Gig Run for Ipo Watershed

Run for the Ipo Watershed and the Padyak Foundation of the UP Mountaineers this coming Sunday! I'm joining the race, after my college orgmate continued to hound me about it for a whole month. I decided to join for the environment, you should too. *wink wink* Leave a comment if you're going! This is actually my first run, so good luck to my poor fat legs. LOL

G.I.G Run 2.2/5/10KM
June 28, 2009 6am
UP Diliman
AS Parking Lot



Registration is P250 inclusive of GIGRUN race singlet. The singlet is so cute, worth the 250-peso registration fee. It looks like this:



Registration starts on May 18. You have four options to register.


1) Go to any Columbia Sportswear outlet to register. However, payments are only accepted in Greenbelt 5, Gateway, and at SM North EDSA.

2) On May 24 during the RUNNEX Marathon in UP Diliman, we will have a registration booth from 6am to 10am.

3) At the UP Information Office Tuesdays to Fridays at the Quezon Hall (Admin Building). Look for Bernz Varona during office hours

4) During the GIG event itself.

For any questions, you can email join[at]thegigrun.org or go to their website here for more details.


If you like this post, you might want to subscribe to my feeds. Just type in your email address below and you'll receive my blog updates in your inbox.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Read more...

Flippish.com Launch: Television is Dead

flippish \fli’-psh\ adj [fr. Filipino]
1: anything that has Filipino flavor.
2. fickle-minded or indecisive
3. odd, crazy or weird.




FLIPPISH is a play on the word Filipino. It means anything that has Filipino flavor or could also mean something that is odd, crazy or weird. Flippish.com is the first Pinoy online video channel that produces original online shows that are of broadcast quality. The people behind flippish believe that it is about time that we Filipinos take on the challenge of coming up with online entertainment that is of international standards.

THE SHOWS

Flippish.com pushes the creative boundaries by creating a variety of bite-sized (5-8 minutes) videos that appeal to Filipinos of all shapes and sizes!

Shows that cover diverse genres such as Direk, a comedy about a hot-headed, emotional and over-the-top director who allows you to see what goes on in the world of production when the cameras stop rolling and LSS, which showcases some of the most talented, unsigned Filipino artists, whose songs might be the next big hit playing in your head. Another show is Flippish Specials, which is a collection of featured videos, event coverages, and documentaries made by the team.

Flippish.com will tickle your funny bone, get you up to speed on the latest hotspots and goings-on around and outside the Metro, stimulate you brain cells with thought-provoking reality shows and most importantly, entertain you until it becomes an essential part of your daily internet habit!

BEHIND THE SCENES

Flippish.com is spearheaded by Chris Tan, the Co-Founder and the Managing Director of Ideal Minds and Kring Elenzano, the Creative Director of Ideal Minds and Flippish.com. Chris is also currently the director for the Asian Poker Tour Series and was recognized as one of the Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2005. Kring, on the other hand, is one of the hottest young TV directors in the industry with several projects under her belt such as the reality TV show RIVERMAYA: BAGONG LIWANAG! In the blogosphere, she is known by her handle, FunnySexy.

R.I.P., TV

Flippish.com will finally be officially launched on July 2, 2009 at Fiamma at Jupiter St., Makati. With the availability of the internet and increasing broadband speed, more people spend more time online nowadays and for these reasons, the people behind Flippish.com believe that "Television is Dead." and that online entertainment is the wave of the future. Appropriately, this, too, is the theme of the launch party. New shows and talents will be introduced that night and viewers and fans may register on the site to receive special invites for the party.
For more information about the website, its shows and the launch party, do check out www.flippish.com.



If you like this post, you might want to subscribe to my feeds. Just type in your email address below and you'll receive my blog updates in your inbox.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Read more...

Summer Heat Beater: Selecta Gold Ice Cream

I would never have discovered Selecta Gold Ice Cream's Gold Series if it weren't for my sugar-addicted sister who brought home Selecta's Chocolate Truffles. There are three flavors - Chocolate Truffles, Hazelnut Brownie and Berry Strawberry. These are sort of Selecta's designer ice cream flavors made especially by Chefs Gamboa, Laudico and del Rosario. I haven't tried the strawberry-flavored ice cream yet because I usually end up hating strawberry-flavored food. They're just too sweet.

Chocolate Truffles was designed by Chef Roberto Laudico and used imported gourmet Belgium chocolate as ingredient. Fabolous! That's why it had a rich and heavy chocolate flavor but not too sweet. My sister, a chocolate addict, marked this one as her favorite. You'll like this as well if you're looking for an ice cream that's creamy and chocolatey.

My favorite's the Hazelnut Brownie flavor, designed Chef Sau del Rosario from ground hazelnut paste and fudge brownies. I love how this ice cream is so moist and fudgie, it even has large chunks of brownies! I paired this with chocolate cake that's a tad sweeter than the ice cream. A perfect combo for a hot laid-back afternoon.



We got to buy these babies for 190PHP at 7-11 stores (I think they were sold exclusively here for some time) but about two week ago, I saw these being sold at Mall of Asia's hypermart for just 160PHP. Super bargain! So, I bought three pints LOL.

Photos taken with a Nokia n82.

If you like this post, you might want to subscribe to my feeds. Just type in your email address below and you'll receive my blog updates in your inbox.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Read more...

Asia Pay's Ecommerista One Peso Workshop

I was luckily able to attend Asia Pay's Ecommerista One Peso Workshop last May 7, 2009 (this is an overdue post) thanks to Facebook! I was really interested to hear about e-commerce and this is my first time to actually see an e-commerce workshop that's free of charge. First off, Asia Pay is the first electronic payment provider and gateway solutions provider in Asia. They are affiliated with Banco de Oro (BDO) and devised Pesopay (for merchants) and eBigay (for non-profit organizations). Adrian Lee conducted the workshop, giving justice to the "Ecommerista" workshop title.


(Sitting L-R: Russell T. Ri of Ephilippines Adventure Travel, Faith Salazar of Republika Publishing Inc./pinoyparazzi.com and me. Standing L-R: Alvin Tan, Johann Chua of Odyssey Live, [I didn’t get the name of the girl], Jonel Uy of Letsgosago.net, Peter Allan Mariano of Wong Group of Companies, [the guy behind him is from AsiaPay], Jomar Garraton of NeTVision, Inc., Lea Gomez & her marketing assistant of Transnational Travel and Tours, Inc.and Andrian Lee) Photo courtesy of Jen

What I learned at the E-commerce workshop - read more after the jump.



1. Give the "Best Deal in Town"

Adrian Lee used Cebu Pacific as an example for this. CebuPac is the first to do the seat sale promos online, giving their customers the best deal and the best convenience.

2. Use social networking

Not new to most bloggers, using social networking sites like blogs, Facebook, Friendster or Myspace to sell services or promoting a product has been a major trend in marketing in the Philippines. Multi-national companies don't just rely on TV, radio or print to get their message across. They are now harnessing the power of the internet and combine this with traditional marketing. A good example is Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice where you delete 15 friends on your Facebook account to get a free Whopper.

3. Be omnipresent

Not one social network has been able to gather everyone on the internet. Some people gather in Facebook, some in Twitter, some in Tumblr and other people just lurk on forums. Just like Barack Obama, you need to be everywhere. You can see Obama on Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku and other social networking sites.

I attended the workshop as a web controller for Pinoy Parazzi and we were luckily given constructive criticism on how we present our website. I learned quite a few things like organizing our RSS feeds and strengthening brand image. I suggest you attend Asia Pay's Ecommerista workshop if you're planning on doing internet marketing or if you're managing a website. :)

If you want to check out the slides at the e-commerce workshop, visit Jen's post here. You can also read Asia Pay's blog on internet marketing at Ebiziseasy.

List of Attendees:
Peter Allan Mariano of Wong Group of Companies
Clarissa Concio-Tiglao and Jomar Garraton of NeTVision, Inc.
Johann Chua of Odyssey Live
Jonel Uy of LetsGoSago.net
Juliet Guanlao, Sarah Jane Sy and Anna Lalaine Torrelino of YGC Corporate Services Inc.
Russell T. Ri of Ephilippines Adventure Travel
Lea Gomez of Transnational Travel and Tours, Inc.
Alvin Tan, a freelancer
Jen Juan

If you like this post, you might want to subscribe to my feeds. Just type in your email address below and you'll receive my blog updates in your inbox.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Read more...

My MRT 24/7 Experience of Horror

I'm a commuter. I've been riding all three train lines (LRT1, LRT2 and MRT) ever since I started high school. I used to ride the LRT1 from Quirino to United Nations - Manila Science High School is just three stops from our house. I enrolled at UP Diliman during 2002 and started using the MRT from Taft to Quezon Avenue. During my first job as a special education teacher, I often took the LRT2 from Recto to V. Mapa station. In short, I am no stranger to getting squished, kissing the train's glass door or using my bag to literally jab people so I can get good seats. Now, I'm back in Quezon City, so I'm using the MRT to get home from Quezon Avenue station to Taft. That's quite a long ride. After hearing the news that the MRT was going 24/7 as an experiment, I immediately planned on staying late on the first day of the run. BAD IDEA.



I had something to do in Cubao so I was waiting for the train there at around 10:30 PM. The platform wasn't that packed, there were about 3-4 people for each yellow line on the women's section. There were more on the men's section but not much to compare to the rush hour.

Anyway, I started off waiting with two people on the yellow line. At 10:45 PM, the people increased to about 5-6. At 11:00 PM, there's still no train. Six trains have already passed by the side going north and still no train going south. Some train officer as-a-matter-of-factly said that trains are supposed to come in 30-minute intervals during the MRT 24/7 experimentation. But we got there at 10:30 PM, so there trains should still be coming in in less than 30-minute intervals.

I was carrying a lot and standing there for half an hour isn't nice. My feet were starting to hurt and people were starting to accumulate to about 15 persons in a yellow line. I was so bored I started updating my social networking sites, Facebook and Plurk, on how dreary it is to ride the MRT during the 24/7 shift. Note the timestamps.





So, I waited for about an hour to be able to get home that late. On Taft station's platform, I got a chance to take a photo while I was about to go up the escalator. I'm sure a lot of people were restless that night as well.



I should have taken the bus instead. At least there, I would have been comfortable sitting in an air conditioned vehicle. It would take the same time - more than an hour - to get from Cubao to Taft anyway. What's the point in taking the train?






If you like this post, you might want to subscribe to my feeds. Just type in your email address below and you'll receive my blog updates in your inbox.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Read more...