It’s been awhile since I have opened the dashboard of my very own personal punching bag of rants. The very first thing that caught my attention was this notice: “WordPress 3.3.1 is available! Please update now”. Curiously I checked my current version and to my surprise I am still using WordPress 2.9.2. When I was reading the log files for the changes, I laughed when I found out that I have been slacking for a year and a half. To make things short, I’m a cave man again in blogging. To all who followed my blog and wanted to know what really happened, I think I owe you a summarized story of what happened to me all these times.
It was the last quarter of 2009 when I temporarily joined an IT company here in Sharjah, UAE. It was quite a challenge but the company really upgraded my technical and troubleshooting skills. The only problem I had was the timings. I usually go home 10pm onwards. Then, just a few months later, I was hired by the biggest sportswear retailer in the middle east who happened to be the exclusive distributor of Nike. Working on different shifts was not easy and the first few months made me want to only rest and sleep on my free times.

I was only a month old in the company when a shocking news devastated me; my father passed away untimely. My lament lasted for quite a long time. Adding to the injury, a lot of disappointments and confusion came into my life. I didn’t know where to start. From there, a lot plans and changes needs to be made specially that our priority is our mom who is now living all alone in our house.

I decided to learn Wing Chun Kung Fu; a very deadly form of martial arts that specializes in close-quarter combat. It favors the weak specially women and people with small built.  I tried to approach and learned from different teachers and schools. Finally I ended up learning from someone who dedicated almost all his lifetime to learn different forms and styles of martial arts. He is my teacher, my friend, and a father to me. Until now I’m still learning from him and I’m proud to be on the half of the system already.

Then, there were a few good things that came into my life that added light while I’m still on my darkest moments. And there were also quite a few disappointing and sad moments that they were too difficult to bear. Life is tough and it’s the reality we all have to face. But it’s not about how you fail, it’s all about how you fail and keep moving on. Quitters never win.

Anyway, so much for the “excuse letter”. I’m happy to be back in blogging and I’m looking forward to improve and update my other website which is my portfolio. Thank you very much to all those who waited and still supported me until now.

All in a sudden, I decided to leave our house as early as 10am in Panabo City after my dad told me it would be a risk and a waste of time waiting for a tricycle to pass by our place because as early as 2am, it would be a rare chance for me to get a ride going to the highway. And even if I am conviced that walking would be the best idea, the problem is buses who takes the route passing by the airport doesn’t pass by that often either. So after an optionless situation, I immediately left. I arrived in the Airport only to find out that they’re closed until 4am. I even insisted the guard to just stay inside the airport premises or even near the guard house but the ever loyal guard would really feel no pity at all. So called a few of my friends hoping that I could at least find some company while I kill time, but there was no one who would answer my call.

One of my best friend, Raissa, suggested that McDonald’s Damosa is the nearest place that I could stay and kill time. (Bes Raissa, thanks for the advice. Sorry for pestering you while you were having fun in never never land.) So, instead of waiting outside the gate of the airport with bunch of taxis, I decided to go to Damosa.

In my previous article A Vampire’s Shakey Tale Before Taking Off I shared my soothing experience with Shakeys Pizza of Domestic Road, Pasay City. This time, I’m going to share my experience with McDonald’s Damosa. I actually arrived at McDonald’s Damosa around 11pm. In the same manner as I did before, I ordered a cup of coffee and shamelessly asked if I could stay until 4am since my flight is at 6:55am and the airport opens at 4am. The bad part was, there was no electricity socket anywhere. So after eating a twister fries and drinking a cup of coffee, I left the restaurant in the hope of finding a place where I can get hooked in the internet and at the same time plug my laptop to charge my battery.

I looked like battered husband sent out by my wife as I sat outside a closed bakeshop and a bar. Man, people rarely pass by and I was so sleepy. I walked a bit in the hope of finding a place where I can crash in for awhile. But I still ended up going back to McDonald’s and ordered my 3rd cup of coffee.  Stubborn by nature, I asked the same question if I could stay in the restaurant til 4am. I sat for awhile in one of the corners while I was talking to my wife through Sun IM in my cellphone. Few moments later, one of the managers named, Mr. John Monton, approached me and told me I could refill my coffee at anytime.

For awhile I thought I was just hearing things due to dizzyness. Even if I was a caffeine lover by heart, I kept my cool and controlled it for awhile. Just a few more moments later, one of the crew was told to tell me that THEY COULD plug my laptop since I am somewhere near the counter. Since my cup was running out of coffee, I decided to approach Mr. John for another dose of coffee. We had a bit of a chitchat regarding their newly established branch and a bit more about success stories with McDonald’s. From there I’ve finally realized what would kill my time, writing a blog about their branch and the friendliness of their crews.

With Mr. John Monton’s impressive attitude towards treating customers, I could really stop wondering why they have regular customers. You could really see that his outmost concern is not just all about sales. He also takes care of his customers and immediately responds to their needs with no questions asked. Along with Dale Odulio of Shakeys Domestic Road Pasay, personally, they should be the best examples of quality customer service and leadership. Being a manager doesn’t only mean control over the store branch or some sort like that. A manager should be the best example among their team. The example of leadership, hardwork and dedication.

To Mr. John Monton of McDonald’s Damosa Branch: Sir, keep up the good work. And thank you for keeping me safe until the time I had to leave for my flight. A salute to you and your friendly crew members. I’m looking forward to see you and your bright future in your career.

Here in Philippines, I’ve already tried all the three popular airlines such as PAL, Cebu Pacific, and Air Philippines. I’ve had bad experiences on all three of the airlines I mentioned. PAL  for their very expensive airfares. Cebu Pacific for their numerous delayed flights and Air Philippines for their very very noisy aircrafts. It was one day when my mom told me about a new airline offering extremely low rates. I first thought it was just a scam or there’s a big catch behind it. But not until I have tried it myself just a few hours ago. Let me share my piece of Pros and Cons about the new airline, ZEST AIR who is also owned by a company who produces the very popular fruit drink, Zest-O.

PROS

• Cheap Airfares
• Less Delays on Flights
• Most of the Planes are Brand New
• Friendly Crews
• Excellent Maintenance on Aircrafts

CONS

• No Free Meal or Snack Onboard
• Only 7 Aircrafts Available
• Flights are usually starting around 4AM

Overall, I am satisfied with their service. Considering their low rates and promos, I could really say it’s all worth it.

If you guys want to know more about the airline, check it out HERE.

In a few hours I’ll be off to my hometown. I was dropped off here in the airport 9 hours before my flight. Excited? No. Not really. Why? First, around 5pm we picked up my sister who just arrived from Dubai and sent her to the domestic airport. My flight is actually on September 22 4:20AM. It would be totally tiring to go back home and travel again to the airport so I decided to stay here at the airport instead rather than missing my flight because of my don’t-wake-me-up habit. For a couple of hours, my eyes was so helpless that it was too lucky to see arriving hotties either from Boracay or Puerto Galera. There were countless of them. Enough with the imagination and let’s get on to what really happened.

After fighting with extreme hot humid outside the airport, I decided to go out and stay somewhere I can at least forget time and hopefully be able to blog about something. While I was walking outside, I saw Shakeys with a big WIFI ZONE poster outside. I didn’t think twice, I immediately rushed in. I ordered a bottomless coke to keep me up all night and shamelessly asked the manager if I could stay only until 2pm. It wasn’t a big deal for them actually but the saddest thing is they’re closing at 12 midnight because they have to repaint the ceiling. Since I don’t have any option, I could at least rest easy and kill time for at least 4 hours.

It was around 11 pm when the manager approached me and said “Sir, since you’re a passenger waiting for your flight, you can stay here even after we are closed. No big deal.” Wow! I was flattered by his generosity. As a shameless human being, I couldn’t say no to it. I was even assisted in moving my things to a more comfortable couch. And right now I’m still here, sitting my ass while the service crew are serving me like a king. OMGWTFBBQ! Must be a very lucky day.

If you guys want to have a very good service, with polite attendants and managers, come to Shakeys Pizza fronting Terminal 1 Domestic Airport. It’s just beside Jollibee. Look for Mr. Dale Odulio. He’s a very nice and polite manager. Probably the best manager I’ve seen. He treats his crews like his own brothers and sisters. To top all of that, he makes sure all the customers are well served and happy. A plain example to all restaurants and other establishments.

To all the crew of Shakeys Pizza in Terminal 1 Domestic Airport, I all salute you for your excellent service. I won’t have a second thought of coming back pretty soon. Kudos to you Mr. Dale!

Anyway I’m about to leave in a few minutes. I’ll see you guys time to time.

Around 10 days ago, I posted a Pinoy Trailer, Apokalipto that contained special effects similar to famous new 3D games. In connection to that, I am sharing a sequel to the trailer. If you guys liked the first installation to the series, I’m pretty sure you’ll love this one too (or more!). So check out the video after the break.

After three cups of coffee, I decided to change the theme of my blog. Why? I have no idea either. Maybe it’s because I saw 2-3 blogs having similar premium theme like mine. It’s not that I’m giving way for them, perhaps I only wanted to be different. And last but not the least, I was struggling to fight getting burned out last night. Not to mention the horrible weather and the strong winds that looks like it could blow away our roof.  The heavy rain also left me with no choice but to go out, get soaked and check our roof since it’s horribly dripping. But anyway, I hope you guys like it. Cheers!

Speaking of new flicks, I recently dropped by youtube and saw this amazing Pinoy video. It’s obviously 3d game inspired. Not only 3d inspired, the true message is yet to be revealed. I just wonder who made this movie and what it’s all about but all I know, based from the effects, it’s one hell of ride!

Bagong Sigla

The shadow effects reminds me of Prince of Persia. The little girl’s shadow looks like a witch from Left 4 Dead and the guy in red hood looks similarly with Alex Mercer of Prototype.

LyleHam.Com is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. The site is currently migrating to a new hosting provider and it’s taking awhile for things to fully propagate. Thank you for your patience.

Big thanks to Jehzlau once more for his kind offer of letting me shelter my blog under his hosting provider.

I would like to thank Jehzlau for sponsoring my domain and hosting. Salamat pre!

To make it short and sweet, the very reason why I made another blog is to separate my personal stuffs from my Web Design blog. This blog will contain all my rants, raves, reactions, opinions and above all, this will be my personal punching bag.

So, welcome guys! And I hope you guys enjoy your stay.

This portfolio actually went live early 2007 but I wasn’t able to maintain it until it got shut down around year 2008. It contains all my previous works and my profile as well. I’m glad it’s back up once again and this time it’s a part of my blog. Check it out HERE.