Sunday, April 14, 2013

What I am cooking in Cebu

It has been super fast paced the past weeks. I's busy with a lot of things.  Not complaining though, so don't get me wrong :D  in fact happy with all the challenges.  I am definitely thriving....

The company my friends and I are setting up is already running.  We are already registered with SEC and with the city.  The next step would be with the BIR.

But what made me busy lately is our project with a client in the US. I am like snorkeling in big deep android - the operating system from google for smart phones.  I am glad to have a mentor who is very patient, sometimes crazy and fun, the one and the only Joemarie {pwede apilan ug kapa ug korona}.  Yup that's the latest of what I am cooking up in Cebu.

Oh don't forget all the pig outs and party/celebrations I've had with friends .... :D






  


Friday, March 1, 2013

Bohol Adventure

I went to Bohol for a weekend getaway!

What better way to relax than to hop unto the nearest beautiful island of Bohol.  I did not have to sleep on a Friday after some board meeting - a colleague called our regular meeting at coffee bean IT park as our board room :))  Well, it was an early morning trip and we agreed to meet at pier 1.  After work at around 2 AM, I went home and there I just packed and was set to go.  Jomes was waiting for me at Jollibee A.S. Fortuna.  I was waiting for a tricycle but nothing came and good thing a taxi came and I fetched Jomes at Jollibee then we headed our way to the pier.  We were waiting for another vacation, Kaneko - a Japanese student/businessman in Cebu.  We rode the ferry for an hour and our first destination after arriving was the Sagbayan peak where we would see the magnificent chocolate hills.  The weather was not that great as it was drizzling.  We were tired and hungry actually so we bought bread along the way.  Oh we hired a private car for 2300 pesos for the whole day tour and that's with a driver already, so it was pretty much convenient.  After the Sagbayan peak, we headed to the actual chocolate hill and it was a better view, but the steps were tiring :D  We had our breakfast there and it was good eating pasta bolognese and bam-e paired with beer.  After that, we were heading to the man-made forest.  The place was cool so much that you would a jacket and it was drizzling :)  After taking some pictures, we went to the mountains for the zipline and the cable car ride.  It's my first time to ride a real zipline and it was fun and exciting.  I thought I was going to be scared to death  but was surprised that I liked the heights.  There's freedom and it's amazing.  The cable car ride was actually not that scary as well and compared to the zipline, I'd try the later again. Hehehehehe.  Anyway, after the rides, we headed to loboc river for our lunch river cruise.  The food was nice and there was music serenading the cruisers.  The view is beautiful, and there were some stops where kids perform the traditional visayan folk dances.  It was fun and really entertaining.  I had visited Bohol before but some of the attractions were not there yet and some, I did willfully not try.  This time around, the experience was nice.  After our lunch, our driver took us to Baclayon church.  It's one of the oldest, historic church in Bohol.  It's a 400 year old structure, you see!  After that, we headed to Alone beach resorts.  It took us well another hour ride.  The sun was still at its peak so it was really hot. We arrived at the beach resorts area and almost all of the accommodations were filled. Good thing we found one near the beach like a few walking distance and the price was reasonable.  The room was prepared for us and we settled there after.  It was a tiring day tour and so all we could do was just sleep the whole afternoon.  We woke up around 7PM and it was dinner time.  We walked out of the hotel and looked for a nice place to pigout.  We found one near the beach front and it was kind of cool.  The food was ofcourse expensive but I was able to haggle a bit :) We had beer on the side and drank out of it while waiting for our food.  After some few minutes, we had our food ready and everything was really fresh and tasty.  We were full and satisfied.  After that, we walked by the beach side and looked for a place to drink.  Redhorse was the staple for the rest of the night.  There was some booze, some singing and some swimming by the beach.  It was a fun night to relish.  We went back to our place drunk....

Getting up around 9AM, and had our breakfast.  Checkout was 12 noon by the way.  So after some few morning rituals, we decided to take our leave and off we went to Tagbiliran port to head back to the beautiful, fun, exciting and crazy paradise island of Cebu.

We love you Bohol !!!!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Installing WAMP

WAMP stands for Apache, MySQL and PHP running in Windows Operating System.

Well, since most of our in-house and client projects will be involving the web, we need to know how to set this up.  It is quite easy to actually install WAMP as there is already an open-source community who had created the setup installation.  For your local development, one may use the setup which you can download here : http://www.wampserver.com/en/.

After installing the wamp executable program, all you need to do is start wamp.  There should be a WAMP icon at the task bar.

Now, when you are using Windows 8, you will have some issues, guaranteed.  Well, IPv6 has been pre-incorporated into the OS platform and the Apache httpd.conf will need to be updated.

User has to open httpd.conf from the WAMP manager icon at the task bar or from here :  C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache2.2.21\conf

Allow from all is added.

# First, we configure the "default" to be a very restrictive set of
# features. 
#

    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Order deny,allow
    Allow from all


Check the phphmyadmin.  If this doesn't work, edit the config file from here : C:\wamp\alias

Update the config file to this :


    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride all
        Order Deny,Allow
    Allow from all



The configuration may not be safe for live deployment so please be careful with the settings.  Try to do this only when inside a safe network.

Back in Cebu !!!

Last week, I arrived in Cebu with a heavy load :D  I had two luggage and a hand carry.  All of which weighed 50 kilos.  My check-in was okay but had to pay around 200 SGD.  My other stuff is still in sea freight, and will be arriving anytime sooner (I guess). Good thing my dad fetched me at the airport so it was a relief.

Dad and I arrived in our humble abode and our dog was the first to jump from the doorway.  It was good to seeing our pet? Hehehehe.  Anyway, I was tired and at the same time I caught some colds.  I immediately took some medication and chatted my friends online, buzzed some other friends and planned to go out with them. Another Cebuano friend of mine, who is based in Singapore, was inviting us (high school friends) to their mini party (they had a CNY vacation).  Well, I was tired so I decided to take a nap first.  Woke up after 2 hours of sleep and then prep up, and went to go.

There was some singing, booze and really tasty Cebuano Food.  I miss home cooked meals. Oh, I actually had some food at home because there was a baptism of my nephew and there were some food left (from the caterer).  Even if I was a bit full, I still devoured lots of food :)) We were feasting pigs and I guess I'll be overweight?  Anyway, we were a bit drank already at around 10PM. After some more karaoke, we decided to call it a night.  I was rather tipsy and not drank :))  We part ways going home you see, and Miggy oh Miggy, my friends kid is so fun to play anything with :) Thanks Tilay for such a warm and great friend.  Wish you all the best for your family.


Anyway, I arrived home quite late and went to wonderland. Zzzzzzzz.


The next day will be a great day to battle it out for my next adventure.  One is applying for a new job and the other is to setting up a company. I am still having this feeling of nostalgia for all the people and events I had had in Singapore. I somehow realized, that I am not the luckiest person but I am so happy that I am blessed and always be blessed and loved.  Thanks to God, family and friends :)   

Friday, February 8, 2013

Gardens by the Bay {feeling like a tourist}

This is probably the last part of me feeling like a tourist here in Singapore.  Yes, I am saying adieu to Singapore as I will be going back to Cebu.

I have already bought my tickets with silkair.  I have packaged my books and some outfits via LBC (freight).  So I am off to go.

Gardens by the bay was buil to create an artificial exposition of various flowers in a tropical setting within a controlled environment.  It was Mamul who suggested the place and since I have never been there, I agreed without any protestation.

Though thee place was man-made, its actually a nice place to visit.  I just do not have enough dollars to get inside though but the view outside is equally pleasurable.

Anyway, here are the last pics I took when I visited the Gardens by the Bay.  This man-made garden is actually just a stone throw away from Marina Bay Sands.  You just to alight from the Bayfront station and find your exit to the gardens.













Friday, February 1, 2013

Somewhere in Orchard {feeling like a tourist}

I went to Orchard again.  The plan of the day was to checkout some cargo shipping to Cebu from Singapore.  At lucky plaza, where most Filipinos would send their monies, I found LBC.  LBC is a Filipino freight company and they have an office in Singapore. The last time I went to Lucky Plaza I couldn't find the place. 

For air express service, my 30 kilos will cost me around 240 SGD, quite expensive!  And I asked the teller about the size of the box and she told me that the one displayed is for sea cargo so they needed to weigh first my stuff which by the way I have to bring to their office as they are going to check it themselves and the pricing will be per kilo.  I think I'm gonna go for the sea cargo.  Anyway, most of the stuff which I'm gonna be sending will be books both read and unread.  The price for sea cargo will be 50% less SGD so I can save on that but then the draw back will be the delivery time - like it's gonna be some 25 freaking days.  I'm okay with it actually, since I have to at least save a bit :)

After the long inquiry with that kind lady who answered all of my questions, I went out and began the shoot.  But before I took a lot of pictures, I decided to buy again the flavor of the road ice cream bar wrapped in bread - this is by the way a Singapore style of eating some ice cream which is actually a must try.  It will cost you a jaw dropping 1 SGD ;)

Here are my pics for the day:
























After some long walks, I got tired and checkout the movies at the Cathay.  I watched "The Expatriate". The movie is average I would say and there were moments that it felt dragging and the story is a bit long for a simple plot.  The movie was somewhere along the line of Jolie's "Salt" but with less action and drama.  I actually wanted more action and thrill :D

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Singapore's Orchard {feeling like a tourist}


When we say Orchard we think of vineyard and all the plant nurseries right? But not in Singapore! It means shopping and everything that goes with it.  Don't get me wrong, I did not go on a shopping spree.  I had it last weekend and so my budget is a little bit tight right now.

Anyways, since I'm still in bum mode,  I went with my Leica to Orchard yesterday. There was a job offer but I did not take - feelers much, eh ?  Well, I had to walk and back the Orchard road and I discovered this Peranakan place which looked quaint and maybe a hotspot for taking some booze.  I was on a cam journey and not on booze escapade so there, no drinks for me.  I'm gonna post my photo and the rest of them here :)

And last weekend, I went to a friends house and I ate a lot of noodles :))