The DJ who's not a DeeJay

Unbelievable !

2011-08-14T07:33:00.000+08:00

I think the driver forgot to wear a snorkel.

Positive Attitude for a Positive 2011

2011-01-05T09:56:00.000+08:00

This is my longest-living blog and unfortunately, it's been the least updated last year. So, to usher in the New Year with a new post, here's some words of wisdom a colleague of mine sent me which I'd like to share.

It's somewhat similar to my personal New Year's Resolution, just in a broader sense. I leave you with this and greet you all a Happy New Year !

10 Ways To Maintain a Positive Attitude all year round:

Learn healthy ways to manage your stress.
Think of challenges as opportunities to shine.
Look for the best in others, and yourself.
Eat right and get plenty of rest (sleep 6-8 hours daily).
Exercise for 60 minutes or more five days a week.
Seek out the joys in life and remember to laugh.
Do something nice for someone.
Make time each day to relax.
Surround yourself with upbeat people.
Take pride in your work and your achievements.

Merry Christmas !

2010-12-25T09:46:00.000+08:00

a candy cane on our Christmas tree

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

I leave you with this Christmas song courtesy of versionmine.com

To my family, relatives, colleagues, and all my friends on social media, enjoy the holiday season !

Food Fight

2010-11-02T14:57:00.000+08:00

This is a food fight in its literal sense. I hope no food of mine becomes this brutal while I'm eating them.

Who wins ? Check out the ending to find out.

New Inbound Marketing Keywords MTV

2010-10-21T09:51:00.000+08:00

This song and video was created almost 2 years ago as an example on how to make a message viral. I just saw this today, but I'd like to share it cause there is truth to their point. Telemarketing and direct mail are a thing of the past. Thank God for the Internet !

Their song "Oughta Know Inbound Marketing", composed by HubSpot's Rebecca Corliss is sung to the tune of Alanis Morissette's "Oughta Know."

Noel Cabangon & Gloc 9 Top The 23rd Awit Awards

2010-10-01T01:44:00.061+08:00

Congratulations to Gloc 9 and Noel Cabangon for bagging the most number of awards at the recently concluded 23rd Awit Awards held at Centerstage in Mall of Asia last September 30, 2010. You guys well deserve your awards. I'll be posting the entire list of winners soon.

Noel Cabangon won several awards for his album entitled "Byahe" while Gloc 9 won several awards for his song "Upuan" featuring Jeazell Grutas of Zelle.   In his acceptance speech for Song of The Year, he gave thanks to everyone who supported and believed in his talent with a special mention to FrancisM, who he has always considered his idol. Gloc 9 performed this Song of The Year winner "Upuan" as the finale along with Yeng Constantino and Aiza Seguera.

Over 41 awards in technical & performance categories were given away.    In addition, a new set of awards were given for artist and songs with the most online and mobile downloads.

Other winners included Charice Pempengco, Sarah Geronimo, Bugoy Drilon, SinoSikat, Joung JV, Rhap Salazar, Kris Lawrence, Yeng Constantino, Toni Gonzaga, Franco, Jaya and Piolo Pascual.

As always, superb musical numbers were performed as the great talents from the music industry collaborated and jammed together. Ogie Alcasid teamed up with Gloc 9, Kean of Callalily, Ney of 6cyclemind & Tutti of Soapdish in a patriotic musical number that started out as a ballad and turned into a rock-rap tune. Acoustic sensations Princess, Sabrina, Top Suzara, Toto Sorioso, Aiza Seguera teamed up with harpist/singer/songwriter Noelle Cassandra in a medley of OPM songs. Other musical numbers included Aria Clemente, Sam Concepcion, SinoSikat, General Luna, Skabeche, Six Part Invention and more.

Congratulations to all the winners ! Mabuhay ang OPM !

Here is Gloc 9's awward winning song "Upuan".

Millitary Goes Gaga With Lady Gaga's Telephone

2010-09-23T22:46:00.001+08:00

This was so hilarious that I had to share it ! These guys from the military make their own music video version of Lady Gaga's "Telephone". I couldn't imagine guys in fatigue dancing like this. And the others ? Well, let's just say that they got creative with whatever props they could use to spicen up the video. Oh and the chubby guy ROCKS !

Samsung + Tablet + Android = I WANT !!!

2010-09-04T10:17:00.000+08:00

May be I'll keep my old laptop and get this instead. Looks like a wonderful Christmas gift for myself.

Top 10 Influential Blogs for 2010

2010-08-30T23:12:00.002+08:00

Since its inception, I've been joining the Emerging Influential Blogs for 2010 Writing Project. Discovering new blogs is both a joy and to be enjoyed. Having said that, here's my personal list for the Top 10 Influential Blogs for 2010:

Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal - http://mabuhayangbagongkasal.blogspot.com/

Aileen & I got married the day after Christmas last year. But months before our wedding and during our numerous wedding planning sessions, we took creative breaks from wedding discussions and talked about one of our favorite passions: blogging. Aileen already had a wedding blog way back even before we knew each other. So we thought of conceptualizing a joint blog where we could tell our stories as newlyweds and how life is as a newly married couple. It's not a mushy blog. It's actually about day to day discoveries of living in a new home.

Version Mine - http://www.versionmine.com/

I already have a music site but it's catered specifically for Pinoy Music. Aside from facebook, I didn't have any other site to share my non-OPM interests. And since, I never had a video blog yet, I thought of putting up Version Mine. It's a music video blog catered to amateurs who perform their own versions of popular songs, whether it may be an acoustic version, a piano version, an acapella version or a one-man band version. You'll be amazed at how great these people render their own versions, sometimes even better than the originals. And this is how the likes of Charice and Arnel Pineda both entered into stardom.

KumaKain, Food Photography - http://www.kumakain.com/

Having attended several events and gone to so many places and restaurants over the years, I discovered that I had a huge archive of photos. And a lot of them are pictures of food. So I thought of putting them to good use and sharing them to everyone online by creating a photo blog catered to foods. Hopefully, you'll get hungry while viewing.

Gagong Kasabihan -

http://gagongkasabihan.blogspot.com/

I visit this blog when I don't want to think. Whether it's witty, funny, corny, silly or downright mind-boggling,

it's an easy laugh when reading these silly quotes. I learned about this here

"Kung ang malaking langaw ay bangaw... ang malaking longganisa ay bongganisa."

Jejemon World 1.0 - http://www.jejejeje.com

It's not a jejemon blog but a blog about jejemon, sharing jejemon resources online and some jejemon sightings. Love 'em or hate 'em, they've made noise in their own unique way.

Paranaque City Life - http://paranaquelife.blogspot.com

Since I got married, I've lived only in Paranaque for 8 months. I didn't know much about the city and was at a lost at first. But thanks to this blog, I got some tips and what, who and where on things I needed to know. It got me to know more about the new city I live in.

Tea, Completely - http://www.teacompletely.com

I love tea. And I guess every other tea lover would show interest in reading a tea blog. The great thing is that they review all kinds of tea: hot, cold, milk, brisk, instant, brewed, powdered... you name it, they've talked about it. That's why this is one blog I frequent.

Kusina Maria - http://www.kusinamaria.com/

Aileen & I were newbies at cooking when we got married. I still am, but Aileen's cooking career is a success story. And she's been getting a lot of instant cooking tips from our blogger friend Ria. That's how I know that Ria is a food and cook expert. And if she could give us goldmine tips outside her blog, what more treasure tips could she share with us. Her blog is like opening a recipe treasure chest. Leave it open by bookmarking it for reference.

The Music Vlogger: Rabsing - http://rabsing.com/

I always make it a point to be on the lookout for breakout music blogs, meaning, music blogs that have huge potential of growing. I discovered this blog through the creator himself Rab who told us about it when we were in Cebu. As soon as I got back to Manila, I visited his blog and fell in love with it. His efforts to choose a song request, study the song, record his own rendition and finally uploading it on youtube for all to watch is truly a self-expression. And pouring your soul into each song whether you hit each note perfectly or not is a sign of courage and serves merit in my book. I hope to hear more songs from Rab and who knows, he may even be discovered one day !

Fat Girl No More - http://fatgirlnomore.com/

Admitting you're fat is the first step. Doing something about it comes next. Telling the world about it is optional, but this girl blogs about every step and thing she does to lose weight. You can check out her progress as she documents each day by describing what she did or what happened to reach her goal of shedding pound after pound. Not only is it interesting, but it's an inspiration to see someone like her achieve her goal.

This project is sponsored by Events and Corporate Video, Budget hotel in Makati, Pinoy Party Food, Copyediting Services, PR Agency Philippines, Budget Travel Philippines, Send Gifts to the Philippines, Black Friday Deals, Roomrent - units for rent, Search Profile Index, and Corporate Events Organizer.

I'm Back !

2010-08-22T16:08:00.000+08:00

If you've noticed, I haven't been able to publish new posts for the past month. My main blog has been on hiatus for several reasons.

I got a new job and had to adjust to waking up early as opposed to staying up late.
I also had to catch up on a lot of book reading to prepare for the new job.
My desktop got busted. I had to replace the motherboard and then suddenly my Windows 7 got amnesia the moment I replaced its motherboard. And so I had to reinstall Windows. All my programs aren't complete yet.
I also handled 2 clients for their online campaigns and it took some of my blogging time away from me.
My car got busted too. Of all places, it had to fail me on the expressway. Good thing I was stuck in traffic so it didn't look like I wasn't moving. I finally got it to start just enough to get it to the repair shop. Just barely 4 months when it checked out of the Toyota hospital, it's there once again, just in a different branch.
I had to travel from Paranaque to Marikina City for a couple of times to get some of my mails that are still being sent there and some stuff I needed in preparation for my new job.
Since I have no car, I commute to and from work, which takes more time on the road instead of in front of my desktop. Plus all that commute is tiring and I kinda end up too tired to blog when I get home.
Rainy season. Somehow, I find it hard to blog when there are heavy rains and lightning. I guess it's a post-trauma effect of Typhoon Ondoy.

All this caused the following:

tremendous e-mail backlog
tremendous blog backlog
tremendous website update backlog
tremendous book reading backlog

But a blogger is always a blogger and if haven't heard from me, it's just that I haven't posted the stories I wanted to share. Check back and I'll keep you guys posted.

In the meantime, you can also check out a couple of my other blogs.

Kumakain.com - Food Photography Blog
VersionMine.com - Music Video Blog
Illogicalpoet.blogspot.com - My Poetry Blog
MarikinaLife.com - Marikina City Blog

And you can follow me on Twiter at twitter.com/jaydj

Cya everywhere else online !

Meralco Maintenance Updates

2010-07-17T08:24:00.000+08:00

The rainy season is here again and there are at least 20 typhoons predicted to hit the Philippines this year. Common problems that occur during storms are heavy winds and rains, floods, flying debris, traffic jams, lack of transportation and phones, mobile networks, internet, cable and power outages.

Typhoon Basyang did spare Metro Manila from major flooding. Instead it brought more wind than rain. And due to the 95kph winds that were felt last Tuesday evening till early Wednesday morning, Meralco's power supply for the entire Luzon area was severely affected causing a major blackout. Electricity in some areas started restoration after 14 hours. We got our electricity back in 20 hours. In some areas such as Sucat, Paranaque, it took 1 to 2 days for their power to be restored causing residents to undergo water rationing measures due to their low water tank supplies.

Meralco did mention that a series of rotating brownouts will be conducted for further repair and restoration. To know if your area is due for any repairs and maintenance which would cause power interruptions, check out the MERALCO SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE UPDATE blog which publishes weekly automated scheduled maintenance updates. The updates include specific barangays, streets and inclusive times the scheduled maintenance updates are due. If your area is listed for a scheduled update, you can warn your household and prepare accordingly for the scheduled power outages.

This is one blog you wish your area won't be listed.

Human Super Mario In Action

2010-06-11T22:40:00.000+08:00

For those who've played Super Mario, I'm sure you've memorized World 1.1 as it's the very first level everyone would encounter when you start playing. Ever wondered how it would look like if a human being would replace Super Mario ? Well a bunch of very creative people came together to make this possible and present it to a live audience. Kudos to their effort, especially when he hits the star. Check it out !

Be There at Be Resorts

2010-06-07T23:09:00.001+08:00

My family and I spent a summer vacation in Cebu last month and we didn't have much planned. What we were certain of was we wanted to go to the beach and eat lots of fruits and seafood. It's a good thing one of our online friends invited us to their resort, Be Resorts in Mactan Island, Cebu.

Be Resorts is located along Punta Engano road, past Shangri-la Hotel in Mactan, Cebu. Be Resorts is relatively new, however people may be familiar with the location as it used to be Microtel Inn. We were picked up by their resort service and took around 30 minutes from Mandaue City to get there. When we got there, it was like an instant transformation from the busy streets to tranquility. For a minute, I forgot I was in the province of Cebu. It's a getaway without having to travel far away from the city.

View Larger Map
One of the first few things I noticed when we were there was the circle theme. Several pieces of furniture, lamps and wall designs all had something round. This wasn't limited to the lobby and restaurant as we were shown photos of the rooms which displayed a similar continuity of the theme.

Going further past the lobby and restaurant is a viewing deck overlooking a swimming pool, jacuzzi, bar and the actual beachfront. All these elements bring about a great piece of scenery. Going down the deck reveals that the swimming pool has an indoor activity center adjacent to it. The room is filled with fun activities like a Wii video game console, drums, billiards, arcade games, computers and a day care center for the young toddlers. Just beside the reception area is a ceiling tall shelf of books for your reading pleasure.

Past the swimming pools are a bunch of tents and a shaded bar nearby where could order food and drinks. On the other hand, the tents are excellent for enjoying a relaxing massage or simply enjoying a lazy afternoon in front of the beach. The ocean water at the beachfront is ideal for taking a dip and relaxing but if you're the more adventurous and sporty type, the resort offers aqua sports activities such as banana boat rides, kayak and boat rides, jetski and waverunners and scuba diving. You can also preschedule an island hopping adventure in advance and tour the nearby islets.

Looking back from the beachfront, you can see the 2 adjacent buildings that serve as residence to this blissful resort. The rooms are nearby making it convenient to go to and from your room to the pool and beach.

We went back to the viewing deck where we had an afternoon snack as a break from touring the facilities. We were delighted to discover that the foods were served in generously big proportions, which made our meal a delightful one. Their mango shake is really worth remembering. I wouldn't mind ordering that same drink each time I'd dine there.

We did ask the general manager why is the resort called "Be Resorts". We thought it was an acronym for something. Contrary to our guess, it didn't stand for anything but they did point out that it is the state that they want their visitors to experience: "BE here, BE found, BE active, BE delighted, BE together, BE home." In that case, it's indeed a BElievable experience and I'd definitely want to BE back again.

Are You The Philippines Smartest Driver?

2010-06-04T22:57:00.004+08:00

The more time we spend driving on the road, the more gas we consume. And the more gas we consume, the more gas we need to replenish in our vehicles. We can't control the price of gas but we can control how we use it. The best way to save up on fuel consumption is how the way you drive. For example, whenever I'm caught in traffic on a downhill slope, I switch gear to neutral and just use the brakes to save up on gas. Using the gas pedal downhill is useless since the car's own gravity will automatically make the car move in that direction.

I'm pretty sure each driver has their own beliefs and practices on how to conserve gas. Pilipinas Shell supports this conscious effort to economize fuel and maximize performance.

That's why they are inviting all motorists with valid driver's licenses to their search for the Philippines' Smartest Drivers. To join, simply share your fuel saving tip by recording a video explaining how your driving techniques minimize your fuel consumption . End your video by completing the catch phrase “Ang Pinoy na matipid sa gasolina, ____________.” Log onto www.topgear.com.ph/shellsmartestdrivers to upload your video. Submission of entries is from May 20 to June 20, 2010.

All participants will receive premium items from Shell. Aside from that, ten finalists will be awarded 10,000 pesos worth of Shell fuel vouchers and will be invited to a fuel economy boot camp on June 26 where they will go through a driving challenge. The two most fuel efficient finalists will be hailed as the Philippines’ Smartest Drivers.

On July 8 to July 11, the 2 winners will join Team Philippines from Mapua Institute of Technology, Don Bosco Technological College and the University of Santo Tomas in the first ever Shell Eco-Marathon Asia in Malaysia. They will compete with other drivers from other Asian countries and showcase their fuel efficient driving skills and techniques.

Shell invites all Filipino drivers to share their fuel saving tips and driving techniques. Not only will they have the opportunity to win exciting prizes, but they will also be able to help fellow drivers to be more economical in their fuel consumption, which has been one of Shell's continuing efforts in helping motorists worldwide learn how to save fuel.

For complete contest details and mechanics, visit www.topgear.com.ph and click through the Shell Eco-marathon tab.

How NOT To Run A 5K

2010-06-04T09:10:00.006+08:00

I signed up for the Neutrogena Run 2010 last month. It was my 3rd run and so I considered myself a bit more experienced than the 1st timers. I wasn't able to prepare for this run as much as I did for my 2nd run which I was proud of. To make matters worse, I just came from a out of town trip to Lucban, Quezon the day before and due to unforeseen circumstances, we got home very late. No that's an understatement. We got home early the next day.

How late ? Let's just say that I got to the racing venue around 3 hours before start. But I just came from the trip and haven't gone home yet. That's how late. So with 2 hours of sleep, I already knew I wouldn't perform as well as I wanted to be. And during my entire run, I was thinking about writing this to warn others what NOT to do to avoid the same mishap I endured.

So here it is. My Top 10 Things NOT to do for a run.

Get ample rest. Get 8 hours sleep. Heck get 12 hours sleep. The merits of being well rested will increase your needed energy burst during the run.
Be cool, relaxed, & rejuvenated. I came to the run late, panicky and fatigued. Trust me, it's not a good feeling.
Be fresh. I woke up late and because of that, I skipped a shower, a drink and a bite. It's not like I was smelly or anything. It's just that the feeling of not being the freshest you could be could make you uncomfortable. Think of a crowded bus and you feel the sticky arms of the person beside you pressing on your arm each time the driver steps on the brakes.
Know your route beforehand. I did this on my 1st 2 runs. I guess I forgot to study the map this time and just figured that I'd depend on the numerous "this way" signs put up all over the course or just follow the other runners. What I failed to realize was that since I was late, I didn't have anybody to follow and some of the signs were being taken down cause some of the organizers thought the last few runners had already pass by. So guess what, I actually circled one huge block twice cause I didn't know where to pass. The sad thing was this was the very 1st kilometer where I gave my all and ended up at the starting line again. I could hear James Ingram singing to me: "I did my best, but I guess my best wasn't good enough 'cause here we are back where we were before".
Make sure your gear is intact. That means check your shoe laces, shorts, mp3 player, pedometer, wrist strap, watch, pouch or whatever accessory you have on with you. The worst thing that would happen is one of these accessories are loose or fall off wasting your time trying to fix them instead of running at full speed. I wasted around a minute trying to find my running mp3 playlist and because I couldn't find it, I had to settle with 3 songs being played over and over.
Warm up before the run. I was late so there was no time for a warm up. The feeling was like a dog with rabies was chasing you and you had to run for your life. But instead of even beginning to run, you're laying on the ground trying to get up first. Warming up makes you more agile and ready.
Avoid an out of town trip the day before. Everything that could delay our Quezon trip happened. We left late, we got stuck in horrendous traffic, we missed our designated meals, someone got lost, and we had to revise the whole itinerary cause if we didn't, the race the next day would have ended even before I would have gotten home.
Be with a friend. Whether they're running or not, it's nice to know there's someone you know and someone who knows you in that multitude of people during the event. I raised my arms in victory before I crossed the finish line and it felt half-fulfilling cause even the cameraman didn't seem interested in taking my picture. It would have been nice to see someone happy for you, even if it were just a camera pointing my direction.
Don't text while running. Since I was all alone both during the course and at the event, I was texting to at least let my wife know what kind of mishaps I was going through. I tell you it's difficult to press those keys when you're bouncing up and down. I also got a bit dizzy after 2 sent messages.
Photos are better than video. It's a good thing the event supplied photos. Since I wasn't with anybody, I couldn't rely on anyone to take my photo. When I saw some cameras along the race route, I slowed down and made a conscious effort to look like I was running fast and poised. What's great about photos is they don't capture your speed, just a still photo of you that very second. If they would have taken videos, I would be exposed as how slow I was running that may be even a fast walker would have passed me.

Overall, I finished the race... after an hour. I'll just have to put this in another perspective. I'm glad I didn't come in last. There were 5 other people behind me... and 744 runners ahead of me (ouch!). Lessons learned. Gotta redeem myself next time.

Foreigner Sings Dahil Sa Yo

2010-05-28T23:36:00.000+08:00

Pinoys are bursting with music talent. It's hard to find singers that standout when just about everybody has their own unique talent. But one thing that really stands out are foreigners who take their talent and try it out on a Filipino song. You gotta give them credit for their effort. That alone is impressive enough. What more if they sing it as if it were a Filipino singing ?

That's why it was a very wonderful delight for me to discover this rendition of "Dahil Sa Yo" by Ernie Halter on youtube. He adds a jazzy touch to this traditional Filipino classic.

Summer Break Here I Am

2010-05-24T08:33:00.000+08:00

I'm currently on vacation with my family in Cebu and Bohol. I'll be back in Manila and online in a couple of days to update my blog. In the meantime, you can check out my video blog Version Mine, which is updated daily. Now for a little fun in the sun. :)

Greenwich Levels Up Once Again With New Pizzas

2010-05-14T23:50:00.000+08:00

Greenwich has been constantly inventing new pizza combinations giving the public more choices based on their personal pizza palettes.

Recently, I got the chance to sample two of the newest pizzas from the "Greenwich Overload" series, namely the 5-star Bacon Burger Melt Overload, and the Angus Maximus Overload.

The 5-star Bacon Burger Melt Overload is overloaded with premium crispy bacon strips, beef burger, 100% mozzarella cheese and cheese drizzle. If you didn't tell me these were pizza toppings, I would think these were ingredients for a tossed salad. Saying all that in one breath alone is enough to be overwhelmed by the toppings they put together. I love the taste of this pizza. The balance of 2 meaty toppings complementing the 2 kinds of cheese provides a delectable taste in every slice. Add the overload of everything and every bite will have every topping on it. The 5-star pizza name is very justifiable.

The next pizza I tasted was their Angus Maximus Overload. When I heard the name alone, I was excited to sample this unique pizza. The first thing that came into mind was "isn't angus beef expensive meat ?". Add the word "maximus" to that led me thinking I'm in for a real treat with an encounter of the angus kind. The Angus Maximus Overload is a pizza overloaded with Prime U.S. Angus beef and 100% mozzarella cheese. Never would I have imagined tasting angus beef on a pizza. And Greenwich does this to drive the meatlovers crazy by placing it as topping to a pizza. I tell you that this massive pizza is going to make you full right away, which is a good thing altogether. At some point, you'd want to pick out a thick chunk of angus and savor its taste before going back to get a bite of angus on the pizza just to compare (but really to get a-chompin' away). Angus Maximus definitely reveals the "meatlover" in you at first bite.

If you've been following the Greenwich Overload series, you'll be happy to discover that accompanying this new release is another John Lloyd commercial where he wins a best actor award. Like his "levelling up" each time, Greenwich outperforms itself with newer pizza combinations each time.

I'd say that the award for best Pizza Series, goes to... the Greenwich Overload Series. Congratulations !
..

HipHopera At Its Best

2010-04-26T22:07:00.003+08:00

I'm a big fan of hiphop and Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre's "Next Episode" is like an anthem for me (not really the lyrical meaning of the song... if you're familiar with the message). I gotta hand it to these four tenors known as 4Tissimo that they totally turned this song around and made an opera version. This is a sneak preview of their hiphopera talent which is included their album "Tenors With Attitude".
And here's a hilarious opera version of 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny". This song simply cracked me up. I couldn't take this song seriously cause I couldn't imagine an opera version of this horny song.

Get 5 Concert Passes For An Online Concert Featuring Urbandub

2010-04-26T12:19:00.000+08:00

BE AMONG THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE AN EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONCERT WITH URBANDUB, PELICOLA.TV AND GLOBE TATTOO!

Mechanics:

1. Post any of the Official Teaser videos or posters on your blog / social network.
2. Include a link to http://Pelicola.tv/AliveOutThere on your post.
3. Leave a comment on this blog post with the link to your post to validate your entry.
4. By May 3, Globe will be raffling off AOT online concert passes to 4 lucky fans. Great way to spend the week with your rocker friends!

It's that easy! But if you can't wait 'til May 3, be one of the first to witness Urbandub's First Decade online concert starting April 23 for only 60 Pesos. Purchase a passkey by texting ALIVE60 URBANDUB to 2363 then log on to www.pelicola.tv/aliveoutthere to enjoy the concert! (International viewers can also purchase a passkey via Credit Card)

Classic Video Games Invade Earth

2010-04-13T14:13:00.001+08:00

I loved playing those classic ol' school 8-bit video games. When video games were at its infancy, those simple but addictive games like Pac-man, Donkey Kong and Frogger were all cool and fun to play with. Check out this video and see if you could remember the game.
PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.

Blast Rap from the Past

2010-04-06T10:04:00.000+08:00

Young MC was one of my favorite rap artists in the '90's. He's also a rhymical (lyrical rhyme) genius. I remember playing his cassette tape over and over way back in college. Here's his most popular song "Bust A Move".

More Astonishing Bowling Tricks

2010-04-03T10:25:00.001+08:00

A couple of years ago, I shared some weird bowling videos like knocking down 30, 45 and 100 pins with one ball. Now let me share more breathtaking bowling tricks that will leave you in total AWE.

This is called the Flying Eagle. You hit a pin that hits one pin in its lane and another pin in another lane.

Awesome huh !

How about one step up that ? Like doing the same trick but backwards. You gotta watch it over and over cause it's simply amazing !

Earth Hour Experience

2010-03-27T23:49:00.001+08:00

I remember last year's Earth Hour experience. As much as Aileen and I wanted to support the cause, we were on the road in Makati. The only lights we had on were the headlights and I was worried how we could possibly turn them off. We couldn't park cause the vicinity wasn't a safe at night, much more in the dark.

Fast forward to 2010. We didn't have any plans to go out for the evening and so we just stayed at home. We got to prepare for Earth Hour this year. We were hurrying our dinner preparations by 8pm cause we didn't want to eat in the dark. So by the time Earth Hour started at 8:30pm, we turned all our lights off (5 minutes after just to clean up the dining table) and just spent it in our front yard.

We placed 2 monoblock chairs and sat there telling stories to each other. It's a good thing that the moonlit sky shed us some light. We totally turned off all lights and didn't even light any candles. In addition to turning off our appliances, we unplugged them to be sure that they didn't consume any standby electricity. We also decided to turn off our gadgets even if it was stored energy. So we turned off our celphones and laptops and just took a few pictures from our digicam to document and remember Earth Hour.

Sadly though, we were the only ones in our street who had our lights totally off. It seemed that our neighbors were either ignorant of Earth Hour or didn't care to support it. They may have mistaken us for not being at home.

Around 9:40pm, we decided to end Earth Hour and went inside the house. We know that it's only one hour long, but it also is a reminder to make an effort to conserve energy. It's not a matter of whether you can afford it or not. It's the mindset that electricity requires resources, and the earth, as big as it is, doesn't have unlimited resources for mankind. Thus, we could show our concern by doing our part as citizens of mother earth.

Earth Hour is not just about turning off the lights for one hour once a year. It's a conscious commitment to care for the world we live in.

Using A Celphone To Play A Ringtone

2010-03-27T18:37:00.000+08:00

Now that's literally using a celphone to play a ringtone.

Full Of Air

2010-03-23T23:37:00.001+08:00

These kids are full of air... LITERALLY !

Gear Up For The North Face 100

2010-03-22T16:46:00.020+08:00

Within the last few months, we've seen wellness runs, fitness runs and fun run events left and right. Thousands of people have joined and the experience is thrilling when you run together with that many people. It's great that these events are spreading health awareness to the public and making it a fun and exciting event altogether.

The wellness runs were designed for the capacity of the general public, hence the 3k and 5k runs as the basic categories and the 10k and 21k catered to more advanced runners with the strength and stamina to endure a longer course. Despite the 10k and 21k being the longer courses, thousands of people join them and finish. Like what the wellness runs day, it doesn't matter how long you take as long as you finish.

It's not a question for the more experienced runners whether the'll finish or not. It's more a matter of breaking their personal records. So what could possibly challenge their capabilities and push them to the limits ? How about making the run longer ? How about making the path more challenging ? How about making it hard to breathe ? If you think you'd like to see how you would fare in these extreme conditions, then join The North Face 100.

The North Face 100 (TNF100) will be held in Baguio-Benguet from April 24 to 25, 2010. This isn't for the faint of heart (nor the breathless) as there aren't any 3k, 5k nor 10k courses. The shortest course is 11k followed by 22k, double the distance. For the elite runners, a 50k and whopping 100k course is going to challenge even the best of runners. In addition to this marathon's great distance, the elevation, climate and trail will all pose additional challenges to the runners.

TNF100, on its 3rd year, brings Asia's 1st Trail Running Ultra Marathon series to Baguio-Benguet. TNF100 continues to test the endurance of elite athletes and challenge aspiring individuals to define their personal limits in the gnarly paths, knife ridges, and treacherous mountain trails amidst the cool breeze and pine scent of the Philippines' summer capital.

Experienced trail runners, mountain climbers, outdoor enthusiasts and those craving for the active lifestyle will find everything they wish for and more as TNF100 traverses unexplored trails of Camp John Hay, the Philippine Military Academy grounds, Mt.Sto.Tomas, Tuba and finish in Baguio's popular landmark at Burnham Park.

You may welcome the scenery and cool breeze as motivation but the trails, elevation and distance will challenge your endurance, stamina and determination to finish this extreme run.

If you can run like hell, the cold weather's there to cool you down. If you can run up and down, then the mountainous Baguio is up (and down) your alley. And if you run amok, well you'll need to catch up with the pack or else no one will know you're on a running rampage.

Define your personal limits 6,000++ ft above sea level! Join TNF100 in Baguio-Benguet. Visit: www.thenorthface100.ph.

Interested individuals can register at The North Face branches at Shangrila Mall, SM Megamall, SM North EDSA, Glorietta 4, SM Cebu, SM Mall of Asia, SM Davao, SM Cagayan de Oro and at the Recreational Outdoor Exchange at Bonifacio High Street.

Take up the challenge. Take up the hike and Take up the North and join The North Face 100

OFWs Get Advanced Voting Priviledges

2010-03-22T16:40:00.003+08:00

I got this info from the Pinoys in Thailand newsletter. Seems that while the campaigning period is warming up here in the Philippines, Filipinos in Thailand who registered with the Philippine Embassy can actually start voting as early as April 10.

For registered overseas abssentee voters who have received their electoral mails, you may send your officials ballots back to the Embassy ahead of the voting period which is from 10 April 2010 to 10 May 2010. Once received by the Embassy, your ballots will not be opened but kept in a ballot receptacle for counting on 10 May 2010, 6 pm, Philippine time.

For the Filipinos abroad who plan to vote, you can do your research on each candidate by checking them out online. Most if not all candidates in the presidential, vice-presidential and senatorial race have their own official websites.

Vote wisely !

Deadline Extended for The Amazing Race Asia 4

2010-03-16T08:31:00.001+08:00

I'm a fan of the Amazing Race and I couldn't believe that it's currently on its 16th season.

What I'm more excited about now is that The Amazing Race Asia is making its 4th season and is accepting applications for teams. The deadline for submission of applications is March 31, 2010 at 6pm (Singapore time). If you think you have what it takes and would like to go on the adventure of a lifetime, check out http://www.axn-asia.com/tara and join now.

Let's hope for a Filipino winner this season... or at least a competitive team like Mark and Rovilson.

Simultaneous Burning of Calories At The Wellness Run

2010-03-13T00:22:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday was my 1st time to join a fun run and the Unilab Run United for Wellness made my 1st time and enjoyable experience indeed. My wife Aileen, Miguel & I were all ready as early as 5am to head to The Fort in time for the 3K and 5K run which Miguel & I signed up for respectively.

It was still dark when we got there but the 21K runners had already started and the 10K runners were already lined up at the starting line awaiting their go-signal. I had never seen so many runners all in one place. It was an exciting feeling to all be there for a unified cause.

As soon as the 10K runners were given the go signal, the hosts called all the 5K participants to assemble in front of the starting line. The starting point had several huge timers corresponding to each division (3K, 5K, 10K & 21K) and 2 huge LCD displays at the opposite ends. There was a series of quick stretching exercises that the hosts initiated for all of us to warm up. I couldn't believe that there were literally hundreds of people in front and at the back of me all gearing up for the run. I was looking for a couple of friends but figured my chances of finding them were slim given that there were almost 9,000 participants for the entire event (not including friends & family who were there to support them).

It was almost time to start. The 2 LCD displays that flashed a 25 second countdown with a beeping sound made the anticipation much more exciting. Then the 5K race started. I was at the back so we couldn't start running until everybody in front crossed the starting line. As soon as I crossed the line, everybody was in moderate jogging to running mode. We passed 2 cheering squads who pumped up all the runner's adrenalin with their lively chants alongside the drum banging. It was like everybody was in a basketball game being cheered on.

By the time we got to the 1st kilometer marker, I and the others had to stop momentarily for traffic to pass. When I looked back, I saw this overwhelming number of people behind me also in the race. It was astonishing to be with thousands of people all going towards one direction. I wasn't able to prepare fully for the event so I switched to brisk walking by the 2nd kilometer. This was also a slightly uphill route to the American Cemetery and loop back. I saw my friend on the other side at the front of the pack and waved to him, not knowing that he had just passed Diether Ocampo during this time.

Continuing on, I found it strange seeing a runner eating a banana. I couldn't figure out why he brought a banana with him to the run. A few hundred meters after, I learned that the hydration station also offers free bananas aside from water and energy drinks. Hey, it was my first time so I was really clueless that they served bananas during the run.

Heading back after the loop, most of the runners in my batch were walking but when we all saw the last kilometer mark, everybody picked up their pace and excitedly ran the last kilometer. Everybody was in a competitive mode to make their best times as we ran towards the finish line.

Nearing the finish line, more batallion squads cheered the runners on till the end. Passing through the finishing line was both a feeling of trimuph and relief.

The event also held a Wellness Village where most of the sponsors set up booths and held different activities. It was at this point that you could see the huge amount of participants in the event cause the wellness village was gruadually filling up as more and more runners passed the finish line and headed to the village.

Aside from that, all runners received a bag filled with sponsored products. Coming from the race and still catching my breath a bit, the mineral water inside the bag got me excited more than the other goodies inside the bag.

Fast forward to 2 days after and after having fully recovered from sore thighs (for not having prepared properly prior to the run), I was delighted to receive post-run updates from Unilab. What I was anxiously awaiting were the race results and they were posted online on the Unilab Run United for Wellness official site. The results for the 3K, 5K, 10K & 21K runs were posted. I placed 1764th place out of 2254 racers in the 5K category... not bad for a 1st timer. Aside from the time finished and place, I was fascinated with the statistics generated like how many percent were in front of me or behind me, how many were male and female, and how did I fare overall. It put a better perspective to how I fared in the run plus I can set it as a marker and comparison for future events.

The next day, I got a text message from Unilab informing me that all runners who participated could check out their photos on the website just by entering their bib number. I entered mine on the search field (#8683) and it retrieved 2 photos of me nearing the finish line. This is great ! I didn't know they would provide photos for everybody. And I was worried that I wouldn't have any photos of myself since I didn't want to bring a camera with me while running (plus the best shot you could take is only arms length which is like your head and shoulders). I also searched for the bib numbers of the top 3 finishers per division and checked out their photos so I could get a look at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers even if they were way ahead of me.

Overall, I loved the experience. I was already content with my regular jogging at the track & field for years, and now I wish I had joined events like these years back. Looking forward to the next run.

(Photo courtesy of photovendo.ph)

Two Rules To Success

2010-03-12T07:24:00.004+08:00

I just heard this awhile ago from a commentator and I didn't quite get it immediately. But I finally got it and want to share it with you.

So here it is. The 2 rules to success are...

Don't tell everything you know.

Immortal Texting Extended

2010-03-11T15:29:00.003+08:00

I knew that this promo ended Feb 21, 2010 but I tried it anyway and it seems that the promo has been extended.

For only P15, you get to enjoy 5 call minutes PLUS 50 texts to Globe/TM that will never expire!

To register: simply text Immortal15 to 8888. You need to maintain P5 balance to use the service.

What's great is that the 5 minutes of calls to Globe/TM are consumable, and may be used for several calls or for one long call. I've reloaded twice in succession and now I have 100 free texts and 10 minutes of calls.

Promo is extended to March 21, 2010.

Continuity Is The Name of The Game

2010-03-04T15:37:00.002+08:00

A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately over engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg.

This video is one damn great Rube Goldberg Machine. And receiving nearly 2 million views in less than 2 days is proof how popular the video is.

This is the official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video is directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs & produced by Shirley Moyers.

The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs over the course of several months

Wahct the video to appreciate and be awed.

Run United For Wellness

2010-02-24T22:57:00.002+08:00

I've always had a liking for jogging. In college, I took 2 semesters of running. Whenever I had time back then, I would jog to keep fit and train for Tae-Kwon-Do. After college, I regularly jogged around the Marikina Sports Center to keep fit. I haven't been jogging for a while and I was hoping to get back into the jogging groove last year in time to trim down my weight for my wedding. Well, the floods last year and the wedding planning left me with practically no more time to jog.

Fast forward to present: I'm married and we now live in a new home in Paranaque, which incidentally is a jog-friendly subdivision. So I figured I can get back to my regimen and start jogging again.

Coincidentally, I learned about the Unilab Run United for Wellness that's taking place at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on March 7. I got excited about this because even though I've been jogging for years, I never joined any marathon. Well this run is the perfect way to resume jogging and prepare for the event. I'm not getting any younger and I am more conscious of my health now than a decade ago where I could slack off.

This event is not only about joining a run. It's a health and wellness event for the family with running as the core activity. Aside from the 3 km, 5 km, 10 km, and 21 km categories for adults, there’s also a 500-meter dash for kids to help parents get their children started on a fitness lifestyle.

I'm personally excited to participate as this will be my first time to join such an event. To add to the excitement, I was able to meet the renowned running & fitness coach Rio dela Cruz and his several international running achievements is an inspiration of what any one of us can achieve by running.

To register, got o Planetsports Trinoma and Runnr store at Bonifacio High Street,Taguig. Registration is from Feb. 22 to 28. Top finishers can win cash prizes, Unilab gift packs, and New Balance gift certificates worth P5,000. Finishers in the 21 km category will receive a finisher’s medal. The first1,000 finishers in the 21K can also bring home a finisher’s shirt.

I'll be joining the 5km run. See you at the finish line !

Morning Thoughts

2010-02-20T06:57:00.002+08:00

Ever received those e-mails or text with quotable quotes ? The kinds that can either inspire you or make you ponder ? Well here's mine. I hope my quote would reappear in any form somewhere else.

If I said everything I thought about... most of it would be stupid. Good thing our brain is there to filter out what to say so not to look stupid most of the time.

My Early Pick For American Idol 9

2010-02-18T07:08:00.004+08:00

I like making early picks on these reality tv shows. Even if they're still cutting down their current Top 46, I'd like to predict, Thaddeus Johnson as my early pick for Top 3 in Idol.

Out of all the auditions and even on Hollywood week, Thaddeus has caught my attention. His vocals are superb! He doesn't need to reach the highest of notes with his big solid voice cause his vocal range fits him perfectly. Check out his audition video of this 17 year old high school student from Oklahoma City and listen to his powerful rendition of Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror. Oh and I hope his mom doesn't lose her voice cause she'll need to be cheering him on for a much longer time on Idol. Go Thaddeus !

UPDATE: A few hours after I posted this, Thaddeus didn't make it to the Top 24. The judges said he didn't do anything wrong. It was just tough competition as all of the contestants were very very talented and it was a matter of talent vs talent instead of talent vs. non-talent. Oh well, there goes my pick. I think I'll make another bold prediction after hearing all 24 perform next week.

Of Traffic & Constructions

2010-02-14T07:18:00.005+08:00

The Metro Manila Skyway is currently being extended from Sucat onwards. Being under construction has caused severe traffic in the South for months now for both the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and the entry-exit points of the Skyway.

The official Metro Manila Skyway website is also currently under construction. What a coincidence !

Ironically, both of them are under construction. But in contrast, the website doesn't cause any traffic at all. In fact, it may need traffic.

...if only the vehicles could enter the information highway instead.

Showing Your Love Online & Offline On Valentine's Day

2010-02-07T06:17:00.006+08:00

There are several ways to celebrate Valentines day: a romantic dinner, a valentines concert, an out of town getaway, a surprise gift. But even the simplest of gestures can make an impact as big as the others: a stroll at the park, a dedicated poem, a valentines card, a bunch of roses or even a simple sincere prophecy of an "I love you".

With the advent of technology and the internet, expression of thoughts and messages have been cut down to very simple methods: searching the net for love quotes or romantic photos and e-mailing the link, sending a hug or kiss via a facebook application, sending an e-card with an automated e-mail, posting a tweet or plurk exclaiming your feeling or simply going online to chat with your loved one. As much as they all seem hi-tech, they require very little effort and they only exist online. In special occasions like these, it's far more appropriate to show more effort in expressing your feelings than just sending electronic data in the form of lovenotes.

The good thing is you can still be hi-tech and make your presence felt both online and offline with IslandRose.net. If you love being online and using technology to your advantage but want to make your loved one feel special and affirm your offline presence as well, then you can visit IslandRose.net and send a gift to your special someone. As its name suggests, Islandrose's specialty is roses. Send roses of any color, kind and quantity to the person special to you. These are nowhere close to ASCII art roses (remember this ? @};-'-,---- ) or a photo link of a rose. These are real, homegrown, high-quality roses that islandrose.net will deliver to your loved ones. You can choose from a variety of roses and customize them through their user-friendly online store. Everything can be done online from the rose selecting and delivery instructions up to the online payment as they accept all major credit cards. What's more convenient is that they deliver to any point in the Philippines. So even if you're thousands of miles away in another country, you could still make your presence felt and send flowers to the Philippines through IslandRose.net. Aside from roses, they do offer chocolates, fragrances and other similar items suitable to trigger feelings of love so aside from sending roses, you can send gifts to the Philippines from anywhere in the world. Let IslandRose be your flower delivery to the Philippines.

A few years back, I've personally ordered a long-stemmed rose via islandrose.net and I was very pleased with the rose and box it came in. It even had a tube filled with water at the end of the stem to maintain freshness for a longer period. I couldn't have selected a better way to send it.

May it be for the fast approaching day of Cupid or for any other special occasion, consider sending your roses via http://www.islandrose.net. As a special offer for Valentines Day, you can use this code VDAY022010 to get a 10% discount. This discount code is valid until February 20, 2010. Happy Valentine's Day !

Simply Human Nature

2010-01-31T23:06:00.002+08:00

One of my favorite Michael Jackson songs is Human Nature. I love the melody and arrangement. Even how many times and ways this song has been revived, rearranged and performed, it's still a great song. I'd like to share Craig David's version of Human Nature with Michael Jackson and SWV's versions both fused together into a melodic acoustic performance. Enjoy !

You're MyBrute

2010-01-29T13:27:00.003+08:00

I haven't had time to actually play any full-length video games. I miss the times I'd spend hours playing a video game from start to end. The satisfaction of completing each level gets more intense as the harder the gameplay gets. And discovering what challenges are in store during the game is a thrill.

Nowadays, I need more time for other stuff and so the least I can do to still play some games is via an online game called MyBrute. It's basically a 2-D fighting game similar to Street Fighter & Mortal Kombat. Customize your character, choose your opponents and sit back and watch as your character will challenge your opponent until a winner emerges. The great thing about it is that it doesn't require any skill on your end to memorize keys to walk, run, jump, attack or defend. Everything is automated. All you need to do is cheer for your character and hope he makes you proud. If you haven't tried it out, you can try it out here and click on the left character to create your own. You can challenge me too at http://jaydj.mybrute.com

Happy MyBruting !

Tip for Windows 7 Users

2010-01-13T16:00:00.003+08:00

I've been using Windows 7 since beta release till the release candidate (RC). And I must admit that I love it. It's a huge boost from XP Home and Vista.

One of the things I found strange though is there will come a point in time that your program list in your start menu will suddenly disappear. This occurs due to a 70 file/folder limit in the Start Menu directory so your "All Programs" from the "Start Menu" is limited only to 70 items, both files, folders and shortcuts. The solution is to keep files, shortcuts and programs in subdirectories and maintain the folder limit. This is also a great way of classifying your apps. My start menu has an audio, graphics, video, editor, OCR and browser folder, so I can easily classify my programs.

To solve this limitation, you can create subdirectories in C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/ and transfer your files, folders & shortcuts to their respective subdirectories. If you can't see the "ProgramData" subdirectory, enable "Show hidden files, folders and drives" in "Control Panel" / "Folder options" / "View".

Happy foldering !

Drumwear For The Mobile Musician

2010-01-12T17:40:00.003+08:00

Don't have a set of drums ? Wanna be a drummer but never tried ?

Then this t-shirt is perfect for you. Imagine wearing a drumset. Impossible ? Not with this t-shirt. The shirt has a picture of a drumset. But the "whoa!" factor comes into play the moment you tap on each drum... it plays !

You can play the drums just by tapping them on your chest. There are 7 different drums in all. Check out this cool demo on how it works. I can imagine dancing and rapping while playing drums on your chest as rhythm.

Don't you just love technology !

Royal Rumble

2010-01-07T19:30:00.002+08:00

One of the very first pay per views (aside from Summerslam) for the WWE was The Royal Rumble. It is until now my most favorite wrestling event. Imagine 30 wrestlers getting into the ring by luck of a draw. And every 2 minutes, another wrestler steps into the ring until all 30 enter and then it's by elimination over the top rope. The last man standing wins.

It's exciting to see instant teamups, and who wants to eliminate who as everybody is out their for themself. You can witness friends, partners & teammates go up against each.

Here's a preview of the 2010 Royal Rumble. Are you ready to rumble ????

Big Sheet

2009-12-14T10:11:00.005+08:00

Thanks to Aileen who introduced me to it, I've had a liking for seaweed snacks. One of the brands out there that sell seaweed snacks is Tao Kae Noi. They package crispy seaweed ready to eat.

I just wish though that there was another name for their snack. Cause if someone asks what I'm eating, I'd have to say "I'm eating a Big Sheet". Oh my !

Feel the Bass, Corn the Starch

2009-12-10T17:01:00.001+08:00

This is a cool science experiment of what corn starch looks like when placed on top of a speaker and it's cranked up.

Do They Know It's Christmas

2009-12-08T12:05:00.002+08:00

Aside from the standard jolly Christmas carols and merry tunes, this is by far my favorite modern day Christmas song. Several popular British and Irish artists came together in 1984 to send a message of awareness of starving children in Ethiopia. The group called themselves Band-Aid, which doubles as a meaning of healing. The song "Do They Know It's Christmas" is a collaboration of several artists such as Linda Ronsdtat, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Bono of U2, George Michael, Bananarama, David Bowie, Boy George, Paul McCartney and more artists.

So this Christmas, make sure everybody knows it's Christmas.

...Feed the world...Let's them know it's Christmas time again....

December is a Busy Month

2009-12-07T11:28:00.000+08:00

The reason why I haven't been able to blog lately is because December is such a busy month.

Imagine all the holiday preparations to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas:

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
lots of list-a-making,
several gifts-a-giving,
envelopes-a-sealing,
many cards-a-sending,
morning church-a-going,
priests and lords-a-leaping,
pairs of maids-a-walkin',
fit & dress-a-grooming...

[pause]
2 golden rings !
[pause]

4 loving parents
3 of us to merge
2 turtle doves
& a union in a pair tree.

And the 12 days of Christmas suddenly become one.

If you read between the lines, you'll know what I mean. :)

Merry Christmas !

New Age of Digicams: Camera + Projector

2009-11-18T07:57:00.005+08:00

I only saw this in futuristic tv shows 15 years ago. Now it has become a reality. The age of holographics is here.

The Nikon Coolpix S1000PJ is the first digital camera that can project its output to any surface like a normal projector would.

Now you can easily share photos and videos with your friends without all of them trying to bunch up beside you and scamper for whatever limited viewing space and size they can see.

This is great for me cause when I take pics from my digicam and show my parents, they can't see it because of the tiny LCD display on my cam.

What's best is that you don't even need a TV and cable to plug this thing in. Just point the cam anywhere and it can project the same output it does on its 2.7" display.

I love this technology.

Philippine Pesos Now Available on PayPal

2009-11-09T17:07:00.002+08:00

Just want to share this exciting piece of news I just read from Ebay. This is going to benefit the Pinoy sellers on Ebay and online.

PayPal is pleased to announce the launch of Philippine Pesos and 4 additional currencies just in time for the holiday season - making it easier for you to buy and sell locally. No more hassling with foreign exchange rates or currency conversions. It’s now simpler and easier than ever to pay and get paid with PayPal for your local transactions.

Relief Operations Ease Typhoon Ondoy Victims

2009-10-13T18:08:00.002+08:00

Out of all the typhoons I've witnessed, Typhoon Ondoy has made the most impact on us.

Being a resident of Marikina City, we're accustomed to floods during the rainy season. As with other residents, we have our own set of protocols when we're expecting flood waters to rise. All our sofas and chairs are placed on top of wooden tables. Everything on the ground is placed on higher shelves. All appliances are unplugged and our main power switch is shutdown. Candles, matches, batteries, and flashlights are all checked and made sure that they are easily reachable when needed. And whatever food, water and goods we can use to eat and drink is saved and placed upstairs in case of emergency. There are lots of other minor details we follow and most of the time, the water just goes up to knee level which in our experience, is not very detrimental. Of course it's saddening and we all know that when the floods subside, there is a whole lot of cleanup that follows. But it's feasible.

What happened with Typhoon Ondoy is one of a kind. Never has the rains poured non-stop and in an extremely alarming amount. Never has the flood water rise so high in a short span of time. And so even with all the precautions and preparations we had, we were totally caught offguard. The floods in our house rose to an all-time high and a 1st for us, at five feet deep. And by this time, eveyrthing started floating. Walking your way through floating obstacles in shoulder-high waters is not an easy task. How much more difficult would it be for our less fortunate victims of the flood who have experienced deeper waters with nowhere to go.

After the storm, people were left hungry, homeless, sick and weak. Thousands of families suffered heavily from the floods.
It's a good thing that many have heard of the devastation and destruction Typhoon Ondoy has left. Victims needed help and there was an enormous population of victims to cater to. As a result, several groups, organizations and volunteers emerged to adhere to the victims.

One of those groups who have offered their unconditional support is the Lopez Group of Companies. Called "Sagip Kapamilya", they called on everyone to donate in cash and in kind. Backed up by ABS-CBN's vast media resources, they were able to conduct a nationwide call for donations and in such a short amount of time, they were able to collect millions which was being constantly used to buy relief goods for victims. Even ABS-CBN personalities and celebrities actively helped first hand in delivering relief goods to the typhoon victims. Thanks to Sagip Kapamilya, you see the nation becoming one. Kudos to their relief efforts.

On behalf of my fellow city citizens, salamat sa Sagip Kapamilya from Marikina. For updates on cash and kind donation totals, check out their Facebook page or their website at http://www.lopezlink.ph.

Photo: ABS-CBN Kapamilya stars among them Zanjoe Marudo and Shaina Magdayao, went to different evacuation centers and flood-ravaged areas to help distribute relief goods and bring comfort to the victims of typhoon Ondoy through ABS-CBN Foundation's Sagip Kapamilya efforts. (courtesy of Lopezlink Flickr account)

My Typhoon Ondoy Experience

2009-10-05T14:12:00.004+08:00

Here is my personal account and experience from Typhoon Ondoy.

Unfortunately, we've been hardly hit and affected by the recent Typhoon Ondoy last Sept 26. (Day 1) where flood waters reached to an all-time high of almost 5 feet inside our house. This is the worst and deepest we've ever experienced here in our house in SSS Village, Marikina City.

We're used to floods and most of them only reach the street in front of us or rarely, up to 1 foot inside the house. Nothing can prepare you for a flash flood that rises at an alarming rate. We were caught offguard with the waters as it has never flooded this fast ever. In a span of less than 4 hours, the waters rose from street level to chest deep inside the house. Cars parked along the streets were submerged till the top of their windshields. Car alarms set off one by one including our two cars inside our garage and driveway. Believe me that trying to remove a car battery while submerged in water and being all wet while dealing with something delicate as a wet car battery possibly exposing ourselves to ground and shock while panicking is such a stressful and scary experience.

Typhoon Ondoy's rainfall in a short span of time was measured to be more than what an average month worth of rainfall was. On top of this all, Marikina is also affected by the overflowing and releasing of water from 2 dams which pass through the Marikina River. The river overflowed and so instead of our street waters being channeled towards the river, the waters from the river were spilling outwards to all areas.

Our electricity and phone lines were all cut. My celphone was low on battery charge and the only communication we had was listening to the radio. We tried to move whatever we could to higher ground but there simply wasn't much time to do everything. A lot of our stuff was submerged in water and even huge and big appliances and furniture like our refrigerator, sofa, tables and chairs were all floating. The 1st floor became an obstacle course with an advanced level of difficulty. Imagine trying to carry a TV on top of your head cause waters were chest deep, walking through the flood and avoiding huge moving objects like a huge cabinet floating in an unpredictable direction. Thank God we had a 2nd floor but it was quickly filling up with stuff that we needed to make way to go up and down the stairs in case of any emergency. Even our 3 dogs were panicking cause the places where we let them stay put were beginning to float too. We moved them to a huge floating table and would just hope that they would stay put so the table wouldn't capsize.

It came to a point where we had to just stop rescuing our stuff and just think about our safety. In the last hour of what seemed like an neverending rising of flood, we managed to salvage any food and bring it upstairs. We got a loaf of bread, some canned goods, paper plates and plastic spoons and forks, and some bottles of mineral water. We couldn't open the ref cause it was already floating and all the foods inside were already submerged in muddy flood water too. I was scared that the china cabinet that fell on to the water had broken glass. It's a good thing the water broke the fall and the impact wasn't enough for the plates and glassware to break.

By mid afternoon, the rains stopped and all we could do was look out the window to see the extent of flooding the typhoon has left. Flood was everywhere. We couldn't find a single piece of ground not left submerged outside. Come evening, everything was dark and quiet. With no lights and no people in the streets, our area was rendered as a ghost town. No lights, no sound and just the calmness of the flood waters still evident everywhere. This is the time we were already listening to the radio and found out that a lot of our fellow city residents weren't as lucky as we were. The hardest hit was Provident Village, some, 4 kilometers away from us with the Marikina River in between our village's location. The residents there had to climb their rooftops as the waters totally submerged all ground floors of the houses. We also heard that several villages along the riverbanks have been severely affected. Being a resident of Marikina, I wanted to contact all my friends and relatives to find out if they're ok. But not having any means of contacting them rendered us a desolate island. Concerned friends and relatives were also trying to get hold of us but couldn't. We were just lucky that the rains had stopped and the waters were subsiding little by little.

The next morning (Day 2), the flood waters inside the house were gone. The street still had some flood but only up to the legs. We then saw the aftermath of the typhoon. Everything was drenched and covered with mud. The TV, refrigerator, washer & dryer, cabinets, tables, sofas, clothes several belongings were mostly damaged. Our humungous ref was lying down on the floor as the waters gently laid down the floating ref. Our china cabinet broke in half. Most of the wooden and cardboard cabinets weakened. Utensils and plates were all muddy. The cars' interior were all damp and grounded. Unsaved food was scattered all around the house.

We were hoping that floods wouldn't resurface but we had to start the long process of cleaning for sanitation purposes. We were scared for all kinds of sicknesses. We didn't take any chances with any food that was flooded, even sealed bottles or canned goods, for fear of contamination. We had to bail out any water left inside the house to lower any possible infection from the stagnant waters. And we had to remove all the mud left inside. Not having any electricity yet made it harder to clean up.

It's a good thing my tita and cousins who lived in Marikina Heights weren't severely affected and dropped by to check up on us. They brought us food and drinks, which we really needed. I asked them to charge my celphone so I could keep the lines of communication open. We were cleaning the house the rest of the day and threw anything we couldn't recover anymore. The entire day was tiring and by night time, we were all exhausted with overfatigue from cleaning.

By Monday (day 3), we needed to buy food as our supply was nearly depleted. The aftereffect of the typhoon made it so difficult to buy goods from the grocery or food from the fastfood/restaurants cause most of them within the vicinity have been hit by the floods too and were closed. Those that were open, were filled with people frantically panic buying everything and the shelves were empty in hours.

My college friends Rai and Eya were checking up on me since I was nowhere online as I usually am and suspected that we may need help. They asked for directions and the next day they dropped by with lots of food, toiletries and items that would make our recovery easier to manage.

It's been a week since then and we're still not through cleaning up and recovering. With Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng both out of the country, it's back to normal for most people. For us, it's still a long way from over and going back to our regular lives. We're getting there though, little by little. But bottomline is that we're all okey.

I just want to thank everybody for your concern and help. For those who texted, e-mailed, left messages online and tried to contact me, thank you. I may have not been able to thank everyone personally which is why I am sending this message to you all.

All the material things can be replaced... but we only have one life to live. And I thank God I am alive. Take care everybody.

Why Ironing And Dancing Don't Mix

2009-09-19T06:05:00.002+08:00

Like drinking and driving, ironing and dancing don't mix. Check out this video and you'll know why.

All-Expense Paid Travel Photography Expedition

2009-09-13T08:04:00.003+08:00

I'm reposting this from one of my subscribed groups cause I think it's a good opportunity and even better is that it's free ! Read on:

Join an All-Expense Paid Travel Photography Expedition to Hacienda San Benito, Lipa Batangas

Take this rare opportunity to join our full-day photo expedition workshop that will be lead and instructed by professional photographer, Mr. Brian Bravo. All expenses including transportation, food, and snacks are all taken care of.

Hacienda San Benito is a 22-hectare development in Lipa, Batangas at the foot of Mt. Malarayat. Take photos of magnificent landscapes, Cascading Ponds, Koi lagoons, Farm animals such as chickens, turkeys, ostriches, goats, sheep, cows and carabaos; a coffee plantation, a grape vineyard, a pineapple plantation; and a garden of flowers and ornamental plants.

Expedition Date: SEPTEMBER 20, 2009, Sunday.

For inquiries, contact

Joseph Roc
Arts Manager | Writer | Creative Industries Advocate

josephrocis@yahoo.com
+63-921-5249261

Are You A Krispy Kreme Fan ?

2009-08-28T10:20:00.009+08:00

One of things I love about Krispy Kreme is that it's not just about buying donuts. Krispy Kreme is an experience.

What kind of experience ? There's lots to tell. If you go to one of their donut factories, you get to watch an assembly line of donuts being dispatched at the "finish line" and ready to be served hot and fresh off the grill. When their krispy Kreme logo is lighted up, you get a free donut. Each time they open a new branch, they offer cool promos for the first few guests. They also introduce new and exciting themed donuts coupled with your favorite brands like the Chocolate Kreme Cakes made with Oreo, Hershey's Cookies and Kreme and Chocolate Karnival. They cater to the times like during the UAAP college basketball season where they introduced blue and green sprinkled donuts representing Ateneo and La Salle respectively. The list just goes on and on. Krispy Kreme just seems to come up with something new all the time.

Their latest promo is the Krispy Kreme FaveFan Promo where everyone has a chance to win a year's supply of doughnuts including a trip to Krispy Kreme headquarters ! To celebrate 72 years of service (6 dozen in Krispy Kreme numerology), Krispy Kreme announces a worldwide search for its number one fan.

The Krispy Kreme FaveFan Promo is open to 9 countries, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, United Kingdom and the Philippines (aren't we lucky ?). To join, all you need to do is go to http://www.krispykremefavefan.com , click on the Submit Entry and complete the form. The form also requires you to answer the question "How has Krispy Kreme made your life special?" ( in a maximum of 1,000 characters). Include a photo with your entry and you automatically have a chance to be selected as the Krispy Kreme Fave Fan for the Philippines. Winners from all participating countries will win a year's supply of donuts plus a trip for two to the Home of Krispy Kreme. You'll also get the chance to design your ultimate donut !

Also join the Krispy Kreme FaveFan Promo Facebook page and be amongst the thousands of fans the ever-growing Krispy Kreme community has.

Hurry and submit your entries now cause the deadline for joining ends September 15, 2009, 11:59:59 p.m. Philippine time.

Log on now to http://www.krispykremefavefan.com and tell Krispy Kreme how they made your life special.

Social Traps

2009-08-27T09:53:00.000+08:00

There are times when you see someone coming your way and you'd rather not see them, be seen by them, greet them or talk to them at all. In cases like these, you could just avoid the person.

If you see the person in a corridor, you could take the stairs, take a u-turn and go another direction, bow down to hide your face, turn your head the other way as if you had a stiff neck, or if you have the guts and ability, look the person straight in the eye in an emotionless state (dedma).

It's not that easy to avoid someone when you're in an escalator or an elevator. That's why I call these 2: social traps. You'll just have to endure being with the person you're avoiding because you have no complete control over the machine you're taking.

When you're in an escalator, you are bound to see everyone at the opposite side. And if you're already on the escalator, there's no turning back. You could always go back and walk double time. But that would catch more attention. Plus, if you don't have the agility, by the time you've jumped off, chances are, the person you're avoiding just stepped down from the other side. The best way is simply to look away or hold a huge newspaper in front of you.

Elevators offer a different awkward situation, especially if you and the person you're avoiding are the two last people left inside. What's difficult about this situation is that you have very limited options. Due to the elevator's size, there's no way to distance yourself from the other person. There's not much room to look away and you're bound to get closer against your will when you have to press the floor on the elevator panel. In addition, and depending on how many floors both of you are going to, the torture ride must be endured anywhere from 10 seconds (fast elevators going up or down only 1 floor) to 3 minutes (old buildings with super slow elevators and it stops on every floor with no one getting inside).

Just how can you avoid someone in an elevator ? Facing the other way looks stupid. It's like riding a rollercoaster and facing the back. If the elevator had other people, you could manuever your way to hide beside or behind someone. If you're really desperate, you could get off the next floor and wait it out or take the stairs.

A worst case scenario is you're in an elevator with the person you're avoiding and you and the person are the only two people inside. Things keep awkwardly quiet. You start to perspire in anxiety and suddenly, the worst thing you were hoping wouldn't happen, happens. The person makes an initiative to talk to you. Do you want to acknowledge ? Hell no ! You've been avoiding this person. Ignoring the acknowledgement would only make the person think you didn't hear it well. But in an close-to-empty elevator with only the two of you in complete silence (unless there's elevator music but that's a at minimal volume), it's very hard to convince the person you didn't hear them (unless your tone-deaf).

So what do you do ?

You could place earphones on your ears. Whether you're actually listening to music or not isn't important. In this case, it tells the other person you may not have heard them. But that may also just make the situation worse, especially if instead of talking to you, the person taps you to signal they're talking to you.

So what do you do then ?

You could pretend you're on the phone with someone but would have to constantly talk so the person wouldn't have any chance at all to butt-in and have social time with you. In this case, you're not granting the person any chat time by pretending to be talking with someone else. And if you're going up several floors, you'll need to know how to talk constantly without pause.

So what's the best thing to do ?

Don't take these social traps if you have a hunch you'll be caught in an unforeseen and awkward situation. But then again, how do you know when these things happen ? They just do. So just be prepared how to handle them. And if I were you, I'd take the stairs.

But that's just me.

Cameras Have Rumors Too ?

2009-08-26T07:57:00.000+08:00

Whenever I get to hang out with my blogger friends whether in an event or just catching up and hanging around, one of the topics that usually makes its way to the conversation is the subject of cameras.

My blogger friends who have DSLRs would share photography tips and techniques , show their new digicam accessories or get excited about upcoming cameras in the market.

Even though I have my own set of cameras (I'm still a Fuji & Olympus fan), I've seen that a lot of my friends own either a Nikon or Canon camera. I can't really relate that much when they talk about their cameras but I enjoy the passion and thrill they exhilarate.

So for my Nikon enthusiasts, photographer, proconsumer fanatic friends, here's a site I discovered earlier: http://nikonrumors.com and for Canon buffs, there's http://www.canonrumors.com

And for the general public who may happen to own other camera brands, there's http://photorumors.com

Learn the latest unofficial news about your favorite camera brands. May you get hyped up by rumors and sneak-peeks at future releases and start saving to buy before they come out.

Note: The camera in the photo isn't mine. I wish it was.

National Geographic To Air Filipino Documentary

2009-08-25T10:15:00.004+08:00

One of the channels I enjoy watching is National Geographic. You won't find any of their shows aired anywhere. That's because they take pride in providing new and original shows. It's also a very educational channel and as much as you learn from every show, you don't feel like your confined in a classroom setting. It makes learning entertaining.

Last week, National Geographic International has announced the premiere of "Asia's Titanic," a one hour exclusive about the MV Dona Paz ocean distaster in 1987. MV Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker in the evening few days before Christmas. The accident is considered one of the most tragic in Asia as 4,000 passengers died and only a handful of people lived to tell of this tragedy.

This documentary is also a first for a Filipino filmmaker to direct and produce a documentary that equals the hallmark standards of National Geographic. Director Yam Laranas and his team had to adhere to several guidelines in producing top quality documentaries that National Geographic standards hold.

The project took a total of 3 years in the making. Aside from the filming, the project involved extensive research which included interviewing survivors and rescuers for first-hand accounts, actual transscripts from the Philippine congressional inquiry regarding the tragedy, archival actual footage and photos and the re-enactment of the collision.

"Asia's Titanic" will premiere on the National Geographic Channel (Sky Cable Channel 41) on August 25, 2009 at 9:00pm. with replays on the following dates and times:

August 25, 8:00pm (Tuesday)

August 26, 4:00am (Wednesday)

August 26, 9:00am (Wednesday)

August 26, 1:00pm (Wednesday)

August 26, 9:00pm (Wednesday)

August 30, 9:00pm (Sunday)

August 31, 1:00am (Monday)

August 31, 5:00am (Monday)

September 5, 6:00pm (Saturday)

September 28, 8:00pm (Monday)

September 29, 1:00pm (Tuesday)

Don't miss this Filipino documentary of a Filipino tragedy, only on National Geographic.

LTO Advertising Expired Website ?

2009-08-23T21:07:00.005+08:00

The Land Transportation Office or more popularly known as LTO has their official website located at http://www.lto.gov.ph.

Two months ago when I renewed my license, I was handed a flyer promoting their newest online service. Their catch phrase was "Why fall in line when you can go online. Transact Now @ LTO Online". The ad said to log on to http://go.lto.net.ph

So I decided to check it out and got this message:

The name lto.net.ph has expired

I found out that the domain expired last July 19, 2009. Does that mean that the online service has been discontinued ? Could it be that the website is still fully working and just an oversight to renew the domain ?

So as for the online part, it's offline. But much worse is that the domain has expired making it up for grabs.

Let's hope that a promoted online service stays online.

Of Planes and Airports

2009-08-22T19:17:00.003+08:00

Ever since I was a kid, airplanes and airports fascinate me. I don't like riding planes. I just like watching them fly and soar in the air. I also don't like checking in airports to fly. I just like the botiques and gift shops inside. I like the restaurants and quick food stalls. I like looking at their departure and arrival monitors to know which plane is coming and going where and when. I like watching the planes take off and land. I like listening to the voice over announcing which gate is ready for boarding or which plane has just landed. I like looking at different people from various walks of life: different citizenships, different races, different ages, different backgrounds.

It's not the same as a ship and a pier, or a bus and a bus terminal. Planes and Airports are huge.

Sometimes I think that if I'm stressed out, I could relieve my stress in an airport and just spend some time relaxing over a cup of coffee in the airport cafe.

And thanks to my fianceé, I've been able to visit more airports and ride on more planes. It still scares the hell out of me to ride a plane cause I easily get dizzy. And I can finish an entire container of tic-tacs (extra strength) even before the plane takes off. Yet, conquering my fear has compensated me with new places visited and new friends made.

Till the next flight or the next chance I get to set foot at an airport, happy travelling !

Picking A Lock

2009-08-21T21:10:00.000+08:00

My mom accidentally lost her keys. One of the keys in her keychain included 2 keys to her cabinet. Her cabinet had all her clothes there. Fortunately, there was a fresh batch of newly washed clothes that haven't been kept yet so she had time to look for her keys. But after 2 days, my mom still couldn't find them and then asked my dad and me to help her look for them.

We did look for it everywhere possible in their room but we just couldn't find it. We were hoping that it wasn't accidentally thrown in the garbage.

While we were all losing hope, I decided to try some other keys in hopes that one of them may open her cabinet even if it's not the actual key. I tried around 20 keys and none of them even budged.

With all options exhausted, I suddenly thought of the unthinkable... to pick the lock.

I've never picked a lock and I've only seen it done in movies and on TV. So I took a regular paperclip and deformed it to make it long enough to insert inside the keyhole. Then I took my precision screwdrive set and got the smallest screwdriver to help me maneuver around the lock.

After a couple of tries, I decided that I was thinking the impossible and it would never work. I then took a last look at one of the keys that looked similar to the lost keys and tried to manuever the keyhole again with the paperclip and screwdriver.

And after 20 minutes of trial and error, I shocked myself when I was able to open the cabinet ! I was ecstatic and astounded at the same time. And my next reaction was: "Hey ! I got a new skill !" There was still the other half of the cabinet locked and so to test my newly acquired skill and to prove to myself that it wasn't just luck, I tried picking the other lock.

Since I had some practice from the first lock, I was able to open this lock in 10 minutes. "So it's not luck !" I exclaimed. I was beginning to think if I could do this for other locks too, but didn't bother to try out any other lock cause I already spent around a half an hour trying to open the cabinet.

Funny thing about this all is that not more than 20 minutes after I was able to successfully pick and open two locked cabinet doors, my mom finally found her set of keys. I could've just waited a few more minutes and I wouldn't have to try opening the cabinet... but I didn't mind cause I acquired a new skill: "lock-picking".

300 People Participate in a Pinoy Flash Mob Dance

2009-08-20T18:16:00.000+08:00

A couple of bloggers, including me and some guests from the media were invited to the Mall of Asia last August 8. All we knew was that Jollibee invited us to witness an exciting event. We had no clue what the event was nor what was is about. Everything was kept a secret.

All we were told was to proceed to the 2nd floor of the main building near the entrance cause we would have the best view of the event. When we all got there, we were as clueless as all the other mall-goers strolling around the mall and shopping.

And then we heard loud dance music. We looked down and saw a guy breakdancing. A few seconds after, the people nearby who looked like innocent mall-goers suddenly joined in the dancing. By this time, the dancers caught the people's attention who gathered around to watch what was going on. People watching at the ground level were constantly surprised cause a guy or girl beside them would immediately join in on the dancing. Little by little, people of all ages and different walks of life were dancing in sync to such wonderful choreography.

Soon were we to discover that the total people dancing reached a whopping 300 ! Kids, teens, adults, parents and even some grandparents were part of the exciting dance. Then, all of them took off their shirts, revealing a Jollibee t-shirt underneath. The newest Jollibee jingle "Iisang Sarap" by Parokya ni Edgar was played and they all danced to the catchy song commemorating the Jollibee Yumburger. 3 huge tarpaulins on the 2nd floor were also unveiled simultaneously revealing the cause of the event.

The dance lasted for four solid minutes of fun, excitement and surprise. It was so exciting to witness one of the country's biggest viral campaigns.

I figured that there must have been a huge amount of planning and secrecy to make this event possible. And I was right. The dance was choreographed by much-renowned dance gurus, Whiplash and directed by popular TV and music video director, Mark Reyes. Aside from that, you have 300 people who were in on the big secret that rehearsed for this big event. And the SM Mall of Asia had to be in on the secret too, but despite the easy urge to promote the event, they stuck to its essence to catch everybody offguard and witness the biggest flash mob dance in the Philippines.

It's so exciting that I hope I could be a part of something like this in the future... and be one of those dancing and surprising people.

Check out their official website at http://bestyoucanbee.com

Take A Hike

2009-08-17T09:31:00.009+08:00

I don't mind walking from one place to another as long as

it's not a hot sunny day or else I'll get drenched in perspiration
it's not raining or else I'll get drenched in rain
it's not polluted or else I'll be feeding my body unecessary waste

If it takes the same time to wait for transportation as the time it takes to walk from point A to point B, then walking is my best bet. And besides, I haven't been able to do my jogging rounds due to the unpredictable weather lately.

There are just some things that I'd rather not encounter when walking:

Bumps & Holes. Uneven sidewalks, lack of sidewalks or worse, no sidewalk for pedestrians will pose as hazards for my walking pleasure. I wouldn't want to turn my back every single second checking that I'm not in any close call with death from a raging jeep or an out of control car.
Noise Pollution. I easily get startled. And so trucks that have the horns of a cargo ship scare the living daylights out of me enough for my entire body to shake. Construction sites also provide the additional (unwelcomed) benefit of falling debris aside from the noisy hammering and drilling.
Creeps & Bums. If I need to hold my breath for 10 seconds or more because of a smelly person I pass by, I'd rather cross the road and spare the breathing exercise. Much worse are creeps that look suspicious enough to make you clench your bag and get ready to run for your life if they attack you.
Higad. Yes, higad. If you happen to walk through a park or a heavily tree-shaded walkway, be prepared for anything to fall on you. Leaves are okey. Branches may hurt especially if it's bigger than your arm. Flowers can be a delight. Fruits can leave a bump on your head and render you unconscious if it's a coconut. But higad (caterpillars) can really leave a nasty itch when they come into contact with your skin.
Birds. Rarely do they dive down and land on your head. So don't worry much about this. I'm talking about birds who release "bombs" that could land on you at gravitational speeds. In the vernacular, "ipot". So when you look at the sky, try to keep your mouth closed. That's possibly the worst part of your body to be victimized by a bird. In the military, you call that a "direct hit!".

Overall, walking is good for your health. So as long as you can avoid some of these obsctacles and unfortunate situations, I say enjoy the walk and take a hike.

Triple H VS. Jimmy Fallon

2009-08-13T13:54:00.004+08:00

Here's an interview of WWE Superstar Triple H by Jimmy Fallon.

Some highlights of the clip:

Triple H gets a WWE-like entrance and comes down from the stairs to a live band playing one of his theme songs "Bow Down To The King"... awesome !
Triple H makes fun of Ashton Kutcher saying the loser of the match may be forced to tweet about it, giving Ashton a big blow being an active tweeter.
When asked if he had a twitter account, Triple H said "No. I don't know how to tweet or twat. And a lot of people who do tweet are twits", further jabbing Ashton to a near verbal pinfall.
a preview of the Smackdown VS Raw 2010 video game where Triple H wrestles against a downloadable Jimmy Fallon character.
Jimmy Fallon's wrestling character is hilarious ! He enters the area, scratches his back and trips while walking to the ring. He gets into the ring and does the running man, gets a beating, makes a couple of hits to Triple H but shortlived, and gets pummeled by Triple H till he receives the finisher Pedigree, and holds his head in pain. So hilarious !

The Balikbayan Box

2009-08-06T15:54:00.002+08:00

I admit our family received a couple of these from the States when I was a kid.

If you're a Filipino, you know exactly what's inside one. But just in case you forgot, listen to this song to know what's inside.

The lyrics of the song is funny but true. It's like a TV commercial !

Rest In Peace Cory Aquino

2009-08-01T07:22:00.007+08:00

The Philippines' former President Cory Aquino, passed away at 3:18 AM August 1, 2009, due to cardio-respiratory arrest. She was 76 years old.

She was diagnosed with colon cancer last year. Last May, she underwent surgery for colon removal. In June, she was brought to the Makati Medical Center for her loss of appetite, but due to her declining health, she wasn't discharged from the hospital.

Cory will be mostly remembered for People Power, the peaceful revolt of the Filipinos to overthrow the current administration and end the Marcos regime. I remember I was a kid then and our family went to EDSA during one of those historic days in February 1986 to witness the people power phenomenon which was being followed worldwide.

When she became the president, she was highly looked upon by the world and world leaders being the very first woman president of a nation. She left a legacy that will be remembered for generations to come.

Yellow has been the symbol of Cory and Ninoy Aquino. In homage and honor to your service, allow me to post this ribbon in both your memories.

Tita Cory, Rest in Peace.

My Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs

2009-07-30T21:45:00.008+08:00

Here's my personal 10 choices for influential blogs for 2009.

Marikina Life - know what you can do and where to go in the beautiful clean city of Marikina

http://marikinalife.com

JayDJ's Photoblog - I'm voting for my personal photo blog. I post photos I think are worth sharing.

http://jaydjphoto.blogspot.com

Numbrd - looking at the world in terms of numbers

http://numbrd.com

Pinoy Tech Podcast - one of the new tech podcasts. Talking about tech stuff without much of the nosebleed techie terms.

http://www.pinoytechpodcast.com

Let's Go Sago! - It's the travel and food blog of my blogger friend Jonel. Plus, I like sago. :)

http://www.LetsGoSago.net

Patay Gutom - a food blog with a twisted but catchy name !

http://www.pataygutom.com

Gagong Kasabihan - If you don't want to think much, this is the blog to visit. Kababawan lang, ayos na !

http://gagongkasabihan.blogspot.com

Video Chops - video blogs really take much effort. Imagine the hours and effort of creating a video just to go in to a simple post where other blogs only need to type a few words.

http://videochops.com

Cebu Bloggers - I've met a lot of Cebu bloggers and they've united to share their thoughts online.

http://www.cebubloggers.com

The Thirsty Blogger - I love to drink and taste new drinks. What better way to share what you've tried than to blog about it.

http://www.thirstyblogger.com

Check out the entire writing project and tally list at http://www.influentialblogger.net

. To learn more about the writing project, visit http://www.influentialblogger.net/2009/05/join-top-10-emerging-influential-blogs.html

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Absolute Traders, My Brute Cheats, Business Summaries, Fitness Advantage Club, Events and Corporate Video, Events at Work, Dominguez Marketing Communications, Red Mobile, Budget hotel in Makati, and Blog4Reviews.com.

Manny Pacquiao on a Jeep

2009-07-18T17:07:00.002+08:00

Saw this jeep the other day. I guess with all of Manny Pacquiao's earnings from his success, you could say that.

Represent the Philippines for WWE's Street Team

2009-07-18T14:57:00.005+08:00

I've been a subscriber for the Wrestling Online newsletter for over 8 years. And I've been their unofficial Philippine correspondent sending them WWE news whenever WWE comes to the Philippines for house shows. That's how big a fan I am of wrestling.

That's why I was excited to learn that WWE is looking for fans to be a part of their new International Street Team program.

This new initiative is available to fans worldwide. A person from each country will be chosen to monitor WWE television shows, confirm time slots and provide feedback on the company's presence in their country. Members who will be chosen will be receiving free tickets to shows, exclusive merchandise and more.

I would've applied for this but WWE is predominantly being aired on Jack TV and I don't get to watch the remaining Raw and Smackdown shows on RPN 9 on Saturday nights. Plus, I don't think I would have any time left to do this. Otherwise, it is a great opportnunity to let the WWE and the world know you're a fan.

You can apply by going to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/wwestreetteam/

Goodluck and let me know if you make it to the WWE ! Represent !

7-Eleven Wants You To Eat Their Hotdogs FAST !

2009-07-14T22:59:00.004+08:00

Whenever I'm on the road, and I need a break from traffic, or it's too late and almost all stores and restaurants are closed, or I just want to grab a bite of their delicious hotdogs with their unique Manhattan dressing and a super cold slurpee, I go to 7-Eleven.

7-Eleven has been my all-time favorite convenience store ever since. They have a wide variety of foods to choose from all packed in a cozy convenience store. That's why when I learned that 7-Eleven was holding an eating contest, I just had to find out what it was all about.

It's called the 1st BigBite Hotdog-Eating Challenge. From June 26 up until August 15 2009, anyone can go to the nearest 7-Eleven store and buy the Big Bite Match Combo that contains five jumbo hotdog sandwiches of their choice and one Big Gulp all neatly packed in a kiddie-like lunch box for only P150. This serves as your official entry kit to the Big Bite Match. It's a clocked eating competition where a 7-Eleven representative will time you until you finish all 5 hotdogs and the big gulp. The 20 fastest times from all 7-Eleven branches nationwide will advance to the semi-finals.

The twenty Semi-Finalists then compete by eating the most number of hotdog sandwiches in five minutes. The top 7 contestants move on to the finals round. The seven finalists will compete by eating the most number of hotdog sandwiches in ten minutes. And the winner gets a whopping grand prize of half a million pesos !

I have a big apetite but I eat slow. So I guess, I'll forego my chances and cheer on you guys. If you have what it takes, may be you may win the half a million pesos and be crowned the 1st Filipino hotdog-eating champion. For complete details and mechanics on how to join, visit eatingmachinesphilippines.com for more information.

Do you have what it takes to down a hotdog in record time ? How bout trying it out at 7-Eleven today !

WWE Smackdown / ECW in Manila Results

2009-07-11T09:43:00.009+08:00

It was a rainy Friday afternoon as the WWE Superstars from Smackdown and ECW brands were scheduled to perform in Manila, Philippines as part of the last leg of the South East Asia tour on July 10, 2009. Yet the downpour didn't stop wrestling fans to attend the one-night only event at the Araneta Coliseum.

There were lots of excited kids, fans with their favorite WWE shirts, some lucky people with title belts and face masks and those people who have witty signs set to hold up high during matches.

Here are some highlights:

A guy wearing a Mysterio mask at the Upper Box area got fans all excited that a lot of people had their picture taken with him. He also kept on making the Mysterio sign of the cross trademark from the top of the steel stairs which made fans cheer for him.
Christian worked up the crowd a lot and he got everyone to cheer for him and Tommy Dreamer, and boo the hell out of Swagger. He even got the crowd to cheer for the referee who got the loudest props.
The Great Khali was huge and Maria, even though she was just a special guest referee, was the sexiest of all the Divas.
Despite allof Chris Jericho's dissing the Pinoys at the event, everybody still cheered for him. I guess he was wondering why no one was getting pissed.
It was an honor to have WWE hall-of-famer Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat on board the Smackdown/ECW tour, even if only to be a guest referee.
Gail Kim shined in the Divas tag team match with her high-flying fast-paced moves and earned new-found respect and appreciation for those who weren't familiar with her.
Before the match, Chris Jericho told Rey Mysterio he'd remove off his mask... and he did when he threw Mysterio out of the ring during the early part of the match. Mysterio had to cover his face for a while and put his mask back on. Everybody stood up to see what he looked like but the ring blocked the view for most.

Here are the results:

John Morrison defeats Shelton Benjamin
Mark Henry defeats Evan Bourne
Divas Match
Gail Kim and Melina defeats Michelle McCool and Alicia
Special Guest Referee: Maria
The Great Khali defeats Ziggler
Triple Threat Match for the ECW Title
Christian vs. Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer
Tommy Dreamer pins Swagger to retain title
Intercontintal Title Match
Rey Mysterio defeats Chris Jericho to retain title
Special Guest Referee: Ricky The Dragon Steamboat
World Heavyweight Title Match
CM Punk defeats Jeff Hardy to retain title

Too bad Edge was injured. He was one of the main-event wrestlers everybody wanted to see. The Undertaker, Matt Hardy, Umaga and Kane weren't on the tour either. Everybody was hopefully anticipating Batista to make a surprise appearance, even if only to greet the fans. But I guess due to his injury, he didn't make it.

I had a great time and with all my cheering and booing going on for the faces and heels, I got tired by the time it was the last match where fan-cheering was at an all-time high. I guess I need to conserve my cheers next time so I can make it to the end. hahahaha!

Overall, this is still a WWE event and I love WWE ! Thanks and looking forward to the next WWE Philippine tour !

Don't Stop To Ask... I'll Be There

2009-07-09T12:29:00.003+08:00

This is a simple tribute by Swing Out Sister to the late Michael Jackson. I never thought two of my idols would be mentioned in one song, since they reside from two completely different genres. Nevertheless, I love the Swing Out Sister sound and their medley rendition to Michael Jackson's "I'll Be There".

Thanks for the memories MJ.

A Puto-flooded Birthday

2009-07-02T12:19:00.010+08:00

It's a delayed post but I was really planning on making a birthday post.

So how did I spend my day ?

Well, I woke up as early as 5am cause I usually start my birthday by going to church. My parents decided to join me. I guess I also mentioned that breakfast afterwards is my treat. After mass, we headed to Rocha's to buy some special puto. Their puto is so soft and tasty that it can virtual melt in your mouth with minimal chewing.

Then we passed by the Marikina Sports Center to check if my tito and tita were there exercising. If they were, I wanted to invite them for breakfast too. Luckily, they were there and so we all headed to McDonalds. I chose the McDonalds branch which had a McCafe so I could order a slice of cake to serve as my birthday cake. Unforunately, parking was full so we moved to the other McDonalds branch just across the street. This branch was brand new that it was freezing cold inside. But with the morning rays penetrating the glass, the temperature was just fine.

So after all of us ordering a big McDonalds breakfast, we whipped out the box of puto to complement our coffee. I think one of the crew members was guessing where the box of puto on our table came from. Since we got a complimentary newspaper (and refillable coffee), I went straight to the Horoscope section of the Inquirer to find out what special message was in store for those born on that day. And here it is:

"People easily are enamored of you. You are clever, witty and charming. You also have a delightful romantic streak that can seduce others. (Romance is paramount to you!) You're a shrewd judge of human character; you love to share your views about humanity with others. Work hard to build or construct something this year. Your rewards will soon follow."

I think I like my horoscope... very much.

After breakfast, we all headed to my tita's house cause I mentioned that I needed a coat for an upcoming event. And it's a good thing that one of her son-in-laws left his coat in their house before migrating to Canada simply because it didn't fit him anymore. And guess what ? It was a perfect fit on me ! My tita also honestly thought I was 7 years younger than my age. I love my tita ! :D

When I got home, I replied to the many people who greeted me via my mobile, e-mail and over the phone. Thanks everybody ! Every year since 1995, I've been getting birthday greeting cards and less of them as the years gone by. This year, I guess everything is now digital. Cause I didn't receive any cards anymore. Oh well, any which way the greeting gets to me is much appreciated.

Since I started my day early, it was still morning by this time and I decided to get some tasks done. So I went to the dry cleaners to have the coat cleaned and passed by the bank to settle some bills. Right across the bank was a Tunay na Pancit Malabon branch. I figured that since this year, I didn't plan of any noodle dishes for the day (for long life), I'd get pancit malabon. And since I love the taste of their miniature puto, I bought a pack of them with the pancit.

I just realized it when I got back home that I already bought a box of puto earlier. Oh well, puto and pancit for long life !

After lunch, I didn't have any plans of going out since I had some work to finish. That's when the day went downhill for me. It suddenly became gloomy. Then it started to rain. I wasn't surprised because every year, it rains on my birthday. It never fails. I'd be surprised if it didn't rain. What I didn't expect was the weather to turn into violent winds and heavy downpour. And so after almost 2 hours of non-stop rain, the inevitable happened, we got flooded. In Marikina, that's common. But we were caught unprepared and so we had to lift up our things and place them somewhere elevated all while flood water was rushing in our house. Luckily, only our kitchen, sala and dining room where mildly in water. I say luckily, cause it was just about an inch. The worst we've experienced was waist high inside the entire house. So this wasn't a challenge for us. It was just a hassle since the rest of my birthday afternoon turned into general housecleaning when the water subsided. To make matters worse, we didn't have electricity for 4 hours during that time.

More of my friends were greeting me on my phone and asked how I was doing. When I told them that there was heavy rains here, they said, that's a blessing. If that's so, I think I'll be expecting overflowing blessings since it flooded here.

And so by the time I finally got to rest, clean myself up and go online, it were the people from the other side of the world who were awake and greeted me online. Thanks!

I usually don't celebrate my birthday as most people do. I'd like to be alone, reflect more on the year that has passed and give thanks as well as wishing for another great year ahead of me. And that's more important than an unexpected turn of events for the day. Cause looking back, the greatest event that happened to me in my past year was becoming engaged. And before my next birthday, I'll be married.

Happy Birthday to me !

Cutting Edge Scissors

2009-07-01T14:57:00.003+08:00

I'm not surprised when new gadgets come around at such a fast turnover. Based on Moore's law, circuitry doubles every 2 years. And it holds true for processor speed, data storage, bandwidth and the like.

Then on the other hand, there are common things that you wouldn't expect to go beyond what it has been for all time - take office supplies. I guess you could argue that pens used to be feathers with ink on the tips, a far cry of what the ergonomic ballpens are of today. Pencils used to have lead... and they still do until now. Paper has been sold in more forms and colors now, but it's still paper. Paste and glue are still sticky as it was decades ago. So what could possibly push these common office supplies to a higher level ?

That's exactly my question until I found this in my e-mail. Hi-tech scissors. These two scissors have their own unique features. The first one isn't fancy... just your plain 'ol pair of scissors. But it has a built-in laser beam to serve as a guide for cutting. Now that's pretty impressive. If it would make my crooked cutting straight, then, the laser would come in handy !

The 2nd pair of scissors is more of a shredder. If you need to destroy important documents, this 5 stainless steel blade scissors will make 5 shreds in one cut. It's like using 5 scissors at once !

I haven't seen both of these yet but I'd like to take a look at them first hand.

Just when you thought scissors couldn't get any better, they do. Now ain't that on the cutting edge !

Michael Jackson - My Idol, Dies

2009-06-26T07:41:00.002+08:00

I woke up today excited that it's a Friday and I'm attending an exciting event tonight. As I went online, I was surprised to find out people on twitter and plurk scampering for confirmation whether Michael Jackson was dead or not. I was hoping it was just a rumor and wasn't true.

However, minutes after, CNN showed breaking news of Michael Jackson and announced that his death has been confirmed. It's so sad.

He was my idol both for his music and dancing. I grew up to his music. I would watch his dance moves in awe. I would attempt to try out his dance moves. I would listen to his songs endlessly.

When Michael toured and visited the Philippines, I was determined to watch his concert. I even brought a sequins-bedazzled glove to the concert as tribute and to show my support.

As a musical arranger, he was also an influence to my compositions and arrangements. He made me appreciate Pop so much more. His beats, whether as simple as Billie Jean's catchy baseline to the Dangerous' complex multi-track arrangement was all inspiring.

When youtube suddenly became a hit for video on demand, the first videos I watched were all Michael Jackson videos. I'd watch performances of other fans do the moonwalk. His songs are permanently on my mp3 player and mobile.

It is such a tragic loss and sad day for the entertainment world today.

A great dancer, a talented musician, a legendary performer... a total entertainer.

Rest in Peace Michael. Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you for the memories. I will always remember you.

TV Jargon and a Jarhead

2009-06-16T00:53:00.004+08:00

I had the unique task of accompanying my parents to buy a new TV. I thought it would be that simple. I was wrong. And I guess that was the very reason why my parents requested me to help them shop for one.

The simplest of tasks was to go to the appliance stores and scout out the TV section. Then look at all the brands and prices and choose from there. Simple right ? Wrong !

First of all, there are a myriad of brands now of televisions. What used to be only a predominantly "Sony" market is now filled with equally good brands like JVC, LG, Samsung, Phillips, Pioneer, Toshiba, Sanyo, Sharp and the less popular ones and never-heard (by me) brands like Devant, Konka, Rainbow, Sansui, Chongwang, Pensonic and the list goes on and on.

All I knew was that my parents wanted a flat screen TV and they depended on me to give a recommendation based on features and price. As I carefully looked and read each TV specifications, the respective salesmen also gave their sales pitch on features and why their brand is the best. This is where the hard part began.

Suddenly, I was blasted with terms like Trumotion, Bravia Engine, Series 4-7, T, V & W Series, HDMI, 1080HD, 720p, pixel ratios, megapixel rates and many many more terminologies that I had the salesmen explain cause I was at a lost.

To make matters worse, each brand have their own terminologies and models making it difficult to just compare and contrast each TV with the other brands. Heck, I even had a hard time comparing different models of the same brand !

So when I was asked by my parents which was the best TV, I couldn't give a direct answer. I said it simply wasn't that easy. It really depended on which factor. Like if it was in terms of parts, I'd choose Sony or Samsung. If it was in terms of price, I'd choose Samsung or LG. If it was in terms of top of the line features, I'd choose Sony or Philips. If it was in terms of sound clarity, I'd choose Sony or Pioneer. If it was in terms of energy efficiency, I'd choose LG. And the if's would go on and on.

In the end (around 2 hours of deliberating), we finally agreed to get the LG 32" flat LCD for its picture quality and discounted price. And our choice didn't disappoint.

What was disappointing though was that finally after choosing the TV we wanted to buy, this salesman representing another brand, kept on badmouthing the particular brand and model we got. It was like a desperate move on him for us to change our minds and buy his brand instead. I hope that despite the competitiveness of salesmen to sell and push their brands that they don't resort to sabotaging their colleagues' brand just to make a sale. After all, it's the customer who's right and it's our right to choose whatever appliance we want.

Ayos Dito !

2009-06-06T09:12:00.002+08:00

I'm always on the lookout for new websites and new things to do on the web. It's kinda hard sometimes to discover a new website simply because it stays unhidden. But thanks to websites like www.AyosDito.ph, the catchy site's name makes it interesting to learn exactly why it is "ayos dito".

AyosDito.ph is the newest Pinoy buy and sell website. Post anything you need to sell and while you're there, check out anything you might see worth buying. The searching process makes it easier since their ads are categorized by region. So there's no need to go through the painstaking process of finding a car you like and wanna buy only to find out that the car and it's owner is in Zamboanga.

Being a musical enthusiast, I immediately checked for some musical instruments up for sale and found a long range of electric guitars of different brands and models including a lot of guitar accessories.

Looking for something not available in stores or in the market anymore ? Hunting down that collector's item CD you always wanted but couldn't find it for its rarity ? Or simply looking for a great deal you can avail on. Check out www.AyosDito.ph. They have new items every day.

Caution: May be addicting.

3G Now Affordable For Everybody

2009-06-01T08:05:00.003+08:00

I remember 2 years ago, while I was making the leap from dial-up to broadband, there was a waiting period for my DSL application. And since I needed fast internet access immediately, I opted to buy the cheapest 3G enabled phone in the market. Unfortunately, during that time, the cheapest handset from any brand capable of fast speeds cost a little close to P10,000. But since I needed the connection, I got it anyway.

Since then, I've been checking out prices of 3G phones and if the market prices would lower. Last year, LG released one for around P6,000. But just recently, Red Mobile released the cheapest 3G phone in the market for only P3,290.

Along with their new handsets, Red Mobile is also rolling out very affordable usage rates. They have the cheapest call rates for only P0.50 per minute for inter-network Red Mobile calls. That's like a 10 minute call only for P5.00, even cheaper than a landline call on a pay phone. What's even more spectacular is that their video calls are also priced at P0.50 per minute. With those rates, you can make a video call and have someone virtually attend a birthday party any other momentous ocassion for a cheap price.

And with Red Mobile's various affordable new mobile handsets to choose from, your 3G experience will be complemented with your new mobile phone's experience. Red Mobile recently released 4 new 3G capable phone models, Verzio Duplii, Nokia 3120 C, Red Mobile SPARK and Red Mobile FLAME.

Among the four, the Verzio Duplii seems to be a new brand not familiar with majority of the public. Verzio is a Singapore-based manufacturer which introduced its new Duplii phone, the first dual-SIM handset. The phone features a "simultaneous dual mode standby" and is able to handle two incoming calls from both SIM cards. It also includes a 2 Megapixel camera, a 2.2" QVGA TFT screen, a microSD slot, and an integrated media player.

With all these new offerings from Red Mobile, using 3G is as cheap as sending text messages. Experience 3G now with Red Mobile.

Sky Garden In An Ever-Evolving City

2009-05-26T23:18:00.009+08:00

I have very fond memories of SM City North EDSA. When it newly opened in 1985, our family visited the new mall and even back then, we were already fascinated at how big the mall was. I was still a kid then and we loved going to the amusement center where we would play, win and collect tickets which I even have till this very day. I remember catching glimpses of celebrities, both local and foreign, who would visit the mall to perform and hold autograph sessions at the SM Entertainment Plaza. I was even able to catch a live episode of Family Kwarta o Kahon hosted by Pepe Pimentel when it used to tape there. And snacking at the food court and rest was a must after all the excitement afterwards.

When I was in college, my classmates and I would go to SM City North EDSA to watch a movie during our breaktime. I even remember that we watched two movies straight at the SM Cinemas when we learned that we had a 6 hour break in between classes for that day. When I graduated from Ateneo, my very first job was a musical arranger and I had to collaborate with my co-arranger who lived in Valenzuela. We would regularly meet over merienda at Wendy's at the SM Annex to talk about our next song. And after a heavy brainstorming session, we'd relax by playing some rounds of bowling at the SM Bowling Center. When I needed to buy computer parts, I'd go to Cyberzone which used to be located where the carpark is. I bought my very first hi-tech mobile phone there too. I guess in a way, I grew up with the City as it evolved during the years.

And now that SM City North EDSA introduces The Sky Garden, the newest addition to its ever-growing city, I couldn't let the opportunity slip to learn and experience this new addition. After all, it's because of this newest addition that SM City North EDSA is now the largest mall in the Philippines.

The entire Sky Garden is an elevated structure connecting SM's The Block, the City Center and The Annex as well as the overpasses crossing EDSA and North Ave. Living up to its name, the Sky Garden is beautifully landscaped with trimmed grass, green tress and groomed bushes. I later learned that the Roof Garden has fifty five botanical species which grow on lightweight garden soil. I couldn't help but notice that simply strolling around the Sky Garden leaves very few traces that you're actually beside a very busy highway. It actually takes you away from the busy metropolis and gives you a feeling of serenity without having to go far away.

In addition to the tranquil green scenery, there are various ponds and fountains spaciously spreaded out at the Sky Garden. There's the calm and soothing pond surrounding the soon-to-open Starbucks Coffee, multiple mini fountains parallel to the walkways, and the most spectacular waterfall leading from the Sky Garden to the ground level. The waterfall is a 2-storey drop from the Sky Garden to another pond at the base near the bus terminal. Who would've known that EDSA would gain such a scenic waterfall courtesy of the Sky Garden ?

Cafes, grills and eateries are conveniently positioned along the walkways. You could snack, dine, or simply have a cup of coffee at the Sky Garden. And even if the mall closes, you can hang out at the Sky Garden because they offer patrons extended hours.

At the heart and center of the Sky Garden is the Sky Dome. This is the newest venue for events which can accommodate more than a thousand people. Half of the dome-shaped top is transparent. You may even be able to see the moon and the stars on a bright night even from inside the Sky Dome.

The main artery of the Sky Garden are the well lit and covered walkways leading to different parts of the Garden as well as to and from the malls. I was also impressed by the sound system for the entire Sky Garden as state-of-the-art Boss branded speakers are placed in each section of the covered walk's stretch. Whether playing relaxing music or a making a public service announcement, everybody within the Sky Garden will surely hear it.

Another thing I noticed is that the entire Sky Garden is curved. From the covered winding walkways, to posts and establishments within the Sky Garden including the Sky Dome, everything is curved. It breaks out from our notion of malls being square or rectangular buildings with stores in them. most of the artistic structures also follow that fashion. It's another reason for its uniqueness.

Take a stroll with your loved one. Hang out with your friends. Watch an event at the Dome. Or simply admire the surroundings.

Overall, the Sky Garden is one beautiful sight. I'm thrilled with SM City North EDSA's newest addition. A city never stops evolving and the Sky Garden is a perfect addition for people in a busy city. After all, what would a city be without a garden ?

Latest Addition to The SM City: Sky Garden

2009-05-25T10:28:00.003+08:00

Here's a photoglimpse of the Sky Garden and Sky Dome, the newest attraction of SM City North EDSA.

(My article to follow)

What Happens When Letters Fade Away

2009-05-24T19:56:00.005+08:00

This sign kinda read "Wac Afakan Ng Jhuran"

It sounded kinda like gay linggo.

The actual, unerased sign is this:

"Wag Takapakan Ang Luhuran"

(Don't step on the kneeling area)

Another SM Mall Wifi-ed

2009-05-16T12:12:00.003+08:00

Last May 15, bloggers were invited an afternoon at The Block, SM North EDSA for a wifi testing event. I was present during their first wifi testing at SM City Marikina and so it was interesting to find out how fast and stable the connection was.

The bloggers registered at the 4th floor (cinema level) and was free to roam around the mall to check the signal and go online. I was equipped with a wifi-enabled PDA and my laptop and tried to connect at KFC. Unfortunately, my PDA couldn't detect the signal. My laptop did though. After having a snack, I went back to the bloggers area were chairs, tables and sockets were available for bloggers assure everyone they and their laptops would make it through the afternoon.

I did a bit of blogging, chatting and surfing plus checked some business e-mails and didn't encounter any difficulties in connecting. Some bloggers mentioned that the speed is fast. When I heard that, I opted to see it for myself and so I downloaded a podcast and watched a video on youtube. The speed was like my DSL speed at home. That's pretty impressive considering I'm within a range of bloggers all equipped to use the bandwidth simultaneously. The video buffered a bit but I also think it was because I was heavily multitasking on a slow laptop.

I saw some people accessing the internet via their PSPs or mobile phones... pretty convenient to access the net when you're in a hotspot as big as The Block.

Overall, the wifi testing was interesting. Nice to see the bloggers and each of their colorful, customized laptops in different shapes (ok, all of them were rectangular) and sizes.

Congratulations to the chicken who won the laptop ! I was just behind you ! hehehehe!

Buy One Take One CD & DVD Sale !

2009-05-16T09:35:00.008+08:00

Universal Records always has these great warehouse sales every few months. That's why I never fail to go to each of their super sales. This time, it's a buy one take one CD & DVD Sale. They have wide selections to choose from. Looking for those expensive CDs you never got to buy cause you couldn't afford them ? Well now's your chance to complete your collection ! For prices as low as P40. and up you can get 2 CDs ! There are lots of genres to choose from, jazz, pop, rock, opm, instrumental, disco, classic, standard.. you name it, they have it.

There are also lots of movie and video titles to choose from. Even boxed sets of popular TV series' like Monk and Las Vegas are available at discounted prices.

I was there on its first day and there were already lots of people buying CDS in the bulk. Everybody had a box as their shopping cart and slowly each customer filled their boxes up with CDs to buy. I bought 10 CDs for a total of P260. I was also surprised to see cassette tapes being sold for two pesos each ! That's even cheaper than a blank tape !

The sale will be on every Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from now till June 7. So that's May 15,16,17, then 22,23,24, followed by 29,30,31 and on June 5, 6 and 7. The sale is at the 10th floor of Universal Tower, 1487 Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. The building is also where the Smart Wireless Center is. It's almost across Crossings Department Store.

I'll definitely be going back again to check out the other titles. Hurry and buy a ton of CDs at cheap prices !

View Larger Map

Pacquiao Wins, An Entire Nation Celebrates

2009-05-04T08:08:00.000+08:00

Manny Pacquiao won the highly anticipated boxing match against Britain's Ricky Hatton in around 6 minutes. I think Pacman overestimated Hatton.

Also, the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight title, Batista, accompanied Manny to the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, for his fight. You could see Batista standing right behind the boxer in the long line of entourage due to his massize size compared to normal Filipino build. The former champ is half Filipino and half Greek and is a big fan of Pacquiao.

As usual, the Philippines stopped in time as everyone was glued to a TV or widescreen in anticipation of the fight. During the morning and part of the afternoon, streets were deserted, churches were half filled, people either stayed in to watch the fight on TV or go to a stadium, sports bar or cinema where the fight would be shown live via satellite.

To Manny Pacquiao: congratulations ! You've brought glory once again to the Filipino.

Read The Inflight Magazine Without Flying

2009-05-02T08:29:00.003+08:00

I just discovered the Cebu Pacific's Inflight Magazine has its own website. It's called Smile Magazine and you can check it out at http://www.cebusmile.com.

They feature travel, tours, sights, sounds and entertainment. It's just enough to read during your 1 to 2 hour flight. Browse the magazine in the comforts of your own home without distractions from a noisy plane seatmate, a stewardess offering snacks or someone needing to go to the bathroom and you're in the way.

Now I don't have to fly just to be able to get a glimpse of their magazine. Now if only the site had printable barf bags too.

You're Gonna Get It

2009-04-30T09:06:00.004+08:00

How funny it is when the woman says the word "CRIME !", I think she means it. LOL!

A Dying City

2009-04-28T06:10:00.003+08:00

If you've been on the internet at least 10 years ago, then chances are you may have heard of Geocities. You may even had an account with them and created your first webpage there.

Geocities is a free web page and hosting service that became immensely popular way back then... so popular that Yahoo! bought them in 1999. It offered people a chance to own a part of online real estate in the form of a website instead of just being a passive internet surfer.

I remember all those long cryptic URLs that had everyone exchanging links and telling their friends to visit. You had a URL with a virtual city name and a 4 digit address. I had one too, but I just couldn't memorize my address and I may have got buried in my decade old e-mail signatures.

With the advent of social networks, cheaper web hosting and simply more alternatives to their free web service, Geocities is no longer accepting new registrations and existing users will have till the end of the year before Geocities will be declared a ghost town.

Thanks for the memories Geocities.

Funny Denominations

2009-04-27T21:40:00.001+08:00

I learned something today: You can't counterfeit something that has not existed yet. It's not illegal too, unless you start to try and use it for illegal purposes. It makes sense.

How did I come about this ?

Well my dad gave me some old monetary bills from an old collection of his which he never got to display. It was just in an envelope and contained several small bills from different countries, Portugal, Chile, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam , Peru and the United States.

Excited to find out if any of these old bills had any value, I turned to the internet to find out. And since the US Dollar bill is the most popular of them all, I checked that first.

I then found out that some fake denominations were released at one point in time by different individuals either as novelty items. Some people though intended it to attempt fraud.

Some weird denominations that never existed were $22, $200, 1 million dollars, $1,329,063 and 1 billion dollars.

The 1 million dollar tales of failed attempts to use it were hilarious and at the same time a dumb move on the part of the suspect. Here's a few:

In March 2004, Alice Regina Pike attempted to use a $1,000,000 bill with a picture of the Statue of Liberty on the front to purchase $1671.55 in goods from a Wal-Mart in Covington, Georgia, for which she was arrested.

In November 2007, Alexander D. Smith tried to open a bank account in Aiken County, South Carolina, by depositing a $1,000,000 bill. The bank employee refused to deposit the bill and called the police. Smith was immediately arrested on a charge of forgery.

Do they really think people are stupid enough to fall for this ? Or are they stupid enough to think that they're a genius ?

Coded Jeepney

2009-04-25T16:07:00.004+08:00

I saw this jeepney one morning and couldn't figure what anything on the jeep's rear meant.

It says "Wow ang itim!" (wow it's black) and a name "Katrina #2" with some numbers (1825).

I'm clueless.

Master Clapper

2009-04-23T19:57:00.003+08:00

I tried this and my palms got swollen, not to mention that I got confused and couldn't do it as fast as a fraction of the speed this guy claps. try it and you'll get confused too.

Introducing Kent, the world's fastest clapper.

I hate to be slapped by this guy.

Confusing Names To Confuse People

2009-04-22T00:05:00.005+08:00

Most things come in sizes: small, medium, large... big, bigger, biggest... small, huge and the like. Simple names to describe simple things.

Sometimes, though you'd encounter names that would need more brain power in determining just what is being presented to you. As for shirts, the common small, medium, large with xtra small and xtra large (and sometimes 2x and 3x large) fit both ends of the spectrum. At least everything is relative to each other.

Most fastfoods offer drinks but they always start with medium, then large. If there's a medium and large, how come there's no small ? Wendy's has a Biggie sized drink, which is like extra large.

What about Starbucks cup sizes ? I still get confused with the names they use: tall, venti and grande. I later found out that grande is Italian for "big" and venti is Italian for "twenty" which is the no. of ounces the grande size holds. So tall is small, grande is medium and venti is big? Confusing huh ?

With cinemas, there used to be three sections: orchestra, lodge and balcony. Now it's just orchestra and deluxe. But some people out of habit would call the upper portion balcony. Some cinemas call their seating sections deluxe and premiere. So is premiere the balcony and deluxe is reduced to orchestra ?

Speaking of "deluxe", how about hotel rooms ? Deluxe sounds like an above-average room for me, but for some hotels, deluxe is the chepeast and smallest room. Even a Junior sized room is bigger. And when you hear of a Junior suite, how come there isn't a Senior Suite which could pertain to a bigger room ? Instead it's an executive suite. And what's bigger, an executive suite or a presidential suite ? What's the difference ? Most of the time, I look at the prices cause numbers are easier to weigh on which is which than these names.

It's with these kind of names I cherish the computer acronym when coding programs, KISS : Keep It Simple Stupid !

Vienna Sausage Burger

2009-04-17T09:22:00.004+08:00

This creation was made out of necessity and trying to use whatever I could find in the refrigerator.

I was originally planning to make a hotdog for merienda the other day but I found out that the hotdogs were solid frozen and we didn't have any hotdog buns. I saw some hamburger buns on the table so I figured I'd use that instead.

And since I didn't want to wait for the hotdogs to thaw (even if I could just defrost it in the oven), I decided to open a can of vienna sausage and slice them into flat portions.

I checked the ref for some other ingredients I could use and happily found mayonaise, mozarella, pickle relish (sweet though, I like dill pickles more), cheese, lettuce. And since I wanted more, I put mustard, ketchup and sprinkled some bacon bits.

And so my vienna sausage burger grew and grew. I had to squash the burger to fit in my hand and mouth.

I think I'll make one of these babies again soon.

The US Ambassador Blogs

2009-04-13T08:44:00.004+08:00

I've been a blogger for quite a while and met a lot of great people. I've seen different kinds of blogs too: personal, political, food, travel, fashion, tech, local, global and whole lot more various kinds that may not even be classifiable.

I've seen personalities, political figures and celebrities jump in the bandwagon and have their own blogs too.

So this is a first for me and a real delight to discover that Kristie Kenney, the US Ambassador to the Philippines, has a blog too !

Aside from the role of being the official US ambassador to bridge any concerns of Americans residing in the Philippines and other duties of the Ambassador, Kristie Kenney is also active in representing and joining goodwill projects for the benefit of Filipinos. I was honored to have attended one event of MTV which promoted public awareness of human trafficking and what can be done to stop it.

I also got to see her last year when she was also the guest of honor at during the US Navy 7th Fleet free concert at the Mall of Asia.

And it was cool for her to be at the ribbon cutting of the very first Philippine branch of Krispy Kreme opening at Bonifacio High Street since both of them had the same initials (KK).

Check out her blog to know Kristie Kenney on a more personal level. Learn about her insights on the Philippines and culture through her perspective and find out what projects she's been involved with lately. Thanks Ms. Kenney for blogging !

Her blog is apltly entitled "The United States Embassy Manila - Ambassador's Official Blog".

Philippines Outshines The World in Earth Hour 2009

2009-04-04T09:50:00.005+08:00

Last March 28, 2009 at 8:30pm was Earth Hour where everyone was advised to turn off the lights for 1 whole hour to show support for energy conservation.

According to http://wwf.org.ph, the Philippines saved 611 MWh of power during the Earth Hour 20009, outshining the rest of the world. The Philippines beat all countries with its 650 cities participating with Greece and Australia placing at 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The power saved by the Philippines during the voluntary power off was equivalent to shutting down a dozen power plants for one hour.

Several simultaneous events happened around the nation to show support for Earch Hour. The SM chain of malls like SM Baguio, SM Cebu and SM Mall of Asia also showed support by conserving energy from their power-consuming malls. I was on the road driving by the Makati business district during Earth hour and it was very evident that Makati City was participating as the street lamps were all turned off and several landmarks and buildings were either dimmed or totally unlit. People from other barangays reverted to lighted candles during Earth hour in support.

Quoting a famous line in an animated movie "Light our darkest hour." Ironically, as dark as the Philippines was during Earth Hour, we outshined the world.

It's a great feeling to do something in your own little way, and yet feel being one with the world in sync with a common cause.

Autobot Truck

2009-04-01T23:48:00.003+08:00

This is one of the biggest transformers symbols I've seen on a vehicle. And it's on a huge truck.

Roll out !

Cool Your Summer

2009-04-01T23:35:00.003+08:00

Thank God for airconditioning ! These past weeks have been extremely hot and the heat is enough for anyone to stop doing anything and just conserve energy.

I started using my airconditioner for extended periods of time just to ease up on the heat. But even my aircon unit couldn't fight the heat of the day even at high fan speed and maximum power.

At this point, I knew it was time to have my aircon unit serviced.

You can clean the filter once in a while by yourself but when it comes to cleaning the insides of the aircon, you need a specialist. Good thing home service is only a phone call away. The 2 aircon specialists came the next day and pulled out my aircon unit to clean the insides. And it was shocking how much dust and dirt has accumulated inside. Of course, the way an aircon functions doesn't make it unusual how dust and dirt can cling inside.

While the unit was being cleaned, I also decided to clean the aircon bracket where the unit is housed in.

When all was clean, I noticed the change and quality of coolness the aircon blew. And it's a big difference !

I suggest you have your aircon units checked and cleaned in time for the intense summer heat.

Have a cool summer !

Lost and Found

2009-03-30T18:49:00.003+08:00

I just had to share this commercial about Ebay which I saw while I was searching for something. It's a very short clip but it captures the essence of reconnecting with a loss. I love the concept.

Now that I think of it, ebay is like a huge lost and found service.

Pepper and Peppers

2009-03-29T20:17:00.008+08:00

On day 2 of Davao Food Appreciation Tour, our first food stop was Pepper and Peppers. The beautiful owner was our host and made sure we were all served and full.

The place was cozy, though small. It compensated for the small dining area by adding tables outside to cater to additional diners. When you go inside, seats and tables are located left and right. The center is the aisle leading to the counter where a bar of different alcoholic beverages are displayed at.

Some of the dishes we were served with were baby back spare ribs, iberian chicken, crispy sisig and breaded fish. All their dishes were nicely decorated when served. The Iberian chicken was served in a huge transparent pyrex bowl, the baby back ribs and breaded fish in a square flat plate and crispy sisig in its standard sizzling black grill platter.

I was guessing that their foods would be spicy and hot based on the restaurant's name, but surprisingly, it isn't, which is perfectly fine with me. Everything was tasty and delectable. I especially liked the baby back ribs for it's tender texture and meaty contents.

All of the dishes served seemed to be good to serve 2 to 3 people each. Based on their other dishes in the menu, I'd love to sample more of their foods especially the peppered steak, so I could fully experience the name's specialty.

Pepper & Peppers is located at “The Site” , Jacinto Ext (near Bangko Sentral). Book your group in advance especially if you plan on ordering their Iberian chicken since they oven bake it for two hours. You can reach them at (082) 303-5955.

A Kangaroo in Davao

2009-03-27T18:11:00.007+08:00

Day 1 of the Davao Food Appreciation Tour ended with an after-dinner treat to Kangaroo Coffee Company. Since we were all full from dinner at Lachi's, it was very well fitting we had after-dinner drinks to simmer down the feeling our stuffed stomachs had.

There's a huge lighted sign of Kangaroo outside so it's easy notice. The interiors are library-inspired. There's a bookshelf to the right of the door when you enter the cafe. Aside from several books scattered throughout the place (including the restroom), there are various artworks hung on the walls. Each one has a short description, the signed artist, and the price of the painting should you want to buy it. I also like the lighting inside. It's not just your plain fluorescent. You can tell it was well thought of cause the lights bring life to the structures inside.

Kangaroo Coffee Company is a cafe that serves coffee and tea variations, cakes, cookies and pastries. I had mint tea and the great thing I like about it and all their drinks are the huge mugs. Huge mugs equate to bigger servings, which was to my delight, I was served a generous mugful of tea. Their other drinks have accessories to the drink. One drink had a small wooden-like mallet for stirring.

The place is very homey and makes you want to stay and linger. And Kangaroo gives you more reason to do so cause they offer free wifi.

Kangaroo Coffee Company is located at Tiongko cor. V. Mapa St., Davao City.

Lachi's, Simply Delish !

2009-03-26T22:38:00.006+08:00

This is my nth time to visit Lachi's and aside from any other tourist attractions or places to go whenever I'm in Davao, Lachi's is a "m

ust" to go to, simply because it's one of a kind. In fact, my last trip with Aileen was in General Santos City, but since it was close to Davao, we just had to fly in to Davao one day earlier for Lachi's and travel by land to Gensan the next day. That's how much we love Lachi's.

Some of us bloggers in the Davao Food Appreciation Tour were so excited that Lachi's was next on our list of restaurants to visit for dinner, that we excused ourselves from the afternoon tour of Davao just to get a headstart on Lachi's. Our sneaky plan was almost full-proof as we even instructed the staff of Lachi's not to mention in the evening that we were there earlier. Unfortunately, their staff is very loyal to Mike, one of the owners of Lachi's and all the bloggers found it was our 2nd time around that day to eat there.

Nevertheless, we didn't hide in shame, cause one visit to Lachi's is not enough for anyone who appreciates the taste of their food. In fact, I quote Aileen saying that "I could eat at Lachi's everyday".

More than half of the restaurant was reserved for the bloggers that night which made us feel very special. We were also excited to have some fellow bloggers try out Lachi's for the first time. I remembered my first experience and ever since, it became one of the driving points to come back and visit Davao.

We were treated to Cream Dory in Thai Sauce, Breaded Tofu in Teriyaki Sauce, Laing Pasta, Pork Belly in red Bean Curd Sauce, the ever-delightful Pork Marinara and the unforgettable Pork Ribs. I'm not a fan of Laing, but the other bloggers said that it's was very tasty. I got the pork ribs which is so tender that you don't need a knife to cut it to pieces. Their Pork Marinara is also a best seller. It makes me wonder why I don't see this dish anywhere else.

There were also new dishes on the menu that I hadn't seen before:Pinoy na Pinoy Pasta which is described as spaghetti with laing sauce and sprinkled with parmesan cheese and topped with pan-fried bangus, and their own Arroz a la Cubana - sautueed lean ground beef and raisins, alongside fried bananas and rice topped with fried egg.

I made it a point to save some stomach space for their ever-scrumptuous and delicious cakes. But before that, we got a rare opportunity to sample some desserts which they only offer with their catering services. They had Ube Panna Cotta served in a small shot glass and Creme Brule caramelized in a big white soup spoon. The presentation was colorful and placing them all together made it even more attractive (and exciting to immediately grab one the moment everybody was finished taking pictures of it).

Our last round of delights arrived: the famous Lachi's cakes ! We were treated to slices of cakes from the Lachi's refrigerator which we can light candles in front of and devote ourselves to it as if it were a shrine. What cakes do they have ? A whole lot ! Here's a list of cakes to make your mouth water: Midnight Delight, Cashew Mocha Torte, Roasted Walnut Choco Supreme, Luscious Mud Pie, Premium Dark Choco Cake, Yummy Choco Pie, Black & White Bar, Old French Chocolate Cake, Carrot-Walnut Muffins, 5-Choco Torte, New York Style Cheesecake, Sour Cream Cheesecake, Choco-Vanilla Cheesecake, Dulce de Leche Cheesecake, Carrot-Walnut Cake, Durian Cheesecake and Macadamia White Choco Bar.

I'm a big fan of cheesecakes and I just had to get my fix in the form of blueberry cheesecakes and sourcream cheesecakes. The great thing about Lachi's cakes are that they are not too sweet. It's just the right amount of sweetness without making your eyes squint from a sugar rush. They're not too cold neither nor too melted. That's what makes Lachi's cakes perfect. Aileen noted that her favorite sansrival is perfect too by noting that your fork should be able to go through the entire slice and not get stuck in the middle, pointing out that sanrival shouldn't have hardened interiors nor be chew challenged.

Our Lachi's dinner was a success with the bloggers. Everybody was still talking about all the foods and how delicious it is even after our Lachi's visit. That's how memorable it was. And reliving all the foods through this post made me hungry and craving for it.

Having said that, I leave you with these words:

"To blog about it is human, to actually taste it is divine."

Tadakuma - Japanese Cuisine in Davao

2009-03-25T22:40:00.011+08:00

Day 1 of Davao Food Appreciation Tour

(FAT) officially kicked off with the first restaurant in the line-up: Tadakuma.

Tadakuma is a Japanese restaurant located at the Damosa Business Center in Davao City.

The bloggers enjoyed a great meal indoors to complement the rainy afternoon. The wooden interiors, figurines and antiques made the Japanese experience more authentic.

When we settled down, we were immediately served several dishes. It's not like a full course meal where you are served several times. Tadakuma went all out and served most of the dishes to us all at once. We were mesmerized with the foods that quickly filled our table.

Since the California maki was closest to me, that was my first pick. I must say, these are one of the largest pieces of maki I've ever seen. And what I found unique about them was the way they were sliced.

Traditional maki is square and cut flat at the top. Their makis were sliced with an

angle at the top depicting a diagnoal top on a flat base. It was also so soft and easy to chew. Good thing I didn't have second thoughts whether to eat the entire maki in one bite or not.

Next up was sashimi. Eating the sashimi was a breeze. The best kinds of sashimi are the ones that don't require much effort in chewing. It was served along with other variants of sushi.

I then took some noodles from their yakisoba serving. It was tasty with generous garnishings. I was afraid this would be spicy but it wasn't. Just enough flavor and spice without being spicy.

We also sampled their large servings of Atuyaki Tofu and Gomoku Chahan.

The sukiyaki was the best I've tasted ever. Aside from being served in a large flat wok-like platter, the large serving was good for many. The soup base was really delicious and the soup alone was already a unanimous hit with us all. The thin noodles, tofu, vegeatables and beef added more praises to the sukiyaki broth.

Everything was delicious that after declaring a very satisfied lunch and a full stomach, we just had to eat what was left. And so we went back to the maki and sashimi trays making these initial apetizers also our dessert.

I really enjoyed dining at Tadakuma. The friendly owners even mingled with us to tell us more about their restaurant. Next time I'm going back to Davao, I'm definitely visiting them again.

Tadakuma is located at 11 Damosa Business Center, Lanang, Davao City. You can reach them at (082) 234-8813.