Nat Geo Shocking Videos

Videos that shocked me:

1. Locked up Abroad on the kidnaping and captivity of the Abu Sayyaf of
Martin and Gracia Burnham was aired in  the National Geographic Channel.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/locked-up-abroad/3806/Photos#tab-Overview

2. Werner Herzog's movie Rescue Dawn starring Christian Bale on the
survival of a US Naval pilot in the jungles of Laos during the Vietnam
war was shown in HBO.

Both videos shown hours apart reenacted the struggles of the Burnham’s in the jungles of Mindanao and Dieter Dengler in Laos. Imagining how to cope with hunger, long and steep treks, rain and harsh heat, dangers in the wilderness and escaping gun fires, I could only admire them for their courage. It can only be grit that made them overcome the ordeal.

Can a travel book do all that?

Articles in Mind:

Banaue Car Repair and Peddling where expert mechanics are all over the place (middle men and hustlers too!), parts in every corner, peddlers selling in a variety of goods from cell phone chargers, auto tools, rags, tint, hub cabs, nuts etc. There is never a dull moment while waiting for the completion of a car repair mounted in the street corridor. Vendors catch your eye span and offer a product or service to sell.  In between procedures, kids from nowhere cut in to scavenge.

Ramon Lee's Fried Chicken tried at 538-540 Ronquillo st. Sta. Cruz Manila in a restaurant named after the owner that started in 1929.

SV Epistola's foreword on Amadis Ma. Guerrero's book posing this question "Can a travel book do all that?"

Sent via email

I will not be able to write like him

Not yet or not even in the near future.

Edward Rothstein describes the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming as “A Cathedral to the Shrine of Nations” in the New York Times. He has a command of the English that even without images, I can picture the geyser at the Yellowstone Park and its movement.

To open the article, “A mist of hissing steam drifts from the mound, but every 90 minutes or so, water starts to spurt fitfully, then more aggressively, until it erupts into a tower as high as 180 feet, whose spray may be spread by the breeze toward the hundreds of viewers gathered to watch the spectacle.”

As an art reviewer, he poses a point of view which only a writer who is at home with the language can craft, “He said it was as if nature had gathered from all over the world “specimens of her rarest fountains, to show in one place what she can do” -an exhibition to which any human curatorial effort must defer.”

It will take a major intervention before I can write like Edward R. To write well, one must have the facility to express, a wealth of vocabulary uses correct syntax and a point of view. At least in my case, I already have the point of view.

Two Travel Books

I recently purchased travel related books on the Philippines at the National Bookstore in Cubao. Some were on bargain and two recently launched: Street-Bound Manila on Foot by Josefina Manahan and Connecting Flights edited by Ruel S. De Vera.

First article I immediately read was my English teachers' "New York First Encounter." This is part of the compilation of travel stories in "Connecting Flights Filipinos Write from Elsewhere." Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo writes about how she was enamored by the place which put "its best foot forward" for her and her husband in 1987.

The pleasure of reading the article is the writer’s vivid description of the dynamics in her mind reconciling the attractions embedded in her memory through movies and pictures and the actual sight of the icon. This is how she describes it in her style “The thing about visiting a place one knows only too well – from books and films and TV shows, not to mention other people’s spirited descriptions – is that it seems to offer no surprises. Even the people one meet’s walking down the streets look familiar. But of course that’s all an illusion, just street magic. New York surprised us. Again and again.”

Upon completing the story, I immediately wanted to email the story to friends and relatives who can relate to the magic of the place, the 1st time around.

Manila by Foot is a practical reference on how to go about and appreciate historical and symbolic icons and attractions in Metro Manila. Tips are given by writer and walker Josefina Manahan who has personally visited the places like University of the Philippines in Diliman, Ayala Museum, Binondo, R. Hidalgo streets among others. Maps, classifications and time frame of the walk accompany each article. Book was written 2001 and may need updating particularly on directions going to the locations. LRT 1 and 2 and MRT can be cited as alternative efficient means of transpo in the cities.

Travel articles that I fancy inform, describe and provide insights. They validate if I share the same experience, open possibilities if I missed some attractions. If I drop the book and hop in to a bus, the article moved me.

Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, “New York: First Encounter,” in Connecting Flights, Filipinos Write from Elsewhere ed. Ruel S. De Vera, 131-142. Manila: Anvil, 2010


Josefina P. Manahan, Street-Bound: Manila by Foot. Manila: Anvil, 2001. Reprint, 2009

Reboot

Each time I reboot, a pop up message prompts me after I log in “Preparing to install Realplayer.”
This shows up despite the un-installation done via the software’s program or through the control panel of the same software.

Searching at google, there were only a handful of entries for the query “real player reinstalls every reboot." Not even Real Player technical support has an entry on the incidence.

With this recurring entry (and irritating one),

• I learned to clean my registry using “regedit under run” both on normal and safe mode

• Resolved registry conflicts using ccleaner program
• Totally eliminate remnants of Real Player files using Revo Uninstaller
• Cleaned reboot using selective start up of “msconfig”
• Updated my Anti Virus software (Symantec)
• Scanned the entire system.

All these were unsuccessful in stopping the activity until I came across an entry suggesting it could be a Trojan worm. I tried a recently launched Microsoft Security Essentials program. True enough, it detected a Virtool: win32/VBInject.gen!GB. Microsoft Security Essentials contained and removed it to my relief.

Finally, there is no more recurring install of RealPlayer every start up. I lost my trackers and predictive entries which I can reconstruct. On the bright side, I did not lose my files and need not reinstall an OS and learned all other options. Thanks to Ronald and Arvil, technicials of open pinoy who helped diagnose and acted on solving.

How does success feel like? Triumphant especially for a difficult case as this one.

Writing in any piece of paper

An article a day keeps Dementia away

An article whether long or short is a result of insight generation.

Insights are drawn from observations, pre-conceived assumptions and relationship of facts and premises. It is a thinking process.

While seated, I cast my sight to a far away distance or to a macro object within range to seed an idea in my mind. When a concrete one is formed, I convert it to a written piece which is scribbled in any piece of paper. It could be in a prescription pad while waiting for a doctor or at the back of a place mat of a fast food chain. In the airport pre departure area or in a plane, I jot the notes in a pocket sized notebook.

Why do I actively document an idea to a piece of article? It is an application of liberal thinking to keep the mind lucid. As they say, what you don’t use, you lose.

Revisiting the UP Theatre

Celebrating Dulaang UP’s 35th Anniversary, a theatre group founded by Professor Tony Mabesa, I dropped by the UP campus on a weekend to reminisce how it was performing the 1st season. Colleague Professor Alex Cortez is now the groups’ Artistic Director and Professors Mabesa and Leticia Tison, the department’s Professor Emeriti. The rest of the crew and actors are complete strangers to me now.

Diliman is still how I recollected it was in my college years. The icons* associated with the university are still strongly suggestive of the institution. The Oblation, Carillion, Palma Hall, Palma corridors, foliage of acacia and the main library are collectively for me my academic scholarship.

Albeit the new structure and new traffic regulations, it still is the same campus that nurtured my learning day in day out for 4 years.

Perhaps I never really left the institution as my mind is lucid perennially still in search of knowledge, in the fields of management or social sciences. (Geographically, I have not left the district as I still live in the city.)

Enjoy viewing the images and the sculptures of Filipino heroes created by the Fine Arts students.

*a sign (as a word or graphic symbol) whose form suggests its meaning

Nat Geo Coffee Table Books

In between chores in a commercial center, I dropped by a Booksale outlet to check what’s in store. These interested me: National Geographic Coffee Table book on the National Parks of North America and a book of images on Work, The World in Photographs and Faces of Africa.

Quoting from the Faces of Africa intro, “Each image unfolds new and revealing perspectives; taken together, they create nothing less than the group portrait of a world that draws strength from shared values and common experiences even as it glorifies in the unique appeal of every individual.”

Work in its foreword quotes Marion Walcott, “Speak with your images from your heart and soul. Give of yourselves. Trust your gut reactions. Suck out the juices-the essence of your life experiences. Get on with it; it may not be too late.”

N. Ramirez Car Wash

The car wash stretch of N. Ramirez in Quezon City

This stretch is a convenient short-cut from Espana to E. Rodriquez avoiding the traffic lights and jeepney plying along Espana, Welcome Rotonda and E. Rod. Well cemented and properly maintained by the local QC Barangay, it is a popular 2 km. access road.

Lately, this residential area is emerging as a business zone. Car wash stalls in household garages and on the street have sprouted tapping water resources from the residential houses and drainage of the local district. Before, the only enterprises here are sari-sari stores which sell an assortment of prime household commodities. Now you already have a service outlet for motored vehicles which evolved to a service outlet serving carbonated beverages.

Nothing will stop the enterprising individual from building the channel if rooted on a real customer need. Satisfied here is a neat vehicle makeover for only P 65.0 on your way home.

St. Lukes and Burger Kin

Burger King in E. Rodriquez beside St. Luke’s Medical Center wowed me. Not with their product but with a service I did not expect from a fast food chain.

While waiting for my cardiologist at the Medical Center to check on a potential hyper tensive condition, I figured there would be time for a cup of coffee.

I’ve always liked Burger King’s Joe coffee which is modestly priced at P 65.0. It is served in an advanced disposable packaging with 2 cup lets of fresh milk. The purchase entitled me to a password to a wifi assess for my email and the morning papers.

Several minutes later, a service crew approached me to inquire if I wish to have my black shoes shined. Since I bought this branded pair months before, I have long wanted to have it brushed but did not have the time to do so. I readily agreed of course.

After the experience, I gave the outlet in my mind an excellent customer satisfaction rating. It was time leisurely spent while waiting.

I returned back to the clinic with the doctor waiting for me. He diagnosed me as still a suspect subject to a change in lifestyle for the next weeks. Having a free shoe shine weekly could be my antidote to temporary deficiency in wellness.  (The doctor likewise gave an advice, a cup of coffee is fine.)

Garden Shots

Shooting natural or a structure? Private domain or public property? Attribute it on the surging ownership of SLR cameras and the visibility of controversies. Unknowns out rightly refuse to be photographed. Attendants of commercial displays disallow their goods to be recorded. Nature makes better subjects, as they are, innately natural.

Top View Araneta Shots

Araneta in Cubao is repositioning itself. The upgrading of facilities and infrastructure is not happening though as fast as other emerging commercial centers in the city in the last decade.

Its changing image is paying the price for its pioneering heritage as it has started to look like a series of structures and paid parking spaces. Even the rest rooms now have a tag.

The affinity it created with loyal Cubao patrons is slowly giving way to the new generations' instant gratification. Araneta  might eventually end up as a stop over rather than a destination.

Orchids at Seedling Bank

The Philippine Orchid Society, Inc. just completed its 64th Mid-Year Orchid and Garden Show at the Manila Seedling Bank Environmental Center.

Show showcases the collections of an individual or organization dealing with any aspect of the orchid industry.

As a walk in participant, I took the chance to capture the colors, texture in images up close in ideal natural sunlight.

Nature, unlike man does not resist being photographed. So far, field testing results of the compact point and shoot camera have been satisfactory.

MRT Crossroads

Years ago, I initiated in the original and now defunct peyups.com forum infrastructure projects in Metro Manila that would result in major improvements in efficiency. I cited as one the overhead overpasses in the major intersections of EDSA and other main streets as EDSA-Aurora, EDSA-North Avenue, EDSA-Taft, EDSA-Quezon Ave, Araneta-Magsaysay Ave where the pedestrians of the busy intersections would be conveniently directed to the steel bridges to cross.

Edsa-Quezon Ave

The website is gone (replaced by a new one) but the projects of MMDA under Bayani Fernando are still operational making the city a walk able one.

Manila I Knew

Manila has been written about a countless times. An enjoyable read is "The Manila we knew," a compilation of essays by several literary and opinion Filipino writers. Insights and historical relevance were narrated by the popular writers from their personal perspectives making me picture how Manila that I knew then.

Manila has too been a favorite subject among filmakers and documentary makers. The most recent that I watched was "Astig," a Cinemalaya entry of director GB San Pedro to the 2009 festival. Film dramatizes the grit and struggle of 4 young males in Quiapo in the several notorious streets. Well produced and excellently presented, the film presents the side of Manila the mainstream residents would ignore.

Both works of arts provide solid reasons for staying in the city. The color, struggle and the challenges Manila present bind the affinity between the place and its residents both established and transients.

Freedom of Mobility

Freedom that I relish the most are freedom of mobility and choice (of food).

Mobility is the ability to move around without any constraint tapping available resources. In the city there are several: the most common and often untapped is walking, the most efficient is the MRT Blue line that traverses from North EDSA to ESA Taft, the LRT1 Yellow Line from Monumento to Baclaran and the LRT2 Purple line from Santolan in Pasig to Recto in Manila. Popular are jeepneys, tricycles, taxicabs and a creation of the decade, the FX.

Islands are crossed by air, land and sea.

Freedom to move around allows a wider freedom of choice of food. Choosing is the prerogative to point, in the local language, point-point or “turo-turo.” Proof of the moving is the eating.

Harry Potter's Mode

Articles in Mind

Articles to develop and post

1. There is freedom in image capture nature vs. urban
2. Clubs true to the MFPI vision
3. Moymoy palaboy: power of technology in catching up a 3 year old phenomena
4. N. Ramirez car wash strip

Mobile Send Test

Reassessing the MFPI Vision Mission

11 years after formulating the MFPI Vision Mission under the leadership of Ari Ben Sebastian, major transformations have happened in the Philippine mountaineering community. Numbers of climbers and frequency of treks in a month have increased. Protocols have changes. Younger and more seasoned ones have joined the fray. From an extreme recreation, it has become main stream inviting a diverse base of adventure lovers. Technically advanced equipment and clothing are readily accessible even to novice climbers. Interests are shared with the adventure racer, divers, board surfer, triathlete and virtual athlete. Playground has expanded from the popular mountains to the un-trekked ones covering not only the Philippines but other continents as well.

 The discipline of formulating has slightly evolved. But the basic approach has not changed.

• Is the vision still compelling and exciting to the stakeholders?
• Is the picture of how success looks like still the same?
• Are there indicators to tell the stakeholders if we are succeeding?

For one, the stakeholders have changed. The more active and current practitioners are in better position to assess if the vision is still compelling. But does it matter to them?

• We see a Philippine mountaineering community aware of their right and duty to be responsible mountaineers.
• With a desire to climb, complemented by a commitment to the preservation of the mountain eco-system.
• With a sense of adventure tempered by a due regard for safety.
• Whose enjoyment of the climb is bounded by a healthy respect and sensitivity for fellow mountaineers and the local communities it encounters.

Mobility

The rainy week of 2 August even with the threat of Typhoon Domeng did not deter mobility as I swung from South to West in Metro Manila in several days in extreme weather conditions.

Ongpin Store

Available personal and mass transport made movement easier. Sedan drives one long distance, Light Rail Transport moves mass commuters to popular destination in a breeze; jeepney, calesa and tricycles transport groups to unfamiliar corners.

Walking is still the most convenient way to cross short distances.

Base is a newly constructed premiere hotel in an industrial park in the South providing a panoramic view of the Laguna province.

When in the city, the LRT moving platform is the most efficient means to Chinatown and Malate.

Jeepney, calesa and tricycle are readily available to navigate hard to enter alleys and flooded areas in short distances.

If mountaineering by The Mountaineering Books is “freedom of the hills,” urban travel is “freedom of mobility.” I work because I have to live. I travel because I need to live. It is this freedom that I relish as I derive pleasure from the travel.

(Photos taken while on of field test of a compact Nikon OLED camera.)

JV's Car Wash

Several months ago this 2010, a fellow climber sent me an email message inquiring about the status of geocities’ delisted tropics shores domain with a leading query“What happened to our Majayjay article and photos at the PALMC site?”

Months ago, I received a text message stating,“I set up the front lawn of our house in Don Antonio into a car wash with a request, "will you be able to help me with an electric cooler?”

A week ago, a FB friend flags in his home page, water and floods everywhere due to the storm and heavy rain fall, “JV Duque: Raining hard . . . Water rising! Please pray rain stops.”

My visit at 27 Holy Spirit Drive along Don Antonio Heights in Commonwealth Avenue Quezon City turned out to be a discussion on all including a reason why motorist should consider JV’s car wash if one resides near the vicinity.

JV has several passions: sports like badminton, cycling and climbing, design and photography, showbiz talents and training and cars and maintenance.  While looking for a sideline to augment his income, he was considering any one of his interests.

His set up of the car wash project in July 2006 was an “invention of necessity” borne out of his shift in career. It was also a result of an accident when a parking attendant in ABS-CBN who JV acknowledged as meticulous in detailing and car washing reminded him several months after their encounter when he is setting up his own business. When work was taking a toll on his health, he was in search for a practical solution for pay for operating expenses. From his several passions, he finally decided to go into car detailing.

Even since, JV has stringent standards when it comes to car care. He would look under the hood and car, inside the car, under the seats, in the overlooked corners when he had his car cleaned. It frustrates him whenever he surrenders his car to a professional, he would end up teaching the staff how to wash and yet still pay.

His decision to start a car wash project aside from the fact that it entailed a relatively low capital expense was his desire to share the expertise of quality cleaning. It was not really for the revenue but for the extended service.

Starting his operations at the garage, his first few days with the ABS-CBN attendant did not draw any customer. It was only on the 2nd week when a paying customer tried him out and was satisfied. His 1st customer though turned out to be his sister. From then on, car owners from BF Homes, Don Enrique and Don Antonio Heights started patronizing the shop.

They valued the attention to details under the hood and inside the car, the quality work and the dedication of the car wash staff and the use of premium cleaning equipment. Never mind if the extended garage did not have a comfortable seating area nor the slots limited to only 6 at time. The limitations did not matter for as long as the dedicated and engaged staff would transform their vehicle to a spotless exhibit in over 20 minutes.

Car owners, trusting their staff would leave the cars, go out for a walk then come back to collect them hours later.  He is proud that his staff shared the same passion for a clean and good job in cleaning and detailing cars which JV claimed is modeled after the top detailing shops in Ortigas but priced right for a cottage neighborhood shop. Materials and thorough cleaning are not compromised. 

Their added value of a neighborhood store is the homey atmosphere as it is Mommy who minds the business. Having come from the Talent Center, JV uses his service orientation when dealing with difficult customers.

How does success look like for JVD car wash in the future?

• Constrained by the frequent flooding, the worst experienced in September 2009 when Ondoy dumped record breaking rains in a short span of time, he sees the car wash operating even during the rainy season.
• He looks forward to a better roofing facility to expand more slots.
• For the idle waiting time, he in envisioning a coffee shop where car owners can go online, or listen to his colorful showbiz stories or merely wander around.
• He expects his satisfied customers promoting his car wash not because it offers good value for money but because they are good at car washing and detailing that rivals the more professional shops in Makati, Ortigas or Banaue.
• He is still not convinced to earn money from this advocacy.

In his multiply account, JV defines his mission. JVD Car Wash Services came to life in July 2006. Our goal is to provide car lovers and owners in the community with the best quality services we could offer. We aim to give our customers the comfort of having their cars pampered at the most reasonable yet competitive prices. We use Meguiar's Professional detailing products in all our detailing services.

Hearing his stories for over an hour, I wonder if it needed updating to level up to the next phase.

Related story on writing a Vision Mission

Bakers with a natural passion to create
Majayjay

"Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination." -Diane Sawyer