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Rediscovering Lost Eden by Bio Research

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UPDATE: For those of you who have read my dad’s column on the Ashitaba Leaf, you can easily propagate the shrub ocne you procure it from them. The Ashitaba are not being sold – they are being given away. All you need to do is print out his column and bring it to Bio Research in Sucat so they can give you the plant which you can propagate yourself.

If you wish to receive email updates about Lost Eden, the Ashitaba Leaf and other places I visit, please don’t hesitate to subscribe to my link below:

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I’m not sure if I’ve declared it in public, but I’m a fish geek. I’ve kept freshwater fish since I was a kid, had an aquarium in every room at home (community tank, live breeder tank, cichlid tank), wrote my term paper about breeding habits of guppies, kept koi, and even stopped eating fish for several years because of a childhood trauma. It was the fish that helped forge good friendships as well with fellow hobbyists like blog friends Riane and Juned.

Continue reading “Rediscovering Lost Eden by Bio Research”

Pocketful of Kids in Ortigas opens October 25

I took time off to come to a sneak preview of a new toy store that’s away from the crowd. For one, it’s located at the 15th floor of Strata 2000 Building in Emerald Ave (that’s almost across MMPI). When you walk into the store, you’re greeted with toys you’ve never seen in any Rustan’s or Toy Kingdom outlet. They’ve got hand puppets, blocks, wire mazes, organics and yeah among other bizarre things you’d find only in Oz, a talking tree and a talking cash register. The store is everything you’ve probably dreamed of when we were kids, and it serves as a haven for children and their adult companions to be within the privacy of their own little world. There are no “violent” toys at Pocketful of Kids.

it’s really touching to see how a vision like this can turn to reality. The store was founded by Natalie Tanchip and just like other off the beaten track places like Elbert’s Steak Room, a store such as this defies all the laws of marketing which we’ve all come to accept – and the first one is location. Who would have thought?

If you’re still undecided as to what to get your friends and family members this Christmas, I urge you to visit Pocketful of Kids as they have really great stuff you won’t find elsewhere: they are the exclusive distributors of Alex, Tatiri, Learning Resources, Melissa and Doug, among many others. On my first visit, I already bought my Christmas gift for Ananya! And get this – they also do gift wrapping and deliveries. I had mine delivered since the package was pretty huge.

Here’s a complete listing of the items they have for sale and the exclusive brands that they carry. You can view more photos here.

Pocketful of Kids
Pocketful of Kids is the very first interactive toy village in the country that carries popular American and European toy brands that encourage children to wonder, discover and learn through play. For more information, please visit 15/F Strata 2000, Emerald Avenue, Ortigas or call (02) 634-7888 or (02) 634-2888.

Proven: Not everyone is entitled to their own opinion

There are some shocking studies that you’ve always held to be true at the back of your mind, but were afraid to express because you’d be accused of generalizing things. Well, as it is, a new study shows that not everyone is entitled to an opinion.

“On topics from evolution to the environment to gay marriage to immigration reform, we found that many of the opinions expressed were so off-base and ill-informed that they actually hurt society by being voiced,” said chief researcher Professor Mark Fultz, who based the findings on hundreds of telephone, office, and dinner-party conversations compiled over a three-year period. “While people have long asserted that it takes all kinds, our research shows that American society currently has a drastic oversupply of the kinds who don’t have any good or worthwhile thoughts whatsoever. We could actually do just fine without them.”

Well, that’s Fultz’s opinion anyhoo, and he probably counts as one of the 62% whose opinion counts. Does it mean anything as well if my source is taken from The Onion? The study shows that 38% of people in the US have opinions “that actually don’t matter.”

I wonder how much can be quantified locally with people talking about things they seem to not have a full grasp on? When we write, do we write with authority?

There are no innuendos to my posting this – it’s just something worth looking into. But then again, that’s just my opinion 🙂

New industry magazine buzzing next month

The most interesting ones are the industry magazines, because that’s where all the behind the scenes stuff’s at. So Geoff and Tiff invited a few of us (Internet community + college marketing orgs) to a contributor’s night meet and greet for a new industry magazine (photos here and here). You’ve probably seen it on Plurk and a few blogs – Hive Pub Magazine. In my initial chat with Geoff I asked if this was similar to Adobo Magazine, the official industry mag for the local advertising, PR and below the line industry, and I was right on the dot.

They’d be doing an initial print run of 10k copies, and the magazine will not be for sale. Geoff told me that Inkwell will be printing the glossy, which is cool as well (they used to print my high school paper as well as internal magazines for UA&P).

This is long been waiting to happen. I remember about a year ago another publishing company wanted to do a magazine on the blogosphere, but it never pushed through. You might think it ironic that Hive is taking something that was born online, bringing it offline – and that maybe it might not work. I think this is a good move, as the target market isn’t really the online space, because we’d just be preaching to the choir. I think the vision (Geoff, let’s do an interview) is a reach outward to combine the talents of the blogging, SEO and the “new media” community with the capacities of the local ad industry. That alone is formidable.

Issue one is out this November 2008.

Tenure. Or what’s close to it.

I abandoned myself to certain realities when I was a lot younger. That first, in order to keep to a certain lifestyle, a job in education would definitely be noble, but not practical. I was young and restless. Second, I believed in the philosophy that you can’t teach what you don’t know and being a fresh grad with barely any experience in worldly things would pale me in comparison to Richard Dreyfuss (who bares a startling resemblance to Rico’s dad) in Mr. Holland’s Opus or Robin “O Captain! My Captain!” Williams in Dead Poet’s Society.

So after college, I had in my arsenal a whole bunch of theories on andragogy (adult learning), child psychology, “best practices” and teaching philosphy. I was envious of friends who worked for the big agencies like Ogilvy, the McCann group, BBDO, etc. It was then I began to doubt having taken the wrong course. Deep inside though, I thought I was doing the right thing. Maybe not entirely. But I guess being hard headed (dalawa ang puyo ko) I wanted to convince myself that I was right.

Steve Jobs, in his “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” 2005 commencement speech addressed how past decisions will only, but always, make perfect sense much later on, …you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future..

So I trusted. I gave up Integrated Marketing Communications for a Development Education course. I gave up working in PR or advertising so I could do some work in Batangas with farmers and in Negros Occidental Oriental for a family farm school, not to teach, but to develop curricula. (Hyuk) I guess the joke’s on me as I’ve wounded back working with agencies for PR and advertising.

And my units in Education? Well, this letter only proves one thing.

My acceptance into the Institute

That Steve Jobs was right. 🙂