Mani Mondays: Summer Nostalgia

With the rains starting to pour every few days or so, I can't help but feel nostalgic for summer. This summer has been filled with a lot of new adventures, fun thrills, heartbreaks and realizations. I just don't want it to end yet!

So this week's Mani Monday is all about summer.

I used Caronia Sweet Surprise, Caronia Stellar, Caronia Sunkissed and Caress Mango.

For the yellow base, I brushed alternate layers of Caronia Sweet Surprise and Caress Mango. It gave my nails a very sunny look. I then dotted the tips with Caronia Sunkissed in the center surrounded by three dots of Caronia Stellar. Here is the end product:

It is pretty simple to make. Perfect for a quick summer fix.

Copying Tables in PDF to Excel

I am currently scouting for population data of species for our market study. All was going well (meaning all the data can be exported directly to Excel for easy tabulation and counting). Until I found this file on the list of registered horses from the Philippine Racing Commission.

It was in PDF file and whenever I try to save it to text, it saves in one column.

If you are like me who is lazy enough to fix the file manually in Excel (and who is optimistic that there is a better alternative *wink!), you will thank Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the Optical Character Recognition or OCR. What it does basically is recognize typewritten, printed or even handwritten text in images and convert it to a digital form that is searchable and editable. No more manual encoding!

Now, this may sound like an expensive software but it surprisingly isn't. In fact, there are OCR online sites that will let you convert your image for free! The most dependable one for me in terms of recognition accuracy  is OnlineOCR.net.

Here is the screenshot of the converted registered horses file.

Cool right?

But this site has its limitations also (don't we all?).

• You can only convert one page of image a time (The image above is only the first page out the 42 pages in the PDF file).
• You can convert at most 20 pages if you create an account because they will give you free credits

 However, beyond that you have to purchase credits.

But who needs to purchase if you can just snip your files into separate files, right?

And, like all other OCR's there is no perfect tool for recognition (at least not yet) so it is still better to double check the recognition before you hand it to your boss. At least, you can now use Spelling and Grammar to help you with that.

Now that Ray saved you a lot of encoding time, you should utilize that saved time properly. Smile for the whole time you should have been encoding. You may look silly but you will feel a lot better.

KFC Mini Bucket Of Fries With Cheese And Salsa

I came across the KFC Mini Bucket of Fries with Cheese and Salsa as I was looking for merienda today. I was intrigued. By the sound of it, I thought "lasagna"!

I excitedly ordered and paid P69. Expensive, I know but how will I know if it's worth it if I don't try?

Well, it isn't worth it. For starters, the cheese shaved on top was not melted. So in order to eat it, you have to coat the fries in salsa so the cheese will stick to it. The salsa is drizzled on the fries itself so you have to eat fast or else your fries will be somewhat soggy.



I found myself constantly drinking water while eating to push the fries down. Major case of "umay."

I have always loved KFC's fries because it's thick and crispy and chewy at the same time. But this serving did not really sit well with me.

Maybe if they served this with melted cheese on top and a separate salsa dip, it would be a hit.

So, although it was filling and heavy, I still need something else to satisfy my tummy. (A decent excuse to have merienda no.2 *wink)

Labor Day Adventure Part 2: Panguil River Ecopark

After resting, we traveled to the Panguil River Ecopark. It was a thrilling ride. The road is like a 1 hour long roller coaster

And the sights varied from the lake,

rolling hills,

and rice fields.

It was already 5PM when we arrived at the Panguil River Ecopark. A sign outside says entrance fees are P60 for 6AM to 6PM and P80 for overnight. We waited for somebody to ask for our payment but no one approached us. Haha. So we just made our way inside. We were greeted by a hanging bridge.

Abs po yan. Abs with a T.... Tabs.

We went straight to the guide's table hoping to participate in the trek to Ambon-Ambon Falls but according to them, the last trip left at around 4:30 PM. We were 30 mins late. Aww. So instead, we looked for a spot by the river for a quick dip.

The river was cold and clear. It looks green from afar because of the moss that grew on the rocks.







On the part where we stayed, the water was only mid leg to waist deep. But, I think there are parts where the level reaches the chest to shoulder since some kids managed to dive in.



After about 15 minutes of swimming, we had to leave because it is still a 3-hour long drive to Mendez. We went to the shower rooms but as expected, it was jampacked. There are only 5 shower cubicles in the shower room we entered. We opted to change in one of the toilets instead. After freshening up and changing clothes, we headed home.



We parked by a mall and ate our dinner (Jollibee 1 pc Chicken with Spaghetti + the rice cooked by Dad + Sundae Mixins Cookie Berry) with bare hands. We had some sort of a picnic inside the car. It was so much fun.



I realize a lot of things after this impromptu trip.
1. Don't get disheartened when your plans don't materialize. Open your eyes. God must have a better plan.
2. Your friends will inevitably leave you. People will get mad at you for screwing up. But, your family will always accept you for who you are and will support your craziness (if you want it badly enough).
3. If you care for the people you are with, you will always have fun no matter where you go, no matter what you eat.
4. The world is full wonder. Explore! Curiosity may kill but ignorance is suicide.