Archive for July, 2008
Filed under food trip, human interest, trivia
Am I the last one to know that coffee can be made from animal droppings?
I saw these jars while having lunch at Abaseria Deli and Cafe, a Filipino restaurant that also sells accessories, native houseware, and delicacies that can’t be bought anywhere. I was looking over the shelves when a friend pointed these out to me:
I’m told this coffee was featured on TV. I don’t watch TV so that’s probably why I didn’t know.
I did a quick search on the web, and learned that Philippine civet (also known as alamid) is a cat-like animal that is said to eat only the best coffee cherries, which contain the coffee beans. Producers of the Philippine civet coffee call this natural processing. Right. And the digestive process of the civet is said to add to the rare taste.
This coffee is considered gourmet, and is very expensive. You can check the price on the bottle.
Filed under Photohunt, adventure, human interest, travel, trivia
This is the Delirium, a thrill ride at the Kings Island Amusement Park in Mason, Ohio. (Trivia: This park is the biggest in the Midwest. It was once featured on The Partridge Family and Brady Bunch.)
Riders are seated on a ring facing outward with their legs dangling in the air. A giant arm swings the ring back and forth as if it is swinging a slingshot, and riders are spun in a 240-degree arc 137 feet in the air, or roughly more than 13 stories. Hanging, indeed!
I didn’t ride the Delirium because I was already dizzy from the other thrill rides in the park, and besides, I didn’t have the guts to go up on it. Just looking at it from afar made my insides knot.
Filed under events, technology
I am drooling. Digital Hub is hosting an exhibit of the Apple iLife this weekend at Robinsons Ermita. There will be demos, tutorials, photo sessions, and Q&A sessions on iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, GarageBand, and the OS version Leopard for two days.
Filmmakers Dante Nico Garcia, director of “Ploning,” and Joaquin Pedro Valdes, director of “Bulong,” will be there.
Never mind that attendees will be styled by artists from Shu Uemura and shot afterwards by professional photographers. I am not into make-up, and I am not that vain yet. I just hate it that I’d be missing the tutorial on the iPhoto. I am more of a learn-on-the-job person, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn techniques from those who have been using iPhoto professionally.
This is one of the reasons why I hate being away from where the action is. I am missing a lot.
Filed under blogging, events, technology
Yay! WordCamp is coming to town! 
I didn’t think it would ever come to the Philippines. It would be the first WordCamp in Southeast Asia, thanks to the folks at Mindanao Bloggers who organized this event.
WordCamp, by the way, is a conference where Wordpress users and developers discuss codes, tips, and updates.
I’m obviously a Wordpress fan. I’ve used several other platforms, but Wordpress is a class all its own. I switched to Wordpress in 2006 because I thought its themes looked more professional. I have since discovered a thousand other reasons why it is the best. I like that I have more elbow room to customize my blog. I like that it is much easier to optimize. Heck, my blog in Blogdrive used to have a page rank of five, but it rarely showed up in the SERPs.
So, Wordpress fans, let’s see each other on September 6 at the College of St. Benilde, Taft Avenue, Manila.
Actually, my current schedule doesn’t allow me to be there, but I am praying that I could twist somebody’s arm so she’d give her consent. I will be there!
Special thanks to the sponsors:
Filed under current events
I found out today that the head lawyer of Sulpicio Lines belong to the same organization as I.
I had seen him before in previous functions and I had read about him in the papers, but I didn’t make the connection until this morning, when he was the butt of friendly jokes at our leadership training.
I wondered if anyone in that room honestly believed that the shipping line is at fault. They seemed to be blaming the weather bureau. I don’t know if they said what they said because that was what they really believe, or if they were just being polite.
These past few weeks we’ve read and heard about how Sulpicio Lines has tried to squirm out of responsibility.
So when I found out that he was the Sulpicio lawyer, I thought about going up to him and talk to him (and maybe scourge him).
But I made the mistake of waiting until the program was over, and by then I had a clearer mind. He was there as a person, not as the lawyer of Supicio Lines, so I let it go. And I thought, he is only the lawyer, maybe he was just doing his job.
But if you’re a lawyer, would you defend a serial killer? (I say serial killer with conviction.)
They say, though, that lawyers cannot choose their clients, so I don’t know what to think.
