Googling Earth
Francis and I were on yahoo chat on Saturday night and discovered Google Earth. You can go to the site and download the software then you are on your way to jumping from city to city anywhere in the world in the comfort of your computer chair next to the popcorn bowl (ew, greasy fingers on the keyboard...kadiri ah!).
We discovered that you could zoom in close enough to Cavite City to see the roof of my parent's house and the car parked outside our gate. And talk about details... at Francis' house, the water tank was clearly visible among the trees. The new technology was so fascinating and at the same time, freaky. I mean, if you placed your 'hand' on top of the roof of my parent's house you'd be able to identify its exact longtitude/latitude location!
Cavite City with the runway of Sangley Point Airbase clearly visible.
I ended up staying up until 2AM (so, I need a life - hahaha!) jumping from city to city in the Philippines in a nostalgic frenzy. I remembered Davao and Iligan City and the many weekends I had spent there working for the old company. And then there was Cebu City (I zoomed into Plantation Bay and Shangri-La Mactan hoping I'd see me there). And then there was Mamburao Bay in Mindoro Island where we have our farm and I reminisce past summers when we spent whole days on the beach or just bingeing on the fish and lobster freshly speared from the deep by local fishermen.
Mamburao Bay in Mindoro
Google Earth can zoom in so clearly that you can see the cars in the parking lot of the Coronado Hotel in San Diego.
My Neighborhood
Zooming into New York City, if I made the software locate and pinpoint all the restaurants then the whole island just got buried in the knife and fork icon. Oh, silly me to forget that eateries, delis and restaurants almost sit side by side in the city! And that picture above is my neighborhood, the Upper East Side. For reasons of sanity, let's not pinpoint my apartment building but if you're single and you think you might be my type you can email me your picture and vital stats and maybe I can send you my exact address - hahaha! Yup, I am 4 blocks away from Central Park. And that huge mass of water there is the Reservoir where I do two full laps every morning during the weekend to keep in shape (give me my yabang points).
New York to Italy across the Atlantic - so close and yet so far
Then I tried to figure out a way to connect the dots between New York and Italy, hoping if I flew back and forth enough times on the computer I'd actually be tele-transported and find myself in Milan where hopefully someone waits for me. Until I realized he'd be on his way to another part of the world by that time...which means even Google Earth won't be able to pinpoint him because he just moves so much around.
Ah....fancy the internet and the wonders of GPS and googling everything - from myself, my blog, to everything on earth...literally!
We discovered that you could zoom in close enough to Cavite City to see the roof of my parent's house and the car parked outside our gate. And talk about details... at Francis' house, the water tank was clearly visible among the trees. The new technology was so fascinating and at the same time, freaky. I mean, if you placed your 'hand' on top of the roof of my parent's house you'd be able to identify its exact longtitude/latitude location!
Cavite City with the runway of Sangley Point Airbase clearly visible.
I ended up staying up until 2AM (so, I need a life - hahaha!) jumping from city to city in the Philippines in a nostalgic frenzy. I remembered Davao and Iligan City and the many weekends I had spent there working for the old company. And then there was Cebu City (I zoomed into Plantation Bay and Shangri-La Mactan hoping I'd see me there). And then there was Mamburao Bay in Mindoro Island where we have our farm and I reminisce past summers when we spent whole days on the beach or just bingeing on the fish and lobster freshly speared from the deep by local fishermen.
Mamburao Bay in Mindoro
Google Earth can zoom in so clearly that you can see the cars in the parking lot of the Coronado Hotel in San Diego.
My Neighborhood
Zooming into New York City, if I made the software locate and pinpoint all the restaurants then the whole island just got buried in the knife and fork icon. Oh, silly me to forget that eateries, delis and restaurants almost sit side by side in the city! And that picture above is my neighborhood, the Upper East Side. For reasons of sanity, let's not pinpoint my apartment building but if you're single and you think you might be my type you can email me your picture and vital stats and maybe I can send you my exact address - hahaha! Yup, I am 4 blocks away from Central Park. And that huge mass of water there is the Reservoir where I do two full laps every morning during the weekend to keep in shape (give me my yabang points).
New York to Italy across the Atlantic - so close and yet so far
Then I tried to figure out a way to connect the dots between New York and Italy, hoping if I flew back and forth enough times on the computer I'd actually be tele-transported and find myself in Milan where hopefully someone waits for me. Until I realized he'd be on his way to another part of the world by that time...which means even Google Earth won't be able to pinpoint him because he just moves so much around.
Ah....fancy the internet and the wonders of GPS and googling everything - from myself, my blog, to everything on earth...literally!