The DJ who's not a DeeJay

I swear today is one of the hottest days of the year so far. Summer has begun.

You can tell if you're inside a mall and you're still sweating. The accumulated heat in a car parked outdoors is like an oven placed on full power. You want to make the least movement possible so you won't excrete any perspiration. The burning rays of the sun weaken you.

So what did I do to ease up and refresh myself ?

I made myself one (ok, I had 2nds), tall glass of halo-halo. I grated 6 cubes of ice, added some nata de coco, white beans, red beans, langka shreds and a whole lot of pinipig and topped it with milk and a dash of sugar and behold...something to take my mind off of the tremendous heat.

Funny, I tried thinking of the English translation of halo-halo and all I could think of is it's literal translation being "mix-mix" unless you want to mention all the ingredients to someone who may ask what exactly is "mix-mix".

It was my first time to visit Davao. And based on my very limited knowledge of the city, all I knew prior to visiting the place was that it's in Mindanao and it's popular for the durian fruit. So everything else I was going to experience was surely going to be educational for me.

I was very fortunate to be invited by http://www.davaofoodtrip.org to the Davao Food Appreciation Tour (DFAT), which was a three day event from March 14 - 16, 2008.

With over a dozen bloggers and 8 participating establishments, we were prepared to eat and blog over the three day event.

Aileen , Andrew , Angel , Blogie, Dom , Gwing , Migs , Mikko , Ria , Tiara , Winston and I visited the first stop on the food tour: Lachi's Sansrival Atbp. It's at the corner of Ruby Street in Marfori Heights, Davao City. They offer Filipino food and desserts. We were served a lot of their tasteful dishes such as Roast Pork, Cordon Bleu, Caramel Beef, Pork Marinara, Fish Fillet, Lechon Paksiw and Tofu garnered in sauce. I guess some of the people were looking our way when everybody whipped out their cameras and took turns taking pictures of all the dishes before tasting them.

My personal favorite would have to be the Pork Marinara for its pork strips layered on top with a hidden tasteful tomato base underneath.

Just as we were delightly full from dinner, our gracious hosts Mike and Melvin Aviles (who happen to be twins co-owning Lachi's) served us very generous slices of their finest cakes.
Chocolate Pie, Dark Cheesecake, Midnight Delight, Choco-Vanilla Cheesecake, Roasted Walnut Choco Supreme, Carrot Cake and Cashew Mocha Torte are a few of the many cakes they offer.
All the cakes were delicious that it was difficult to pick one single cake that stood out. However, if I had to choose one, I'd highly recommend their Sansrival. Being a part of the restaurant's name is a hint that it's one of their most popular recommendations.

The 1st day of the Davao Food Appreciation Tour ended with some R&R in the form of videoke where we exercised our vocal chords followed by Fagioli's, a coffee shop, were we exercised our fingers blogging about our first day. Everybody brought out their laptops and started digitizing the 1st part of the food experience.

Even if Fagioli's is not officially on the food tour, I'd like to make a special mention about their restroom. If you happen to drop by, don't forget to visit their restroom. I thought I entered the wrong room as it looked "heavenly".

Day 1 was a success. Great food with great company was a great combination to kick off the food tour.

I remember that when I was a fresh graduate from college, my classmates and I were trying to beef up our resumes since we didn't have any format job experience yet. We added all our projects, extra curricular activities, organizations joined and formed paragraphs worth of our skills, talents, interests and hobbies.

As the years gone by, I was able to gain work experience from various companies. Each one that I added to my resume made it longer and longer. It came to a point that I had to choose which data needs to be removed to make my resume more concise. I weighed the items according to importance. But everything to me was just as equally important as the other. And so I just had to trim it down and hope for the best that the things I left out wouldn't be as crucial to the employer.

It's difficult making your own resume for fear that you may be subjective and biased. Of course it's about you... but you need to make it fair instead of over glorifying yourself of your achievements. And the resume is as good as your first impression to anyone reading it.

It's a good thing that there are resume writers who are experts in formulating a strong resume which truly represents yourself in print. It takes a combination of skill, effort and knowledge in organizing a sound resume that is precise yet concise, presentable yet straight to the point and bold yet truthful. A resume writer does the job of all that and more in record time. All you need is to provide the data and your skills set, and a team of resume writers highly trained in resume writing skills will give you the edge to highlight your strengths and eventually land the job you're looking for.

Happy Job Hunting !

If you haven't heard of Ken Lee, you haven't seen this video yet.

I saw this in the supermarket recently.

It's boneless dilis. Dilis is a very small fish and you eat them by the dozens. They're eaten whole, meaning, there' no need to remove the head or spine or tail. Just eat the entire fish. I didn't know you could debone (or despine) a fish that small.

What caught my attention though was this product: Crispy Fish Bones.

I didn't know such a delicacy existed. I usually fear of getting pricked by a spine or two when I eat fish which is why I don't swallow the entire bite. I chew it up and if I feel a spine, I remove it.
That is why this product is amazing for me.

Coke Zero - exactly what it means to me... zero - meaning I don't drink Coke.

I do drink Coke when there's no other choice. But as long as there's an alternative, I'm going with that.

When Coke Zero was unveiled though, there was much hype about it. I decided to try one so I got one from the supermarket (alongside my 27 bottles of mineral water).

I tried it. It didn't do anything spectacular for me. And so I turned to my dad who is an avid softdrinks drinker. I asked if he could distinguish Coke from Pepsi without knowing which is which (ala blindfold taste test). He said yes. And so I had my dad taste the new Coke Zero. He said it tastes like Coke Lite. The description didn't really help me at all. And so my mom to the rescue tried it out and said "it tastes like flavored water".

And so ends my taste encounter with C0 (Coke Zero). I'll stick with my favorite drink C2 (Peach flavor please). :)

Caution: Vanity Post.

Every Mondays to Fridays at our nearby mall, there's a promotion going on with the barber shop named "Expresscut". It's a haircut plus 30 minute half body massage for only P100. (USD $2.50).

I was set to get a haircut today and a hair cut would cost P65. So I figured availing of the promo with the bundled massage for an additional P35. is a very good deal.

So first off is the haircut. I requested for a shorter cut than the usual cause it's summer and for a more refreshing look and feel.

Then the dreaded stinger hit me. The barber asked if I undergo any treatment for thinning hair. I said no. He then went on with a sales-pitched tone about a hair grower that thickens the hair. Gone are the glorious days when I used to have my hair cut in a salon either at Ricky Reyes or David's salon with an experienced hairdresser. I used to get comments on how shiny, healthy and thick wavy hair I got. Now I get a sales talk on hair-growing treatment.

Since my barber forced the topic of the hair thickening (yes, you would be forced against your will if the barber was cutting your hair and you can't move one bit), I figured I'd ask some questions. Apparently the information I gathered is that it is a hair thickener/grower called "Herbalin" (or Herbulin). It is a liquid based treatment made from 42 different herbs with no chemicals that is applied to the thinning hair region every night. My barber then continued telling me success stories of how many of his customers have bought the treatment and have seen actual results.

Of course all this is astonishing if you're just listening to the barber while having your hair cut. I was of course in my "speculation mode" all the while just letting my barber talk while I sit there. I figured the least I could do is search for it on the net and check out some testimonials in addition to the credibility of the product and at the same time check if there are any side effects or things worth noting. And then my barber showed me the box. It had some unfamiliar writing. Upon closer inspection, I saw the bold letters "Made in Pakistan". No offense to those from the country, but if I can't read the instructions on the box, I'm most likely not going to be interested at all. It's a good thing my time was done and up next was the massage. Ahhh... time to relax and enjoy some much needed pampering.

I had to move to another special chair designed for massage. I was told to sit while my face and upper back would be attended to. I thought I was going to have some quiet time relaxing and enjoying the massage when all of a sudden, the masseus asked the exact same question the barber asked me earlier... if I did anything about my thinning hair. Oh no ! Not again !

I kinda gave the cold shoulder this time and told him that the barber already told me about the liquid treatment they're selling. He didn't ask too many questions and instead just marketed the product. He did a bit of small talk as well telling me that his regular clients include huge Americans, one of them who broke his massage chair for being overweight and the other having such a huge physique that he couldn't lift.

Overall, it was a good massage. I got my little pinky twisted though while he was attending to my hands. I also got my neck turned to the extreme right and left which is something I haven't felt in my lifetime. I requested that my lower torso not be massaged cause it's a ticklish-prone area for me.

And so my trip to the barber shop became something worth telling.

Today is February 29, 2008. It only occurs every four years during leap year when there is a Feb. 29. I really didn't take notice to this day as an extraordinary day. February is unique in a way that it is the only month with 28 days. It's uniqueness extends to the fact that every leap year, it's the only month with 29 days. All the other months have either 30 or 31 days which doesn't make them much spectacular in that manner.

Today, I also get to celebrate my monthsary with my sweetie. Yes, it falls on the 29th. And so, suddenly Feb. 29 has meaning since we won't be able to celebrate it for the next 3 years. Now I realize that there must be people whose birthdays or anniversaries and important occasions fall on the 29th of February. They must have to settle to celebrate on March 1, or a day earlier on February 28.

Either case, leap year now has meaning for me. Happy leap year !

I'm particularly careful in parking a car. Being a bit obsessive-compulsive, I really make it a point to be within the yellow lines in a parking lot. I'm accustomed to parking facing the wall too.

And if I'm beside two other cars, I see to it that the tail end of my car isn't as exposed to the street. So if some car happens to get out of control, my car is shielded by the two cars beside me whose posteriors are longer.

Early today, I parked at the nearby mall and when I got off, I was surprised to see the Pickup parked beside me literally an inch away from the wall. I wouldn't let my car go that near to a wall. (Did I mention that the other side of the wall happens to be a 3 story boarding house ? ) There is no room for mistake here if the driver happens to put the gear in reverse. I can understand the Pickup is a much longer vehicle than other standard sized cars.

I think parking lots should consider having a section for medium to large sized vehicles especially with the proliferation of SUVs. Their sheer size and built occupy more than the allocated space of standard parking spaces and sometimes even takes extra space off of other car's parking space.

I'm just happy I haven't experienced parking beside a monster truck yet.

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.

I hope everybody would be able to check out the article on Page D5 of the Technews section of the Manila Bulletin today, Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. My sweetie Aileen Apolo is the featured blogger occupying a third of the page. I'm so proud of her.

If you don't have a copy of the article, here's the online version courtesy of Manila Bulletin.

Trivia: I took the pic of her on the header screencapture.

How ironic would it be if this car got carnapped ?

The Metro Trail Transit (MRT3) is one of the faster modes of transportation around Metro Manila. Due to its popularity though, long queues have emerged from the sheer bulk of people wanting to arrive to their destination faster.

The long lines in the ticket booths can be avoided though by buying a prepaid card which you can reuse until all credit is consumed. The lines entering the station though are unavoidable as you go through the aisle inserting your card through an ATM like opening and returns your card in another opening verifying your card and letting you enter the station.

There is only one way how to insert the card. It's with the side with the hole on the card to be inserted first with the card design facing the person. If you try inserting it any other way, it won't be accepted. My problem lies with the new (or old, depending on how you look at it) cards being used by the MRT.

The cards used to have the president's face on them. Some had commercial designs (Samsung phone ads, and other various designs). Aside from the visual appeal, this helps you determining which is the front and which is the back. The last time I rode the MRT, I was handed out a blank card. One side was white and the other was black. I couldn't tell immediately which was front and back. And I'm not too keen on making a mistake entering the MRT terminal especially with a long line of people behind you expecting you won't hold up the line.

I wasn't the only one who made a mistake. I saw other people in the lines next to mine asking security which side is which.

I'm not sure if these cards' design have faded through time, or if MRT is just cutting down on printing expenses, but the least they could do is have a sign or arrow showing which side is front and which side is back to lessen the number of mistakes people would make and eventually make the entire process more efficient. In addition, it's embarrassing to make that mistake when dozens of people all around you are doing it correctly when the difference is just a matter of having a printed card as opposed to a blank card.

I saw this device in a store last week. It's labeled as a wireless keyfinder. There are two components to make it work. One is a key chain with a chip so it can be detected electronically. The other one is the detector. You press the button and it will make the keychain attached to the missing keys emit a sound and blink (I think) which will make the keys move apparent as to where they were left.

I was impressed with the gadget... for about 30 seconds... until I thought of this scenario...

"What if the keyfinder is missing instead of the keys ?"

And

"If you lose the keyfinder, but not the key chain with the keys, you can still survive because the important thing is you have your keys with you, demoting this gadget into a mere key chain."

So lesson is...

Don't buy this. Just...
ALWAYS REMEMBER WHERE YOUR KEYS ARE.

I was in Glorieta 3 weeks ago waiting for my sweetie and while killing time, I passed by my favorite past time place, Timezone. While going around, I saw a huge group of people watching a video arcade. Curious about what the fuss was all about, I approached the crowd only to be surprised by a newly installed game in the video arcade, Tekken 6.

The most striking upgrade to this version on console was that it was sporting a flat wide screen similar to the plasma TV units. The graphics were of superb quality on the wide screen. Aside from that, there were a lot of new characters to choose from and locations to play.

Being a Tekken player with limited skill, I was just happy watching the players challenge the computer. I thought I had seen it all but was flabbergasted to witness a bonus level where a nearly invincible humongous robot named "Nancy MIS47J" was the fighter.





Let me know what happens if you beat this android cause I wanna know what's the bonus.

The week after, I was at Mall Of Asia waiting for sweetie when I checked out the Timezone branch there which had Tekken 6. Since there weren't any players around or people watching, I summed up the courage to play. I got through 3 levels and I must say, overall, it's a great and exciting game. Despite the large selection of characters, I'm sticking with my favorite character, Nina.

And as a self-induced adrenalin rush, I got to the final stage of Tekken 5 using Nina. Woohoo !!!

I saw this sign in a restroom door in the Super Bowl restaurant, Glorietta, Makati.

It seems like it's telling you that you won't be able to open this door on your first try if you don't put any effort into it.

OR

You need to eat a lot in their restaurant to have energy to push the restroom door.

I rarely watch UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship but the main reason I watched this particular event today was to witness the debut of former WWE Superstar, Brock Lesnar on UFC.

On a sidenote, Brock really looks like Rocky Balboa's opponent Ivan Drago in Rocky 3.

I was pretty impressed with his physique and massive built yet agile and impressive with his wrestling moves during his stay in the WWE. Lesnar dominated the wrestling scene. Since then, he's entered the NFL and now, he's into MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).

His opponent was former heavyweight UFC Champion Frank Mir. Both of them had something to prove in the ring - it was Frank's comeback after a motorcycle accident and Brock is getting intense heat from dedicated UFC fans who think that Brock has no business to be in the octagon. I could feel the pressure for Brock, since it was a make-or-break situation for him to give a good first impression of his MMA skills.



The match was quick and intense. Too bad it ended in 90 seconds. Brock clearly overpowered Frank but Frank, being the more experienced UFC fighter, submitted Brock in a quick kneebar.

I'm looking forward to more of Brock on UFC.

I passed by the computer shop today to buy a new mouse for my other laptop. I didn't plan on buying anything else until I saw this.


It's a USB-powered massager. It looks like cross between a UFO and a baby rattle in a spongy casing. It has a powerful vibration. And when I mean powerful, I mean that I placed this massager on my cheek and it made me think that my monitor was flickering. Oh, it wasn't. It was really the massager rattling my entire head.

A word of caution though: it's power hungry too... it sucked up the power of my USB mouse rendering it frozen on my desktop till I turned the massager off (and replugged my mouse). Better to have it plugged on a dedicated USB port rather than on an adapter sharing other USB devices.

These are one of those things that you don't really need but since it's a hi-tech gadget, you just want it. I saw it online being sold for USD $17.98 but I got it at CDR-King for P100.

The other gadged I'm eyeballing at is the USB mini refrigerator which can house a softdrink can. Isn't that COOL ??? (insert rim shot here)

You can check out the USB massager specs here.

Roosevelt College is one of the popular and leading schools in Marikina. A couple of my cousins studied there. I only knew of the Cubao, Cainta and Lamuan Marikina branches. I only discovered recently that they have branches in San Mateo and Rodriguez as well.

A few days ago, a huge number of students and faculty from all the Roosevelt schools paraded in front of our house marching towards the main campus in Cainta along Sumulong Highway.

Roosevelt was celebrating their 75th year of academic service. Students holding banners and placard drawings depicting "save the earth" drawings and "75th anniversary" were evident.

A tired band also passed by with the drummer being the only evident and audible sound left.

Happy 75th Foundation Day Roosevelt College !

In commemoration of Lego's 50th anniversary, here are some creative videos with the use of lego.



Classic Super Mario


Donkey Kong


Lego Indiana Jones



Lego CounterStrike


Lego People