chardgrimaldo.chronicles

Have you experienced being stolen by your bank? Well, it's about time to be wary and vigilant as you put your card in any convenient ATM machines because you never know, one day, you might also experience what I had been through. Last December, it has become a tradition for me and my wife to go to Divisoria in preparation for the Christmas season. We go there without cash in hand as long we had our precious ATM card with us. We just scout for any available ATM machine inside or outside the mall. This time, we chose Equitable Bank because it is an affiliate of the BPI and the only available bank that's not been offlined yet. We waited patiently even if there was a long line of people waiting for their turns. To our dismay, no money was dispensed from the machine. And an error said that the "machine was unavailable." I have a suspicion that the machine went offline . So I went to another bank to verify my account while I let my wife stayed in front of the ATM ...

I have been to Bicol region just recently and the talk-of-the town there was about the new sport complex that is still being developed by the provincial government. It is a world-class facility that will house extreme sports such as dirt biking, skateboarding and the now popular cabled-waterskiing. The Cam Sur Watersports Complex (CWC) was the first world-class facility in Asia located inside the Provincial Capitol Complex or commonly known as "Kapitolyo." The concept was patterned in Florida, USA who led the popularity of extreme watersports all over the world. "Kapitolyo" is also the place of the regional government office. It has facilities for all sorts of public recreation. I remembered during my high school days when we regularly visited this place for our outing. I also brought my wife here before we get married three years ago. This 6-hectares of reclaimed land has 6-point cable ski system that has become a favorite destination spot of sport enthusiasts ...

Cagsawa Ruins, the famous landmark of Bicol region are still intact and are spared from the ravaging flash floods brought by typhoon Reming last year. It resulted to more than a thousand deaths from various municipalities surrounding the Mt. Mayon in Albay province. It is contrary to the reports made by foreign and local media who covered the fiasco and said that it was washed away and half buried by pyroclastic materials from Mt. Mayon. Local residents said that mediamen were not able to reach the Cagsawa ruins because roads leading to it were impassable and full of boulders and sand that reaches up to 20 ft. high. November 30, 2006, four months after the strong typhoon, I visited this place again and witnessed the real condition of the people and the landmark. The roads that led to it were already cleared but you can see the 20 feet wall of sands in both sides. Some houses were abandoned and was half-buried in the mud. I saw construction-owned trucks passing back and forth loading ...

In the Philippines, the Holy Week culminates the solemn observance of Christians faith. Countless "Cenaculos" and "Pabasas" reciting and re-enacting the passion and death of Jesus Christ will again be traditionally observed. This rituals became one of the tourist attractions during the Lenten Season. Last Sunday, April 1 marks the Palm Sunday. It signifies and highlights the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago. In Sto. Domingo church alone where I usually attends mass was full of vendors with their palm branches reaching people who will attend the mass. Truly the world is turning so fast and here comes another year for us to reflect on what we have done so far. We, at the big city sometimes forgot about these festivities and usually go the beaches and relax. Yes, I have also been there few years back and I have experienced how the crowd enjoys the Boracay and Puerto Gallera's party even if its Good Friday. Commercialism has crep...

It's so funny. I have a short chat with some of my coleagues in the office about blogging . Their perceptions is that blogging is just a personal diaries of a teeny booper who are a friendster addict and are hunger for a real romance.. ha-ha-ha...do you think it's funny. Then I told them that I'm a blogger and at Friendster , too. Then, they start to ask why?. I told them that there's a social network revolution out there that they need to see and find out if their perceptions were correct. They never knew that some personal opinions that I discussed to them on the current events, trends, politics, technology and the like are all based from what I read on blogs . And they were amazed. When you start blogging , for sure you will gain network of friends while learning things how to earn dollars out of it. Mind you, I see more dollars on their face as they are puzzled and intrigue with the last phrase i have uttered :) The craze for instant publishing is unstoppab...