Chowking should read and follow the mechanics

I’m glad I’m a BPI Express Credit Cards (BECC) holder. I have a BPI Red Classic and a BPI Gold Mastercard, which are extended to my wife. BPI is currently having a promotion. It is partnering with famous Fast Food Restaurants to treat its cardholders with free food items. The first promo was with Tokyo Tokyo, then Jolibee, Chowking, and, currently, Greenwich.

With these treats, I keep on using my BPI credit cards.


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Padilla & Diampoc Nuptial

Here comes the bride, all dressed in white. . .

The groom, Rogel, and his bride, Aileen, have vowed to each other:

“I take you to be my spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”

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Jing and Babette say "I do’s"

Mamang postponed her trip back to Australia. Jaja requested for her vacation leave despite she’s not entitled to a it yet. And, I also filed my vacation leave. With my wifey, Beng, and sister, Elvie, we again traveled more than 400 kilometers to attend anther very important and momentous occasion. It’s the wedding of our nephew, Jing, to his girlfriend of 3 years, Babette.

At the St. John Bosco Church, the couple said their respective “I do’s” before their families, relatives and friends. Soon after the pictorials, everyone proceeded to the bride’s residence to celebrate their unison with food, drinks and dancing.

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Save on fuel with a credit card

A Citibank representative offered me a Shell-Citibank Visa credit card. At first, I rejected it as I currently have three credit cards; and, I’m using Petron fuel more often than Shell. He was insistent and explained the benefits of this card. First, the annual fee is waived. Second, I could be entitled for 5% rebate for Shell fuel purchases.

With the increasing cost of fuel, I thought twice. 5% is 5%. For every full tank of about P2,500, I could save P125 or more than 2 liters worth of fuel.


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PhotHunt 125 - Beautiful

At Autos of Tom

BEAUTIFUL cars and BEAUTIFUL girls are what you can see in an auto show. I don’t know if the car enthusiasts are after the cars or the girls. The above picture was taken in the Manila International Auto Show 2008, which was held last April. For this year alone, there are more than 10 auto shows that have been held and upcoming.

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ooooooo<<<<<<<>>>>>>>ooooooo

At Think of Me & Laugh

Last month, my handsome nephew tied the knot with her BEAUTIFUL girlfriend. A month after, we are back in their place in Quezon, Isabela, 400 kilometers (10 hours by land) from ours, to attend the wedding of his younger brother.

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Hectic days ahead

For the third time this year, we’ll be going to Quezon, Isabela. The first time was in March due to the celebration of my niece, April, of her passing the Nurse Licensure Examination; second was last month due to the wedding of her eldest brother, Ronelle; and, this time the wedding of her older brother, Jing.

The town of Quezon is about 400 kilometers from Manila or about 10-hour drive (including stopovers), if I were the driver. In this case and as always, I am the official driver.

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Sky Watch Friday #7 (11)

Blue sky, white clouds, and verdant trees.


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Miss Write’s Birthday Contest

The enthusiastic Miss Write will be celebrating her 25th birthday next month, September 9 to be exact. Instead of waiting for people to send her gifts, she’s taking this opportunity to give back to everyone who helped make her blog a success (despite a minor one).

As gratitude, she’s holding her very own contest dubbed as “It’s My Birthday Contest” to give everyone a shot at a few cool prizes, which are:


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Grand Metro Auto Fest

Tsikot.com and Tsikot TV are the official E-Media Partners of another motor show entitled as “Grand Metro Auto Fest 2008“.

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My bowling performance - week 12 of 28th COMP

I thought I wouldn’t make it to the bowling or, at the very least, I’d miss the first game. I had been in meeting since 3:00 PM; and, I was expecting that it would last beyond 5:00 PM. So, I devised a plan to escape at 5:00 PM. There’s another problem though – it’s raining cats and dogs; and, perhaps, the traffic could be bumper-to-bumper already.

I looked at my watch – it’s already 5:00 PM but couldn’t execute my plant yet until 15 minutes later. I hurriedly got my car from the parking basement and drove off. Fortunately, the rain had stopped; and, the traffic was not that I expected.

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Pictures of the 2nd Philippine International Motor Show

After office hours last Friday, I attempted to go to the 2nd Philippine International Motor Show. Unfortunately, I was prevented by heavy traffic. I had been stuck in traffic for about 30 minutes just a kilometer from our office when I decided to turn back. Saturday and Sunday, I was lazy to leave home; as, I seldom go out on weekends.

The good thing is there were car enthusiasts who took pictures of the event and posted them in their website and blogs. So, I just contended myself to viewing the pictures of the beautiful cars and, especially, the promo girls on the internet.


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Are we going to learn from Beijing Olympics?

The Beijing Olympics is finally over. It ended yesterday as colorfully as it opened 16 days ago. China, United States, and Russian hauled the most number of medals with over 20 gold medals each, 51 – 36 – 23, respectively.

The Philippines? Well . . . Together with 122 countries, we got nary a medal.

Before our 15 athletes left for Beijing Olympics, I wished but didn’t expect them to come home with the bacon.


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National Heroes Day

Today, August 25, is the last Monday of August. And, we are celebrating the National Heroes Day (Araw ng mga Pambansang Bayani) as per Proclamation no. 1463 dated February 18, 2008. This is the second long weekend for August. Also, today is conducive for sleeping being a rainy day; and you may not want to go out.

Do you know who our National Heroes are? Perhaps, you still remember some of them, such Dr. Jose P. Rizal (because of Rizal Park), Andres Bonifacio (because of Bonifacio Monument and Fort Bonifacio), Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo (because of Camp Aguinaldo), Epifanio delos Santos (because of EDSA), and others who have monuments and landmarks that remind us of them. How about Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Trinidad Tecson, and Gen. Francisco Makabulos? Do these names ring a bell? Or, do you still remember what had they done?


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PhotoHunt 124 - Wrinkled

At Think Of Me & Laugh

Wrinkled beach sand


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00000000000000000000000

At Autos of Tom

Wrinkled neck

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Mabuhay Miles is absurd and useless

Mabuhay Miles is the frequent flyer program of the Philippine Air Line (PAL). Aside from flying, one can earn miles by patronizing the services of Mabuhay Miles partners, such as hotels, resorts, rent-a-cars, and credit cards. By the way, tickets purchased under promos are not eligible to earn miles.

I’ve been a member of this program since 2003. I’d already earned a number of miles, which we used for our Cebu / Bohol family vacation three years ago. In 2006, my membership was upgraded to “Elite”. Unfortunately, I had lesser number of trips in 2007; and my membership has been downgraded to “Base” this year. As of to date, I’ve accumulated a good number of miles. However, some of the miles will expire this quarter. Earned miles are good for three years only.

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Silver Linings goes to Cebu City

Silver Linings is the homecoming for breast cancer survivors in the country and an educational forum on breast cancer. It's the only one of its kind in the country.

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Sky Watch Friday #6 (10)

A view from the Eco Trail of the Picnic Grove in Tagaytay City, Philippines.


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An invitation to a show

I posted in my Autos of Tom blog about the 2nd Philippine International Motor Show. It started today until Sunday (August 21 - 24, 2008) at the World Trade Center, Pasay City. Showtime is from 10 AM up to 9 PM. The entrance fee is P50.00 / head.
The theme of the show is “DRIVE THE FUTURE Towards Safer and Cleaner Motoring”.

Several days ago, I and some office mates received invitations for this event from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) through Columbians Motors. With an invitation, an invitee will no longer pay the entrance fee.

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eDictionaries

Some years back, I bought a dictionary book. It's a Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary. When I unwrapped it at home, I noticed that it came with an installation CD. I immediately installed it into my laptop. This edictionary has been very useful to me, especially when I'm writing and reading using my laptop.

Aside from this edictionary, I also consult online dictionaries whenever I'm online. My favorite online English dictionaries are the Dictionary.com and the Yourdictionary.com. For Tagalog-English translation, I use the Tagalog-dictionary.com. Most of my officemates are Cebuanos; and, if I hear them said unfamiliar Cebuano words, I jot them down and consult the Philippine Online Dictionary (http://www.bohol.ph/diksyunaryo.php) when I'm online. This dictionary translates English, Tagalog, Cebuano and Hiligaynon. I also consult other local dialect dictionaries, such as Ilocano and Ibanag at www.iluko.com/ilocano_dictionary.asp and http://www.bansa.org/dictionaries/ibg/, respectively.



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My bowling performance - week 11 of 28th COMP

It’s day 11 of the Beijing Olympics. Our beloved country has nary a medal yet, while 69, out of 204, countries are now boasting theirs. The leaders - China, United States, and Great Britain have already garnered 43, 26, and 16 gold medals, respectively. I’m just hoping that our remaining contenders would pick at least one.

At the week 11 of Chamber of Mines Bowling Tournament tonight, I was able to average 170 for my three games - my third best performance for this year. My scores were 166, 180, 163. My current average is now 161 from 160.


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The 1st Marikina Autoshow 08

There’s another autoshow this August - “The 1st Marikina Autoshow 08″, which is organized by Team Genix.

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AutoMujeresPinas 2nd Anniversary Pictorial

I planned of going to the AutoMujeresPinas 2nd Anniversary Celebration and the Battle for Resonance last August 16. But, for some reasons, I wasn’t able to.


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I miss my i.ph blogs

Yesterday morning, I accessed my i.ph blogs and made a post in one of them. Then, I started drafting another post. Finished, I pressed “Save”, but an error message appeared. Tried several times but unsuccessful. I checked my other i.ph blog. It’s already inaccessible - the browser said “network time out”. My wifey, Beng, who was accessing her i.ph blog too began complaining that she couldn’t access hers. During the day, we tried to access our i.ph blogs, other i.ph blogs, www.i.ph, and eventually the forum to report and to check what’s happening. “Network timeout'’, “network time out'’, “network time out'’, “network time out'’, “network time out'’ were the answers we got. We could access other sites and blogs except i.ph and the autofocus.com.ph. Dot ph? I checked other sites with .ph but they were accessible. I checked my email and there were comments made on my i.ph blogpost - meaning the commenters were accessing my i.ph blogs Something must be wrong; but, what and where? It could be i.ph or my ISP or I didn’t know.


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The wedding invitation

We already received our invitation to the wedding of our nephew, Jing, and niece-to-be, Babette, who personally delivered it.

The couple - Jing and Babette (a.k.a. Rogel and Aileen)


The invitation


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Flat tires

Our Toyota Innova had two flat tires in a month. First, it’s the rear left tire. I noticed it’s soft almost a month ago when I was about to get it from a parking lot in one of the government offices in Quezon City. I normally go around the car before boarding it and leaving it. It’s good there’s a vulcanizing shop nearby; and I had it inflated first. The day after, I went to my favorite vulcanizing shop to have it patched.

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I reformat my lappy

Last Tuesday, I backed up all my important files to our server and brought my lappy to Toshiba Service Center to fix the "Blue Screen of Death" and the keyboard.

Yesterday (or three days after), I called up the center; and, I was told that my lappy has been fixed. I went to the center and checked the unit. The unit has been cleaned up, bios upgraded and reformat. It's already working perfectly fine except that the OS installed was Windows XP Home Edition only. I was informed that it doesn't have the professional edition. So, I paid the repair cost of P765.00 or $18. It's good the keyboard is still working and spared me the cost of replacement of about P1,500 or $38.


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Communications

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PhotoHunt 123 - Colorful

At Autos of Tom

After the dark theme, it’s now COLORFUL!

My kids keep this Rubik’s Cube in the car.

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. . o o O o o . .

At Think of Me & Laugh

COLORFUL is this week's theme!

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WordCamp Update

I received an email from MiGs of WordCamp Philippines.

It’s 22 days to WordCamp Manila. I’m glad I’m on the final list of WordCamper; and, I’m expecting my Camper’s Pass within the week.

A pre-mini-WordCamp will be held on September 4, 2008 (6:00 to 10:00 PM) for bloggers in Mindanao and Visayas who would not be able to join the WordCamp in Manila. It will be held in Bryan’s Grill and Café, 91 Narra Street, Palm Village, Davao City. Unfortunately, the registration is now closed.

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Sky Watch Friday 5 (#9)

We went to the Municipality of Santa Fe in Bantayan Island in the northern part of Cebu Province for a vacation.

This was the picture of the sky from the beach toward the island . . .

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2008 Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs

It’s the second year Ms. Janette Toral searched for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs. Last Monday, August 13, was the announcement and awarding night. And, the 2008 Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs are:


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PAL, PAL Express additional flights

Starting tomorrow, August 15, Philippine Airlines (PAL) will service the Manila to Dumaguete route with two flights, morning and afternoon, and add a daily mid-flight (its third) to Zamboanga City.

On this same day, PAL Express will commence its services on the following routes with its turbo-propeller jets from Manila to Tuguegarao City (Cagayan), San Fernando City (La Union), Cauyan City (Isabela) and Ormoc City (Leyte).



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My bowling performance - week 10 of 28th COMP

It’s Olympic season. Have you seen how dramatic the cauldron was lit and how spectacular, amazing, and fantastic the fireworks were on the opening day last Friday? But, I’m still wondering why the sport of bowling has not been included in the Olympics. I remember it was a demonstration sport only in the Seoul Olympics in 1988. It’s where Ms. Arriane Cerdena won an Olympic gold medal; albeit, it wasn’t counted in the medal tally. And, that’s 5 Olympics or 20 years ago. I’m just hoping that it would be included in the next Olympic.

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Blue Screen of Death

Has this "blue screen of death" appeared on your computer? Well, it has on my lappy.

It first appeared two days after I downloaded the Firefox 3.


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PAL flights to and from Iligan soonest

Good news to travelers from Iligan City and nearby Mindanao areas, especially west of the city! Starting September 27, 2008 (tentative), Philippine Airlines (PAL) will operate the Manila-Iligan and Cebu-Iligan routes under low-cost brand PAL Express via the Baloi Airport.


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And the winners are . . .

First place: Azrael Coladilla; His prize - LCD TV

Second place: Gerry Aguilan - iPhone

Third place: Coy Caballes - Digital Camera

Fourth place: Angelo Abrazaldo - iPod Nano

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

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10th Tuna Festival / 40th General Santos City Day

On September 5, 40 years ago, the Municipality of General Santos became the General Santos City. The city is in the province of South Cotabato and located in the southern part of the Philippines. It is known as the Tuna Capital of the country and the Boom Town City of the South.

Ten years ago, the city started commemorating its charterhood with tuna festival. This year, the 10th Tuna Festival in commemoration of the 40th General Santos City Day will be held from August 29 to September 7 with various events and activities.

This year’s festival theme is:

"A decade of fish-tivities and oppor-Tuna-ties".

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Kia Carens leads in poll

Kia Carens is currently leading as the “2008 Automotive of the Year” in the 2008 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards. Trailing in second and third are the Hyundai Grand Starex and Honda Civic, respectively.

The poll started March 1 and ends on November 30, 2008. Anybody who has an e-mail address may register and cast its vote once daily until November 30, 2008. Voters can have a chance to win prizes monthly.

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Carens Club Forum

Officially, there is no Carens Club in the Philippines yet. The Kia Carens owners, who are members of Tsikot.com, are still discussing online their willingness to create one. They are yet to meet personally to start the ball rolling. Actually, an EB is set today; but, only two Kia Carens owners signified intention to attend. With this development, I think it is still a long way before a club can be created.

Meantime, a Carens owner, Icemancm, created another forum for the future Carens Club in Proboards57.com. The new forum was suggested by Pluspeed, another Carens owner, and supported by Ihoannes, a Carens fan. The new forum address is http://clubcarens.proboards57.com.

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PhotoHunt 122 - Dark

At Think of Me & Laugh

This hotel on a DARK night (not the movie),

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. . o o O o o . .

At Autos of Tom

Batman used this car in DARK NIGHT . . .

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Sky Watch Friday 4 (#8)

On my way to work this morning, I took the following pictures while on full stop due to traffic:

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Fuel prices roll back

Last night, I refilled our Toyota Innova to the brim since I’m not going to use it until next week. This morning, I used our Kia Carens. Since the fuel indicator was at 1/4, I decided to refill her. While refilling, I noticed that the fuel prices are lower than last night’s. The gasoline girl told me they rolled back the prices at midnight. The unleaded is a peso lower, while the diesel fifty centavos. I loaded 40.97 liters in our Innova and lost P40.97.

The new fuel prices

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The 3rd wedding of the year

First, it was my widow eldest sister, who married in the US of A last May. Then, her second child, Ronelle, followed suit last month in Tuguegarao City. Now, it is her fifth child, Jing, who going to tie the knot. Whoa! He bypassed his two older brothers, Jon and Chris.

The wedding bells will be heard this August 30 (or barely 2 months after his big brother’s wedding) in his hometown in Quezon, Isabela. And, the lucky or unlucky (whatever) bride is Babette, his townmate and sweetheart for three years.


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U-turns : opened and closed

On my way home last night (about 5:00 PM) from Makati City to Quezon City, I passed by Kalayaan Avenue and C5 to avoid the EDSA traffic.

Approaching the intersection of Kalayaan Avenue and C5, I was surprised to see barricades preventing the left turn to and crossing C5. All vehicles are directed to turn right to C5. Then, I saw the elevated U-turn already opened and operational. I understand it was opened last Friday night (August 1). This makes the travel definitely longer and increases the fuel consumption. I couldn’t say as yet if this could make the travel faster. Though I doubt it, let’s wait and see first.

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1st Tuna Festival 2008 Car Show

The First Tuna Festival Car Show is part of the highlights of this year’s 10th Tuna Festival. The car show is organized by the GenSan Street Tuners Group. It includes car show festivities, sound competitions and drag racing and will be held on September 5 to 6, 2008 at the Gaisano Mall of Gensan and the Sinawal Circumferential Road. Tsikot.com and Tsikot TV are the official E-Media Partners of this event.

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Withdrawing my blogging income

For the past two months (June and July), my income from blogging was meager. I just earned a total of less than a hundred bucks only. Nonetheless, I still have more than two hundred bucks in my PayPal account, which includes my earnings from previous months.


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The 2nd Philippine International Motor Show

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My bowling performance - week 9 of 28th COMP

Again, I was the earliest bird arriving in the mall at 3:30 PM and in the lanes at 4:20 PM. Bowlers started arriving just barely before 5:00 PM. As scheduled, the shadow bowling started at 6:30 PM, thence the game proper.

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Happy 2nd Anniversary AutoMujeresPinas

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Happy 70th birthday, Matt

Hello Matt,

Olive (Beng), Luigi, Jaja, and I are wishing you a

Happy 70^th Birthday.

Enjoy your day and see you and Raquel in November for the culmination of your birthday celebration.

All the best on this occasion!

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Buhay Coke Vlog Contest Announcement of Winners Party

Just visited Aileen’s An Apple a Day blog and found out about the sequel of the Buhay Coke ng Bloggers Party. And, I’m spreading the word:


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WordCamp (Manila) Philippines 2008 - update

The registration for WordCamp Manila is now closed. And, here is the schedule of activities:

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PhotoHunt 121 - Cloud(s)

At Think Of Me & Laugh

Last month, I traveled from Manila to Dumaguete City - the capital city of a Visayan province of Negros Oriental in the Philippines. The air travel is about an hour. I usually sit by the window side and enjoy the aerial views. And, here are some pictures of the CLOUDS I took up above.

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. . o O o . .

At Autos of Tom

Last Tuesday, I had a meeting somewhere in port area in Manila. Knowing the theme for this week is CLOUD(S), I stopped by the nearby Rizal Park to take picture/s of CLOUD(S). It was about 3:00 P.M.

First, I tried to capture the CLOUDS through the reflection from our car - Kia Carens.

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