The Cebu Experience

Posted by Mikko at 28 November 2011

Category: BiliBid, Travel

Tags: ,

I first stepped on Visayas’ soil last October 11, 2011 when the kids of BossChief Inc went to Cebu to promote our very own penny auction site, BiliBid. We ‘launched’ BiliBid in Cebu last October 13 at Handuraw Pizza located at Gorordo Avenue in Cebu City. Around 20 bloggers came up. Dinner was served, then the ‘program’ followed. It was a simple program. After dinner, we introduced BossChief Inc, the people behind it and BiliBid. The mechanics of BiliBid were explained, followed by a live bidding demo then the Q&A portion.

We spent most of our stay in Cebu inside our hotel room at Alba Uno Residencia, just behind IT Park. Our usual waking time was 1pm, which made it difficult for us to roam around the city since we had to fix ourselves before we can go out. Aside from our stay in the hotel, we were able to:

  • hangout at IT Park (walking distance from the hotel),
  • eat for dinner at The Ranch in Banilad,
  • eat for lunch at Matias BBQ in A.S. Fortuna,
  • ride the zipline at Papa Kit’s in Liluan,
  • have our massage at Thai Boran near Crowne Regency Hotel just before leaving Cebu.

We weren’t able to explore Cebu much due to time constraints, but never did I know I’ll be coming back to Cebu after a month.

Last week, a BossChief and I came back to Cebu to meet some friends and talk about our upcoming business in Cebu. Tonight will be my last night in Cebu and tomorrow morning, I’ll be going back to Manila. Just like last time, we still checked in at Alba Uno Residencia.

This time, I was able to enter a mall in Cebu to attend the Visayas Blogging Summit. We had our ‘business meeting’ on a Sunday at Cebu Yacht Club. After our meeting, we went to Portofino Beach Resort beach resort, at last natikman ko na rin ang dagat ng Cebu. I was unprepared for our impromptu visit at the beach – but that did not stop me from dipping on the beach.

I’m looking forward to my next visit in Cebu. Sana tuloy-tuloy na once a month ako makakabalik ng Cebu.

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(29 Sept) More PAL flights push through, majority still cancelled

Posted by Mikko at 29 September 2011

Category: Travel

Tags:

It’s a strike three for the Philippine Airlines!

The Philippine Airlines is still struggling to return to normalcy two days (2) after the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea) went on a sit-back strike.

Most of the airlines flights are cancelled for the third consecutive day already. PAL posted on their Facebook page that the following international and domestic flights will push through today (29 Sept) until further notice. All flights not listed below are considered cancelled. Continue reading “(29 Sept) More PAL flights push through, majority still cancelled” »

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(28 Sept) PAL continues some flights, most still cancelled

Posted by Mikko at 28 September 2011

Category: Travel

Tags:

The Philippines’ flag carrier, the Philippine Airlines (PAL), said on its Facebook page that they will be operating select domestic and international flights today, September 28, 2011. 62 domestic flights and 40 international flights shall remain canceled today.

Only the following flights from Manila will operate today:

DOMESTIC
PR847   0600H   CEB
PR291   0700H   DGT
PR321   0855H   KLO
PR811   0900H   DVO
PR853   0900H   CEB
PR323   1330H   KLO
PR293   1340H   DGT
PR849   1530H   CEB
PR813   1530H   DVO
INTERNATIONAL
PR896   0720H   TPE
PR300   0800H   HKG
PR438   1330H   NGO
PR408   1425H   KIX
PR432   1430H   NRT
PR306   1450H   HKG
PR116   1850H   YVR
PR102   2200H   LAX
PR104   2230H   SFO

This comes a day after members of the ground crew union Palea (Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association) went on a surprise sit-back strike. The employees refused to perform their duties such as facilitating disembarkment of baggage, refuelling aircrafts, checking in passengers, among others. Continue reading “(28 Sept) PAL continues some flights, most still cancelled” »

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Trying to solve an upcoming problem

Posted by Mikko at 23 September 2011

Category: BiliBid, Programming

Tags:

Since BiliBid started, I’ve encountered and foreseen problems that may affect the experience of the bidders. I’ve done preventive measures to counter the problems I’ve identified.

As BiliBid continues to grow, I foresee new problems that may arise. Most of them are due to concurrency (users accessing the same resource at the same moment). I have to tweak and optimize my code and queries from time to time to make it as efficient as possible, while maintaining correctness.

Testing the changes is even harder. It’s hard to replicate a potential problem, since first and foremost it does not entail a single request only. It’s a combination of continuous requests (for the timer, messages, and bid history) and user-triggered requests (placing a bid) from multiple clients. At times, there’s no assurance that the changes I’ve made will prevent those problems from happening. What I do is just convince myself that the changes I’ve made were for the better. Once convinced, I deploy it to the production server and hope for the best.

Maintaining BiliBid is not as easy as it may seem. It requires attention especially during the first bidding night after changes were committed. I have to trust on my gut feeling to decide whether to rollback the changes or not.

On the lighter note, I see this strenuous task of maintaining BiliBid as a learning experience. I learned a lot from BiliBid alone. For the love of BiliBid, I’ve read a lot of articles on server hardening, tweaking database and web servers and other related stuff.

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Three weeks of BiliBid

Posted by Mikko at 16 September 2011

Category: BiliBid

Tags:

It’s been a rough ride for the BossChiefs (incorporators of BossChief Inc) for the last two months. It was early July when we thought of creating BiliBid. We first planned to open BiliBid to the public on July 25. Then we thought of moving it on August 6, until it was finally pushed to August 22.

It was a rough ride before we actually opened. Programming BiliBid was a breeze (lucky for us we had a good programmer, yours truly), but designing it took a lot of time. It took me five (5) designs before I was finally satisfied by my work. It took us countless debates on the designs, until they gave up since I always fought for what I wanted – and since I was the one doing it, it was always my call. Continue reading “Three weeks of BiliBid” »

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Best Summer Yet

Posted by Mikko at 2 June 2011

Category: Personal

Tags:

Hello, I’m back at my blog after four (4) months. I haven’t blogged for the entire summer term, not because I don’t have time and absolutely not because I don’t have anything to share.

A lot of things happened during the past months. I’ve been to a four-day basic masses integration and art workshop in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, finished yet another weight training PE, transformed my laptop, explored haircuts, had fun with my classes and my classmates and a lot more.

After finishing my third weight training class in UP, I can say that this summer’s weight training under Sir Marvin Sabado was the most challenging. I’m very proud that I still got a 1.50 from him even though I missed two days of classes during our trip in Hacienda Luisita. All those strenuous days of workout was definitely worth it. Until now, I still continue the abdominals regimen I’ve learned from the class from time to time.


PE 2 WT-M W7 class

My English 10 class under Miss Loujaye Sonido is so far the best GE I’ve taken in UP. I enjoyed the class plus the outside-the-classroom experiences. I really enjoyed the company of my classmates and our beautiful teacher. :D My thesis paper partner and I also got a 1.00 on our thesis paper. :P

Our class went on a four-day basic masses integration and art workshop (Lakbay Sining) with Sinagbayan (Sining na Naglilingkod sa Bayan) at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. There I learned to asarol (hoe) the soil at Ka-Gerry’s place. I also enjoyed pumping the poso (handpump) for different people (mostly strangers) for three straight days; which was an instant workout for me in preparation for the upcoming weight training practicals then. Did that for three days and fortunately my triceps didn’t sore up. During the art workshop, we were asked to choose our class. I chose the art workshop as I don’t have a talent in playing musical instruments, dancing and making songs.


Ang pag-aasarol

During the “last day of summer classes” inside the classroom and even after it, my classmates and I still went out from time to time during deadline of submission of papers and the benefit gigs we had to attend such as the Barikada: Tulong para sa Corazon de Jesus at Hacienda Luisita. Among all of them, I enjoyed Barikada the most. Barikada was a night filled with progressive music and booze – for a cause. I never imagined an activist gig to be that fun.


At Clerisy with English 10 classmates after last day of classes (inside the classroom)


English 10 class picture at Barikada


More Barikada photos


The English 10 kids who stayed ’til the end plus Miss Loujaye

Being a BLKD fan, I did not miss the opportunity at Barikada to have a fan photo with him. To my surprise, he recognized me even though we only met at Hacienda Luisita. More info about BLKD on at fuckyeahblkd in tumblr.


Fan photo with BLKD


Even more BLKD fanboys

As compared to my previous summers, I spent lesser chunk of my time in front of my laptop. But that didn’t stop my laptop from giving up. Too bad for my laptop, his owner loves tinkering stuff. And this is how it looked like while I was tinkering (stripping) it:

I decided to give it some decent outfit so I bought filing cases from CDRKing. Eventually, it now looks like this now:

As the summer classes were about to end, I also made a remake of a video I uploaded before. Here’s the remake:

I would like to share moooooooore photos and videos but my body is already giving up. Disclaimer: the next links are potentially offensive and may be NSFW. I’d be wrapping this up with a pull-ups shot taken by a classmate, and a couple of vanity shots I took supposedly for my own consumption. :P

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Blah blah blah

Posted by Mikko at 5 February 2011

Category: Personal

Tags:

Hey guys. It’s been more than a month since I last blogged. I just feel ranting now after cleaning the entire room. The last time we cleaned was around last October so we had to clean more than three (3) months worth of mess. It took us more than five (5) hours to finish it.

For the past few days, I’ve been keeping myself busy with my fitness. LOL. I tried to exercise more, started to jog and significantly decrease my alcohol consumption. I guess my effort paid off. Last November 2010, my body fat percentage was still around 17%. Yesterday, the interns at the College of Human Kinetics measured it for us again for our fitness test and now it’s down to 6.2%. My resting heart rate is now 48bpm, enough for me to self-diagnose myself with sinus bradycardia. Both my resting heart rate and body fat percentage say I qualify as an athlete, now I need to find a sport to play. My next goal is to increase my BMI from 21.22 to 23 while still maintaining my body fat percentage to below 10%.

By now, I should be keeping myself busy WordPress-izing a website but I’m still not in the mood of doing it.

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Our almost 16-hour delay with Zest Air

Posted by Mikko at 3 January 2011

Category: Travel

Tags:

Summary (all times were approximates, GMT+8)

  • Passengers of this flight, you may answer this form so that we can coordinate in case someone’s filing a civil case against Zest Air.
  • Scheduled flight Zest Air Z2393 (ETD: January 2, 2011 1915h) bound for Manila from Davao.
  • No announcement of delay before ETD.
  • 1945h, 30 minutes after ETD, ground crew flight will be delayed due to additional servicing of aircraft. No new ETD was given.
  • No announcements were made until 2230h, 3 hours 15 minutes after ETD. People from Zest Air were “hiding” most of the time as they weren’t there to assist us.
  • 2230h, a “supervisor” named Emmanuel Aldea, announced that flight is cancelled. A new flight will be held the next morning at 0625h, in conjunction with an existing 0625h Zest Air flight. No hotel accommodations, just free dinner.
  • New ETD is now January 3, 2011 0625h.
  • No announcements from Zest Air until around 1000h the next day. Not even an announcement of delay of our new flight. Announced that new ETD will be January 3, 2011 1030h.
  • The other 0625h flight (but delayed) pushed through but carried passengers scheduled for the flight. People started complaining since we weren’t prioritized even if we were delayed for more than 11 hours already.
  • The 1030h flight pushed through. The Zest Air management issued no official statement regarding the delay.
  • In-flight, they served our “breakfast” at 1200h. To add insult to injury, the food pax were not enough for everyone in the fight. There was also a lack of utensils. Some people at their food pax with their hands.
  • Original ETA: January 2, 2011 2100h. Actual time of arrival: January 3, 2011 1240h.
  • Total delay: 15 hours and 40 minutes.

Happy New Year everyone. I started writing this post on my tenth hour at Davao International Airport. My sister and I were here more than two hours before the ETD of our Zest Air flight as a check-in requirement.

We checked-in together with my sister’s batchmates (which we saw at the airport). For me and my sister’s ticket, a Zest Air ground staff asked for a photocopy of the credit card used to purchase the ticket. Since we had none, we were asked the first and last four digits of the credit card. We were able to provide it right away since it was stored on my phone. As the crew gave us our boarding passes, we immediately notice that there were no names on them. Just passenger and seat numbers, not even flight or gate number. Continue reading “Our almost 16-hour delay with Zest Air” »

19 Comments

Indoor climbing at Power Up Tandang Sora

Posted by Mikko at 30 December 2010

Category: Personal

Tags:

Wall climbing is one of the things I really missed doing for the past few months. I first fell in love with wall climbing days before Valentine’s Day during the UP Fair 2010. Grip UP and Power Up Tandang Sora put up a climbing wall at the Sunken Garden for the fair.

Since then, I started visiting Power Up Tandang Sora (climbing gym) from time to time, bringing with me random friends. There were even times when I went there almost every other day that I decided to subscribe to two-week gym memberships.

Although strenuous, wall climbing is a very fun activity. It provides a glimpse of outdoor rock climbing in a controlled environment. Not only it will help you develop endurance, strength and power, it may also reinforce your willpower (to reach the top :D ).

How to go to Power Up Tandang Sora

For those who want to give indoor climbing a shot, you may visit Power Up Tandang Sora at 690 Tandang Sora Avenue, Old Balara, Quezon City. From Quezon Memorial Circle, enter Commonwealth, turn right on the street (Tandang Sora Avenue) right after Mercury Drug and KFC then finally turn right on the first street. You should see Power Up there.

Cost of climbing at Power Up Tandang Sora

For first-timers, it should cost you around PHP 220.00 (not sure). Included here is the climbing fee, equipment rental and belay card. For your succeeding climbing sessions, it should cost around PHP 200.00 (still unsure; PHP 150 for climbing fee and PHP 50 for equipment rental). In case you decide to make it a hobby, you may also avail of their 14-day (or two-week) gym membership at PHP 600 or a month membership at PHP 1,300. The membership will only cover for your climbing fee.

Here are some tips for those who want to try it out:

  • Don’t hesitate to try it just because you don’t have any climbing experience. Everyone who’ve tried it had a first time, too! The gym staff will teach you how to use their equipment safely. They will even issue you a belay card that you can brag to your friends!
  • Try to bring a friend with you. You will have to pay an extra for a belayer. Alternatively if you are friendly enough, you may make friends there and ask them to belay you. :D
  • Bring extra clothes. You should be comfortable with your climbing clothes. It should not be too tight nor too loose.

Looking forward to climbing again next year!

4 Comments

[Android How-to] Globe Telecom, Smart, SUN GPRS, 3G Internet

Posted by Mikko at 28 December 2010

Category: Android, How-To, Mobile

Tags: , , , ,

For those who want to know how to setup their Android devices to work with Globe Telecom, Smart or Sun Cellular mobile Internet, you may follow these simple steps.

  1. Press the Menu button.
  2. Then tap Settings.
  3. Choose Wireless & networks (usually the first option unless you have custom UI [e.g. HTC Sense UI, Samsung TouchWiz UI])
  4. Select Mobile networks.
  5. Then go to Access Point Names.
  6. Press the Menu button.
  7. Then tap New APN.
  8. Supply the following settings:
  • For Globe Telecom
    • Name: GLOBE (or anything you want)
    • APN: http.globe.com.ph
    • LEAVE THE REST OF THE FIELDS AS-IS
  • For Smart and Talk and Text
    • Name: SMART (or anything you want)
    • APN: internet
    • LEAVE THE REST OF THE FIELDS AS-IS
  • For SUN PREPAID
    • Name: SUN (or anything you want)
    • APN: minternet
    • Authentication type: PAP
    • LEAVE THE REST OF THE FIELDS AS-IS
  • For SUN POSTPAID or line
    • Name: SUN (or anything you want)
    • APN: fbband
    • Authentication: PAP
    • LEAVE THE REST OF THE FIELDS AS-IS

For SUN Prepaid and Postpaid, you may need to activate mobile internet service. You may request service activation by calling 888.

Enjoy your Internet!

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