EB X2

Going to meet-ups (or eyeballs or EBs, as they are more commonly referred to) is always loaded with fun and laughter. In the 90s, I used to attend a lot of these but it was with only one group: the CampV5 people. Some of us still get in touch occasionally but in our heyday it was every week!

Well, I haven’t attended that much social gatherings, and I’m not particularly fond of going to parties anyway where I am not acquainted with half the people mingling about. But with blogger EBs, it’s different. People who meet face-to-face for the first time ask how the kids are doing, how was their vacation last weekend was, and share laughs like they’ve known each other for years.

And when it rains, it pours. This week, I was in three blog-related EBs. The first one was at the book launching (see previous post) last Monday. And then there was the big EB at the Mall of Asia by good online friends Ann and KD last Tuesday. Among the merry crowd, I was only familiar with a few so I whipped out my pen and paper and got their “autographs”:

Razzy’s Anything Goes | Left without a note | Litaniya ni Tekla | Masterbetong’s Vantage Point | Lady Cess’ Occupation: SAHM | Cielo's Brown Pinay | tin-esopheric.blogspot.com (not found?) | Malaya’s My so-called World | Wendy’s The Maven | Rems’ Bigrhome.com | Rachel’s Life is Fun | Noemi’s About my Recovery | Sexy Mom’s The D Spot

Photos courtesy of Masterbetong:



Whew! That’s quite a list! If I forgot to include anybody, let me know please! The hosts, husband and wife tandem KD and Ann are nice company. I chatted with KD and Masterbetong most of the time, and learned some interesting tidbits about significant happenings in their online life. Thanks again for the wonderful meet-up and the loot bag full of goodies!

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And then, the following day, Blogkadahan had a dinner EB at BatJay’s favorite place, Pots and Noodles located at SM Megamall. We also had a special guest that night: Mec and Jojo’s son Yakee! It was great having dinner with Doc Emer (http://emeritus.blogspot.com/), Mari (http://avantgarde-deux.blogspot.com/2008/04/ang-batang-kaning-lamig-take-2.html), Apol (http://apolthegreat.blogspot.com/), Tito Rolly (http://titorolly.blogspot.com/), Mec (http://delisyusness.blogspot.com/2008/04/meeting-legend.html), Jojo (who I met years ago), and of course, BatJay (http://kwentongtambay.com/), who was interviewed that night and signed some more books for us.

Photos courtesy of Doc Emer:







After dinner, we trooped to Starbucks for late night coffee and we ended up leaving the shop when the chairs and tables were already being piled up. Hahaha. Thank you, BatJay, for the treat, and have a safe trip going back to Jet!

A healthy breakfast EB

Last week, I received an SMS from Doc Emer informing me of a breakfast EB in Makati. Well, I'm not exactly a morning and breakfast person but I said I will make extra effort to attend for the love of blogkadahan.

A day before Valentine's, I was rushing off for the EB venue, a bit late (well ok, it was more than 30 minutes) but I was glad they were still in the middle of breakfast when I arrived. After a few minutes, we were sipping coffee (or juice) and enjoying the morning company with topics ranging from Google pagerank to blog monetization. It was an enlightening and fun breakfast meeting overall. I wish meetings were all like that.

Thanks everyone for the company!

Doc Emer | Mari | Toni | Apol

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100,000 Hurrahs!
I was mildly surprised when I noticed last week that my visitor count was already near the 100,000 mark! Because of the breakfast meeting, I got newfound inspiration to further spice up my blogs and hopefully get some extra moolah from it (after all, who doesn't want extra budget to fund our little cappriccios in life?) And while removing buttons and links that lead to nowhere, I noticed my statcounter. Yipee! 100,000 visits in a little over three years. Wow. Has it been that long?

So, in looking for an excuse to celebrate (for after all, I haven't celebrated my blog's anniversary for three years), I have decided to celebrate 100,000 visits by giving a Baguio gift item to three lucky visitors. What those items are, I don't know yet... I'll be asking my wife to help me look around.

Joining is simple. Just write a comment to this post, let me know what you like most about this blog, and what your favorite article here is and why. So that there will be no bias, I will ask my wife to choose the top 3 winners. Deadline for commenting is Feb 23, or when my statcounter reaches the 100,000 mark, whichever comes later.

Thank you all for sharing your time and stories!

Blogger's EB

Last Sunday was a fun day for two families as the Ballesteros family met the Zafra family in Baguio City. Aside from being a small reunion (Arnold and I once lived in the same apartment here in Manila), it was also like a Blogger's EB because I have a blog, and so does Arnold (aczafra.com), his daughter Arianna Shay (happy birthday!), and Jo-Lo.

My wife with Jo-Lo, and Arnold's wife Sharon with daughter Arianna

We met for lunch at O Mai Khan near Rizal Park in Burnham, then proceeded to Oh My Gulay (which was closed!), then took a cab to john Hay for coffee. We went to the butterfly farm (I'll post photos of that next time) afterwards.

Darn, I want a camera like that!

When we went to John Hay, I remembered there used to be a firehouse at the entrance (I think this was called Gate 3 before but is now the main entrance). This is gone. There was also an indoor skating rink nearby with flooring made of wood. That's gone as well. In its place is a food and coffee place. At least, the basketball courts are still there. Nearby this is the butterfly garden.

Inspite of these changes in John Hay (and I love musing about the past and saying that the old John Hay was the best), I found myself enjoying the pine trees, the cool weather, and the company of friends and family.

For more photos, head on to Jo-Lo's blog.

Good food, great company

Last night, we had an EB of blog friends from blogkadahan. It was an informal gathering arranged by Doc Emer (thanks Doc!).

We had dinner at Mannang's located at the lower ground floor of SM Megamall. They serve Filipino food with yummy twists, such as sinigang na corned beef and tofu sisig. We also had fish fillet in coconut sauce and spicy fried chicken. My stomach is grumbling just thinking about last night's dinner. It was great! The spicy chicken was crunchy and ... uh... spicy, the fish fillet divine, and the sinigang was delicious. You can't go wrong at Mannang's.



Dinner was even more fun as we shared stories of all sorts (from admirers to educational shows, immigration, past EBs, about people who weren't in this EB, hehehe). Picture picture here, picture picture there, and of course when the food showed up, more photos of the food!

The other tables were wondering if we were a celebrity bunch, what with all the flashes going off every now and then. Oh wait... yep, there was a celebrity indeed. Lifestyle blog awardee Toni of Wifely Steps!

The last time I was in a blog EB was in the Pinoyblog Christmas Party a couple of years ago. So I was excited to attend this one. It was great seeing Doc Emer, Tito Rolly (slim and fit!), Apol, and Ajay again. And meeting the tall and gracious Mari and Lara babes (the guest of honor) for the first time was a blast!

Thanks for the fun evening! Hope to see you again soon!

Additional great photos courtesy of Doc Emer: