yehey!!! the darn blog is working at last

After weeks of tweaking and tweaking and further tweaking, my supposed-to-be-income-generating blog (which I will transfer from Wordpress) is now ready. All that's left to do is cosmetics -- meaning the bells and whistles -- and that includes creating some online banners for temporary use to attract potential advertisers.

I also need to generate static content -- I've already created two pages -- About and Events -- but I don't feel satisfied with what I've written so far. So, I'll work on revising the content tomorrow. Plus, I need to up a page that will detail how advertisers can -- advertise, of course :)

Other elements that were in my previous newsblog such as links, a blog visitor counter, Twitter app and web metrics need to be setup as well. However, for the web metrics, I think Google Analytics would be enough.

I will also have to arrange the blog's domain so that although it's hosted on Blogger, it will still have an honest-to-goodness URL. Now, just need to renew the domain before it expires :)

And, of course, I need to start generating content which will hopefully translate into traffic. That means I will be trying to find time to do the actual posts. It will be difficult to sneak that in during the day-job so that means I need to probably put in a couple of hours work before or after office to make this thing work.

And then, I need to give myself time for this venture to bear fruit. I'm not expecting any income real soon but if I were to base it on experience from my previous venture, I was only online for about three months before an inquiry re advertising came through.

And oh, I just finished tweaking the other business blog of mine as well. So, that means I'll need to promote and push two blogs (to two different industries, at that). Good thing the second one won't need a daily looking-after. Just a plug once or twice a week would be ok for that.

I also did some repairs on this personal blog of mine. After Luz pointed out that she wasn't able to post comment yesterday, I switched the comments feature to pop-up rather than the comment-below-post feature. The latter feature is already fixed thanks to an update done by the creator of the Dilectio template I used but will probably stick to the pop-up-comment-box feature for the meantime. I'll also be adding more bells and whistles to this blog including a top navigation which has been absent since I've switched to this template.

Neat stuff, as my former British expat colleagues used to say.

surf's up -- a list of sites frequently visited

In the daily course of your internet life, whether you're sneaking personal surfing during office hours or leisurely abusing your unlimited internet connection at home, there are some sure sites you're bound to visit regularly. Obviously, the website lists on the right side of this blog indicates mine but let me go deeper as to why they're there as my top sites to visit. Please note, that this listing is in no particular order, weight or preference although I will state most likely what sites I devotedly visit.

Inquirer.net (www.inquirer.net)
Inquirer.net is the number one Filipino website when it comes to news and it remains to this day that. So, it's only normal that this becomes a daily habit with me. It's much more comprehensive than the print version (thanks largely because the press and photo releases don't get published anymore) but like its mundane form, is cluttered with ads. However, like the printed form, you can choose to ignore the ads (hopefully they're not intrusive like those new rich media types offered nowadays).

Yahoo Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/)
It has become a habit for me to check the latest sports news via Yahoo's sports pages (normally NFL, NBA, boxing (if Manny Pacquiao is fighting), and tennis; and on occasion F1 and horse racing as well) since I first worked for a sports betting company way back in 2005. That was the first time work required me to online for all the ten hours I was at the office and part of the work required that I routinely check what's happening in sports-dom. That habit has stuck until now.

Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
The true encyclopedia online, I wouldn't be surprised if this website was single-handle reason for why many roving encyclopedia salesmen lost their jobs. While there are still questions and critics regarding Wikipedia's open-to-all writing and editing policies, it has fast become a popular (albeit not always reliable or credible) source of information. I first encountered Wikipedia during my first online marketing work and it since then become an indispensable go-to site for quick information. For me, it's also a great way to pass the time as you learn a lot and you just find yourself browsing topic after topic. You start off looking and reading one topic and then some eons later, you find yourself a zillion topics hence.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)
There's no doubt that Facebook nowadays occupy a big chunk of my internet time. There's just so many things to do on that social networking site that I've virtually abandoned my Friendster account already and devoted whatever online time I have to FB. Chat, email, play games, send virtual gifts, join causes, connect with long-lost friends -- the list of things that can be done on FB is outstanding that in my opinion, it easily outruns MySpace in terms of activity. My fave things to do on FB currently? Farm Town, FarmVille, and Mafia Wars.

Penmanila (www.penmanila.net)
If you simply admire writers and authors who can write eloquent English but who can still be so Filipino then Penmanila might be worth your while (it is for me). Penmanila is the website and blog of Jose "Butch" Dalisay, one of today's more prolific Filipino writers and academician and in it, you can read about things and issues that are close to Sir Butch (yes, he was a professor of mine back in college for one CW subject) including literature, the English language, travel, politics, writing, the academe (and teaching), fiction and his love of fountain pens. Updated weekly so this doesn't qualify (technically) under my daily web surf but it has become so much of a habit that it deserves to be put in here.

Komikero Journal (http://gerry.alanguilan.com/)
Accessible via Komikero.com, this is the blog of comic book writer and artist (and video-blogger and podcaster) Gerry Alanguilan whose credits include Wasted, Timawa, and more recently, Elmer. He is also well-known in the comic-dom for his work with DC and Marvel titles including Superman, Batman, New X-Men and Wolverine. Through his blog, find out how he lives his life as a comic book artist making ends meet, his chronicling of Philippine komiks, and his advocacy of uplifting the local comic book industry. His latest adventure has taken him taking a stance that Carlo J. Caparas is not qualified as a National Artist for Visual Arts (find out more through his blog posts and you'll be enlightened!).

Notes from the Peanuts Gallery (www.deanalfar.blogspot.com)
As a budding writer for the fantastic, it's only natural that I try and find out as much as I can about the local science-fiction and fantasy scene here in the Philippines. Stumbling upon the blog of businessman and writer Dean Francis Alfar instead introduced me to Filipino speculative fiction. Dean is one of the more stalwart advocates of Filipino spec-fic and has championed its cause by winning numerous awards for his spec-fic works. His (and his wife Nikki Alfar's) annual anthology of speculative fiction by Filipino writers is a much-awaited release. Unfortunately, Dean hasn't been active of late with his blogs as his other interests (I think) are demanding more of his time.

Twitter (www.twitter.com)
Do you tweet? I do. So, it's only natural that I visit Twitter daily to tweet. And I've linked my Twitter and FB accounts so that whatever I tweet also gets pasted as my shout-out on FB. They call Twitter micro-blogging and indeed it is. It's a fast way of updating your readers and followers on what you're doing, what's occupying your time, and whatever (mis)adventures you're undertaking. Blog posts like this one takes time so Twitter is a life-saver. And I think we Filipinos will have no probs with using Twitter because it's exactly like texting -- your message in just 160 characters. If you want to follow me, just hit the "Follow Me on Twitter" on the upper right corner of this blog-site.

Bibliophile Stalker (http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/)
Another daily source for anything spec-fic, fantastic or science-fiction(istic), writer Charles Tan's website directs you to lots of links related to subject, and also contains interviews, book and magazine reviews, and his personal thoughts on relevant matters. It's a daily, Monday to Friday, compilation of the latest news, views and issues related to the speculative fiction realm and has been cited by even American author and editor Jeff VanderMeer to be a daily resource of his as well.

Other sites that I frequent although not on a regular (as in day-to-day) basis include:

Jeff VanderMeer's Ecstatic Days
For the entrepreneur-to-be-in-me: Entrepreneur
Adobo Magazine Online -- the local ad industry's magazine
BoardGame Geek - all about playing games unplugged
Gamespot - counterpart of BGG, this one is all about video games
Concept Ships - for fantastic drawings and designs of airplanes, spaceships and just about anything that can fly or has a rocket engine
Mental Floss - for the knowledge junkie in you and me
DC Comics - always been a DC fan so out of nostalgia I chance upon this site every now and then

I also am a regular visitor to online bookstores like Fully Booked, Powerbooks, and National Bookstore as well as international bookstore site Borders (which is incidentally also a fan page of mine on FB). I also frequent PC retail sites especially when I was still agonizing whether to upgrade my busted desktop or buy a laptop (and before I bought my latest rig) like PC Corner, PC Express, and TipidPC to check out prevailing prices. And oh yes, I also frequent CDR-King's website as well.

Ikaw, what sites are your regular haunts?

starbucks instant?

Facing declining sales and with shops closing one after the other in the US and worldwide, gourmet coffee giant Starbucks has announced that it will be introducing instant coffee as one of its product offerings.

Egad!!! A SB Instant Coffee??

Inquirer reports that the coffee giant has been brewing this project for more than 20 years. An official statement on the SB site also confirmed that next week, SB will be holding exclusive events in New York to introduce its instant coffee.

The patent-pending technology used in the development of the instant concoction will replicate the Starbucks taste albeit in DIY packets. No need for a barista or a fancy coffee-maker!

And it already has a name -- Via, and that it will be initially sold in packets of threes and twelves for US$2.95 and $9.95, respectively.

Wait a minute! Three packets (or sachets as we fondly call them here in the P.I.) at S$2.95 is PHP138.65. So, that means each sachet of SB Via instant coffee will cost PHP 46.25??!!

Consider the cost analysis ... SB Via will sell (based on the announced price) at almost PHP50 per sachet. One packet of Nestle's regular 3-in-1 is about PHP7 and Nestle's special coffee (the purported healthy ones) sell at about PHP8 a sachet. Kopiko sachets sell at PHP6 while Jim's 5-in-1 Organic Coffee is at the same level. Even the Maxwell sachets sell at the PHP7 range. I don't even know the cost of the other local coffee sellers like Great Taste or Cafe Puro.

And for the same price range as the three-packets-per pack I can already buy one medium-sized bag of Monk's Blend Coffee for use with our coffee maker. I just bought one last Tuesday at PHP144.

So, it would seem that Starbucks would be in a distinct disadvantage if ever their sachets show up on the store shelves one of these days. Whether SB will adopt a different price strategy in the Philippines (if they do decide to intro the product here) remains to be seen.

But re-thinking about it. SB's Via will still have a market in the P.I.

Who you ask?

Well, the same market who actually consumes SB gourmet coffees that sell at the hundred peso range per order, myself included :) Personally, I will most likely buy Via at least once, just for the experience.

diabetes update

Yesterday I was once again in the clinic of Dra. Thelma Dimalanta-Crisostomo at the Makati Medical Center for my monthly check-up. The day earlier, I was also at the Makati Medical Center for another vampiric session of blood extraction for a set of tests.

And what was the verdict?

Normal. Fasting blood sugar (FBS) was 88 which was well within the normal sugar limit and another test HbA1c was also within the normal levels which indicated I'm managing my diabetes well. This made the doc quite happy although she still said I was still too fat.

Yes, still too fat although I hit the weighing scales yesterday at 88 kilos or around 194 pounds. Still too heavy but I'm rather proud of this accomplishment because this meant I've shed already more than 20 pounds.

Hay, still 28 kilos to go :)

costs of cups of coffee

Freakin' freakazoids!

According to a Forbes.com story, the price for a cup of coffee isn't consistent worldwide, its price depends on what part of the globe you're sipping your favorite concoction.

For example, it's a bit expensive to get a cup of coffee in Europe. In Paris, a cup costs $6.77 while it's slightly lower in Athens, Greece at $6.62. Try crossing the Mediterranean and the African Peninsula to sip coffee at Johannesburg, South Africa where a cup costs a mere $2.36. Or for an even cheaper cup of coffee, vist Buenos Aires where for a mere $2.03 you can already enjoy your caffeine fix.

The world's priciest cups of coffee can be found in the following:

Tokyo, Japan - $5.04
Berlin, Germany - $5.15
Beijing, China - $6.28
Athens, Greece - $6.62
Paris, France - $6.77
Moscow, Russia - $10.19

Incredible, in Russia, a cup of coffee costs $10.19?!! That's approximately P450 pesos!

How about here in the Philippines, what's the cost of a cup of coffee? Let's do the math (or what passes as math for me anyway):

Nescafe Instant Coffee (sachet): P10 pesos or $0.23
7-11's Midnight Blend (Big): P65 pesos or $1.50
Starbucks Cafe Mocha (Tall): P110 pesos or $2.50

Whew, it's still relatively cheaper here in the P.I. to drink coffee, so sip away!

new study reveals coffee drinkers don't die young

A new study conducted by the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid shows that long-term coffee drinking -- up to 6 cups of our favorite beverage a day -- has no effect on increasing the chances of a person's early death and may even help prevent a person from dying of heart disease.

The study, conducted by the Spanish university research team led by Esther Lopez-Garcia monitored over 84,000 US women from 1980 to 2004, and over 40,000 US men from 1986 to 2004 -- all regular coffee drinkers of the caffeinated and decaf kind -- and the study showed no increased risk of death. In fact, the female subjects of the study also revealed a decline in death due to heart diseases.

Read the news here.

Now, that's great news. Howzabout one more cup o' coffee?

dean's open calling again

The premier stalwart of Philippine Speculative Fiction, Dean Alfar, is once again calling all spec-fic writers -- old and new, published and unpublished -- to submit their short stories of the fantastic, the impossible and improbable, the unbelievable, the superstitious and the horrific for possible selection and publication in the Philippine Speculative Fiction IV.

Reposted from his blog:

Open Call for Submissions - Philippine Speculative Fiction

It's hard to believe, but it's that time of year again (even harder to believe that this is our 4th year)!

Nikki Alfar and I are now accepting submissions of short fiction pieces for consideration for the anthology "Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.4".

Speculative fiction is the literature of wonder that spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror and magic realism or falls into the cracks in-between.

1. Only works of speculative fiction will be considered for publication. As works of the imagination, the theme is open and free.

2. Stories must cater to an adult sensibility. However, if you have a Young Adult story that is particularly well-written, send it in.

3. Stories must be written in English.

4. Stories must be authored by Filipinos or those of Philippine ancestry.

5. Preference will be given to original unpublished stories, but previously published stories will also be considered. In the case of previously published material, kindly include the title of the publishing entity and the publication date. Kindly state also in your cover letter that you have the permission, if necessary, from the original publishing entity to republish your work.

6. First time authors are welcome to submit. In the first three volumes, there was a good mix of established and new authors. Good stories trump literary credentials anytime.

7. No multiple submissions. Each author may submit only one story for consideration.

8. Each story’s word count must be no fewer than 1,500 words and no more than 7,500 words.

9. All submissions must be in Rich Text Format (.rtf – save the document as .rft on your word processor) and attached to an email to this address: dean@kestrelddm.com. Submissions received in any other format will be deleted, unread.

10. The subject of your email must read: PSF4 Submission: (title) (word count); where (title) is replaced by the title of your short story, without the parentheses, and (word count) is the word count of your story, without the parentheses. For example - PSF4 Submission: Magdalena Brings Fire 3500.

11. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes your name, brief bio, contact information, previous publications (if any). Introduce yourself.

12. Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2008. After that date, final choices will be made and letters of acceptance or regret sent out via email.

13. Target publishing date is December 2008/January 2009.

14. Compensation for selected stories will be 2 contributor’s copies of the published anthology as well as a share in aggregrate royalties.

Kindly help spread the word. Feel free to cut and paste or link to this on your blogs or e-groups.

Thanks,Dean Francis Alfar & Nikki Alfar
http://deanalfar.blogspot.com
http://deanalfar.multiply.com

Wow! UP Math Student Breaks 45 Year Old UAAP Record

Here’s another feat folks from Peyups like myself will be proud of.

A sophomore Math student (take note folks, Math) from the University of the Philippines shattered a 45-year old record in men’s javelin during the UAAP athletics competition last weekend at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

The feat highlighted an already dominating performance by Javier Luis Gomez in decathlon competition where he triumphed in six other events – 100m dash, long jump, discus throw, pole vault, and shot put.

In the javelin event, lean-framed Gomez tossed the javelin for a total 60.66 meters, breaking the previous record of 59.69 meters by nearly a meter. The old record was set by Doroteo Amirallado in 1963 back in the old days when Manila Central University was still a member of the UAAP.

Wow!

Now this is something really wondrous. Imagine, a skinny kid who eats numbers for breakfast, lunch, dinner and probably midnight snacks as well, accomplishes what the guys over at the College of Human Kinetics can only dream about? To shatter a record, almost half-a-century old, and this gets done not only by a UP student (ehem, ehem) but a Math major to boot?

Imagine ...

sportsblitzer blog launched

To satiate my penchant for sports and to house my personal views on the goings-on in sports, I'm happy to announce that Sportsblitzer, a sports-focused blog by yours truly, is now available for reading.

It will contain news, info, opinions and comments on the people, the places and things who make up the colorful world of sports here in the P.I. and abroad.

Visit Sportsblitzer by clicking the appropriate link from the list of websites on the right sidebar.

And speaking of blogs, please don't fail to visit PMO: Pinoy Marketer Observer as well over at Word Press blogs. PMO is a marketing and advertising-oriented blog and its link can be found in the sidebar as well.

And nope, Dating Taga-Peyups is not yet live :(

no life if microsoft takes over yahoo

I personally hope the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo doesn't materialize.

I hope, as reported in tech news all over the web today, that Yahoo will fight off any attempts of a Microsoft takeover and remain independent.

I certainly am hoping Yahoo's Jerry Yang can find a way to turn things around for Yahoo and please stakeholders who only have their own interests and their pockets at stake.

That's because I certainly don't want to lose my Yahoo mail account. I've had this account for almost 10 years and to loose it will be a nightmare.

I have no problems with Microsoft itself. I admire Bill Gates and the company that made PC computing a daily part of life. I use Windows and MS Office and once in a while use Windows IE (for now, am content with Firefox though) and believe that Microsoft products are great.

But I don't want them taking over Yahoo because they'll change my internet lifestyle.

Firstly, I'll lose my Yahoo account because there's no assurance in the Microsoft proposal that they'll retain the Yahoo brand if and ever they buy the company for a reported $44 billion. That means now more @yahoo.com.

There's also the possibility that whatever benefits and privileges Yahoo users are enjoying now will no longer be free under a Microsoft-run enterprise. Expect fees and subscriptions and a whole slew of other restricting stuff.

In the infancy of my internet life, I was a proud Hotmail-user. When Microsoft bought out Hotmail, I lost my account inexplicably (can no longer log-in with my username and password, no less) and lost interest in getting a new one. Instead I switched to Yahoo and ever since then enjoyed the service.

If Microsoft takes over Yahoo ... no that can't happen ever. There's simply no life if Microsoft takes over Yahoo.

uss enterprise flies anew

The entirety of Trek-dom is buzzing with excitement with the announcement that a new Star Trek movie is just on the horizon -- to be precise, about 11 months away on a Christmas Day. Alas, here in the P.I., I will most probably be shouting my invective P.I.s to the organizers of the Metro Manila Film Fest as the launch date of the 11th Star Trek movie coincides with the MMFF. Similar to the movie launches of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this meant the new ST movie will be deferred until probably the 3rd week of January (now, that's crap!).

As mentioned, this installment of the Gene Roddenberry franchise is the 11th and rather than move forward into the timeline, the movie simply entitled "Star Trek" (fondly called Star Trek XI by Trekkies) goes back in time to showcase a younger USS Enterprise crew of Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Sulu.

According to websites I've read, the new movie will deal with the earlier adventures of the Star Trek crew captained by James Kirk, back to the Romulan wars which according to the Star Trek timelines where just about the time USS Enterprise was launched.

Expect no William Shatner in here as the young Captain Kirk will be played by Chris Pine (Just My Luck) and the young Spock will be none other than Heroes supervillan Sylar aka Zachary Quinto. On the other hand, LOTR veteran Karl Urban (Eomer) sheds his Rohan armor for a Starfleet issued-uniform as Doc McCoy. While Shatner will not be in the film, the original Spock will be. Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as Spock (the opening voice-over is Nimoy's saying the iconinc "where no man has gone before") in what is presumably a flash-back sort of intro for the film. Other notables in the new film are Eric Bana (lead villain of the film), Winona Ryder, and Ben Cross.

After an absence of two years on both the small and big tubes (the last being Star Trek: Enterprise), Star Trek returns anew and Trekkies all over the world are getting giddy. And what makes this version of the film more anticipated is that it is being produced and directed by J.J. Abrams, the well-known writer, producer, director of such greats as Forever Young, Armageddon, Mission Impossible 3, and most recently, the monster thriller Cloverleaf. On TV, he's the success behind popular series Felicity, Alias and Lost.

Here's the trailer for the latest Star Trek flick:

dis(sed)appointed

The days of speculation on what the newly-revised company employee benefits would be finally ended a couple of hours ago when an emailed memo was sent out from one of our top honchos.

While the benefits were definitely revised and improved and I'm sure very, very beneficial to many employees (myself included), in general, the benefits were not the benefits I was fervently hoping for.

ipo-ipo

Paranoid.

That one word currently describes the environment in my beloved office. Despite the dreaded word, the smooth operation and day-to-day debacle of office work continues. That's mainly because the paranoia I am talking about is limited to the company's directors, senior officers and the luckless departments like Finance and Communications (which I run by the way) so you can just imagine my delight (sarcasm intended here).

The paranoia rippling through the upper echelons and select niche of the office is due to three letters -- I, P and O -- which in biz-speak (and I'm not referring to showbiz here) means Initial Public Offering, the next phase in the Darwinian-like evolution that happens in the corporate jungle.

IPO, according to Wikipedia is:

"is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. IPOs are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately-owned companies looking to become publicly traded."

Read the entire Wikipedia entry HERE.

What this means for us is that we'll be a publicly-listed company and that investors can now ... errr, invest their money in the hopes that we continue to grow. The better performance we do, the higher the value of the company and the more returns all investors are guaranteed.

This also means that we'll become a public company owned no longer by a just a triumvirate of expatriates but by anybody rich enough to shell out dough as a form of investment. But this entails of course, lots of changes internally. We're no longer just accountable to T, C and K but to a Board of Directors whose main concern is to continue seeing the bottomline profit margins gaps go off the excel charts and to avoid seeing red.

As I see it, we're now publicly-listed in a major Asian market but we're also aiming for AIM, yes, join the big boys in London's Alternative Investment Markets (the counterpart of the US' NASDAQ where all tech companies list).

If that sounds like a lot of work, just imagine the pre-listing activities. Some blogs ago I mentioned doing work for auditors and those were for the IPO. The weeks that followed, while not so much, still had me working on IPO numbers. But this past week as the deadline for the London listing neared, more and more IPO-related work was passed on to us.

As is typical and usual and common in my beloved company, work for my department was just passed on a few days ago. Not complaining, just musing that if they had expected us to work on things, they've could've mentioned them to us like four weeks ago when we could've done things slowly. Now, we have to rush things with barely just a couple of weeks away from the listing date.

This week, my Brit boss and I poured over figures and data to support the potential growth of the industry until the next decade. We had to verify and redo calculations to make sure everything was accurate. I've also been tasked with making sure I chic and familiar with a 150-page document about the AIM listing. Just yesterday, I finished a procedures memo that talked about handling communications and info dissemination during this listing period.

This last bit was what got the paranoia level in the office rising. One of the tenets of the AIM scriptures was adamant that communication and information flow be controlled and monitored during this sensitive period. Great care must be taken that all info released for public consumption should not, in any way, affect or influence investor behavior. If the AIM authorities find any communication from the company to be breaching this tenet -- it meant doom for the listing, a disastrous demise for the company, and imprisonment for all involved in that communication.

With such a Damocles sword hanging over everyone's head in the office, no wonder paranoia broke out. Eat-the-Mark, the IT honcho, went absolutely praning and proceeded to forbid all marketing emails to our customers. Now, he's on the verge of martial lawing access to the servers and unless you had Level 5 security clearance, changing a period on the website required director-level approval. The normally-composed K was heard discussing with REbs in a voice an octane two times higher than his usual range. Though REbs headed the Ops, everything needed for the IPO needed to be signed by K since he was the only one left of the triumvirate. So, if things went wrong, K would be in the best position to wear stripes.

T and C are now more familiar with their stewardesses than their wives or girlfriends as they're jetsetting all across the globe to make sure pledges of support by investors still hold true. On the other hand, the HK office is as paranoid as the Philippine office is since they're to be affected as well.

Last Tuesday, in the usual weekly meeting I asked our Marketing Director if we should expect any IPO-related work to come. He answered that aside from updating the corporate website, he didn't expect anything to come in.

I got to the office the next day late in the afternoon due to a prior and unavoidable pediatric appointment and was surprisingly surprised to find that most of the team was working on something IPO-related. Soon after, I was, myself immersed in the business.

No complaints except for the possibility that mebbe we should've been given these assignments not on the 11th hour?

Personally, I feel an enormous weight of responsibility with this IPO thingy. As the one running the Communications Department, there's a lot of room for mistakes and with accountability to a BoD and not just T,C, and K, mistakes are sure to be costly. Changes will be sweeping the office starting next year and there's no doubt, my team will be very much involved in the new evangelization of the company and its employees.

On the brighter side, an IPO is supposed to mean fresh capitalization and influx of resources. If the company manages to use these resources well, it's going to be a windfall. And if it's a windfall, I guess it's only fair each and every employee receives his ample share of the pie, 'no?

Good luck!

All You Have to Do is Dream

It's uplifting to see people who not only chase their dreams but also manage to catch them. They are the world's happiest people.

Take the case of Nascel, who until today was part of the creative team I manage. As the work day ended (for them, at least) today, her brief stint with the company also ended and she pursues a different professional path altogether -- a more adventure-filled, and, definitely, action-packed career.

She leaves behind a somewhat more secure if not boring environment of the corporate stiffs for the chaotic and unpredictable world of the sports news business.

She has decided (she assures me she has thought about her decision a zillion times before SMS-ing that dreaded message that she is resigning) that 8-hour work shifts with 1 hour lunch breaks, impossible and nonsense marketing assignments and deadlines, British bosses, and insane office co-workers are not enough justifications for a chance to do something she has dreamed of doing since she first entered college. Not one thing in the office is valuable enough to make her rescind her decision to resign and instead stay and pass up a chance (the third chance, if truth be told) to fulfill a dream.

And that is the key word: DREAM.

People who fulfill their dreams are happy. People who follow their dreams are contented. People who act on their dreams are, in an essence, completed. And the fulfillment of a dream is not an end, mind you, but a springboard for a bigger, better and more satisfying dream.

Nascel dreams of becoming a sports writer. Her moving to one of the country's more popular broadsheet and having her name start appearing in the byline is a fulfillment of that dream. A few years down the road, she will dream to become the best there is in the sports writing business and there's no denying the fact that she has got what it takes to achieve that dream. You can bet your pwet on that as I've seen first-hand the potential this young girl has in spite of the giggles, the chuckles, the opinions, the pranks, the teasings, and the cheerful demeanor she perpetually exudes.

And as a way of thanking her for her months of service to the company, and on a more personal note, for her taking off some of the work load from my shoulders (which unfortunately fall on my shoulders anew until her replacement arrives), here are some nibbles of advice from your former boss:

• KEEP DREAMING: Dreams are your gasoline, your fuel. Never run out of dream. Once you achieve a dream, start dreaming of a new one. Dreams shape you, shapes your character. Without dreams, you're nothing but an empty shell living a pathetic excuse for a life.

• KEEP YOUR INTEGRITY: Never forget who you are nor that your parents raised you to become a good, honest, and fair person. The newspaper business has its share of nasty temptations -- resist them, defy them and as one clothing ad campaign has disseminated before -- BE YOURSELF!

• KEEP YOUR DEADLINES: While this is something not really new, I'm not referring to story deadlines but rather to your personal deadlines -- your personal life. Never get to engrossed with work and allow it to wallow up your personal time. While you may not have a specific work schedule to follow, you do have a life to live with your family and friends. Later on, when you get married, have kids and enter some state of domesticity, you'll understand why I grumble when there's a need to stay in the office for more than 8 hours.

• WATCH YOUR HEALTH: I'm telling you this early ... never take your health for granted. A decade down the road and you'll feel the ill effects of the early bodily neglects you've made. While gulping alcohol by the gallons is surely fun when you're in your 20s, its not the same case when your age is no longer available on your standard calendar month. Stay healty, keep away from vices and keep away from people with vices.

• CONSTANTLY CHALLENGE YOURSELF: Is there a better way of writing this story down? Is there a better slant or angle to this otherwise already magnificent piece? Is there a bloody way in Hell I can come up with a better headline? Always be on the lookout for improvement. Pick-up good working habits and tidbits of advice from the veterans but not their bad ones.

• KEEP YOUR ASS COVERED: You know what I mean. Always protect yourself from people who will envy your skills and talent and try to drag you down. Learn when to swing, and when to sway. Choose your battles, so they say, and know when to employ diplomacy. If you need to fight, make sure you're wearing steel plate armor +3 with +5 against idiots and never forget to protect your behind. If you're dealing with money, make sure you have the photocopies of the necessary documents.

• ALWAYS SMILE: You're already good at this but the stress of the work and the people around you might cause you to loose it. Remain optimistic. Keep the wrinkles away from the forehead and try to develop laugh lines instead. Laugh at people, laugh at yourself (secretly or your co-workers might just decide to let men in white haul you away), laugh away hurts and pains, and destructive criticisms.

Good luck with your dream and don't worry, we'll let you know when a certain Rodney has done another voice-over commercial for you to hear.

Wednesday Warbles: Left Behind, MyDestiny, Ikai at 10

not wanting to be left behind

Driven by the urge to read a new book, I passed by the Books for Less kiosk inside RCBC Plaza intent on purchasing a book I saw there last week – Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye’s apocalyptic fiction – Left Behind.

For Php 169 pesos, I took home the paperback edition of this controversial book, which according to cataloguists is a Christian-oriented book.

Why the sudden departure from my comfort zone of dungeons and dragons? And a religious book at that?

I read about the Left Behind series while I was on one of those “anywhere goes” cyber-surfing sessions (most probably between 2:00 – 4:00 in the afternoon, while in the office). The series’ premise of the Rapture (that Christian belief that Christ will gather all the faithful in an instance) and its view of apocalypse caught my fancy. The entire series stretches 13 books (plus three prequel books) and if I manage to get through with this first book with my interest still unquenched, the Left Behind series will become another target in my book-hunt list.


same old, same old

A couple of months back, I got “promoted”. I now manage the day-to-day stuff of the newly-organized Communications Department which covers advertising, marketing (partly), PR, promotions, and graphic design.

The funny thing is that I just found myself right smack back into the role that I used to do for the Lhuillier Group a couple of years back.

So, it’s really same old, same old … just a different company, a new position name, and a better paycheck.


some bad news

My good friend Wendell was diagnosed a couple of weeks back with acquired leukaemia. Of course, everyone in the ‘kada was devastated with the sad news. Wendz was the least likely person everyone expected to get this kind of illness.

So, it was quite a composed group that visited him a couple of Saturdays back and of course, everyone’s hoping for his swiftest recovery.

Get well, dude.


reconnected to the world

After more than a month of being unlinked, I now can connect to the internet from the comforts of our new apartment, specifically, from the comfort of our bed.

Our home PC is now connected to cyberspace thanks to MyDestiny cable internet which we finally decided to get installed after fiddling with the possibility of having PLDT DSL, Globe Broadband, and Smart BRO. The main determining factor for choosing anew MyDestiny was price. For a mere P1,500 reconnection fee and thanks to the existing Destiny Cable wiring inside the apartment, MyDestiny had no problem reconnecting my PC to their broadband service.


tito tito

Some more good news, I will soon be a Tito and Ikai will soon have a cousin.


ikai at ten months

Yesterday, September 18, a chocolate cake and spaghetti I cooked were the main fare as Elvie and I, along with Ikai’s yaya, and Daisy and Lito, celebrated Ikai’s ten month.

While waiting for sleepiness to take over (Ikai slept early thanks largely because she continuously had been playing with her tita hours before), my wife and I reviewed Ikai’s pictures from previous months and we were amazed how big she has grown.

Ikai can now stand up on her own and do a little jig. It won’t be long now before she attempts to take her first steps. We predict that by the time she hits her birthday in November, she’ll already be walking.


the sleeper

Despite the presence of a personal project of mine, I’ve found myself sleeping more hours than usual for the past three weeks.

For most nights these past few weeks, I usually was already asleep before 10pm … sleeping while Kris Aquino is still on the tube, as she hosts Kapamilya Deal or No Deal. Sometimes, I even beat my daughter when it comes to snoozing.

While sleeping more hours is good, it often leaves me groggy in the morning.

That’s because when I sleep longer hours, say 8 hours, I usually wake up after 3 or 4 hours to answer nature’s call. What happens is my body “wakes up” and I feel ok. But then again, I know I need to sleep again so instead of sleeping one 8-hour stretch, it’s like take two 4-hour naps.

When that happens, when I wake up in the morning, it just feels like I’m waking up from a short 4-hour snoring session that leaves me wasted, tired and yearning for more sleep.

Wednesday Warbles: Moving Again and Other Tales

The Big Move
The big move is this coming Saturday.

After a two-month waiting period, the transfer to a new, and hopefully better, apartment is this coming Saturday with a pre-transfer of some smaller items starting this Friday evening.

This week will be a busy one as we are preparing all the household stuff that needs packing like ceramic-ware, silverware, cook-ware and yes, even a majority of the clothes have been stuffed into boxes leaving only the necessities unpacked like those that will get worn to the office this entire week.

But there’s still a lot of packing to do and the rush-rush will most probably hit us this coming Friday and Saturday (until noon). After lunch, my wife and baby along with the yaya and the in-laws will be going on ahead to the new apartment and leave me with the moving crew who will come in later in the early evening.

The only problem I have is the transfer of my cable internet connection which entails a payment of Php 1,500 which I can’t spare right now. I already wrote MyDestiny about this problem and hopefully they can solve this one for me.

The transfer will also mean that we will be switching cable TV service from the current SkyCable one to the Global-Destiny one as it is the best cable TV service we can afford. So, bye-bye Animax and Hero Channels. Bye-bye Lifestyle Channel, NatGeo, AXN and Cinemax. But welcome back Discovery Travel & Living which is one of my favourite cable channels along with Discovery, AXN and CNN. I’m still hoping that Solar Sports and ESPN are indeed available already on Global Destiny as advertised on their website.


Dredd is Back
Hey, hey, hey Club Dredd is back!

Unfortunately, it’s in Eastwood Libis, QC which makes it suspect – sosyal na ang Club Dredd!

According to the PDI website article, it’s now located a floor below Gweilos in Libis and now boasts improved amenities like a working CR, real air-conditioning and adequate parking.

The return of the Dredd will be very much welcomed by old-timers and younger rakistas alike. This is the same Dredd who gave rise to now legendary names such as the Eraserheads, Teeth, Wolfgang, and Parokya ni Edgar as well as to some now almost forgotten ones like the Youth, Yano, Tungaw, and Fatal Posporos (although from the Club Dredd site it was mentioned that Fatal performed last Friday, July 13).

This is the third incarnation of the popular rock joint. It had its birth along Timog Avenue QC (never had the chance to be there) before closing and reopening along EDSA in Cubao (the place is now a firing range/ shooting gallery). It’s latest version, according to owner Patrick Riedenbach, is new and improved as he and the rest of the owners have already learned from lessons brought about by the earlier two Dredds.

The new Club Dredd, aside from the aforementioned amenities, now features a better sound system and food and drinks are to be operated by the Gweilos Group. I expect the Dredd to sport Gweilos prices as well.

But the philosophy of Club Dredd is maintained, meaning that it will still be a haven for rock n’ roll especially for up-and-coming groups. The owners expect to load the club with a mix of old and new talents and will continue to advocate “originals” as opposed to “covers”.

As a once-upon-a-time rocker in college, I did manage to have 15-minutes of fame (so to speak) at the Dredd twice. As vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Hampas Dugo, my band-mates and I shared a couple of nights with the likes of Tungaw, Fatal Posporos, Agnus Dei and then cheeky and musically-challenged Parokya ni Edgar. More than 10 years later, Parokya ni Edgar is now one of the country’s most successful bands, Fatal Posporos are still here then and now, Tungaw is a fond memory, while Agnus Dei and my band are no-heards.


8 Months and Counting
Today, my baby daughter, Ikai, celebrates her 8th month.

She now is able to crawl, dance, sing, giggle, laugh, squeal, tumble, stand up (by hanging onto something or someone), walk (with help, of course), sit, drum the table, drum the wall, shout, grin, close-open her hands, kick, squirm (from someone’s grasp), lunge, do a jump-like motion, say “mama” and “papa”, appreciate TV commercials, grasp objects, turn her stuffed-toy caterpillar into a teether, finish 6 ounces of milk, strike a pa-cute pose with her hand on her cheek, put her foot in her mouth, and lots of other things some of which are quite advanced for someone of her age.

World-Building
Watching a portion of a National Geographic show about planets fuelled an idea for a new fantasy world that I hope to build and develop as preparation for my (hopefully) upcoming venture into fantasy fiction-writing.

Instead of starting on work this morning in the office, I allocated about three quarters of my first office hour to jotting down and sketching the rough ideas that came suddenly as a result of the NatGeo show last night.

Once I get my “world” made up and done, I can begin the writing process which begins with fulfilling the regular formula for epic fantasy as penned by one of my favourite fantasy authors, David Eddings, in his book the Rivan Codex:

• the underlying Theology
• the Quest
• the Magic “Thingamajigger”
• the Hero
• the Resident Wizard
• the Heroine
• the Villain, usually with some diabolical agenda
• the Companions, generally a multi-cultural crew who can protect the hero until he is old enough to do the killing himself
• the Romantic Interests for the Companions wherein both Companions and their Romantic Interests must be well-rounded groups, with individualized personalities and flaws
• the kings, queens, generals, courtiers and such, who make up the governments of the world

Read Wikipedia’s page about Eddings here.

Becoming Lost
In another addictive frenzy attack, my wife and I finished all the remaining episodes of Lost: Season 3 in a marathon 6-hour stretch which began on a Saturday evening at 10pm and ended at 4am the next day.

And as the reviews have touted, the third season picked up in pace and action and more questions as the episodes progressed, ending in an unusual twist of an ending – instead of a flashback, the series ended in a flash-forward!

Yes, more questions arose beginning with “What the @#$% happened?”

Now, we can’t await for the return of Lost for its fourth season.

New Tolkien Book Released!

JRR Tolkien fans will be rushing to the bookstores over at London a few hours from now to get their hands on a copy of the latest Tolkien book – The Children of Hurin – which was slated for a Tuesday release according to Yahoo! (read the news here).

A couple of minutes after reading the Yahoo report, I went over to the Fully Booked and Powerbooks sites to see if both bookstores have it forthcoming – nil. I don’t think the book will be available here in P.I. until probably several more months.

Of course, this book by the Father of Modern Fantasy, is being published posthumously as John Ronald Reuel Tolkien has been dead for 34 years. The Children of Hurin is being published under the graces of the Tolkien Estate and the book itself wasn’t really published by JRR but by his son, Christopher Tolkien, who had spent almost his entire life making sense of the scraps and pieces of fiction left by his father and churning them out to something resembling readable books.

In this latest Tolkien fiction, Christopher constructed the book from manuscripts written by his father “without any editorial invention.” Meaning, the son made sure he didn’t put in his own imaginings on the book and worked only to make sense of the manuscripts his father left.

The Children of Hurin is not your Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. It’s darker and grimmer and tells the tragedy of Turin and Nienor, the children of one of Men’s greatest heroes of the second age – Hurin. The story has appeared in a condensed narrative in The Silmarillion and if it’s any indicator, this new book is sure to fire-up the imagination of the millions of Tolkien fanatics all over the world as we will be introduced once again to the magic of JRR Tolkien.

Expect to learn more about Middle-Earth circa Second Age as we will probably get a more in-depth look into Beleriand, the lands of Middle-Earth west of the setting of Lord of Rings which was destroyed in the earlier Age.

We will also get to know more about Beleg Strongbow as well as get introduced more to Thingol, the Elven lord of Doriath and his Maian wife, Melian as well as to the host of other Elven and Mannish characters.

Geesh … my Tolkien-geeekeness is starting to exude! Can’t wait for this book to arrive in the P.I.!

Sunday Whachamacalits!

The last time I made a post was before Valentine's Day ... roughly half a month ago.

This was simply because I was overwhelmed by work that consumed not only my regular 8-hour shift in the office but demanded extra, extra hours! For more than 2 weeks, I regularly found myself eating dinner past 9pm and getting to bed at 2am! For more than 2 weeks I was literally tied to one girl -- Tila -- that even my wife was beginning to suspect that I was having a fling with this Tila :)

For those interested in who Tila is, check out her MySpace page. Tila, by the way, is the queen of MySpace, as the zillions of my copy say so.

Thank god that the rush on the Tila Project came to a halt last week.

* * * * *

Last February 18, my daughter, Ikai, celebrated her 3rd month with a cake from Goldilocks. She has indeed grown and is now full of antics that make her Mama and me smile and laugh! Her latest achievement has been to turn onto her stomach, a prelude to crawling.

Also this month will be Ikai's christening and Elvie and I are in the midst of trying to get things organized for that big event. It's scheduled towards the end of the month and we're quite busy trying to get in touch with friends and family and especially the would-be Ninongs and Ninangs.

For more of Ikai, you can visit her blog at http://ikairagandan.blogspot.com. We plan to put a wish list on her blog to help friends and Ikai's godparents think of a gift for our precious daughter.

* * * * *

Congratulate me, guys! Last March 1st I celebrated (albeit very silently) my first anniversary with my current Company.

My Company is ok, just take out all the petty politics and you're working with a bunch of decent people from different cultures. But I think it would help a bit if the higher-ups would just take the time to inform us down in the lower wrungs the corporate ladder if they plan any changes.

That's because it's a guessing game once someone new comes on-board. Just recently, a new COO came in, replacing the COO before who was initially the CFO. The relatively older COO is now in global business development alongside my direct superior, who now abandons his post as International Sales and Marketing Director and makes way for the new ISMD.

Whew, just keeping track of things in the office has become a betting game in itself! I guess there's no need to wonder, we're in the gambling business anyway :P

* * * * *

I'm now 31 years old. One more year and I'm off the count in the calendar :P

So how did I celebrate my birthday, you ask? No pa-libre in the office essentially because I don't fall for that trick. Besides, as with previous years for the last 31 years, my birthday falls on a non-sweldo week so I basically had no money for a celebration.

My parents did decide to visit me (and yes, I know they came more to visit their apo) and with the ampaw given by our CEO, I managed to buy for merienda pancit lucban, pizza and budin from nearby Buddy's.

* * * * *

I've started a new blog that's focused on the marketing and advertising industry in the Philippines.

Visit it here.

* * * * *

Coming from an event our Company sponsored last Saturday, March 3, I took the MRT home. While waiting for the train to arrive, I decided to test the Fuji FinePix S7000 camera my office-mate loaned to me. I started snapping some pics and was testing the multi-frame shot-capability of the camera when the MRT security guard decided to pointedly say, "Ser, bawal po magkuha ng pictures sa MRT."

Here's the 6-frame shot I managed to take.

I Am Envious!

When my sister learned that someone she knew and my wife and I knew was flying to Dubai, she did not waste time and money and promptly sent us several text messages asking for this and that.

Then she goes, “pabili na lang nung Aido na sheen powder na orange and pink” (can you please buy me that Aido sheen powder colored orange and pink) and proceeds to tell us each color costs Php 60. Then she adds “kasi usherette ako sa tennis tournament dito” (because I’ll be an usherette here in Dubai for a tennis tournament.”

I ask my wife to text her if the tennis tournament was something major. My sister replied yes.

The envy began creeping.

When I got to the office yesterday, I opened the Net and looked at the schedule of tennis events over at Yahoo Sports. And lo and behold – Dubai Tennis Championships – which begins on Monday, February 19 and is a two-week tennis spectacle sponsored by Dubai Duty Free (my sis works there). The prestigious event will host the top men and women tennis players including my own faves Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin and Martina Hingis.

My sis, with the work she will be doing, will probably see the aforementioned tennis stars in person. In fact, because she does not have one inkling who the best current tennis players are, she will do some research on the Internet before the games just to make sure she identifies who is Federer, who is Nadal, who is Sharapova.

Envy is overtaking my body and soul. How I wish I could take her place and ask for autographs from these tennis gods and goddesses (Sharapova, most especially).

I developed a passion for tennis a few years ago, initially because of work and because of the beauties on court, especially Sharapova, Hingis, Daniela Hantuchova and formerly Anna Kournikova. However, I became enthralled as well with watching the raw power of the likes of Nadal and Roddick as well as the finesse and grace of the man they call the King of Tennis, Roger Federer.

Plus, a lot of new talents are emerging including recent Aussie Open runner-up Tommy Robredo and the young Marcos Baghdatis who will also be in Dubai for the tournament.

One of my personal dreams is to actually watch one of the Grand Slams before I die and see my favorite tennis stars in person.

Now, my sister gets a chance and you can just imagine how I envy her.

Photos were sourced from Yahoo Images, the original owners of the photos retain their copyright.

A Freelance Writer Rants

At this late an hour, I am online trying to live a second life as a freelance writer. I think I've always been a freelancer even before graduating from UP almost 10 years with a degree in Journalism. Yes, I am a Journ grad but except for a brief 6 months in a computer publication, I really didn't become a journalist full-time. Instead, I turned to advertising which in turn led me into marketing.

However, writing has always been an important function that I offer to the companies I've worked for. And on the side, I do freelance work to augment my meager income as a marketing fella. Some companies frown on freelance writers like me who hold day-jobs. I know my previous employer didn't like his employs moonlighting because he says it distracts employees from concentrating on their main jobs. But my philosophy in freelance writing is basically I do freelance work on my own time. I make sure that if I give a 100% on my freelance work, I give double the effort on the my main job. I work on my freelance gig during weekends, days-off and like now, at night after office hours.

In the earlier days of my professional life I had the chance to work with the likes of The Manila Times, the Philippine Marketing Association, and RCBC -- doing PR articles, supplements, corpcomm stuff and newsletters. Despite being sucked into the corporate shish a year later, I still managed to work on a few freelance gigs, all of them via referral.

But freelance writing has also its downsides.

As the years progressed, I got less and lesser writing projects because of cost-cutting by clients I previously freelanced for, and the rise of competition. Even though writing has never been a 100% guaranteed financially-rewarding career path, many writers continue to emerge and the fight for the few writing projects doled out by companies became cut-throat.

When I resigned from my first job way back in 1998, I expected freelance writing to see me through the dark times. Unfortunately, it didn't and I was a bum for about 6 months -- mainly relying on my parents for sustenance. My old clients didn't require my services because of cost-cutting measures. Until now, when I hear the word "cost-cutting" it still unsettles me because I am reminded of that bleak period when I was absolutely worthless.

Since that period I've more or less determined that freelance writing could not be my main source of income (unless of course, I win around Php 50 million in the lotto) but just a sideline to help with the usual upkeep.

The best freelance gig I've held was for Global Sources who paid handsomely for the work I did. Unfortunately, personnel changes in that company ended my stint as a freelancer with them as I lost my contacts and the new ones who replaced them had their own stable of writers.

Nowadays, the freelance writing I do is sourced from the internet. And it's slavery for God's sake. Imagine, I earn roughly Php 150 for a 500-word article. Several years back, that would've yielded at least Php 1,000. Before this entry I was rewriting an article for such a freelance website I'm now working with. Sheesh, when I checked my account, I just had about Php 1,500 earned from 9 articles. And guess what, they only pay when you submit and they accept 100 articles. I just submitted my revised article and if it gets approved tomorrow that's 10. Just 90 more articles and I'll finally earn my first Php 15,000 (which I hope they will indeed send, the company is in Italy).

I've also scoured the net for freelance writing gigs here in the PI but most are similarly structured with what I'm doing now. The really best way to earn substantially from freelance writing is from referrals.

Heck, I've redeveloped my skills just to be able to cope. I now offer not just writing but also design and layout, plus anyone can also hire me part-time as a marketer for both the traditional and online field. In fact, the last two freelance I did and the one that I'm now doing (and has been in the freezer since November) are design projects. No writing involved! Now that's odd.

Nothing. Just a rant here from a freelance writer. Drop me a line if you need someone with the skill.