Marcus Can Blog

I’m currently burning the midnight oil, well at least until another hour from now.  And out came from the very low volume setting of my stereo is a familiar song which I think I first heard several years ago when possessing a padded Billboard audio cassette tape is still the “in” thing. Not finding the remote, I tried to listen intently as I try my best to recall who sang the version I’ve learned to love. Guess what. I remember.  It’s a new wave era band called…Midnight Oil. Now isn’t that weird.

My curiosity got me to instinctively search the web for who now sings this revival. The result surprised me when I saw a famous yet unlikely name to be linked to any song – Kofi Annan. I soon learned that this song is another advocacy to promote consciousness regarding the current climate change that everyone in the world is now facing. Now I find that not just weird but more like a crossroad for me, this song and my personal commitment to help advocate the need to instill environmental awareness.

Here’s the Beds are burning video from youtube.com and the mp3 file may be downloaded from timeforclimatejustice.org. Enjoy and help preserve our mother earth before it’s too late.

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (just came from an educational trip to the Manila Ocean Park. Will post my review soon.)

It’s one of those days when I prayed like never before and this morning was proof somehow that God still answers fervent prayers. I woke up still on the same bed with my wifey and kid beside me and not somewhere else. Last night, I slept with an uneasy feeling thinking that a typhoon with a strength that was never heard of before in the Philippines will be passing by (or scarier, make landfall) and who knows what it’s capable of doing…well, except maybe by multiplying what Ondoy just did. Again thank God, he listened to us Filipinos who for sure don’t want a repeat of what Ondoy did and to think that it will happen just within the same week.

Perfect combination

Another good thing that I was so glad this morning was the arrival of another set of bags of Tully’s and Peets coffee beans coming from a relative in the US via her friend in Bacolod. That domestic stopover added something more to the package that is a perfect match for a brewed coffee, piaya – Bacolod’s sweet delicacy. Thanks again Keren and Gary for filling my cravings for caffeine. I’m quite sure that I’d be Starbucks-free at least in a month or two.

***

Just a thought: Aren’t Ondoy and Pepeng God’s own warning shot for us to stop and think what we’ve been doing to our environment? Weren’t we taught that cleanliness is next to godliness?

Think about it my friends. Let’s make a lot more effort to take good care of the environment. It’s never too late.

***

It’s about time I promote another blog I maintain just to catch and record litterbugs and smoke belchers. This is my own way to help drive environmental consciousness. Please check and contribute to Planet Trash Can.

Mood: 4/5 Honks! (Sleepy and tired…and anxious)

A couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting exchange of argument coming from one of those who commented my Facebook note (linked from my blog site). My then FB friend digress from the main topic, Dead but not gone which is about Cory Aquino, and the discussion went from good to bad. It ended with me being implied as a hypocrite. Ouch.

It started when I said that I’m just hoping that confettis won’t be used during the funeral as consequently this symbol of honor, respect and even sympathy will end up as garbage on the streets and finally, will clog our already restricted, if not full, drainage system. Sadly, my concern about its effect to the environment was fully misinterpreted. If it was out of ignorance or just the then overflowing emotion about the late ex-president’s death, I don’t know.

Being called a hypocrite is unpleasant no doubt, but that discussion hit me like a loud wake up call. True, I do things that contribute to the environmental problem – drive a petrol-powered car, buy and consume non-organic food, wear synthetic clothing, uses cleaning solvents that may contain hazardous chemicals that contaminate our waters, etcetera. But do I have a choice? Like many others, the answer is most likely no. But can I do something about it? The answer is a big YES.

I'm likewise bringing my mug to school (whenever possible) - save on Starbucks, save the planet.

Right now I swear to step up from what I’ve been doing already – garbage segregation even if I’m quite sure the garbage collectors pile them up the truck among other wastes; making sure that our car is in tip-top condition; minimize the use of electricity; conserve water; and other things according to the 3 R’s – Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.

Fix that leak with Fluidmaster's fill valve replacement kit. Photo: www.fluidmaster.com

To walk the talk I started it last saturday when I brought along a sandwich to school without the plastic wrapper and foil, and instead placed it inside a Tupperware container which is reusable. And just today, I fixed a defective toilet fill valve even if it means I’d be spending out of budget, and to mention being sweaty and dirty during the whole installation (although it took me just 10 minutes to do it). So there goes. I’ve somehow gained something out of that FB argument and will try to see what more I can to do to save the environment…and avoid once again being tagged as a hypocrite. Ti abi.

Mood: 3/10 Honks! (talked to 3 YM contacts…)

“The optimism of action is better than the pessimism of the thought.” – Greenpeace activist

I admit I did not realize that today is Earth Day. I’ve been occupied with travelling from one place to another – I wish it was abroad – that I only learned about Earth Day just this morning over the radio on my way to work. I also don’t know if since when we have been celebrating Earth Day. I totally have no idea.

Anyway, as one self-declared environmentalist, this one email coming from Greenpeace.org prompt me to comply with their call to action.

Here’s an excerpt from this said email:

…Here at Greenpeace, we’re pushers of a controlled substance. It’s called hope…

…When we take action against environmental crimes, we also take action against despair. And there are times when inspiring other people to take action are by far the most powerful outcome that we could hope for…

…If you agree, we want you, and 2,999,999 people like you to sign up as climate activists. Together let’s act and protect our future…

The most important meeting of the century

When the UN Climate summit convenes in Copenhagen this December, delegates there will be deciding the fate of the Earth. It’s looking more and more likely they will bring us a lot of hot air, not a cooler planet.

YOU need to tell them that’s not good enough.

YOU need to raise the bar on the world’s expectations.

It’s time to get involved. It’s time to get your friends involved. It’s time to get your parents or your kids involved.

Our first mission is to get the message out that we want our leaders to take personal responsibility for stopping climate change.

The first step to ensuring that the climate summit makes real decision is to make sure that real decision makers are there.

This Earth Day, please join us in this conspiracy of hope called Greenpeace, and inspire others to action…

Chuck Baclagon
New Media Campaigner
Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Also included in this email is Greenpeace.org’s request for everyone to participate in the following actions:

1. Demand key leaders go to the climate summit by signing the petition.
2. Post the “Inspiring Action” video to our blogs, Facebook and other social networking sites.
3. Donate.
   

Lastly, here’s the “Inspiring Action” video. Please spread.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVu9eawb1QY]

Mood: 2/10 Honks!

I have come to realize that I haven’t seen or lived at any place that seems better than Bacolod when it comes to jogging or biking. Let me prove that.

During my first years in Manila, I lived somewhere in Alabang. The village where I stayed has only four main roads. One will find jogging a bore a few minutes after he’s started. If he decides to go out, he’ll have to take a chance with crazy jeepney drivers along the service roads.

Taguig. This one isn’t any better than the first. The place is crowded and hilly; and the roads are quite narrow and competing with the zooming tricycles isn’t really a good idea. If one is persistent enough, he can jog around FTI but would have to deal with weird looks coming from workers of the nearby factories who will likely wonder if he’s some expat who just loves running inside the industrial zone.

Cavite and Batangas. Although these places are known for its wonderful resorts and beaches, the places I’ve been to aren’t jogger-friendly – unless a 5 km (or less) run is good enough for you. To break a sweat, the only way where one can jog or bike carefree here, and in the other places that I have mentioned, is either you run using the treadmill inside a gym or you live inside an exclusive village where there’s normally wide road and safe areas to take a healthy jog. Obviously, either one of the two options isn’t free. But not in Bacolod.

There are several reasons why Bacolod is such a conducive place.

1. The place is relatively flat. In fact within the city proper, there are only few areas that would render a weekend jogger breathless; imagine how easier and enjoyable is it for regular bikers (sadly, BMX sighting has decreased significantly, or they must have gone underground).

2. Traffic is fairly light compared to Metro Manila, even Cavite;

3. and despite that, most vehicles are traveling at a safe pace. Though adrenalin-pumped rich kids and crazy jeepney drivers are always around – you just can’t escape them.

4. Forget Starbucks or CBTL, but small coffee shops seem to be available everywhere you go.

5. Bacold City’s lagoon area is still a good place to jog (we used to bike inside the area until the late ’90s but it was later prohibited) whether it’s early morning or late in the afternoon.

I’m not being biased but, the truth is, Bacolod is where all you need to have a good jog is a pair of running shoes, a shirt, and a short. Putting these on and waking up early though is mandatory. Hahaha.

***

However, here’s a caveat: I can’t help but notice the alarming number of places where people are burning garbage. Coming from our subdivision and until near the lagoon area, it seems that every kilometer or so, people are trying to personally incinerate their trashes. And this is very very bad especially for those who loves jogging around.

At first I thought that it was only confined to a few places where garbage collection isn’t regular that people had to burn it to avoid piling and accumulation – at least that’s what my nanay said and do so even until now. So does this mean that garbage collection around the city is also as irregular as the rest of the residential areas? If this is the case, the city mayor has to do something aggressive about it unless he has plans to make Bacolod “a city of smile and smog”. Hopefully not.

***

Well, this morning, after another long jog going east – to Sta. Fe, I decided to pay one of my best friends a visit. And how delighted I was when I saw this posted on their gate:

He also gave me several other fliers which I brought home along with me.

At least, I now know that an information campaign is being done by the good mayor – Bing Leonardia, and I hope that with this effort (and with the cooperation of his constituents) Bacolod will once again be awarded as one of the “Greenest City” like it was so many years ago.

Honk: 3/10 Honks!

I don’t know how to react exactly to last night’s news. The TV patrol reporter introduced the news, “…dagdag pasanin na naman sa mga deboto (additional burden again to the devoutees)…”; at that point I was expecting to hear something really bad. To my surprise, the well-emphasized “pasanin”was just about a Php 20 (less than USD 0.5) fee being asked by the DENR at the foot of Mt. Banahaw for those visiting it this Holy Week. The fee they say is for the maintenance of the environment.

I can’t help but shake my head in dismay for such news exaggeration. I also feel pity for those people who were interviewed and answered as if they are being individually extorted of thousands of pesos. Hey, if you reached Banahaw, donating Php 20 I know isn’t something that will deprive you of anything at all.

The DENR has all the rights to collect such fee. It is already a fact that even those with good intentions to take their religious panata (vow) have intentionally or unintentionally left their garbages up in the mountains. It is sad that others aren’t aware that whatever they have brought along with them should be properly disposed of. I’ve been in Mt. Makiling once and I saw that there are indeed people who patrol the area just to remind everyone that trashes shouldn’t be thrown anywhere. I also heard from some of my friends who are into mountaineering that it is a protocol to pack and bring every trash and have it disposed properly once they went back down the mountain.

So instead of feeling paranoid about where the donations go, let’s give DENR the benefit of the doubt. Besides, it’s Holy Week isn’t it? It’s un-Christian to think bad about other people just as it is un-Christian to leave those garbages behind after you have prayed all day. And do you still remember one of your grade school’s classroom poster, “cleanliness is next to godliness”? Well, I just hope so.

***

We'd want to have our kids see trees when they grow up, don't we?

Mood: 2/10 Honks!

Sorry if I’ll write one more on this but I really can’t get enough of the Chip Tsao issue or at least relate some things to it. So out of curiosity yesterday I asked my wife to get me a copy of the Philippine Star on her way home from work. My main purpose? Just to check if someone wrote an article about this most talked about shenanigan. Well, someone did and I was all smiles as wifey handed over the thick Sunday issue.

F Sionil Jose

The writer was no less than the national artist for literature himself, F. Sionil Jose. And not only that, his article, “Why are we a ‘nation of servants’? appeared to be a well-revised composition (no pun intended) of my two recent post about the Chip Tsao issue. And here are some excerpts from that article:

“Such insults hurt profoundly but the pain fades quickly and soon after all that enraged outburst, we settle down to the same complacency, we continue sending more of our women abroad to be raped by Arabs, demeaned by Malaysians and Chinese, heckled by the Brits. What has our sense of outrage brought us?”

Chip Tsao

“Do not kill the messenger (referring to Chip Tsao) who comes to us to tell the horrid truth about us. Ingest his message, then [sic] turn all that outrage, that vehemence, to the Filipinos who turned this beautiful country into the garbage dump of the region.”

***

F. Sionil Jose’s words rang like ever resonant tuning forks in my ears. “…then turn all that outrage, that vehemence, to the Filipinos who turned this beautiful country into the garbage dump of the region…” He wasn’t after all just talking about how most of us reacted to this recent release of racial slur but it was as if he’s hitting two birds with one stone. He’s whipping most of us with what has happened to our environment.

It’s a pity, but while most of us are trying to defend our national pride by loosely attacking someone from outside, we failed to recognize the fact that within us, Christians, and some self-declared devout are people who blatantly made our surroundings like one big trash can. How many times have we seen plastic cups come flying out of rickety tricycles, and heck, even from brand new cars? This just goes to show that neither social status nor educational attainment doesn’t guarantee ones concern of the environment. Our love and respect for Mother Nature needs a conscious effort that we all need to do. And we need to start doing it now.

In my opinion, wearing a shirt with the three stars and the sun, or wailing as if on cue once we feel discriminated, isn’t one way of showing our nationalism. It is by recognizing and acting accordingly to the problems that we face right in front of us, that we earn the respect of other people – especially foreigners. Let’s not just get contented with being labeled as being hospitable, resilient (if this still counts), skilled workforce and religious. Let’s do more than these and let’s show the world that we aren’t a nation of servants, nor we are living in a nation of trash.

***

Wifey, son and I on a candle lit alfresco dinner. If you can still see us, then we'll do better next year.

Looking at the bright side, it’s good to know that at least there are a million Filipinos who heed the call to participate in the Earth Hour celebration – and if it was by choice or not, I actually don’t care. For me, just to learn that most of us have “voted” for Earth even just for an hour is enough. Hopefully, we raise this level of awareness and be a part of the majority (is it?) who starts to recognize that something must be done about the environment.

***

Other tidbits from yesterday’s Philippine Star Sunday edition:

• Finally, I read something sensible in Joey De Leon’s column. Hope he keeps it that way.
• Until now, I still can’t stop feeling the hypocrisy over some charity drives. Bulgari is selling rings intended to help some children. 20% of the P19,000 they say will go to Save the Children campaign. You can do more than that, Bulgari. And why can’t those buyers just give the whole amount instead in the first place?
• This I find alarming: Explosives chemicals were found in US baby formulas. 15 brands are in question for having perchlorate, an oxidizer in solid fuels used in explosives, fireworks, and rockets. Isn’t this the reason why our baby boy seems to act like the infamous coyote who has taken acme stuffs? Hmmm.
• Demi Moore saved one man from committing suicide through her Twitter network. Great Job mrskutcher, crisn73 is now one of your followers.

Photo credits:

F. Sionil – Wikipedia.org

Chip Tsao – gmanews.tv

Carbonnyc

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

It’s just two and half, and yet almost everything has happened so fast.

Friday. We went to the beach – it was Marcus’ first. The weather was crazy as it was forecasted to be one hot sunny day. It indeed looked like it in the morning but just before we left the weather changed. It shifted from sunny to gloomy. Fast.

We pushed through anyway. And just more than an hour later we were at Munting Buhangin beach in Nasugbu, Batangas – 80 km. away from home. Quite fast considering I was driving defensively. It may be because of the well paved road – at least just before Munting Buhangin where it was muddy, rocky, and steep. Or it may be because I was expecting that some of my colleagues are already waiting for me. They weren’t.

With the absence of the group, lunch wasn’t what I expected it to be but I still had a good time – with just the three of us. Watching our little baby frolic on the sand and being with him to enjoy his first dip in the water is just worth every time.

We left just a couple of minutes after my colleagues and bosses started arriving. They’re staying overnight. As much as I wanted, I just can’t. I have an exam the following day.

Saturday. I was up very early in the morning and this time I wasn’t blogging. I was preparing to leave for Ateneo Rockwell.

By 7:45 am I was in a room sitting with a group of serious looking men and women. We’re all taking the entrance exam for Masters in Business Administration course.

The exam was in two parts. Part I was English and math. I think I did well in English. But I think I did otherwise in math. Part II was very new to me. I never had such exam before and interesting as it may seem, it was one hard, migraine-inducing 100-item 40-minute test. I never noticed the time. It flew so fast. Results will be on Monday. I’m not expecting to pass.

I was home just past noon. By the afternoon, we were out. After dropping wifey at Intel, Marcus and I were left to our own devices. Out of the blue, I decided to pay his godfather a visit for the first time. Luckily, he was at home but they’re preparing to attend mass. At least, he and Marcus met albeit short and fast.

After killing time in front of the Jollibee statue of a nearby mall, and wondering the whole time if Marcus was having a conversation with his current favorite figure, we headed back to pick up wifey. We then headed to the mall. Marcus needs new pair of shoes. He has damaged his third footwear and the new one was of a bigger size. He’s growing. Fast.

On our way out, we dropped by a computer shop to check the HP Mini. They have slashed its price from approximately Php 21,000 to Php 18,000. In a matter of weeks it has gone down. Fast.

Sunday. Today is the first F1 race for 2009. It’s in Australia and we’re now watching it live on TV. Now this is fast.

Mood: 4/10 Honks!

I was attracted to this thought-provoking blog and my curiosity got me reading it. Despite being a self-declared environmentalist and a greenpeace wannabe, I seem to understand where the blog’s author is coming from – she’s fed up with all the hypocrisy and hype. What I find funny though that after reading the blog I noticed an unlikely ad that should not go along with the radical post:

Say what?

Ads are insensitive, huh?

***

Last year, I supported this campaign. The only thing left at home with the power ON during the 1-hour period was our refrigerator – having spoiled food is anti-earth, just in case you don’t know. This year (or tomorrow), I’ll commit to support it once again. I still believe that instilling awareness bit by bit by to everyone is a good start to saving our beloved Earth because we actually don’t have a choice, do we? It’s way better than doing nothing. As one line goes, “let’s change, or the climate will”.

***

I have one guilty pleasure which I’ve been wondering if it’s anti-earth – watching F1. And a day after the Earth Hour is celebrated is when the F1 season begins. Isn’t it ironic?

Mood: 2/10 Honks!

Just an hour ago I was one of those who participated in the Earth Hour.  From 8pm to 9m, our house was in total darkness with only the light from the street post beaming through the window. I was hesitant at first to turn off the TV as I was watching the show Shocking Video: Deadly Force (it always fascinates me to see cops emptying their guns on hooligans. But that’s another story). Good thing it ended exactly by 8.  Seriously, I’d end watching it, finished or not finished – as our teachers used to say – just to do my share.

Since my wife was out, I was left out alone and was thinking what to do outside while killing time. So I tried sending an SMS to some of my friends reminding them to observe the lights out activity. Out of the 20 plus contacts, 5 actually replied that they too had their lights turned off.  Great. At least I’m not the only person looking up to the heavens and trying to appreciate its natural beauty (haven’t done that for a long time). I think I’m the only person in our neighborhood who observed this call for conservation and so I find it nice to know that somehow, out there some of my friends did just the same.

I wonder how many joined and how much energy was saved.