Going Gaga over Google+

Photo taken from Google+ Facebook page

For the past two days I was preoccupied trying to find out what Google+ is.  I got so curious of this latest Google innovation as my Facebook news feed was inundated by postings from my friends from my Digital Marketing days.  From reading the articles posted by my friends, I found out that only a few were given invites to Google+.  It helped that my blog mentor, Janette Toral, sent me a link if I want to sign up for Google+ Project.  I readily signed up but was successful only after several attempts.  Who were the people who received invites for Google+?  Mark Zuckenberg, CEO of Facebook has a page already and is the most followed user right now.   

Google+ is Google's social network which was launched to a limited number of people last week.   It was developed by Vic Gundotra, an IT graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India.  It is still in beta version and that explains why it is not available to everyone.  Google+ expects its users to give feedbacks to further improve it and make the experience seamless when Google launches it soon. 

A picture grab from the Facebook page of Google+

It has five components, namely, Circles, Sparks, Huddle, Hangouts and Instant Upload.  Circles made me categorize my friends that makes for relevant sharing of posts and photos.  No need for my friends' Stream to be flooded by my family pictures or vice versa.  Sparks on the other hand acts like a reader for stuff that interests me and could be shared to any of my circle of friends.  I can chat to my friends in Huddle on any topic under the sun right on my phone.  Hangouts on the other hand, features a live video chat, IM chat or watch YouTube video together of up to ten of my friends..  It's as if my friends are in the same room as me.    Though the other tools could also be found in Facebook, Instant Upload could sway Facebook users to migrate to Googles+.  ReadWriteWeb said that the real killer of Google+ is Instant Upload.  The popularity of Android phones totalling half a million as of May 2011 makes photos from Android phones instantly online and could be shared with friends of an appropriate Circle.  Oh one more thing, Google+ is also coming out with Google games.  It can't afford to include game applications as these were instrumental for Facebook's exponential growth in 2007.  

The thing that I find so cool about Google+ is that once I was at my page, I need not open another site to be able to access my emails from Gmail, articles or blogs that I subscribed to in Google reader, Google documents, my blogs.  Everything is just a click away.  

Is Google+ out to topple Facebook from its ivory tower just like what the latter did to Friendster and MySpace?  What does Facebook have on its sleeve to prevent it from suffering the same fate as Friendster?

Photo taken from Google+ Facebook page

Blogging Tips

When I started blogging, I thought that having something to write about and a computer are enough.  I was able to publish a number of articles alright.  When I needed video which is not often, I go to YouTube.  As the number of my articles grew, my confidence grew alongside to insert videos for both my Blogger and Wordpress blogs.  For the longest time, my blogs only contained pictures or images from Google Images, Flickr or Picasa. 

I write my blog posts when the children are not around to compete for internet connection.  Not having them around is both a blessing and a bane. If they are around, I can always ask them about technical issues.  But when they are in school or elsewhere, I can download or upload blog posts, music, video, pictures quite faster.

When I took up the Certified Blog Entrepreneur Program from the Ateneo, I learned that grabbing a few images from Google or Flickr to enhance my article, is not as simple as copying and pasting.  I have to be sensitive to the issue of fair use.  But what is fair use?  From Jonathan Bailey's "The Basics of Fair Use", fair use sets a guidance to the use of somebody's work in limited situations.  Copyright is affixed to a work the moment it is published either offline like books, magazines, and other printed matter or online like blogs, websites, e-books, e-magazines and etc. It gives the author or copyright holder certain exclusive rights to the work and derivative works based on the original work.  

To add a touch of accuracy and lessen my dependence on other's works, I found out the necessity of having a digital camera at my disposal anytime.  No need to lug an SLR for me.  My motto is that if I have to read the operating manual before I can use it, then it is not for me.  I hate reading instructional materials.  A digital camera is now a must-have and I don't leave the house without it in my bag together with my wallet, cellphones, pen holder and make up kit.  Having my own camera at any time enables me to shoot anything that can be used in my future articles.  

Aside from my digital camera, I have a notebook which I can use when ideas pop out of the things, places or people that I see or meet in the course of daily activities.  Depending on the time or circumstance, I can compose a draft of an article while waiting for my turn at the doctor's clinic or while waiting for my hairdresser to finish the job that I asked him to do.  I only write on my notebook if I forgot to bring the Asus notebook.  I find it easier though to do my articles if I use my computer.

I attend to as many activities as I could.  Activities are a goldmine of writing materials.  Writer's block is a reality that affects all writers, professionals and amateurs alike.

Read, read, read. Read anything that could be useful to your articles.  News, both online or printed, are good sources of what's hot.  Writing about what's hot helps the article to get as many hits as possible.  My article The PNR Trains got a lot of hits that tripled the number of readers for my other blog Bicol Express when I published it after GMA7 made a story on the resumption of the service of the PNR trains.  I got free promotion from that GMA7 telecast.

Write regularly, once a week is okay.  Remember readers are like lovers, out of sight, out of mind.  Just kidding.  Writing regularly makes the blog site easily found by the search engines. 

I think I have already covered the most important things that a would-be blogger or writer has to have and to do.  Good luck and happy writing. 

   

Getting Ready for College

My youngest child Kara is entering fourth year high school in two days.  She is excited to start her last year at the School of the Holy Spirit of Quezon City for the simple reason that her classroom is air-conditioned.  Only the classrooms in the Seniors' wing are air-conditioned because the wing is situated in the warmest part of the school.

Senior year, being the last year before the big leap to college life, is a time for preparations.  First thing on the list is the one-month review for the different college entrance examinations that Kara will be taking.  During my time review classes were non-existent.  You just go to the admin office of the school to get the test permit and appear on exam date on time.  Maybe getting into your school of choice today is getting tougher and more competitive hence the need for review classes.

I am already a veteran in preparing my child as Kara is my third child getting into college.  Like her two older siblings, Marco and Nina, Kara had her review at the Loyola Student Center (LSC), one of the pioneers and is reliable.  Review classes do not come cheap.  This time I forked P10,000.00 plus another P1,500.00 for her review books.  With Marco and Nina, I paid almost 50% less than what I paid for Kara's.  Marco, being a product of the Ateneo High School, paid P6,000.00+ inclusive of books.  I don't know what's the arrangement between Ateneo and LSC why Ateneans have to pay less than what other mortals pay.  For Nina's turn, I had to pay the regular price as Nina did not come from Ateneo (an all-boys' high school).  Good thing LSC was giving out big discounts if you enroll as a group of at least six reviewers.  I gathered five of Nina's classmates and we all were able to avail of a big discount that included books in the package.  Let me share you a tip.  As early as December of your child's junior year, start inquiring from LSC as promos are being given out on a first come, first serve basis.  I wasn't able to avail of the promo discount as it was already closed when I enrolled Kara.

After setting aside a month of her two month summer vacation for the review classes, Kara readied the requirements for her application for University of the Philippines' UPCAT.  She submitted her application form and requirements for the UPCAT at her school's guidance office.  That spared her the long queue at UP.

For her applications to other schools, she googled the websites of these schools of the schedules of giving out of application forms, requirements to be submitted and the actual schedules of the entrance examinations.  These websites are also a rich source for what courses or programs are being offered by the schools.  Some schools post the course syllabi that give a good picture of the description of the course.  Different schools have different names for their course offerings.  For instance, a marketing degree in UP or De La Salle University has its equivalent in Ateneo de Manila Universtiy - BS in Communications Technology.

The review, the submission of the application forms and requirements, the entrance examinations come after the child has chosen her course.  I advised my daughter that she must choose a course that she's passionate about or something that she's interested in.  A simple exercise would be to ask this question:  "How do you see yourself doing five years from now?"  Choosing a school is secondary.  The choice of the school will have to depend on the answer to the question.  There are schools that are known for certain degree programs and it would be better for the child to go to the school where his course is best offered.

I hope I was able to give some pointers to parents who are doing this for the first time.  Don't be ashamed to ask questions to the admin people of your child's preferred schools.  You're paying good money just by applying for their entrance exams.  Good luck to all of us.

The Marry Month of June

Today is the last day of May and we are a few hours away from the marry month of June.  Are you a June bride?  Why did you choose to get married in June?  June has been traditionally known as the favorite month for getting married.  There are varied reasons why June became the favored month, most of which are not romantic in nature.  

Juno, Roman goddess of marriage

The Romans prefer June weddings because June happens to be the month dedicated to the observance of Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage.  There is also a practical side to June weddings as well.  If the bride gets pregnant right away after the wedding, she will deliver her child months before the harvest season and would be able to help out during the harvest.  Another reason why June became popular for weddings is because of the nice weather and flowers are abloom.  Still another reason and this steals the show is that brides felt that they still smell good from their annual bath in May.  Yes, during the 1500s, people in Europe took baths monthly, hardly or not at all during winters.  After the cold weather has broken out, usually in May, people took their annual baths.  

The various reasons stated above why June registered with the most weddings could be true in temperate countries.  But in the Philippines, June is eclipsed by December in terms of popularity.  June is rainy in the Philippines and those rains could turn into typhoons.  I know of somebody who reset his wedding by one week as the venue for his wedding reception was flooded due to a heavy downpour and typhoon.  December is also a preferred month for Filipinos because the temperature is cool and a lot of family reunions are held on that month.  A lot of overseas Filipinos come home to spend the long Christmas holiday and it is an opportune time to hold weddings, a major family event.

My husband and I chose to get married on January 17, 1987 because practically there are no rains in January.  January is perfect for its cool temperature and for the absence of rains.  It is also a better alternative to hectic December when you have to book way before the day for the venues for the church and reception.

Our wedding photo, 1987.

Nowadays, there are more people living in than getting married in the United States.  Maybe it is the sign of the times when people's values on marriage and relationships have drastically changed.  Little girls seldom dream of big weddings anymore.  And when before getting married was a dream come true to most, now it has ceased to be romantic.

The recent wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton put back romance to an old institution of marriage.  Obviously the two are really in love to start with.  It doesn't matter what month one is tying the knot, the most important thing is getting married for the right reasons.

Prince William and Kate Middleton

Best Lechon in Metro Manila

Whenever there is a party to celebrate a milestone in one's life like weddings, baptisms, debuts, birthdays, graduations or special occasions like Christmas, anniversaries, corporate affairs,  the lechon or roasted pig is sure to be the main attraction on the buffet table.  It is the star of the dinner table.  In our family, no party is complete without the lechon.  

Our love affair with lechon started when I tasted lechon Cebu at the Christmas party of my husband's company.  That was 1994 and it was the first time I tasted the Cebu version.  I fell in love with the lechon and I managed to get the contact details of the supplier.  It came from a Cebuano whose outlet was located somewhere in N. Domingo St., near Cubao, Quezon City.  Their lechon was best eaten with vinegar with garlic, not the liver sauce that usually goes with those that come from La Loma.   From then on, no more La Loma lechon for me.

It became somewhat of a tradition every time our family was celebrating something.  To celebrate the coming of 2010, we decided to order lechon from my old supplier from N. Domingo.  Alas, the old lechon house was sold and is now under new management.  I wasn't comfortable with that.  My daughter, Nina, suggested that we try the one that was featured in Yummy magazine, General's Lechon, of the Negros Occidental variety.  Negros lechons  have been slowly eating the market share of the Cebu version.  I placed my order but no available stock was available.  It was intended for New Year's eve and they can't accommodate my order.  We were disappointed.  We just had the usual New Year food like hotdogs, pasta, ham, fruits, salads.  No lechon.

The Yummy article that led us to General's Lechon.

After the disappointment on New Year, we trained our eyes on my son Marco's 21st birthday on January 26.  What a perfect occasion to have lechon and this time I did not pass the chance.  I ordered early enough so I can choose the size.  Come Marco's birthday dinner, everybody was raving about the lechon that my father overlooked the viands that I cooked.  My father is a very obedient patient of his cardiologist but he threw caution to the wind when he ate General's lechon.  You won't be needing the liver sauce that usually comes with an order of lechon as each bite is so tasty.  It has been marinated in lemon grass, star anise, salt, and other herbs then allowed to sit for two hours before being put on the fire.  The best part, aside from the crunchy skin (it remains crunchy the longest among the lechon that I tasted so far), is the ribs.  There were other occasions that we had the same lechon and every time, it did not fail our expectations.

This is how the lechon looked like after being delivered...

...and this is how it looked like after almost an hour.

I was able to do an online interview with the enterprising couple behind General's Lechon, Bryan and Lynne Ong of Paranaque City.  Bryan said that getting into the lechon business was more of a fate.  His wife, Lynne, is not a lechon eater but was raving about it while on a family vacation in Negros Occidental.  When they got back home in Metro Manila, they decided to have the cook fly in to roast the lechon for them.  A business was born and after more than 50 pigs, they were able to come up with their own original flavor that in Bryan's words was "approved and sealed" by their friends.

According to Bryan, the process takes four to five hours to get the perfect lechon.  They use pigs of native descent and medium-sized ones are the most salable.  You need not have the lechon flown in from the Visayas as General's Lechon is just a phone call away.  When in Metro Manila, dial 408-6850 or you can send a text message to 0917-8975966.  You have to allot time though if you are ordering during major occasions like Christmas, New Year.  Bon appetit.

Disclaimer:  I was not paid to write about General's Lechon.  I am just one satisfied customer.

The Art of Coping in a Maidless Existence

It's been two weeks since my last article and a I feel guilty about it.  Blame it on the household chores, countless errands both for our business and family and other activities. It takes an average of four hours for me to come up with an article and if I can only spare less than that I don't start the writing.  It will just be another exercise in futility.

Since I prefer to write at least one article for each of my four blogs (the links are at the left sidebar), I have to do a lot of adjustments on top of the things I do to cope maidless days as discussed in Surviving Maidless Days...Months.

1.  One article a week.  I decided to make one article instead of the original plan of two articles per week per blog.  Housework and errands take so much of my time.  By the time I am done with both, either I am too tired or sleepy to write.  

2.  One viand per meal.  When before I feel our menu is incomplete if I only cook one dish, now I just settle with one.  I just make sure that the viand that I cooked is loved by everyone.  At least there will be no left overs that will hug refrigerator space.

3.  Dial a friend.  Aside from running to Mommy for an instant meal,  I found a helpful ally in Tita Baby de Leon.  Tita Baby lives just within the vicinity of the subdivision where we live in. Her passion is ... cooking.  You got it right.  She is like an angel sent to me by the good Lord. She used to have a small eatery but had the place leased to a Korean.  I felt sad when she closed her eatery only to find out two years later that she continued with her business from her house.  Talk about hitting two birds with one stone.  Can't blame her though.

When I have early afternoon appointments, I just dial her number around ten in the morning to know what's on her menu for the day.  She has two delivery boys who come to my house minutes before noon.  My only obligation is to have exact payment ready.  If cooking for dinner is a problem, I just order extra and keep what's for dinner in the refrigerator.  My old reliable microwave oven will do the reheating at the right time.

4.  Eat out.  If it's Sunday and Tita Baby is close for the day, we either buy take out chicken from Sr. San Pedro or Kentucky Fried Chicken or eat out from some affordable restaurants like Buddy's in Timog, Quezon City, Kowloon House or Causeway Restaurant.  These eat outs also serve as family bonding time and a respite from the routine of doing the housework. 

There are a lot things to be done and it would be a shame if you can't attend to them because you are buried in the drudgery of housework.  I am not demeaning housework, it's just that there are ways on making life simpler and easier and still enjoy the things that you want to do.  Life is too short to be wasted on inane matters.

Subic

For spur of the moment out of town trips, Subic in on the top of my list.  Subic is ideal for instant get togethers whether with family or friends.  Subic, located in Zambales province is less than 100 kilometers away and roughly 2 hours from Quezon  City with travel time made shorter with the opening of SCTEX (Subic Clark Tarlac Exchange).  Formerly a naval base of the United States, Subic morphed into an economic zone cum vacation destination after being turned over to the Philippine government in September, 1991.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Ph_locator_zambales_subic.p

Our family was recently at Subic for a much needed respite from pressures of work.  We preferred to stay overnight in one of the hotels nearby but April being a peak month for vacations, we were not able to get a booking for a room.  Instead, we just stayed the whole day in one of the  resorts inside the base, Adventure Beach.  Adventure Beach is ideal for a day at the beach but doesn't have facilities for overnight stays.  It boasts of several cabanas and a restaurant that is affordable though bringing of food from home is allowed.  It is located just beside Ocean Adventure so we were able to watch the Dolphin Show for free.  This free show made up for the very limited space of the beach.  I can't imagine how the beach can accommodate frolickers if all the cabanas were occupied.

At the entrance of Adventure Beach

The not-so-wide beach with Ocean Adventure at the background.

The cabana which is at P1500 or P750 if you occupy half of it.

Entrance fee to the resort is at an affordable P300/pax.  Children and senior citizens enjoy a discount.  Oh, to be young and to be old.  A neighboring resort, also under the same company as Adventure Beach,  charges the same rates and can bring food and drinks.  Though the beach doesn't elicit ohhs and ahhs, it was nevertheless, still worth our time.  The sea breeze makes you sleepy in the afternoon, the place is kept clean and orderly by resort staff that I think is a bit too many and there's continuous flow of water from the shower rooms.  I wouldn't mind going back even if it is not summer anymore.  Anyway, Subic is only two hours away. 

Ornamental plants

Ornamental plants

I call this the Dolphin Viewdeck.  You can watch from this place the dolphin show at the nearby Ocean Adventure for free.