Before I set up this video, let me preface it by saying that this is slightly NSFW (which is what makes it a lot of fun). As much as Anthony Bourdain's "fisting a Samoan" quip.

Anywho, my Mom tells this story of a police-led sting operation in my hometown which led to the arrest of the kidnap-for-ransom gang. The gang is led by a certain "Fred", who, by most reliable accounts, is the mastermind. He, of shockingly close acquaintance to the family, apparently selects the gang's next target by "fingering" them. I do a bit of Katie Couric vs. Sarah Palin in the interview, but my mom delivers all the punchlines.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Kamay sa ilalim ng baba... PORMA!:

1. I have a boo boo in my bellybutton that, when I press, it makes me pee involuntarily.

2. This whole degenerative disc business has me worried about overall cartilage health. Since I can't take shellfish-based glucosamine, I'm in the market for vegan versions. Question is, do they work as well?

3. Robin Padilla must have the healthiest lungs and liver in the world.

4. Coron Island, ancestral land of the Tagbanwa, is the last frontier. You. Must. See. It.

5. I thought it was funny how managers (coaches) of professional baseball teams wear the same clothes/kit their players do -- as opposed to other professional sports where most managers are either in a suit or a tracksuit. Then I had a vision of Pat Riley wearing shorts, hightops and a sleeveless jersey yelling at the ref. Or an American football coach wearing tights.

6. Whatever it is, it should fold easily, and in seconds.

7. Fiction foreshadows reality.

8. More sports: you'd think "pinch hitter" and "dump" would be one of sports' worst-named positions, but I think "tight end" takes the medal. Maybe they should be playing at Hooker Field in Virginia, or, more famous, Taco Bell Arena.

9. Now that I am middle aged, I can be more cynical, if that's possible.

10. I've been asked to endorse a President for the U.S. I listened to Obama rally in Missouri and in the Pennsylvania pouring rain, and I was in tears. But, after taking the test at glassbooth.org, it seems Ralph Nader's my man.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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So this morning I woke up from the bestest dream ever. (Those of you who are not footie fans should tune out now.)

It goes this way: I'm the manager for the Arsenal Football Club, a club that plays in the English Premier League, and in UEFA.

The dream, albeit short, goes this way. Standing on the sidelines, I walk up to the pitch and call my midfielder during an injury lull. My midfielder happens to be Kaka. I put my hand over his shoulder and he stoops over to listen. I give him specific instructions: "You must fall back on defense. I need you to be more defensive against their forwards. No need to tackle. Just get your leg in there when they shoot." He nods and runs back onto the pitch. End of dream.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Hello, All:

It's been a while since my last update, partly because there was a request to actually take this blog down. You know, "Removed by Request".

So, I took a hiatus of sorts, but the real reason is that I've been really busy. With work, and then I got sick. Then someone posted: "we need an update. i need my bulletproof fix...". I'm happy that there's a "we". So here goes:

1. I have Degenerative Disc Disease. The L4 disc is pretty bad, but the illness sounds worse that it seems. The problem causes severe back spasms, which can't be helped much because I am allergic to all sorts of pain relievers. I was on some leftover oxycodone, then switched to tramadol, and now am sick of taking medicine. I'm about 40% better now and am able to work at 2 hour spurts.

2. Launched: www.622design.com . If anyone needs design work, we're your guy. Don't worry about the DDD, it'll go away.

3. Aside from Sarah Palin, a few things have piqued my interest. Some of them include rumors of Manny Villar paying Noli de Castro not to run, and the crashing global economies. The good thing about that is people will learn to stop spending credit, and the American global socio-political hegemony will soon end.

4. Christmas is fast approaching. My mom's village, which now features almost 300 different structures, will be up soon and will be welcoming tourists. Closer to home, we bought our first Christmas tree.

5. Madge and Guy are divorcing. Bollocks! Who cares?!?

6. The melamine-in-milk fiasco has gotten me very upset. At home, we did get some of the tainted milk products, and I feel victimized. Where do I sign up for the class-action?

7. I agree with some of my friends, Peter Petrelli, for all his power, can't get a clue.

8. I bought a football for the beach. Anyone coming?

9. I had an idea for a horror novel. It came about when I was in the throes of pain while dizzied out by the oxycodone. It starts with, get this, a guy who is bedridden for a mysterious flu. He lives in a remote country villa, unloved by the locals and fears he was poisoned. He is surrounded by odd characters, like the local doctor who is treating him with potions and garden weeds. He then starts to hear things, like the termites in the ceiling, and the heartbeat of the neighbor's cat. Yun pa lang.

10. Francis Fukuyama thinks that whoever wins the US Presidential election will only be a one-term president, given all the trouble the US is in (war, economy, oil, environment), even though it's not his fault.

Bonus: 11. Oh, yes, sorry for the lack of posts.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Ah, the periodic events dump of not-much:

1. Oh, and yes, I got a bit spiritual this weekend and prayed a little bit that all the work gets magically done. It didn't! Sigh.

2. But at least I had time to steal away for a movie. The new X-Files movie is okay. Spoiler alert: no aliens, kissing, and post-postmodern rhetoric.

3. Power bill is lower by 38% year-on-year. That's because we moved to an office, dummy!

4. Slightly more amazing is me: "I'd like to buy some guitar accessories. Do you have some for less than P1,000?" Salesperson: "NO!!! NO!!! Guitars start at P8,500, but you might want to look at our accessories."

5. Also: the government spent a lot of money in "goat raising" last year. I asked, could it have been "goat racing"?

6. I started a Facebook group for Fans of Good Burgers. GET IN!

7. In case you didn't know, leaving the fluorescent lamp switch on to save power is a myth. The amount of energy needed to start up a fluorescent bulb is not more than the amount to keep it switched on for 24 hours. It's more like 24 seconds. So, switch it off.

8. Is Michael Phelps the greatest athlete ever? Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong should be in contention. And, Muhammad Ali. Or the guy who keeps winning this sport.

9. I was thinking about the set-scoring system used in volleyball and tennis, and how it's employed by most sports with nets. I thought if basketball (they have nets!) would switch to that format, it might make it more exciting. No clocks! And put in injury time!

10. The concept of a "day spa" in the Philippines is completely defeated by the amount of traffic you will need to go through to get there.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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1. I'd tax gas in the city by 25%, all of which goes to public transportation infrastructure. Make all roads bicycle-friendly.

2. Break ground for a mass transit railway system that extends to Calamba in the south and San Fernando in the north. All provincial vehicles will have to secure a sticker to get into the city, which costs Php 2,500 annually.

3. Revoke the license of all bus operators. Put the bus system under MMDA control. Get them to line up and on a predictable schedule.

4. Remove all billboards -- it's the law!

5. Give all companies substantial tax breaks if: a. they allow their employees to work from home; b. they have a bike-to-work program; c. they install showers; d. they have carpooling

6. Launch a city wide carpooling campaign. Dedicate a lane on Edsa for cars with four or more passengers only. Jail the law breaker.

7. Launch a River Transit system. (Clean the rivers first!) Advertise heavily and get people to try it for free. Put in a lot of boats that can go across Laguna Lake. Have nice terminals for passengers.

8. Revoke all Driver's Licenses (in a rolling manner). Get everyone to take the test again. Flunkers lose their license and their names are published on a website, sortable by type of license.

9. Go medieval on companies breaking our Environmental Laws. In fact, revisit these Laws and strengthen them. Tax companies who fail to comply and use that money to enforce. Mandatory semi-annual emissions test for all vehicles.

10. Mandate a four-day work week, with every city other than Makati working Monday to Thursday. Makati gets Tuesday to Friday. If you have business in overlapping cities, tough, schedule it!

11. Bonus: Levy a Mall Tax that will discourage more malls in the city.

12. Bonus: Launch a Philippine Football League.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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What a mess!

1. Last.fm is back. Awesome.
2. I just finished the last batch of polvoron from Bohol. Sigh.
3. One month to kickoff. Can hardly wait.
4. My goal to lose 12 pounds by December is of to a spinning start! I've been going to gym everyday starting yesterday. Rest day ko ngayon though.
5. Climbed Mt. Maculot. Mud, sweat and excellent views. (Someone told me there was a white carabao roaming the peak. Right.)
6. #4 should be edited: I pulled my back last week. But it didn't stop me from doing #5.
7. Is casubha saffron?
8. Hike La Mesa Dam now: 938-2540. Must go in groups of 10. Let's!
9. Related to #5 above: there is a store at the peak. But it isn't an easy climb in rainy August.
10. Other than that, been really busy. Cheers!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Sorry. I haven't been blogging lately. Too much work, then there's Football Manager 2008. And then there's Bohol, The Empire Strikes Back. Here are highlights and tips when you go:

1. Best beach really is the one at the Bohol Beach Club, but their food sucks.

2. So, stay at Alona Beach (Alona Tropical actually has better rooms for the money than BBC; try to get rooms 35 and 36 which are priced as poolside cottages but have an excellent beachfront view. From there, you have foot access to some really good restaurants (forget the hotel's own, food's bad too). Ask for a discount if you're there off season.

3. Try the Panglao sausage at Hayahay. Or any of their pizzas.

4. You'll need four days. Take the first day relaxing at the beach, the second to go see the sights (Chocolate Hills, tarsiers, Loac River, Baclayon Church, Seashell Museum), the third for dolphin-watching, snorkeling at Balicasag and a sidetrip to a sandbar called the Virgin Island. Day four should be spent at the beach yet again.

5. Make sure you have a meal (lunch is best) at the Bohol Bee Farm. Lots to choose from! Bring back pesto and coriander spreads.

6. Never book your tours through an agency or through the hotel. Instead, talk to some of the staff: they usually know people with boats, cars or vans to take you around. It's about Php 1,500 for a day tour of the sights with a van that holds 8 people. Php 400 for transfers to and from the airport. And Php 2,000 to 2,500 for a day of dolphin-watching, snorkeling and island-hopping on a boat that fits 8. Here are the numbers of the tour operators on the ground that I went with, and recommend: Edric Regis, (0906) 588-4571. Edward or Rodel (0929) 222-4400. Both operators speak good English. Edric has cars, vans and a boat.

7. Do not skip the dolphin watching. It doesn't matter that you need to get up at 5 AM to see them. For the land-borne, monitor-hugging desk jockey like me, it's like having Big Foot sit by your campfire: seeing it is one thing, realizing what you just saw is another.

8. On Balicasag Island, they have quality snorkels and aqua shoes for rent at P100 and P150 respectively -- so don't sweat that you didn't bring any. Have brunch there after your snorkeling and dolphin-watching (order in between so when you get back from snorkeling, lunch is ready). Escabeche and lapu-lapu sinigang in kamias: yummy!

9. Taking the boat to the sandbar at Virgin Island shouldn't cost extra. Tell your boatman.

10. Finally, watch the Cebu Pacific Airways website. They have fare deals to Tagbilaran all the time.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Mr. Russert, you will be missed.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Live from Red Arrow:

1. The Euro Cup finally got a good game, with the Oranje behind van Nistelrooy's heels and van Basten's coaching playing Total Football. Playing in the Group of Death, they surely know how to kill the giants. Champions Italy are unlikely to advance.

2. Paul Newman (with Robert Redford below) is very ill. That's very sad.



3. Did you know that the fingernails in your dominant hand grow faster than on your non-dominant hand? I always thought that that was just due to my more vigorous trimming of my fingernails on my non-dominant hand with my dominant hand (which hand is left to use?). Are you dizzy?

4. Bloggers on Wordpress should know: serious security issues.

5. Iron Man 2 gossip via director Jon Favreau's myspace page: concerns about unreturned calls and the April 2010 release date.

6. See below



7. Heidi Montag, villain of The Hills and erstwhile endorser of John McCain, gets stuck in an ATM vestibule.



8. There's some progress with Ces Drilon et.al's kidnapping. Read here.

9. Researchers, take note: there's a social network for you! This is so nerd!

10. Today should really be the day when you take stock of your freedom. Say something offensive! ;-)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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From the shores of Panglao:

1. Tarsiers could be the strangest living things you'll ever see (without getting your feet wet). Go to a Tarsier Foundation accredited tourist site. Other places to see them, like the ones that let you handle them, are illegal, as tarsiers often lose their appetite when they are handled by humans and consequently die. Look, take pictures but never touch.

2. Panglao Beach, and Bohol Beach Club, is 30 minutes away from the airport in Tagbilaran, and no more than another 40 minutes from everywhere else that's fun to visit in Bohol. The beach is wider and whiter than Boracay (I've been told several times over) and the water is much better. From there, you can go to several nearby islands by boat to snorkel and see dolphins and whales in their natural habitat.

3. You can go to and from Cebu via ferry from Tagbilaran. Takes about two hours.

4. Alona Beach on Panglao Island is what the locals call "Mini Boracay". Here, apparently, was where Alona Alegre, the beach's name sake, went topless (hindi "all the way", as our guide makes certain) for one of her early films. I imagine the nightlife here is a lot more hopping, as dozens of bars and restaurants (with not one but two happy hours) are lined up along the shore.


5. The Chocolate Hills are breathtaking. I have to admit, I didn't have high expectations: really they're just peculiar mounds of dirt, right? Well, when you get to the lookout and see thousands of them, it'll make you eat your words. Get those crazy jumping photos by the edge of the lookout when you're there.

6. When staying at the Bohol Beach Club, get a room near the Front Desk and use the free Wifi in your room.

7. Take the Loac River cruise. Lunch is a floating buffet along nipa- and mangrove-lined shores.

8. Visit the local centuries-old churches and structures dating all the way back to the 1500's, where Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna bled their arms in the Sandugo, right along the banks of Bohol. In the Baclayon Church, see altars, vestments, bibles, furniture and other ephemera (handwritten records on cowhide) while traversing across ancient wooden planks. Don't miss the Clarin house if you're a Bohol muebles buff.

9. On Panglao Island, visit the Seashell Museum and their amazing, amazing (yes, twice over) collection of seashells, some worth US$1,500! See shells endemic to Bohol, like the once ultra-rare Gloriamaris (where once there were only 14 specimens in the world, demanding a price of over $10,000 among collectors). And, purchase some as better-than-a-tee-shirt souvenir, like the Gloriamaris, for Php100 for a 3-inch specimen. We spent almost two hours perusing this museum's collection.

10. Also on Panglao Island: the Bohol Bee Farm. With Hibiscus Flower salad, organic vegetarian pasta, a cross-eyed bee for a logo, and a rocky cliff view that will leave you breathless, you'll easily declare that this could be the best place in the Philippines.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I just got back from Panglao Island and Bohol. There's plenty to say, but while I collect my thoughts, I have this: a treehouse off the shores of Panglao.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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We're live from Quezon City!

1. If you ever feel like getting a GTA driving experience for real, try Quezon Avenue. This includes a random guy running on the street.

2. Obama's about to get the nomination. That took too long.

3. How much would the British tabloids bid for my baby pictures? I'll donate every cent to charity.

4. On #2, who is more annoying, Wolf Blitzer or Mike Enriquez?

5. Last.fm + Facebook = lots of new music!

6. Magic Sing + thewilyfilipino = Nacho Libre!

7. I've decided that yogurt is best served vanilla flavored or with chicken tikka.

8. Quick, name the last Mariah Carey song you really liked.

9. If I told you I'll be seeing hills of chocolate and tiny bug-eyed monkeys this weekend, you'd think I'm planning on hitting the pipe.

10. I actually like spinning to "Kashmir". (No, that's not a drug reference either.)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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First, welcome to all my Rizalista and Existentialist readers! Someday, I'll let you shrink me!

1. Disneyland HK was overall a B+. There were only two rides worth doing, Space Mountain and the lasertag inspired Buzz Lightyear ride, where I scored 740,000 points.

2. Was in the 2nd largest Louis Vuitton store in the world (next door to where we stayed). People were leaving with bags after bags. I left with nothing. Cecile would be ashamed.

3. Got a Macbook Black. It's really er, black. My Powerbook G4 lasted me about four years, and the Black has about twice the power than that. So, this should last a lifetime.

4. The European Championships kick off next weekend, and there will be plenty of long nights. I have the best friends in the world! They married women who love football more than they do! After a long debate, I have Germany and Spain in the Finals (preceded by a scintillating France v. Spain quarterfinal). Spain will win, on penalties.

5. I need some cool posters for the office. Send me some.

6. Been listening to a lot of classical music lately. I found that I am more productive choosing type and snapping to guides while listening to Modest Mussorgsky.

7. David Cook is the new American Idol. My mom was in tears (she was rooting for Archuleta). If he follows Chris Daughtry's career, he should have a band soon, called Cook.

8. I recently saw "Bladerunner" again. Man, Ridley Scott must have time-traveled to Hong Kong in 2008.

9. Also, saw "Superbad". And, got upgraded to First Class on the way to Hong Kong. These two events are not related.

10. Last note on Disneyland: don't bother with being picky with the food. They're all unremarkable. Better yet, just eat ice cream through the entire visit.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Here you go:

1. I am *this* close to becoming a Vampire God. Should be one this week.

2. Among the approved treatments for back pain: stretching, check; physical therapy, check; stretching exercises, check; chiropractic, check; medical cannabis...

3. Overheard at the gym:

Guy: I think David Cook will win American Idol.
Girl: You watch that show?
Guy: Yes, I like the dancing.

4. Seth Godin says "Anonymity is the enemy of civility." Problem is I've met plenty of asses before. I prefer "Take care of the present." That's from Gandhi. Not very forward-thinking, but I think we spend too much time worrying about the future. I'm all future-d out.

5. Finally, cool graphics from the NY Times

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Here it is:

1. Our janitor has been replaced. We're going to miss him.

2. I went to the chiropractor yesterday. He said that he "got it", but I don't think he did.

3. In our office's Battle of the Senti Songs, Cliff Richard's "Ocean Deep" brought the house down. Up next is the Battle of the Boybands. I've got T3 and East-17 ready to go.

4. My brother was gracious enough to mail me his PSP, along with maybe a dozen titles. He says he doesn't use it anymore. Never was a doctor's lounge so sufferable. Up next, the vaunted Manila traffic! (Okay, maybe not while I'm driving.)

5. I'll be in Hong Kong in a week. Disneyland anyone?

6. Bowling is not a sport.

7. Two days ago around 11 PM a truck being towed got detached and came barreling across C5. The runaway truck (which was being towed because it lost its brakes), ramped over the island and crash landed on a street corner where passengers wait for their ride. It pinned down a woman. Medics worked two hours to get her out (the same morning, Donita Rose was playing with one of those giant pliers that firemen use to extract accident victims from their cars). Word is that she died yesterday. The tow truck driver fled the scene.

8. I have a potential client -- a call center -- that wants to meet tonight at 9:30 pm, for coffee.

9. The Olympic torch gets to Mt. Everest through the hands of a Tibetan woman.

10. I don't have anything for number 10.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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My back took me out of commission for a few days last week. It was stiff and really painful, right near where I had first injured it maybe a decade and a half ago. Bedridden and wallowing in Salonpas wrappers, I had a few thoughts:

1. My father was 34 years old when he wrote this. I'm 35 and the last thing I wrote was an email.

2. God compensates: he lost most of his hair in his early 20's.

3. On the book: while some might argue that the taste in typography was lacking (Arial seems to be in play), it's likely that a Grotesque, or the even better, Helvetica, was used in the earlier versions (where I presume my father had more to do with). Arial was designed in 1982, so the first versions of his book must have been in a different font. Futura? Whoa.

4. The office must have been really quiet. The coffeemaker must be accumulating some serious fungus.

5. Basketball is really boring. Maybe they can raise the rim a foot higher to bring back the layup.

Ran out of time. But there was more.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Here it is:

1. This year, if you reach Php 250,000 above taxable income (less all your tax exemptions), you pay Php 50,000 + 30% excess of the Php 250,000. If you made more than Php 500,000, you pay Php 125,000 plus 34% excess of Php 500,000. This hits hardest on the salaried middle class, whose little savings are mostly in interest rates that do not beat inflation (6.4%). Forget about where the tax money goes.

2. The world market price increase of rice has hit the poorest of the poor. But if it's true that we only import 10-15% of rice, how come we have such a huge shortfall (if 10-15% is all we have to cover)? Ask the smugglers then, who could account for as much as 20% of the rice in the market, and have no stopped smuggling because rice is, well, too darn expensive.

3. The human species is messed up when there are thousands dying of starvation every day and we are growing corn in unprecedented quantities to put into our cars. Makes me un-proud to be a member of this species.

4. The average Manila teenager spends close to 30% of his/her disposable income on internet access. Another third on his/her cellphone. Teenage savings rates -- those who have bank accounts -- are next to 2% in urban areas. The next generation of leaders might not be any better than the current one.

5. Unemployment hovers at 8%, with underemployment at 19%. That's nearly a fifth of our labor force tagged as underemployed. This year, we will give birth to the 90th million Filipino. Our fertility rate is only lower than Laos and Cambodia, at 3.5 births per mother.

6. The total annual family income in 2006 was estimated at P 2.99 trillion up by 22.7% over the 2003 estimate of P2.44 trillion. The total family expenditure was approximately P2.56 trillion, an increase of 25.7% over the 2003 estimate of P2.04 trillion. Hardly any savings left.

7. Food prices jumped an average of 8% from last month. All bets are on food prices steadily rising, some say at least for another decade.

8. Meanwhile, the best news I've had all week is that Ronaldo is into trannies.

9. And, that I had a great ride over the weekend.

10. And that prescription medicine prices could go down.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Here you go:

1. We are currently working on three identity systems. That's a substantial change from our usual roster of web work; and, it helps me as I find ID work very relaxing.

2. We rode around the hills of Antipolo. It's quite the quad-busting ride, but the suffering is rewarded by a 55 kph plummet down Sumulong Highway. Nothing but love for all the riders up there.

3. I'm at the end of another semester teaching at UA&P. While my hope is that the students actually learned something they will look to use in the near future, I know that I teach in a field that is changing at a breakneck pace. At the end of the day, if I opened a few eyes and minds, I've punched my exit ticket quite satisfied.

4. Another first: I went to get a Thai leg massage. The lady that "worked" me, a largish woman with arms bigger than mine, wheezed and brayed (honest) as she rubbed away on my hirsute appendages. They say bad massages leave you sore. Her work left my legs energized. I'll be visiting that spa again.

5. Over now to fashion: I've been wearing football jerseys often. That must turn people off, huh?

6. An in-law left a map of Makati with me, along with a glow-in-the-dark frisbee, a similar darkness-defying football and two remote control helicopters. Guess which gets the most use.

7. We need a new television set to watch Euro 2008 properly.

8. The latest version of me, 35.x, has a few bugs. Some users have reported crashing will running applications such as "Polite Conversation 2" and "Clubbing 8". I'm reminded that I've removed "Smoking" and "Drinking" from the pre-installed applications, plus the Control Panel needs Administrator access. Meanwhile, most people find the new UI much better than previous versions. I'm preparing an API release soon, which I hope will make for a better, more useful me.

9. I've been wondering about myayala.com: their navigation bar is now "Home", "Bills Payment" and "NSO Certificates". There must be an articulated strategy out there other than be the concierge for the OFW. Wait, that's the strategy right there.

10. I haven't seen a movie at the cinemas in a while. It's the Metrowalk Effect.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Very little time to blog. Besides, I doubt anyone's been reading lately.

1. I left my wallet at home the other day. So, I turned around to look for my cellphone to call home. I forgot the phone too. I still, however, know my phone number.

2. I fixed up my bike with some better parts. It's not as spiffy as my wife's Masi (which is gruppo-ed with triple Ultegra) but it's much lighter with the compact 105 cranks. I still am holding out on a carbon frame, maybe in a year or two.

3. Eduardo broke his leg. Actually, he nearly lost it. I can't look at the video though, but maybe you can.

4. The story goes that Randy David and Tim Yap met. Yap says "Hi, I'm Tim. I'm an eventologist." To which the peerless David replies, "Oh, you're an eventologer. An eventologist must be one who studies events. You host events, hence you are an eventologer." Tim Yap, schooled, replies "No, I'm an eventologist." David replies: "No, you're an eventologer, you moron."

5. Someone got me one of them remote control helicopters. After maybe an hour of trying to figure out how to control it, I finally was able to steer it with relative confidence around our living room. I tried, ostensibly to show off my pinpoint RC flying skills to the wife, make it go through one of the beams in our living room ceiling. Halfway through the space, it struck the beam, lost power, and landed on the ledge hanging 12 feet in the air, doomed with flightlessness. I immediately launched a rescue operation making use of two broomsticks and a hook to fish it out. Gravity did the rest; the chopper fell to the earth and now I continue to enjoy my new toy.

6. Pizzeria Toscana in New Manila is pretty good. Gumbo in SM Mall of Asia is not so good. Bag of Beans in Tagaytay is so-so. But don't trust me: I like Burger Machine.

7. I recently lost my pedicure virginity, which can be called "losing my pediginity". Or, my "virginicure". I'd much rather not talk about the experience though, but rather just the significance of the moment.

8. My mother brought home nearly 15 kilos of tamarind from Bangkok. Smuggler.

9. I'm a Vitamin B complex doser now. It's my speed.

10. Lots of work ahead of me. I think the month of March will live up to its name.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Turning 35, if we haven't had enough of that matter, has made me more introspective (again, repeating). One of the best ways of scratching that scab open is to take a personality test. And there really isn't one out that I know that does a better job than the Myers Briggs Test.

What it does is ask you 70+ questions (the real one will probably take longer; then again, you can take it more than once to get an average) about pretty much everything (except your favorite color and flavor ice cream). The result is a "type", identified by four letters. The letters correspond to your personality type. Mine came out INTJ.

It's a bit scary to read the descriptions, as they are almost exacting -- they did ask you a lot of questions, and if you were truthful with your answers, then the typing should be exact. My sister-in-law tells me that it serves as a good guide in understanding how to work and live with the people around you; by accepting who they are and how they think, you can make the most of that relationship.

For example, here's what it tells me about me:

INTJs spend a lot of time inside their own minds, and may have little interest in the other people's thoughts or feelings.

Scary, right? Here's more:

It is not easy for the INTJ to express their internal images, insights, and abstractions. The internal form of the INTJ's thoughts and concepts is highly individualized, and is not readily translatable into a form that others will understand.

That's really confused. I do humbly agree with:

When they are in leadership roles, they are quite effective, because they are able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren't working well. Many INTJs end up in engineering or scientific pursuits, although some find enough challenge within the business world in areas which involve organizing and strategic planning.

Even better:

They dislike messiness and inefficiency, and anything that is muddled or unclear. They value clarity and efficiency, and will put enormous amounts of energy and time into consolidating their insights into structured patterns.

Finally, a word of caution to me:

INTJs need to remember to express themselves sufficiently, so as to avoid difficulties with people misunderstandings. In the absence of properly developing their communication abilities, they may become abrupt and short with people, and isolationists.

Maybe that's why I blog -- so that people understand me better. And, that I'm never left alone.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Maligayang ika-100 taon, mga Iskolar ng Bayan!

1. Student number?
89-40648. Teka lang...

2. College?
UPLB College of Arts and Sciences.

3. Ano ang course mo?
Communication Arts po. Yun pung walang Math saka maraming dung chicks.

4. Nag-shift ka ba o na-kickout?
Ang galing mo! Paano mong nahulaan? Nag-shift. Dati po kasi akong Sociology. Alang chicks don. Saka, ang baho ng banyo nila.

5. Saan ka kumuha ng UPCAT?
Sa Physci BLDG. Kung saan din ako nag NATSCI.

6. Favorite GE subject?
Wala. Pangit silang lahat.

7. Favorite PE?
PE 1 na Folk Dancing. Hazel Laigo baby!

8. Saan ka nag-aabang ng hot guy sa UP?
Di ko type mga lalake. Pero marami sa may Ladies Dorm sa likod ng La Ville. Sobrang hot na mga lalake doon.

9. Favorite prof(s)
TMTM. Although si Dulcinea Laforteza ay special mention dahil cute sya.

10. Pinaka-ayaw na GE subject.
Math 11. Tulog ako half the time.

11. Kumuha ka ba ng Wed or Sat classes?
CMT lang kapag sabado. Sa graduation namin, ako ay natuwa nung tinamaan sa mukha si Poodle ng hay infusion.

12. Nakapag-field trip ka ba?
Dehins. Strict ang parents ko.

13. Naging CS ka na ba or US sa UP?
Oo, isang beses lang. College Scholar nung 1st Semester. Tapos, minalas na.

14. Ano ang Org/Frat/Soro mo?
Canasta Society. Lapitin!

15. Saan ka tumatambay palagi?
Humanities Bldg.

16. Dorm, Boarding house, o Bahay?
Bahay. Malapit lang bahay namin sa UPLB.

17. Kung walang UPCAT test at malaya kang nakapili ng kurso mo sa UP, ano yun? (Given ang mentality mo nung HS ka)
Architecture.

18. Sino ang pinaka-una mong nakilala sa UP?
Rural po ako. UP na ako simulang nagkamalay ako. So lahat sila kilala ko na.

19. First play na napanood mo sa UP?
Ha? Pasok ba ang Playfest?

20. Name the 5 most conyo orgs in UP
Haller. Teka, Ranchers? Kebs.

21. Name 5 of the coolest orgs/frats/soro in UP.
Lang kwenta namang tanong to.

22. May frat/soro bang nag-recruit sa yo?
Meron. Secret.

23. Saan ka madalas mag-lunch?
Sa bahay. Ang kulit mo ha.

24. Masaya ba sa UP?
Oo naman. Libre pa parking noon e.

25. Nakasama ka na ba sa rally?
Oo din. Ah, hindi pala.

26. Ilang beses ka bumoto sa Student Council
Tatlong beses siguro.

27. Name at least 5 leftist groups in UP
Student Christian Movement, League of Filipino Students, Akbayan, PISTON, GABRIELA, UPLB Perspective. YES!

28. Pinangarap mo rin bang mag-laude nung freshman ka?
Bakit, pinangarap mo? Sira ka pala e.

29. Kanino ka pinaka-patay sa UP?
Ay, incriminating yan. Pass ako.

30. Kung di ka UP, anong school ka?
Wala. UP or bust. Bakit pa ako pupunta sa iba? Isang entrance exam lang kinuha ko, men!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Here I go:

1. My Sinister Vampire, who I predict to ascend to "Vampire god" status in about 1.5 months, has annoying blonde hair. BAKET?

2. In my network, I am #2 Best Public Speaker. Ugh. The real highlight is that I am #9 Person With the Best Hair! Don't forget #21 Most Fashionable. Geez, there must be lots of people who don't know how to dress out there.

3. Following #2 above, people do know me: I am one of the least kindest in my network. True!

4. According to my friends, I am most like to have the best personality, use the word "superfluous" correctly and most like to corrupt the minds of young children. Now, that last one is superfluous.

5. I drive an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. That thing is probably worth a zillion dollars or something like that. A zillion!

6. I've been sent a pinacolada, twice. Don't these people know anything?

7. What the hell is "thrown a sheep at"? Who throws sheep?

8. I've got legs growing out of a clay pot. Cool!

9. I have compatibility issues with people, insofar as movies are concerned. Hey, Ace Ventura was way funny.

10. If someone calls me a Top Friend, and I don't call them one, am I being rude?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I've been thinking about my own mortality lately. It has to do with becoming 35.

There are various levels of obsession, mine reaches to just above the absurd level. Through it, I'm more aware now, for example, of how all the things I did -- and other things that happened to shape my life -- did in fact shape my life.

One early moment that I always look back to was what was at that time a really unremarkable instance. My father, vexed by what turned out to be just a bunch of extorting petty criminals, asked me if I wanted to move to another school, in particular, one that was not in my hometown. It took me half a second to answer: no.

I often think about what would have happened if I said yes instead. Had I said yes, I would have instantly lost all, if not most, of the things I truly cherish now -- most especially now that I am dealing with this, my 35th year. I would have lost, in all likelihood, the friendship of the nicest bunch of lunatics a guy could have ever gone to school with. Sure, I would have made friends, and I have. But they are irreplaceable.

I would have, in all likelihood, never met -- and found happiness through -- some of the most amazing people in my life: they, who could never quite grow up, who mentored me through change and encouraged me through challenges, whose place in my heart are as secure as mine is in theirs, who say goodnight to me every evening; they who make me feel immortal. They are all the brightest fireflies in my jar, and I keep them very near.

If there is to be one, maybe two, of those moments, I hope that I now have wisdom, or the lack of it, to make the right choice. Surely now that my bones are weaker, I have to take at least more than a second before I make a guess.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Howdie! I've been exceedingly busy, but the three or so people who come around to read my blog deserve something new to read, so here goes:

1. Two friends living abroad came back for the holidays. We had lots of dry sex.

2. Got my legs back with two back to back rides in Batangas. Also, two back to back flats. (Changing folding tires are much easier than beaded ones, yes.)

3. Hitting up Bangkok with my folks in two weeks. I might change my wardrobe yet again. Or, just loosen the belt.

4. My coworkers are about to stage a coup in the office. Their desks are in the AC's path, and I like it colder than they do. I want to assure our clients that it's business as usual.

5. I actually gained weight AFTER the holidays. That's very strange.

6. The Honda Jazz we picked up two years ago drove from Los Banos to Baguio then back to Manila on one full tank of gas. It did it again this year.

7. That said, the batteries went dead two days before Christmas. And our plumbing was going nuts.

8. Spent New Year's Eve in Los Banos and lit firecrackers for the first time in years, with friends who started the tradition with me more than 15 years ago. Did you know those Picolo firecrackers will continue to light and explode underwater? We went dynamite fishing (mostly tadpoles) in my Dad's garden. Things ended around 4:30 AM. Lots of good fun.

9. My New Year's resolution is simple: get everyone around me to work harder so I have to work harder. That really doesn't make much sense, but it sounds like an impossible thing to do. Just like a New Year's resolution should be.

10. My cousin Alana tuned me into Chromeo, the most successful Arab/Jewish collaboration since the beginning of time. More impressively, they sound like Bel Biv Devoe.

11. I've been watching Dexter. It's a very very good show.

12. Boston must be very happy about their sports now. Which is my way of segueing out of all US pro sports in general.

13. While I got some really nice and useful gifts over Christmas, I was hoping to either get a bizcard file (life is tempoed by coffee and your latest business card acquisition) or a bluetooth headset (for the car, making me a truly annoying driver) or new bib shorts (size medium). Birthday's this Friday. Wink wink.

14. Christmas is the time when you get to compose sentences that you otherwise hardly ever get to say. Like: My mom's pichi-pichi. Or, reading a gift card, say "To Lina, Merry Christmas!". Try saying it, you'll get it eventually.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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My life has always been punctuated by unforgettable poker games. Whether it's Pusoy Dos with my brother and my cousin, or double draw with complete strangers, I've had some pretty good hands and have always thought I played the game well. In fact, while in New Orleans a few years ago, I stopped and played poker with my fellow travelers.

Anyway, the last time I played No Limit Texas Holdem, I was cleaned out by a 14 year old who was lucky enough to hold a pair of eights and flop a full house. Of course, I had a three ladies, which you would normally go All In on, but that's all last Christmas.

This Christmas, I'm going to face this kid again, who has been --- wait for it --- playing online. No word on whether he's better now, but I think the older people get, the easier it is to read them (I'm wrong of course).

He has hell to pay this year. And, this year, we play with real money.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Here you go:

1. I fell off a hammock and hit my head. That's enough for a blog entry, if you should ask.

2. I know three people in either intensive care or are terminally ill. Holidays don't look too happy right about now.

3. A recently completed project (still in Beta of sorts) for a leading post production firm lets you embed videos from their archives. Here's a favorite:

4. Brooklyn Pizza has started serving pasta (still not on the menu online though). We're trying one for lunch in a bit.

5. There are two more weekends before Christmas. While we're almost done with the shopping, the holdouts are the hardest: a dad and a mom. Ideas?

6. My back hasn't gotten any better. I think I need a new bike.

7. There's a Food Festival for bloggers over at the Trinoma that I was invited to. It's in a few days. I hope my schedule will let me go. (Update: No, it won't let me!)

8. Going on a ride this weekend. The wife's got a new bike that *looks* fast (I think I need a new bike). I hope the weather cooperates so we can hit the hills of Batangas.

9. My Holiday holiday goals: get better at making goals in Pro Evolution Soccer.

10. 66% of the people I work with report having problems sleeping. Is that reason for me to lose sleep?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I've been told, many times over, that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, who walked among us and died for our trespasses. And, in honor of this sacrifice (so that we do not burn in Hell), we celebrate this birthday by decorating our homes and our streets, giving gifts and taking long vacations.

I think, because I've been doing this too many times already, it's become routine. So, when December arrived, I decided I would consciously look for some other thing to look forward to, other than the predictable Christmas feast, the socks, and the hangovers. I'm still looking.

-----

I watched Shinobi, a movie about two ninja lovers, last night while waiting for dinner. I wouldn't recommend it for fans of any kind of action on film; it's supernatural. However, if you liked Hero, Crouching Tiger, or the like, then you'll enjoy this movie. Watch it with your buddies and cheer for the guy who just. Won't. Die. And, as expected, there's a heartbreaking ending.

-----

I'm all alone here at the office. It's a bit strange because normally, I'm content in solitude (see INTJ), but I think when you expect to be with company, and there's no one there, that's when you're really alone.

-----

For all the nasties one hears about security guards, and how annoying they can be, they really are useful. It's one of those things: when you can't tell they're their that's when they're doing their job. But the other day, a guard at the SM Hypermart in Pasig really helped me out. I asked about an ATM in the area, and he said there were a few. Then he asked me to wait a moment, because he wanted to verify for me whether they were online. To save me, he says, the trip. So he gets on the radio and asks his colleagues to check. After hearing word, he promptly sends me towards an ATM that was online. I guess that's Christmas for you.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Here you go:

1. I'm back spinning again, and am really happy about it. Am also very surprised at finding out firsthand what I've been reading about, but refused to believe: a 50 minute spin is about a 1,000 calorie workout. The heart rate monitor says so.

2. The embarrassing little dust-up at the Peninsula could have been avoided if I had my crystal ball polished. Okay I'm flattering myself.

3. The expensive broadband connection at the office has an upside: I'm back on Last.fm.

4. Christmas shopping tip: other than not getting people anything, the easiest way to start checking off those names is to get someone else to do it for you. (Way to get into the Christmas spirit!)

5. Seriously, I stare out my window and see the neighbors with their giant inflatable snowmen, parachuting santas and blinking lights dripping from every shingle and I wonder how we're able to live with our energy bills.

6. I went to the hills of Antipolo for the first time in my life. I wonder why I'd never been up there before.

7. Back to Christmas: in that ditty "Christmas Alphabet", do you remember what the first "s" stood for? Damn!

8. On #2: The curfew was way out of line. But that's been said before. What might have skipped your attention was that Akon was in town that night. Guess some people risked getting "Locked Up" to see him. Okay, hahaha, funny.

9. Back to Christmas: Instead of giving money to, say, the dude that delivers our paper in the morning, I'll give away t-shirts that would cost me way less than an underwhelming P100 bill. Now, I just have to go out and buy them.

10. Speaking of stuff to buy: I need new socks. Imagine, these days, getting me socks for Christmas will actually cheer me up.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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On November 30, we are to celebrate the life of Andres Bonifacio, the leader of the first ever revolution in Asia against European colonists. He may not have been a master tactician in war, but he was a Filipino nonetheless.

I imagine, in my own time, there will be another Andres Bonifacio, whose fight it is will be to save his people not from a foreign oppressors, but from themselves. I have this hope.

I imagine, also, that he (or she) would be a person fortuitous enough to know of a Divinity, and that he will be guided by this spiritual force. Again, I imagine would speak these words

Grant me the strength and the courage to love my people.

Grant me the leadership to show my people that dignity comes from selflessness and that the greatest honor is one that is bestowed by one's own.

And grant me the wisdom to understand that the fate of my country rests in my hands.

And since you've read this far: do you think we all have a little bit of Bonifacio in us? Can we, of all the things we ask for in our prayers, ask not for healing but for heroism? Not for patience but for patriotism?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Here you go:

1. Did you get anything on Black Friday? An iPhone?

2. Where did all the feminists go? We need them here in the Philippines.

3. Have you burned my 2007 mix tape yet? It's almost December.

4. Are you going to the Greenmeadows Bazaar this weekend?

5. Is Typhoon Mina coming your way?

6. What points do you consider when choosing shampoo?

7. Do you watch NBC's Heroes? Because I don't.

8. When are you going back to Peddler's Village? I think maybe we should have gone.

9. When are you stopping by the office?

10. Are you feeling better?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Here are pictures of my mom's Christmas Village, mostly Lemax structures. My brother, after seeing these pictures: "holy. mother. of. god."

(P.S. Make sure you zoom into the larger sizes to get all the detail.) See nine pictures in this album.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Here we go:

1. Since getting back, I've been sleeping at 8:30 and getting up at 4:30 or 5 AM. It's actually been better, since I get into the office much earlier, and have time for a good breakfast.

2. All the bromeliads in the office have died.

3. I agree with Roger Ebert: Beowulf is a satire. No, it's an action-comedy. Angelina was six dress sizes larger than in real life.

4. Will taking massive doses of B Vitamins cut down my coffee intake? I doubt it. (Why should it?)

5. Went to my first Christmas Bazaar yesterday of what promises to be a string of visits to Christmas Bazaars. Then, went to Market! Market! and felt what it really meant to go shopping.

6. Drop a line here if you want to arrange to see my mom's Christmas Village. 220+ structures! It's staggering!

7. Phoenix, pms, ps1007: I can't really tell you where I'll be teaching, but catch me on Meebo and maybe we can talk. Sorry about missing your comments.

8. I was tempted to try, for about P500 a handful, some Philippine civet coffee. I was very quickly reminded that that came out of a wild cat's ass.

9. My niece's friends, who came over her grandmother's house for her 12th birthday party, are kids of my highschool friends. It was a pleasant surprise.

10. And, Neva: Tennis works, huh? I don't think my knees can take that.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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On the way to, and coming from, my destinations, I traveled through the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I never left the airport though, but I watched intently as we flew across the Mississippi and over flaming red countryside.

I pondered, for the most part, about inspiration. When does inspiration work? How does it hit you? And, can it replace motive? When am I working inspired and when am I doing something out of other, more banal, reasons? Such as guilt or need?

Operating on the notion that inspiration is rare and ought to yield something pretty big, I looked back at the things that I did in my lifetime that, well, I considered pretty big. That's pretty much where the pondering ended. I'm not too sure I've done something inspired yet. At least, not since I was a kid.

So I looked at all the things others have done which I thought would have definitely been inspired. Wrote a novel. Climbed a mountain. I think you might need oodles of motivation to write a dissertation, but looking for inspiration to do the same is like waiting for the moon to turn blue (or England to win the World Cup). I think inspiration would have to be some kind of "force" pushing you -- it's not something that comes naturally in oneself, rather, it comes externally and pushes you forward. When was the last time I felt an external force inspire me?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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I was, to a good extent, speechless.

I watched Manny Pacquiao live for the first time. And there was my mother, who had always watched the fights only after she had known of the result, kicking and screaming: "Hit him! Hit him! Hurt him! Don't stop! Don't STOP!" But to see how amusing this is is to know my mother. She's that cranky old lady that lives down the road -- who will travel three hours on a plane to hand-carry for you her homemade pecan pie.

From her, I always thought, I learned how to differentiate between good and bad. She was always very good at identifying what was bad, and what little else was left, I figured, was what was good. Like The Beatles, for example, which she was spot on. And a very healthy fascination for all sorts of crime, especially murders. Serial murders are most savory.

I learned, also, to be very organized with my material possessions. As she is a career librarian (one of very few people I know who still understand the Dewey Decimal System), her zeal for putting things in their right place is, I guess, at the core of what makes me a believable designer. One needs only look at the impeccable condition of her vinyl records (and how she keeps all her CDs in cabinets close to her bed) to realize that she has it in for order.

Still, I have a lifetime of stories about my mother, and her long fingernails, and yes more to come. She has recently unveiled her Christmas Village (which features an additional 20 new buildings and structures, bringing the total to about 140) and, dubbed Christmas Village 3.0, will bring me back to Los Banos this weekend. I shall dutifully take photographs and chat up my mom, waiting to take in all that keeps me reeling -- and speechless.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Hard. To. Find. Time. To. Blog.

1. In suburban Philadelphia, I found a wireless bicycle computer, shrimp balls and Cortana. And, friendships I know that will last forever.

2. You can watch a Mr. Bean movie with your ears closed. If only I could close my eyes in the middle of an agonizing 14 hour flight.

3. Mint Milanos: yum. Yoghurt: yummier. Costco chocolate cake: yummiest.

4. Vero Beach has a nice beach, and even nicer outlet shopping.

5. Acute lower back aches (wild horses) didn't keep me from a fall ride in the Poconos.

6. Watching other people make Halloween costumes while eating fried chicken is too much fun.

7. My new Adidas kicks rock. And, I finally succumbed to getting Crocs.

8. Everybody here takes supplements. What do I supplement?

9. TV Commercials here are much funnier.

10. If I had $350, I would buy Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Here goes:

1. I, together with my colleague JR, now have a new career option: installing window frosted vinyl film.

2. The new office rocks. Free basement parking. Good Burgers. Big tables. Blue walls. Did I mention Mom and Tina's?

3. Here's a tip to help you get your PLDT DSL installed faster: complain constantly.

4. Lighting is everything. I recommend the Regalong Pambahay outlet along Pioneer Road.

5. If I could, I would live in Los Banos and never miss a thing.

6. My HTC Hermes, which I bought 85% new, is 100% awesome. I have no desire for an iPhone. Not yet, at least.

7. My officemates get nice LCD screens, and I have to stick to my CRT monitor. The bottomline is CRT monitors do a better job of showing CMYK colors (see Bruce RGB), and while it may cause more eye strain, I'd much rather tire from reality. The LCD screens are very useful, though, for Pro Evolution Soccer.

8. I am finding having less pride in my work more useful. Which means, I really do need another creative hobby.

9. Feist, Caribou, The National, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, and The Frames -- in that order.

10. Giant Robot back issues! Wheeee!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Been terribly busy, what with a long vacation only 3 weeks away (look out 610!) and the rush to roadshow Mad Crowd Media. But, there's always stuff to blog about:

1. Was at 168 and Quiapo Saturday. I think I'm graduating from the experience. Nothing like Pratunam and Chatuchak, although Wellmanson's was bead heaven.

2. I have not seen the old lady who lives next door, for maybe six months now. She used to be out in front of her house, screaming at her household help. I wonder how she's doing now.

3. The office is almost ready. It took an entire month -- which means an entire month's rent -- to get an electric meter installed, get the phone company to give me a phone (still no internet -- from the phone company), buy furniture, get an AC unit (which will be installed today), get it painted, buy computer stuff, etc. Geez, they really make it hard for you here. I better get tax breaks, man.

4. There's a saying, which I got from someone I met maybe 15 years ago, who got it from a fish vendor in Surigao. It goes: "The early bird gets the worm, but the late worm is still alive." It cuts both ways, as you know, whether you're coming from the bird's POV (which is, to be thorough) or the worm's POV (which is, tardiness can still be offset by luck). The latter, as you would imagine, is rarely found true.

5. I'm on Facebook. FYI. (And, am enjoying finding some really old friends from way way way back.)

6. The cappucino machine is broken. Sigh.

7. We have business cards. We decided to do three different designs, so if you see me, ask for each one. It comes with an icebreaking explanation.

8. I haven't been on my bike in months. Sigh.

9. I'll be teaching again this semester. I'll try to do something new to make sure that competition level stays up.

10. After a decade of using gel or mousse, I decided to do the whole "wax" thing that everyone else is doing. I'm enjoying it. I can channel David Beckham in minutes.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Recently, I got involved in an idea I found so irresistible that I pretty much threw everything I could at it -- maybe even the kitchen sink first. With two of my colleagues at work (JR and Lisa), a writer (Jessica Zafra), and another a born saleswoman (Claudine Baron), we founded Mad Crowd Media.

The idea was simple enough: Mad Crowd Media's mission is to support its growing network of independent publishers by bringing them closer to marketers who want to take part in their ongoing conversations. We help marketers find the right contexts and audiences for their brands amongst a sea of incredibly loyal readership and high doses of quality, sticky content.

I had a chance to speak with Connie and Abe about what we were trying to do; and, amidst feeling a bit starstruck (after all, this is Connie and Abe), I felt that the idea had impressed them enough to have us consider their fine publications as part of the network.

While both, among others in the Mad Crowd Media network of publishers, have reached a strata in the blogosphere few have attained, I think it's an outstanding measure of their quality that they recognize the need -- and our mission -- for the entire medium to come together and champion itself to marketers and advertisers as one.

I am delighted, excited and anxious about what we're doing. And while JR, Lisa and I are busy working on consulting projects at our firm, it's Mad Crowd Media that's been keeping us up late at night and plugging away at plans and tactics until morning. I'll be blogging there more often, and I hope my handful of readers will drop by and visit.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Here we go:

1. It's about 2:00 AM, and I can't fall asleep. It could be for the best, since I just ate. Most of it is really due to a whole bunch of things, among them, some clients who haven't paid up. Consulting is fun until it's time to collect checks. It just occured to me that you can't spell "consulting" without spelling "con".

2. I have a handful of TV guilty pleasures. There's "Bitag," which is troubling and riveting at the same time. There's "Elimidate," which is total trash, and I love trash. And there's "Music Station" which is a music countdown show that airs in Animax that is, well, just a set designer's delight. Not only that, J-Pop is endlessly entertaining. It's in Japanese with subtitles.

3. I've been losing pens. Some of them I misplace, some of them I lend, some of them conk out before their time. Either way, I went on a pen spending spree and now have a coffee mug full of all sorts of pens. I'll be damned if I get caught without one.

4. Today, at Rockwell, I think I saw Malu Fernandez. A few minutes before that, I thought I'd make up "Lynch Malu" t-shirts from iron transfer sheets from National Bookstore.

5. I thought I'd decompress by taking my goauche set out, some pencils and start something going (there's a really nice illustrator exhibit at Rockwell). Actually, all I needed was pasta salad and some ice cream. Thank God I'm somewhat uncomplicated.

6. Whatever you do, make sure that you remember where you parked. Dammit.

7. I work with two people who have the same taste in food as I do (like banana chips). Maybe I'm not "uncomplicated". Maybe I'm just "regular".

8. There's a really funny joke I heard the other day, but I can't share it here because the punchline needs to be heard, not read. Sorry for that.

9. I'm 35 in a few months. I feel like I'm 22 (except in my lower back). Am I setting myself up for a terrible midlife shocker?

10. I don't own a pair of Crocs or Havaianas. I do own a pair of Nikon slippers. I've had them for three years now, and they are really soft and work mighty fine. This doesn't mean I wouldn't want a pair of obscenely expensive rubber flip flops.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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I've been making the blog rounds lately, more than I'm used to. And, the more I surf, the more quality I find -- a very pleasant surprise.

Today, however, was different. For about half the day, we lost out internet. And, like the rest of the city, we were paralyzed. Determined to make a lousy day productive (a day where three meetings were cancelled), I set out to meet some people I promised a long time ago to meet up with (and one I said I will look up this week). It turns out, "no comm" is an improvement on "comm" itself.

I sat down for lunch with two people whose combined ages would surpass that of the Republic. They shared stories of a country where the gap between rich and poor was the difference of having shoes or your own books in class. They talked about their first car ride like it was just yesterday. And how Manila used to have sweet-tasting air.

Still, one walked me through the entire process of taking yellow cake and making it electricity (someone had to digress); the other talked about nuns in the late 80's who lived among the urban poor. Over a bowl of arroz caldo, what would normally have been spent as time reading blogs and visiting websites, I spent traveling through time. When I left, I thanked my hosts exuberantly, still realizing that they couldn't possibly understand how refreshing our time together was.

The best blogs are conversations that, like my lunch, would fascinate. Now that the internet is up, I'm back in front of the computer reading blogs. Some now are making my after dinner tea a lot more satisfying. I'm determined to ways to thank these people.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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My good friend, Dyno, who has been a part of me ever since I can remember, featured in my dream last night.

The details now are very choppy, but it included a sequence where I woke up, got out of bed and actually believed that it all really happened.

In my dream, he was a book writer. And he taught creative writing at some kind of institute where he actually wore a suit. In my dream, I received a package of three books, one an autobiography, the others fiction. The autobiography was about his decade of traveling the world trying to beat alcoholism (why would I be making this up?), and in the cover, which was blue, it had a grainy picture of him sitting on top of a giant mailbox, smiling like a kid.

The two pieces of fiction were far more interesting. The first, older and thinner, publication was about a district attorney solving a big embezzlement scam of some sort, of course it was more cerebral than that. It seems that in that first novel, he found his niche: white-collar crime fiction.

So his second novel, which, if I remember correctly, was entitled "Buzz", was about how PR companies are co-opting issues, paying for favorable legislature, and how yet another district attorney cracks the case. The book was more than two inches thick, had a brown glossy cover, and pages after pages of critical praise. I think the big tada moment was how the protagonist uncovers the fact that PR companies are actually rigging the financial markets with their influence.

I remember reading the blurbs, being overwhelmed, calling Dyno and congratulating him, and having that feeling of being a proud friend.

Dyno is not a novelist in real life. But, that doesn't make me any less proud. He doesn't drink either.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Hey! It's time for the rare roundups.

1. The new household help (yes, after almost two years of going at it alone, the wife and I decided we could use the help because, heck, we're too busy) can take anyone in a supah songbird slam showdown. Name the place, date and artist.

2. She can also do MS Word. She doesn't like Excel because, she said, it's all "spreadsheets".

3. Got a Windows Mobile device (had it for a month now; HTC Hermes). Apparently, Windows only looks good if it fits in the palm of your hand.

4. Took the protective case off my ipod. Now my ipod looks like an ipod. Aylabit!

5. Is Jon Estrada still alive?

6. Had one night of high fever then three days of ragged bowel. Better than sitting in traffic I suppose. (My associate has been out for days with similar symptoms.)

7. A shout out to all my peeps from the 049! Somehow reading my blog reminds them of home. I hear you.

8. Saw all of Rome. Then, saw Mighty Aphrodite again. All highly recommended. For a while there, I was talking in iambic pentameter in between cursing the gods. (Zodiac was also good. Jake's nice.)

9. My back hurts constantly. I think it's something I have to live with now.

10. Just about everything can be made better with chocolate. And a little Copeland.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Some 30-odd years ago on this day, two Americans landed on the moon. That single "small step" changed everything, much in the same way the invention of eyeglasses, the domestication of animals, and the discovery of cold fusion that allows intergalactic travel did in their own times.

I had always thought that it would have been cool to have been alive at the moment Buzz and Lance, excuse me, Neil, landed on the moon. It would have been interesting to have a conversation with friends about whether it was all true (and not staged in a secret movie lot somewhere) and whether one can really breathe the moon atmosphere.

I digress. Inevitably, you realize that people back in the sixties were often politically incorrect, to say the least. And, I wouldn't want to have lived in that time (saka wala pang internet non) and have uncomfortable discussions about different religions, equal rights, and how Spam is really not good for you. Furthermore, no Rihanna.

In some ways we still live in that same era, which is really really my point. At UP, a lot of official meetings are started with a prayer. Not an ecumenical one, a Christian one. Nothing wrong about that, except that it's the state university, brethren. Have some sensitivity. And with Mayor Lim back in Manila, God (or whoever at this point) only knows how far back in time we will get to travel. Maybe that "small step" was way too small.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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This is probably the longest that I've ever taken time off my blog. It started out as, well, I was really busy -- I still am -- but now it's more like, hey, wait a minute, look at all the time I have from not blogging (and, unfortunately, not reading other people's blogs). The last three blogless weeks or so have been, honestly, fine.

Some of you have emailed, some left messages at my meebo -- "huy magblog ka naman!", "Where are you?" and "Have you no idea how many people read your blog?" (Actually I do.) While it would normally spur me to action, I realized that it's a combination of work, not having something to blog about, and not having a smidgen of desire to blog.

I tried to blog. I have half entries lying around everywhere. And, there's really a lot to blog about (I went on a shopping spree in Bangkok and totally upgraded my wardrobe. I now dress like Damien Fahey from TRL, which I hope pleases Cecile.) and a lot of things are happening (I'm moving to an office, for one). But I really lost any desire, or reason, to activate these ideas into blog entries. It's not blogger's block; it's blog exhaustion -- why spend time on a hobby when I could be doing other, more productive things, like reading, going to the gym or even getting some sleep?

And, you, reader. What are you doing here? Go do something good, like, go recycle something.

At some point, I wanted to just pull the plug. The lack of blog will settle it once and for all, I said. No blog means no blogging. As long as this blog is around, it'll keep nagging me to post something. Then, I think about all the cool people I met blogging, some still virtual acquaintances, others are now cool friends. And all the little things that I've done through the blog. So, maybe there is something more to blogging than just all this verbal stretching.

Or, maybe not.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Is this a decent roundup?

1. Did you know that there's a 621 Graphic Design? How can I register 622design when there's a 621 Graphic Design already? Do you think the guy got married a day before I did?

2. Why am I seemingly the only one who has not come down with the flu this year?

3. When will I find time to go see Ocean's 13? Or, for that matter, watch the Hostel DVD?

4. Or, more significantly, get the DVD player fixed?

5. Is there a better tasting pandesal than Pan Americana's? And, why did they name themselves that?

6. Who wants to go with me to shop for office furniture?

7. Who's in Bangkok this weekend? Anyone want to cruise Chatuchak for Class-A football jerseys?

8. Are those 3-in-1 fax/scanner/printer machines any good? If one breaks down, the whole thing has to go to the shop, no?

9. Did you know that I got into my first vehicular accident Thursday? Can you believe that it was at a parking lot? Isn't that embarrassing? How did I not see that car?

10. What are people blogging about now that the elections are over?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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I went on vacation.

1. Saw the roof of Ilocos Norte, which means the scalp of Luzon (making the Batanes Islands the dandruff flakes). That part of the Philippines is absolutely stunning.

2. In Pagudpod, the best place to stay is at Apo Idon Beach Resort. The rooms are tops, and there's wifi.

3. Bought fresh talakitok, had it cooked pangat. It melted in my mouth.

4. My five year-old niece gave me her Jessica Alba/Invisible Woman toy from KFC. Yesss.

5. At the Blue Lagoon, Jericho Rosales makes a nice comfortable getaway. We made one too. The water is crystal clear, and there are corals everywhere.

6. My other niece had a panic attack from snorkeling -- and seeing sea urchins for the first time. She had just eaten uni the night before at a Japanese restaurant (again, for the first time) and described it aptly as: "Yung parang tae?"

7. I decided that Speedos on the beach are far too inappropriate. But the ladies can wear whatever they want.

8. Meanwhile, kids are clothing optional.

9. Sand in my shorts doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

10. We now, for the first time, have household help. Yes, it's that busy now.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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I'm doing more of these roundups as they seem to be the most economical way to put something up on the blog. No long-winded essays, no long ranting expositions. A list, and that's all I've got time for these days.

1. My brother's in town, and when he's in town, he always brings bad luck. Take, for example, how we were shopping for contraband er, fake DVDs, when, of all things whispers turned into panic as the shops started shuttering their storefronts because of a threat of an Edu Manzano-led raid. Like cockroaches scampering on a suddenly-illuminated kitchen floor, everyone was thrown into a panic: the DVDs were whisked away into large duffel bags as jewelry and bags took their shelf space, hawkers stopped hawking and started hauling ass. While my brother and I worked our way to the nearest exit, I thought I wanted to stay behind and meet Edu Manzano. But that would deserve it's own blog entry, and not a list.

2. That afternoon:

Woman selling DVDs: Hoy, Kuya! Ang tagal mo ng di bumibili sa akin!
Me: [stopped in my tracks, turns around, looks at her face, pauses] Nye, kahit kelan di ako bumili sa yo. Anokaba!
Woman: [smiling] Oo nga, Kuya, binibiro ko lang kayo.

3. At the home office, we've learned to talk to each other while facing our computers. It's not a good habit. But I realized that I can't imagine how I look like with my back turned to someone since that someone's back is turned to me anyway. If we do get an office, we'll need a nice meeting table.

4. Had a shabu-shabu dinner. And, bluntly, it was strange. For one, I felt I was paying too much for raw food; and since I was cooking my own dinner, fork it, why did I have to leave the house in the first place? And, there should have been some kind of user's manual because your insecurities can get overwhelming when it's your first time. It all turned out well, though; apparently no amount of improvisation -- unless you don't even have the requisite knowledge of understanding when food is cooked enough to make it safe to eat -- will keep you from having a satisfying meal. While I was betwixt at the notion that everyone else's pot will taste differently (prompting taste-testing curiosity) my natural inquisitive behavior had, instead, led me to a tragically immature route: try putting in all the ingredients at once and work my way through the mess. I still however enjoyed the meal, but it seems now that I had enjoyed the process even more.

5. I haven't had a doughnut in years. I don't miss peanut butter anymore. But crispy pata, man...

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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I guess being really busy is a good thing. The downside, of course, is having little or no time to blog. Not to say, still, that there is nothing to blog about.

1. I got a flag to hang in front of the house to mark Independence Day. I think I'm leaving it there for a while.
2. It now is apparent to me that if I stop exercising I lose weight.
3. The team needs new business cards, which, for me is a waste of 300 or so business cards that I never gave away. Time to go to one of them expos.
4. Well, lookie here, an expo.
5. Among other amusements: Katharine McPhee.
6. The wife was away for a conference last week. An entire week that meant a shift in evening entertainment -- Call of Duty 2. I might have CTS now from all the sniping.
7. I just recently discovered the Party Shuffle function in iTunes. iLike it. iLot.
8. I forgot what eight was for.
9. The DVD player went on the blink. I think all the pirated DVDs killed it.
10. Upon the wife's return, a shift in evening snacking -- chocolate covered pretzels and UFO mints from Trader Joe's.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I haven't had the time for, well, jack. However, it should be noted that, in preparation for the release of the full-length feature this summer, I've revisited the DVD of Transformers Season 2 and 3 that I squirreled away three months ago. Good times.

Others:

1. Listening to Rey Valera makes me sigh. Again. And, again.

2. The Google thing has dropped again to Page 2. Oh, well.

3. I just got another intern. The other intern is doing really well. He makes me work harder.

4. Since frosted mini wheats and bananas go well with milk in a bowl, I decided to blender the whole thing and see what it tastes like. It's, er, strange.

5. This entry got Stumbledupon and I'm getting a whole bunch of new visitors.

6. My daily activities now regular include watering the plants, weeding, and using the coffee grounds as fertilizer. I am now a constant gardener.

7. The neighbor across the street and the one in the backyardboth have unsecure wireless networks. I need some time to study how I can take two wifi bridges and a router to possibly use their networks as backups to my own. Now, now, I'm not stealing anything. It's a backup. Okay, fine. I won't do it.

8. Does anyone know how to set up a wireless network repeater?

9. Saw Spider-man 3 the other day. Sucked.

10. I have a whole bunch of business cards from people I meet and I don't know how to organize them. I wanted to buy one of those filing folders but I kept thinking why do I have to buy more paper to organize all these other pieces of paper? Then I looked at a Rolodex and realized that sifting through all those cards to find one guy helps me memorize the rest of them. Eternal peace.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Among other things:

1. I just figured out why my laptop bag was still heavy despite the absence of a laptop: someone put a whole bunch of DVDs in the inner pocket. I had inadvertently brought DVDs of Man Push Cart, Battlestar Galactica and 40-Year Old Virgin to my last two meetings.

2. My wife was watching TV and asked: "Is that Coco Lee?" "No," I replied, "that's Tata Young."

3. The associate and I got a whiteboard-on-an-easel the other day. When you get two guys together with a whiteboard and temporary markers, the sophomoric ensues.

4. The banker gave me a 2007 calendar, just the other day.

5. I'm considering the pros and cons of having a television set in the office. So far, only cons.

6. I'm considering the cons of having an Xbox setup in the office.

7. I'm looking for a LAMP person with reasonable markup skills. If you can create nifty Ajax transitions, then you're gold. Drop something in my comment box.

8. A friend of mine was retelling the day he faked a despidida before going to a job in Saudi Arabia. He wanted to break up with a clingy psycho girlfriend, and, at that time, that seemed to be the best option. Her dad even offered to take him to the airport the next day. It was so successful that he apparently had done it twice.

9. Did you know that rice has more protein than taro?

10. Memorial Day Weekend is coming up in the US. What are you guys doing?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Despite these changes and challenges, I was surprised to come back near the top of the SERP. I was about to change the layout (oh, well, if I found the time) but now that it's back near the top, I can rest my case; call it an experiment in proving that content is king.

P.S. I've seen returns rise and fall (the UAPAK team will remember this). So, I'm waiting to see if this one changes.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The timing of election day is perfect: anyone who is only half-interested in voting will opt to take a three-day weekend instead. Let's wait for voter turnout numbers to prove that case.

Elsewhere:

1. My battles with Sky Cable's ZPDee internet service has now stretched past 30-days, which to me serves as the tipping point. However, I keep telling myself that, despite their shortcomings (and the fact that I think they have not a few morons working for them), they do respond to all my requests, and I *do* speak to a service rep every time I pick up the phone. So, for that, I'm staying with them.

2. I was on an ocean kayak yesterday, and I felt like I could have paddled forever. From beach to mangrove, to beach. Ang ganda talaga ng Pilipinas.

3.I need to cut my nails.

4. My favorite junkmail addressers include: Edward Kirkland, Thaddeus Echols, and Adriana Wheeler. Edward often sends me mail that I can't even read. Thaddeus thinks I need Cialis. And, Adriana firmly believes that all my money is worth investing in her company.

5. I had a chat with a UP faculty member who works in Applied Physics in Diliman. Among his most interesting ongoing studies are predicting the likelihood of a song becoming a "hit", and understanding landslides. Apparently, this country leads the world in landslide incidents.

6. I just recently washed my only pair of jeans. To preface this story, I had given up on jeans in college and instead started wearing other types of pants, figuring that, if I can wear jeans now, I can certainly wear a pair of shorts, which is much more comfortable. So, the story is that I finally bought a pair jeans about two years ago (Perry Ellis! I love Ross!). And I wear it maybe, say, twice a week. I just washed it, for the second time in its history.

7. I'm dreaming -- as opposed to actually doing something -- of someday (soon) having a brick and mortar business. I miss using my hands for something other than mousing and typing. And, although I work for myself, I want to get away from the ratrace as far as possible. Am I being lazy?

8. Consultant tip: always bring your own whiteboard marker.

9. I now recognize that very few people understand how surveys work. And it's not because it's hard to understand the basic concept (of sampling, for example). Or, because they are inaccurate (they're not). It's because they don't feel like one sample can possibly represent an entire population's will. But, isn't that what our representative democracy is all about? And, at least, no one cheats the surveys (they only fake it).

10. I have a newfound respect for Ruffa. I haven't articulated it yet, but she has jumped a few notches on my list. And, no, I don't have that list either.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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I'm reading the final report of a Philippine Center for Population and Development study that pretty much FGD'd the country to submission, asking young people about their beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and behavior about sexuality, among others.

I'm gaining more insight into my thesis that Filipino men are the root cause of all our ills. (Disclaimer: Of course, I'm one of them.) That, perhaps, how we learn and what we learn about sex (and how we treat our partners) would shed light on the cause of our ethical (not spiritual) poverty. These thoughts, based on the study's findings, are in gestation:

Continue reading "Learning About Sex" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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1. I've been so bogged down with work lately that blogging has taken a back seat, so much so that I'm no longer torn about neglecting it. Honestly, I'm getting a tad bit bored. There's too much junk to wade through.

2. On another note, I need to get all my recyclables to the recycling center. There are four large garbage bags, and they're starting to stink a little bit (maybe because I didn't rinse the milk cartons). Somewhat related: today's coffee is extra strong.

3. The whole bossanova music scene sucks eggs.

4. I just realized that you can get a prepaid card for Airborne Access. That's right, I have friends, who never tell me if I have food stuck in my teeth. I did get a card. Bulletproofvest, no showing in a cafe near you.

5. And, since I've been so busy, trips to the gym have been few and far between. Yet on Saturday, I hung out with my high school friends (from 049) and we played badminton for a good three hours. Good times.

6. When I was young, my mother always told me to wear white and very little colored clothing because it would make me "even more darker". As I grew older, and got to choosing my own clothes, I started wearing black, and colors like dark blue and red, colors she forbade me to wear. Now, as I look at my skin all tanned from the beach trips and the cycling, I find it even more compelling to be "even more darker". I'm not chewing on my mother, just trying to make a point about how, maybe, we're getting "even more color blind".

7. I got my passport. The delivery guy was thizz faced (from the heat, likely. And, because I was asking too many questions.), but my passport ID picture looked really good.

8. I never liked Elliot Smith.

9. My old intern ran into some money problems, and he had to quit. But I got a new one on the same day. It's called Just In Time Interning.

10. I am slowly recognizing the fact that my handwriting has degenerated to an almost indecipherable state. And, sometimes when I type, my hands spell out the homonyms of the words that I wanted to type, especially when I'm tired. For example, "peace" instead of "piece" and "no" instead of "know". I think I better lay off the Xbox.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Today, I don't know, could be the end of a really strange week, or is the middle of a strange fortnight.

This morning my uncle passed away. This happened amidst learning that three other family members have cancer. Also worth mentioning: 33 people died in Blacksburg.

I know I'm going to die someday, my hope is that it won't be painful. I also hope that when I die, the people I care about will find comfort amongst their friends and loved ones -- that's about all I can ask for.

But before that time, and in between all the glasses of water, green leafy vegetables, multivitamins and trips to the gym, I want to have a thousand different stories in my head to take with me wherever I'm going next. And, if I could, I'd blog about those too.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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We all live with stereotypes, and, through either being a citizen of a country that harbors terrorists, or by the color of our skin, or by sheer dint of one's name, we've been subject to "random security checks". Ours is a world where we can, unbeknownst to us, become "persons of interest".

Those I can live with, to a certain extent. But this crosses the line:

Cyclists are also becoming a menace on the road. Too many bicycle owners commute without wearing regulation helmets. They dare travel at night without lights or luminous reflectors. We doubt if many are licensed or have a permit to operate. They love to ape their motorcycling brothers by weaving in and out of traffic.

They contribute to other problems. They are too noisy and intrusive. They pollute the air. They are a threat to individual commuters and to public safety. The most obvious is that recent big crimes—the bloody killings of public officers and private citizens—were often carried out by masked bike riders.

Affordability, however, points to a bigger danger: the likely explosion of two-wheeled drives on streets and on highways. The domination of cars, buses, jeeps and taxis on the road is bad enough. But an invasion and takeover by motorcycles, bicycles and pedicabs will have great implications for air pollution, community health, public safety, traffic gridlocks and big-time crime.

Continue reading "This Manila Times Editor Can Kiss My Road Shoes" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Following this, Yugatech, maybe feeling a bit defensive and a tad bit apologetic, has not one, but two entries that is in no small part related to "comments" about The Philippine Blog Awards circling the local blogosphere.

Big ups, but the timing is too obvious. Readers are wondering what happened during the Philippine Blog Awards, and Abe's entries hint at them.

So, if you go to events that require you to wear formal attires, don’t expect that people attending it is representative of any bigger sample population. The ones you might be expecting are still in school finishing their exams, or still at the office doing OTY (thank you overtime). The ones you will meet are the people who have enough time on their hands, the ones who have gas money, or the ones who can pay for a taxi cab. Go to our blog parteeh and you’ll see that the demographics of the people there are totally different from that of the blog awards.

These words read to either brush aside the academic nature of the blog awards, and cast it as a big embracing party; or, shine a self-congratulatory light on the not-so small sacrifices that bloggers make: to blog, is a privilege that one has paid his dues for. Yet to say so is to acknowledge one's higher ground.

Continue reading "When The Bough Breaks" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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I was at NM and read this, which led to this.

As I sifted through JJ's account (I've excerpted it below; it digresses), I first realized that he may have been overreacting. He came to the event, wandered around a little bit, then:

I told them my name and proudly announced that I was a proxy for the Nostalgia Manila blog. I was stupefied however, by the lack of tact of one of the volunteers after informing them that I, was merely, a proxy. That person said:

Continue reading "A Note to Unsent (The Guy Who Got Dicked At The Pinoy Blog Awards)" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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This is one of those "I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to blog" entries.

1. My mom buys People magazine off those Book Sale racks at P30 an issue. Which is fine, except that she would have phone conversations with me asking about a so-called "unsolved crime of passion" that was featured in her latest issue on hand. The other day, upon reading an April 2006 issue, she asked me to Google said murder in said U.S. national park, because she couldn't sleep last night thinking about that poor family on a picnic.

2. Catholics have really nice churches.

Continue reading "Life Roundup" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Wonder Woman

My plane's on the fritz today. Damn. Can't find a repairman anywhere.

Spiderman

Check out this picture I took while hanging out on the Empire State Building the other day. Whoa! Do those kids know I'm up here?

Continue reading "Sample Superhero Blog Entries" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Today,

1. I watered the garden. It's getting really hot and dry out.

2. I went to a meeting where someone asked me if I was a model.

3. Is Day One since I saw "300," which, if you're only going to see one movie this year, this should be it.

4. Someone asked me to wait for 5 minutes while he finishes his cup of noodles.

5. I thought I'd want to be this person instead.

6. I went to a wake, and saw people I hadn't seen in more than a decade.

7. I'm feeling the effects of eating too much kesong puti.

8. I sent out my portfolio (now in pdf format), for the first time in years, to someone who wanted to see it.

9. I set up my Mac to sleep when I email it.

10. I just got tired of the elections, and reading about it, now that the Comelec burned down.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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We live with stereotypes, unfortunately. It is to some way a matter of convenience, as we encounter plenty of different individuals, and stereotyping helps us make assumptions -- and decisions -- by overriding the need to thoroughly investigate, which allows us to move on. In most casual encounters, such as shopping for a pair of shoes, we use stereotypes that suggest to us who might be the manager of the store to whom we can address questions. We are often surprised to find a handsome well-manicured individual wearing expensive jewelry asking us if we can fit in a 9; therefore assuming that he must be the owner. We use common knowledge or, more importantly, our own personal experience, as a basis for stereotyping, although sometimes to a negative, possibly offensive result.

Continue reading "Stereotypical" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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In celebration of four years of blogging (I started March, 2003), I looked back at all 1000+ entries I have on this blog and created a new category egomaniacally called "Greatest Hits."

Finding this blog's "Greatest Hits" wasn't easy -- it was terribly easy. Half the entries were all junk. So, excluding the beloved interviews, I tried to find entries that have either solicited plenty of comments (wanted and unwanted), have been linked to by other websites and blogs, or I really felt good writing about (either it made me feel better writing about it, or it made me feel good to write about it, does that make sense?).

So, for the new reader catching up with Bulletproofvest, here's an anthology, if you will. And, for those that have been reading from the beginning, then this will be a nice rewind of this blog's "Greatest Hits".

Thank you, readers. I'd throw you all a party a feed you lasagna and let you watch my lawn.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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After leaving the Matabungkay shore, the ride flattens out South until you make the turn East for Balayan. There's a nice hill which will get you aerobic pretty quick, and lets you down softly at around 40 kph. No tight turns, but it rolls downward.

At the bottom of the hill, and maybe 2 more miles out, we met Ka Berto, who initially wanted to escort us to the next turn, but decided to loop around with us. The next 10 miles or so is flat, winding and very scenic. Heading North, you encounter trucks festooned with sugar cane, and fields of the same. I think we crossed two rivers, and the roads, I remember, were lined with trees.

Once you get to your turn West towards Nasugbu, the road begins to narrow. There's not much to see, as this area is a bit more populated. It's a short 14 kilometers until the turn South, which is punctuated by a Shell gas station, and a nice break before a climb Ka Berto and his kin call "Little Hong Kong".

Back in the saddle, you hit the town of Lian, which slows you down to a pace where you can appreciate small town Sundays. There are plenty of bakeries, and a bike repair shop here, so you should be in good shape.

Then you meet the same ridge you climbed in the earlier part of the ride; this time, it's a lot steeper. The ascent (Little Hong Kong) is about 2 miles from Lian and, when taken North to South, will drop you down a winding tight line at what is a manageable 50 kph. Had to slow down here, as the curves are narrow, and I can't go wide in any of the turns. But the climb itself was decent, as I hollowed out.

A few miles from the descent, you reach Matabungkay. The stretch of road is pretty open, so the sun will beat down on your neck. All told, around 48 kilometers. I feel like a metric century next time. maybe reach Calatagan and back.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Although I'm not Catholic, I do recognize an "upside" if you will for going meatless on this day, marking Ash Wednesday. It's healthy for you.

As some of you might know, I'm trying to lose weight. I'm 167 lbs at 5'9" and I made a deal with myself that I want to be around 158 by the end of the year, slightly underweight, so that I can climb better (on my bike).

I saw on Oprah -- it was late, don't ask -- a feature on four ingredients that shouldn't be on the top five ingredients of anything you eat. Think of them as red flags in the nutrition facts.

Continue reading "Ash Wednesday" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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As a class project for a course I teach, I asked my students to develop an online campaign for a senatorial candidate. The candidates are real, and these campaigns should be designed to help their particular candidates get elected.

I made some really simple rules, and outlined some criteria, that I felt would help guide my students to develop interesting ideas for their campaign. This summarizes those guidelines:

1. Well-researched strategies

2. Focused on campaigning for awareness, issues, and reaching the grassroots.

3. Community-building tactics.

4. Cause-oriented and progressive.

4. Well-articulated objectives.

I did not mention things that I felt that, at their level, they should instinctively take into consideration (maybe I should have), such as the differences between voters who have access to the internet, and those who don't.

The presentations, to get to my point, were very revealing -- and troubling. I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a director who shot one candidate's TV commercial. To paraphrase him, he said that voters in the Philippines make their decisions like they buy shampoo; that is, which one makes my hair shinier, which one makes my hair smoother, etc. Ergo, they "sell" their candidates by casting them in the same glossy light as those ubiquitous fast-moving goods.

From one slideshow to another, I realized that my class was doing the same: crafting their messages and selling their candidates like they were "activating a brand." This, despite fully recognizing that the medium was the internet, and that one can assume (as they all did) a substantial amount of education and intellect from their audience. Of course, this "branding" was done in varying degrees of pomp and packaging, nevertheless the common thread was clear.

They missed several things, including using the Internet to empower supporters. The campaigns they deviced were mostly one-way streets, all designed to get the viewer's vote for their candidates, but very little was done to actually build a community of voters -- headstrong volunteers -- to help get more than just their own votes.

Furthermore, the campaigns didn't focus on getting issues out, and getting voters to vote based on issues and not on popularity, which makes all the difference. Some of this I lay at the feet of the quality of journalism in our country -- journalists have failed us in their job to bludgeon people with sense, not sensational imagery. The news is filled with entertainment rumors, and very little about real issues.

What's even more troubling is that we keep blaming other voters for the likes of Bong Revilla, Sonny Jaworski and Loi Estrada -- people who really have no business making laws -- when I think that poor journalism and those that craft those "shiny" ads have a fair share of the blame. We do it to ourselves, every time.

I remanded the presentations, and, for the reasons cited above, asked the students to present again. At least in my classroom, my hope is that people *will*vote wisely.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Tagged by my brother, I'm supposed to "imagine the questions that led to the answer, and then provide your own answer." A bit like Jeopardy, if you ask me. So here are my answers.

1. My laser gun, which had a dial that you could set to six different tones, some mild, some irritating. That way I can choose what manner of death I will deal upon my helpless victims.

2. I've always wanted a window right beside my bed. I used to, and it was comforting to have.

3. Guided By Voices, "Fair Touching," 78 plays

4. Whether or not fate exists.

5. Two messages from former students last week. Saying they're all right. Saying how I changed their lives, saying thank you for being a teacher. I felt invincible.

6. I think I would have made an excellent babysitter.

7. "I can see the doorway of a thousand churches."

8. Sportscenter. Or, a hot tub.

9. I got screamed at by Joshua Lyman, and I get caught making out with CJ Cregg.

10. I was driving home from Baguio. It was drizzling. The car hit something on the road and I spun sideways and across, and ended up on the opposite side of the road. Two trucks, both converging from opposite lanes screeched to a halt, but would have hit me on any other day. There was also that time when #10 on this list happened.

I'm tagging RJ, Iggy, Jessica, Willy and Cecile.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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I'm doing this on a dare, and besides, it's fun! I've been called gay before, so I might as well embrace it a little. Enough to gush over 10 guys who are just so damn easy on the eye.

Continue reading "10 Guys That Make Me Gay" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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Getting to hump day, and a few things on my centerscreen.

1. Added Twitter, which is really just a way for me to entertain myself. The nice thing about it is that I can send a message to a gtalk account or send an SMS and it will update it.

2. This stuff's pretty amazing. Who needs Last.fm (the server's so slow!) or Pandora, when you can pick your tunes the musicovery way. (Prepare to spend at least a half hour exploring this.)

3. Interesting web-based student management system called Centre. Pick it up, customize and sell.

4. The French have more reason to fume. Or maybe not.

5. The top 100 alternative search engines. Yes, there's more than two.

6. I've turned off my widgets -- memory hogs -- but for those of you who have them, here's an overview of Apple's Dashboard, Microsoft Windows Vista Sidebar, Yahoo Widgets and Google Desktop Gadgets.

7. Where's the cheapest car insurance in town?

8. People who watch YouTube watch less TV. Like, yeah, you need to tell me that.

9. The effect of typeface on email usability. This will make my intern feel a bit special.

10. Finally, I really want a Wii.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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I just recently switched gyms. Not that I wanted to, but because the gym I was going to had an early, but totally anticipated, demise. When they lost airconditioning and water at the tap, I knew it was only a matter of days. That's how landlords are here in Manila, they thirst their tenants into submission.

So, within days, I was talking to Fitness First, the 160-lb gorilla of Philippine fitness centers. It's the closest one where I live, and there's one near where I work.

To get right to the story: their Account Executive made an offer Monday, which I triple-checked with him again Tuesday, was prepared to pay Wednesday, only to find out that the AE had made a mistake with his offer and had made it too low! He apologized profusely. His mistake was that he gave me a corporate rate (because we were switching gyms; SOP) and then he gave me another discount, which is 2 months free if I pre-pay the 12 months on the contract. He said that he now knows he can't do that, despite my having triple-checked with him Tuesday.

So the options left were either I prepay 12 months or avail of the corporate rate, but no free 2 months even if I pre-pay. I can't have both. Curiously enough, either option will take you to virtually the same monthly fees. The difference in monthly fees is about 17% more from the original quote (the incorrect one), if my math is correct.

Talk about bait and switch (I honestly think that this wasn't though, but I could be wrong). I asked to talk to his manager, who came over in his ever-so-gently-tinted pink barong, and plainly laid the blame on his AE's feet. No surprise there, as that is the Filipino manager's every instinct. I told him that he (the manager) was in a position to make amends, and he offered me a free massage for my troubles. His body language, and his inability to look you straight into the eye, made the matter worse.

Of course, I still signed up. I need a gym. But it undermines my trust in nearly every transaction I make here in Manila when I talk to a rep: that there's nothing to defend me as a consumer from such situations, where the terms get pulled from right under you. The amount, though still substantial, does not compare to, for example, verbal agreements for salaries.

Needless to say, I'm paying about 60% more than I used to pay (my old gym was really cheap), but the facilities are much better, I get free coffee, and the airconditioning and the faucets work.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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1. Gourmet's Cafe, which used to be the shiniest gem of epicurean Tagaytay, has a beautiful, windswept sanctuary tucked behind it's rolling farms. I was recently a guest there, and between the pond of geese, the cheesecake and the serenity, I got a little bit of amnesia.

2. More on amnesia: riding the Calatagan peninsula's verdant hills -- up and out at 45 kph -- makes one really appreciate all that's outside the beatdown city of Metro Manila, all merely an hour or two away.

3. I recently had to wear my "wedding barong", three years after I had last worn it. I looked like a little kid wearing his father's coat. I was pleased.

4. Design-Feed is a design feed aggregator.

5. When life gives you lemons, cut them in half and rub them on your elbows.

6. Bollywood, the Indian restaurant in Greenbelt (along the same row as Absinthe and the cinemas), has an impressive selection for their lunch buffet. No chapati, though. But the soups, curries and paneers will make for a happy hump hour. Did I mention "buffet"?

7. Grappling hooks, your entire future rests in the hands that wield these grappling hooks.

8. I trust activeCollab. Been using it for about four months now, and my clients love it.

9. My hometown, and my undergrad college, boasts the oldest living Filipino. LB readers will get a kick out of this.

10. Finally, on my netvibes start page: The Huffington Post, Original Signal, TechCrunch, The New York Times, Techmeme, Gmail and Meebo. What's on yours?

--------UPDATE (More Roundup)--------

2. Loans that save lives.

3. This entry is hotting up.

4. Finally, again, been hooking up with some people from communities I signed up for late last year. Last.fm and mybloglog have all provided not a few moments of chatting and linksharing. Join the fun.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Random nibblers.

1. There's a really good restaurant on the Tagaytay ridge, just pass the multi-colored rotonda if you're headed for the Sta. Rosa SLEX exit. On the left side is the Greek Tavern/Hellenic Tavern, where we had Dolomades and moussaka, among a host of others, at a relatively inexpensive price. Much, much better than Cafe Med. And make sure you say hello to the friendly owner and cook, who is Greek and boasts his own olive plantation on the island of Crete. Fo' real.

2. Got a box set of the X Files, all nine seasons, for Christmas. Blogging will be sporadic.

3. Overheard: Singson had the Abra congressman killed in order to frame the Abra governor. To what end? Well, Singson wants to take the family out of the picture so he can put his own boys in Abra.

Continue reading "10 Interesting Things From The Past 10 Days" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Going on vacation, and updates here will be sporadic, if any. Sorry about not getting you anything for Christmas, again.

Anyway, hope your Holidays are filled with your favorite desserts. Stay well!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I actually went Christmas shopping today, for the first time this year. I used a gift certificate someone gave me because he says he can't use it.

In other news, track 3 of your Christmas mix comes from Mates of State. If "Goods" doesn't have you humming all day, then you are not human.

I say, "pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-rah!" That's all you have to know about this song and you're set.

Tags: Christmas

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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1. Ride 20 miles a day.

I'm actually doing fine spinning, although I really can't tell how many miles that takes up. I've already plotted out a route, and in fact I've driven around it to check the road condition and the mileage. Only thing left is to actually ride it. The weekend rides are too slow.

2. See the Hundred Islands

And take a kayak and paddle from one to another.

3. Learn Ruby on Rails

Hear that? That's the sound of me losing half the people reading this blog.

Continue reading "10 Things I Wanted to Do This Year That I Didn't" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Of course I always get into these conversations, no matter where I am. But lately in almost every Christmas gathering I'm in, I find that people talk inevitably about either one of these people, not for anything positive, but how our lives would be so much more pleasant without them. In fact, last night I was having a Meebo chat with a reader and, voila!

So, my vote is for Kris, of course, who we all should put a stop to. Right away. Jenni is tolerable, and I do like husband Tom's photography. Still, a few disagree and I'll put her name on the ballot. Chico has the most annoying voice on FM radio, ever. And, Maurice Arcache just won't die, huh, palanggas?

I hope you have a hard time picking a winner.

My money's still on Kris. And, Korina Sanchez is my control field to make sure no one cheats.

Tags: Kris+Aquino, Jenni+Epperson, Maurice+Arcache, Korina+Sanchez, Chico, Philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Dynah's "Promises"

It sounds like a lot of things: nice hook, a bit emo, a tad bit Brit, -- but it sure doesn't sound like they're from Texas. (Then again, it's Austin.)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I know, it's a little late, but planning was never my strong suit.

So, yeah, remember when you used to get mixed tapes from me all the time? Back when I was still throwing you some game?

Enough. I figured I'd give my readers something this Christmas (because it's Christmas), so I've decided to do a cheesy 12 Days of Christmas thing but with the best music I heard for 2006. Free, old music -- this is as cheap as it can get. Doesn't necessarily mean these songs are from 2006; instead, it's just that I heard them for the first time in 2006.

Okay, I'm stalling. Kicking off with The Jayhawks and "Somewhere in Ohio," a track that makes me want to get on my bike and ride the countryside. Don't know why.

You'll get another one tomorrow, if not later.

Tags: Jayhawks, Mixed+Tape, Christmas

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Reminds me of Nestle's old campaign, "Sa Mata Ng Bata".

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The Pinoy version of sweet potato pie, is that right? No, sweet potatoes are "kamote".

Anyway, some Thanksgiving blues, but I thought I'd ask my readers: anyone done this before? And, can someone share a recipe for it? A kamote pie?

Tags: kamote+pie, cassava, sweet+potato

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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Archbishop Oscar Cruz:

"This is a sign from God that perhaps we are not doing things right in our country," Cruz told the Inquirer.

Cruz urged the faithful to view the tragedy in connection with other "man-made" disasters in the country.

"Nothing just happens for no reason," he said in a statement posted at his web blog.
"Nothing just takes place with no meaning at all. Otherwise, God would have no dominion over his creation and creatures. There is no such thing as good or bad luck. Otherwise, God would have no control over man, nature and events. This would be gross blasphemy."

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo does, in my mind, a little better:

"Perhaps, the destruction would not have been as big if only our environment and ecology were strong," he said in Filipino.

"What happens is our natural resources are weakened because of man's negligence.

The guy across the street says:

Well, we get more than a dozen typhoons every year. We ought to be more prepared.

To which the prophetic Cruz would reply:

"Of course, we grieve for the loss of lives. But for all we know, they're in a much better place now. They're with the Lord now."

Are you saying that some of the victims went to hell? Needless to say, Archbishop, they're still dead.

Tags: Reming, Philippines, God, Archbishop+Cruz, Archbishop+Lagdameo

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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I just plugged in Meebo. It's that chatbox you see at the top righthand side of the page.

I've been using Meebo for a while now, as a chat service, to manage all my different IM accounts. I like it a lot. To extend its use, I figure I'd plug it onto my blog where I can chat with readers (like you). Meebo lets me see if someone's looking at the homepage and I can fire out a "Hello!" to that reader. You and I can chat (of course, the game there is figuring out who you are) and that could make for a nice treat. So watch that space. If I'm online, give me a holler, if I haven't hollered you yet.

Tags: Meebo

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:06 PM | Permalink
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UPDATE:

Star pulled through. A technical resource person by the name of Kiko working at Star's branch actually called me up and walked me through the setup. It was quite a long process and I really appreciate his efforts. He even rummaged through their office to look for the same handset I have to make sure he was guiding me correctly.

Alas, despite plugging in the correct information, we still couldn't get connected to gmail.com. He told me to tell him when I'll be coming over and he'll make sure he's there to help.

That said, he added this nugget: it seems that, at least to him, accessing m.gmail.com or using the Java app that comes from gmail on your Globe phone is not possible since it requires a secure connection. Globe doesn't provide that. To my mind, I don't see how you can access a POP account without any security. That may be the final reason why I can't get to gmail.

---------

I just recently spent an excruciatingly long amount of time and patience getting my Globe Telecom handset to work with gmail.com. For those of you choosing a mobile services provider, you may want to consider after-sales customer service as a key determining factor, especially since mobile handsets these days go beyond just talking and texting. Setting up email, for example, can be like pulling teeth. (Reconstructed as best as I can.)

1. First I tried searching Globe's website, for any information regarding using GPRS on my phone. This could be setup instructions, IP addresses, etc. I found and downloaded a nice PDF guide online and used it. The settings allowed me to surf and access sites, but not all of them, including m.gmail.com which is where this all started.

2. I went to SM Megamall, where there was a Globe service office. The gentleman in front tried helping me by taking my handset and surfing with it. I showed him how, yes, you can access all these sites, but not gmail.com. He said that there's probably something wrong with gmail.com. I responded that I don't think so, since everyone else has access to it fine. He said he couldn't help me.

3. Went to The Podium where there is a Globe sales office. There I met Star (yes, Star's her name) and though she made it clear that they don't do any after-sales support (despite that fact that they are known as "Customer Service Representatives") she tried to help me. She borrowed my handset and tried accessing the web using the GPRS browser, including gmail.com. After seeing that other sites can be accessed (proving my settings are correct) she concluded that there must indeed be something wrong with how gmail is being handled by their servers. She sent a message to Globe Technical Services and said that they will contact me within 3 days about my concern. If a week, I was told, passes by and I hear nothing, then she gave me these numbers to call: "211" from my handset, or "730-1000" from a landline.

4. A week passes by and I hear nothing (not surprised). I call "211" and, after some automated menu selection, I get to an operator who immediately puts me on hold. Then after coming back she asks me what the problem was, I tell her, and she tells me to hold. Half a minute later she tells me that she will send me settings for my phone. I told her that my settings were correct (see #3 above) and that I was asking specifically about gmail. She then tells me to hold. After nearly three minutes, she comes back and tells me to call this number: "797-8378" and said that they can help me.

Me: You realize you made me wait for three minutes only to tell me to call someone else.

Her: Sorry sir, but we're really slow. Our technical services right now are slow.

Me: Well, that's not good for me, huh?

5. So I call this other number and I found it hard to make a correct menu selection from the machine. After getting to one that would lead me to an operator, I wait for one. After 20 seconds, I get a machine that asks for my number and a message after the tone. I may have left a very nasty message, because really, this was exasperating.

6. But the worse is yet to come. I tried calling Star again, (see #3 above) who was about the best I could get. Maybe she could help me, I thought. I dialed the number she gave me: "914-3840". A man answered.

Man: Hello?

Me: Hi, sa Globe Podium ba to? Pwede bang makausap si Star?

Man: Sandali lang

Man: [After 10 seconds] May kausap po sya sa kabilang linya, pwede tawag ka na lang ulit?

Me: Ah, meron ba akong pwedeng makausap na iba?

*click*

That person just put the phone down on me. Yes, could they possibly plumb new depths? The answer is a depressing "yes". I called them again. I speak to, at first Janet (who didn't know what to do with an irate caller) then eventually Rina, who, despite her Customer Service Representative training, could simply not help but continue to dig a deeper grave. After starting the conversation with "Sir, what is your name?" and establishing very quickly that she is not the manager:

Me: You're probably the eighth person I've spoken to today who can't help me. All they do is pass me on to someone. And when I called earlier, someone put the phone down on me. What do you think of that?

Rina: Sir, I'm not sure about that. You mean, hang up? No sir, I don't think so.

Me: What do you mean you're not sure? Are you calling me a liar?

Rina: No, sir, I'm not.

Me: Well, someone did. And you're calling me a liar. Is that how you treat customers? When they tell you something, you tell them that they are wrong? Are you saying no one put the phone down on me and I imagined it?

Rina: Sir, er, it may be that it was unintentional.

Me: Unintentional? If I run over a cat, intentionally or accidentally, it still doesn't change the fact that I ran over a cat, does it?

To add to that, she said that it could have been the guard that answered the phone.

Me: Do you think I choose who answers the phone for you? I'm not there! That's why I'm on the phone!

Rina: Yes, sir.

Me: All you have to do is say you're sorry, and we can start over.

Rina: Okay sir, I'm sorry someone put the phone down on you.

7. At the end of all that, I still can't access gmail from my Globe Telecoms phone. Guess what? They gave me another number "730-1999". I promptly dialed it and I spoke to May. After describing my problem yet again, she goes:

May: Sir, I can't help you.

Me: What do you mean? I can access all the other sites, and everyone I know who is not a Globe subscriber can access gmail through their phones, why can't I through mine?

May: Sir, I can tell you now that that is my answer.

Me: You're telling me you can't help me.

May: Yes sir. And by the way, please don't call this number. Call 730-1000 whenever you have any problems.

Me: Your people at Globe Podium gave me your number to call.

May: Yes sir, but I'm advising you that next time, call the other other number.

I'm calling on anyone at Globe Telecoms, I mean, c'mon. This is how you run your business?

Tags: Globe+Telecoms, Globe+Handyphone, Globe+Philippines, Globe+customer+service

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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This is what Manila needs. Like this. Right now.

Kizmeet.com is the only website entirely devoted to helping you find your “missed connections.” Kizmeet encounters can happen any place, any time. Maybe you chatted with someone at the market but never got their email address, or you exchanged glances across a crowded bar but were too shy to approach. Or perhaps you’re just curious whether anyone noticed you at the gym, while riding the bus or in your Psych class when you know you looked good!

The site is incredibly easy to use, and it’s all done anonymously. Kizmeet allows you to post and search postings within specific locations in your city, and you can search by the date the encounter occurred. Postings are organized by categories such as Bars, Clubs & Dining, Gyms, Coffee Shops and Markets & Shopping, upping the odds you’ll find a message intended for you. And, of course, you can reply to postings in a snap to see where it might lead…

Must. Propose. To. Client. Now.

Tags: Kizmeet, Web+2.0, Manila, Philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Lumiere: Viola! You look so... so...

Beast: Stupid!

Break the spell: What's your best caption?

Tags: Tim+Yap, Lumiere, Beauty+Beast, Philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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I may be preaching to the choir here, but it often is so: those who do, don't ask.

So here I ask, what have we bloggers done that has been relevant? Sure, there's the collapse of time and place, and the depth, quality (suspect) and quantity of information we get from blogs, mostly personal, sometimes insignificant.

Tiger Woods (stay with me here) is probably one of the greatest icons in recent memory, and we all know he's not done yet. But I bring him into this discussion because of what he stands for: he's half-African American, half-Asian, and, even at half the age of the average golfer, is a giant in the predominantly White, and notoriously snooty sport. These days, you'll find it hard to find a golfer not inspired by him.

Now, what does that have to do with blogging? The Pew Internet reports that:

The most distinguishing characteristic of bloggers is their youth. More than half (54%) of bloggers are under the age of 30.

Another distinguishing characteristic is that bloggers are less likely to be white than the general internet population. Sixty percent of bloggers are white, 11% are African American, 19% are English-speaking Hispanic and 10% identify as some other race. By contrast, 74% of internet users are white, 9% are African American, 11% are English-speaking Hispanic and 6% identify as some other race.

They've become journalists, creators, entertainers, motivators. Their voices, personal or otherwise, are now part of a greater whole.

And, curiously, blogging seems to make them more involved, more relevant: they could also be the most well-informed among us.

72% of bloggers look online for news or information about politics; by contrast, just 58% of all internet users do so. 45% of bloggers say they prefer getting news from sources that do not have a particular political point of view; roughly the same percentage of the general internet population agrees.

And they want people to talk back almost all the time: 87% of bloggers allow comments on their blog.

There is a strong, almost pure, spirit of democracy here. Now, draw your own conclusions. I'll keep blogging.

Tags: Blogging, Internet, Pew+Internet

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Someone asked me -- no, told me -- to watch "Heroes" which I've been told by others is one good show. Right now, five shows are enough, and I have a hard time fending off people who yell "What do you mean you don't watch 'Lost'?!?!". I'm, like, zip it, they'll never get found.

Here are my top 5 TV shows, the only shows I watch, in no particular order:

1. House -- True, there's always a part where House's team of indefatigable doctors get to the "If we do it, we could kill him. But if we don't do it, he's going to die anyway." part, but, hey, how they get there is always exciting to watch. Plus, I like watching jerks win.

2. Battlestar Galactica - I needed to replace Star Trek, a franchise that for the last two and a half decades, had something on. Galactica (which is my DVD-pimp's code name for me) is an excellent substitute. Although the acting is uneven and the storyline gets a little bumpy at times, it's nice to see how corrupt, weak and immature human beings deal with the fact that the fate of the human race is in their hands. Watch out for Grace Park and Tricia Helfer.

3. Prison Break - Truth is, there's a lot of hot guys in this show. Yes, there are people getting shot to death or a hand or two hacked every episode (and that's nothing compared to CSI), but if I looked anything like Wentworth Miller, girls would like me better. And, a better storyline than "Lost": you see, the actually got out of prison.

4. Gilmore Girls - Or, like the DVD says: "Las Chicas Gilmore". If I'd met any one of these two in college, I'd be a different man altogether. Filled with a cast of characters that resemble friends I never had, the Gilmore Girls make me believe that if you're anywhere this cute, go ahead, you can break my heart all you want. I'll keep coming back.

5. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - Best show this year (yeah, say what you "Lost" or "Heroes" fans want). Aaron Sorkin at his best, with no-miss casting. If you're a fan of "The West Wing" then you'll be right at home, down to the production crew and even the typography. And, here's to Matthew Perry, who, as it turns out, is really much more than Chandler Bing.

UPDATE:

There are rumors that Studio 60 will be cancelled this season.

Cast members are already confiding in friends that the end is near. It's likely NBC will pull the plug shortly I am told by insiders.

Last week, Studio 60 had 7.7 million viewers. Compare that with competing "CSI: Miami," with 17.5 million. That gap cannot be closed.

But 'Studio 60' has trouble internally at NBC, forget its intramural rivals. According to ratings stats, the "Saturday Night Live" behind the scenes soap opera loses almost half the viewers delivered to it a few minutes earlier by another new show, "Heroes," which has become a surprise cult hit.

NBC will probably fill the lost 'Studio 60' timeslot with 'Deal-No Deal: The Next Generation,' or some such thing. So the losers here will be the audience, which is about to be pummelled by more reality and game shows.

Ick. Read here.

UPDATE 2:

Better news:

October 30, 2006 -- SCI FI channel is pushing ahead with plans to de velop a spin-off to "Battlestar Galactica," the network's most buzzed about show ever.

The first drafts of "Caprica" scripts - a series that would take place about 50 years before the war between machines and man at the heart of "Galactica" - arrived at the network this week.

This would make it a franchise. Read here.

Tags: Studio+60, House, Aaron+Sorkin, Gilmore+Girls, Wentworth+Miller, Battlestar+Galactica, Prison+Break, TV

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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It's that time of my biorhythmic clock where I'm avoiding work -- tons of it -- and fool my fingers to think that it's actually being productive as I blog.

I've been tracking my online behavior lately, as a project to see how what I do online affects how I use the internet. No hypothesis here, but I wanted to find out that, in such a massive and user-driven space, could agenda setting still be possible? Will my interests be shaped by digg.com or continue to drift to the Huffingtonpost? Or, worse?

In my whole internet life, I've had three homepages. Okay, four, if you count my Fantasy basketball league. But it's been yahoo.com, google.com and, for a short while, google news. Now, I've been very happy with Popurls.com as my homepage, which really was realizing that I read news.yahoo.com, digg and reddit all the time (plus delicious) that I might as well find a site that aggregates them nicely. All of popurls.com is peer-driven, that is, these are the most popular links -- whether through social bookmarking, or through online communities -- anywhere in the internet write now. It's like FM radio, when we all used to listen to Kasey Kasem's Top 40.

Finally, there's Original Signal, which is, like Popurls, an aggregator or sorts, and more work-related than anything else for me. It takes me to websites I would normally never find, not even through Google. I go there everyday to browse.

Now, how does that change my online behavior? Well, I go to YouTube more often now, because it's always in my face (as it is for millions of others) and less of Facebook or Friendster (because, SN is better with *real* friends). I don't read about political news as much, because they can't be chunked. And, I can't remember the last time I read INQ7.net or ABS-CBN.

Maybe that's the reason why it's hard to find something to blog about.

Tags: Philippines, homepages, blogging

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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A few updates:

1. I was supposed to go riding today, but there was a light rain, so we called it off.

2. I've been busy, like a lot of us have been, but really, it's mostly blog block: there's nothing to write about lately -- lot's of interesting things, yes, but nothing brings me to the blog.

3. The work is interesting though. I've got my fingers in a bunch of things, including pro bono work for a theater group in Hanoi, a very interesting startup that has a social networking core, packaging, posters, an ad for a magazine, a book design, two websites, and class starts next week. Didn't I say I was busy?

4. My NBA Fantasy League kicked off yesterday. Like I said, busy.

5. Heard from a few friends from Philadelphia, one of whom has moved to Atlanta. Apparently, these whirlwind romances happen a lot: within half a year of meeting this person, they were married and she's moved to a different state. Here's to you both.

6. I've been doing legwork at the Quezon City Hall, trying to get my business permit out. To date, I've spent roughly 1.5 days total (accumulated) working to fulfill my requirements, most complicated of which is the Fire Department's approval. They required my having a 10-pound dry chemical fire extinguisher, which is really a good thing, but for them means getting a commission off a "certified supplier". Makes things easier too, because they'd make you jump hoops if you got an extinguisher from a uncertified source. From the City Hall, my next trip will be to the BIR office in Quezon Avenue, which, compared to City Hall, is like the triage at the PGH.

7. Catching up on some really good shows (busy still), one of which is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin's new drama that headlines Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford as a duo leading an SNL-like cast from one mugshot to another. Entertaining, especially since Perry has great comedic timing, and, like all Sorkin dramas, the casting and the dialogue are solid.

8. In my class, I have an entire 1 hour lecture on Google, which to me, will simply not suffice.

9. Billboards, cha-cha, nursing exams, zzzzzz.

10. And, happy to confess, I've been to 168 twice in the last month.

Tags: 168, divisoria, NBA, Philadelphia, Philippines, Quezon City, BIR, Studio 60, Hanoi

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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I'm now an AM radio junkie -- the re-discovery of which is the one upside to Milenyo. I love the rambling, the ranting and the flamboyant staging of all the satire (laced with pop cultural references), and of course the juicy sensationalized breaking news.

It's staying informed and entertained at the same time. The themes are common, all delivered with an exclamation point: disappointment with (even anger) the government (Hoy! DPWH!), celebrities out of control (...nakitang palurayluray sa kalye ng malate!) and trivial breaking news (...nadakip na umano ng PNP ang suspect sa pagkapatay ng pamangkin ng actor na si Mr. Robin Padilla!): precisely the stuff I surf for!

I'm listening now.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Been swamped with work lately, and there's more to come. Which is a good thing, but a bad thing for this blog. Nothing's really caught my eye to blog about either. Although I did see a couple of things while driving down EDSA that caught my eye.

PREVENT YOUR NEXT HANGOVER

... read one billboard. I'd say, I had one last time, and, boy, was that a bitch! The next one I'm planning on having, I'm going to PREVENT! Thanks!

Try

PREVENT HANGOVERS

Another billboard reads (if I remember correctly):

BEAUTY FROM WITHIN MAKES YOU BLOOMING

I saw that twice, along EDSA and in Libis. With Dawn Zulueta playing pistil to an oversized lily. "Blooming" is an adjective. You need the verb form here, which is "bloom" (meaning "shine" or "glow"). The writer here had trouble with "makes you" which, not to muddle through more figures of speech, should be either:

MAKES YOU BLOOM

or

MAKES YOU FEEL BLOOMING

Notice how "blooming" the adjective has now become a verb with "feel," as in "feel blooming". I think the writer stumbled with thinking "makes" is the verb here.

However which way you cut it, this writer's english high school teacher betrayed him. By either saying that that was correct grammar, or by encouraging him to be a copywriter.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Dear Readers,

Today, for show and tell, I brought my gout to class. It sucks to have gout, like a big mountain of ass.

I found out, after several heavy interrogations, that I have a rich family history of gout. Both sides have it, and developed it at an early age, and now I am reaping what my forefathers (and mothers) sowed. No more sardines for you!

For those of you who do not know what gout is, look it up. That's what Google is for.

The picture actually shows it in remission (and some nice, healthy hangnails). Gout is treated three ways. First, there's the Cruise missile Allopurinol, which lowers the uric acid, which when there's too much in your system, acid crystals form in your joints, that is, gout. Second, they send in the "bunkerbusters" -- the Colchicine, which is dope that's been around as for long as people can scream "gonorrhea!" It melts the acid crystals, I've been told. Finally, there's the "shock and awe" part of the treatment, which are the painkillers. I was given Cox-2 inhibitors, which I've been told will work well on the pain, but can kill me later of a massive heart attack.

All that aside, I couldn't take the Cox-2 stuff because I'm allergic to it. So I had to deal with the pain. One patient said it was like "walking on your eyeballs." That's not funny, dick.

So, the part where Gene Hackman appears and says, "Sonny, this will get worse before it gets better," is now upon me. Colchicine gave me severe diarrhea. I know what diarrhea is, now I know what "severe friggin diarrhea" is. The manfuacturers label never paints an accurate picture of the godawful truth.

Now, I don't want to get into the details, but I found out how clockwork the human body is: I had to take a dump every 26 minutes! Fascinating if this was the Discovery Channel, but the few steps I had to take to the bathroom, hobbling painfully with my gout-ridden toe, was like the best episode of "Chaotic."

On the upside, my three days in bed gave me a chance to catch up with "Battlestar Galactica," Joss Whedon's "Firefly" and took in a few Miyazawa shorts.

Tags: Philippines, gout, Colchicine

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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This is my mom's dog. My brother and I called him, for no honest reason, "Todnih".

Not to be circumspect, but we did think this through. We led with the fact that we've had some really crappy names for our dogs -- like Whitey, Boomer and a female dog named Duke. (We did have a Cujo, and he really killed.) So we felt it was time for something more creative.

The real reason of course was to get a laugh. Everytime my mom would call out to feed the dog, she would yell "Todnih!!!" and everyone would be rolling on the floor (see picture) near tears. Poor mom. Of course, someone's going to get us back you know.

Tags: Philippines, dog+name

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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I was having a short conversation with my niece, 10 she is, on "Panatang Makabayan", that patriotic chant we were all made to recite everyday in school, for a good third of my life. There is a revised version, apparently, and felt it was worth my time looking into. After all, why change such a classic?

First the original version:

1 Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas.
2 Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan.
3 Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi.
4 Ako’y kaniyang kinukupkop at tinutulungan, upang maging malakas, maligaya at kapakipakinabang.
5 Bilang ganti ay diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang.
6 Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng aking paaralan.
7 Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin ng isang mamamayang makabayan at masunurin sa batas.
8 Paglilingkuran ko ang aking bayan nang walang pag-iimbot at nang buong katapatan.
9 Sisikapin kong maging isang tunay na Pilipino, sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa.

Now, the new one:

1 Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas, aking lupang sinilangan,
2 Tahanan ng aking lahi, kinukupkop ako at tinutulungang
3 Maging malakas, masipag at marangal
4 Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
5 Diringgin ko ang payo ng aking magulang,
6 Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng aking paaralan,
7 Tutuparin ko ang tungkulin ng mamamayang makabayan,
8 Naglilingkod, nag-aaral at nagdarasal nang buong katapatan.
9 Iaalay ko ang aking buhay, pangarap, pagsisikap
10 Sa bansang Pilipinas.

Of course, I would like to know why the changes were made in the first place. I keep thinking it may have something to do with OFWs, as lines 9 and 10 in the new version seems to more explicitly state a selflessness and generosity for the country, more so offering one's hard work for the country itself. This sense is not found in the original oath.

Actually, line 7 of the original seems out of whack to me. But my memory could be failing.

Anyway, what's missing in the revised version both in words and in spirit is being obedient to the law. Explicit in the first version, line 7, but the word "batas" isn't even in the new version.

Another, and more curious, is the inclusion of prayer, and therefore religion, in the new version (line 8) as part of a patriotic oath. The original version would have none of that, thus reads more progressive.

Then, there's line 9 in the old version, which places the oathtaker in a position of determination -- the strive to become a good citizen ("sisikapin") is replaced by a more passive sense of dedication ("iaalay"). The nuance of the latter, to me, pales in comparison to the urgency and "fight" captured in the old version's final line.

Finally, one of my favorite phrases, "walang pagiimbot" which to my mind means "without expecting anything in return" -- selflessness -- has been omitted in the new version. Shucks. I really do think the new version is both easier to memorize, as millions of Filipino students sigh in relief, but is also an easier oath to follow. I often think about these lines, as to me they were mumbo-jumbo when I was a child, but I sure wish we'd take them to heart more often. And with a new washed-out version, I think our kids are getting off easy.

My niece is learning the old version, whether she likes it or not.

Tags: Philippines, Pinoy

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Last October, while boarding a Continental flight to Buffalo, NY, I was alerted by the authorities that I was on the no-fly list. Of course, had this anything to do with my credit limit, or a prank from the State Department, I would have understood.

Today, I discovered that I share names with, among others, a known ETA terrorist. Fascinating to read about someone who doesn't have a cheeky nickname, and instead is known simply as "Demon". Although I would like to add that that George Harrison thing that he has going is pretty sharp.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I have a very tidy and simple (and grossly generalizing) explanation for everything that ails our country -- from matters of civility, to government and politics, to business big and small, to driving on EDSA and all that engenders the systemic corruption of our social, moral and political functions.

This idea is not original -- I paraphrase freely from a friend of mine, an American political scientist who has lived in Manila and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Part One

Filipino men are insecure. They womanize incorrigibly to prove their vitality (and their moral weakness). They are contentious, prone to display, pretentious and arrogant only to prove that they are better over another man. In short, they are posers. They will cut, duck and weave through traffic to prove that they are faster and more wily. They will buy the biggest cars, the biggest guns and hire the biggest goons.

Even in the U.S. Filipinos engage in this pomp -- I have a bigger car, I have a wider screen. To what end? And, if someone gets ahead of them, they do everything to crush them. In a country so want of genuine nationalism, it's the brute individual and his divine self-righteous agenda that prevails.

Part Two

Filipino men are lazy. They will, given the chance, shirk off work more often than not. They will also ignore the law if it's easier, and around here it almost always is. They feel entitled not to wash the dishes, not to cook, not to pretty much do anything at home. Yes, they do often are the breadwinners, but even in the two-income households, the Filipina works more than the Filipino. That said, even if they are the sole breadwinners, that doesn't entitle you to treat your spouse as a housekeeper.

Part Three

There is no middle class. They've all left for the United States. What's left are the rich people who will do anything to maintain status quo, the idiots in government, and the impoverished who will remain illiterate who are manipulated constantly for their voting power to perpetuate the corruption and lunacy further. If most everyone who can do something right for the Philippines -- the software engineers, the doctors, the nurses, the scientists, an entire generation -- have left, we're simply adding to the populations of people who have no interest or no power to change status quo.

Tags: Philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Yesterday I met David Sedaris. He read an excerpt from his book, saying the words "Jesus" and "fucked up" in one sentence. The signing was at the Shangri-la Mall, and that thrilled me to no end.

He also talked about a trip to Makati Cinema Square, liking it to an oncologist looking for a tumor. And, watching cockfighting live on TV the other night was a treat: "There was this one rooster whose both eyes were gouged out. The announcer says: "That was a costly mistake for Romeo!" I'd say!" He also saw a taping of Wowowee, remarking that it's very different from Jeopardy! where you know you've won $4,000 but here in this show you actually see the $4,000 and it's an armload of cash!

I blocked out all the hoopla around the signing, which featured a very bored crowd and an MC who was, sadly, not a hit. (Good reason to block it out!) Here's my best recollection:

David: Hi!

Me: Hi! David... Benito.

David: What did you say your name was?

Me: Benito, like the Italian fascist dictator.

David: [smiles] Oh, Benito.

Me: Just like "burrito."

David: [smiles] Right.

David: [seeing that my book was bought at The Strand] So you were in New York. What were you doing there?

Me: I was...

David: What do you do, Benito?

Me: I make heroin. Can't you smell the bleach?

David: [smiles]

Me: I'm a graphic designer. Spent some time in upstate New York too. I know you're from there.

David: What were you doing there?

Me: I went to school there, in Syracuse.

David: Oh, you went to my Dad's college. [He then writes, in "Naked" Benito, You went to my dad's school. - David Sedaris]

Me: [As David signs] You know how you thought Makati Cinema Square was like looking for a tumor? Well, go to Divisoria, it's the crotch of Manila. It's dank, hairy and smells like piss all the time.

David: [Quickly flipping to his notebook] Where was that? Di...

Me: Divisoria. D-I-V-I-S-O-R-I-A.

David: Thanks, I'll make sure.

David's Assistant: We're going to Chinatown tomorrow, so we'll go there too.

David: Great. [Turns to me] And what else?

Me: Try Nayon Pilipino. It's every landmark and tourist trap in the Philippines miniaturized. Like Legoland.

David: [Back at his notebook and writes "Nayon Philipino"] That's perfect.

David's Assistant: They closed it, I think.

David: Let me explain to you what I wrote. "Forza Italia" was Berlusconi's slogan, and now everytime Italians see it, they are completely disgusted by it. In fact, if it was written in a book, Italians would go out and replace that with a new one. [smiles]

Me: Okay, I get it. Thanks, David.

David: And, you know how when people here say they live near the airport. Well, they really do!

Me: Yup, they do. And even if I'm just 10 miles away from the airport. It takes me an hour to get there.

David: Thanks for the tips, Benito!

And I shook hands with him, instantly regretting not asking him out for a round or two. Pics to follow.

Tags: David+Sedaris, Philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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My personal list. I'm working on it one at a time.

1. Answer each others prayers. I don't really pray. Matter of fact, I think we as a country pray too much, and we don't want to admit it. Stop praying and start being responsible for the poor, homeless and uneducated.

2. Pay our taxes. All of it. The country needs money to grow, and even if don't like what our government is doing with our tax money, we're still citizens of this country. Besides, who put those goons in government in the first place?

3. You can't stand public transportation? Car pool. I'm really forkin' tired of seeing the road crowded with cars with one passenger in it. I'd car pool if I could (I don't drive to work everyday, anyway). But I know so many folks who go up and down EDSA in their own car. Plan your day right, and everybody goes home happy. It's good for the environment too.

4. Have more faith in each other. Damn, if I knew how to get this done. Everywhere you look: faith in God, trust Him, there's Hope. That, to me, is a crutch. I'm not being blasphemous, but all I'm saying is that if we can find faith in something so intangible (and spend so much energy proving we can), then why can't we find faith in the millions Filipinos we see everyday, a lot of whom are honest, intelligent and decent people? I know so many who are love this country so much. And I'd quickly hand my faith over to them. Someone start a church for the Filipino, and I'll go there to worship everyday. I'll bring my wallet too.

5. Stop watching television. When you're doing something other than watching television, chances are you are doing something better than watching television. Along with that, we're also giving advertisers a run for their money.

6. Segregate our trash. Quezon City does it, as other cities do. It's your damn island, so you should start caring about it. You can also help by avoiding products that are over-packaged.

7. Drink San Miguel, eat Chippy, brush with Hapee, and put your money in BPI. Keep your money here, Filipino. It's easy, and besides, local banks have the best dollar TD rates.

8. Be a tourist. See the rest of the country. Metro Manila is really the ugliest part of the country (except maybe Greenbelt and the walk along Roxas Blvd). Get out and see the country. You'll have a greater appreciation of this land you were given. I'm planning on it.

9. Be politically involved. And, vote wisely. Listen, you only have yourself to blame for all those crooks, wise-asses, liars, thieves, and murderers holding our government hostage. Do everything you can to get rid of them in the next election. Your children and their children are at stake.

10. Be proud. This I find both the hardest and the easiest to do. We're so insecure in so many ways, that we tend to shut up when we should be shouting, sit down when we should be rising, and ashamed when we're in the spotlight. And, most especially, we don't say what we mean -- which stems from having little self-esteem. But considering the proud Americans have a donkey as a president, then we should all find this a bit easier. There are a bunch of reasons why we should be proud to be Filipinos, like our OFWs and Manny Pacquiao. Wear it like a badge, and use it to further your own success.

Tags: Pinoy, Filipinos, Philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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I have been working from home for some time now, and while I have a lot of kinks to sort out, there are some things that work for me to stay productive and efficient. Since I'm working on my new Life OS (GTD), I've changed a lot about my work habits. By applying all sorts of tricks and tips here and there, I'm creating my own body of tips that some of you might find useful. So, free advice (some wise, some otherwise). Worth every penny.

1. Before you set a meeting, find out if you can do it by phone, email or messenger. Face to face meetings are valuable, but they are often unnecessary. I find that the more scarce I am face-value wise, the more productive and useful my eventual meetings turn out to be.

2. Ramen is good for you, despite what everyone else says. It's quick and easy. Pop open a can of tuna, and voila, lunch is served under 10 mins. Plus, you can eat it in a bowl, with a fork, and little cleanup after. For snacks, try ramen again.

3. Clear your desk every morning, so you can take away from your centerscreen stuff that's already been done.

4. Schedule your emails. I check thrice a day (although if I'm waiting for something, I will check anytime). Once in the morning, once in the middle of the day and again around 5 PM.

5. Take a break. I feed the fish, and read the neighbor's mail. And sometimes, I write blog entries.

6. Never watch television. Television, unless it's sports or you're watching to socialize, is generally not a good thing.

7. Stay invisible on your messenger as often as possible. Sorry, guys. But I just want to be there and not be bothered, and bother someone when I need to bother somebody. That said, there's a bunch of you guys invisible anyway.

8. Following #3 above, clear your computer desktop. Outside of my hard drive and external drive icons, I have three other folders: Projects, Desktop Things, and a backup of my blog, Bulletproof Vest. That way, when I leave items on the desktop, these are the urgent ones (actionable) and I see them as soon as I'm front of the computer.

9. Use software to SMS. I use Bluephone Elite. Some officemates use Chikka.com

10. Take a nap when you need to. Since you can keep working after office hours, you can take that nap to recharge and restart work being more productive.

I have a few more, but ten's good for now.

Tags: telecommute, work-from-home, freelancing, productivity, GTD

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Now, we all know about Friendster and MySpace (if you don't, leave the planet). And if you blog, you want to get to other like-minded bloggers. Right now, the best way I think there is to do that is Technorati, using keywords, or run a blogroll on your site. And of course there are blog search engines, and Pinoyblog.com, which, in my opinion, is getting over-crowded (Alas, an exclusive, elitist opinion. Shame!).

With niche networking sites evolving, is there a space for a bloggers networking site? It may be that all there is is a yahoogroup of some sort, but we all know how short yahoogroups come up with features (until, maybe the next version).

So, if there was such a site, I think it would be more like Last.fm, where you can create groups based on what you are blogging, and add to "blog stations" that create their own feeds based on categories or, better yet, tags. That way, your can weed through the muck of stuff you don't want. Maybe the site will allow cross-blogging via RSS, say, like the 9rules network. And a homepage well-designed and well-organized by section.

Kinda rough, but I just wanted to pitch that out.

Tags: pinoy+blogger, weblog, social+networking, philippines

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I've had this entry in mind for a while, delayed, possibly, by the simultaneously eye-numbing and hypnotic sensation caused by the daily visual assault of advertising.

Here's some observations I believe are good enough proof advertising's gone from a respectable industry to a bunch chest-thumping gorillas:

1. We've all seen the innumerable amount of billboards in the city, some of which seriously lack taste, never mind decent art direction. Many are calling for an end to the "carpet bombing." Seriously, our streets are getting uglier with all those beveled type.

2. Both GMA and ABS-CBN have renounced their membership with the broadcasting body KBP, allowing them to control how much advertising to air and when to air it. That's really long-hand for: P&G and Unilever can take their war to the people untramelled. So, now, you never know which show starts when. It just starts sometime after the show before it.

3. The INQ7.net website, that, according to Alexa.com is the most popular site based in the Philippines, has a homepage that's a whopping 851 KB!! Even worse, the ABS-CBN news site checks in at a monstrous 1104 KB. Compare that to this blog at 264 KB, 292 KB for CNN.com or 416 KB for NYTimes.com. How can you read that if you're on dial-up like most Filipinos are? Maybe Filipinos abroad can deal with the weight, and it seems like the advertisers are targeting them anyway.

(Even if there are some elements cached in your browser, those local news sites still take upwards of 700 KB to load.)

And the reason why these sites are overweight? It's not the fries and milkshakes. (Actually, in a way, it is.)

So, with advertising getting in the way of access to information, entertainment and a decent drive (actually, it's more like the government allowing this to happen by refusing to regulate the industry), the best thing to do is stay home, hide the car keys and read a book.

P.S. No need to remind me of my Masters degree.

Tags: advertising, philippines, media, media+issues, media+literacy, outdoor+advertising, Alexa, Philippine+Daily+Inquirer, ABS-CBN, KBP

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I've got Brown Patch in my lawn. I keep thinking about what my Dad said about how I shouldn't spray anything yet, until something comes up. It's very un-Bush like not to launch a preemptive war. In this case, I felt like it would have been a good idea to be on the preventive side.

That said, the war now rages: me vs. the fungus. I will overcome.

Tags: lawn, Brown+Patch, fungus

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Isowannamigratetowordpress. But I don't have neither the time nor the courage to do so. Movable Type is dead.

I heard that the latest WP installation has a MT2WP feature that works 100%. But I'm considering moving my blog over to "www.622design.com/blog" instead of a subdomain -- and maybe reconsider putting some ads.

And I do want to get something nice up, so it'll take me a while to think about the look and feel. I do like the simplicity of what I have on now. Darniti'mjustprocrastinating.

Anyone out there care to share encouragement, or foretell doom upon my blog should I pull the trigger?

Tags: Movable+Type, Wordpress, blogging, blog+software

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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New homeowners beware: you're never alone. There are stray cats meeowing all night, peeing on your lawn and preying on your fish. There's dog poop on your garden from your delinquent petowner/neighbor, snails that eat your water lilies and bugs (or fungus) to snack on your lawn.

Only one answer: poison!

Tags: Fungus, Chinch Bugs, Bermuda Grass, Stray+Cats, Pest+Control, Snails

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I've been back in the Philippines for about six months now. Never has my life changed so drastically in six months -- at least as far as I can remember -- that maybe there's some kind of self-imposed exile I'm going through to ease it all on me.

Of course it's easy to miss my Philly lifestyle: we lived in an apartment building, everyone's friendly, I loved teaching (and my students appreciated all that), I took the train everywhere, and there was plenty to do. I can get on my bike and pedal for miles.

In the past six months, we moved into our house (which we renovated), I picked up gardening, am back to designing for the private sector (as opposed to teaching, and yes, dealing with a very different breed of clients in a very different way), and have been beset with many disappointments -- all utterly owed to the fact that the standards of living, service, competence and achievement are much higher from where I had just come from.

All that and more I knew coming back. I even kinda knew my asthma would come back because of all the air pollution.

But what I never expected, really never, was how rude Filipinos can get. I was lucky: I lived in Philadelphia and rudeness, though never absent, had all but barely brushed me (maybe on the train). Here, people seem to be rude by default. And, most especially, anywhere there's a line.

I've gone grocery shopping many times in my shorts and sandals (it was raining) and people at the grocery store (even the cashiers) will look at me like I had no business being there. Never felt that anywhere in the U.S., even at a Hooters (maybe I should have gone more than once) or in the backwoods of Virginia. Even bank tellers are rude. People you're buying something from are rude too. And, try talking to a security guard. Very taxing.

I have no analysis or conclusion forthcoming -- but I really think it's because Manila's overcrowded. If the MRT had more room, people would be nicer to each other. And it irks me more that I used to live here and never felt any of this. I got spoiled, maybe, by all the nice people in Philly who catch your eye, say "Wassup?" with a smile, and then asks for a dollar.

Technorati Tags: balikbayan, Manila, Philadelphia, Philippines, rudeness

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Okay, why? Well, not only are they on time, and reasonably priced. They're courteous on the phone, and will clearly explain every thing they do -- never leaving first time homeowners like us in the dark about what it is they're probing, spraying and needling around for.

Sounds like every other service-oriented business, right? Here in the Philippines, decent service seems to be the exception.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Not that anyone would care, but I've been noticing true right-brain, left-brain activity here. When I have a lot of design work to do (and, thank goodness I often do) I hardly think of blogging. Today I spent some time organizing my projects using some neat design project management software, and contacted several suppliers about a printing job. And, after that, I thought: "Blogging and coffee sounds really good right about now."

It's not that I don't have deadlines -- but somehow I wanted to "switch" back to the other side of the brain, that side that works to write/compose and create.

The last couple of times I blogged, it was after preparing a Statement of Account, writing up a Cost Estimate, and, well, watching Dateline (which really doesn't count).

For my blog, I guess the mundane part of my day is a good thing.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Un-fly, but very true to my nature. First, most of you all know that my Dad is a plant nut, calling every vegetable by its genus and not by its common name. A botanical garden is the Super Bowl to them botany jocks. Second, I do like the color green -- dumb, but I partially attribute my new hobby to that. To my eye, green, like snot, sticks. Third, I like seeing things grow. Again, a bit silly, but I am watching grass grow (within reason) and I have, wait for it, fish. (They jump!)

The garden is not huge. And it's really a menagerie of plants, a garden that some might look at and know immediately that it wasn't put together by a pro. I'm not knocking on my dad -- he's no poser -- but he's not a pro landscaper either (although I'm pretty sure the Garden Show awards offer evidence otherwise). That said, you can look at it like an SM food court -- filled with one-off establishments that serve their own signature dishes. The result looks like a garden salad of podocarpus, iris, palms, bromeliads, ferns, tea plants, and rapis. I'll need more groundcover to even the look out. And maybe some more iris.

What's really great about it is that he was right: there's something about not completing it right away, and instead participating in building the garden and watching it grow. Sure you can put big plants right away, but it's the ones that started out small that I now really enjoy.

When you see the house, be prepared for the tour of the backyard. Another pal called it a "nice hobby for a modern playboy." Don't agree entirely, but it is a nice hobby.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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So, here's how they work: they have three teams. One, goes in your house. The second, works the lines outside. A third invisible one works at the "plant". They all have something to do with the quality of your connection and are -- my theory points to inbreeding -- unable to work efficiently together.

I call, I get some service people over. They check the modem. No problem. They refer it to the team that works outside to check their signal. Five days later, the signal is fine and they refer to the people who work inside the house to check the cable. This, after nearly a week and hours spent talking to Customer Service.

The modem people change the modem, and it looks like we're set. Two nights ago we were surfing at the speed we were paying for and as sure as the sun burns a bald man's scalp, we lost the connection again. Lani says it's "ongoing plant maintenance." I told her: "Hindi naman kayo gobyerno e. Bakit ganyan kayo magtrabaho?" (The government being the standard bearer for inefficiency. My wife would differ and would say it's PLDT.).

Needless to say, the plant maintenance team is "monitoring" our status and making sure our signal stays straight. But compared to DSL, I guess we're having a decent time. At least when the connection's up, we get upwards of 600 kbps.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The massive growth of the users in the Phillipines is what drove off the Americans from Friendster, just as the Brazilians drove away the Americans from Orkut.

MySpace deliberately ignored the Phillipine/Malaysian market, and it was a good move.

What was meant to be a way to bring everyone's personalities to the web and give them a place to expand their networks became, well, a way to bring the same class and racial structures that geography, language and skin color determines. After all, we can only have so many friends.

Having been a longtime member of MySpace, I recently found myself bored and as a result trying to find a new “home.” I resorted to Friendster to only be disappointed by the obvious influx of members from other countries. I find it pointless. For me the value of social networks lies in extending my personal network, but there is a limit.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Him: Napanood mo ba kanina yung kwan?
Me: Ah, opo (knowing he's talking about the basketball game).
Him: Ang galing ni kwan! Si kwan na naman ang bida! Si, ano...
Me: Ah, oo nga po.
Him: Last kwan na lang, tapos kwakwanin nya yung ano, yung kwan.
Me: Ah...
Him: Tapos, shinoot. Kwan, di nag-kwan!
Me: Ah, oo...
Him: Tapos, yung coach nila... si kwan. Siguro naisip na na kwan... so kinwan na nya!
Me: Opo.
Him: Kwan, tumama sa kwan, tapos lumabas!
Me: Ah, talaga?
Him: Oo, tapos nakuha ni kwan yung bola. Naishoot sa kabila.
Me: Wow!
Him: Nagkwan, e may kwan pa!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Kaya pala kailangan nang katulong at taong-bahay.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Well, I'm dripping with happiness. Lately, in the process of building a house, we've come across a small monopoly but with the trademark leviathan-like ego: Teresa Marble. Marble is not a fast-moving packaged good, nor is it a service that's in constant public demand. So, I'm really comparing apples and oranges here. But to shorten a long story, we bought marble for our kitchen tops from Teresa and are having them install it. It took them a day to come to us to measure our kitchen and estimate the costs, and promised us delivery in two weeks (we chose a popular marble that is easy to procure).

Three weeks later, they ask us to fully pay the costs without having even seen a single square inch of marble. That's right, 100% paid BEFORE delivery. And then, they want 50% cash down BEFORE installation. So, three days ago I left their store in Home Depot in disgust, but with a promise that they will deliver Thursday. It is now Friday, and there's no marble in sight. More disgust.

Teresa's on my list.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Mine are too.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Lifehacker is the most user-friendly, if you're new to the business of trying to take your life back from all this technology. Lots of neat stuff, including sections on Office 2.0 (meaning, all the stuff you do on your desktop that you can now do online).

Techcrunch keeps a nice eye on all the Web 2.0 startups -- and has all the buzzwords too. Lots of strategy ideas.

There's the new Slashdot: Digg. And, 43folders, which is just full of useful stuff.

Finally, Pete Cashmore's blog is a daily stop.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The only real problem is that anywhere you go, it's really hot. The AC stuggles to keep up, but I guess that means I'll just have to wear less clothes.

Barring anything else, moving day is, finally, sometime sorta end of May-ish.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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And, add to that a fourth: I'm about to start a consultancy with a rather large CRM agency here in Manila. It should be fun, especially the part where the office is only 15 minutes away on a *bad* day. And, I get to work across many channels: print, web... well, primarily two channels. That said, design should be media-agnostic. Goals and content first. Yada-yada...

Tell you what, though, I just learned how to build sites using Joomla. Really nifty stuff.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Read what others have to say.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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There's a running thread in one of my yahoo groups -- one that connects all my UP Rural High School batchmates -- that asks about local colleges and universities: which ones are the best and why.

Plainly put, it would have to do with what one wants to study. Agriculture, UPLB. Business, Ateneo. Computer Engineering, and you get a whole bunch. But I wanted to quickly glance at the overall student experience, and consider all the programs put together, and come out with, er, the one.

When U.S. News ranks U.S. colleges, they consider many factors that go towards what makes a college a better college. Let's consider a few here.

1. Peer assessment score, or, in my words, what others think about them.
2. Graduation and retention
3. Freshman retention
4. Faculty resources
5. Student/faculty ratio
6. % of Faculty who are full-time
7. Freshmen in top 10% of HS class
8. Financial resources
9. Alumni giving rate
10. Acceptance rate

Having considered all these, it would be hard not to pick Ateneo as the best school in the country. Actually, it took me four seconds. This is followed by UP Diliman, which gets a failing to near-failing grade in #4, #5, #6, #8 and #9, the latter being a sticky issue (one that has to do with the fact that it's a state-run school). Well, that's tough. I would probably put UA&P and then DLSU (which fails in #7). Remember, there are no surveys to support this. I just peered long enough in my crystal ball.

Ateneo has easily become the most desirable school to go to in the country, and it shows no sign of conceding that to fact to any other school. It is surely the hardest to get into, owed in no small part to it's desire to maintain a healthy student/faculty ratio. It's ability to attract and keep top-notch professors and produce outstanding (and grateful) and well-networked graduates ensure that it will only galvanize it's leadership.

I don't teach at the Ateneo (I teach somewhere else), and I graduated yet from another school. Yet so far, an Atenean has never failed to impress me. And that I saw first hand, not through my crystal ball. Maybe I should teach a class there, and really see for myself.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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While there are some things that I can do well, I often find myself doing things that, on the onset I knew I could do, but it turns out I couldn't. But, if prior experience is all that counts, we would have never gotten to moon.

So I cluelessness is fine, not that ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is my only justification for learning.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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But, I know that there's a special place in hell for bus drivers, especially the ones that choke the air with black smoke.

Because of my trusty cameraphone, I have it documented.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Working as a process specialist in a boutique graphic design agency (read: small but big clients) has me working fulltime now, juggling work there and two classes (midterms was hell) of 20+ students each has me burned out by the day's end.

But the most important -- and exciting -- development of the week was that we got a house. Among it's unique qualities is its on a bend of a quiet street ironically called "Red Arrow". Structurally, it's a menegarie, but it's transforming itself under deft hands, into a very liveable space. Light takes plenty of shelter there, which was what drew us to it.

Earlier we had looked at other places, among them the prospect of tearing down what was once Nora Aunor's house. The excitement of saving some bricks -- possibly from her bedroom -- and selling them on Ebay was, to me, electrifying. Alas, it was not to be and the structure, apparently built on a weak foundation (no doubt some architect poser conned the actress), remains to sink slowly into the same oblivion that swallows its former resident.

Also, I'm raring to go on a new komik. The plot's formed in my head and I just have to do the research. Bolstered by, of course, GMA's recent ultraparanoia. A pre-emptive strike is, in the final analysis, true to form.

Also, and to the chagrin of my wife, I am now bluetoothed. I surrender all my day-to-day nuances to the promise that technology will magically sweep through and rescue me from organizational disrepair. I am very fond of using it as a remote control (my cellphone), which is symbolic of urbanite laziness -- the freedom to do other things, like lie down. But the real smell test was whether it will sync with my Mac. The jury at apple.com is still out on that.

Finally, podcasts. On the journey to work, I use my ipod to distract me from the push and shove (and scratch) of riding the MRT. I ride during the peak hours, so, yes, I'm rubbing off strangers (as they rub off me). It's a luxury for me -- deprived for too long of ESPN Sportscenter -- to listen to ESPN radio and Arianna Huffington, among others. There's a boatload of free content, and I'm likely to explore that too.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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There was a comment that I should stop whining and that there's been an apology -- what more should I ask for? This, from fellow bloggers.

If this reader cannot see that, for one moment, the result of this situation sets a precedent on the resolution of other copyright infrigements to come, then I cannot cease to blog about this matter. If anyone is conceited and haphazard enough to re-publish original work from the web and make a buck off of it without permission, and get away with a slap on the wrist (as this appears), then what defense do bloggers ultimately have? What message does that send to the mass media who trawl our blogs looking for fodder?

I must say the repairs are, unfortunately, as good as they get. I don't personally mind the "wrist slapping" but I am torn when facing the fact that I must take stock of this situation beyond the virtual walls of my blog. This is after all a national publication from a well-known publisher. I can't see why fellow bloggers will even choose sides here when you're just like me -- ownership of your work can just as easily be taken for granted. If you cannot see that, then you must try harder.

I am writing to PCIJ to find out if they were going to issue a public statement, at least post it on their website. As Sheila Coronel told me "I've learned my lesson." I believe her. What I want for everyone else is for everyone else to learn from her.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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I am writing to personally apologize to you for our failure to acknowledge your authorship of the Gloria-Darna comic strip that appeared in our collection of political humor...

We would like to make amends for this lapse by issuing inserts in the book that identify your authorship of the comic strip. We are also providing you the same compensation we had provided the other contributors.

So many layers are beginning to peel off that the timeline of events seem to blur and overlap now. One thing that still bugs me is the fact that someone had informed them of my authorship post-publication and yet they still did nothing to contact me.

Still, for all intents and purposes, I remain clear on my desire not to make money off my comic strip. I published it freely on the internet, without any advertising on the website. Anyone can see it for free. To receive money now out of spite, greed, or even damages in lieu of injury is, well, plainly not my thing.

Which brings me to this question: is PCIJ getting off too easily? Sure, I can now, just to stroke my ego, walk into a National Bookstore and sign what is essentially "my book" (allow me some headroom, please). But what does this whole situation teach us about respecting copyright.

Shouldn't PCIJ be more public with claiming responsibility, apologizing to this party and reiterate their commitment to the highest standards of journalism?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Continue reading "My Email Response to PCIJ" »

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Still, I tried to make clear to her that, no matter what we agree on, it sets a precedent for damages for copyright infringement, which is confused at best if at all existing in this country. This matter had become larger than my blog, and her organization as it, together with a host of other infringements on web publishers may go unpunished. That is, if a victim like me can easily be coddled to an agreement, then the law will never liekly be upheld. While I will unlikely "lawyer up" I would still like this to be a bitter, lasting lesson to anyone tempted to publish without permission.

Further, she said that it was a hard lesson learned and that they just really wanted to share the komik with readers and had decided to publish it, thinking that I would be happy that someone did. Of course, I am, I said, but not to the extent that someone would make money off it.

As this situation closes in on an end -- I hope -- there is this overwhelming sense of relief that wiser heads are prevailing. To that, I credit Ms. Coronel.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I have been trying to post this message to your blog, but I kept being rejected. This explanation is also posted on the PCIJ site:

When we were putting the book together in August and wanted to use the Darna cartoon, we tried our best to find Bulletproof Vest. I emailed two people who sent me copies of the cartoon, asking for the source, but they both said they didn’t know. I also made a couple of phone calls to those I thought may know, but they came back as clueless as I was. Finally, I did Google Bulletproof Vest in August, but at that time, all the links I got were on bulletproof vests, the thing you wear for protection. I did not find any link to the Bulletproof Vest blog. Perhaps it was down at that time or was not as high up on the Google list as it is now.

We acted in good faith. We did not pass off the cartoon as our own, as the excerpt cited in the Hello Garci book shows. We even mentioned that we did try to find the author of the cartoon. Apparently, our investigative skills are not as good as we thought.

We got in touch with the other bloggers/webmasters whose work we featured. I emailed Retzwerx, but didn’t get a response. But since the work was attributed to his site, we decided to go with it. We got permission from Hot Manila and Professional Heckler to use their work and offered modest compensation. They happily gave us permission. If we had no intention of respecting copyright, we would not have bothered.

The PCIJ has had its work published over and over, sometimes with permission, sometimes without, but we don’t generally mind as long as the work is attributed to us. We know how it feels to be on the receiving end. We didn’t think Bulletproof Vest would mind, as we did not claim authorship of the cartoon or of most everything else in that book

The copyright notice is routine. All books published have this. It is to protect not only us but the contributors. Our policy has always been that we do not grant permission to republish work (including photographs) that is not originally ours. We refer them to the authors of the work themselves. We have no intention of claiming copyright rights for work that is not ours. The copyright covers the entire collection and the effort we had invested to put all those jokes and cartoons together. The collection was intended to be a celebration of Pinoy political humor, not a showcase of PCIJ’s work.

Maybe our mistake was in not continuing our search for Bulletproof Vest after the book was published. We had hoped that Bulletproof Vest would email us (our address, after all, is in the book). We would like to make amends by offering the same compensation we offered others and by putting an insert in the copies of the book still with us to explain the lapse.

I've replied via email and will post the text when appropriate.

I've heard from at least a dozen readers, Sassy's post and others on the PCIJ blog and am overwhelmed by support. True that when you google "GMA Komiks" you'll find that first entry is my blog. Nice point.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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As I loitered around National Bookstore waiting for my ride, I ran into a poster for a book, called "Hello, Garci? Political Humor in The Cellphone Age." I tracked it down to see it shelved two covers wide on the eye level shelf in the humor category.

I glanced at the cover: author, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Here's the cover:

As I thumb through the first few pages -- I saw something that almost made my heart fall:

Of course, I was shocked. The acknowledgement goes on to say:

The contributions of these Web humorists round out this collection. Our thanks go to all of them and to the anonymous artist who did the komiks in the first chapter of this book. This series of comic strips show Gloria as Darna, but uses real photographs instead of drawings. It was passed on to us by email and although we did use our investigative skills, we failed to trace the author.

Several things bother me about this:

1. Had they done the Google search I had inserted at the end of my komiks, keyword "bulletproof vest," they would have found me. So much for investigative journalism when the answer's right at your nose.

2. It would have been all okay, I guess, had the PCIJ asked for permission. But, not knowing the author, and without gaining permission from the author, they publish it anyway. It's the first chapter of the book and the only part of the book that was printed in color (other than the cover).

3. On top of that, they placed an all rights reserved copyright on the book. Now, that's just really dumb. I couldn't even copyright the komiks myself because none of the photographs I used were permitted.

4. They, on the other hand, credit this copycat at Retzwerx who has a few one cell, really corny comics printed sporadically in the book. I don't even want a link on my blog for this donkey.

My question now is, and I hope Sassy's reading, what do I do? The PCIJ should know full well about copyright laws, and sadly, they disregard this to make a quick buck. Shouldn't I get some of that?

By the way, if any of you have this book, I'd gladly sign it for you.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
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WTF? I just wanted to see Showtime's website if Weeds has any new episodes out. Why on earth would the restrict access by geography? I feel discriminated upon. Terrible.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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As I slowly settle into a routine, there are many things that I think I’ll never get used to. Chief amongst them is the “kulbit culture” so predominant in Filipino conversations. I probably never noticed it until I had a discussion with my cousin about his diet of psyllium husk while he ate lechon. When making a point, or starting a new subtopic, he would put down his fork (I sat to his left) and, in a manner more similar to flicking a switch, poke me in the shoulder.

I wondered first whether he thought he didn’t have my attention, which, with all the poking, he did. Then I realized that the flicking was pervasive enough to be a mindless habit -- which he of course thought was harmless. So I asked him, tapping him back incessantly, “Why are you always poking me?” He grinned back, mouth glistening with pork.

Indeed, it is viewed as harmless. When I did my rounds at my new job, people I’d never met before in my life were tapping my arm across the table (again, as if to catch my attention when it was duly given them), tapping me on my arm, patting me on my shoulder, all sorts. In fact, when I told a friend about my observations, she thought it was very strange; yet as soon as we moved to another conversation, she flicked my arm to make a point. “Aha!” I beamed.

There are deeper nuances: I’ve observed that people hardly ever flick you with one finger. That inadvertently might be viewed as rude. Flicking with three fingers in an upward motion -- the index, middle and ring finger -- and catching the flickee with the ring and middle finger, is a welcome motion. A sort of physical “hey!”; nothing wrong with it, except that it is annoying.

When engaged in a kulbit conversation, you would invariably encounter a tandem of physical gestures, switching from elbow and arm flicks to pat on the shoulder -- the two gestures are interchangeable: It doesn’t matter whether the flicker is about to start a sentence, end one, or is making a point more dramatic.

I am, as my friends know, a “touchy” person. I grew up a hugger, and hug everyone. Yet in this kulbit culture, those two or three fingers seem to penetrate a personal sphere that I’ve yet to make permeable. My elbows seldom get touched, and to poke them is really extraordinary. To get poked after every sentence is just plain annoying.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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(Two days ago, in the midst of frantic Noche Buena preparation, I was insisting on ironing my own shirt. Of course, the *last* thing I want to do is get someone else to do my work for me.)

Her: Kuya, heto na yung plantsado nyo.

Me: [surprised] Ay, salamat... [shocked] Ay, sa susunod, wag mo nang plantsahin yung t-shirt. Di na kailangan plantsahin yan. Pinangbabahay ko lang naman e.

Her: Sige, kuya, hindi na.

Me: Okay, thank you.

Her: Wag ka nang magplantsa dito. Trabaho ko yan e. Me: Gulp. (Opo.)

Me and the security guard:

Me: Saan po ba yung opisina ni Ms. XXX?

Her: Doon, sa Room 410.

Me: Saan po ba yung Room 410.

Her: Sa taas.

Me: Ah, [getting frustrated] pakipaliwanag lang po dahil bago lang po ako dito.

Her: Pasok ka lang dyan [pointing in a general direction].

Me: Saan po yung "dyan"?

Her: Pasok ka dyan, merong elevator.

Me: [Looking at the catacombs in front of me] Saan po yung elevator?

Her: Pasok ka dyan, merong elevator sa kaliwa pagkalampas nang stairs, sakay kang 4th floor.

Me: Aaahhh....

Me, a visitor at someone's office, and some other visitor:

Her: Andyan po ba si Sir Alex Tambong?

Me: [Not knowing anybody] Um, sorry di ako taga dito e.

Her: Ahhh... [pauses] Andyan po ba si Sir Alex?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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10. Water pressure -- compared to Philadelphia, the water pressure here generates about as much force as pouring tea.

9. Roads -- since I ride road bikes, I tend to observe road surface conditions. They really suck here.

8. Help -- a friend from Minneapolis via Bangkok called them "staff." They change every daily routine from meals (it's magically there!) to laundry (pressed t-shirts! which I put an end to) to loading up your car.

7. Roads 2 -- every driver in Manila is either a dick or an idiot. Actually, there's the kind that's both.

6. Pollution -- one must learn to trust air they *can* see.

5. People Everywhere -- you can't walk a straight line anywhere you go.

4. DVDs -- then again, you can just stay home and watch King Kong off a critic's DVD copy.

3. Cheap labor -- went to the local bike shop to get a flat fixed (see #9 above). A dime to change the tyre and inner tube, and a buck fifty to swap handlebars. Trust me, that's cheap.

2. Food Everywhere -- ube, among many others.

1. Things to do -- there's always something else to do (like meeting up with friends and relatives) other than watching those damn football games.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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It's exactly why Maurice Arcache and Johnny Litton have been kicked out of any relevant media -- in a country where too many live in poverty, flashing straight white teeth, toasting champagne and calling people "dahlings" on live television will get you in trouble. Here, so devoid of any literary value, this piece might as well be porn.

More laughter and chika as our possé arrived. There were lots of flashbulbs going off, mostly from Jo Ann's new digicam which she brought just for the occasion. We were getting a real kick out of playing photographer and model, as we tried out different poses.

Can "posse" and "chika" really coexist? Apparently so with the PDI.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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My students had a send-off (what we would call "despedida") for me on my last day of class. They had put together pizza, soda, juice, chips and salsa, and this cake, which I cherished to the last smear of icing.

My best to all my students. I will miss you too.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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On two occasions, met up with people that have been invisible for quite a while. My brother was in town for a conference, so he stayed over and we had fun with our cameras and ipods (don't ask). By the way, he's also on the no-fly list which really didn't come as a shock. We also met up with a friend from Manila, who has relocated back to DC via Bangkok. My mother made him pecan pie, which she handcarried to Bangkok from Manila for him. He obediently ate the pie, and shipped the pie plate along with all his stuff back to DC. Now that I have the pie plate, I am burdened with the mission to complete the circle by handing it back to my mother who is eagerly awaiting it's return.

We would have our first major snowstorm today, which means I'll be holed up here and can look forward to resuming regular blogging activities. Garci's back, and those pics are really funny.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Well to answer questions in a sweeping fashion, I reply in blog.

Yes, we are going home, to a place we've always called home. In fact, I'm looking forward to a teaching position in a local university (no, not Los Banos) and already wondering about how *bad* traffic really has become.

To add to all that suspense, there's reason for me to get more anxious: there are so many things here in Philly that I take for granted that will be very different in Manila. For one, safe and punctual public transport. I can't imagine commuting in Manila, but by the looks of it, I will be (it actually *is* much easier compared to driving, at least for my prospective teaching appointment).

Another is mass media. Okay, that's shallow, but to wean me off Sportscenter, House (the best hour in television) and The Gilmore Girls (yes, I watch) is a very difficult thing to do. Then there's magazine subscriptions (New Yorker and Macworld) and all the other junk in cable (Best Week Ever, The Real World) that I won't have easy access to.

Finally, believe it or not, I'm going to miss "ghetto". Now, that's not a derogatory term, and you know this if you're from Philly. "Ghetto" is not just a style, although it arguably is, but it's a lifestyle. You talk "ghetto" (insert expletive here), you dress "ghetto" (big earrings with whole first names stenciled), you walk ghetto (one pant leg up, coats three sizes too large, white tank top fondly called "wifebeaters"), you drive "ghetto" (30" rims) and you, well, eat "ghetto" (fried chicken, donuts).

I say all this with a lot of fondness for this subculture, but I'm no anthropologist, so I can't really make useful observations. Besides, I'm a 32 year old Asian, so I'd look like a poser with all that bling and a big Carmelo Anthony jersey on my back. What I do know is that I'll miss being surrounded by it, fascinated by it, and it's as much a part of my Philly experience as transit strikes and the Parkway.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Saying goodbye to friends, colleagues and my students is harder than I thought. I know it's going to hit me some time, usually the day before I actually leave or that minute I look back at the plane lifting off, that I may never see these people again. And, to use my student's words, "that blows."

Then there's everything else: the buildings, the Schuykill, the falling leaves, the buses and the clear blue sky. Walking around Rittenhouse Square yesterday I turned around and looked back at the Liberty Plaza, blue and steel piercing the sky. I got a bit misty -- listening to Damien Rice didn't help.

Still sorting it out, but I do know this: at least George W. Bush isn't the leader of that country.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Things are much nicer in Canada, where Condi is a "warmonger" and Bush is happy to recognize the unexpectedly warm five finger salutes from the crowd.

The Niagara Falls too are much nicer from that side as well, because you can actually see them. This pic was taken from the Maid of the Mist ride, the so-called American Falls whose water comes mostly from Canada.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The lady at the counter in Buffalo tried checking me in. She seemed very happy to see me.

Her: [typing at the console of her keyboard] Hmmm...

Me: [reading her typing V-E-R-G...]

Her: [pausing for a moment, her mood changing] Could I see a photo ID with a birthdate?

Me: [passing on my Philippines Driver's License -- best looking photo] Here.

Her: Thanks. [pausing] You're on the no fly list. Any idea why?

Me: [shocked] Uh, no...

Her: Well, they're looking for someone with the same name. [Speaks with a lighter tone] A different birthdate, but the same name... any idea?

Me: Uh, no. Who's lookin...

Her: Anyway, there's a baddy out there with your name. Not you, of course.

Me: Okay.

Her: [printing out a boarding pass] Since you're on the list, next time you fly you should arrive at the airport a little earlier. You'll have more trouble in international flights, you know.

Me: [expecting an apology] Okay, I guess.

Her: [handing me the boarding pass] Have a great flight! Thanks for choosing Continental!

They say if you're on that list, you're on it forever. I must have pissed off someone at the State Department, or was it someone else? To think there are three of us with the same name. Any ideas, Benitos?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Then, there's riding my bike, which will be sorely missed when it gets colder.

I have, however, been taking stock of what I've missed, including the Gunther Von Hagens exhibit in Philly, and the recent visit from The New Pornographers.

I've also recently been reviewing some poems I thought I lost. Geez, it's pretty scary. I can't bring myself to edit them, because some lines are too raw to handle without gloves.

But really, the last few days of this week was spent preparing for my Fantasy NBA League, which had it's live draft Friday. (This is where you can *really* tune out now.) This year's league features 18 managers -- the most I've ever played against.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Pads: Dishwashing liquid to, pare. Tignan mo.

Twenty minutes before the dishwasher at the house we rented overflowed with a wall of bubbles from the now correctly identified dish soap. Four rinse cycles later, things got back to normal.

GPS: You are entering unverified territory. Please use caution...

The GPS system incessantly reminding us that we're off the beaten path -- which is exactly where we wanted to go.

Ceebs: Nakakakuha pa ba kayo nang OPM galing sa Pilipinas?

A friend, who, surprisingly, is not on medication.

Mel: I want that fried!

Always entrepreneurial, a friend orders the seafood platter: clams, crabcakes, flounder, calamari, scallops and other ocean delights battered and deep fried. This had a side of rice, fried, of course.

Anneke: Here, horsey, horsey. Here, horsey, horsey.

Chinoteague Island is famous for its (reclusive) wild ponies. Calling out to them like they were cats didn't help us see any.

Me: Anong flight nga ba ulit?

To another friend; together we were emailed the itinerary thrice, apparently for good reason.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Geez, I wonder if that was the lady (see below).

(And, I wish I could find my stuff. They would probably sicken me now, but it would be really fun just to read them. Maybe, not.)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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She said, "I can't believe this crazy business! I can't find the train station! Where on earth is it?!?!" She would have used the F word if her gentle soul could tweeze it out of her raspy voice.

I was in midstep to the zebra: "The entrance is down that way," I said, pointing to the station entrance I have used everyday for the past 10 months or so.

She said, "No, it can't be! You're wrong!" I supposed she would have said "idiot" too, but the weather was too nice.

I said, pausing momentarily, thinking about whether I was going to miss the train if I continue to engage her: "I go down that entrance every day!" At this point I was almost halfway across the street. She looks like she was about to cross, but her legs looked like dry reeds waiting to crack.

I looked back at her and I noticed that she was on her way to crossing the street. The orange hand started to blink, as if to say, "You have 15 seconds left until you're run over." I started marching faster, she, well, she knew it would be a long walk.

As soon as the end of the entrance steps, I was wracked with guilt. I could have helped her cross the street and make her way down the stairs -- and surely I would miss my train. But what if she never found the station? What if she had fallen down the steps that *I* told her to take? I couldn't quiet myself for an hour, hoping that she was okay. I had become an uncaring urbanite: live and live, and not give a flying f about anybody.

A street crossing could not have meant so much.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I'm screwed. I'm looking for a new instructor for a new class. If I don't find one in 3 days, I'm going to have to teach it. That means teaching 10 hours a day.

On the better side of things, my next GMA Headline News installment is underway, bolstered by the first one's serialization in another blog. However, I'm having a hard time figuring out how it ends, so maybe I'll just give y'all a cliffhanger. If any of you would like to preview it and help me devise an ending, post a comment and I'll send you a pdf.

Also, I read about Cristeta Comerford, who most likely was a graduate of UPLB Food Tech, because I don't think other campuses have Food Tech. Could be wrong. Now, that's a great example of Zafra's Pinoy Conspiracy, where we're all ready to take over the world as well-placed sleeper cells. Anyone out there know her?

Finally, if I really want to get ahead in the world, I need to learn how to do this.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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It's been more than two years and this mystery has yet to be solved.

On an unassuming cement wall on the way to my buddy's place -- the paint fading from prolonged sun exposure and years of clueless gazing from passersby -- you read the words in large capital letters: "BETAKONG BETLOG". I remember seeing this all the time as a child, as a teenager, all the way to my young adulthood where only now do I ask: what the heck does that mean?

"Betlog", of course, means testicles in Tagalog. "Betakong" is alien to me, even as a native speaker. My buddy, who lives adjacent to the wall, doesn't know what it means either, and can't recall when those words were painted there in the first place, not that its origins would necesarily give rise to its meaning.

Any help?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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I read through Roy Cimagla's article on pornography, which reads more like mumbling rather than presenting a tight thesis on "The Scourge of Pornography" as it was titled.

The article starts by quoting a recent report from the Vatican, which says that some 70% of Italian males aged 15-18 access printed or online pornographic material. The writer then wonders how it is in the Philippines.

I *know* how it is in the Philippines. When I was this age, *everyone* willfully accessed porn. It's part curiousity, part adolescence, part entertainment and part rite de passage. Yes, the Internet wasn't around back then but access was never a problem. One magazine is all you need and the whole tribe is happy.

My main problem here is this: the writer here, who is a priest, calls for a "program of education" to form people to be "responsible citizens able to exercise self-control and mature judgment". I find this flies at the face of the true scourge of our country, our burgeoning population. The Roman Catholic church's nose-thumbing of the government's sincere efforts to educate citizens to -- to paraphrase -- "exercise self-control and mature judgment" in planning a family has been an immovable obstacle in keeping our population under check.

And, to simply be mean, I always check my morals, but I'm not really one to take serious advice on sexuality from someone who has vowed to eschew it for a lifetime.

Morality is another thing. Reading further:

Those who try to soften the evil of pornography by saying it�s just part of growing up, should be reminded of the moral aspect, and not just look at the matter from a purely human or biological point of view.

Pornography makes kids lose their innocence and innate sense of goodness as it introduces them to a world of dark obsessions with their usual complicated network of deception and hypocrisy.

No one really has proven a relationship between pornography and "dark obsessions" (maybe The Vatican, who knows). In fact, what is hard about quietly accepting the "moral aspect" here is that it so hard to grasp these intangibles. Pornography, if we take the writer's word for it, is typically "complicated" and filled with "deception and hypocrisy". My God, so is everything in life, if you put it that way. I stretch this argument, because the writer does the same thing:

I would even say that a good part of the reason why so many people find it hard to pray, offer sacrifices, and do other spiritual things is the scourge of pornography.

Now, is there a link between prayer and pornography? Can you believe that those two words can be used in the same sentence? He goes on even further to blame pornography for pretty much everything, including immaturity, lack of a sense of responsibility, cynicism, acne, early onset arthritis, male pattern baldness, so forth and on.

I don't have all the arguments about pornography (free speech, psychological effects), but neither does the author it seems.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The facade of the Vizcaya House.

The pool where Ace Ventura thought snowflake was being held hostage.

Sunset across Miami Beach. That's the hotel where The Bodyguard was shot.

Happy the Unicorn has a magical horn.

Pupu Platter.

The Beach, which stretches for miles.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:46 PM | Permalink
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10. Eating a banana before a Trigonometry test, and the joy of finding out it doesn't help at all.

9. Getting a room with a window to the lobby, so you can see what everyone else is wearing on a Friday.

8. Every girl in a skirt.

7. The Intramural Games, where we're allowed to pick on somebody *not* our own size.

6. Three words: Bovine Artificial Insemination.

5. That back then, we didn't need cellphones, cable or the Internet. We had better things to do.

4. And, back then, everyone pretty much knew what kind of music the other person was listening to. Like The Cure.

3. Always having money for food.

2. In this order: Ms. Edquiban, Mrs. Advincula, Ms. Lomibao, Ms. Argosino and Mr. Gabriel Amora Tabinga.

1. How easy it was to hook up with your best friends: just come to class.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Well, I haven't blogged in a while. The last two weekends were spent bike riding and topless on Miami Beach. Certainly not shabby reasons to be blog-shy.

On a visit to South Beach, I went to see the Wolfsonian Gallery, which has one of the largest collections of Propaganda Artwork in the United States. The lithographs were astonishing, and so was an exhibit on the evolution of the modern chair, and another on souvenirs from the St Louis, the Chicago, the Milan and the Paris Expositions, including entire booths, and pieces of a gate designed by Alexander Calder.

Miami Beach was everything it promised to be: sun, sand and lots of people having fun. True, there were a few topless thonged sunbathers, but they were probably all twice my age (making them less remarkable than this German guy wearing a very small Speedo) . You generally meet no one actually from Miami, and from what we heard, people don't like to live there: you get evacuated about three times a year because of hurricanes.

Most of my time was spent walking (which led to the demise of my leather sandals). On Collins Avenue, which stretches all the way down to South Beach, you'll find hotels upon hotels, including pretty boutique ones that simply beg you to come back for another getaway, with names like The Pierre and Le Fountaine. Along Ocean Drive (which straddles the -- you guessed it -- ocean) that's where you will find all the bars and clubs, which are as alive during the day as they are at night. Hordes of bikini-clad women with their fake chests line up to get into Club Havana and the like for a drink with an umbrella on it. Then there was a pool party which reminded me of a scene from MTV Spring Break. I couldn't resist the Hooters charm but I'd probably get lost in the crowd wearing a golf shirt and holding a bag of museum shop goodies. I looked for Le Birdcage and thought about maybe having something there for lunch, but I was probably better off eating at The Pita Hut anyway.

Still I ended up eating at this deli, which made me wait for 10 minutes to get a menu, another 15 minutes to get my sandwich (how long does it take to make a pastrami sandwich) and another 15 minutes to get my check.

The best part of the trip was a visit to the old John Deering house, renamed the Vizcaya house after the Bay of Biscayne (don't ask). We had a guide who reminded me of that exorcist lady in "Poltergeist", and she knew her thing. The house is as old as the Pyramids, but it had an elevator and rooms upon rooms of silk wallpaper and an obscenely rich homeowner with a healthy Neoclassic Italian villa obsession. There were busts for every Caesar, lions and river gods and every font and column (doric, ionic and Corinthian) was on display in this massive 12 bedroom summer home.

There is, of course, a manicured garden and secret doors that let the man of the house spring teleportation acts upon his guests. Every wall was decorated with tapestry or artwork from the late 18th century (he wasn't shy about importing art from Europe into this oppressive tropical environment), and curiosities (like porcelain wine vats, and large oak tables buttressed with unicorns) filled every nook and cranny. My favorite was this curtain tie-back that looked like a cross between a salamander and Gollum.

The place had more than just history: it had celebrity. Movies from the 50's to Ace Ventura Pet Detective and Any Given Sunday were shot here. I had fun looking into the pool where Snowflake, the kidnapped dolphin in Jim Carrey's detective comedy, was supposedly being held captive. Then there was the garden that doubled as the front yard of Ray Finkle's mental institution.

Finally, the whole Miami Art Deco experience is also pretty wild. Nothing fits the utopic atmosphere and luxurious trappings of Miami Beach (reflex blue cabanas!) better than 1920's opulent decorative style filled with curves, chrome, and cobalt mirrors. Images of the Transatlantique's exagerrated luxury liners come to life as we can see the Carnival cruises rumbling out to the Bahamas, their silhouettes almost ten-stories high.

The rest of the time, I went swimming and got a few shades darker. And I also used the outdoor jacuzzi. Wait till you see the pics.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:13 AM | Permalink
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Bleaahhhg!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:32 AM | Permalink
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I really couldn't support my upper body without experiencing excruciating spasms across my back. After a series of tests and a cup full of pee, they got to my allergies: no aspirin, no morphine, no ibuprofen, no shellfish (and no pineapple, but they really weren't planning on giving me pineapple; shellfish, apparently, is important because if they ever give me dye for a scan, I might be allergic to the iodine in the die). So Valerie gave me Oxycontin -- opium to the developing world -- and ordered some chest xrays.

After about 15 minutes, no allergies had appeared and my back pain was reduced substantially. Only trouble was I felt like hurling for three hours. That afternoon when I took my second dose, I ended up with a mixing bowl full of regugitated swiss cheese, crackers and some coffee. When I started reading about Oxycontin, this painkiller I wasn't allergic to, I found out more about its addictive properties (Rush Limbaugh): it seems that it's one of few painkillers that increases it's painkilling effect as you up the dosage. Most painkillers will reach a threshold of effectivity; percocet won't. In the meantime, I'm not worried about addiction, unless I want to be throwing up every hour.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Fireman: Stay calm. Baranggay: Hahahahaha! (Clearly they were having fun. We could hear their laughter three floor up.) Fireman: Are you okay in there? Baranggay: We want coffee and donuts.

Overall, five years of married life was transported successfully. A plan to use fiberboard to build makeshift tracks for a huge-ass HDTV set was Trading Spaces brilliant. I've never been happier for them, yet their new digs moved them farther away, and I fear this will sadly put some space between our oft anticipated weekends together. We'll miss the coziness of King of P.

Today, Sunday, we went for a crazy 30-mile city loop with our riding friend. She had out a MapQuest-like directions for our ride that took us all the way down to the Philly Airport, where we got lost on Hog Island Road (which would make a great set up for a CSI episode, you know, where three bikers find a dead body) but managed to find our way back up to University City. Avoiding the trolley tracks was pretty bad, but I had my first crash just slowing down for traffic, as I was unable to clip off my pedals while getting sandwiched between two bikers. Scraped pretty bad but the bruising will last probably until mid-week, then I can ride again. Yipee!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Now, I'm seeing some interesting reads: disappointed with Mark spending any amount of money to see Tori Amos; Joey Ayala goes 404; had fun over at engrish.com; there's a whole-house machine that can create 2,000-square foot houses in 24 hours; one of the weirdest things I've seen in a while; and, my sister-in-law is looking for an iBook.

She should really know better and hold out for a G4 Powerbook. The G5 PB's are coming this Fall and that should drop all the prices.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:08 PM | Permalink
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The IRS are still considering taxing Ebay sales, especially now that thousands of sellers make a good living doing it.The IRS are still considering taxing Ebay sales, especially now that thousands of sellers make a good living doing it.

Then there's this Hong Kong resident who decides to move out by throwing his things off his window. How often have we contemplated that?

And -- this took a while to catch up -- pole-dancing is now officially good for your health.

Finally, if you have a bit more time on your hands, get a wok and turn it into a 2.4GHz parabolic dish antenna.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:30 AM | Permalink
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Oh, lovely: a book-hoarder named Clarisse! Let me see, Rem Koolhas has a book printed in plastic. That might last longer. Practically speaking, I'd want to be a graphic novel so firemen would have trouble deciding whether I'm a book or not.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Yes. Is there a follow-up question here?

The last book you bought is:

Jef Raskin's "The Humane Interface"

The last book you read:

Does Consumer Reports' "How to Clean Practically Anything" count? If not, it would be David Sedaris' "Naked."

What are you currently reading?

Andrew Chak's "Submit Now"

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

I would probably find a book entitled "How to Survive in a Deserted Island", another called "How to Eat Practically Anything", then I would take three blank journals and start writing until I die.

Let's see, onto Bang, Gitz and Mark. Diane's already made one.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:30 AM | Permalink
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I will pay for shipping and a (reasonable) finder's fee. Gusto ko lang makita ulit, and I'm sure it'll be worth my while.

Salamas.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Mas concern ko pa na hindi naman siya masyadong nagagamit. Kulang sa advertising. Madami namang mga members, pero mga tipong nag titingin lang, pero hindi nagpopost nang mga resume, etc.

Meron bang aangkin nang moderator duties nito? Tipong hindi kasing busy tulad ko, at matututukan talaga? Yung pwedeng mag email sa kung sino-sino pa? I would gladly handover this responsibility, and continue to keep FP up on my bandwidth.

Maraming salamat!

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:16 AM | Permalink
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Anyway, I also found out this week that craigslist has opened up a Manila site. And Ebay has launched Kijiji.com, which copies Craig's model to the tee. Kijiji is Swahili for "village", apparently.

More anyways: the National Football League in the U.S. allows fans to tailor in any name on any team jersey. Well, just about any. Here's a list of the word(s) that they *won't* stitch. "Gay" is curiously off the list.

Then there's how many variables can you keep track off at one time:

Halford et al concluded from these results that people -- academics accustomed to interpreting the type of data used in the experiment problems -- cannot process more than four variables at a time. Recognizing these human limitations can make a difference when designing high-stress work environments--such as air-traffic control centers--where employees must keep in mind several variables all at once.

Let me see, when I play Rise of Nations, I could be keeping track of more than four. Maybe that's "chunking". Read the article.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 04:47 PM | Permalink
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I have a few new distractions lately, and those things have been keeping me from blogging:

1. Listening to new music (John Legend is *really* good!).
2. Staying on top of my myEbay searches for a <$500 road bike.
3. Two freelance jobs (copywriting and website development).
4. Tuning our bikes and waiting for spring.
5. Watching Gilmore girls reruns on ABC Family (now, this is a serious one-hour commitment everyday!)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:43 PM | Permalink
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First off, the story never gets to the point. Instead the author's wheels come off with his thoughts on this unnamed and undescribed (or poorly described) incident. (Am I the only one who doesn't know about these scams? Ignorance certainly isn't my fault if I'm reading off a newspaper of such wide circulation.) But it's the clunkiness of the piece, and the poor grammar that gets to me:

After reviewing what several people have e-mailed to me about the experience of a certain Filipina and her daughter at a plush Makati hotel, it quickly crossed my mind that a lot of scams have barged into the local scene for many, many years.

But it seems that the scams are getting more crude, so unlike what we see in the movies. It must be a pattern, the growing level of gullibility of a people who move more quickly than they think. It could have started being like this with the "fast food" mentality. There is less effort to know the process of cooking and simply more attention given to churning out meals as fast and as uniform as possible.

Use some imagination: you don't "barge" into the local scene across a time frame of "many, many years." You *barge* within a moment. "So unlike that we see in the movies"? What movies, and which scams in which movies are finer or less crude than the one you are talking about (which you have not discussed at all and never will)? And:

It must be a pattern, the growing level of gullibility of a people who move more quickly than they think.

is not a sentence. And you could use a semi-colon between "mentality" and "there" (see previous quote) instead of a full stop, although I doubt you understand the proper use of a semi-colon.

This is the very same trend that makes everything so cheap, so mass-produced, that the creativity and ingenuity of Filipinos is being set aside for the speed and consistency of machines--or Chinese labor.

That's "creativity and ingenuity of Filipinos *are* being set aside for". And what the heck are you doing slamming on the Chinese, you racist pig.

I wonder what it is that gives the hint to hotel cowboys that a guest can be a victim.

Um, what's going on here? What is a "hotel cowboy"? Is that the same as the naked cowboy on Times Square except that he's playing in the lobby?

How many times on television have been shown pitiful scenes of victims who lost their money to crude scams?

You must have been one of those "pitiful" victims, seeing that you feel this is proper and compelling writing.

Being gullible perverts the intended design of the Creator for His children to be in His image.

This is not your worst sentence, but, boy, is it ever up there. It's almost complete nonsense, if not a good indication that you are one pretty righteous knucklehead. All those human traits -- dishonesty, insensitivity, greed and gullibility included -- hence perverts this "intended design"? Being gullible is being human: blame the Tree of Knowledge instead. However, you made me cry so hard from laughing at this sentence that I almost choked from regurgitating my dessert.

But gullibility has been a more consistent part of human history than intelligence. Or else, how can violence be the primary definition of human life over the thousands of years of recorded history?

Tara Reid plays a better anthropologist than you do it seems. And, how did we jump from being gullible to violence? And, how can you imply gullibility precedes intelligence when gullibility requires one intelligent being taking opportunity of another's apparent lack of the same trait? Those lacking intelligence can only be defined by those who do. Those are called intelligent people, and the opposite are simply referred to as morons.

Well, being gullible or stupid makes way for many professions to emerge and provides a livelihood to many. Lawyers and doctors lead the pack of those who depend largely on a serious lack of intelligence, or the laziness to exercise intelligence, to earn the oodles that many of them make. Common sense and simple education can tell us what is bad for us, what can make us sick--that later gets us into trouble with the law or with our health.

That's it, you're just too plain dumb. I don't know if you're knocking on lawyers and doctors for taking advantage of their patients, or knocking on their patients for being too dumb. Either way, why do you have to? Besides, your sentence construction is too god-awful anyway to merit a discussion of your points.

When I think about the scams that victimize balikbayan, I am led to think about the scams that victimize my kababayan.

God, this thing is printable?

One day soon, we must allow the sunlight to penetrate and destroy our nightmares. We must allow our native intelligence and courage to burst forth from the cobwebs that have imprisoned them. We must break the pattern of gullibility and stupidity that has allowed our national slavery to the few who know how to take advantage of our weaknesses. We must, or our pain and suffering will cause an implosion that will trigger a social tsunami we will all regret.

Okay, now I just hurled all my dessert. The keyboard is a mess. You know what, I wrote more lucidly when I was in high school. I really hope this writer didn't quit his day job.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:55 AM | Permalink
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In the meantime... we wait.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:46 PM | Permalink
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About eighteen months ago, I decided to do my wife a favor, and bathe our (then) two-year old. Being a toddler, she likes a LOT of toys in the bathtub, along with a metric TON of bubble bath. So many toys and bubbles, in fact, that it's hard to tell that there is actually a CHILD in the tub.

Being a helpful child, she likes to hand you things. Also, being a female child, she keeps up a steady patter of stream-of-consciousness natter in the background as she does so. Like most parents, I tuned it out and occasionally interjected a mutter of my own. Until..

Continue reading here.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:29 AM | Permalink
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Dear Rupert,

Deal.

- Bulletproof Vest

P.S. Never fall for a married woman, even if you were drunk.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:34 AM | Permalink
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Take, for example, deer. (Warning, photographs are extremely explicit.)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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1. In-Flight Entertainment. I was told that the Cathay Pacific flights had two really good things going on in coach: a. that each passenger got his own nice index card sized monitor; and, b. that there were some really good flicks (I, Robot, among others) and some good TV shows on tap (CSI, The Office, Without a Trace). So I didn't pack a book and took only one magazine and my mp3 player on board. As luck would have it, the monitor no aisle seat 31D was broken, and I suffered through a 15 hour flight with nothing to do but listen to my tunes and desperately trying to strike up a conversation with any of the flight attendants. Everybody's telling me I should write a complaint letter; I'll post it here when it's ready.

2. My mom's jaw-dropping Christmas village collection. At around 27 houses and features, the first lay-out was really impressive, complete with trees, rolling hills, snow, a carousel, and buildings lit from within. She has shops, a police station, a town hall, two churches (yes, it's an interdenominational Christmas village), and a pharmacy *and* an apothecary She's getting 20 more houses shipped to her over 2005 and -- Mael hold on to your butt -- a four-car Bachman train set. I wish I was home helping her set it all up for Christmas 2005.

3. Seeing friends and family, especially by surprise. Christmas reunions are always fun. Getting buzzed on the cheap in an 80's bar in Ortigas is pretty good too. But running into Titus and Terry at the Shangri-la Mall unplanned is even better. We had fun talking about other people from our Comm Arts program in UPLB, including a juicy story about a former classmate who swindled millions of pesos from one of the largest banks in the country (I'd paste a link if I could find one).

4. Buying fake DVD's in Greenhills. First, a sweaty little man (the only proper description, believe me) comes up to me and asks me below his breath the three-letter question: "DVD?" Man, the experience is like buying drugs. Ever since they got tossed out of Virra Mall for, you guessed it, selling pirated DVDs, finding them and purchasing their warez has the same nervous edge as a hostage exchange. Of course, I answered yes, and he produces a sweaty little list (again, the only proper descriptIon) of titles that he had. It read like the box office, Spiderman 2, Collateral, Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Azkhaban, and titles that were obviously shot by someone with a Super-8 tucked in his armpit. I said, I'd like to see this and a few others (I said I was looking for "The West Wing") and he before I knew it, he was leading me across the mall, ducking and weaving, into the hands of more of his colleagues and asking about "The West Wing". Then, suddenly they dispersed, because out came a Videogram agent, complete with walkie talkie, pin ID and polo barong. He started asking questions to the other guys in the crowd and all I kept thinking was "Save the user, jail the pusher. Save the user, jail the pusher."

Minutes later, after the agent left, another sweaty little man returned. With his back turned to me, he handed me a sweaty little plastic bag (it came from underneath his shirt) containing the DVDs I had asked for. Cool. He told me that the penalties for being caught dealing was up to a month in prison and a Php 10,000 fine. I couldn't leave without seeing a copy of Garden State. Plus, the guy kept asking me if I wanted "Dumaguete" or "La Salle". Gee...

5. Food! Pichi-pichi, chocolate covered marshmallows, chicken ham, deep-fried white cheese and pandesal, sisig, lechon kawali, liempo barbeque, laing, lumpiang shanghai, halo-halo, Letty's buko pie, Mer-nel's chocolate cake, Cunanan ensaymada, polvoron, carioca, ube, adobo, hotdog barbeque, Lapid's chicharon (the Rolls Royce of chicharon, pare), spa-kechup, guava ice cream sandwiches at the Museum Cafe, queso de bola, sarap kumain!

Coming Soon Numbers 6-10

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 09:46 PM | Permalink
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