wrong signage?

just this afternoon i saw this at Starmall in Ortigas. definitely there's something wrong with this picture. it's either the mall doesn't have the right signage or someone stumbled because of the wet floor which caused this wreck. what do you think?

travel expo

i attended the opening ceremony of the International Tourism and Trade Expo at SM Megamall's Megatrade Hall 3 this morning. it was really good to see the different regions displaying their travel offers although not all the region joined the expo. but what made it extra special was the speech of senator Dick Gordon who urged and challenged the Filipino entrepreneurs to invest in the tourism industry. the former tourism chairman said we have 7,100islands to boast out to the world and also mentioned about the newly opened Manila Ocean Park which holds the most number of species compared to all the other oceanariums. he was really encouraging the people to help one another to boost the Philippline tourism.one of my favorite booth was that of the Cordilleras. it displayed the beautiful rice terraces of Banaue.

here are some other booth from the different regions of the Philippines.
also at the expo was the former Ms. International Melanie Marquez.

i will never forget when senator Gordon recalled when they promoted the Philippines in Europe and displayed only one beautiful island with the line "if you will not love this island, you still have 7,100 islands to discover".

definitely the Philippines can offer 7,100islands to travel in its special tropical setting.

you can still visit the expo which runs until March 2 (this Sunday).

sony reveals rolly

i was able to visit the Sony Expo at the SM Megamall Megatrade hall 1 today which displayed the new product line of Sony. saw this thing called the Sony Sound Entertainment Player or Sony Rolly which is not yet out in the market although was initially released in Japan but as part of the expo they made a demo of what it does. it is actually a digital robotic audio player. sounds good because it moves and does a lot of things when the gadget plays a music. it has in it an audio player, mini speakers, cool lights and it can do robotic moves that follows the beat of the music. check out this link http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fu37TSfKx2A&feature=related, it will show you what it does. but this will amuse you as they tried two Rollies in sync check this link http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Qf9pkfX-TA&feature=related.

i like this gadget! it's not yet too late for you to see this gadget at the expo.

also displayed in the expo is the extra light digicam.

and all the other displays.

leaplings day

today is a leap day! a very special day for people born on February 29. of course everyone knows that not every year has 365days in a year. for a leap year it has 366days and people born on this day are oftenly called leaplings. so how do they celebrate their birthdays? do they celebrate it on February 28 or March 1? well... many leaplings shared their stories on how to celebrate this special day. you can visit http://leapyearday.com/hr/members.html here you can get in touch with other leaplings.

leap year happens every four years and to list, here are the last ten years of a leap year:

2008

2004

2000

1996

1992

1988

1984

1980

1976

1972

which means that the next leap year happens in 2012. did you observe something? think about the olympics. it follows the leap year but not since its history. to know more about how leap year is determined and why there's such a leap year, check out this link http://people.howstuffworks.com/question50.htm. if you want to know more why it happens on a February, check this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year.

i was born on a leap year but not on a leap day. happy birthday to the leaplings.

oceanarium

tomorrow the Manila Ocean Park officially opens. it is at the back of the Quirino grandstand in the city of Manila. i believe that one of the best place to have such an oceanarium is the Philippines because of the rare sea species found in the Philippine seas. by next week i'll feature the Manila Ocean Park in this blog.

as for now you can visit www.oceanparkmanilabay.com.

dummies for real

walking around a bookshop and stopped in the dummies book section. i was looking at what program would i want to learn. i was actually looking for the flash and the dreamweaver dummies but instead i found this.who else needs this book? if you basically know how to use the internet, using youtube is as easy as that. anyways, maybe someone else really really needs this book or maybe Youtube itself requested for this.

manoy on the road

yesterday i saw this cart on one sidewalk and was intrigued on how this business runs. at first i thought that the owner was not around since it was parked on one sidewalk with no one around it. so i kept on taking pictures on all side but when another person approached the cart and was holding one of the items, a person came out on one side of the cart. didn't know that there was a person inside the cart. i thought it was just filled with items. let's call the person selling these items "manoy". so while he was entertaining his customer, i kept on taking pictures. there were brooms, mirrors, baskets, nets and almost all the different crafts. i tried to take a picture the inner part of the cart (see pictures below). i notice that there is a shirt, another cloth which looks like shorts and an umbrella and it looks like he can actually lie down inside.

after taking shots of the crafts and the inner part of the cart, i approached him and asked if he was doing all these crafts. he said no, he only buys it somewhere and sells it. then he started talking about things that i cannot fully understand. i heard him mentioning the president's name and it sounds like he is telling me that the president helped him to buy these things. he was even showing a picture of the president in his wallet, a picture so old. he continued talking and telling jokes about things that again i cannot fully understand. it sounds like some words are of different dialect. so i asked him from what province did he came from and he said he is from Pangasinan (a province in the far north of Manila) who has a different dialect. so he kept on joking and laughing at the same time. he is a happy person and he loves talking. so i asked him how this business was doing and he said its doing well. and i agree with that because another person approached his cart and even bought 3 brooms. it seems that the items are sold at a very good price. so i took a picture of mang manoy. but before i left i noticed something which i didn't notice when i first saw the cart. it was the rosary hanging on one side.

mang manoy might be living a very simple life but from this, i again learned that we can be happy even in the most simplest things that we have. as long as we have God on our side, we have enough reason to be happy.

upgrading the paper

alas! Manila Bulletin has made a special section for technology. reading this section adds life to this paper and it's just about time to be in touch with the developments on what we call the information age. thanks to the writers and contributors for the whole section of Tech 101. other local newspapers have regular sections on technology.

needs towing

wooops... wrong parking. this thing needs towing. it can't be flat tire but i think there's a leak.

wooh days

two days now at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang as my one year old nephew was confined here due to faringitis. he was okay in fact still very active only that he had a hard time drinking his medicines even when mixing it in his milk. but still good because he was alive and active but limited in moving. and he hates the nurses because of the different test conducted on him. very normal to kids. but this hospital has really good nurses and high tech medical facilities. in fact we were like in a hotel because of the nice room and of course nice view from our room. they one floor dedicated for infants and children. here are some pictures of the hospital.

hospital lobby:
view from the sixth floor lobby. we occupied room 609 and the view from our room is the south luzon expressway. definitely our chef Remy enjoys the view from our room.and one side of the building is the view of Festival Mall Alabang, Insular Life Tower and Vivere Hotel of Alabang which is a walking distance from the hospital. at night we have a good view of the Alabang viaduct and the Muntinlupa Hospital.

we are expected to check out by tomorrow. end of the wooh days.

revolution for change

today we remember the spirit of the people power which happened in 1986 when the former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos decided to give up his presidency from the power of the people of the Philippines. but it was not a bloodless revolt us many people also sacrificed their life to regain democracy. from Ninoy's death to the imprisonment of the people who went against the government.

we remember this today although i was still 5years old when it happened but looking at the pictures of my parents joining the rally wearing yellow shirts that has a picture of Ninoy and every story that we hear from our relatives is good enough to feel the experience.

right now our country is again experiencing the effects of corruption. but impeachment and resignation is not the only answer to the crisis. i believe that there is more than changing leaders that our country needs. it needs to remove the system of corruption in the government and it not only means its leaders but more to this is the system itself. it seems that corruption has already been institutionalized in most of the department. it looks like when you win in the government election, you have earned yourself a business and power over the area of your responsibility. yes there is authority but there should also be the character of a selfless servant and righteous service. there should be a vision to make a change for the good of our country and not of self gratification.

many people join rallies but they themselves in their own office entertains corruption. many people are expert in complaining but they never see the good things that happens in the country. take for example, when there is an oil price hike, different organizations go out and rally but when there are rollbacks, nobody goes out to at least ackonowledge it. here, you can see how pessimistic these people have been. some people even earn a living by joining rallies.

change is important and change should start from each citizen. change only makes sense when it is based on good motives.

when you do things, you just don't do it. you should do it right.

but i still believe in our country. if we see the many negative things happening in our country, we should also see the best things that our country can produce.

mabuhay* to the Philippine heroes. mabuhay to the people who fought for the good of the country.

having God on our side makes us the best recipient of hope.

a good future.

*mabuhay - long live, hail

to get more info on the Philippine People Power check out this link from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Power_Revolution

new chef at home

just today after a long discussion with a creature, Remy finally agreed to cook for me. since cooking has never been my expertise. and for today's specialty, it's the chicken sisig*. thanks to chef Remy a nearly 2feet rat. i simply love this meal.
*sisig - a meal originated in Pampanga north of Manila.

daily rail trade

today's feature is the old Philippine National Railways. this was built at around 1865 during the Spanish colonial period and was then redeveloped in 1984. it connects Metro Manila until the far south areas of Bicol. this is a very old railway but still most of the lower class people use this and is also good for people doing trading from the Bicol region. on most of the area, squatters occupies both side of the railways. in this post i want to show you how this railway transforms from a tiange* to a railway then to a tiange.

in the picture below, at first look you might not say that this is a railway. busy people selling fruits, vegetable and other stuff.

now i would like you to particularly take note of the man with the yellow shirt.after sometime, the train comes and is about to cross the road near the said tiange. train stops since there's a terminal in this area. vehicles and people cross the rail before the train starts. then the train makes a signal as it runs in few minutes.
a security guard clears the area as the train starts running. on the other side the vendors removed part of their goods that occupies the railway. now you can see that part of the tiange is indeed a railway. the man in the yellow shirt moves his chair as the train approaches.
now here look at how close the man is to the train.
it's like inches apart from the train as it was from my view. looks like his goods might have almost touched part of the train as he holds it.

as the train leaves the site. the man in the yellow shirt immediately goes back to his location and back to business.and that's a normal day according to the people around. no safety limits for people. but most of the squatters are already being removed or relocated to another place as new projects are being planned for this railway. here are some pictures where demolitions have already been done. just meters away from the tiange site.

a new train system will be built and the squatters will be cleared from the areas of the railway.

very soon a modernized train system will stand in this site. same with the new train systems found in the greater Manila area like the photo shown below. this train travels within the Metro Manila area.
*tiange - market/street market