Image by Dan Saavedra via Flickr

Here are a couple of reports to read about Ondoy.

Calls for help flood cyberspace as ‘Ondoy’ pummeled Luzon

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20090926/tph-calls-for-help-flood-cyberspace-as-o-d6cd5cf.html

It’s interesting to see how Filipinos have really gotten into social networking and have become cyber-savvy. Manila has definitely joined the wide wide world of the Web and used it the right way. Filipinos from all over the Metro used it to blog, tweet, plurk and post calls for help, traffic reports and flood updates. Glad to see the old sense of “bayanihan” come to play.

73 dead, more than 300,000 displaced by Ondoy

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090927-227130/73-dead-more-than-300000-displaced-by-Ondoy

This is the bit that I didn’t really want to read about, but it’s the sad reality. Quite a number of people dead and hundreds of thousands lost their homes. The rainfall for this day was equal to the amount of average rainfall for a MONTH. This much water in a day was what led to the overflowing of the Angat Water Dam. I remember hearing on the radio two days before about a storm warning and that the dams around the Luzon area were already close to the overflowing level. There was no announcement to evacuate the areas though as the amount of rainfall was unexpected. Schools are out until Tuesday as a lot of the school facilities are being used as Evac centers.

I’m in the dry zone so far. Hoping it stays that way. Just heard there’s another storm coming in the next 3 days!

Joepi Paloma | Manila, Philippines

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Related articles by Zemanta

• Tropical Storm Ketsana (flickr.net)
• Philippines battles flood chaos (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Filipino Bloggers Vigilant with Typhoon Ondoy Floods (blogherald.com)
• Philippine storm leaves 72 dead and missing (huffingtonpost.com)

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Joepi Paloma
http://www.joepster.com/blog/
Manila, PH

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TROPICAL STORM ONDOY HITS MANILA…

I haven’t seen rain like this in quite a while. Big, fat, pouring rain. I left the office in the middle of this downpour and got home just in time.
A few members of my team were stranded in the office or turned back when they were on their way home, but they were safe and dry. Others weren’t too lucky and had to endure a night in the rain on a rooftop waiting to be rescued. Some kids were reported missing. One reported to be missing and found dead a village a way as he got separated from his mother as they tried to find a safe spot but got carried away by the flood. A pregnant lady was reported to have given birth in one of the roof tops. And hundreds of families lost their possessions, homes and vehicles. Despite all that, we also hear of brave soldiers and civilians working together to rescue as many of these stranded folks. Some even used their private motor boats to help with the rescue. My dad observed amusing behavior as he stopped in 7-11 on his way home yesterday and saw civilians were buying umbrellas and slippers on their way home instead of food and water. Overheard question: “Do you have a wound? if you do, you have to be careful or it’ll get infected!” And in the middle of all that, you see smiles and laughter — it was as if they were going on some big adventure to brave the floods of Metro Manila… Hmm, when you think about it though, it IS a bit of an adventure. Not a pleasant one though.

I’m off to see the aftermath of what happened to the rest of Metro Manila. Will keep you posted!

Joepi Paloma | Manila, Philippines

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Joepster Blog My 1st Clean up Weekend!

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Image by Joepi Paloma via Flickr

I just came from the ICC or International Coastal Clean Up Weekend in Eagle Point (Anilao) Batangas. There were other resorts holding their clean up that weekend too: Mayumi and Planet Dive went all out too with radio advertising and Caltex as the sponsor respectively.

It was great fun to be with other divers – old and new, young and young at heart, familiar, not familiar, popular (aka Gunter of Coron) and soon to be popular divers I won an "Upgrade Your Level for Free" prize! The question now is when will I do it. Rescue diving is not just another level in diving. I need to plan that out properly.

Anyway, about the clean up – we really should be doing more events like this. Anilao is getting better and better and we should do our share in making it even better than it is! Some dive sites are clean and you cant find any trash (most of the trash you find floating, not under water.) While some were an absolute dump. Top trash items: Plastic woven sacks, cruddy diapers, shoes and plastic wrappers. It was disgusting to think about those diapers. Thank God for gloves.. but when you think about it, what can those gloves do?! I'm already swimming in … well, poop. Yuuuuuck. SO PLEASE STOP THROWING ICKY STUFF IN THE WATER!!!

I think the next clean ups should be focused on these other sites and not the nice sites anymore. Collecting trash underwater is simple but you also have to be careful:
1) You never know what lives in that piece of trash you are trying to pick up.
2) You stir up silt when you unearth plastic bags that have been buried deep in the sand
3) You might break off things especially when you're untangling plastic strings from brittle corals
4) You need to make sure you have your trash bag secure and not lose it on your way up (this happened to two of our group members :p)

I really enjoyed this weekend. The company was great, the diving was fun, and the time and money was well spent.
I wish ICC was every weekend

Log: Dive 191-195, weather between Sunny and cloudy, spots of rain.
Slight current for the sites along the shore. I was told Bahura was wild that Sunday.

Dive Sites cleaned: Cathedral, Koala (shallow), Twin Rocks, Dead Palm, Koala (deep)
Dive Buddies: Jesse & Velvet

It was a whole lotta fun! Enjoy the photos!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joepiclicks/sets/72157622422698596/

Joepi Paloma | Manila, Philippines

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Image by koalazymonkey via Flickr

My Checklist for the Next 90 days:

1) Finish Reading 3 Leadership & Learning books:
     a. Who Moved My Cheese
     b. First 90 Days
     c. Hit The Ground Running
2) Finish On-Line Self-Study Courses for Harvard Manage Mentor and successfully create/launch a project.
3) Travel to Vietnam, ride a bike, see a friend and buy the best coffee in the world.
4) Complete 200 Dives
5) Get through my Learning Curve in 3 months instead of the usual 6.
6) Start making my yearly Calendar and have it printed professionally
7) Travel to Cebu and be with old friends.
Buy family members gifts for their birthdays.
9) Get Healthy: Eat more fruits, drink less coffee, dance or work Out and lose 15 lbs.
10) Keep praying the heavens will part and shower me with wisdom & strength to finish this list!

Joepi Paloma | Manila, Philippines

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Joepster Blog Skip to the Loo my darling!

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This is a reaction blog to my friend Steve’s recent post: http://www.channelsteve.com/2009/09/07/more-vietnamese-news-along-with-my-thoughts/ He is an English and IT Teacher in Vietnam.

It reminded me of my experience in one of their public toilets:

I remember having to go to the public toilet near the Ben Thanh market quite late in the evening after dinner and 4 beers. Now, considering this was the city, at the heart of District 1 and a very popular tourist area, I was quite surprised at it’s shabby situation.
I’m not really too much of a princess when it comes to public toilets, but I do have my limits.

It wasn’t too pleasant for me because of these reasons: 1) There were roughly about 20 people in that very small room of 3 cubicles 2) There was no lock on the door 3) It was a squat toilet (I HATE squat toilets!) 4) A lady barged in on me mid-squat! Imagine my horror and surprise!!! To top it off, she looked at me as if I was taking 10 million years to pee and left muttering to herself (probably something like “stupid tourist.”) Talk about going public with your privates!

What was interesting though was that 1) You had to pay despite the dismal facilities 2) It was so noisy in there with all the chatter and splish splashing because of 3) People were washing: their hands, their feet, their face, their CLOTHES and some were wet all over looking like they just took a BATH! In all my (still few) travels, this was one scene that I have only seen in Vietnam!

More blogs about my past Asian travels coming soon!

Joepi Paloma

Manila, Philippines

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Joepster Blog So Good in Sogod

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Image by Joepi Paloma via Flickr

What: Dive Weekend (hoped to see the whale sharks that were there two weeks ago!)

Where: Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte, Philippines

Who: Joepi, Leslie, Alex, Jean and Junjie.

How to get there: 1.25 hour plane ride from Manila to Tacloban via Cebu Pac + 3 hour land trip via van from Tacloban to Sogod.

Lodging: Sogod Scuba Resort. Ran by Ronnie and Phil. The resort has two places – beachfront and non-beachfront but only a 2 min walk from the dive shop. Non-beachfront has bigger rooms. Good food, especially the BIG TASTY breakfast!

Coordinator & DM: Keith Santillano (you can search for him through my facebook friends) Local DM: Pedro Basitil

How’s the diving? FANTASTIC. There is so much to explore and so much to see. The nudibranches here are different than the ones in Anilao and I could spend HOURS and HOURS just going through the shallow areas! Night dive is great! Lots of octopus to see around here. Pygmy seahorses abound! Plenty of them around too – but of course you have to be very careful with them. We missed the whale sharks, but that just gives me reason to go back and dive here again. You get a mix of easy/steady dives and some current riding! Turtles join you for the ride in the deep, while you rummage around at 40 feet, and even as you head back to the resort they’re there taking a deep breath.

Check out my flickr photos for the entire album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joepiclicks/sets/72157622194231096/

Enjoy!

Joepi Paloma

Manila, Philippines

Chat Google Talk: joepi.paloma@gmail.com Skype: jtothepi MSN: joepi.paloma@hotmail.com Y! messenger: jtothepi@yahoo.com.ph

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Joepster Blog So Bite Me.

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I have been through a series of bites these past few weeks. In Boracay I got stung by something on my cheek which led to a swollen look on the way home and a lot of little bumps which I didn’t know how to cure. Then this weekend I got an ant bite which (for those who know me well you know what happens) didn’t give me the usual while body itch experience but it did leave my left foot swollen up to now. Then yesterday I get bitten by my dog and get 18 more ant like and bee like stings from the 18 injections I had (take note HAD– it is now a requirement) to endure.

Now I know I have been counting my blessings for the past few weeks too. Topped my class, got a prize, got a perfect book given to me from the class I was taking that is perfect for my transition… I mean everything was almost perfect. I guess I have to still continue counting my blessings as it could have been worse, huh?

It’s just irritating to have these things happen when you have bigger things to think about in your head. I have work to think about and a few personal thoughts that consume my quiet moments. I guess I needed a pinch. I didn’t listen so I got a bite. Now this is all hypothetical mind you. But it’s a good reminder. I should pay attention to the little things and be careful and not wait for the big bite to happen.

Either way, at this point, all I can say is — SO BITE ME.
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