I just came home from taking pictures of the Bambino Festival 2023 here at Pasig City and I have like 300+ pictures of this event. I’ll trim it down and select fewer pictures to post. For the meantime, here are random shots from today’s Bambino Festival 2023.
A Goldilocks store opened on our street at Nagpayong. It’s located along Sandoval Avenue corner Talisay Street in Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City.
There’s another store that open Goldilocks products but it’s located in Villa Cuana (also Nagpayong) but this one in Talisay Street is bigger. I’m glad that these stores and establishments are slowly popping up in our place.
I hope that a bank would be open soon here in Nagpayong so that it will truly be a complete district / purok of Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City.
Finally, after two years of absence, the Grand Marian Procession 2022 returned last month. Sharing with you some of the pictures I took of this momentous event.
I was with my fellow Nayon Photographers and we were treated to a dinner at Max’s Restaurant by Ka Teddy. He’s the one interviewed by Kuya Kim for 24 Oras and our picture appeared on the show for a fraction of a second.
This event has been a regular occasion that I shoot.
This would be the closest McDonald’s (or any fastfood chain for that matter) to our place in Nagpayong, Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City.
McDonalds would soon open it’s branch along A Sandoval Avenue in Pinagbuhatan (near Villa Alegre) in Pasig City. I’m a huge fan of their Chicken Ala King and their Sausage McMuffin.
I've been a subscriber of Globe and currently, both PLDT and Converge ICT. I've been connected to the internet since 2010 with my 3 mbps DSL line.
Last April 2021, Converge ICT became available in our area in Nagpayong Pinagbuhatan Pasig City. So I switched from DSL to Fiber at P1,625/month for 100 mbps.
I have no issues with speed. However, with reliability and dispatch issues, that is where Converge is a big pain in the butt. Unlike Globe who gives a specific date of the dispatch, Converge ICT doesn't. Whenever they schedule a dispatch, they would always say to monitor a call from the tech within 24-48 business hours.
This is not the first time that my net from Converge went down and it both cases, it's a pain in the butt to have a tech visit. My last tech dispatch last month took 1 week for it to happen.
After a week of no internet, I requested for a rebate to the time that I have no internet -- for a week. So I got a ticket number for the rebate request. I thought I'm going to see that rebate in the next billing cycle.
To my surprise, it didn't not reflect any. So I made a follow up via FB Messenger and Twitter (their phone number is hard to reach when I call using my mobile phone).
Today, I got an email that my rebate request was not approved because it should be requested at least 6 days after the internet is restored. I was like -- WHAT THE F*CK!
I never experienced anything like this with Globe and PLDT. To add salt to injury, whenever I chat with Converge ICT via FB Messenger and Twitter, I have to repeat my information all-over. It's always starting from scratch.
I understand that internet connection goes down and this happens to all ISPs -- but the way Converge handles dispatches and rebate request is a whole new level of pathetic customer service. They are absolutely the worse among the three.
I am determined not to renew my contract with them for this kind of customer service. Subscribers doesn't deserve such poor service.
Look at this pathetic answer. So Converge ICT only provides rebate for no internet connection if it’s more than 6 days. Not to mention that the representative cannot pinpoint me where exactly this policy is written. Such a lame customer service from Converge ICT.
Here are some of the pictures I took of the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery Museum in Laguna.
The Museum of the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery highlights the landmark’s heritage aspect: its material components and characteristics and the conservation techniques used by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to restore the Cemetery’s chapel and underground crypt. (NHCP)
I'm a fan of forums. Before the advent of Facebook, forums are our go-to place for knowledge, particularly in the online game Ragnarok. I can spend hours reading guides on different builds, items and leveling guide for the game.
Logo taken from Feedough
Fast forward to 3 years ago. I rediscover my love for reading on forums via the website Reddit. There's a huge Pinoy Redditors on Reddit particularly in the sub-forum r/Philippines. Last time I check it's around 700,000+ I've been active ever since.
Around September last year, I went to an ISP's kiosk in Robinson's Galleria to have my prepaid number replaced. I bought the original card where the SIM was housed along with an Affidavit of Loss. When the personnel said that I can return after a few days for the new SIM, I objected saying that I have all the necessary requirements with me and that it is stated on their website that it can be replace right there and then. I even talked to the manager and yes, it was replaced a few hours instead of days.
I posted the whole story on Reddit to share the benefit of being a "reklamador" while following the process and requirements. That post caught the attention of someone at this local ISP who's looking for a go-to person on Reddit to promote the brand and at the same time, handle queries on Reddit.
She told me that even though I made a complaint about the ISP, I made it a point that it's fair, which earn her respect. Then she offered me a job as the brand's ambassador on Reddit as an ex-deal for a 2 year plan (Platinum 3799 with a mobile phone). The deal was worth 180k including an insurance if in case the gadget gets accidental damage.
It took almost 2 months before everything was signed up -- including the contract and shipment of the gadget to our home. I can't believe it actually -- probably just a stroke of luck. I mean, there are lots of people on Reddit and I got to be chosen to be the brand ambassador.
She did mentioned that she offered the post to some Redditors and she even sought out an admin / moderator of the sub-forum but they thought that she's a fake. Well, she was indeed real and is working for the ISP as someone in the high places of marketing.
Shortly after getting the gadget with a postpaid plan, I got invited to events with other brand ambassadors across all platforms. It was fun knowing that the ISP actually cared for their customers and wanted to reach out to a lot of people across all platforms. I also got a lot of perks and some credit to my digital wallet.
That's when it hit me how much ISPs spend on marketing, to their brand ambassadors / influencers alone. In that particular event, there were around 200 people from Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and other platform. How much more are ISPs paying for the advertisements?
If this ISP can spend a 2-year Platinum contract with gadget for someone on Reddit, how much more do they spend for those assigned on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube?
On the other hand, they really care about their customers and they would go as far as getting an ambassador from each platform just to monitor and assists their customers who are having issues or queries regarding the product.
The devil's advocate in me however is saying, that if these ISPs spend less money on marketing and more on improving their infrastructure itself, they would probably retain the same number of customers or even more simply by word of mouth. There's a saying that if a customer is satisfied with a product, he/she will tell 5-10 of his/her about it. But if the product is bad, he/she will tell the world about it.
For now, I'll take the most about this influencer / brand ambassador thing, help their customers as much as I can, and fight fake news regarding the products and services of the company.