Unlimited Free SMS? Never Again!

Almost a decade ago when Globe Handyphone introduced unlimited SMS while Smart Price Buster’s analog phone was enjoying leadership amongst competition. In no time, Globe took the lead and soon after, Philippines went digital and has become the SMS capital of the world.

Today, we still reign supreme in texting and tens of millions of SMS were exchanged everyday. Apparently, some not-so-well-informed politicians are thinking of enacting laws to make unlimited texting free. This is the most absurd thing I heard in years.

I am not the type who forward quotations, passages, and jokes everyday to all those numbers saved in my phone directory. I would rather call than send SMS. This could be one of my many reasons why I completely disagree with this issue.

I don’t want to comeback to those days when my messages lagged and came in so delayed. I want my SMS to be delivered on time, most of the time. I don’t want to receive messages from people who are trying to sound sincere, caring and nice but I haven’t seen for so many years. I don’t want to have clogged networks just because they are busy transmitting sweet nothings. I may not be part of the telecom industry but I don’t want to see them lose the profits they are enjoying now. They took the risk of investing (and they are continuously investing) on mobile telecommunication infrastructures. They rightfully deserve what they get now. How about the taxes the government are receiving?

I am happy with the way the telecom industry players are competing. Everyone is offering promos that will fit the needs and wants of the texting public. Consumers are given so much choices. Shouldn’t these promos be enough? I hope that those who came up with this idea would consider other options. This may come in handy to step up an election bid for public office but this issue would bring in more problems than solutions.

Let alone my text messages, I am willing to pay for it.

The king’s Menu

The king should be proud…

….somehow and myself included. Yesterday, a professional-looking lady approached one of our sales crew at Ice Cream King. She asked innocently if we are available for franchising. Upon hearing this great news, I just smiled. But it was only last night that I was able to contemplate that scene. Ice Cream King, indeed, is marketable. I can’t help but to be very proud of the concept of Ice Cream King.

Just want to share…. My real name is Reyginald, from my father’s name which is Reynaldo and both our names pertain to kingship. Yes, I cannot name our shop as Ice Cream Reggie but it did not cross my mind until last night. I have always owned Ice Cream King as if it’s my own business. Starting today, I will not just own it, I am the Ice Cream King! (Thanks to my boss from my previous company who always reminds his associates on being the soul of the brand.)

Students from UA&P ask if I am the owner of Ice Cream King when they see me at the shop. My standard reply is,”No, I am just employed here.” The next time I am asked, my reply would be “Yes and I have a Korean business partner.”

Loving Laiya. Wanting More Beaches!

(La.. La.. La.. Laiya II)

Sharing with you what transpired last Sunday and Monday during my trip to Laiya with my High School friends. Our first in four years but we are still not complete as Enrico and Maan were not with us. (I really miss both of them. huhuhu)

6:25a.m. I woke up very excited. I called up Boboy to wake him up. Boboy, being the most pasaway he is, might be late as usual.

6:30 – 7:30 a.m. I had Cereals, bananas and milk for breakfast. After, I attended to my morning rituals.

7:30 – 8:40 a.m. I waited in vain for Bugz and Nhez as they would fetch me at Starbucks Westlife.

8:40 – 9:05 a.m. I was riding a cab with Bugz and Nhez on our way to Boboy’s place. We called him to inform him that we are on our way. We were not surprised to know that he was still sleeping then.

9:05 – 9:15 a.m. We do not expect to leave Boboy’s place this soon as he was almost done when we arrived.

9:15 – 10:10 a.m. We met with Julia and Antonio along with their kids at Petron SLEX. Boboy had his breakfast at McDonald’s. Pasaway talaga. hehehe!

10:10 – 12:30 p.m. We traveled all the way to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas. Good thing, there were very few traffic interruptions. Otherwise, it would have been a horrible and stressful trip.

12:30 p.m. We arrived at Kabayan Resort and had our lunch. Julia brought Chicken Pork Adobo. It was really delicious that I was not able to avoid eating steam rice.

3:05 p.m. Our room is ready!

3:15 p.m. Vina and Rodel arrived. They needed to be late because they had had to attend another event that morning.

4:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Bugz, Nhez and I had photo opportunity and enjoyed swimming at the beach. I really fell in love with the waves of Laiya. Bugz and I played like kids by throwing each other wet balls of sand. It is our way playing of snowballs in a beach. Well, the waves added challenge to our game.

6:30 p.m. Dinner time! Vina brought marinated beef steaks for grilling which Rodel bought all the way from the States. The beef-lover that I am, I relished the grilled steak with tomato slices and a little serving of steam rice . Winner!

8:00 p.m. Happy hours… We drank Kurant with 7-Up and Cherries. I think I had eight servings but I did have a blast. It was really enjoyable as we exchanged banters among each other, things we often do on our rare gimmicks.

10:30 p.m. Antonio, Boboy Rodel and Vina had body massage by the beach while the rest of us went to sleep.

6:30 a.m. My cell phone’s alarm rang but failed to wake me up. I still slept for the next 30 minutes.

7:00 a.m. AJ, Antonio and Julia’s son, woke me up. We all had our morning rituals prior to breakfast.

8:45 a.m. Breakfast by the beach. We had corned beef, eggs, hotdogs, bread and rice. After breafast, it is swimming time again. We tried to eat at a Chowking sattelite store stationed nearby but we were disappointed to know that it was closed during weekdays.

11:45 a.m. We prepared to leave the resort while Boboy left already. He got some errands to do, according to him. (Who is he trying to fool? hehehe)

2:00 p.m. We checked-out. We are not feeling hungry though as we had a very heavy breakfast.

2:45 p.m. Familiarizing with Lipa. We visited the Our Lady of Mediatrix Church. The church is so comforting that it seems like it draws you nearer to God. I felt so blessed with its peaceful ambiance. Then we had a heavy snack of Lomi and Pancit Guisado at Three Kids Lomi House. Imagine, we are 11 and our bill is just 315 pesos.

4:00 p.m. We traveled all the way to Tagaytay on an unfamiliar route. The roads were narrow, uphill and had even more steep zigzags than the way to Baguio.

5:40 p.m. Tagaytay Na Naman! Photo Opportunity at Taal Vista and dinner at Leslie’s. Managed now by Fuego Hotels, it was really great to have rediscovered Taal Vista. Leslie’s has always been consistent with their Bulalo. I enjoyed also for the first time their Crispy Hito and Brewed Cafe Amadeo. Sadly, they were also consistent with their poor service as there were less servers than what is necessary.

9:40 p.m. Thanks to Vina and Rodel for bringing us to Bugz’ house. After getting some stuffs from Bugz, I went home.

What a day it was! I had a great time, as usual. Thanks to the people I grew up with. I hope this would happen again in more beaches and with Maan and Enrico around.

La.. La.. La.. Laiya!

After several years of not having summer outings with the complete group, we finally pushed through this year. Few days before our scheduled trip, it was raining hard and storm signals were announced all over Luzon. We cannot afford to let go of this chance as my friends and I took Monday off from our respective jobs and businesses. Thank God, typhoon Cosme went out of the country last Sunday afternoon.

We went to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas and stayed at Kabayan resort. It maybe far from the Metro, about three-hours drive from Quezon City with few heavy traffic interruptions, but it is worth the while. The sand may not be as white and fine as Boracay’s but it is far better than the other parts of Batangas.

What I love most about Laiya are the waves. Wheeeew! I am not into surfing but I do enjoy when the waters push me to the shore with its walloping waves. Laiya could be the next big summer destination once developed and promoted well with its beauty and purity maintained.

After Laiya, we went to Our Lady of Mediatrix Church in Lipa. The church was so serene that I forgot to have another photo opportunity.

Lastly, we went to Tagataytay. We took several pictures at Taal Vista and had dinner at Leslie’s. I will share more Journey Journals about this trip in a few days.

Give in to Ice Cream King!

Please bear with the king! The pictures are raw and so amateurish.

God is really great…

I had fun. I am sure you did too unless… This reminds me that there is much hope for my country who happens to be proud in having English as its second language. Life is unfair but God is indeed fair to all His creations.

The king reigns, his shake fails.

Today is the last day we would sell the King’s Milkshakes. We have already improved our formula, sold smaller sizes, offered better deals yet the milkshake failed.

Maybe, milkshake is not something you will have everyday. It is too rich and heavy to have, and somehow pricey compared to ice cream. But we are not losing hope. Not just yet. We would transfer our machine to a better location wherein there is continuous foot traffic. I hope our Milkshake will find its niche.

However, Ice Cream King has its regular customers now. And we are expanding our ice cream menu. We are now selling Prince’s Belgian Cone at P16.00 and the delightful Ice Cream Queen for only P25.00. ICQ is soft-serve ice cream sundae on a cup with alternate layers of Vanilla Ice Cream and your choice of fudge- Chocolate or Caramel! It is like your favorite sundae from your hamburger store, only made “supersized” and cheaper!

Ice Cream King will soon reign its kingdom in Ever Gotesco Manila and Farmers’ Market Cubao. Hopefully, we can sell the Ice Cream King variant there, the country’s first footlong ice cream. Long Lick the King!

Jabbing the Job (Title)

My friend Gian is teasing me over my latest Job Title. Well, I did not ask for the title of General Manager in my present company but situation calls for it. We are a start-up company and we want to play big time. Currently, I just have three people under me – our administrative assistant and two sales crews. That’s all we’ve got for now. Then again, I wear different hats depending on the situation. Let me count them:

1. Business Development Officer – with my so-called entrepreneurial acumen, I am trying to create new and diverse businesses my Korean boss and I think feasible.
2. Procurement Officer – I source for suppliers and negotiate for better prices, better deals to lower cost of goods sold
3. R&D – I develop new items to sell for our menu at Ice Cream King.
4. Brand Manager – Thanks to my previous company, I have learned a lot of being the soul of my brand. I am applying them now.
5. Operations Manager – My Math discipline taught me the optimization of operations, minimizing cost while maximizing results.
6. Logistics Officer – I make sure that the inventory levels of raw materials are enough.
7. Sales Manager – This is quite self-explanatory.
8. H.R. Manager – I have manpower pooling for hiring and training for our next shops.
9. Retail Manager – I am closely monitoring our first shop to create a feasible franchise business in the future.
10. Copywriter – I do all the communications to be used for collaterals.

Good thing we are our outsourcing our Accounting and Design Team as these are way beyond my proficiencies. I am really enjoying my different roles in my present job. I just pray that I continue to persevere to achieve what we wanted for our business. It can be tiring at times but I cannot afford to complain. It is as if I own the whole business.

As we are currently developing different kinds of business like a retail chain of low-priced branded luxury bags and shoes, mobile communication software, sports tourism agency to name a few, expect that the number of my roles will progress dramatically in the coming days. May the Good God help me…

Words of Wisdom or Sarcastic Remarks?

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. And so are my YM status. It is for you to judge. I mean no harm nor hatred. It’s just a blab of my mind. Though sometimes, out of my overwhelming emotions to something or someone on that particular instance, I came up with such lines. Lately, I keep on changing my YM status with my so-called words of wisdom or sarcastic remarks. I also added my self-proclaimed quotable quotes, I had said years ago. Some lines may sound cliche while others could either be amusing or boring.

From now on, I will collect them on this blog. Maybe this entry would be the most edited one as I will update this with more YM status-es and my other quotes…

• Intelligence is only logic but attitude is what makes the magic. (A gracious lady told me this remark when we have her hitched our cab more than 11 years ago. )
  
• Never underestimate a man whose capabilities you don’t know.
• I admire those who fight for a cause and despise those who cause fights.
• Loyalty is sacred that it must not be exploited to cloak mediocrity.
• Most things can be achieved thru hardwork but not all comes with happiness in it.
• Intelligence is inversely proportional to luck.
• Charity is no less than generosity but true charity is giving that comes from the heart.
• I never learn to count my friends for they are countless. I never learn to count my enemies for I never had one.
• A minute of sadness means depriving yourself a minute of happiness.
• If there’s no basis to be angry, it is envy indeed.
• Love until it hurts and willing to let go.
• Love does not make the world go round. It makes the ride worthwhile. (I got this from my primary school’s diary.)
• Not all who quit are losers. It also takes a lot of courage to admit fault and finally, fold.
• I refuse to become villains to those pretending to take the lead roles.
• In the depths of silence come the spread of wisdom.
• It takes a wise man to handle a lie. The fool must remain honest (also from my primary school’s diary)
• Not all salesperson are marketers but all marketers must be sales-oriented.
• I was able too see farther because I am standing on the shoulders of the giants (- Isaac Newton)
• Some secrets reveal not because of its stench but surprisingly unfold to test one’s character.
• In the darkest side of the night comes the sun to rise.
• Aspire to be the best even in the midst of mediocrity.
• Walang humahawak ng palayok nang hindi nadudumihan ang kamay. (Noone touches the claypot without having his hands catch the coal.)
• Don’t play with fire if you are not ready to get burn.
• The coward deserves no reward.
• I live each day as it comes.  I can’t foresee what tomorrow may bring but I can make things happen today!
• Greatness radiates from within, not from loud mouths who never cease to find fault.

 

I made this list randomly as I remember them. I will add more to this collection in the coming days.