Fruity Holidays from Globe and Calea

There's blueberry. And then there's BlackBerry.

I've confessed many times before my love for Blueberry cheesecake. But this time, a BlackBerry seems even more appetizing.

A few nights after I made reservations for a premium Calea Blueberry cheesecake for the holidays, Globe's BlackBerry Christmas Offer's TV commercial hit me with force and pinpoint accuracy like an Angry Bird. All my defenses just broke down. I knew I needed a BlackBerry--one that carried unlimited internet.

Since July 2010, I have relocated from corporate Makati to laidback Bacolod to be with my wife and to make a leap of faith. I figured the best way to move up the corporate ladder was to create my own. (Yeah, you could blame Robert Kiyosaki for that.)

So there, I quit my job and set up a makeshift home-office and offered online creative services to clients. Most of them are from the US and Australia.

Being online all the time is important to me and my wallet so I and my wife decided we had better check out this amazing offer from Globe--it was only for 599/month. The transaction was a breeze and, before I knew it, I was the proud owner of a new BlackBerry. It was my first BB! You could imagine my glee the first time I played with it and explored all its features.

By availing of this promo from Globe, I could now email Mr. C from Brisbane to update him about the project I'm managing for his startup company and Ms. O from Lagos, Nigeria to ask for approval for a radio script when I needed to. Anytime, anywhere. But, of course, I don't want to be hypocritical. I admit using it more often to access my Facebook account. ;)

Seriously, there's a lot of cool new things I could do now with my BlackBerry and its BlackBerry Internet Service. I could download apps from BlackBerry App World, send IMs, scan QR codes, and even keep in touch with other BB users through PinShare. Thanks to Globe, it made all these possible for me.

When that cheesecake I ordered from Calea gets delivered in the next few days, I'd savor every bit of that once-in-a-blue-moon moment with my two sweet pleasures. Blueberry on one hand. BlackBerry on the other.

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A picture of me taken using my BB.



For more info about Globe's Blackberry Christmas Offer, click here.

(Update: This blog entry got me another BlackBerry from Globe. It landed in the Top 3 of a nationwide blogging contest sponsored by Globe last December.)

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Putting up even just a small business drains a whole lot of energy. Needless to say, it burns a hole in your pocket. So even though putting up your online store front is a must in this internet age, it still drives you crazy thinking about all the resources needed to build your online presence.

Do you hire a programmer or a web design company? The bill would run into several hundred or even thousands, so you hold back. You think about building your own website to save money. But then you realize you don't know even a bit of basic html. Is that the same as creating a page on Facebook? You ask.

Hey wait, you realize you could learn html by watching YouTube tutorials. It couldn't be that hard. And so the genius that you are encounters huge success. Or so you think. Hey, how come after all this coding work the website still does not project a professional look and feel? And, of course, you don't want that. You want your business to project a professional look and feel on the internet so you gain the trust of potential customers.

You look at the calendar and then you realize it's been weeks since you first thought about building a website. Valuable time lost, resources spent --still not even close to achieving your goal.

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D-Day: What it means to us

Today's June 6, 2011. My wife's sick and I'm beginning to feel sick, too. It must be the weather. Still, I'm grateful today's June 6.

June 6, 1944 - For some of us not acquainted with world history, the day is actually called D-Day. The moment allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France to reclaim 'Fortress Europe' from the Nazis.

You may not realize it, but June 6 means a lot to every freedom-loving citizen of the world. The tide of war was turned on that date.

So now, let's get a little bit creative and dive several fathoms deep into June 6.
Instead of looking at what happened as a result of D-Day on June 6, let's try to imagine what would have happened if D-Day did not take place.

1. Every time there's a FIFA World Cup, Europe will only cheer for Deutschland.
2. On eBay, you'll never find a piece of the historic Berlin Wall for $34.99 simply because there never would have been a wall dividing East and West Berlin.
3. BBC would have been changed to GBC (Goebbels Broadcasting Corporation).
4. When you see a picture of a beautiful white flower found up in the Alps, you'd still call it "Edelweiss". Only now, with the correct pronunciation.
5. April 20 can't be celebrated as your Lolo's birthday or your wedding day. It can only be The Fuhrer's birthday.
6. China, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei won't clamor about who really owns the Spratley islands. It belongs to The Third Reich.
7. NASA wouldn't have been able to reach the moon. Or maybe they would have been able to, but it would have been decades later.
8. Volkswagen would be really cheap. It's the people's car, afterall.
9. Mongol would be banned in The Philippines. We can only use Staedtler.
10. Philippines would have been repopulated with Aryans. That means I would have blue eyes and blond hair. Sorry Richard Gomez.
11. I won't be able to write this blog. No. I think I'd still write this blog. I'd be the Hans Scholl of the 21st Century. Wahaha. (Hans and Sophie Scholl were siblings who were executed because they spoke out against the Nazis. Even though they were also Germans.)
12. Anne Frank, the first-ever blogger, wouldn't have been popular.
13. Tom Hanks did not star in "Saving Private Ryan". Instead, Hans Schulz starred in "Saving SS-Obersturmbannführer Peiper".
14. There would have been more Auschwitz-es and Bergen-Belsens and Sobibors. (These are some of the more infamous death camps.)
15. Life would have been TOTALLY different.

Of course, everything I wrote on the list here is just speculative. But it gives you an idea of what life would have been like.

I hate what the Nazis did and there's no justification for the crimes they performed back then. Of course, the Germany of today is a lot different.

Anyway, as a student of history, I can say that we owe a lot of the freedom we enjoy today to the brave souls (the Americans, British, Canadians, Poles, the resistance fighters in the occupied countries) who gave their lives so we might live ours differently.

And let us not forget that, on the other side of the ocean, our very own Filipino soldiers also fought bravely against overwhelming odds (Please somebody sponsor me a trip to Corregidor).

So remember them today, June 6, and uphold the ideals of life and liberty for which they lived and died.

Meanwhile, I hope this blog post encouraged you to study history a bit more. =) It's very interesting and not really boring, as many would think.

Happy D-Day!

Fighting the Invasion

"Fight with words, not with swords."

A century after the death of our national hero, Jose Rizal, the Philippines is still left with "fighting with words" as its best option. Perhaps, even its only option.

Today, I read on Yahoo! that the Philippine government is preparing the necessary documents as they file a formal protest against China before the UN. China, our giant neighbor, has again ventured into our territory and its navy even fired shells onto Philippines-registered fishing vessels doing business within our territorial waters.

That is some weighty news, I should say. But the story of the story is not about two equally-powerful countries individually claiming a territory as its own, just like the Russia-Japan narrative on the Kuril islands.

This is about Manny Pacquiao jabbing a midget who's still reeling from illness; about The Big Show eating a sick Rey Mysterio for dinner; or Gary slapping a helpless Mara Del Valle.

It simply is no fair. (Wow, this is beginning to sound like a socio-political blog! Who would have thought?! Wahaha.)

Anyway, so the people of the Philippines is now faced with a horde of questions?

1. Do we fight back, just like the Katipuneros before us? Just like the Starks of Winterfell against the Lannisters? (read Game of Thrones)
2. If we fight back, then with what? WW2-vintage aircrafts and ships? Oh, that would suffice.
3. Do we again open our bases to the Americans?
4. Where are our ever nationalistic activists who are always wailing, yelling and screaming outside the US embassy? Where are you now? There's plenty of space outside the Chinese Embassy.
5. If the Chinese government attacks our military bases in the Kalayaan Islands, will their bombs actually explode because they're Made in Russia instead of being, well, Made in China?
6. If I list down all the relevant questions, will it ever fit this blog?

I don't have answers to those questions and I'm in no position to answer those questions. I just raised those questions because, maybe somehow, somebody in position will come across this blog and answer those questions for all of us.

Maybe it's true, fighting with words may be the Philippines' only option. But even then, those 'words' are written on paper or on word processors installed on laptops that are all -- Made in China.

Post on HeyBacolod

I'm inviting every Bacolodnon and Negrense to post your ads on www.heybacolod.com -It's an online classified ads site serving the City of Smiles and the neighboring towns and cities. The best thing about this? It's for FREE. HeyBacolod is one with the city in promoting local businesses and tourism.

SWEET DEATH

At any minute, I could die.

They have me surrounded--hundreds of them. They pile on top of each other, standing like giants. Oh, like leviathans and behemoths of Bible times!

They stare down at me with pride as if waiting for certain victory, waiting for my inevitable surrender. I shake and tremble. Never have I seen so many of them at any one time.

I shake and tremble more--like when one gets a panic attack. You overbreathe, you sweat, you know the end is near.

All around me people are waiting in line. All around me and just like me, people have succumbed to the sweet temptation that brings them death. Yes, death by Chocolate, by Blueberry, by Mud Pie.

I am in Calea, the mecca of sweets in Bacolod. It's the last day of 2009 and I'm here to pick up the Oreo Cheesecake I ordered weeks ago. I stare at skyscrapers of cake boxes like I would whenever I'm in Ayala Avenue in Makati.


"Oh, that pillar of cake boxes over there, that must be 'The PBCom Tower'," I say to myself while looking at the tallest pile of them all.

I overhear an elderly woman saying she came all the way from Iloilo just to experience the miracle of flavors here. Back in my mind I think: Ah yes, the final pilgrimage to the temple of sweets. She's here to die.

True enough, we are all here ready to be bludgeoned by a mass of Sans Rival, smothered in caramel, and savagely slaughtered by sugar and all its relatives. I am convinced that if superb taste and quality could kill, Calea cakes would top the NBI's Most Wanted list.

I pick up my box now.

Whew!

Inside this box is my killer.

It looks innocent and sweet if you look at it closely. But, yeah, most serial killers are like that, they say.

Well, if that's what truly awaits me, guess I don't have much of a choice. Sweet Death.