In the Blogger Boracay Weekend a little more than two weeks ago, our flights were sponsored by SEAIR, one of the small local airlines that prioritizes leisure and luxury domestic destinations instead of major local cities. (Like, they have flights to Tawi-Tawi but not to Davao—at least not yet.) You might recognize SEAIR from their many ads and billboards saying that they have the fastest flights to Boracay (and most flights to Palawan) and for capitalizing on Marc Nelson’s abs. (The airline got a bit of very minor publicity because of Marc in the Amazing Race Asia 2. During the Singapore-Manila leg, an all-ladies team were amused to see Marc, also a race participant, on SEAIR’s ads with their airport pamphlets.)

Read this entry »

I’ve seen this particular questionnaire pass through the blogs of some U.P. people, especially since this year is the U.P. Centennial, so it’s only a matter of time before I’d get to answer this nostalgic set of questions. This time, the transformed meme tagged me via Juned.

Read this entry »

Herewith are some mapping news to start the year.

Read this entry »

During the second night of our trip to Boracay, we were treated to a full-course dinner by Zuzuni Boutique Hotel and Restaurant. Zuzuni is a Greek cuisine restaurant and the name is a term of endearment in the Greek language (it actually means “little insect”). The resto and hotel is owned by Filipino-Greek Geni Psinakis, and Greek-American Nick Gitsis, who is also a director of Seair, our flight sponsor.

Read this entry »

One big productivity step I took a few months ago was to organize the subscribed feeds I had in Google Reader into folders by priority. The result is that I no longer feel overwhelmed if I have hundreds of unread items in my feed reader, and I now able to use my time more wisely by scanning those feeds that I really am most interested in.

Read this entry »

Last weekend I was in Boracay together with several travel and photo bloggers and some of us (at least those who woke up early on a Sunday morning) had the lucky chance to witness the island’s version of the Ati-atihan Festival which apparently is celebrated one week earlier than the mother festival in Kalibo, Aklan. This year, the celebration was on January 13 and the parade started at the Balabag Plaza after the Holy Mass and wound its way along the stretch of Boracay’s White Beach before going back to the Plaza via the internal roads.

Read this entry »

Well, I’m typing this entry now somewhere near Station 3 on White Beach in Boracay Island. I’m one of the “travel and photo bloggers” that Abe mentioned is on a sponsored trip by Microtel, Seair, and Zuzuni. Apparently, having a virtual travel blog and a travel quiz site makes me a travel blogger even though I don’t really travel (my Lakbayan grade is a measly C minus). But, that’s fine by me since I got to go to Boracay for free! And this is my first time here to boot.

Read this entry »

Even though I already have a desktop and a laptop, I can’t help but want the ASUS Eee PC. Several bloggers such as Juned, Ade, and J. Angelo have already bought it, and a majority of the reviewers I’ve read say they love it. J. Angelo, with some content from Ade, has already launched his ASUS Eee blog, there’s a local unofficial EEE Philippine Users Group already, and there’s also a global gadget blog dedicated to this tiny notebook and its niche even before it came out in the market.

Read this entry »

Yes, the University of the Philippines still has a long way to go before it can join the ranks of esteemed Asian universities like the University of Tokyo, the National University of Singapore, or the Chulalongkorn University, but it’s no reason to celebrate the centennial of the Philippines’ premier university.

Read this entry »

Ever since I got my camera, I have never used it to take pictures of fireworks. (And I haven’t gone to either of the two World Pyro Olympics as well.) So I took the opportunity to try the fireworks mode of my camera to take photos of the blossoming fiery flowers this New Year’s Eve. The result is quite pretty despite my trembling hands, and I think it would vastly improve with the aid of a tripod.

Read this entry »