I love my Gorillapod. When people see me using it, they all look at it in amazement and it always end up with them asking me where I bought it and for how much. I bought my Gorillapod locally, at the 5th Avenue store for Php1,400. I always say that it’s a great value for a great product. Honestly, I didn’t mind shelling out 1,400 for it.

Not surprisingly, it pains me to see this inside Cebu Pacific’s latest Smile, their inflight magazine on my flight back to Manila yesterday:

What the hell?

 
Labeled as the CEB Camera Flexi Tripod in Pouch, this technically isn’t THE Gorillapod, but looks surprisingly close to one.

I wonder how it would compare to the original though. Is it as sturdy? As flexible? As stable? Does it grip as well as the original Gorillapod? I made the huge mistake of being cheap and not buying it so I can compare the two. Anybody have Cebu Pacific’s version of the Gorillapod? I would love to hear your reviews about it!

Popularity: 34% [?]

1. Take note of the current number they’re serving and your own number. Hopefully, there would be about 80 people ahead of you so you’d have time to shop.
2. Go to the mall information kiosk and ask if there’s a travel agency in the building. Locate the agency and ask if they book flights with Cebu Pacific. If they answer negatively, ask if they accept bookings for Philippine Airlines or Air Philippines. If they do, request for a quotation. Brace yourself for the fare they will quote you. Thank the man for accommodating your request and resignedly walk back to the Cebu Pacific ticketing office, hoping that the queue has progressed significantly, but has not gone past your number yet.
3. Head back to the ticketing office laden with bags full of snacks and have an impromptu picnic.
4. Read the tattered remnants of Summit Publication magazines lying around. Indulge yourself with the luxury of having the time (and sufficient amount of boredom) and pore over past issues of Good Housekeeping, Smart Parenting, Preview and Smile. If you’re lucky, you just might chance upon a Cosmopolitan or two.
5. Have a chat with the person you dragged along with you to this ordeal about life, love and outhouses. Once you run out of things to talk about, rehash old stories and jokes you still laugh about. This helps you cling to the remaining threads of your sanity.
6. Once the conversation runs out, bring out the MP3 players. Lose yourself as you listen to Cher, Madonna and Kylie. Dancing optional.
7. Pull out one earphone or both, as you eavesdrop on an irate customer complaining to the manager/supervisor about the slow service. Take a good look at the service counters as he points out that while there are 11 counters, only 2 are manned.
8. Make a solemn vow to yourself to ease up on the credit card usage. If your cards aren’t maxed out all the time, you wouldn’t have to go through this experience ever again. Unless there are changes in your schedule and you’d have to have your flight re-booked. In that case, good luck and have fun going through this thing all over again.
9. Rejoice as the digital display turns to 131. Take the strip of paper marked with 134 out of your organizer and clutch it tightly in your hands. This is your cue to start praying that the people holding on to 131, 132 and 133 won’t take long or have already left.
10. Mentally kick yourself for neglecting to bring your camera so you can take snapshots of this unforgettable experience where you waited for four long hours, only to be served for less than 10 minutes. Thanks to this oversight, your only marker for the amount of time you spent in the ticketing office is your mobile phone’s call register and your ticket’s time stamp.

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The last time I went to the Cebu Pacific ticketing office to buy tickets, it was a Sunday. It was also the weekend before the payday, so there were hardly anybody around.

It was different last Friday. It was the day after payday and there were people waiting outside the office. We took a number at 4:05 pm, and it was almost 9 pm when our number was called.

I was as pissed and disappointed as the other people who waited for hours. Although unlike them, I just chose to pass the time reading, listening to music and laughing at absurd what-if situations. I know I can complain and raise my voice, but nothing would ever come out of it. Besides, I already have too many wrinkles.

Popularity: 56% [?]

Do you have your summer plans already? If not, Cebu Pacific has a tempting offer for their local and international destinations

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the airline business unit of JG Summit Holdings Inc., offers P888 seats one-way for its Asian routes and P8 seats one-way for all its domestic routes. The promotional seat sale will run from January 11 to 17, 2008 or until the allocated 200,000 seats are sold out.

CEB allocated more than 100,000 seats for its international seat sale that includes services from Manila to: Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Taipei, Shanghai, Singapore, Xiamen. This is also available for non-stop services from Cebu to: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei and from Davao to Hong Kong and Singapore. This is good for travel from February 1 to May 31, 2008.

CEB also allocated more than 100,000 seats for its domestic destinations. This is good for travel from February 1 to March 12, 2008.

Source: Cebupacificair.com

I’m going to make sure I buy my tickets for Legaspi this time around. How about you, where are you going?

Popularity: 51% [?]

I was all set to post something else, but this Cebu Pacific just came in:

Fly to Xiamen, China for as low as ONE PESO!

Visit Xiamen, famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese, including some of the Philippines great Taipans.

The seat sale will run from December 10 to 16, 2007 and may be availed for travel from January 1 to March 31, 2008.

The one-way fare is exclusive of government taxes, applicable surcharges and non-refundable.

Upon checking Cebu Pacific’s website, I found out that Cebu Pacific is increasing their flight frequency to Macau.

Cebu Pacific (CEB) will expand its Manila-Macau-Manila operations from three times weekly to daily to meet rising demand.

Initially, the Manila-Macau service will have an additional Sunday flight beginning January 13, 2008 and will become a daily service on June 6, 2008.

Fares to Macau start at P1,499 one way, exclusive of taxes and surcharges.

Source: Cebupacificair.com

Cebu Pacific’s really making it hard for us NOT to travel, eh? Too bad they’re not making it easy for us to make more money.

Popularity: 36% [?]

You can stop blinking now, this really *is* JustWandering.org

I got bored with my previous theme and wasn’t really happy with it anymore, so here’s a fresh new one to match my mood. Today’s my last day as a 26 year old, so I guess it’s fitting to make the necessary upgrades today, no?

Just Wandering’s latest theme is based on ShinRa House’s Breaking News, modified to fit my advertisement blogging needs. I wanted lighter colors this time, hence the blue and green. I like to think that it shows the color of the sky, the sea and the earth. My friend however, said it reminded her of Boracay’s shores with its green seaweeds and blue sea

A month after Wordpress 2.3.1 was released, I finally upgraded. I was hoping that by now, the plugins I used to have that weren’t compatible with the latest version would be upgraded as well. So far, so good, except for the SEO Title Tags plugin that keeps on giving me database error messages

This layout has been tested on Opera and Firefox, my two main browsers. It also works fine with Internet Explorer 7, but it’s being uncooperative and doesn’t align images and text properly.

Before I forget, I’ve installed a new plugin, WP-Polls. My first poll: Do you already have travel plans for 2008? I know I do If not, maybe this will help: Cebu Pacific is having another Piso promo, starting November 28 (tomorrow) until December 2, for travel in January - March 2008. You know where I’ll be first thing tomorrow

Popularity: 25% [?]