Will be Back In a While

     Hey guys! I haven't posted lately. It's because of the all the school work that I should accomplish from today until the second week of October. I have so much work to do that I have little free time now. I hope you can understand my situation. But I promise you that I will be back to during this semester break. So, I ask you to be patient. That's all I'm asking.

     See you guys later!

Welcome Ber Months!

It officially September 1! It means one thing, it's the start of the "Ber Months". Yeah, it's the start of the ber months. But what's the big deal?

It's a big deal here in the Philippines because the ber months indicate the start of the Christmas season. Now I know what you're thinking: "You celebrate Christmas this early?" My reply to that is yes. The Philippines is known for celebrating the longest Christmas season in the world. It has been a tradition for Filipinos to feel the holiday spirit this early. I can't blame the other people for being excited for the "most wonderful time of the year".

You have an idea about the ber months. Now, I'll tell you what to expect during the ber months in the Philippines.

1. Christmas decorations everywhere!
     Houses and public places are starting to be decorated with the usual suspects like Christmas lights, lanterns, figurines, and many more. The level of decorations can range from simple to epic. As December approaches, you can see more and more places decorated with Christmas stuff to let you know that Christmas is getting closer.

2. Christmas songs everywhere!
     Public places like malls will start to play Christmas songs during this time. I just went to a mall not too long ago and it played Christmas songs. Not only that, you might see people especially children go to every house and sing Christmas carols for a chance that some really generous people will give them money for their efforts.

3. Malls are starting to get crowded.
     For some people, they want to buy gifts as early as now because they might be discounted today. Some don't want to wait for December because prices tend to increase during this month and some things might be out of stock due to high demand. This is still up for debate because not all malls experience this.
   
4. Comfort food everywhere! (guilty pleasures included)
     Who could not forget ham, queso de bola, "mga kakanin", macaroni salad, lechon, bibingka, fruit salad, and many more delectable and rich dishes served during Christmas. Every food imaginable is served during this time. This is also the period where dieting is virtually non-existent even though some people tried really hard to resist some delicious food. Christmas is a celebration. Wherever there's a celebration, there's always food!

As of this writing, it's 115 days before Christmas. Even though it's still very early, the holiday spirit is starting to enter the country bringing joy to everyone.

I certainly miss several points, so comment down below what did I miss. Happy holidays!

See you guys later!

Lakbayan App: How much you explore the Philippines?

I was randomly searching for sites last week. I stumbled upon a site which measures how much you explored the Philippines. Since, I've been to different places in the Philippines, I might as well give it a try. This was the result. 

I got a C+ for my travels!

I'm quite satisfied with the result. But I still want to go more places in the Philippines. How about you? How much of the Philippines have you explored? Try it using this link: http://forge.codedgraphic.com/lakbayan/

See you guys later!

Trip Report: Yellow Bus Line Executive Bus

When I visited General Santos last April and May, I took Yellow Bus Line as it was the popular and preferred company for plying the Davao to General Santos route.

The company has a range of bus classes such as premiere and super deluxe, but I prefer and rode the executive class. Executive class is their premium non-stop service. The price for this type of service and trip is Php 300 and Php 240 for students and senior citizens.

So what will you get for Php 300?

1. Air-conditioned buses
        This is self explanatory.

Executive Class Bus

Inside the bus

2. Great Seats
        Their seats offer generous legroom and recline. Also, the seat has an ergonomically designed headrest so that your head will stay on your seat even when you're sleeping.

3. Wi-fi
        It offers wi-fi on board so that passengers can stay connected on the go. However, I cannot connect to their wi-fi at times.

4. Lavatory
        The bus has a lavatory for your personal necessities. Just be careful when you're inside while the bus is moving. It can be an experience. Trust me.

5. Video On Board
        They show different movies throughout the trip to keep the passengers entertained.

The trip between Davao and Gensan can take around 3 hours depending on traffic.

The trip is generally uneventful. However, I am satisfied with this service and I'll definitely look forward to this again in the near future.

Like I said earlier, there are several bus classes that the company offers with different types of service. Their price range is around Php 170-260. What you choose will definitely be up to you.

You can visit their facebook page: www.facebook.com/yellowbuslineOfficial

See you guys later!

Book Review #2: Stupid is Forevermore

Book Cover

     "Stupid is Forevermore" is the sequel to the bestseller "Stupid is Forever" by Miriam Defensor-Santiago. This book was released on June 2015. Unlike the predecessor, there are still a lot of copies on display until today. Either the publisher anticipated a huge demand for the book or there is not a lot of demand for this book. 

     The cover is basically the same as the previous one except that it is predominantly red instead of light blue from the previous book. 

     In the book description, it stated that "you literally can't beat a bestseller. So, you just give more". This book is about that. It's practically covers the same topics like politics, pickup lines about love life, and her personal life. This time, it is filled with different pickup lines, illustrations, punch lines, and speeches just to give the readers something more to read. However, there are new elements that was added to the book. For example, a short story was added to the book.

     If you want more jokes, more witty lines, more silly pickup lines, and more moving speeches, then read this book!

      I'll end this review with a few lines from the book just to give you a taste of the book.

      "Kung may mahal ka, ipaglaban mo! Pero kapag dalawa ang mahal mo, paglabanin mo! Matira matibay." (If you loved someone, fight for it! But if you loved two people, let them fight each other! May the strong man/woman remain.)

       "When you are young, travel as much as you can . . . if possible, at someone else's expense."

     "Huwag mong insultuhin ang mga taong pangit dahil sila ang rason kung bakit ka maganda." (Don't insult the ugly because they're the reason why you're beautiful.)

       "Fungus face!"

       "Miserable little intellectual amoeba!"

       That's it and I'll see you guys later.

Book Review #1: Stupid is Forever

Book Cover

     Before I begin the review, I wanted to give a background about Miriam Defensor-Santiago. She’s a senator known for her strong and fierce personality front of the camera. She’s not afraid of voicing her opinions regarding politics, corruption, and her enemies. Despite that, she does show her soft, witty, and funny side through pick-up lines at some of her privilege speeches. This is one of the reasons why most Filipinos loved her.

     Stupid is Forever was released on December 2014, just in time for Christmas. There was so much demand for the book that it was always sold out as most people treat this book as their Christmas gift (Well, I did treat it as a Christmas gift. How about you?)

     This small book is basically a compilation of her pick-up lines, famous sayings, and excerpts of her speeches. There are also good illustrations throughout the book.

     The book also cover a wide range of topics. First part is mainly politics. This is where Miriam expresses her opinions about Philippine politics and its problems and her fellow politicians. It also contains some of her pick-up lines. Lastly, it covers her personal life. There are also more content in the book but I don’t want to spoil everything.

     Overall, this is a great book because you’ll learn interesting things that you might not be aware of and have a good time laughing at some of her lines and sayings.

     I will be reviewing the sequel to this book on the next post. So watch out for it.

     In the meantime, I’ll see you guys later!

Film Reflection #1: Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

In our Theology class, we watched the film, "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Pajamas)". Afterwards, we were required to do a reflection paper about the film. Since I don't have any blog ideas as of the moment, I might as well share it you guys. Please go easy on me because I really don't know how to write a reflection paper. I still don't get the difference between a reaction paper and a reflection paper. Without further ado, here it is:

I am thankful that I live in the period where people treat each other with respect and dignity. Though there are still few instances of mistreatment, today improved a lot in terms of equality. Indeed, we learned from the past so that the bad things that happened in the past will never happen again.  

At such a young age, Bruno decided to hang around with the little boy even though he was a Jew and tried to help find the little boy’s father. Not all people can do this in real life, well in similar context.  If I were in the same position as Bruno, I might hang around with him, but I will not risk my life to enter the work camp for I might die there. It’s great to help people but when in times of life and death, I prefer to save myself. Though, I’m trying my very best to help people at dire times, it’s just that, it’s very difficult to do it. On the other hand, if I were to choose, I would bring Schmuel out of work camp so that he will not suffer anymore.

Though this was my second time watching the film, I always feel sad that Bruno died at the end trying to help Schmeul because he did the right thing that only a few people are willing to do, and yet died from doing it. I admire Bruno’s bravery because he did it. I wanted to be like that, but it’s hard to do it because you need a lot of courage to do it.

The film shows the violence that the soldiers inflicted upon the Jews. They were treated wrongly and they were considered as evil. I thought to myself, why they were doing this to innocent people. They did not do anything to them. They are people as well.

This film also reminded me of the popular sentence, “Life is unfair”. This had me thinking why people suffered more than others even though they did nothing to the Germans and why the persecutors live a good life.

From this, we must treat people with respect and dignity because we are humans with rational capabilities, we are equal, and we should not be used as a means to an end, treated as objects, or treated as nothing.

See you guys later!

Pizza and Pasta Night at Picobello

Picobello is one of the famous authentic Italian restaurants in Davao City. Several months ago, their only branch at Gaisano South Mall was closed. Fast forward to today, it now reopened at their new location in front if Monteritz Subdivision in Maa.

Just recently, I, my sisters and a friend visited their new location. This would be my first time to dine there by the way so any comparison and contrast that I will make here will be based on my sisters’ comments.

Once we arrived, it was full of people that we have to wait for a couple of minutes before they can accommodate us. Well this is typical for Picobello to be full. While we waited, we get to observe their place.

Their Menu

Before I proceed, I apologize in advance if I don’t have enough pictures of the place. The place is so crowded that its difficult to get a decent shot. Also, most of the photos that I took were dark as we dined at night.

The new place looked modern now as compared to their previous branch. They still have the open kitchen, however, instead of the wood-fired oven they used before, they now used commercial ovens. The restaurant has an indoor and outdoor dining area which is separated by sliding doors. During our visit, the sliding doors were opened, creating a huge outdoor dining experience similar to an al fresco setting.

According to my sisters, the food is still the same. Though they expressed their concern of the restaurant using commercial ovens for the fear that it may change the taste of the pizzas. They also noticed, that the restaurant no longer has the buy one, take one promo.

Calzone, Quattro Stagioni, and Free Bread!

Now for the food! We ordered their Calzone, Quattro Stagioni, and Rustica Quattro Formaggi. For pasta, we ordered Spaghetti Bolognese and Fetticcine Carbonara. I wanted to order their Risotto but I folded because I have to wait for another 45 minutes.

Their food is great! It’s one of the reasons why Picobello is famous here. If only they can bring back their buy one, take one promo, it will really be worth the money.

That will be all!

See you guys later!

Mamon -It-Yourself!

The minion fever is still high here in the Philippines! It's so high that companies take advantage of the minion hype to promote their products. One example of this is the mamon-it-yourself. This type of gimmick lets people top their Monde Special Mamon with a minion decoration. Of course, being my curious self, I definitely wanted to try this.

The package contains 6 mamons with the "Mamon Minion Maker Kit".

One Monde Special Mamon and the Minion Maker Kit

The "Mamon Minion Maker Kit" contains yellow frosting and fondant of different shapes and colors. The kit can decorate 2 mamons. 

Stuff inside the Minion Maker Kit

If you are not experienced in decorating sweets, it might be a difficult task. It took me a while to decorate one mamon. Also, I don't have any special baking tools that can make the decorating job any easier. 

After a few minutes, this was the result.

I'm so bad at decorating! :(

Well, there goes my decorating skill. I'm pretty much a beginner when it comes to this. 

I hope you can enjoy decorating your mamon with minions! hahaha

See you guys later!

Is the Customers Always Right? (A reaction)

As a homework in marketing class, we would have to make a reaction paper on the question, “Is the customer always right?”.  I would like to share my insights and reaction to this.

So here it is:

The use of the statement, “The customer is always right”, is a marketing strategy used by several companies to make their customers feel special and to provide them with better customer service.

At first glance, I can see why they used it. The marketing thrust today is for businesses to focus their attention to their customers’ wants and needs. Since companies want to bring more customers as much as possible, it’s up to them to provide products or services that the customer wants.

However, there’s a loophole in the statement. There are times that the customers demanded for more than what the company provides and will really rant and complain if the company will not provide it. Even though the company clearly define their products and service to their customers, people still do not understand and remain unreasonable. Lastly, there are people that are just plain wrong and claim that they are always right even though this is not true every time. In other words, some customers abused “the customer is always right”.

In my opinion, the customer is not always right given these circumstances. Some of them just keep on complaining on a company’s “poor service” and will remain to be unreasonable. These types of customers can be counterproductive to the company if they keep on dwelling them. In an article from huffingtonpost.com, the author states that, “some customers are just plain wrong, that businesses are better off without them, and that managers siding with unreasonable customers over employees is a very bad idea, that results in worse customer service”.

That’s my reaction to it. What are your reactions to this? Let me know in the comments!

See you later!