Fitness First held their 3rd (as far as I can remember) RPM Grand Marathon in the SM Megamall Atrium. More than 50 bikers were there to participate in the challenge of indoor cycling.

During the event, you’ll feel the resistance, power, and the mad riders as they grace through the choreographed cycling. Also, RPM 39 was launched during the marathon. I would say, the music isn’t that great as compared to RPM 38. 38 would always be one of my faves.

RPM or Raw Power In Motion is one of the group exercise I religiously participate in the gym and this has contributed a lot in attaining my fitness goals. I didn’t manage to finish the whole event as I have another event to go to that day. I took this event to practice my “events” photography and I think (and I feel) I need a faster and longer lens (that is a 2.8 telephoto and something like up to 200mm).

I don’t have access inside the cordoned area, I just asked an instructor to do the shoot above.

In less than 3 months after I earned the 25,000 blog hits mark, my blog has reached to 40,000 page views.

Thanks to all who keep on reading my blog despite my erratic absence from writing. It’s not that I have a “bloggers block” but I am currently working on a tool related on managing an application’s ASP.NET membership database (if one is using). It’s just that I don’t want to write about it hanging or certain features not yet working.

Again, thanks to all and hope to see you in future write-ups.

I got this over in our mailing lists and as part of the centennial celebrations of the University of the Philippines, let me induce some sort of pride for my alma mater.

From Wikipedia:
“The Oblation is the iconic symbol of the University of the Philippines, represented by a man with arms wide-stretched and face facing up, symbolizing selfless offering of one’s self to his country.”

The Value of the UP Experience

First published 6 June 2008
The Manila Standard Today, INTEGRATIONS
Maya Baltazar Herrera
Voyage

There are no children here

This week, I went to a meeting at the UP School of Economics and I came away with renewed belief in the value of the UP experience.

If you speak to anyone from UP – student, professor, alumnus - you will get no Latin slogans or apologies about how the school teaches values in spite of its outward materialism. This is not a student population that thinks about basketball games or memorizes school songs. This is not a school that chooses one statement to drill into the minds of its students.

This is not, of course, to say that UP does not care about values. It is that UP, in its own inimitable way, believes that values cannot be force-fed. The statue of the naked man that guards the entrance to the campus in Diliman best represents UP’s approach to all education and the respect for students that is the center of its educational philosophy. All who come to this university, regardless of origin, bring themselves naked, carrying nothing but their thirst; like the proverbial empty teacup, making an offering of self, waiting to be filled.

Adults

For many students from private schools, the first lesson that is learned here is that this is a school for adult education. There are no children here, and that is why no parents are allowed either at freshman orientation or during enlistment.

Continue reading ‘The Value of UP Experience’

Got a word from my photographer friend this morning and the picture above tells his dilemma.

I am so disgusted knowing this and I hope that poser will realize that it is not a fun thing to impersonate another person particularly those who make a living out of it. Whoever you are, be man enough to ask for model shoots as yourself and not as an another person.

Like what I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I was in Subic last weekend of another ASP.NET talk. The talk went well only that it was after my talk I was reminded that I spoke for an hour and a half. No wonder I got carried away with my talk knowing that the venue is really a good place to talk. Even if my laptop malfunctioned before my talk (function key isn’t working until I brutally force it to work), the audience were delighted with the topic I presented.

All in all, we have 67 persons in attendance and at least 30 of them were students (though I think they comprise majority of the audience).

After spending 2 consecutive weekends out of Manila, I will be having a rest this week but hopefully can get around after. You can read the organization’s write-up here. I just realized, I should learn how to smile again in front of the camera.