the sky was blue with just a few scattered, puffy white clouds.
Apparently there’s a river walk in the area. I’m going to have to go back on another trip to check it out and get some shots of the Manhattan skyline.
This is a shot of the Light Rail from a bridge that goes into the Newport Mall.
And this is just some angry bird that got pissed when we sat on ‘his’ bench. He didn’t let up in his show of indignation until we got up and took a few steps away.
There’s a lot of city to explore, but tomorrow I’m taking another flight, this time down to Georgia to visit family for two weeks. Wish me well on the flight.
Now, I don’t really care all that much about ‘high fashion’ or brands, but this caught my eye because the first time I’d ever heard of Mango, or it’s MNG line of clothes, was in Singapore, where it’s apparently very desirable. Singapore in general is very fashion conscious and the malls are filled with high end boutiques.
I developed a particular distaste for Mango, not because of how the clothes look (I’ve never even been in the store, but the stuff in the online JCPenney catalog looks nice), but because we lived with a roommate during our first year in Singapore that talked about the brand non-stop. I’m sure you know the type of person I’m talking about. She wasn’t happy unless she was telling you about how great and fashionable Mango (or some other brand) is, and about how many items she has, like I gave a damn. It got to the point that when we’d pass a Mango store in the mall, either myself or my wife would say, “Look! It’s Mango!” The reply would usually be, “Fuck Mango.” Like I said, not because the brand is necessarily bad, but because we were tired of hearing about it and associated it with a bitch we didn’t like.
Anyway, in Singapore, and I presume other parts of Asia, Mango is a very desirable brand. If you have Mango stuff, you’re cool. I suppose that’s just not the case in the US, though. Maybe it just never caught on the same way it did in Singapore? Mango has a few stores here and there in NYC and on the West Coast, but I just don’t get that same ‘exclusive’ feel that I did before, knowing that Mango is carried at department store now.
Regardless, if you’re from Asia and you were wondering how to get Mango clothes in the US, you can get it from your nearest JCPenney now, or just order directly from the JCPenney online catalog.
(Note: This post is not sponsored by Mango in any way.)
As a not avid but long time smoker, something I enjoy about foreign airports is that their assholes aren’t so tightened by political stupidity that they’ve banned smoking rooms. I understand that non-smokers don’t want to inhale smoke, but I also think it’s wrong to punish smokers, or inconvenience them, for doing something that isn’t illegal. Singapore’s Changi Airport has smoking rooms. Japan’s Narita Airport has smoking rooms. Germany’s Frankfurt Airport has smoking rooms. NAIA in the Philippines doesn’t have a smoking room, but the Philippines tries to emulate all the laws the US passes, and that airport just sucks anyway, so it doesn’t count.
On a long-haul flight from Manila in the Philippines to New York City, that stop at Narita is a small blessing if you’re a smoker. I’ve gone through there twice, in different areas each time, and in both instances a smoking room was conveniently placed for people on short or long layovers.
The smoking rooms are completely closed in with tinted glass windows and doors that you open by pushing on a pad on the door, located where a handle would normally be. Inside is a vending machine, lots of benches, a television, cigarette butt receptacles / ashtrays and even a stand with car-style lighters for people who forgot those or couldn’t get their lighter through security at their point of origin.
When I sat down in the smoking room it had a really relaxing atmosphere. There was an assorted crowd inside that fluctuated constantly as people rushed in and rushed out to head to their gates. I saw Japanese businessmen talking in clipped tones, likely about some upcoming project, convention or deal. I saw airline attendants, Japanese and otherwise, enjoying their breaks. There were plenty of travelers, mostly Asian, lounging with dazed looks on their faces.
While there, a traveler that looked like he was from the Middle East was trying to give away a meal voucher he had. He asked me if I had time ‘til my next flight and told me about the voucher, asking if I wanted it. I only had a few minutes left by that point so I declined. It was odd, but he went around almost the whole room before running into someone that would take it from him. It’s possible that everyone had a connecting flight coming up shortly, but I think it’s more likely that most people just won’t take something free, because scams are so prevalent. No one wants to get suckered.
Another guy I spoke to was from the US. He was on his way back home to pick up his dogs and bring them back to Japan. That sparked a long conversation about pet importation, since I had my cat Marble with me on my flight, importing her to the US, and had previously imported her and three other cats to the Philippines from Singapore. Japan is pretty strict on their import requirements, especially compared to the US which barely asked me for any documentation at all for Marble and didn’t require an import permit.
Narita as a whole is a very modern, attractive airport that reminded me of Changi and the airport in Kuala Lumpur. My only complaint about the place is that it didn’t have free wi-fi throughout the terminal, though I did find a wi-fi kiosk sponsored by Google. The catch was that after registering to use the service, you were presented with an advertisement encouraging you to download the latest version of Google’s browser, Chrome.
Leaving Narita and arriving at JFK in New York was like leaving a posh neighborhood and stepping into the projects. JFK even smells funny, but from what I’ve been told it’s common knowledge that the place is a dump in serious need of remodeling. One of the most interesting thing about Narita, though, are the toilets. Have a look for yourself:
These types of toilets are common in Japan. The one pictured above had a heated toilet seat and a sprayer that you could use to clean your backside. It also had a blow dryer that would dry your backside after it was sprayed clean. Even if I’d needed to use them, I don’t think I would, since it was a public toilet. I spent about five minutes looking at the toilet bowl from different angles, trying to figure out where the spray and blow drying would come from, but I gave up. If I ever have a chance to stay in a hotel in Japan, I might give it a try. Or France. I hear they’re used there too.
Passing through Narita is, overall, a pleasant experience with a clean environment, satisfactory amenities and interesting people watching opportunities.
This is another post about Marble, the cat I brought with me to New York City and gave to my mom. She’s done quite a bit of traveling and this last trip was hard on her, because she was in the plane for so long, but now she’s adjusting quite nicely. She seems to not mind being in an apartment or mind the noise of the city. Like one of my friends said, she’s a city girl at heart. She grew up in Singapore after all.
She’s still in that ‘adjustment’ period when it comes to my mom’s cat. They haven’t quite become friends yet. Marble doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him, but he’s been really aggressive and we have to keep an eye on him constantly. It seems like every time we turn our backs he’s trying to go after her. I’m sure that will stop after a while, but he’s been the lone king of this apartment for over a year, since his older brother passed away from old age. It’s typical cat behavior, not wanting to concede territory to another cat, but it still seems bizarre, because in human terms it would be like a retiree beating up a 10 year old child brought into his house by a relative. Marble is barely over a year old, so she’s still a young cat.
To that end, she’s taken to staying high up, where that big fat cat can’t reach her. She stays on an armchair next to me, or sits on the shelf over the radiator by the window. She really enjoys that spot because it lets her look out onto the street below. Sometimes she goes onto the balcony and sits on the freezer too.
So far I haven’t done much in the city except random errands, but I’ll definitely start posting some stuff soon. Tomorrow I want to write a bit about the flight from Manila to New York and Narita airport in Tokyo. To end this post, though, I’ll leave you with a not so good photo of the beast of a cat that my mom already had:
Now use the following photo for a size comparison:
Dapper, the cat on the left, is about the same size as Marble.
Meet Marble. Marble was born in Singapore, has lived in the Philippines and is sleeping in an armchair in Manhattan, New York City, in the above picture. She’s an international cat and probably has more Sky Miles than most human beings. She’s also a lucky cat, having started out her life as a stray under a building near the train station in Pasir Ris, Singapore. Now she lives a life of relative luxury on the other side of the world with canned food every day, lots of attention and love and a safe environment.
So, how did she get here? Well, it’s a long story, but first we exported her from Singapore to the Philippines and then when it was time to move on, we exported her again from the Philippines to the US. (If you want to read about how to get your cats from Singapore the Philippines, click here.) Compared to the process of getting Marble from Singapore the Philippines, bringing her to the US was relatively painless.
Just to give you an idea, the requirements set forth by the CDC (Center for Disease Control, which regulates animal imports) for bringing your pet cat into the US are that the cat has to be in apparent good health and, depending on the state of entry, updated on rabies shots. That’s it. Here’s the exact quote from the CDC’s page on cat importation:
A general certificate of health is not required by CDC for entry of pet cats into the United States, although some airlines or states may require them. However, pet cats are subject to inspection at ports of entry and may be denied entry into the United States if they have evidence of an infectious disease that can be transmitted to humans. If a cat appears to be ill, further examination by a licensed veterinarian at the owner’s expense might be required at the port of entry.
Cats are not required to have proof of rabies vaccination for importation into the United States. However, some states require vaccination of cats for rabies, so it is a good idea to check with state and local health authorities at your final destination.
All pet cats arriving in the state of Hawaii
and the territory of Guam
An additional requirement from Delta (the airline I used) was that she needed a government health certificate and to get her out of the country we had to get an export permit. In the Philippines, you’ll get your export permit and government health certificate at the same time. They’re the same form in fact.
According to the CDC in the United States:
An animal can be considered immunized within 28 days after initial vaccination, when a peak rabies virus antibody titer is reached. An animal is considered currently vaccinated and immunized if the initial vaccination was administered at least 28 days previously or booster vaccinations have been administered in accordance with recommendations. Because a rapid anamnestic response is expected, an animal is considered currently vaccinated immediately after a booster vaccination.
So, what does that mean? If your pet is receiving its initial rabies vaccination, the pet won’t be considered inoculated until 28 days have passed. If your pet is receiving a booster shot, the CDC says the inoculation is considered valid immediately.
When I went through the export process, I remember there being some confusion about how much time had to pass between the vaccination and the export permit being issued. My cats had all been previously vaccinated and the vaccination was still considered valid.
Some rabies vaccinations are valid for one year, while others are valid for three. It depends on the type of vaccine used. Please check with your veterinarian to determine whether or not your pet(s’) vaccination against rabies is still valid. Please get the vaccination at least 30 days before your trip.
You won’t see your pet during the flight at all, even if you have a layover. What comfort you will have comes in the form of little cards:
These cards come off of a form that is stuck to the side of your pet cat’s carrier. You’ll be given one by a flight attendant prior to the plane leaving the gate area. If you have a layover, you’ll be given another one before the plane takes off again. My flight was from Manila to Tokyo to New York, so I received two of them. The fact that it comes from the sticker form stuck to the carrier at the check in counter is what gives you the assurance that your pet is in fact on the plane.
If you’re wondering how a cat holds up under a plane for 20 hours, I would tell you that it depends on your cat’s temperament. Each cat is different and some are more skittish than others, but Marble was just fine. She was a little nervous and hid under the blanket I put in there for her, but that was about it. Please do leave a blanket in the carrier. Despite being air conditioned, the plane gets cold. My advice to anyone, though, is to not drug your cat prior to the flight. Besides the fact that it’s not healthy for the cat, if he or she looks dopey or messed up on arrival you may wind up with your cat being quarantined to make sure it’s not sick with some disease.
If you’re flying this exact route, you can collect your cat in JFK’s baggage claim area. Just past the baggage carousels, there is a locked door with a keypad. Above it, there is a light with a yellow cover. When a pet shows up on a flight, it’s taken to this room and the warning light is turned on to alert the owner that the cat (or dog) is available for pick-up. When I picked up my cat I wasn’t required to show any documentation at all, because Delta had copies that were likely handed over when the cat was unloaded.
I hope this guide gives you some insight into the process of getting your cat from the Philippines to the US! Below is a map showing the location of the BAI office on Visaya’s Avenue. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability.
Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog 