JustWandering by Nina Fuentes | Travel blogging from Manila, wandering through the Philippines Asia and Australia
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Archive for September, 2008

Sep
18

I vote for Filipino Voices

Posted by nina under Geek stuff, Philippines

…because they sure as hell deserve it more than I do XD

Believe me, it’s hard to choose among the 41 blogs competing for the award. I know this for a fact because I went through ALL 41 blogs. What won me over was Jester‘s entry on Sinfully Good Sex:

So here we are going to talk about sex — sinful sex (as far as the Roman Catholic Church and quite a number of other denominations are concerned); more precisely, we are going to talk about sinfully good sex and why we should support it.

First, let’s agree on something: those who believe that SEX IS YUMMEH, gimme a “hell, yeah!”

Dissenting voices? Is anyone going to say that they honestly hate boinking?

None? Oooh.

Since there isn’t anyone who honestly wouldn’t want to have hot, slick, tear-up-the-sheets, forget-one’s-name, “oh my God oh my God oh yes yess yesss” boinkfests with their partner of choice, let’s talk about sex.

Good sex, of course.

Source: FilipinoVoices.com

How can you NOT vote for that??

Have you voted for your favorite blog yet? Vote quick, and get a chance to win a Nokia N82! Only VALID votes/entries are eligible to enter, so be sure to read the mechanics!

There are also TWO Sponsor Awards that you can still join: The Level Up! Gaming Blog Award and Nokia’s: Kaleidoscope of Connections Award. Deadlines for submission of entries has been extended to the 19th of September.

The Philippine Blog Awards night will be on Sunday already, have you registered yet?

Sep
18

I Pick Manila

Posted by nina under Manila, Philippines

There’s a new weekend market in town, and it’s right in the heart of Manila. Every Sunday this September, Celadon Residences brings us Pick Manila, a collection of food and lifestyle mini stores right outside SM San Lorenzo.

Pick Manila Sunday Market

 
Similar to Salcedo, Legaspi, and the Lung Center markets, Pick Manila showcases goods that you wouldn’t usually find in the malls. There were fresh fruits, dried fish, handicrafts, and even hard to find books.

My favorite picks in the Market are the Italian soda (flavored soda, Php 50 each), yakisoba (fried noodles, Php 20), and takoyaki (octopus balls, Php 20). The one that intrigued me the most though, was this stall that sells organic rice and noodles. The noodles are similar to dried pancit canton noodles, but it was flat, like fettuccini and comes in different flavors: ampalaya, squash, etc. Best of all, these healthy products are all made in the Philippines.

Pick Manila Sunday Market
Noreen drives a hard bargain

 

Nothing to do this Sunday? Why not head on over to Pick Manila? (After that, head on to One Esplanade for the Philippine Blog Awards ;))

After some delays, the Philippine Blog Awards is finally happening, and it’s culminating on Sunday, September 21st at the Esplanade by the Bay. The nominees for most of the awards are now being judged by the esteemed panel, but here’s one category that lets YOU vote for your favorite: the People’s Choice Award.

And the nominees are:

To vote, simply follow these instructions:

This year’s voting is quite different from last year’s. In order for us to accurately tally the bloggers who voted, we jazzed up the voting a bit and made it more exciting.

To vote, you MUST be a Filipino blogger, which means, you need to own a blog. You might be blogging on Blogger, WordPress.Com, Live Journal, Friendster, Multiply, or on a self-hosted
blog—it doesn’t matter—the point is, you need to have a blog to vote. Your blog must be established at least three (3) months from today with a minimum of 10 posts.

Why? Well, read on for the instructions on how to vote for your favorite Bloggers’ Choice Award nominee!

  • Choose only ONE (1) blog from the list of official Bloggers’ Choice Award nominees above. On your blog, tell us why you voted for the nominee. Yes, you can vote for your own blog. And no, you cannot vote for a blog that is not on the list of official Bloggers’ Choice Award nominees.
  • You may choose to include the sponsors list in your post. We’d like to thank our sponsors for supporting local Pinoy bloggers.
  • Co-Presentors
    Level Up! Games
    Nokia
    Blog Bank
    Smart Communications
    Josiah’s Catering
    Toshiba
    Geiser Maclang

    Gold Sponsors
    Rsun My Technology Store
    Yahoo
    2go
    Belo Medical Group
    XFM 92.3
    Buddy Gancencia Reality TV
    Ultravision Photo and Video
    Click Booth
    Aloha Board Sports
    Sheero Media Solutions
    YourPinoyBroker.com
    PLDT
    Red Box
    Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
    Havaianas
    California Pizza Kitchen
    David and Goliath

    Media Partners
    Inquirer.Net
    ROAM Magazine
    flippish tv

    Here’s the code if you need it:

  • Submit your post URL and some basic info tthe Philippine Blog Awards committee using this form. Make sure
    that you provide the COMPLETE URL of the post you created for your vote to be valid.

Source: Philippine Blog Awards

Voting for your favorite blog not only shows your support, but it also qualifies you to win a Nokia N82 phone!

There are also TWO Sponsor Awards that you can join: The Level Up! Gaming Blog Award and Nokia’s: Kaleidoscope of Connections Award.

What are you waiting for? You have only until the 19th to vote, send in your entries and your votes now!

Interested to attend the awards night on Sunday? Register now, because there are very limited slots available!

While preparing to go to bed after a long day, I just realized that I’ve attended two Wordcamp firsts: the first Wordcamp in Australia (Wordcamp Melbourne 2007), and the first Wordcamp in Southeast Asia (Wordcamp Philippines 2008. Darn you Beijing for holding one last year; it would’ve been first in Asia!)

Smug declarations aside, I’m pretty happy with today’s programs. Hands down, it was one of the BEST blog events of 2008. WordPress is something all the participants were passionate about, and you can really see how much bloggers are interested in learning more about this powerful blogging platform. There was an eclectic mix of participants – newbies, probloggers, personal bloggers, developers, designers. All the breakaway sessions were well attended (because they’re all interesting), and the afternoon’s plenary session was especially interesting because it was when Matt Mullenweg delivered his State of the Word address and had a short Q&A session with the campers. I think Matt was amused at how we love to take photos and took plenty of shots of campers taking a picture of him.

Matt and his fans
Matt and his fans

 
Then there was the serious business of camwhoring after the program XD We all posed for a class picture with Matt, then the Wordcamp organizers and volunteers had their photos taken with the huge backdrop. Then comes the jumpshots. Matt was so amused by all of it, that he had to join the other photographers in taking photos and joining the organizers eventually. Almost everybody wanted a photo with Matt, and he willingly obliged to each request, even chatting up the groups who came up to him for a photo.

I guess that’s one of the reasons why this was such a fun event: Matt was so easy going and friendly. Despite his popularity and status, he remains down to earth. It really was such an honor to meet a person like Matt Mullenweg.

Wordcamp Philippines Organizers and Volunteers
Wordcamp Philippines Organizers and Volunteers

 

Of course, a big part of why this event was one of the best ever are the organizers. I have to hand it to the Mindanao Bloggers; they really worked hard for Wordcamp Philippines, and it paid off. I was watching them work while I was waiting (because I arrived way too early), and I saw every volunteer doing their assigned tasks, and all the leaders working with them, instead of just ordering people around. That, my friends, is the recipe for a great event ;)

Looking forward to Wordcamp Philippines 2009!
Read the rest of this entry »

4:46 pm

Matt is winding down the session with the Q&A session. Battery’s running out so this is probably my last update (and I’m getting lazy). Watch out for the proper WordCamp post later!

2:57 pm

It’s Ms. Google Earth Philippines, Aileen Apolo! She’s going to talk about Google Analytics. Woohoo! The crowd got really excited when she took out a Google shirt.

2:24 PM

Matt has the most awesome e-mail address, and I thought his url was already cool. Ria had a fan girl moment XD

1:59 pm

What’s this in the slide?? WordPress 2.7! It looks awesome! The Dashboard has been reorganized. It’s intuitive, you can even drag and drop the panels in the edit page! You can easily download and install themes and plugins right in your WordPress admin panel. How awesome is that? We’d all have to wait until November though. But still… YAY for WP2.7!

1:48 pm

I won a Php500 Gift certificate from Italianni’s! But enough of that… it’s Matt’s turn on the stage! First thing he did was to take a photo of the Wordcampers! :D

1:28 pm

Lunch is done (thank you, Chowking!), and we’re just waiting for the afternoon’s plenary session.

Jeff and his cupcake
Jeff and his cupcake

 

12:07 am

Apart from the overly technical stuff, this is really quite interesting. Specially since I need it for work and freelance projects. I’m really impressed at the sites Karla showed us that uses WordPress as their CMS. They really doesn’t look like your typical wordpress blogs! Impressive.

11:50 am

Nosebleeding at Karla’s session. Should’ve gone to the presscon (g_doh)

11:31 am

The SEO session was PACKED. Eric and I are now inside Karla‘s session, WordPress as CMS.

11:19 am

We were late to join the other breakaway session, so we’re just hanging around the CSB halls. But at least we have pictures with Matt Mullenweg!

With Matt Mullenweg!
With Matt Mullenweg

 

Second breakaway session is over. Moving on to WordPress & SEO!

10:42 am

Gail’s session is winding down. Important lesson: Don’t use your theme to spam! Oh, and while it’s often overlooked, it’s also important to edit your image.php and 404.php files.

9:59 am

Gail showed her work on the Pinoy Adventure Blog‘s theme. Ang ganda!

 

9:53 am

Gail’s talk is starting. She’s walking around the front of the theatre, wearing her Ateneo jacket. Kamusta naman.

Fritz, Gail, AJ and Hana
Fritz, Gail, AJ and Hana

 

9:39 am

Migs is giving a run down of the day’s schedule. The two tracks will divide in a bit. I’m attending Gail‘s talk on Creating WordPress Themes & CSS Power. A new travel blog will be unveiled. ;)

9:36 am

Blogie is now addressing the campers and welcomed Matt Mullenweg.

9:31 am

Opening remarks by De La Salle Benilde Dean Benhur Ong of the School of Management and Information Technology.

9:29 am

Wordcamp is starting!

9:23 am

Still not starting. They said the program’s going to start in two minutes a couple of minutes ago. I’ve finally met Estan, on my way to the loo. Nggh, forgot to take a photo *face palm*

8:27 am

People are trickling in. I’m seeing many familiar faces, but there are plenty of new faces as well. All around me are people taking about variable widths, widgets, header.php, upgrading to WordPress 2.6.1. My being an early bird got me a cute WordPress button!

Arpee and Mica
Mica and Arpee

 

7:23 am

I’m early. So early lol. I take comfort in knowing that I’m already the 3rd camper to arrive. The volunteers (save for the Rockstar Fritz Tentativa are hard buzzing about, making last minute preparations. The WC volunteers look spiffy in their black WordCamp Philippines shirt.

Rockstar Fritz
The Rockstar with his LG Secret phone.

 
I shall be updating this post throughout the day (or at least when I can remember), with the latest updates appearing at the top of the page. Here’s to hoping I actually pay attention and not Plurk all day!

P.s. The Fritz is now working.

Sep
03

Backpacking 101 with YTrip

Posted by nina under Interaction, Philippines

Want to learn how to travel around the Philippines and even around the world on a budget? Youth Trip (YTrip) is having a Backpacking 101: Intro to Outdoor Recreation on Saturday, September 6, 2008 at the HOPE Center, Katipunan cor. Aurora Avenue (near LRT 2 Station and St. Bridgette Academy).

This session’s lecturer is Salvador Elmer C. Cabotage, Chairman of the Education Committee, Mountaineering Fed of the Philippines (MFPI) and member of the UIAA Youth Commission. He is a certified Leave No Trace (LNT) trainer and a contributing editor for Action and Fitness Magazine.

Backpacking 101 starts at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and a participation fee of Php200 will be collected.

For more details, call 0917.887.7087 or email youthtrip@gmail.com.

Nina Fuentes | Lovin' ManilaNina, going through quarterlife crisis, decided to stop talking about traveling and actually start traveling. Starting with a solo weekend trip to Cebu to a backpacking trip in Thailand and Singapore, she finally made it out of Asia and into Australia. After spending close to six months down under, she's happily settled in Manila (for now), intent to explore the best things the Philippines has to offer.