Monday, March 24, 2008

an ode to my blackberry

for the first time since i started owning cell phones (first one was a motorola circa 1993, the one that looks like an ice shaver number then was 0912-400-1434. service was provided by mobiline), i lost one less than two weeks ago during a trip to south beach.

my boss asked me on the third day that i had no phone how it felt like. i replied, "liberating". indeed it was. but only for a time.

then i realized how dependent i have become on my phone, my blackberry. it was my alarm clock, my watch, sometimes my camera. i had three email addresses diverted to this phone. i used it as a browser. i played games in it.

back in the day, i memorized numbers and i did them well. despite the numerous area codes to consider, i would memorize a lot of numbers - friends', families', restaurants !!!), moviehouse, coffeehouse. that was about a decade ago.

when my cell phone spoiled me by saving all my contact details in its neat address book, my brain cells decided to go on semi-retirement. that's why i could not call anyone when my cell was lost. there was only one number i memorized and know by heart: my office number. lesson learned: keep a back up address book. how? i want to know.

Read More...

Saturday, March 22, 2008

airports

friday, 14 march

flew from newark airport to fort lauderdale, florida. yup. bienvenido a miami three and a half hours later. stayed at this cool place in south beach. i love florida! more later.

saturday, 15 march

fort lauderdale back to newark. red-eye flight.

sunday, 16 march

new york jfk airport to burbank. late evening flight. atlanta's weird weather forced us to have a stop-over in salt lake city. flight took more than nine hours. longest ever in y experience travelling within the contoguous united states. well, including hawaii and canada. damn. it was a looooong flight. and jetblue's directv was busted throughout the trip. bummer.

monday, 17 march

burbank airport to las vegas. an almost three-day conference in summerlin (jw marriott), a very idyllic suburbia, minutes from the bright lights of the las vegas strip.

thursday, 20 march

drive back to los angeles. arrived a little past dinner.

friday, 21 march

good friday.

yeah, it has been one hell of a week. to top it all off, i lost my blackberry in south beach! this marks the first time ever that i lost a cellphone. i've been totally dependent on my crackberry (yes, it's that addicting) that i had withdrawal symptoms the first two days. the following two days were liberating. the fifth, unbearable.

i need a phone. asap. it was my watch, my alarm, my datebook, my camera, my everything. funny how this thing spoiled me. i used to memorize numbers easily but since everything was on my address book, i never bothered to remember ny of the numbers stored there. bad thing. also, i never bothered to back up. really bad thing.

once i had a chance to call through a landline phone, i froze. i could not, for the life of me, remember any of my friends'/relatives'/coworkers' numbers. not even significant other's. (sorry!!!) i'm in deep trouble.

Read More...

Saturday, March 08, 2008

of manila's 'high' society and other matters

it has been more than a week since my last post and it has been a terribly busy, toxic week. what happened?

had a lot of stuff to cover - from edith burgos' talk in queens to two multi-cultural and diversity fora to a hong kong tourism board luncheon to a rondalla show at the philippine consulate to a meeting at the city fund of new york. in between i got myself snowed in and rained on.

and i didn't get sick. until two days ago.

a friend says that i was just paying up. boo-hoo. the usual, cough, colds. thank god, no fever. nor flu. hence, i caught up on previous shows i missed and stuff.

Read More...