Raining cats and dogs kind of weather and my current smart home ambitions

The rainy season has officially started and it has been raining cats and dogs the whole afternoon for the better part of the week. It felt very humid and uncomfortable when it just started raining, much worse than the dry summer heat, but the weather has cooled down considerably. It also helps that there have been some strong winds lately (a tropical depression is in the vicinity). There have already been reports of flooding in certain parts of Metro Manila. Heavy rains in Quezon City Given my obsession with the temperature and the humidity insi…

Mildew Attack!

It has been raining intermittently for the past few weeks and our house feels a little damp. There's an unvarnished bookshelf in the living room and I noticed it has a slightly greenish hue. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be molds of some kind. Yuck. About half a can of disinfectant later I was busy cleaning the rest of the house hunting for signs of fungal growth. I also bought a can of wax-based furniture polish so hopefully, the treated wood won't absorb as much moisture. I was wearing a dust mask hoping fervently that the fungal sp…

Stranded!

Saturday evening was like a nightmare! After spending the whole day in a water theme park (strange that I work near the best dive sites in the country and my work friends would opt to relax in the artificially generated waves and heavily chlorinated waters of a water theme park -- it was fun though) I was thoroughly exhausted and just wanted to stay at home and rest. We were very lucky. It was bright and sunny the whole day despite the weather forecast of heavy rains due to a big typhoon that veered off its course. We were not on the direct path of the …