New year blast

I try to observe when do people start using their fireworks. When I was younger, as soon as it gets dark, people are already starting the fireworks. As time goes by it gets shorter and shorter. Until I noticed 5 years ago it was like 2 hrs before and after midnight. Last year it was like 30 minutes before and after. Today it was 10 minutes before and 30 minutes after. I personally would like it no just a quick one like or none and have professionals do it. Mas ok for me ang visual kesa noise.

So either wala na pera mga tao or natututo na.

My 2009 year ender part 4

Tech:
Windows 7 - Nice... Never figured out my Laptop's vista.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/15-signs-that-technology-is-damaging-your-personal-life-555972/
CDRKing DVD-Rs - Php 11 buy branded ones (imation), the unknown generic ones got bubble after being submerged in the Cainta flood.
Mobile Charger (powered by AA batt) - Php 150- cool! it had a plug for my Samsung and portable. You can charge from a AA battery!
Keyboard - Php 120? Went berserk after 6 months, I don't know if it's my son's gaming
TV Box- Php 2k+ - Separate tV tuner box connected to a PC monitor, can use your LCD or CRT as a TV, PIP for watching TV and PC use.
Cable Holder-nifty little thing to organize your earphones
SATA/IDE to USB- not a clean connector, dangling parts for SATA drives

Telecoms-
Globe Tatoo vs Smart BRO in Cainta - winner: Smart. In Sucat -tie.

SMART buddy prepaid

+
signal in provinces i guess. The only one that worked during Ondoy in Cainta.
Load validity- Longer than Globe
_
missing loads

confusing non intuitive instructions (to check balance type ?1515 - wow, i can remember that agad, kasi ?1515 reads like check balance... sheesh)
taxi like confusing pulse charge
Cannot forward load to smart bro from your buddy, or sometimes if they feel like it, only once. Even if you load your credits from a prepaid card it will claim that it was pasaloaded.
No security in their pasa load, anybody can pickup your smart phone and pasa load from it.
Separate card for Bro and buddy.
Dati may 115 pre paid load/card.. really now? may butal pang P15, hagilapan pa kayo ng tindero ng extra change. Buti now wala na.
Load increments of 10, 15 etc and cant be in between, and you can't even pasa load a pasa load!
Stupid unlitext promo - may limit pa rin. If you text that much why not upgrade to post paid?
It's rare that I know people who REALLY knows how to PASA LOAD, LOAD from a card in Smart prepaid -- they'll just go.. pa load ka na lang sa tindahan.



GLOBE prepaid
+ immortal load- it really is immortal,
Intuitive instructions-check balance is just "bal" send to 222- SIMPLE LANG!
Per second Charging - mas malinis na singilan
Share-a-load - Any amount! can be forwarded again! with password!
Bigger free text on P300 load (for update)
-
Customer Service - reloaded my missing share a load in one week! after calling them everyday and they keep proclaiming it will be back in 24 hrs.
Signal - dead spot at work! in Libis. sheesh. Sudden loss of service (network maintenance?)
Roaming Pre-paid - cannot turn off Roaming once in Philippines! You have to call customer service and it took 1 week to return normal call operations. We usually buy another pre-paid card for roaming and dispose upon arrival.

Samsung - i just notice i have more and more samsung products...

My 2009 Year ender (Part 3)

MEDIA

TV:
Fake two camera setup - news programs, using 1 cam but zooming in for a fake 2 cam feel. digitized na... maingay na nga sila.... like fox news sa US,if you scream out the news it could pass off as real.
Motoring shows: ONE WORD! TRIPOD! mahirap ba magdala ng tripod? O magsetup? all we get is shakey cam views for car afficionados. DW tv is plain but informative and gets the best shots of the cars, DOES'NT EVEN NEED A RACEQUEEN or a sexy girl to host. And most of them are just Advertorial shows, all superlative reviews of the vehicles, suck-ups. That's where the ad revenue comes in.
Wowowee: all fillers, observe how they can manage to stretch a simple game to infinity. And Willie still talks like "Animal" on the muppet show.
ABN Quiboloy's Ministry channel from Davao: check out the ministy band... no, no, not the band, Ministy. They went the live band praise route.
Tagalized Childrens Show: Sabi ng Channel 5, "lets learn tagalog!" or something to that effect, by using the words "BERDE and AZUL"? Isn't luntian and bughaw proper? "Lets learn improper tagalog!" Go Diego Go!. Sheesh.



Films:
Transformers 2: According to Ebert, we've entered the dark ages again in Film. Yep.
Tagalog Films: As long as they are still re-dubbing the whole movie, I will not pay to watch a Pinoy film in theaters. It results in unnerving silence on-screen. Kung mag-dub man ng dialogue, please record the ambient sound as well. It's like listening in a vacuum in mono. Kung P50 na lang siguro manonood ako sa sinehan.
Indie Films: Kailangan ba laging poverty/homosexual themes ang lagi sa film fest abroad? Though there are exeptions out there once in a while.
Pinoy Action Movies: Notice there are no pinoy action movies done lately? Thank God. The only action are murahan and endless fist fights with sigawan. That's what they think is action. And goons in leather/denmin jackets.
Pinoy Production Companies: Why are actors so vain with their names? Richard Guttierez' Rgutz production and Ronnie Ricketts Rockets Production (directed by: RONN RICK).
Avatar: lucky saw it before the Manila Film Pest. Its a good visual treat, not perfect but its there in CGI. No more dead spooky eyes and rubbery clothes. Dear Bong Revilla, a fantasy movie is not about bragging how much CGI you have, its about how CGI fools the eye and how it is used in the story not just for the sake of using it as a marketing tool.



Music:
EMO: Is it dead yet? Are all the local acts (Jett Pangan) still sports emo haircuts? 88.1 - an emo radio station? reaally? RJ even has a segment for that.
Hale - not a fan but exceptional, kesa screamos. Dear Champ, its ok to open your mouth when singin.
Alice In Chains is Back!
Chris Cornell - is deTimbalizing
BIG FOUR IS ON! - METALLICA, SLAYER, ANTHRAX, MEGADETH!

Advertising:
Sony Ericsson - Sarah Geronimo endorsing, desparate times needs you know what. Ericson like Motorolla is almost out of the market according to reports, using Sarah to peddle their non-smart phone units for the masa?
Globe - but why Globe has Sarah for image model?, being a long time Globe user, I've somewhat associate Globe as more classy than Smart (gold or otherwise). But now this!!! I'm tempted to ditch, since Globe prepaid broad band sucked for me.
Beat box - why is this becoming common practice now? Its an old thing. That chocolate commercial, never made me hurgry with the beat boxing. KFC, why? I don't dislike beat boxing, but beatbox in front of your food is like spitting on it! Duh! Just fookin dance.
KFC/GMA holiday ad - I felt insulted by that ad "buti na lang hindi nabaha mga pictures natin". STFU! Suuure your thankful you were unaffected, but don't rub it in to the affected ones and then eating a hearty KFC bucket meal.

My 2009 Year Ender (Part 2)

Food:

Wendy's Shrimp Sandwhich Biggie Combo - So into it. Wish there was a branch in Eastwood. Or better not kasi ubos pera ko
Max's Chicken Sandwhich yum! but the rest of the classic menu is getting dry.. no QA anymore? Chicken's dry. Leche Flan too leche sweet (SM Marikina branch)
Don Henrico's yum- Still the don for buffalo chicken, maybe because its been a year since I last ate here?- when we ordered there were no wings... chicken parts! hence, buffalo chicken parts.
Tender Roast - bad, masarap pa si Steak 2000, it seems kumokonti na ang kumakain sa Galleria branch even at lunch hour.
Burger McDo- Deleted from the menu? WHY? kesa mag meryenda ako sa 711 ng mahal, combo na... masarap kasi sya as sides sa fries eh. Update - they brought it back and kicked out the hamburger meal.
Burger King - yum May GRO sila and free massage sa Galleria?. My usual chicken sandwhich seemed to have gotten bigger. The burger shots seems ok. Plus free wi-fi
Jollibee BBQ chicken blah- feels fake at least malaki. Ganito rin siguro ang nangyari sa KFC BBQ chicken sa US to compete with Pollo Loco.
Tipid move: Buy a 2 pc burger steak and 1 pc burger steak and share the extra piece with my wife.. tama lang sa 1 rice each.
Kenny Rogers - yum I never been full on a KR combo before, did they increase the servings? or I can afford a bigger combo than before? I remember they serve a paltry small scoop of rice, and anemic chicken. But this December I was surprised feeling to have ate so much at the same cost like 3-4 years ago? Which was the last time I ate KR!
Pinoy Toppings - blah Pardon the pun but Karpintero size servings of rice. A whole facefull. Cheap! Yeah, I used to like it. But when I got a chance to eat there again in Megamall, sheesh... cold burger steak and super alat soup!
Hongkong Noodles - hmmm - Nagsawa din after a year. No more cravings for it. This phenomenal cheap food that made lines at Malls from the homegoing crowd.
McDonald's Burger steak something-bleah- another pathetic attempt of McDs om a rice meal. Dry patty, dumped with chopped onions! Remember the hideous pork stew somthing? yeah, I thought so.
Angel's Burger - yum - b1t1 cheese burger for P31 and the footlong using big dogs. Cheap!

MALLS
Sta. Lucia-hmm-upgraded the washrooms, now tolerable, new tiles and dividers but no soap dispensers.
Robinson's Galleria-laging may tissue sa CR and soap/sanitizer. Secret CR sa 2nd floor department store near lingerie section
SM Marikina - maliit, but big cyberzone. Weird and long public riding area.

My 2009 year ender (Part 1)

My year ender of whatever I remembered jotting down of had an impact.

So far Left eye can still see light Right eye still holding after a year of having retinal detachment. No recurrence of Gastritis except this holiday season of eating a lot and sleeping. Now, on to the list....

LOCAL
Ondoy: Bummer. Still can't get over the water reached more than 8 feet in our apartment.

Pacquiao: congrats, and thanks for the 4 hour window of utopian shopping and street travel. One more chance if the Mayweather fight pushes through.

Maguindanao Massacre: Journalists condemn the killing of their kind, --- why so special? Condemn all killings! Ok lang ba pag regular tao ang mapapatay para may ma-isulat ang journalist? Same case on kidnappings of journalist, reklamo sila pag may nakidnap sa kanila pero pag regular na tao mukang mas gusto pa nila makabihag para may maisulat, all is fair game sa bad guys.

Mayon: 12/17/09 3:07 PM http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_wphilippines_volcano. The real fireworks but deadlier.

Mikee Arroyo: "Ask my lawyer" Congress is a law making body. A congressman is a law maker. Ask your lawyer?

Presidential Elections:
Nonoy - Somebody already said it...Hacienda Luisita is Noynoy's pandora's box. They may not be uber rich but certainly not financially challanged as they want to portray and what platform?
Edu for VP - pang brand recognition ni Guido, baka kasi wala may nakakailala sa kanya. Trying out the Obama factor (youth) eh?
Villar -C5 at Taga?
Gordon/Bayani - GordonProgressive thinker, di lang ma-arok ng masa looks tired, and Bayani? Lubog ang Marikina, Municipal Mayor ang nagaaprove ng construction permits and experts suggested that structures here should be at least 2 stories high. So sino ang nakaupo nung dumami ang mga tao sa Marikina? As usual nang sisi na lang ng ibang government agencies nung Ondoy.
Erap - pang-agaw lang ng boto.
Chiz-loves talking to the camera
Bro. Eddie-Thank you for relaxing your brow muscles, on your ministries and campaigns before, your brow seems to show you are heavily burdened, now I don't see as much but it's is still there.

I'm not saying none of them is worthy, but there are sides to them to be seen. It is sad that all of these personalities is again as always is using the poor on their platform. "Iangat ang nasa baba", "To help the poor" as seen on GMA 7's biyaheng 2010. With all the urong sulong, rainbow coalitions, survey based motives, new faces but same tactics. Come campaigning time, we'll see the same song and dance routine literally (that eventually ended FPJ). Magulo na sila from the start and usually magulo ang term nila.


INTERNATIONAL

Whites will be the minority mid century
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_go_ot/us_white_minority
Having the chance of often going to Irvine California, it's no surprise if this happens by what I observe.

Christmas Commercialism
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091215/us_time/08599194759000
No explanation here, we are all guilty here. Why not rename it, Clausemas, Rudolphmas, oh yeah, they did change it, to... "happy holidays"

Ondoy vs. Cainta, Villa Olympia

Sept 25 Friday
Mid-shift ends my day around 10pm. Rain was pouring so I decided to wait it out till 11. Since it didn't stop, I decided to go home.


Sept 26 Saturday
Morning, it was still raining hard. By lunch the village road was starting to flood as expected. Figuring the most it will be like ankle deep in theapartment, there's seem no sign to hurry or worry.

Around lunch, the flood started to enter the house. Feeling it won't beat the last highest record I've experienced indoors of ankle high, we just watched what happened.




And then a few hours later it suddenly rose up, from touching the bottom of the sofa set, then covering it. We started to scamper for belongings piling them up as on furniture. The main concern was the ref. We transferred it from the low level kitchen to the dining. Then the water starts to hit knee high inside. Told Uly to bring the LCD monitor, the PC, and other electronics up the 2nd floor. Papa's 2 drawer filing cabinet was already submerged up to the bottom drawer. When we decided to take out the contents of the top drawer and placed it just on top of the steel cabinet. No sooner that we finished placing the files on top, the water was reaching the file folders. It was like placing an item a step at a time everytime on a staircase.

When it reached the waist level, we decided to stay at the second floor. Earlier on, before the water reached the power outlets, I've already switched off the main fusebox. We watched as the staircase steps dissapeard one level at a time. By then I asked Lene to pack up our clothes and get ready for the worse.
I started to pull out the aircon unit so we can have a ready escape route just in case it gets any higher. Uly was wondering why I was doing it, I guess he started to feel the seriousness of the situation.

The rain was still pouring on and off. And then the water reached its peak, around 2 feet from the ceiling of the 1st floor.

Our neighbor Kuya Bodjie (w/ the yellow hummer truck) took out his kiddie pool and started paddling around and helping out some neighbors. They started to bring the kids and mommies to units with 3 floors.



Then we decided to transfer the kids and mama and lene to Presidente's house for safety. Kuya Bodjie floated Uly first so he can be there if Zoe goes there alone. Then Zoe and Lene and then Mama was last. I stayed to guard the apartment.

Nightfall, It was dark and still raining. Listening to the radio, other people had it even worse. In Marikina, people stuck in rooftops. Everytime it rains I feel for them, the cold, the hunger, the fear.

After all the excitment. I realized I haven't eaten since breakfast. We saved the water dispenser and a plate of fried fish. That's it. I just thought "oh, this will subside tomorrow morning and I can buy something to eat by then"-- how wrong I was.

Sept 27 Sunday
The next morning, there was no more rainfall but the water was still up to the ceiling. Then it kicks in, I'm hungry. No food, the stove's flooded. Not even a junk food around. Then reports start coming in, The main road (Felix Ave./Imelda) outside at Cypress/Country homes /Shell was waist deep. The wet market at Junction was flooded, all possible stores are flooded. The whole of Cainta was submerged. Where the hell are you going to buy food?



Bayanihan starts to run in the community. The neighbors with meat and produce for trade started selling their stocks to others since there were no refrigiration. Noticing that some didn't have a way to cook, they started cooking it to adobo to dispose of. A nice neighbor cook a big vat of lugaw (porridge) and gave it everyone.

No one can do anything at this point. The water was high, dirty and muddy. And reports of dead bodies floating just outside the compound make it worse. I didn't go down to the flood for sanitary reasons. I won't risk an accident and cut myself then get waterborne diseases. I'll wait till it's around knee deep. With my poor eyesight, I'm more useful dry than wet and losing my glasses in the water.

Eventually, they threw me some food. I couldn't belive I ate liver and tuyo and it felt like a high end restaurant meal. I felt It could be the last time I'm eating a cooked meal as it started to occur to me that this could linger on...

Stuck there in our room on the 2nd floor, the only other place I can go is to the other room and on the window roof tile to check out the flood.

Around 3 pm, the flood went down to thigh high. Observing it, the speed was around 1 feet every 2.5 hours. Slowly painfully. At this point I can go down and move stuff around to clear a pathway. Upon reaching the main door, I couldn't open it. The door possibly swelled and got stuck. Again, kuya Bodjie helping me out from the outside by kicking the door open. Now I can't close the door. The fear of critters coming in rather that robbers was on my mind.

At around midnight, Papa Noel came home, he said he waded through waist high floods from Sta. Lucia and took half a day to get home.

Sept 28, Monday
Waking at 6am, the water subsided to street level, a few more hours it was gone. Left was all mud. Then people started to pick-up their lives and cleaning began.

Thankful to be alive and well.

At around 3 pm Kuya Jong came and brought some goods and picked us up to evacuate the kids and mama to Sucat temporarily.



So, Cainta, Marikina and the surrounding areas are known for being flood prone areas. So why were there no contingencies to handle this? Baranggay Manggahan had small bancas why is the rest of Rizal not capable of having these? Had to wait for whatever the national government had to help out, which is not a lot. Where's the taxpayer's money? Sigh

Eat Bulaga's EB Heroes

Watched Eat Bulaga last Saturday, wonderful segment on EB Heroes where they feature ordinary people doing exemplary things for their community. There are already 3 or 4 featured I assume, I saw the firefighter and the last week the blind teen who are helping People With Disabilities in their community.

Despite his disability and family status (his father became an amputee due to an infection and his mother died from a heart attack), he still goes to school with his brother on a bike plus servicing his group with a cause.

This segment ends up like a Wish ko lang episode where the featured person is rewarded by gifts in recognition of their acheivments. Like George Forman said to the Today Show, all you need is a little helping nudge to start something big and not always from your own.

A nice move by EB compared to what Wowowee is trashing out.

BPO's excluded in special holidays

September 7 was declared a special holiday in Manila and was announced late friday. So there were no official email from the company until Sunday which stated that BPO's were not included. So it seems this will be the start excl

Publish Post

uding BPO's from special holidays?