All Souls Regatta, Mindoro

Once in a while we enjoy the decadence of a big mono-hull sailboat. (Well, big according to our Hobie 16 standards...). The great thing about bigger boats is that you can enjoy a drink between each tack.

Aboard Alan Burrell's "Sandoway" we served as rail meat, putting our full weight (yes, every single one of the combined 285 pounds) on the railing. The wind was good and just as we hit record speed downwind, flying our Philippine-flag-spinnaker, the colorful balloon sail tore apart! Alan took the loss of a 4K $ sail very calmly: he handed over the tiller and asked, without raising his voice at all, if his beloved wife could hand him a beer. I guess it's not the first sail Alan waved good bye to.

Apart from this accident, which cost us two or three boats, we had a most pleasant day on the water! Thanks Alan & Susi!

Negrenses' sweet business success

It's nice to see my articles published. I call it "writer's vanity". The latest is a story I wrote about one of my Strategic Corporate-Community Partnership (SCOPE) projects here in the Philippines.

And it's interesting to see who picked it up! The story about made it all the way to U.S. News Las Vegas, Positive News Media, IM Elite Bonus, and Wikio News. Link link link!

Nostalgia

Taking the train from Berlin to Chemnitz added a very special nostalgia to my homecoming. The train brought me right through my college town Mittweida. Mittweida is a spot on the map, a small town where the number of senior citizens outnumbers that of students. This is, where I spent four years of my life studying Media Management.

The first thing people ask you once you decided on your academic path is “What are you gonna do with it?” Well, work at a TV network? Be an editor at a newspaper, a journalist? Venture into marketing? Who would have thought of a Media Management graduate ending up in economic development? Five years after graduation, I am successful and happy in my role as a consultant for SME development in the Philippines, mastered my Master in Journalism, and cannot imagine living in Germany any time soon.

Should I have shared my story with the second year media student traveling next to me? I’m overhearing his phone call with one of his batch mates. Seems they flunked a subject. His voice is calm, a bit angry though. Angry about the professor who, in his eyes completely arbitrarily, flunked him. He say, he’ll trying to talk to him later. There is talks about another project he has to submit… media marketing… due end of October… last chance…

This all sounds so familiar! I’m dying to learn who the professor is. Do I know him? I decide not to ask and not to share my story. He’s nervously adjusting his big-rimmed glasses, shutting down his laptop, getting ready to get off as the recorded female voice in the train announces: Naechste Haltestelle: Mitweida. The guy gets off. I bite my tongue and keep my “good luck!” to myself. Although this is what I seriously wish him. Not just with his paper. But with his ability to think out of the box once he leaves college, with his media degree in hand.

Loving my Kindle!

My kindle and I – it was love at first sight! Three months and various e-books later there is more than just butterflies. It’s a deep appreciation for the technology I call mine.

Going on a 15-hour flight from Manila to Berlin, I’d usually bring around three paper books. I’m overly ambitious, believing I’ll have all the time in the world on the plane and spent just as much of it reading. In the (as proven rather unlikely) event I turn out to be a 15-hour bookworm I want to be flexible in my choice of literature. Therefore I bring something serious, something funny, and a friend’s recommendation which, time-starved during a work week, I never got around to read.

I reached personal record on-plane-book-weight while researching for my master thesis on ‘Communication 2.0’. On my way to the US my carry-on luggage burst with four books and various 30 plus page PDF print outs. That was a two week holiday trip! Since I had marked and made notes in all the readings I was forced to bring them back to Manila. On top, I bought more books in the US during a ‘Border’s-Bookstore-shopping-spree’ revival.

Today, I travel light. Really light! So light, I don’t even have to ask the old sweaty guy next seat to help me heave my carry on in or out the overhead compartment.

My sexy slim white companion in its cute orange suit is all I need. It’s not just his looks, he’s smart, too. Whatever my mood is or my reading whims are, I find the right tranquilizer in the vast repertoire he carries for me. He takes notes and highlights interesting paragraphs so I can get back to them anytime. He translates words as if he knew the whole Oxford American Dictionary by heart. If I want to be entertained, he even reads to me for hours and hours without getting tired. His endurance is endless and his performance is most satisfying! And, if I fall asleep he slips a bookmark between the pages, closes my book, and tugs me in.

It’s not just a fling! It seems my kindle and I share the same brain. Relationship 2.0!

Tali Regatta - TS 2

It is our goal to join as many races of the Travelers Series as possible. Even if that means I am postponing my trip to Germany. Instead of packing pasalubongs and heavy clothes for expected fall-weather in Germany I packed our sailing gear.

Heavy rain drowned Manila almost uninterruptedly the whole Friday. My guess for the weekend weather was either strong storms or no wind at all. Rain usually brings one of the two patterns. The 13 competing Hobie Cats set sail from Tali Beach under rather light wind conditions. Whoever was able to read the fluky wind, which was quite challenging with its 45 to 90 degree shifts, would win the race.

Having learned from our Corregidor Regatta experience we avoided what sailors call “banging the corner”. Instead, we choose a course that sticks closer to the mark which usually means closer to the shore. Although the wind might be stronger further out on the sea, the lay line to the buoy gets longer and less predictable.

With a delayed start on day one (due to the rain setting up the boats got delayed) and rain (resulting in no wind) we raced only two races. Starting early on Sunday we managed to get four races in and be done by 1PM. Our more conservative course choice worked fairly well and landed us a fifth place. Not too bad. However, the goal for the next race is to bring home a trophy again!