Reformat After Almost Two Years

After almost two years, I finally reformatted my computer. The original operating system (OS) that I’m using on this Asus K40IJ laptop is Windows XP. Then I installed Windows 7 and Windows 8. The only reason why I’m still using Windows XP is because my favorite game, Ragnarok Online, runs best in Windows XP (and it doesn’t run in Windows 8).

Today is the start of the server merge between Valhalla and New Loki. This is another chapter in my Ragnarok career.

I accidentally deleted my Windows XP after I installed Windows 8 and I decided to reformat my hard disk drive (HDD) for me to re-install Windows XP. It’s not letting me overwrite Windows 8 with Windows XP unless I reformat the drive.

So right now, I’m downloading the programs that I frequently use like Open Office, iTunes, Picasa, etc. It will probably take me 1-2 days before I finally have all the software reinstalled here on Windows XP. My decision to reformat my HDD after almost two years coincides with the server merge of Valhalla and New Loki. So this would give me a fresh start at the new server, which retained the name New Loki.

So stick around and I’ll post more pictures of my recent trips.

Technorati Tags: Reformat,Windows XP,Server Merge,New Loki

Nuffnang Bloggers’ Night At Clump Restobar

I’m not a regular bar hopper but when Nuffnang PH invited me to check out the Clump Restobar in Makati City, I immediately said “yes”. The place definitely has a cozy atmosphere and serves great food and drinks.

Clump Restobar is located at 1137 Kamagong Street, Makati City. I’m from Pasig City and I don’t have a car. From EDSA-Shaw Boulevard Crossing, I rode the bus via Ayala/Leveriza and took off at Mayapis Street near the old railroad tracks. From there, I took a tricycle to Clump Restobar.

The Restobar has a neat façade with parking slots for about 5 cars. As you enter the bar, you’ll be greeted by a wall with falling waters. The design is open-space to take advantage of natural ventilation. It has a VIP room (enclosed) that could sit around 15 people. It’s a great place to have a videoke session! The color scheme is orange-brown which gives it a sense of excitement. Paintings adorn the walls to give elegance.

There’s a stage for daily band performances and a small mezzanine. The bar table is located on the side as well as benches that resembles a diner. There are trellises over the benches with pebbles, which gives the feel of garden setting.

We were greeted by Ella Valdez, who’s the consultant of Clump Restobar. I was with Fritz Valle and other Nuffnang PH bloggers last night at this wonderful place. We were given basic tour of the Restobar, a little history of the place, information on upcoming events and promos, and she let us savor the restobar’s best sellers.

The first ones that we tasted were the Jelly Shot (green gelatin with liquor) the Pork Sisig followed by the Pika Pika Platter. I went straight to the chicken and fish since I’m avoiding pork. The fish tasted so good and it instantly became my favorite. Then the Tofu Sisig and People’s Choice followed.

I loved the Tofu Sisig! It’s a little crispy and the chili flavor is just perfect. The People’s Choice has shrimp and beef on it. The shrimp is very crispy and the beef is tender. The taste reminds me of Korean Beef. The atchara is also good.

We were given 4 of their best cocktails – Submission, Lime Margarita, Landslide and Gentle Twist. I find Landslide the best among the four. It reminds me of Baileys with its rich chocolate flavor. I also like the Gentle Twist with its bubble-gum flavor. The Lime Margarita gives a very strong flavor (I forgot to lick the salt on the edge of the glass).

Overall, the Clump Restobar is a great place for friends to relax and unwind after a day’s work. The bar is open from 5:30 PM until 2:00 AM (Tuesday-Thursday) and until 4:00 AM on Friday and Saturday. They have different themes/promos everyday namely:

• Tuesday Tequila
• Ladies Night Wednesday
• Thursday Beer Bomb
• Wild Friday Night

Their upcoming events include their Valentine’s Day Celebration (February 14, 2013) and their 1^st Anniversary (February 23, 2013). So if you’re around the Makati area and want to experience a bar with cozy atmosphere and delicious Clump Beerkada Platters, come and visit the place!

Technorati Tags: Clump Restobar,Ella Valdez,Kamagong Street

Here’s a good place for videoke!

The private room.

I love this ceiling light. What a concept!

The Menu!

Ample parking space at Clump Restobar.

This week’s performers. We were able to see the Boss Band play.

The façade!

Pork Sisig

Jelly Shot

Pork Sisig

Delicious Lumpiang-Shanghai. A component of the Pika Pika Platter.

Pika Pika Platter

Tofu Sisig

Crispy prawns!

These are the components of the People’s Choice – chicken, prawns, beef, atchara among others.

One of the Bartenders introducing the cocktails.

Landslide, Lime Margarita and Submission.

Gentle Twist, Submission and Lime Margarita with Landslide at the background.

The Cocktails!

Boss Band performing for the audience.

The Bar!

Wonderful ceiling light!

Technorati Tags: Clump Restobar,Kamagong Street,Makati City,Boss Band

My 10 Sulit Must-Have’s To Start The Year Right With Sulit.com.ph

I've been playing Ragnarok Online for almost a decade now and since then, I've been buying e-Loads mostly in P100 denomination. Back then, P100 load is good for playing the game for 1 week.

In recent years, Ragnarok Online opened the Free-to-Play (F2P) servers so we can play the game without loading P100. However, as a marketing strategy, they released the HyperMart (HM) so that players like us can purchase in-game items (equipment for our characters) and items to boost our leveling experience. We can also subscribe to Premium service to access Dungeon maps faster or enjoy Bossnia dungeons (full of MVP monsters).

For a Ragnarok Player like me, it's a must that we always have an available Top Up Card (in P100 or P500 denomination) to be on top of our game. Sulit.com.ph is an ideal place to purchase Top Up Cards.

Aside from Ragnarok Online, the other hobby that I'm into is photography. At first I thought that it's enough to purchase the basic kit. However, as I've seen the works of other photographers, who has better lenses and equipment, I realized that photography is a serious hobby that requires time and money.

Although it is talent that makes a photo stands out from other photos, a better gear used by the same photographer would definitely give better quality to his pictures. It's always best practice in photography to make the most of your current camera and lens and then invest on other lenses.

Since I'm an avid Ragnarok player and a newbie photographer, I have plans of purchasing items this year. Here are my 10 Sulit must-have's to start 2013 with a bang. Please click on the picture to go to the Sulit page.

1. LU Cards -- this would let me buy in-games item for my favorite game, Ragnarok Online. This would also let me use the Premium service of Ragnarok to double my leveling experience and to buy items for my characters.

2. Zoom Lens -- this would let me take pictures of events like fashion shows and to take candid photos of people during photo walk.

3. Wide-Angle Lens -- this would let me take better photos of buildings especially churches which are my primary interest in photography.

4. Macro Lens -- I'm also into macro photography and having a macro lens would definitely help me take better pictures of insects and flowers.

5. Camera Bag -- I'm now beginning to invest on DSLR accessories like wireless triggers and flash. Having more camera accessories means having a larger Camera Bag. Since I sometimes carry both my DSLR and laptop, I need a new camera bag that would let me carry these two items plus the accessories that comes with these items (including AC adapter, battery charger and mouse).

6. Rapid Camera Strap -- I'm having stiff neck whenever I carry my DSLR for a long time. Having a Rapid Camera Strap would definitely help because it shifts the weight of the camera from my neck to my shoulders. This is very useful especially if the photography event would last the whole day.

7. Bokeh Lens -- I would love to take better portrait pictures. The best way to achieve this is by buying a Bokeh Lens. This will make my subject stand-out from the background to highlight their assets.

8. New Desktop Computer -- Since I'm into online and strategy games, I need a new computer that will handle the demands of the upcoming online game Ragnarok Online 2. It's the 3D version of the highly popular Ragnarok Online, which took the country by storm when it was launched in 2003.

9. DVD Writer -- the internal DVD ROM of my laptop is no longer properly and I badly need to save my pictures on a DVD to preserve it. Most of the pictures taken by my Canon EOS 1100D are more than 4MB each and it's taking a lot of disk space on my HDD. Pictures define a newbie photographer (like me) and I should save my pictures on DVD.

10. 1 TB HDD -- My computer's HDD is also full of TV shows, movies, PDF files, music and other stuff. I don't usually access these files but it would be best to save it on a portable HDD, which has 1 TB minimum capacity. This would let me share these files to my friends and relatives.

In connection to my 10 Sulit must-have's, Sulit.com.ph recently launched their New Year madness. Please visit their website and let me know, through your comments, your own 10 Sulit must-have's. You may also want to like their Facebook fan page and follow them on Twitter.

Kindly include, in the comments below, your full name, FB profile URL, Twitter ID and the links to your 10 must-have's items so I could check it as well. Here’s an example of the comment entry:

Technorati Tags: Sulit.com.ph,Nuffnang PH,Sulit

Midgard Congress 2013

It’s confirmed – Valhalla and New Loki servers would be merged to form a single server that retains the name New Loki. This would happen at the end of the month, almost a week after the launch of Episode 27.A Bifrost on January 23, 2012.

GM Aeon facilitated the Midgard Congress 2013

This is one of the biggest news in this year’s Midgard Congress 2013 held at Jollibee near Jupiter Street, Makati City. GM Aeon confirmed the news with bloggers and GM of different guilds from Valhalla, New Loki, and other servers.

Level Up! Games (LUG) also presented the detailed mechanics of this year’s Ragnarok Philippine Championship 2013, the upcoming episodes (patches), and Gravity’s plan for Ragnarok Online in 2013-2014.

After the launch of Episode 27.A Bifrost and the merger of Valhalla and New Loki, Episode 27.B (Meow Meow Island) would be launched. It would be followed by Episode 28 (Rise of the Ninjas) then Episode 29 (The Valkyrjas).

One of the things that I’m looking forward in this year’s update is Episode 29: The Valkyrjas. It’s divided into 3 phases:

Phase 1: The Opening of Biolabs (Lighthalzen Biolabs 3), which features the 2-2 jobs.

Phase 2.A: Level Expansion, which would increase the level cap from 150 to 160 and would give a new yellow aura for base level 160 achievers.

Phase 3: Tutorial System for New Users, which gives new interface to the Novice Training.

Phase 4: Upgraded WoE, which is intended for level 99 1^st and 2^nd job classes only.

For Gravity’s Development Plans for 2013-2014, it would include:

• Cash Item Expansion
• Level Expansion (Phase 2.B), which increases the base level cap from 160 to 175 and job level from 50 to 70. There would also be new skills that will be added.
• Hero’s Trial Introduction – includes 3 Memorial Dungeons like the Geffen Magic Contest, Tower of Evil Lord and the Cursed Swordsman.
• Gunslingers 2^nd Job Class, which would be called Rebellion.
• User Interface Upgrade
• Raid System Introduction, which includes the Memorial Dungeon for Glast Heim (GH). It would give us the story of the rise and fall of GH.

Too bad for the other Expanded Class, like the Star Gladiators and Soul Linkers, because it seems that Gravity’s plan for these classes expansion would be 2015 or later.

I thank GM Aeon and the rest of the GM Team for giving us a preview on what to expect from our favorite game, Ragnarok Online, which would also celebrate its 10^th Year Anniversary this year.

We also thank the GM Team for the generous food that they’ve given us, from Jollibee of course.

GM Anael and GM Geheimnis

GM Fenris

FAQs for the upcoming server merge between Valhalla and New Loki.

Please take note, as clarified by the GM Team during the Midgard Congress, it is NOT required to have a Passport. Valid ID will do. Thanks GM Aeon for clarifying this.

Details of the upcoming Ragnarok Championship 2013.

Episode 27.A: Bifrost, would be launched this coming Wednesday, January 23, 2012.

This map would be available only for Premium Users.

I have 3 Ninjas waiting for their 2nd Job.

Do you want to get an EF from the Champion in Biolabs?

Wow! Yellow Aura!

Now is the best time to create a new character!

My soul linkers would love this version of the War of Emperium (WoE).

This would include the Glast Heim Memorial Dungeon, which would give us an insight on the Rise and Fall of GH.

Thank you Level Up! Games for the Chicken Joy, Spaghetti, Sundae, Fries and Soda!

Here are the new GMs for Ragnarok Online. GM Aeon would retire from Ragnarok Online. We’ll miss you GM Aeon!

GM Anael at the middle with some of the representative of Ragnarok Online who attended the Midgard Congress.

Technorati Tags: Midgard Congress 2013,Ragnarok Online,Valhalla and New Loki Server Merge