Just to give you an idea, I’ll enumerate the HTTP requests the BiliBid server is constantly receiving:

• The pages. They are the requests for the front page, winners page, single bid page, redeem PIN page, etc. It is requested once per pageview.
• The static files. The pages contain static files (Javascript and LESS files). Multiple requests per pageview, only requested when the page is loaded.
• Balance requests. When a user is logged in, the user’s browser requests for the bid balance once every two seconds.
• Timer requests. When a user is in the front page or a single bid page, the user’s browser requests for the timers of the items in the page once every second.
• Bid requests. Everytime a user places a bid, a request is sent to the server.

Multiply that to the number of users online!

Switch from Apache to nginx + php-fpm

One day around early September, I tried researching on nginx (engine-x) since I’ve heard that it has a smaller and more predictable memory (RAM) footprint. I also read stuff on php-fpm. I tried to weigh things since I’ll have to lose some Apache functionality if I switch to this one. This means no more .htaccess for me, but obviously I can convert my .htaccess file to something that nginx would understand. Fortunately, I found out that it wasn’t that hard to do it.

The same day, I installed nginx on the server. Before killing Apache and starting nginx, I fixed all my configuration files first. Then came the moment of truth, I killed Apache and started nginx. I was surprised that everything went so well that I couldn’t believe that BiliBid was already running in nginx.

Routing problems

Then came late October, people started reporting having high latencies with BiliBid. I think it was also the same period when I decided to put the Connection Quality indicator (before I did it, I know no other penny auction site with that feature – until I received a tip from a bidder that a penny auction site in the Philippines [starts with B and ends with A] implemented it, too). Before the problem occurred, I made no major change on BiliBid therefore I concluded that there might have been routing problems from some of our bidders’ end to our server.

This time, I decided to move our server to a nearer location to reduce latency and hopefully solve the routing problem. The move had trade-offs. It was more cost-efficient but to the expense of number of usable processor threads. On our previous server, I had 16 processor threads compared to four (4) on the new server.

I decided to review most of the SQL queries I was making and optimize it. I was able to reduce the execution time of my complex queries, some went down to up to 50%.

Everything went well until we started our Facebook campaigns. We received double the amount of concurrent online users. Our server load went crazy to up to 20.00, then one time it went as high as 70.00 during the auction of a big item. We had to postpone one of the big items to distribute the load over time. I tried experimenting different configurations on nginx, php-fpm and MySQL but to no avail.

Going back to our old server

This time, I decided to go back to our old server (16 usable processor threads). The problem with the server load disappeared. Everything was okay until recently, we received an overwhelming number of reports that translate to latency problems. I checked them one by one, around 1/2 were valid while the other third I consider invalid – just riding with the flow (and I hate it).

The most recent server switch, adding another server, MariaDB, etc

So I decided to go back to nearer server with four (4) processor threads. Before switching, I tried reading stuff to optimize the server to prevent high loads. I decided to change SQL server from MySQL to MariaDB. I think I first heard of MariaDB during a DevCon in UP. I experimented on the different storage engines offered by MariaDB until I settled with Aria.

Then came the switch. The latency was significantly lowered down (reduced by more than 50% on most users). The only problem was the higher-than-usual server load (as compared to our old server with 16 processor threads) which I fear would slow down the SQL queries (which is bad for a realtime app like a penny auction site) on peak hours.

Fearful of the slowdown, I decided to get another server on the same location. I configured the second server as the SQL server while the other one will be used solely as a web server. Since they are on the same location, I set up a private network for the two machines so that they exist in one logical network and one LAN.

With the new set-up (dedicated machine for SQL and another one for web serving), I was able to reduce the server load on the web server. The SQL server was also running very fine, in fact based on my tests the execution time for my most complex query was reduced to as much as 40%.

Other stuff I did

Since BiliBid is a time-sensitive web application, there is no room for slowdown. I had to:

• Optimize my cron job that runs every minute. I had to tweak it to only update information that needs to be updated, ignore others. Previously, it processes all my entities. Since the number of entities grow over time (new signups daily, new auctions, etc), I found it inefficient.
• Remove all system cron jobs. On a fresh install of most Linux distros, it automatically adds cron jobs for maintenance tasks. I had to remove them since a maintenance task could possibly slow down BiliBid. This equates to disaster if it runs on a peak hour or if there’s an active auction. I decided to manually run this maintenance tasks during off-peak hours.
• Made RRDTool graphs on the latency to make monitoring easier.

I really hope the stuff I did recently will work well. Until now, I continue to experiment different configurations to check the most efficient one.

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.

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.

Domestic Flights

NAIA Terminal 3

• PR189 Manila-Roxas ETD 0530H
• PR190 Roxas-Manila ETA 0800H
• PR281 Manila-Cagayan de Oro ETD 0600H
• PR282 Cagayan de Oro-Manila ETA 0920H
• PR175 Manila-Tagbilaran ETD 0850H
• PR176 Tagbilaran-Manila ETA 1200H
• PR141 Manila-Iloilo NETD 1250H
• PR142 Iloilo-Manila nETA 1435H
• PR391 Manila-Tacloban NETD 1010H
• PR392 Tacloban-Manila NETA 1315H
• PR197 Manila-Puerto Princesa ETD 1600H
• PR198 Puerto Princesa-Manila ETA 1905H

NAIA Terminal 2

• PR811 Manila-Davao ETD 0900H
• PR812 Davao-Manila ETA 1340H
• PR853 Manila-Cebu ETD 0900H
• PR854 Cebu-Manila ETA 1230H
• PR226 Manila-Laoag ETD 0950H
• PR227 Laoag-Manila ETA 1230H
• PR861 Manila-Cebu ETD 1245H
• PR849 Manila-Cebu ETD 1530H
• PR850 Cebu-Manila ETA 1900H
• PR813 Manila-Davao ETD 1530H
• PR814 Davao-Manila ETA 2010H

International Flights

NAIA Terminal 2

• PR466 Manila-Incheon NETD 0300H
• PR467 Incheon-Manila ETA
• PR358 Manila-Beijing ETD 0720H
• PR359 Beijing-Manila ETA 1740H
• PR896 Manila-Taipei ETD 0720H
• PR899 Taipei-Manila ETA 1930H
• PR334 Manila-Xiamen ETD 0740H
• PR335 Xiamen-Manila ETA 1325H
• PR300 Manila-Hong Kong ETD 0800H
• PR301 Hong Kong-Manila ETA 1315H
• PR426 Manila-Fukuoka ETD 1020H
• PR425 Fukuoka-Manila ETA 1830H
• PR730 Manila-Bangkok ETD 1025H
• PR731 Bangkok-Manila ETA 1820H
• PR336 Manila-Shanghai ETD 1130H
• PR337 Shanghai-Manila ETA 1930H
• PR438 Manila-Nagoya ETD 1330H
• PR437 Nagoya-Manila ETA 1245H (next day)
• PR408 Manila-Osaka ETD 1425H
• PR407 Osaka-Manila ETA 1305H (next day)
• PR432 Manila-Narita ETD 1430H
• PR431 Narita-Manila ETA 1310H (next day)
• PR468 Manila-Incheon ETD 1430H
• PR469 Incheon-Manila ETA 2340H
• PR306 Manila-Hong Kong ETD 1450H
• PR307 Hong Kong-Manila ETA 2005H
• PR100 Manila-Honolulu ETD 1520H
• PR101 Honolulu-Manila ETA 1435H (next day)
• PR106 Manila-Vancouver-Las Vegas ETD 1640H
• PR107 Las Vegas-Vancouver-Manila ETA 0430H (01Oct)
• PR209 Manila-Melbourne-Sydney ETD 2100H
• PR210 Sydney-Manila ETA 1720H (next day)
• PR102 Manila-Los Angeles ETD 2200H
• PR103 Los Angeles-Manila ETA 0605H (01Oct)
• PR104 Manila-San Francisco ETD 2230H
• PR105 San Francisco-Manila ETA 0540H (01Oct)

Passengers of the affected flights may reach the Reservations department of PAL through the following hotlines:

• Manila – (632) 855-8888
• Cebu – (6332) 340-0191
• Davao – (6382) 221-5513; 222-0366
• Iloilo – (6333) 333-0004
• Hong Kong – (852) 2301-9300
• Melbourne – (613) 9650-2188
• Singapore – (65) 6336-1611
• Sydney – (612) 9279-2020
• Taipei – (8862) 2506-7255
• Tokyo – (813) 3593-2421
• US/Canada – 1-800-I-FLY-PAL

Rebooking fees and other charges on affected flights will be waived by the Philippine Airlines.

The Philippine Airlines is still in the process of replacing their 2,600 workers with outsourced ones.

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.

The employees went on a strike on an attempt to save their jobs. PAL is due to lay off 2,600 employees in an effort to outsource their non-core functions.

PAL, on Tuesday (27 Sept), was forced to cancel all its flights (102 internation, 70 domestic) since the strike started. PAL announced that they will be resuming their operations by 6pm, but had troubles meeting their self-declared deadline as the airline was only operating through volunteers from their administrative staff.

According to their website, they were only able to mount the following flights after the strike: Manila-Davao (PR821); Manila-Kalibo (PR239); Manila-Hong Kong (PR310); Manila-Bangkok (PR732); Manila-Los Angeles (PR102); Manila-San Francisco (PR104); Manila-Jakarta (PR535).

A press release by PAL last September 24 stated that:

PAL is adopting contingency measures during the transition period to shield its customers from unnecessary inconvenience and hassles. We’re not taking any chances. These measures will help alleviate the inevitable minor kinks in PAL’s service as we go though this difficult but necessary transition period.

Despite being equipped with a contingency plan for the hiccups during the transition period, last Tuesday’s events (27 Sept) proved that the airline was not ready for the occurrence of such strike.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said that PAL has decided to implement their outsourcing plan three (3) days ahead of schedule due to the incident. She added that the management has already declared all ground employees off-duty until September 30 with pay.

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.

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.

While continuously iterating the design for BiliBid, the BossChiefs had a lot of other stuff to do. We had to do all the stuff to conduct business legally. That includes the process of incorporating BossChief Inc, getting the other necessary permits and all those stuff. There were bottlenecks in the process, since some permits would require the SEC registration or other permits for it to be processed.

We also had to finalize the bid prices and all those sorts. We had to meet with our partners for our payment gateways. We also planned for an event for our launching. We had to do more stuff than we imagined.

Midway all those stuff, we realized that we need more capital to survive. We had to look for money. We thought of getting a bank loan, borrowing from friends and other gimmicks. In a span of weeks, we were able to raise some money – but not as big as we would have wanted.

Days passed, until we finally decided to open. We decided to scale our plans down; ditch the launching event and do other austerity measures (including the drastic reduction of our weekly allowance) just to operate.

By the time we started operating BiliBid, I thought that it was the end of those busy days – but I was wrong. We had to attend to the issues of our bidders. We had to listen to their suggestions. We had to make our Facebook Page fun. We had to make our bidders feel “at home.” I had to tweak a lot of stuff in the website.

Then came August 24, the day of our first big item, the iPad 2. That time, I realized that I had to optimize the server. I underestimated the load of tens to hundreds of bidders concurrently connecting to the site. Optimizing the server entailed a lot of backend work and testing. I even had to change the web server (the application, not the physical server) to suit our needs. Sadly, those changes weren’t visible visually thus making me feel underrecognized for my work.

Since BiliBid opened, we had our daily meetings (face-to-face or online). We had to plan for our items, discuss the problems we encountered for the day, brainstorm and discuss a lot of stuff.

For these past few weeks, I get really exhausted at the end of the day. I want to just sleep upon arriving home, but sometimes I still have to wash my clothes so that I still have clothes to wear for the next day. But don’t worry, I still get the amount of sleep I desire.

Despite all of these, I think our hard work is starting to pay out. I’m very happy that we’ve built a good community especially on our Facebook Page. I’m happy for the kind of culture we’ve developed on our community. I’m happy that people are supportive to our endeavors to the point of suggesting stuff to make BiliBid better. I guess we did a good job listening to those suggestions – we even rolled out some of them in less than 24 hours. Some suggestions took a longer time to deploy, since we still had to discuss those suggestions and make a compromise when we’re not fully amenable to them.

Our bidders may not know this, but we get really inspired and motivated by their words of appreciation to our efforts. Nakakabawi ng pagod ang kakulitan niyo sa Facebook page.

Hanggang dito na muna, inaantok na ako.

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. My thesis paper partner and I also got a 1.00 on our thesis paper.

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.

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.

• 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.

Our flight’s ETD was January 02, 2011 1915h. As usual, we waited at the predeparture area. We saw our plane land and disembark its passengers. Few minutes before the ETD, there were no boarding announcements or whatsoever. Our ETD passed yet there was still no boarding announcements. People started asking for questions but the ground crew at the gate told us they can’t answer them since they weren’t told of any developments. Later, ground crews began to flock on a restricted-access area right in front of the predeparture area until they start disappearing.

Thirty minutes after ETD at 1945h, a ground crew announced that our flight will be delayed due to additional servicing to the aircraft. They can’t give us our new ETD unlike all other delayed flights in the airport. After a while, they began disappearing again one-by-one.

No one from Zest Air to attend to our needs and questions, I tried to look for someone in the airport to bring us someone from Zest Air at the predeparture area. I tried to go to the check-in area where I saw a Zest Air personnel. I told her about the lack of ground crew to assist the passengers at the predeparture area. She told me that there should be someone there and so I demanded for ground crew to man the predeparture area. I also complained about the lack of new ETD.

At past 2200h, chaos starts anew as a Zest Air staff appears in the predeparture area. She still can’t give us our new ETD. I told her that they should let someone stay there to accept our questions instead of hiding. She told me that even if she stayed there she can’t answer our questions since they weren’t briefed on what to say to us. She told us that we had to wait for a “supervisor” to talk to us. People throwed her a lot of complaints and questions while I demanded for food.

At around 2230h, the “supervisor” announced that our flight is a no-go. It will be cancelled and moved to the next day with new ETD at January 03, 2010 0625h. He told us that they still need to fly the parts needed to fix our plane from Manila. People demanded that the parts be flown through other airlines instead of flying it on their own aircraft (their next flight will arrive in Davao at 0430h the next day). The “supervisor” refused to accept the idea since the last plane bound for Davao has already left Manila (which we doubted). People kept on complaining that the part should have been flown to another airliner if they had ordered its delivery earlier. To add insult to the injury, he announced that they will not be providing accommodations for the night. They will only be serving dinner which they have ordered already. There was chaos as people were demanding for different things.

Around thirty minutes after, the “supervisor” disappears. He earlier promised that they will be staying with us the entire night to assist our needs. Some people started leaving the airport. Food was nowhere in sight. There were rumors that we aren’t allowed to stay in the terminal as per Aviation Security Group (ASG) since they will have to close the airport. A Zest Air ground crew confirmed this. People started complaining again and demanded for decent accommodation.

At around 0000h, the ASG told us that we can’t stay in the airport anymore. People demanded they will stay in the airport until Zest Air provides us with a decent accommodation. They were forced to just let us stay inside the predeparture area while they closed the rest of the airport. I started calling Zest Air hotline to complain about the lack of ground crew in the predeparture area. I also complained about the food they promised to us.

At around 0030h, the food came and people started queuing behind bars. Up to now, I haven’t seen a Zest Air personnel yet since 2300h.

The Zest Air crew here in Davao was very unprofessional in a lot of ways. Here’s just to list a few:

• They tend to just hide when people demand for answers.
• The supervisor invoked appeal to pity when he told us that we’re a lot luckier since we can nap in the terminal. He told us that they will have to stay awake until we leave just to assist us with our needs. Yet, they were nowhere in sight since 2300h.
• The supervisor also invoked appeal to pity when he said we were 162 of us yet there are only 20 of them.
• One girl asked a ground crew if Zest Air can refund her ticket since she’s going to buy another ticket from another airline. The crew just told the girl that she can’t answer the question since their ticketing office handles refunds. She also told the girl that their ticketing office was already closed – thus leaving her helpless. She should have tried to coordinate with the ticketing office of the main office to answer the girl’s inquiry.
• It took them almost three hours after the flight to give us a new ETD while all other airliners provided new ETDs the time they announced the delay of a certain flight.

The boarding passes with no names was also a major security breach. We asked one of my sister’s batchmate (which was not a part of the traveling party) to buy us food while we waited. When the food arrived, my sister went out of the airport with two boarding passes. That batchmate was able to enter the predeparture area with my sister to bring our food. Only members of the traveling parties are supposed to be in that area of the airport. It also meant that anyone with the boarding pass can ride the plane since there were no names printed on it.

Right now (0412h) the airport has opened again. In a few minutes is the arrival of a Zest Air flight carrying the parts needed to fix our plane. We will not be riding the plane that brought the parts since the passengers of the originally scheduled 0625h flight for the day will board the aircraft. We will have to wait until the aircraft is fixed before we can fly to Manila.

Zest Air, thanks for fucking up our lives. What a great way to start the year!

Woot, finally I’m posting this on my 12th hour at the airport. :O

UPDATE:

At around 0625h, our flight still didn’t push through. There were no announcements or whatsoever regarding the delay of our new flight. We already called ABS-CBN and GMA to cover the situation.

The ground staff refuse to bring their supervisor before us since their supervisor was busy. There’s chaos in the airport especially before the departure of the a scheduled 0625h flight. People complained that we should have been prioritized in that flight since we were already delayed for more than 11 hours.

The next update we received was at around 1000h. They told us that the flight will push through with new ETD at January 3, 2011 1030h. The flight pushed through. They served breakfast in-flight. There were not enough food pax for all of us. Not enough utensils, too, that some people ate barehanded.

We arrived in Manila at January 3, 2011 1240h. Our original ETA was January 2, 2011 2100h. In short, we were delayed for 15 hours and 40 minutes. Thanks for your dinner served at 1am and breakfast served at 12nn Zest Air!

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 ).

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.
• 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!