Topper in Bacolod

[cyrille]

Phew!

The poxy music alerted me to hit 'mute' before that horrible, nasal whine started.

[DrWilly]

The look of the video didn’t give you any hints prior to hitting play?

[cyrille]

No.

ffs - 'the look of the video'?

[DrWilly]

Yes, the look. The appearance.

perhaps a more up to date influencer and video editor might call it the preview page or the intro page …

[cyrille]

Maybe you watch more of them than me.

[armstrong]

Yes, the look. The appearance.

perhaps a more up to date influencer and video editor might call it the preview page or the intro page …

Thumbnail, Grandpa.

[Topper]

And it's still pissing down.....

[Topper]

Well, it's official, it's time to bitch about the electricity here. It's been going off and on all week due to heavy demand and "balancing loads" because it's hotter than hell here. I've given up using my external monitor and the house wifi and I'm having to run my classes using my phone's hotspot. If fact, as I was typing this, the power went out again, the fourth time in an hour and a half.

FOOOOOOOKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[katie23]

^my commiserations, topper. Who's your electricity provider? Is it a provincial or island cooperative?

At my friend's hometown in Antique province (Panay island), they also had occasional power cuts because the lexy company (ran by a cooperative) couldn't supply enough power. They built some windmills in the mountains and I hope it has improved their power supply.

Why is your internet/WiFi not working? They are 2 different companies and should work independently of power. (I may be wrong.)

Also, I think your apartment block/ landlord has a has-powered generator? Does it have to be manually connected everytime there's a power cut?

******
My power supplier is Meralco, same as with Metro Manila. But I think Batangas (a nearby province) uses Batelco (Batangas Electric Company). Davis has whinged abt their service - he has his own generator.

[Edmond]

he has his own generator.

Seems to be the thing to get. Especially if your business income is dependent on a computer and router.

[Topper]

Katie... We get our power here from Panay, so when they have problems we do too. Our electricity people are CENECO. We have a generator, but sometimes it takes a few minutes for the generator to be started by the security guard. When the power goes out, I have to switch over to my phone as a hotspot as the router has no power. I've got the emergency light bulbs installed, the ones with a battery in them so when the power goes out, I've got light.

[Edmond]

When the power goes out, I have to switch over to my phone as a hotspot as the router has no power.

I got a UPS backup battery thing to save the motherboard in the main PC, as when we moved to CM there were often short little blackouts which do the PC no favours at all. Ended up plugging the PC, monitor and router into it, so if the power went, all three still had power. Really only needed it to shut down the computer properly so went for a basic model for less than 2k baht, but think it runs the PC, router and monitor for around 20 minutes I think.

Anyway, maybe something to think about to stop the router immediately losing power in a blackout.

[Topper]

Anyway, maybe something to think about to stop the router immediately losing power in a blackout.

We've thought about it, there's UPS's designed specifically for routers. I'm looking at Shopee now. I usually just switch over to data on my phone thught and it usually works fine.

[Edmond]

^ I just unplugged mine and seeing how long it will last with a Win 10 PC, monitor and the router plugged into it.

Got around 50% juice left after around 5 minutes.

[Edmond]

Before.



After:




After 7 minutes it started giving the Loud Bleep of Death at 30% so I plugged her back in.

[Mendip]

Topper, I run my routers through a UPS, you have to. We get lots of momentary power cuts and each one would cost so much time without power to the router... re-boot time, lost work, etc.

My monitors are also run through a UPS, it's surprising how long monitors take to come back after a power loss.

In Thailand, a half decent UPS will cost upwards of 2000 THB, and last a couple of years, but a bargain if you're planning on working from home.

I would imagine.

[Topper]

^^ Thanks Ed

^ I'm looking at one now for around 100 USD that says it will power a router for 30 minutes. I'll order it when I get back from Song Kran.

[DrWilly]

I have an inverter, keeps most appliances in the house going for at least 24 hours.

[Topper]

I'm really pissed off about the restaurants here....

I went to a place with tons of recommendation and it turned out to be shit...

I'm fucking sick of hearing "it's out of stock" or "unavailable".

[TizMe]

I also run my router through a UPS. I bought a APC UPS BV1000I-MS 1000VA/600Watts Line Interactive. Its now PHP 4,810 from Lazada.

The longest power outage, we've had since then was just over 2 hours and it kept the router working the entire time.

[Topper]

^ Thanks Tiz! I'll order one once we get back from Bantayan.

[katie23]

Hey tops, I saw in the news that Mt Kanlaon erupted. Were you guys affected? Any ashfall or earthquakes?

[Topper]

Hey tops, I saw in the news that Mt Kanlaon erupted. Were you guys affected? Any ashfall or earthquakes?

Nothing, we saw the alert earlier in the day, but nothing here...

[katie23]

^good to know that your hood is safe. The local govt evacuated the area which was within the 4 km radius.

[katie23]

Hey Tops! How was your new year's at Bantayan island? I hope it went well.

Btw, you have a new vlogger in Bacolod! It's "Gio in the Phils". So Mr Asia@night has some competition! lol. At least this Gio pronounces Bacolod correctly, unlike that Brit guy who's lived in the city for > 10 yrs and still can't get it right. Lol.

I was surprised to "hear" that he married recently (he was one of the expat vloggers who I thought was a confirmed bachelor - I think he did it for visa issues). Then even more recently, they've separated. He's left Dumaguete & has moved to Bacolod. Accdg to some comments, he lives in O Residences, which is beside Robinsons mall. I've watched some of his vids during covid (mainly the road trips) and don't really "follow" any expat vlogger, so I was surprised to see the many life changes that happened to him in a short time.

Accdg to other comments - Mark Thornton died (leaving a young wife & baby), Paul "Old Dog" got scammed (by an expat contractor for house build) and Gio & wife separated. That's the "chismis" for the Dumaguete vloggers. Heh.

Here's a recent vid of Bacolod, Topper's city.