It was bonding time for me and Kian as I joined him on his field trip to the GSIS museum (I didn't know they had a museum.) and Manila Ocean Park.
Third time's a charm as they say. And he never grows tired of seeing the sharks.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
I'm a Tourist: Vietnam Day 3
The final leg of this wonderful trip; about a 2 hour drive to the Mekong River. Before taking the boat ride on the Mekong Delta, we had some pandan tea with honey, bee pollen and assorted fruits. (But never in a million years will I chug down their famous snake wine...with scorpion.)
Coconut candy
Row, row row your boat...
On our way back, we ate lunch at the Mekong Rest Stop.(Where else.)
Checking out the 2nd best coffee shop in Vietnam...Phuc Long. (Don't even get me started on this.) But their coffee is just as great.
Our final attraction, the Water Puppet Show.
Dinner at the Viet Village Restaurant.
And one final trip to Trung Nguyen Coffee Shop, to try their Mother Land Coffee (with ginger essence and honey) and L'Amour. (with cinnamon)
Thank you Vietnam! (And thank you Mom for the great anniversary gift!)
Saturday, January 24, 2015
I'm a Tourist: Vietnam Day 2
Day 2 in Vietnam was a long one; we started off early for a 2-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh city to the Cu Chi Tunnel. The first stop was a stretch of rubber trees along the main road.
Upon arriving at Cu Chi, part of the tour was a historical video of the Vietnam war, and how the Viet Cong survived in the most harsh combat environment imagined.
A tour of the area of the actual war zone.
VC in the hole!!
John Rambo!!
Our next destinations were the Presidential Palace and the War Museum.
A Seismic Bomb. Could the name be any more devastating.
When then set sail on a dinner cruise and to cap the night off we headed to a club called Urban.
2 days down, one to go. The better days of my life.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
I'm a Tourist: Vietnam Day 1
This is becoming a habit, and I love it. Celebrating our anniversary in a different country and the best part of it is spending it with the family. And on the way there, we were so lucky to get upgraded. (Thank you Tita Annie!)
Vietnam was more of a cultural destination, learning the history of the Vietnam war and how the culture is at present. (They are building a subway already, and the Philippines? tsk tsk tsk.) It was scooter Armageddon actually in the streets of Vietnam, but more disciplined than the helldrivers of Manila, where they believe that they are the reincarnation of Evel Knievel.
In Vietnam, when you say motorcycle lane on the highway, they literally have concrete barriers separating the scooter and other vehicles. (Very common sense, but in the Philippines, some people are either not common or has no sense at all.)
In Vietnam, when you say motorcycle lane on the highway, they literally have concrete barriers separating the scooter and other vehicles. (Very common sense, but in the Philippines, some people are either not common or has no sense at all.)
Anyway, on to the trip.
Dinner at CuC Gach Quan on our first night with my wife's cousin; the place had a very homey and laid back ambiance and the food was really good.
The folks of Vietnam love their coffee, and there were literally at least two coffee shops at almost every corner. First one we tried of course was their no.1, Trung Nguyen Coffee.
Sang Tao no.5 for Success
We had to close the night for an early trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels the next morning.
Monday, January 12, 2015
MTG DeckLab: Consuming NightMill
I have been a collector and a player of Magic the Gathering trading card
game since 1994. I am no Grand Prix or Pro Tour champion, nor am I an expert of
the game, but I simply love the concept and the challenge it offers. I've been
brainstorming on the best combos in a particular deck for years, and my DeckLab
posts are simply to share what cards I own and what I believe is a fun,
affordable and effective combination of MTG cards.
Consuming Nightmill
Format: Modern
Color/s: Blue and Black
Decklist:
Creatures: 18
4x Hedron Crab
4x Mindshrieker
Spells: 17
2x Dimir Charm
2x Mindcrank
1x Traumatize
2x Mind Funeral
3x Dream Twist
Planeswalker: 1
Lands: 24
7x Swamp
3x Island
Sideboard: 15
2x Rewind
3x Dissolve
4x Distress
In most MTG games, the player’s primary
goal is to lower the opponent’s life to zero. Another win condition is if the
player is unable to draw a card from his/her library during his/her turn’s draw
phase, because the library has no more cards. Thus, “milling” your opponent’s
deck to nothing. (The term “Milling” was derived from the MTG card Millstone.)
The deck contains 17 spells that mills
your opponent’s library. Blue actually has a variety of mill spells that you
can utilize, I went with the one-drop Thought Scour and Dream Twist for their
second card ability. The Scour mills two cards and you get to draw a card, and
the Twist has the flashback ability. I only put in 3 of each since I would
expect my other mill spells and creatures to get the job done at the latest by
turn six. The Curse mills two cards every time your opponent starts his turn,
during upkeep. You have Traumatize that’s cuts the top half of your opponent’s
library, your opponent will be milling his library till 4 lands are revealed by
virtue of Mind Funeral, and late in the game you can use the flashback ability
of Increasing Confusion to mill that library down to nothing.
I put in Dimir Charm for early control,
still contemplating if I will add two more. Being able to look at the top 3
cards of your opponent’s library and milling two cards at the same time is
crucial at turn 2. Charms are really useful because of their flexibility in
situations. For the Dimir, you can also use it counter a sorcery or destroy a creature
with power 2 or less.
The early turn creatures are no pushover. The Crab mills your opponent’s library for 3 each time you play a
land. If you have two of these in play by turn 2, you mill for 6. The
Mindshrieker is a bit of a gamble, but imagine being able to mill any of your
opponent’s high casting cost spells, you can easily have no less than a 6/6
flier for one turn.
Next you have the Specter. For 3 mana
(blue or black), you have a flying backstabber, because its ability will use
your opponent’s own spells against him/her. Afraid that you will just get a
land from that library, doesn’t matter, if you have the Crab in play, and you
haven’t played a land yet, play it and that’s another 3 cards you mill from
your opponent’s library.
Ashiok is great to use if I get it early
in the game. (I only have one copy and it’s quite expensive to run a set of
4.) It’s casting cost is cheap, the abilities are
effective, so if I have the budget for it I will probably
get at least 2 on deck.
And then you have the Consuming
Aberration, a merciless horror for your opponent by turn six. Here is just one
of the many win scenarios:
Turn 1: play an Island, cast Dream Twist
– 3 cards in the graveyard
Turn 2: cast Hedron Crab, play a Swamp –
3 more cards in the GY
Turn 3: play an Island, (Crab triggers),
cast Thought Scour, flashback the Twist – 7 cards in the graveyard
Turn 4: play a Swamp, (Crab triggers),
cast another Dream Twist, flashback the same Twist, - 8 in the GY.
Turn 5: play an Island, (Crab triggers),
play the Aberration – another 2 cards in the GY. By this time, a total of 23 cards are
already in the GY.
Turn 6: you can attack the Aberration
for 23 damage already.
Well, this is assuming that your
opponent’s good cards were all milled and he had nothing good to really cast.
But having to put 21 cards in the graveyard by turn 4, which is 30% of your
opponent’s deck already, is just plain evil.
The sideboard comes with 4 Jace’s
Phantasm in case you feel that casting the Aberration takes too long. By turn
3, you already have a 5/5 flier. You can switch for the counterspells and
Distress if your opponent is running some creature removal or counterspells
themselves. Although I would expect that a substantial number of the good cards have
actually been milled already in the first few turns. And the crypt is there
when your opponent would have cards that can be played from the graveyard.
Finally, here is a combo with an
infinite loop for the win. The Guildmage and Mindcrank. Activate the
Guildmage’s 1st ability when you have the Crank out, then cast
either just a Scour or Twist, and its goodnight.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
MTG DeckLab: Indestructible Overknights v.2
I have been a collector and a player of Magic the Gathering trading card game since 1994. I am no Grand Prix or Pro Tour champion, nor am I an expert of the game, but I simply love the concept and the challenge it offers. I've been brainstorming on the best combos in a particular deck for years, and my DeckLab posts are simply to share what cards I own and what I believe is a fun, affordable and effective combination of MTG cards.
Indestructible Overknights
Indestructible Overknights
Format: Modern
Color's: White and Red
Decklist:
Creatures: 36
4x Blood Knight
Lands:24
15x Plains
5x Mountains
4x Nevermore
1x Wrath of God
Loaded with creatures, you simply want to overrun your opponent to victory. The main goal is to get at least 2 Knight Exemplars and an Angelic Overseer on the board. Having two exemplars will make both indestructible, and with the Overseer in play, the exemplars and any of your other knights would give the angel hexproof and would be indestructible as well.
4 of the knights have protection from either black, red, green or white. Another key would be the Accorder Paladin. It's Battle cry ability is just insane. (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.) Considering that you have two in play, both creatures will now get +1 / +0, that hammers down 8 points of damage. If applied to the Mirran Crusader which has Double strike, that's 6 points of damage alone.
4 of the knights have protection from either black, red, green or white. Another key would be the Accorder Paladin. It's Battle cry ability is just insane. (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.) Considering that you have two in play, both creatures will now get +1 / +0, that hammers down 8 points of damage. If applied to the Mirran Crusader which has Double strike, that's 6 points of damage alone.
I am a bit uncertain about the Grand Abolisher since it is not protected by the exemplars ability nor does it have any protection from colors. Though this would keep your opponent from casting spells or using abilities during your turn (Make them use up their mana during their turn instead). I already managed to get 2x Hero of Bladehold and replaced the Riftmarked Knight. The Bladehold also has Battle cry and whenever it attacks it generates two 1/1/ white soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Still saving up to replace the Caravan Escort with 4x Student of Warfare.
I tweaked the sideboard which now contains 4 copies of Nevermores to supress the likes of counterspells or spells that force you to sacrifice creatures, or any other instant or sorcery that may be a threat mid game. I initially had Incinerate thinking that if I would probably be faced with an Aggro creature deck or Beatdown, the Incinerates would deal with the early game mob; but with the amount of creatures I have on this deck, will just take them head-on. I still kept 4 copies of the O-Rings in locking down cards that get through the Nevermores. Planar Cleansing, Wrath of God and Obliterate could spell victory as well in the later rounds when your creatures have indestructible. I included 4 Skyhunters in case the opponent has a huge air cavalry.
Why not do mono-white? I wanted to insert Tajic since it has a built in indestructible ability already. Even without the exemplars to protect my knights, Tajic's stand alone indestructible gives me that window to protect my Overseer. I could actually have gone for an Avacyn, Angel of Hope, but it's just too expensive and the casting cost it too high and it's not a Human. For Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, casting cost is too high as well and the Transcendent Master takes time to level up before it gains indestructible.
Why not do black-white knight deck? This could actually be an option for me as there are a number of knight cards in black that can fit in: Black Knight. Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. Knight of Infamy. Phyrexian Crusader. Stillmoon Cavalier. (It just so happens that I haven't gotten most of these yet.) Black also gives me access to some creature removal and discard spells. So looking forward to creating a BW Knight deck soon.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Featured Clips of the Day: Epic Splits
Van Damme has been known for his signature splits and he has taken it to the next level. A look back at the famous Volvo commercial, and some spoofs...
Original Volvo
Tatum's Version
Chuck Norris' Version
Van Damme in Space
Friday, January 2, 2015
2015 - New Year at Kidzoona
We kicked off the New Year by having some bonding time with the kids at Kidzoona in Robinson's Galleria. Having thought that most families would be out of town, Kidzoona was actually jam-packed. At Php 200.00 per kid (Including the guardian) for an hour, this is by far the best affordable day care playground I know of. (For Php 400.00 each, the kids can play for 3 hours).
Julia serving ice cream and burgers to the other kids.
Putting out the fire with Kuya Kian.
A happy and fun New Year indeed.
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