First 5 Welcome Surprises and Disappointments!

I posted this blog on Facebook almost a month ago. It’s sometimes tiresome to pick, organize, and put the best photos taken into corresponding folders. It’s been a month since I arrived from the US and I wanted to share this on what others say the “ghost month”.

’twas a marathon US trip (17 days)…from the west coast to the east coast and back to the hometown of Kobe Bryant…then from Beverly Hills to the far east coast…though not exactly in Beijing….now back in business. Makati is an environment that a micro entrepreneur in a high profile industry like events will surely miss….can’t help but to observe and compare how people live and work in New York and California with Manila…my fingers are locked and couldn’t sync in to what I want to say in this unnoticeable notepad…I’d rather share it in person to my personal and business friends (who still want to listen)…there you go….

few surprises and disappointments welcome me (even the day I was about to leave LA)…

1. On August 22, 2008, Globe will release the new iPhone 3G. for plan 4999 you get a free 8gb or 16gb for P5,500.00. If you’re one of the recipients of the html news, you were probably dismayed…I got a first generation of iPhone in September 2007 at a reasonable cost. Upgrade may be costly but it’s a part having to put the passion as a local technology enabler. Why Globe has to offer a more expensive scheme? Are we, micro entrepreneurs, executives, celebrities, and high society pals, to be poorly compared to a taxi cab driver in New York who took us from the JFK International Airport to The Pod Hotel in 2nd Ave. NY? I even joked about the iPhone’s unavailability in the US because the taxi cab drivers are all using hands-free iPhone. Being an Apple and Steve Jobs fan, Globe iPhone 3G scheme for a third world country is ONE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!

2. I got my Kobe Bryant Beijing Olympic USA team jersey from Niketown in Beverly Hills on August 5, 2008. I bought a pair of medium and white. The other one is a present to my partner and friend John Co (very passionate about Nike…and Kobe?). After 3 weeks of missing the Monday club games in RFM gym, I felt I didn’t miss the self-conditioning games because of having dressed up with the said jersey plus the Nike Hyperdunk Black Mamba. By the way, we thought we have been brainwashed by Nike and the Hyperdunk mania has just begun. It is a personal excitement! A SURPRISE!

3. Having thought of playing for at least 1.5 hours in the court is a DISAPPOINTMENT. Sad to say that I landed to have played for only 15 minutes after making 2 consecutive shots, I had to bring a co-basketball player to VRMP (Polymedic Hospital) who got 5 stitches after challenging my fastbreak execution. His face accidentally hit my elbow and resulted to bloody swollen eyebrows (?). I told him he is my first victim. 🙂

Unfortunately, it happened while wearing Kobe Bryant Olympic jersey and Hyperdunk Black Mamba. I thought it feels hard to be in a “dream team”.:) I hope and pray that the wound will get healed in less than 2 weeks.

4. While Filipinos are fans of Nike Air Jordan, Cross Trainer, Manny Pacquiao’s training sneakers, and now the Hyperdunk mania in Manila, I was SURPRISED to have found out that my Nike SB collections are “in” from Santa Monica to New York. I’m keeping a pair of Atari-inspired Nike SB720, Pro Medium brown SB, and Sunday Bloody Sunday SB. My exact size of SB720 is coming in the next few weeks and I am selling a brand new size 10. Anyone interested?

5. A black “Stretch Limousine” SURPRISED me when we were leaving The Pod Hotel New York.
Our flight to LA was at 11:30am and we had to be in JFK Int’l. Airport at least 2 hours earlier. The next shuttle service would leave at 9:00am and we would definitely get caught in a horrible traffic in NYC if we would wait for the share-a-ride van. We were ready at 7:30am and I told my sister to take a walk to the corner of 2nd Ave. No NYC taxi cab wanted to bring us to the airport because of the congestion. Good thing I was able to convince Raffy (of The Pod shuttle service) to look for a car rental that would bring us to the airport. After 15 minutes, he got back to me and said that the car was already waiting outside. Thus, we got our butt off the nice couch of The Pod lobby and gave Raffy a USD5.00 tip. I thought that the service car was an ordinary american car that has a big trunk that could fit our luggage. I was overwhelmed when I saw the driver coming in a tie and long-sleeves polo and greeted. I felt it was an extra VIP treatment at USD45.00 plus toll fee and tip as compared to the costlier share-a-ride shuttle service.