Random Tagaytay Trip

Drinks from Bag of Beans

Gio, Faith, Lou-an and Me had a random Tagaytay trip earlier. Riding Gio's car we depart from Dasmariñas, Cavite around 11:00 AM. Our first destination was Moon Garden along SVD Road, only finding out that their restaurant was only for reservations. Since we are hungry we went to Bag of Beans to grab some food but decided to have only some snack because we suddenly craved for Bulalo. After eating at Bag of Beans, we went straight to Faith's dentist at Mendez, Cavite and after a quick visit we had lunch in one of the Bulalohan in Tagaytay. We then drove to Caleruega in Nasugbu, but we visited first Chateau Royale across Evercrest Golf Course. After visiting Chateau Royale, we continued our trip to Caleruega and had some sightseeing. Caleruega was a memorable place for us because our Retreat in College happened there. I really enjoyed our random trip. 'Til the next random trip!

Don't be scared, they sing very well!

View of Mt. Batulao from Caleruega

      Random trips are awesome, try it! Palamig ka muna.

New ride

thank you mom & dad

I finally have my own ride, a Schwinn Mesa MTB

First climb

Last December 2011, Kuya Angel invited me for a hike to Mt. Batulao in Batangas. We started trekking aroung 9:00 PM (Yes! It was a night trek) with our heavy packs and headlamps. Since I'm new to climbing, I was amazed that we we're climbing with total strangers that Kuya Angel just met in Mt. Batulao few months before. Sir Gilbert was with his brothers and I am with Kuya Angel and Alibert. Our group used the new trail and at around 1:00 AM we reached the campsite. We pitched our tents, have some snack and socials. I've learned many things about mountains and about my hiking buddies.

View of Mt. Batulao from our campsite

Hiking buddies

We woke up around 6:00 AM, had our breakfast and continue our trek to the summit. We reached the summit and stayed there for about 20 mins. We descended using the old trail and had lunch in one of the campsite. After resting for a while, we continue walking and reached the jump-off point around 5:00 PM. It was a nice experience and the next time I climb Mt. Batulao, I will bring my friends and brother.

View from the Summit.

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Being out of my comfort zone, I've learned to appreciate even the small things. I've also learned to appreciate God's creation and take care of it.

Samsung LED TV

Since the arrival of our Samsung LED TV, I really enjoy watching my downloaded TV series through it. This TV is the main component of our home entertainment system. The USB WiFi dongle connects our TV to our home network and now I can stream videos, music and photos trough Allshare. It is also a Smart TV and now we can download apps from the Samsung (e.g Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter) and now it served as a giant Galaxy Tablet (minus the touch screen). 

Series 5 LED, SMART TV 40" (UA405500RR) Photo from www.samsung.com

The downside of this model is unavailability of web browser since at least Series 6 (I believe) have this capability. 

Our TV is currently connected to our DVD Home Theater we also bought and a Blu-ray player we got for free and wirelessly to our home network

Project Entertainment

Recently, we bought a new TV, a DVD home theater and we also got a free Blu-ray player. With it's cool specs, I hooked  it up to our existing home network. Now our home theater step up to a new level and I've decided blog what I've made and have small reviews about our new entertainment system. I'm planning to add a bunch of new gadgets to our network to make it more entertaining.

How to extract and display .mkv subtitles to a Samsung LED TV

We recently bought a new LED TV. It was a Samsung Smart LED TV model UA40D5500RR. I believe this is the cheapest Samsung Smart TV. I really enjoy watching series and anime and the best thing I like about this TV is the Allshare capability. You can stream your movies/videos/music wireless through your home network and recently I had a problem showing subtitles from some of my .mkv files since our TV cannot decode the subtitle embedded into a .mkv video.

The real problem .mkv subtitles are not supported by our TV but now I found a solution how to show those subtitles

Required programs
1. MKVtoolnix (installer)

2. MKVextract (just place this on your MKVtoolnix's directory)

3. VobSub Subtitle Converter (installer)


How to do it:

1. Extract the subtitle from your .mkv video

Open MKVextract
Click "..."
Choose the video file
Output directory
Click "Extract"

2. Extracted subtitle will be saved as ".ass" 

3. Open the extracted ".ass" subtitle using VobSub subtitle converter (subresync.exe)

4. Save it as ".smi" subtitle or you may save it as ".srt" also but in case it didn't work, save it as .smi

5. Rename your converted subtitle (subtitle and the video must have same file name)

6. Refresh your Allshare Server or place your video file on a flash drive and plug it on your TV's USB port

*subtitles can now be seen!

Note :
Probably .srt subtitle will work in some .mkv file but others do not. Use this if subtitles show in your PC/Laptop but not in you Samsung Smart TV.

This is a long method but this works for me.

(Updated May 22, 2013, since some links do not work already)

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Hello 2012!

Matagal na din akong hindi nakapagpalamig, masubukan nga muli.

Greetings from Mt. Makiling (Sto. Tomas Trail)! We did a MakTrav(Makiling Traverse) last January 15, 2012. We start hiking from Sto. Tomas, Batangas side then descend to UPLB trail. It was my 2nd climb and 1st major mountain climb. Our trek lasted about 12 to 13 hours (including short water break and short lunch) and yes it was fun and tiring. I was thinking of giving up in the middle of our trek but I have no choice but to continue following the trail. The best part of our journey is the free hot shower at the ranger/registration station in the UPLB side of Makiling. It was a good climb and I can't wait for the next climb! For more info about Mt. Makiling visit PinoyMountaineer's Blog.

Lesson I've learned :

Don't give up, you'll eventually reach the top. Take it one step at a time. There are no shortcuts to the top.