General

Laiya

By Jay Lagare on Sunday, March 8, 2015

We decided to go on a weekend trip to Laiya to celebrate Michelle’s birthday. We’ve been there before but this time we decided to use Google Maps and Waze which then proceeded to direct us to all the wrong places (as usual). As a result, we reached Laiya later than expected and we had to choose resorts with daylight running out (again). After hurriedly checking out resort all the way towards far end of the cove, we went back and settled on Kabayan Beach Resort which we felt had more reasonable rates.

Kabayan is your typical beach resort and is definitely not as fancy as the neighboring White Cove but they had a pool which we thought the kids would love. As it turned out we spent more time at the beach than at the pool. The sand is not exactly white but it’s white enough and pretty fine. The water is shallow for quite a long way and the bottom is soft and sandy. Definitely kid-friendly. They have a banana boat and other rides but those small-kid friendly so we skipped those.

The room we had was what they call “hotel type” which means it has what you would expect from a hotel room: a bed, a bathroom, a tv, and a refrigerator. I’m not asking for more and it’s nice and clean. That said, some fixtures and equipment are getting rather dilapidated.

Food is available from the in-house restaurant. But the food is frankly nothing special and quite expensive for the quality. Unfortunately, there are no nearby standalone restaurants and we figured the restaurants at the other resorts either have the same fare or have costs commensurate to their room rates.

Still, overlooking such minor niggles, you can have a great time at the beach. And we did!

General

AirPrint Through A Mac

By Jay Lagare on Thursday, December 18, 2014

If you don’t have an AirPrint-compatible printer, you can still print on your iDevices with the help of a Mac. Of course, you’ll need to keep said Mac on while printing :P

You have several options: Printopia ($20), Handyprint ($5 donation), and NetGear Genie (FREE). Free is good so NetGear Genie is it. It’s also the easiest to set up.

On Mac OS X:

Download and install Genie.
Start Genie and go to “AirPrint”. Select the printer you want to make available for AirPrint.

On your iDevice:

On the pertinent app, select the “share” button.
Select “Print”. This will take you to the Printer Options screen
Select Printer
Set the number of copies if you want
Select “Print”

That’s it.

General

DD-WRT Printer Sharing

By Jay Lagare on Thursday, December 18, 2014

On the DD-WRT Control Panel, go to the Services->USB tab in DD-WRT and enable Core USB Support, and USB Printer Support. Save and apply.

On Mac OS X:

Download and install Gutenprint (formerly known as Gimp-Print). This is critical as DD-WRT will only work with a CUPS printer.
Go to System Preferences->Printers and Scanners
Add Printer (click the + button)
Select IP
On the address, enter the router’s address (normally 192.168.0.1)
On the protocol field, make sure it is “HP Jetdirect – Socket”
Leave the queue field blank
On the name field, replace the address with something user friendly
On the location field, add the location of the printer (optional)
On the use field, choose “Select Software…” and look for your printer in the list. Make sure it’s the “CUPS+Gutenprint” version. Again, this is critical as DD-WRT will only work with a CUPS printer.
Click “Add”
Select the new printer and print a test page

Now you have a network printer shared via DD-WRT!

General

PLDT and Rocket Internet

By Jay Lagare on Monday, September 29, 2014

Almost a month ago PLDT invested in Rocket Internet, an e-commerce company known primarily for bringing successful US e-commerce ideas outside of the US. An example of their products is Lazada which aims to be the Amazon of Southeast Asia.

Original investors	90.00%
PLDT	10.00%
	100.00%

Just a week later, United Internet also invested in Rocket Internet via new shares diluting PLDT’s share. Bummer. But hey, what can you do?

Original investors	80.70%
PLDT	8.60%
United Internet	10.70%
	100.00%

Now the Rocket Internet IPO draws near. The IPO will be done via new shares which will further dilute PLDT’s share. Again Bummer. But hey, again what can you do?

Original investors	61.33%
PLDT	6.54%
United Internet	8.13%
Public	24.00%
	100.00%

Well, I’m not doing anything. At the moment, that is. So maybe I can see how the IPO will impact PLDT’s value.

	min	mid	max
IPO Price	35.5	39	42.5
Raised value (EUR B)	1.34	1.48	1.61
Existing value (EUR B)	4.26	4.68	5.10
Company Value (EUR B)	5.60	6.15	6.71

PLDT’s shares value (6.79%)	0.37	0.40	0.44
PLDT’s investment	0.333	0.333	0.333
	0.03	0.07	0.11
Return	9.95%	20.79%	31.63%

Market Cap (PHP B) @close 9/29	690.00
Market Cap (EUR B)	12.04
Market Cap Impact	0.28%	0.58%	0.87%

It looks like the Rocket Internet investment is good (potentially 9.95-31.63%) but unfortunately it’s just a small part of PLDT’s overall asset portfolio and its post-IPO valuation will have little impact (0.28-0.87%). At the moment, that is.

PLDT’s investment includes strategic partnerships “to drive the development of online and mobile payment solutions in emerging markets” (that’s according to PLDT). That just might deliver dividends in the future that are not (yet) priced in.

General

I’m A Dad Again!

By Jay Lagare on Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Probably stressed by Jeanne’s surgery and ongoing recuperation, Michelle started getting contractions. Her obstetrician prescribed her a medication but the contractions wouldn’t let up. So she eventually had to be admitted to the High-Risk Pregnancy Unit (HRPU) of the hospital. But after 24 hours and even with all the medications, the contractions still wouldn’t let up.

Finally, the doctor decided to go for an emergency cesarean. Michelle’s dad took my place watching Jeanne while I went to Michelle to prepare for the birth. Unfortunately, I was nursing a cough so I decided not to go into the operating room. I’ll just have to content myself with photos. But unfortunately still, we didn’t have the DSLR with us. And my iPhone just so happened to be low on battery! So I grudgingly give the nurse Michelle’s Note 3 (ugh!) for taking photos of the birth. Oh well.

After a rather lengthy wait, the nurse came in with my daughter, Charlie (that’s shar-lee) Melisande. And again, since I had a cough, I couldn’t hold her in my arms. Still, I’m one happy puppy, or rather, dad!