Man of Steal

(this one is originally intended for my alma mater’s blog site.)

I was thinking of a better title for this blog and I remember a high school classmate, name withheld (hahaha), that we tagged as “Man of Steal” not that he’s a professional thief, but it’s just that he had this annoying habit of not returning things he borrowed or worse keeping small petty stuff that our classmates possessed and valued, such as David Pomeranz tapes (yes tapes!), books, etc.

I’m quite sure we’ve had our share of petty thievery way, way back, or so I hope. We’ve sneaked into our nanay’s wallet to fund our Masskara escapades, we’ve kept extra resistors from the lab to support our home-made audio amplifiers and boosters, we’ve raided the stock room to pick extra welding rods for our bike’s frame. Or we’ve intentionally or unintentionally grabbed one lumpia or burger from Claire without shedding a single centavo.

Those who are guilty, please raise your hands? Wait, I can’t type one-handed.

Mr. Genito’s reminder prior to our last OJT still stays fresh in my mind, “INDI pagkuhaon maski bato sa inyo ulobrahan (DO NOT take even a single rock from your company)”. I would always remember that briefing every time I’d see gravel in the parking lot, “Maski ini? (Even this?)”, I’d ask myself, “Oo, maski ina! (Yes, even that!)”, my good side will respond immediately.

As the technology around us gets more advance and affordable to almost everyone, another form of stealing gets so rampant and so common; one wouldn’t know that he has actually participated in it. Even those with the best of intentions, regardless of social status, religion, or profession are victims (or in cahoots?). Even friends.

This is piracy.

Once again I’m guilty as charged. But that was more than 8 years ago. I remember the last one I bought was a bootleg copy of Tom Hank’s Cast Away. I bought it from one of the malls in Alabang. I grabbed some beer, pulutan and then went home so eager to watch it but almost crushed our VCD player in disgust when in the middle of the story it started pixelating and ruined our night altogether. That was it. I had enough.

I guess it was one of my wake up calls to end the illicit practice once and for all. And as if trying to justify that life changing decision, I read the papers, watched the news and attended company supported training sessions related to this. Then things such as Intellectual Property & Copyright laws came into my awareness too.

Of course everyone knew how costly (some may find it even ridiculous and stupid) it is to stop buying pirated products nowadays. It’s the reason why my Core 2 Duo still has the genuine Windows ’98 OS in it and until now the dual core processor is concentrating its power on XP’s solitaire game. Dasig gid eh (very quick), if you may ask. And since then, my wife and I also started saving to buy the audio CDs and DVDs that we like. If the budget isn’t available we’d content ourselves to listening over the radio, watch the cable channels, or getting in the cinemas.

Although feeling good about doing the right thing, I’ve kept mum about this though. Pushing this advocacy in front of most people I know would either get me booted out of my circle of friends or get raised eyebrows at the very least. I even discovered that one high position expat got a whole shelf of “Quiapo” DVDs in his home. It’s just plainly disappointing and frustrating.

Until now I’m still wondering if there will come a time that the government and other concerned organization will eradicate or at least lessen this illegal trade that’s been killing almost the whole industry – even food, toys, books, textile and any other merchandise present in the market are affected. Wishful thinking, huh? If and when that time comes, I’ll be one proud man.

And by the way, if after reading this one might wonder if I’m OMB chairman Edu Manzano? I wish. But I’m not. I’m just one concerned individual hoping to influence at least one. Yes, at least one who might influence another one.

Now, are you the Man of Steal?

Rio and Gino

“The owner doesn’t pick the car, the car picks its owner” - Transformers, The Movie

This week Rio & Gino captured my attention. Rio is good. Gino is bad.

My recent promotion gave us hope (false?) to start considering getting a new car. So last week, despite my nagging headache and pouring monsoon rain, we gave the car showrooms near our place a visit. I never knew that the idea of picking a prospective car would be more exciting than I can imagine. Nope these are not Jeremy Clarkson’s favorites, but new cars nonetheless.

We dropped by Toyota first and inside I noticed that the saleslady was attractive…err, the cars I mean. Unfortunately the car model we are looking for wasn’t on display at that time as the sales agent said that we actually dropped by just a day ahead of the launching date. So instead we just receive a catalog and an invitation for the next day’s unveiling event. We weren’t able to attend it though.

Our next stop was Kia. From outside the glass door, I doubtingly peered at the red shiny car and my mind was playing images of the Top Gear’s hosts sneering at it. Then someone from the poorly lit office led us in for us to take a closer look at the Korean underdog.

It was then that we were introduced to and greeted by Rio – Kia’s 2007 subcompact model. (I learned later that it is this year’s COTY for its category). Upon closer look and subsequent discussion with the sales agent we realized that it is within the price range of the Toyata base model Vios. What make it standout though are its features – power locks, windows and yes, the engine itself. Given those facts it seems like it could make the Japanese car a run for their money. Well, it looks like Kia’s “The Power to Surprise” motto is proving itself to be so true.

A couple of days after that, I received an unexpected invitation to test drive it. And of course, I’m not that foolish to let such opportunity slip away. I was so excited I arranged for it to be done first thing on a Tuesday morning. “Let’s start the day right”, I said to myself.

On that fateful (at least for me) day, I arrived on time for the test drive. For this, I’ll be driving a silver automatic Rio. Actually, any color will do for me, but the red one on display would have been better.

Since it was my first time to drive an automatic transmission car, I had a couple of minutes familiarizing myself with its gear shift and the feeling that one pedal is somewhat (and actually is) missing. The rest after that went smoothly. The car performed great on rough road conditions as well as straightaway accelerations. Sweet.

The drive ended at their factory as the dealer was kind enough to let me see the other color schemes and likewise try out the manual models. I think they’re really considering me to be a potential buyer. I hope the same way too. Fingers crossed.

If Rio completed my week, Gino ruined it.

My wife and I went to Tagaytay the other night to de-stress ourselves, have a beer, pizza, and a bit of bonding time away from work and our humid home.

There, we were able to fulfill our long-time curiosity to see and feel how it is to be inside Café Lupe – a bar just a couple of steps away from Starbucks Coffee. It wasn’t that bad, but I’d rather go next time to Cowboy Barn in Robinson’s Dasma. The ambiance there is better and the band we’ve seen so far didn’t disappoint us. But that’s another story.

After a couple of hours inside the bar we checked out the view outside just at the back of the coffee shop. And one thing that amazes me most of the time is that I rarely get bored looking at the Taal lake from that vantage point; Be it on a sunny day, gloomy day, starry and/or moonlit night, any condition just has its own fascination to offer. Ah, life’s simple pleasures.

Unfortunately, these natural wonders are lately threatened by the irresponsible acts of man. Take for example Gino who happens to afford a Starbucks cappuccino but dejectedly didn’t have the manners to throw his cup in a thrash bin after enjoying his caffeine load. Grrr. Tado.

Well did I meet the man face to face? Nope. But on the unlucky cup (which my wife accidentally stepped upon while on threading on the gravel) is his name written on it (too much CSI?). I’m now thinking, how many Ginos out there are making this irritating mistake? I know the answer. What a depressing thought. So, if I’d be chosen to perform environmental vigilante jobs, I’d be happy to oblige and get those other Ginos out of this wonderful planet. (Evil smile).

So please, let there be more Rios and less Ginos.

Blog Brat’s 1st Year

Time flies so fast. I can’t believe that a year had passed since I started writing and posting my blogs. It was Aug 30, 2006 when I first got myself out of the couch, turned off the TV and approached my then lowly but dependable PC and started composing my Rockstar Blog. The result was actually surprising. I wrote one that actually made me pat myself at the back even with the uncertainty that grammatical errors might be in there, waiting for one keen grammarian’s eye (or could be obvious enough for any elementary student) to take notice and puke along the way in disgust.

As if by coincidence our Daily Quote calendar has this for Aug 30 - “A life spent making mistakes is not only honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing – George Bernard Shaw”. So timely, so appropriate. (another reason to write mistakes, or in this case, blogs). I smiled and nodded when I read it. This calendar was given to me by my wife.

My wife. These two words that I’ve been including in most of my blogs either consciously or unconsciously . Well it’s no wonder, she’s one that inspired and encouraged me to try my hidden talent (daw) in writing. As far as I know, she is the leader of my few readers (hopefully they do exists!) that visit my blogspot every now and then. My Technorati rank will attest to that - Rank: 3,915,745 . Ti abi.