Mark Carroll's Journal

I am now back home, having returned from the Philippines. For my time in the National Capital Region, on my last visit I stayed in Airbnbs in the cities of Manila then Taguig, this time I stayed in Makati then Pasay. Mostly I walked around and enjoyed a good range of SE Asian cuisine, also a couple of good burritos.

After takeoff from Manila, I saw clusters of high-rises and wondered if they were mostly the business districts of such cities. The ANA staff are good, for their flights I was on 787s, except for the 777 from Narita to O'Hare. For that first ANA flight, regarding what I previously mentioned, I wondered if perhaps I ought to have added the dried seaweed to the cold noodles in broth, rather than to the salmon teriyaki. After the calamansi of Filipino cuisine, I drank a couple of honeyed kabosu juice on my flights back.

There were a couple of brief power cuts while I was in Oriental Mindoro. I did not notice any earthquakes coincident with Taal erupting again, though I had been awoken by an earthquake on my previous visit. This time, I got to appreciate more of the coastal waters, they have everything from corals to turtles, though the water still feels cooler than I would have expected.

There was a marked contrast in returning from the provinces to the capital, taking a morning swim in a place with geckos, even frogs, then moving on to, that evening, being in a tiny 17th-floor apartment near the Mall of Asia. In the malls I still find it strange to see the shoppers with their pet dogs that must wear diapers to be allowed in. For that last high-rise apartment, it was also odd to see some ladies wearing pajamas for visiting the stores around it.

Over the past couple of decades, Amazon have largely gone downhill in terms of what I want from them. I wonder if, given my recent issues with Prime Video, and their price increases, we approach the last straw. After all, I am still annoyed every time my Fire turns itself on whenever I plug it in. Maybe I just wanted to charge it?

In discovering reports of the two-day limit to finish watching a downloaded show, I had also read of a typical thirty-day limit for watching them at all. So, I had freshly downloaded shows before departure to the tropics, then, in my return flight, I found that they had all vanished, so much for entertainment on that journey. What happened there? I don't know, but it did little for my mood and all ought to be far clearer. I don't see anything in the user interface that tells me of a specific episode's expiry. My objection is less to their content controls and more that they are ongoingly surprising.

I much wish for a reasonable competitor to Amazon. eBay gets me some way. I could at least finish watching current shows on Prime then not renew. Amazon's hard push to join Prime would then an extra annoyance but perhaps that should drive me away rather than toward. If Amazon treat me like this yet I continue to pay them then I am part of the problem. They certainly have the resources to do better.