Lightbulbs that work when the power is out? Perfect for Marinduque

A company called 'Lite-On' is about to release LED-based lightbulbs that look like a traditional incandescent lamp, but have batteries inside that allow them to light for a couple of hours after the power goes out .. sounds perfect for Marinduque doesn't it ?

In more real terms, the best solution I had found to keep my lights (and more importantly, fans) working during a powercut was a 4D truck battery (from the battery shop in Boac), a charger (that came from Raon) and a 'power inverter' (cheapest I could find was from here -> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.21980) but they're also for sale in Boac, ask at the battery shop.. it's a guy called Eric who sells them. A charged battery will easily keep a fan, energy saving lamps and my laptop going for a day, and a pinch it runs my 32" LCD TV too which is not bad at all!

Congratulations to Congressman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco!

My heartfelt congratulations to Lord Allan Velasco on his election to congress! I know all of Marinduque is behind me in hoping that Mr. Velasco will have the strength to promote Marinduque and bring the island forward!

On a sidenote, my congratulations go to President Benigno Aquino, the newly elected president of the Philippines. It feels like the Philippines is entering a new era, hopefully with increased transparency, clean politics, and a genuine effort for the common good. The Philippines needs to regain it's status as the most prosperous SE Asian economy, and may Marinduque regain it's position as the heart of the Philippines.

new Marinduque photos!

some new photos of my house in Marinduque .. apparently it's still standing!

I miss Marinduque!

Anyone who follows this blog will have noticed that I haven't posted anything for 3 months now, so here's an update. The reason for the lack of posting was primarily that I haven't been in Marinduque at all - We visited Malta (my home country) for a holiday and got held up here since Laila wasn't feeling very well. The good news we're having a new addition to the family soon :)

Today I got sent some photos of my house which is still in the process of being completed - We have slowed down work, especially on the finishing, since as I won't be using the place for a while it would be better go get to that stage closer to my return. I'm posting the photos with here.

I really miss Marinduque .. here in Malta it's just work, work, work and everything is so expensive! We don't have powercuts quite as often, the weather in winter is quite cold, I don't have my motorbike to drive around on, the Hotsprings are thousands of kilometres away..

ps. doesn't the staircase look cool ??