The DJ who's not a DeeJay

If you've been to SM Mall of Asia, chances are you'll be welcomed by a huge globe. Right at the center of the rotunda is the SM Mall of Asia Globe. I read that this landmark symbolizes the size and advancement Mall of Asia represents. Also starting late afternoon till evening, this globe transforms into a 360 degrees Electronic Billboard.

If you've been around Mall of Asia, one thing is for certain, it's always expanding in all directions. There's business centers, hotels, an arena, a convention center, a church, an amusement park, an esplanade, a science center and a huge parking lot that doubles as concert grounds.

Lately there's been a new addition to that lineup. If you've been to the North Wing of the SM Mall of Asia, you may have noticed a huge dome-like structure being built just beside the IMax theater. The upper half looks like a perfect dome and at night you can see sparks running down from welding construction in progress.

If the SM Mall of Asia Globe represents the Earth, fireworks represent the stars in the galaxy and the entire Mall of Asia were the solar system, then could this be the moon?  Perhaps the Science Center could explain this new SM celestial phenomenon.

Well apparently, I learned that this dome will soon be the home of a ship! Not a spaceship, but a galleon; the one popularized by the Acapulco Manila Galleon Trade.  To be known as the Acapulco Manila Galleon Trade Museum, it plans to showcase 450 years of trading history between the Philippines and Mexico.  I have no idea how a huge galleon ship will fit inside, so this alone would be interesting to see when it opens.

Our family went on a road trip in Tagaytay last week to visit Caleruega Church as one of our Visita Iglesia churches for the year.   Since there was a lot of people going to the popular church on a hill, it took us a while to get there and get back on the road back to Tagaytay.

The entrance. Seats are one floor below with door leading to the garden facing Taal.

We were hoping to stop by somewhere for a break and we already had lunch at Bag of Beans so we were looking for somewhere else to stop over.  Then suddenly, we found a cozy new place which had only one establishment open, Starbucks!   This is the 4th Starbucks branch I know of in Tagaytay, but what sets this branch apart from the others is the astonishing view and very wide veranda area one floor down with a spectacular view of Taal.   The interiors of this branch are elegant and classy.  It doesn't look like your typical Starbucks branch.

While you're in line, this is what you'll see.

breath-taking view of Taal from Starbucks

And to confirm how impressed I was with the location, interior of this Starbucks branch, I find out that ABS-CBN posted an article considers this branch to be the Most Beautiful Starbucks Branch in the Philippines.

In commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Philippines, the U.S. Embassy is holding a search for the most creative photos or drawings using the new five peso commemorative coin (70th Anniversary of Leyte Landing) that best interprets the theme “Valuing the Past, Present and Future.”

To join, go the U.S. Embassy Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/manila.usembassy , upload an original drawing or photo including the new five peso commemorative coin, depicting the theme ““Valuing the Past, Present and Future,” on the Embassy’s Facebook event page entitled “70th Liberation Coin Photo Challenge.”

Any Philippine resident age 13 and above may upload their photo and include a photo title and short caption. Deadline for submission of entries is at 11:59pm February 22, 2015.

All qualified entries will be reposted in a Facebook photo gallery, wherein the Top 10 photos with the most number of “likes” will win a 70th Liberation Gift Bag which includes an exclusive 70th Liberation Shirt, and Embassy merchandise. Voting starts from February 23 12:00pm to February 26, 12pm. U.S. Embassy will shoulder shipping of prizes to all winners.

The five peso limited edition commemorative coin features the Leyte Landing, which was a turning point for the liberation of the Philippines during World War II, started its circulation last December 22, 2014.

The boat ride from the pier to the entry point of the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, more popularly known as the Underground River takes only 15 minutes.

A short walk through a monkey-inhabited forest will lead you to the Underground River starting point.
The canoe ride takes tourists into the first 1.5 kilometers of the cave and back which takes a total of 45 minutes.  The total length of the river is 8.2 kilometers and takes at least 3 hours to traverse one way.  A pre-arranged tour must be made to tour the entire cave as it is not offered by default.

Tricycles from Puerto Princesa, Palawan are cool.  They're bigger than the usual and are stylish.  Here's one that looks like it went through a Pimp My Ride upgrade.

Starting July 31, 2014, 5 international airlines will be transferring from NAIA Terminal 1 to NAIA Terminal 3.  They are Delta Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Cathay Pacific.

I had time to spare and was kinda bored at the hotel in Cebu.  I looked out the window around noontime and noticed the cloud formations were ever-changing. Was hoping to take a video using my digicam but unfortunately, the red battery blink of death dawned upon it.   Turned to my celphone to take a video but my memory card was full.  So it kept me thinking what could I do to record a video.  Then I instantly remembered that my new laptop had a very decent built-in webcam.

So I took out the ironing board, placed it beside the window, placed the laptop on top, and set the webcam to record.   After a few tries, I figured out how to set up a few things for a smooth recording.

• Plug laptop especially if you'll be taking long videos
• Set battery to always on (so the laptop won't hibernate)
• Cover background with curtains so the glass window won't show any reflection of the room

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

I guess I don't travel that much because I'm not accustomed to having most or all my belongings not within reach nor available at my convenience.
But when I travel, I don't want to bring everything I have including the kitchen sink. I'd rather pack only the essentials and travel light.

Problem is my idea of "the essentials" is a lot and I may eventually end up bringing a lot of stuff. So tough luck for "traveling light".

In past out of town trips though, I've come to appreciate Value Hotels in the Philippines and the service they provide to travelers. They provide your temporary but complete "home" away from home. Most of the amenities and services they provide are enough to make traveling more convenient and worry-free.

I remember that when our family didn't check in a hotel and instead opted to stay with relatives, we had to bring more than the usual like towels, toothpaste, some food and had to abide by my uncle's house rules which meant "lights out by 10pm". I was forced to sleep early but the eagerly hungry mosquitos and humid temperature didn't make it an easy night for me. The next day, we also had to buy some food for all, since it would be embarrasing not to show any form of gratitude.

I have nothing against my relatives and their hospitality for letting us stay for the night. But if we had only checked in a hotel, we wouldn't have the need to pack bulky bath towels, come back to the house at a given time, and sleep early against our will. We would even be able to watch some movies on cable and only had to provide for our personal eating expenses as opposed to an entire family in addition to ours.

Value Hotels in the Philippines cater to just about anybody: a foreigner touring the vicinity, friends flying in or making an out of town trip to attend a wedding, people who were caught in midtrip transit looking for a place to sleep for the night or even a family planning for a weekend getaway.

Whatever it may be, the convenience Value Hotels in the Philippines offer is truly worth checking out.... or should I say "checking in"... the hotel.

Since outsourcing has gained much popularity in companies and organizations, almost every skill and process can be outsourced now.

What used to be conceived as potential hazards such as fear of sensitive information leakage, off-site uncontrolability, miscommunication and lack of efficiency and urgency are now but things of the past. The barriers and misconceptions have been broken and now welcomed as a business blessing.

I used to know only of call centers who where mainly offshore outsourcing warehousing hundreds of employees trained to act as an extension of the foreign companies. When you asked someone who worked in a call center what they did, they'd say, they'd talk to customers and clients the whole day.

Nowadays, oursourcing has expanded not only to include customer support via voice or data, but to include tasks based on particular skillsets.

One of them is Mortgage Outsourcing. Infinit-O is a leading company in the Philippines whose services include Mortgage Outsourcing. Leave the implementation and operations to them whether it may be a particular part of the process or the entire workload from start to finish. Companies can now set their efforts in attaining goals and targets and leave a bulk of the backend processing to their trustworthy outsource partner. It's much more convenient and gives the company the satisfaction and security of having support and the tip of their fingers.

I haven't been to the US Embassy in Manila for a long time. The other day, my dad asked me to accompany him to get some documents and inquire about something.

A tip for those crossing UN Ave towards Bayview Hotel. The red light for pedestrians never turns green. We waited for more than 5 minutes patiently hoping the red man sign would turn green but it didn't. We had lots of chances to cross the street but simply didn't cause the UN Ave-Roxas Blvd. intersection was swamped with MMDA traffic officers. They didn't seem to care though about the pedestrians since all they were trafficking were the vehicles.

Upon crossing Roxas Blvd, we were greeted or rather approached by people who were offering photo ID services. They even had a lot of samples of ID pictures and sizes stuck on a long folder for display. It kinda looked like a friendster page to me.

I was warned by my friend not to bring a celphone but I forgot, and I didn't want to leave it in the car. There were 2 lines you needed to go through before entering the Embassy premises. One was for security to ask what's your business. You go through a 2nd line where only 2-3 people at a time can enter.

Once you get inside, you'll pass through their security door similar to those in the airport. I was asked to pass around 3-4 times, with each time, unloading something that could possibly trigger their alarm. First was my celphone, then my mp4 player, followed by my keys, and last were the several coins in my pocket. The alarm still triggered and I told the guard that I have nothing else metal on my body except my belt. Thank God he didn't ask to have my belt removed and took my word for it.

Next up was to surrender all celphones. I saw a sign nearby that said "Celphones are not allowed for VISA applicants." I told the guard that I wasn't applying there to apply for a VISA. But he said that there are no exceptions. That was really weird and I didn't want to argue so I just surrendered my phone. I even forgot to turn it off. You need to provide an ID for each item you're surrendering. I was also asked to surrender my MP4 player perhaps because it looked like a phone. And so I had to surrender a total of 2 IDs.

Finally, we got to enter. You'll pass through several doors depending on where you're headed. And these doors are heavy ! It was tiring trying to exert much effort to open each door. No wonder some people, would let you pass them. So you'd open the door and they'd follow you to avoid the effort.

We got to the inquiry area where we had to pass through another security door and leave an ID in exchange for a visitors pass. I was running out of IDs and good thing the guard accepted my credit card instead.

There were lots of people inside. We had to take a number and be seated. It took us around 45 minutes before our number was called. Good thing I brought a book with me. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the title of the book I brought was entitled "Inside Internet Security - What Hackers Don't Want You To Know" and suddenly let out a slight tremble, for fear that I may be perceived as suspicious or a threat (to National Security?). And so leaving the premises, I held the book so that the back cover was showing instead of the front.

It was a unique experience sorta like going through a maximum security penitentiary.
I'm just glad I don't have any business which will require me to visit the US Embassy in the near future.