Baguio Insider is Back
Last Holy Week was real penitence for me.
First, the internet connections in my office and house in Metro Manila went awry. Yup, I was in Manila during the busiest of all seasons for the Summer Capital of the Philippines for personal and political reasons (nope am not planning to run for public office but I am involved in initiatives to find 400 supremely humble, supremely competent and supremely confident individuals among 90 million Filipinos to get the Philippines back on its feet again).
In the middle of long waits in between broadband “support systems” giving me the run around, I was availing of unsecured connections from neighbors (I actually flushed my laptop to the wall nearest the house next door to catch a signal) and what do I find?
Baguio Insider disappeared!
Triple Whammy!
So while getting my internet connection back up I was also trying to get this site restored! After a day, we got only the home page up and tried to determine which back up file was the latest, which back up file was the most complete. And I have to tell you that one of the reasons I love my web host is because they perform 24 back ups and can get your site restored — after a while. You can find the web host I use on the right sidebar of this site.
But that was not the end of it — of course something had to go wrong with my new cellphone, a Treo 680 that I bought from my sister to replace my beat up Treo 650, and all the chat threads and messaging, too! Talk about a triple whammy!
Of course getting the site restored entailed emails back and forth, a lot of waiting in between, but that was more pleasant than holding the telephone to your ear for hours while the broadband call center people gave every excuse as to why the internet connection was not working.
TIP: Threaten them with: “I do hope this call is being recorded because I am so unhappy with your service” and “If you, dear, cannot solve my problem, I want to talk to your boss” and “I want a commitment from you NOW, not a call back, because I do not want to wait for you at your leisure to call me back” and “I want to hear you calling your technician now because I am not sure you will call them at all” and “I do not care if it’s Good Friday, the internet does not care if it is Good Friday”
Is Blogging Worth the Trouble?
The internet connection in Manila was back up by early Black Saturday but Baguio Insider would take longer, which left me enough time to start thinking:
1. Is Baguio Insider even worth all the effort that goes into it? If I give up the site, no income will be lost really (Do you think I do this to make money?!!! Hahaha!).
2. Does this site take up a lot of my time? YES.
3. Do I have fun with it? YES.
4. If I give up the site, will people be happier? I CAN THINK OF SOME PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY WISH I WOULD SHUT UP.
After all the trouble last weekend, I kept thinking to shut the site down, or maybe just to get it back up and not posting anymore, and just stop writing new articles. After all, there are a few hundred posts that are pretty relevant and a few thousand comments to keep folks engaged for a while, plus my web hosting is paid for until November anyway.
I was so afraid I would lose my last post about the pardon of Cochise Bernabe’s murderer, which is something so painful, so close to my heart and I did not really feel like writing it all over again. If that article was not restored, I would have been unhappy enough to stop writing altogether.
Blogging as an Addiction
But I find that when I wake up every morning, I log on to my admin panel to check how many comments were made while I was sleeping, then I moderate them, then I publish them, then I answer them. I stress over each and every one, actually. And I actually love doing this.
So for many days there were no comments, no questions on which route to take to get up to Baguio City or comments on how they enjoyed their Baguio trip, or how people feel about the issues I have decided to tackle and I found that I missed that part of my life. That I no longer considered it a duty, that I was actually addicted to this form of communication with some folks who are virtual strangers, that my life would be a little less fun without it.
Of course there are the other “heavy duties” of a blogger like, um, researching and creating articles, taking photos, editing them, watermarking them and making many versions and sizes including thumbnails, finding and tweaking blog designs, figuring out the mumbo jumbo of codes (for middle-aged webmasters like me, code is NOT poetry but I have to say that the challenge merging skill with art can be exciting), answering emails off-site from folks who are too shy to post comments, and of course, paying the bills for maintaining the site (pretty cheap if you have offline businesses to support it, or if the site actually makes money).
These have caused the vision in my right eye to blur, actually, and I was thinking of taking it easy by just maintaining Go Baguio! which I find easier to design, and which is always so positive.
But when I see how folks come visit, at how the site can bring out their passions (criticism or praise — the same — is still involvement), and understand the role this site plays in terms of providing a venue for folks to have a voice, I figured it’s really all worth the blurring of the vision in the right eye.
I also like being a pain in the butt of certain folks who have heretofore been misbehaving without censure. This of course just happened. It was not like the site was originally designed to be political but I was told that he who avoids politics deserves the government he gets. I would like to think that some “public servants” will behave a little more like servants than kings if they know someone is watching and broadcasting their shenanigans.
Blogging, a Commitment?
When I started this site, I thought I was just going to explain Baguio away, that I was going to give folks a place where they could make direct comments on strawberries and routes to get here. All I wanted to do was write about my magical life in Baguio City.
I did not realize I was actually making a commitment. For a person who has been avoiding commitments all her life, after all this to-do of the site being down, it was so tempting to make one last post that said, well this site has been hacked or something, I got it back up, enjoy what I have written so far, I do not want to write anymore, see you offline.
When I opened the site in Baguio City today (yup, my broadband here at home is less problematic) and it was intact — articles, comments, replies and all (Thank you, Midphase Support)!
And I do so want to tell you that the city “fathers” just legislated a ONE BILLION BUDGET FOR 2009, I want to tell you about so many other things, and I did receive some emails from folks asking me why they got 404 error files when they clicked on any of the links, and I do like being a pain in the butt.
So here we go again. Sorry the site took an unscheduled “vacation.”
Baguio Insider is back!
We just...
Welcome back Baguio Insider. You’re still the Baguio site to go to.
Sweet of you to say so, Resty!
Missed blogging so much I decided to put wavatar images for all commenters who do not yet have a gravatar. You get to wear cool shades every time you place a comment!
Hi Lisa – thanks for providing all these sites that deal with baguio. the place has always been close to my heart and i used to go there at least twice every summer but have been unable to do so for the past 6 years. I am finally going back up there sometime next week and hope to stay for two weeks.
I also hope I have enough budget to try out some of the restaurants on your list as well as the other stomping grounds for kids.
I just have a couple of questions, you mentioned in one of your posts that the reason you moved to baguio was the gracious living.. could you sort of expound on that a bit? Does it sort of imply that one can make a decent living there without the hectic pace?
The other question is about the peace and order situation there. How safe is Baguio nowadays? Is it still safe to walk around the outlook drive going to john hay and baguio country club? What about Session road and the Quezon Hill Road area? I was a little concerned when I saw the dedication for the basketball player who was stabbed on Session. After all I will be there will all 4 of my kids with ages ranging from 6 to 14 and I was hoping to do a lot of walking around with them like from Quezon Hill to Tacay to visit Tamawan and I would really getting feedback from those in the know
By the way, my eldest son received his very first tip in Biscotti in Nevada Square. He was only 7 or 8 then (he’s 14 now) and was making believe he was a waiter there and he ended up serving a customer and getting a tip. It was a fun experience for him which he remembers to this day. We will be swinging by Nevada Square as well so he can reminisce on the spot.
Thanks again for a great set of sites / blogs / articles. Because of you I can hardly wait to be back there.
Thats all,.
Hi Cocoy,
Biscotti is no more… bring the kids to Little John’s they’ll enjoy it, also O Mai Khan — make sure to try the cheap choco fondue at LJ and the desserts at OMK. Nevada Square is all about a rowdy night life nowadays, which is why I happily closed down my restaurants there (after I left, my customers would ask, “Where are you moving to?” I’d say, “But you stopped coming — thought you hated my food” To a man they replied, “We loved your restaurant, the crowds at your location are what turned us off”).
As for gracious living, it’s no more, with Baguio City embracing the “highly urbanized title” that was bestowed upon it by Marcos in the late 1970s when it was a sleepy little town still. We have to consciously move to a “slow” city where life, the environment and the economy is better for all residents. Right now, it’s just relatively cheap living but no safer than the rest of the country because of all the young people allowed by the city and their parents to run wild. Also Baguio has been consciously attracting all sorts of strangers to come live here so faces are unfamiliar already.
Safe to walk around the areas you mentioned — Camp John Hay, Country Club, Quezon Hill to Tacay. It’s the city center and the crowded neighborhoods where safety even during the day can be a concern.
I used to refer to Baguio City, until 2003, as my virtual heaven on earth. You will not find those words in my sites anymore. The spirit of the city has changed to greed and desperation. Few of us cling to the idea of gracious living.
Don’t mean to be negative, just realistic, so you come up with eyes wide open. If you were single, game! But the kids are the most important concern now…
Lastly, given the areas you are planning to visit, I would say these are still Baguio classics and I am sure your kids will have lots of memories to last a lifetime.
how supremely are those individuals you seek mam liza? ha,ha,ha mind if i apply? just found your site, and i do appreciate knowing that somebody had been blogging for Baguio’s concern, the way you do it of course. More power mam!!
Hi Sir Renie,
Am talking to some such folk in Baguio City who are forming such a group. Hope to contact you when they have firmer plans. Will keep your email on file and desire in mind.
Please continue adding your thoughts to the different posts here so folks will feel empowered to analyze and voice their opinions, too.
Thanks
Hi Lisa,
I appreciate your candidness, I think I have a fair idea about how the deterioration there went as there were a few sign already particularly in the Nevada Square area. I hope that the old charm of Baguio can be restored because aside from the actual fresh air, the attitude of Baguio residents was always a revelation to jaded Metro residents like me.
Thank you very much for the recommendations too, I miss Omaikan, Cafe by the Ruins, Star and Rose Bowl – with a party of 6 though, I will have to choose just 2
Its really a small world though. During my last vacation in Baguio around 2001 I stayed in 40 Navy Road which I believe you now operate as the Atenara House. That house is quite full of good memories for me having stayed there so many times in the years from 1990 to 2000. In fact my stepmom had mentioned your name to me before but it only rang a bell when I saw the Atenara site You have my email on file – perhaps we can just email direct as it might not be a good idea to post too many personal details on a blog
I’ll definitely going to be able to see Baguio for myself early next week and in the meantime, I’ll be printing out your recommendations so I can make the most of my 2 weeks there.
Thanks again and Godspeed in your endeavor to lift Baguio up once again.
Hi Cocoy,
The restaurants I mentioned are relatively cheap. OMK still has the all you can eat Mongolian at Php199 per person, while LJ’s average check probably lower.
I believe I have met your dad twice and know your sister from high school. Your names all start with the letter C then? Small, small, small world. When your stepmom came for a week-long vacation and saw what has happened to her beautiful Baguio she was literally in tears and I told her there were some folks working to bring the charm back.
40 Navy is a hobby, a way to make visitors FEEL Baguio. I did the same once for a place in Quezon Hill so I know the route you want to take towards Tam-awan Village.
Just glad that everything is back to normal.Don’t worry Lisa,we are always here for you.:)