Retail Shopping vs Online Shopping

This morning, I was talking to a neighbor while we were doing laundry (Yes, I do my own laundry - one of my homely skills) and she was telling me how - this year - she bought all her presents online. Now, she use to not like the idea of online shopping but with a little persuasion from her kids, she started doing it and got comfortable with it.

I'm an avid online shopper but I still manage to go to the brick and mortar stores to shop. There are certain items that I shop online and certain items I go to the store to buy.  If everything can be bought online, then that would be a different story. So this post would talk about the advantages and disadvantages of retail and online shopping.

Retail Shopping
Advantage - One of the best advantages of going to the store to buy a product is that you can see, feel and try the product. You can test the product right there at the store without needing to shell out the money first. And if you don't really like the product, then you can just leave the store and go to the next one.

Disadvantage - It can get tiring. Yes, going to retail is great but you need to make sure you wear comfortable shoes because there is a lot of standing and walking involved. If you are an avid shopper, you won't just go to one store and that's it. You will end up walking around the mall and checking almost every store. This is more evident during big sale promos and of course, the holiday season. There is a mall near my place - its four floors and has numerous shops. And it would probably take you more than half a day just to go through all the stores.

Disadvantage - Store Hours. Store are only open certain hours which makes it a disadvantage. You are limited to how long you can decide before buying or else you will end up going back to the store again and again.

Online Shopping
Advantage - It's not tiring. Yep, online shopping is not tiring. You just have to go online and start shopping. And you can be doing something else while doing online shopping. And there is no time limit, you can shop 24 hours a day, 365 days in a year. Shop till your internet connection drops..

Advantage - More choices. The best advantage of online shopping is that you can compare an item more retailers. And there are now online tools that allows you to compare prices with different e-retailers without the need of going through each store and checking their prices.

Disadvantage - You have to wait for your product to arrive with online shopping. And usually, you will end up waiting for a long day except if you pay extra for expedite shipping. I remember that it almost took a month to get my desktop. I guess patience is a virtue.

Disadvantage - Online shopping is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) shopping. You see only a picture and don't have a chance to try it out before buying it. Yes most online retail store have a 30 day return policy but that just mean that you have to repackage the item, bring it to the post office and send it. Its just a hassle to do this especially if you have a very hectic life.

As you can see, there a numerous advantages and disadvantages with both types of shopping. Everyone has different opinions and these are just mine. Of course you are entitled to your own opinion.

His Name is Manny Pacquiao

Last night, Manny Pacquiao proved to the whole world that he is the best pound for pound fighter by demolishing Miguel Cotto to win the welterweight crown. Manny dominated the bout after the first round with the Pacman knocking Cotto down in the third with the right hook, which was unusual for the South paw. He knock him down again - this time with his infamous left hook - in the fourth and that spelled doom for Cotto as he was trying to survive the beating he was getting from Pacquiao. You could see that Cotto was bloodied and hurting by the ninth round that even his family left their ringside seats. By the tenth round, you could see that Manny didn't even want to continue to pound Cotto yet they fight continued on under Referee Bayless stopped the fight with just 55 seconds in the 12th round making Pacquiao the WBO welterweight champion.

This was Manny's seventh title in various weight class - a feat no other boxers has achieve - cementing his status as the best pound for pound fighter and pretty sure will be a future hall of famer. Despite all the glitz and fame that he is gaining, he has remained humble. Cotto was a true gentleman which was evident during his post bout interview saying he was truly beat by Manny and he just didn't see where his punches where coming from. I'm sure Cotto will bounce back and fight another day.

So who's next for the Pacman??? Everyone is pointing to Floyd "Moneymaker" Mayweather. That would surely be one of the greatest fight ever. This could be right on top with Ali - Frazier, Durant - Leonard, Gatti - Ward, Holyfield - Tyson.

In the words of Miguel Cotto: "Manny Pacquiao is one of the best fighters ever."

Movie Review: Ong Bak 2

Ong Bak 3 is suppose to come out later in the year so I had to see Ong Bak 2 first. I had a chance to see it yesterday.

Ong Bak 2 takes place in ancient Thailand. The movie stars Tony Jaa (who also co-directed the movie) as Tien, a son of a Lord Sihadecho who was murdered by Lord Rajasena. He escaped with the help of one of his dad's bodyguard only to be taken as a slave. He was then rescued by Chernung, the leader of Pha Beek Krut, a group of guerilla fighters, and trained in various styles of martial arts. He grows up and Chernung made him the leader of the raiding team. But he has one mission in mind, to avenge the murder of his parents.

I would say that the second part  is better than the first one even though both films do not relate to each other. The visuals were stunning with greener surroundings and the magnificent temples. The action sequences were superb with amazing martial arts and weaponry. The movie was so interesting but I was a bit disappointed with the ending where Tien was done and Lord Rajasena ordered his soldiers to make sure he suffers slowly. And the movie ends. It seems like they are really hinting what will happen with Ong Bak 3.

How I know the economy is still down...

The economy is still down but sometimes you wont be able to tell till you experience it. And I surely did see it during Halloween.

I went to Nyack Halloween Parade last weekend which has been deemed as the second largest parade in the Northeast, just second to Greenwich Village Parade. I was a little bit disappointed because the parade lasted not even half an hour which was fairly short since I was informed that this parade usually last at least an hour or so. Yes, you could probably blame the rain and that its being done during Halloween instead of the usual week before but you could see that economy has it hands on it as well with fewer floats and fewer revelers in the parade.


Since the parade ended early, me and my friends decided to head to Forest of Fears. This haunted place is located in Sterling Forest which makes it scarier since its surrounded by woods. The last time I went to this place was 4 years ago and vividly remembered the place having two haunted house and the slaughterhouse, which was pretty scary and had a ton of haunted activities as well as actors and actress scaring the bejebus out of the visitors. Anyway, when we got there, I notice that the place scaled down drastically. There was only the Slaughterhouse surrounded by game booths and ride making it feel more like a carnival instead of a haunted place. There were fewer actors scaring the people waiting online. And to top it all, the Slaughterhouse wasn't scary at all.

Anyway, Halloween was still fun though especially that later night when Nyack was filled with revelers all dress up and hitting every bar in town. And with the time change, everyone had a chance to stay an hour later without worrying about the places closing down.

Will the economy affect the Holiday Season like Halloween? Time will only tell

AIDS Memorial Display

Last week, I had the privilege to be a volunteer in the AIDS Memorial Quilt display at Rockland Community College. This display was the largest display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in the Northeast in the past eleven years. The display was held for three days (Thurs - Sat) and it sure felt surreal seeing the effort that someone put on in creating the quilt for someone they loved. I was there during setup which was amazing as we had to line up 240 blocks that contained 1,920 panels. This only represented 4% of the entire collection which is currently at 44,000. If the whole memorial quilt is laid down, it would take 10 football fields. Coincidentally, the first time the quilts were displayed in 1987, they had 1,920 panels.

Each panel is consist of eight 3x6 quilts. The display had 4,500 names which is just a 4% of more than 91,000 names in the entire display. So after lining up the panels, we had to unfold them and refold them in a lotus flower folded design. It was interesting to be the first one to see the display before the public and some of the quilts were truly amazing. Some told the story of their struggle while some just contained the names of those who have died due to this disease. There was one quilt that truly touch me (image on the right), it was a quilt made by a friend who made it because the other half of the person who died was so sick and wasn't able to do it by himself. You almost feel for the person who was making the quilt for losing two friends.

I had a chance to walk through the whole quilt and saw some familiar names such as Liberace, Rock Hudson, Ricky Wilson, Arthur Ashe and Freddy Mercury. Most of the quilts for the stars were probably made my their fans. I also notice that the dates were mostly in the 80s and 90s but not much in 00s. The reasoning was the current medication is making people who are infected with HIV / AIDS live much longer.

Names of the people who passed were read throughout the exhibit. I had the chance to be a reader one night and read through a couple of pages of name. Did notice one page containing names of kids who have scumbag to this disease. There was name of a baby who was only 6 month. I had to stop for a second after reading the baby's name just to get my throat cleared before continuing on.

As to with opening, so it must have a closing. I was one of the closer, first, all the closers lined up around the quilts. At a signal, we all walk towards a panel and folded it from top to bottom. Signally the closing of the quilts. Then there was a dedication of new panels before the exhibit was official close.

Hopefully it wont take another 11 years for the exhibit to come back.

More info about the aids quilt here