Between July 11 to 20, 2008, form 10am to 10pm, enjoy the end of season sale at the SM Mall of Asia with up to 70% discount. Reserved special parking to all SM Advantage Members at the South Parking.

Andong by Rommel “Milo” Tolentino
Ang Ibang Mga Pamilya by Joel P. Ruiz
Angan-Angan (Dreams) by Sheron Dayoc
Diamante ng Langit by Vic Acedillo, Jr.
God Only Knows by Mark Reyes
Huling Biktima by Vitaliano Rave
My Pet by Ann Bigornia
Panggaris by Dexter Cayanes
Trails of Water by Sheron Dayoc
Tutos by L.A. Yamsuan

Early bird rates starts at Php4,500 for 1-day and Php7,200 for the whole 2 days.

The University of the East (UE), coached by Dindo Pumaren, pulled off a sweep last season with a 14-0 score in round 1. However, de la Salle University pulled a victory in the finals.

University Delegates include — Adamson University, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University-Manila, Far Eastern University, National University, University of the East, University of the Philippines, Diliman, and University of Santo Tomas.

People have been asking — when is the next World Pyro Olympics (WPO)? Will it be this December 2007 or maybe January of 2008.

Unfortunately, there will be none this year or next year. La Mancha Productions, the organizing body behind the WPO did not announce anything or any reason why this year’s event will not push thru. There were updates going around though that it was because of the lack of funds and sponsors. Will post an update once this has been finally cleared.

Update 1: There might still be hope. In an interview over at PhilStar.com, it was noted that “The 2008 World Pyro Olympics will be held at the Manila Bay on Feb. 16 (China and Germany), 23 (Japan and Australia), Mar. 1 (Korea and Dubai), 8 (Italy and Venezuela), and 15 (France and the Philippines).”.

Now is the time to splurge on gadgets.

Here’s the details of the MSI-ECS Warehouse Sale.

Big bargains and even bigger savings from MSI-ECS!!!

Country’s leading IT distributor, MSI-ECS, is having its annual Warehouse Sale from December 5 to 7, 2007 (9AM-6PM) at the MSI-ECS Office (Topy II, Building#3, Economia St., Libis, Quezon City).

With an immense variety of IT products from today’s best and latest technology brands –(Acer, Apple (delete iPod), Buffalo, Genius, HP, Imation, Lenovo, NEC, Samsung, Sony, and Targus) this year’s sale is even bigger than last year’s! Products on sale will include top selections of desktops, notebooks, monitors, printers, MP3 players, cameras, supplies, ODDs, carrying cases, and accessories — all with unbelievable discounts up to 80%! Sale is on cash basis only.

For more information, call 688-3180 / 181 / 182.

Between October 24 to 31, 2007 at the 4th Floor of the Rufino Tower in Ayala Avenue, Makati City. Sale starts at 9AM and ends at 7PM. All items at 50% off!

About a kilometer long of roadside in Katipunan is occupied by a teeming plant business community which caters to landscapers and even regular house owners. Their exact location or address (as I’ve noticed in a receipt one of the shops gave me) is Katipunan Road, White Plains, Quezon City. To get there from the Ateneo Area, go straight ahead and pass the traffic lights at Santolan. From EDSA, turn right to White Plains and upon reaching the stop light, go left. Here’s an eye teaser for those who are interested.

Available plants are: white angels, durantes, san franciscos, eugenias, santans, some chinese plants, water lilies and many more.

The best thing about this road setup is that the plant supplies are abundant and varied. In the world of Economics, this competition with other sellers tends to bring the price of the commodities down, something favorable for us buyers. One secret I would like to share : you can practically haggle your way to half the original selling price of the neighboring shop, provided you buy a reasonable number of plants!

Happy plant shopping!

The coffee shop is after all a real restaurant with an open space garden type of dining areas. The garden is filled with plants and ornamentals and some talking birds who greeted us with, “hello panget” (trans. hello ugly). We didn’t mind the bird and settled for a dining table in the covered area since there was mild pouring of rain that time.

To cut the story short, we ordered our breakfast, a basket full of wheat bread, some butter and jam, bacons and eggs. But the best part is Bag of Beans own Barako blended coffee. It was a perfect morning fare for a cold and breezy morning in Tagaytay.

Prices at Bag of Beans was reasonable enough. The brewed coffee (refillable) costs P110. Bread prices ranges from a P80-P100 pesos per loaf.

Before leaving, check out the bakery upstairs for some freshly made breads and pastries. Highly recommended is Bag of Beans Banana loaf, you won’t regret paying P160 for a loaf.

Right now, the vans of the shuttle service caters to people going to and from the MRT station at Quezon Avenue, SM North, Marikina, Ortigas, and Ayala-Makati. The shuttle’s main terminal is located behind Eastwood McDonald’s (which was famous for being one of the first McDo restaurants open for 24 hours) and just beside the relatively new Il Pirata restaurant (which has a cool moderate-size pirate ship on its other side). They usually transport people from 6-11AM on weekdays, and the vans start to fill up by 5PM with people coming home from work. The last time I checked, there were still vans operational as late as 9 PM. Later than that or in between the dead hours, the vans can be rented to go their usual routes for some fee as agreed upon by the drivers and the passengers.

The Eastwood shuttle service is now over a year old, but still, it remains largely unknown to Eastwood outsiders as suggested by my friend’s inquiry. A little history: when it first started out, there was one dispatcher and two to three vans, and employees wanting to use the service had to wait some time before the vans fill up. The dispatcher literally had to recruit passengers coming from buildings as far as the Citibank which is way out at the entrance. By the first month, regular passengers started coming in but there were other issues–the police had been arresting van drivers back at the Quezon Ave. MRT, creating some panic with passengers, and for some, disenchantment. Thankfully the issue was resolved, the number of patrons and vans grew in time, and the shuttle terminal became an everyday part of Eastwood life. For me and most of my friends in Katipunan, the shuttle service was an answer to our prayers. Before the shuttle, you have to take the long route of going back to Cubao first and braving the traffic at Aurora or the long walk to Cubao-LRT in order to get to Katipunan. After that you still have to take a tricycle to even get to somewhere near your apartment. Another option is to ride a taxi, but to an increase of 200% of your transportation expenses, considering Katipunan is just a 5-minute drive from Eastwood. The shuttle solved these problems by making a compromise between the two: it cuts the taxi fare by 50% and traverses straight to Katipunan like a regular jeepney should.

I would recommend people to use the shuttle IF they are leaving Eastwood, for the practical reason that the morning schedules are designed primarily for the Eastwood workforce. It’s a little funny because I arrived at the same conclusion after explaining and narrating this to my friend, which of course did not solve her predicament of how best to get to Eastwood. After a ten second pause, I told her it would be better if she would just take a taxi.