2016 - Page 13 of 21 - Slvrdlphn.com

ELRO Retail Corporation was a shoe in to win

by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 12, 2016 | Stories

ELRO Retail Corporation, a leading player in the footwear retail and distribution industry in the country, proudly took home a string of prestigious awards, both local and international, that recognizes their marketing and sales leadership in the Philippines and across the region.

ELRO is Number 1

Francisco R. Elizalde, ELRO Retail Corporation President and Magno Kleber de Freitas, Grendene Export Manager

ELRO was hailed as the Number One Sales Producer for the Oceania and Asia Region, in the recently concluded Grendene World Sales Convention held at the Sofitel Rio De Janiero in Brazil.

The Grendene World Sales Convension is organized by Grendene S.A. – manufacturer of Ipanema, Grendha, Rider, and Zaxy brands of footwear – as the company’s way of recognizing the initiatives and accomplishments of its global distributors and international representatives.

It acknowledges not only the attainment of sales goals and targets, but also recognizes how the brand promise of Grendene’s portfolio of footwear – known for their strong personality and brand recognition – is maintained in various markets around the world.

Bambu receives accolades

Meanwhile, Bambu retail store, home of the famous Brazilian footwear brands Ipanema, Grendha and Rider, was recently bestowed the Marketing Excellence Award for its hub located at the Ayala Harbor Point Mall in Olongapo City. With this year’s theme “Designing for Retail Tomorrow, Today,” The Ayala Merchants Rewards Program recognizes the achievements and innovations of Ayala Malls’ merchant partners who have made significant contribution in the retail industry.

Furthermore, Bambu received the coveted Most Outstanding Retailer of the Year Award, Fashion Shoes and Bags – Small Category, during the 2015 Outstanding Filipino Retailers and Shopping Centers of the Year Awards Night held at the Marriot Hotel, Manila. This prestigious award, given out by the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), the largest organization of the country’s top retailers and prime movers, in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), cites the outstanding performance of local retailers that exemplify the best business models as well as good ethical practices in their operations.

From left: Belinda Benghui, PRA Auditor; Adrian Cristobal, DTI Secretary; Francisco R. Elizalde, ELRO Retail Corp. President; Wricks Recario, ELRO Retail Corp. Sales Division Head and Arthur Coronel, PRA Vice President

“These awards bestowed on us by Grendene, AyalaMalls, and the Philippine Retailers Association, serve to inspire us to further push the brands that we carry,” states Francisco R. Elizalde, ELRO Retail Corporation President. “It forces us to remain innovative and dynamic as we respond to changing customer needs.”

ELRO Retail Corporation, founded in 2005, is an established player in the footwear retail and distribution industry in the Philippines, and is committed to providing excellent service and uncompromising professionalism to all its customers.

Creating a favicon

by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 8, 2016 | Tech Tutorials

The favicon is, perhaps, one of the most neglected web element by most students learning how to design/develop websites. I guess the first thing we need to do is define what a favicon is. When there is no favicon all we see on the browser tab is a file icon.

What is a favicon?

In simple terms it is that tiny icon you see on the tab of your browser when you visit a website. It is the logo of your site but in a very small format. Here on my site it looks like this. See how tiny it is? But how do we make such a tiny image?

What is the file extension of a favicon?

Once upon a time the only extension to identify a graphic as a favicon was .ico. Nowadays, though, we can also use .png.

How do we make/create a favicon?

There are many online apps available that you could use to make a favicon but you don’t really need any of them so long as you have a graphic software installed in your computer such as Adobe Photoshop.

Here are my recommendations on how to make/create a favicon:

Make sure your image is a square.
Start with a large image. Even though your final output is small there is no need to design small. It is easy enough to make it small later. At the very least I would say 100×100. Personally I usually start at 144×144 or 300×300.
Keep in mind that the favicon includes the ENTIRE image, including the space you put between the icon itself and the edges. Therefore, maximize the space. To illustrate, I have placed a border around my image. In actual execution there is no border.
Once you’ve completed the design for your favicon go to FILE > EXPORT > Save for Web (legacy).
On the upper right choose PNG-24.
On the dimensions below change your height or width to either 16×16 or 25×25. Click on SAVE.
Save the file to the root folder of your website with the filename favicon.png. If you prefer to use a .ico file then you can just change the file extension from the Finder (on Mac) or File Explorer (on Windows).

It’s that simple! So simple you really shouldn’t forget to do it. 🙂 If you have any further questions on the topic feel free to leave me a message below.

Uberpool promo code for August 2016

by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 4, 2016 | Discounts, Sales, and Giveaways

Sign up with UBER and enjoy the comfort of UBERPOOL (carpool/ridesharing service), UBERHOP (point to point), UBERX (private standard car), and UBER BLACK CAR (private luxury car).

Note: These promo codes are officially released by Uber and are posted here simply for the purpose of helping out in disseminating the good news to my fellow UBER riders.

Why UBERPOOL?

With the traffic congestion we experience every day living in Metro Manila ride sharing with UBERPOOL is definitely one of the best solutions to traveling in comfort and style and still within a reasonable budget.

Some people have expressed concern about ride sharing or carpooling so let’s give it a little thought …

when we ride a passenger jeep that is a shared ride.
when we take the train that is a shared ride.
when we take a bus that is a shared ride.
when we take a tricycle that is a shared ride.

And for most people taking those modes of transportation is not a problem, so how is this any different? Ok, maybe the cost of the trip is more expensive … but it is still less expensive than getting a car on your own.

So if we want to help in decongesting the traffic in Metro Manila, let’s give UBERPOOL a shot.

Here are the promo codes for August 2016. I will update this post as news of new promo codes reach me.

It’s not too late to join a squad! #poolsquad

PROMO CODE: MOVEMANILA

PROMO CODE: IMPACTMANILA

PROMO CODE: CHANGEMANILA

On this last week of the #poolsquad promo they have a special treat for Uber Riders. SUPER MEGA DIRTCHEAP TRIPS!

Valid from August 29 to September 4, 2016

Use the promo codes: CHANGEMANILA, IMPACTMANILA, or MOVEMANILA and pay only:

P99 each for the first 3 trips
P50 each for the 4th and 5th trip
P20 each from the 6th trip onwards

Think of the savings, think of the fun! Carpool now and help put less cars on the streets by putting more people in each car. #poolsquad

UPDATE PROMO CODE: CHANGEMANILA

UPDATE PROMO CODE: IMPACTMANILA

UPDATE PROMO CODE: MOVEMANILA

Uberpool up to 3 rides per day for a flat rate of P99!

For people like me who travel from Quezon City to Manila almost everyday this comes as a very welcome surprise.

Valid from August 23 to 26, 2016

Tip: If you chose one squad before and the promo code does not work anymore then choose another squad. I promise you, it will work. 🙂

#POOLSQUAD – UBERPOOL PROMO CODE: MOVEMANILA, CHANGEMANILA, or IMPACTMANILA

This is a different kind of promo because it really depends on which “squad” you choose. No discount is given for using the promo code but riders can win free Uber rides and credits when they choose to share their ride on UBERPOOL.

PROMO CODE: MOVEMANILA

MOVEMANILA Squad is composed of the following “ambassadors”:

Arci Munoz
Jake Ejercito
Kim Baranda
Mark Agas
Raquel Daquis

PROMO CODE: CHANGEMANILA

CHANGEMANILA Squad is composed of the following “ambassadors”:

Ara Galang
Bang Pineda
Iza Calzado
Karylle Yuzon
Mari Jasmine

PROMO CODE: IMPACTMANILA

IMPACTMANILA Squad is composed of the following “ambassadors”:

Daniel Matsunaga
Denise Lazaro
Dianne Medina
Will Dasovich
Phem Baranda

Choose wisely! The first squad you pick is the one you’ll be assigned to for the the duration of the campaign.

Take as many uberPOOL trips as you can from Monday, August 15th until September 4th. As an extra treat, uberPOOL trips taken on August 15th will cost a flat fare of ₱50!
You can track how many cars each squad has gotten off the road via uberpoolsquad.ph. You will also receive a weekly email update on which squad is leading, how many trips you’ve taken, and if you, yourself, are part of the top 20 riders.

Amazing prizes will be given away by Uber on September 4. to thank us, their riders, for helping decongest Manila.

Don’t you think this is excellent motivation to carpool? 🙂

UBERPOOL PROMO CODE: MOVEMANILA, CHANGEMANILA, or IMPACTMANILA

Valid on August 15, 2016 in Metro Manila only

All UBERPOOL trips will be charged a flat rate of P50 only.

#100DAYCHALLENGE – UBERPOOL PROMO CODE: 100DAYCHALLENGE

Valid on August 5, 2016 in Metro Manila only

All UBERPOOL rides will be charged a MAXIMUM of P100. If your fare is less then pay the lower fare.

Promotion is valid on all UBERPOOL rides only within the coverage area above from 6am – 12MN
Each request can have a maximum of 2 riders per pick up. You will be matched with another requester, for up to 4 riders in total in the car
Limited to 2 UBERPOOL rides per rider

Grab promo code for August 2016

by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 4, 2016 | Stories

This page will not list any promo code for Grabtaxi because, well, I rarely take a taxi nowadays. 🙂 I will update it as new promos reach me.

PROMO CODE: GRABANDRIDE

Valid until September 2, 2016

Get a 90% discount on ONE Grabcar ride (up to P200) this week with the promo code GRABANDRIDE.

PROMO CODE: GCNOW

Valid on August 24, 2016 only

Get P50 off ONE Grabcar ride from 12pm to 5pm today with promo code GCNOW.

PERSONAL PROMO CODES

Have you been checking the notifications of your Grab app and your messages and emails from Grab? If you’ve been ignoring them I think you should reconsider and take a look at them now.

from August 23 to 25 they have a P50 discount for up to 2 grab rides
from August 16 to 18 they have a P100 discount for up to 2 grab rides

PROMO CODE: GRABVISA

Valid from August 15 to September 15, 2016

Get P200 off when you register your Visa debit or credit card to Grabpay. Use the promo code GRABVISA and go cashless to avail.

This promo is only valid for your first Grabpay Visa transaction.

PROMO CODE: MIDDAY

Valid on August 19, 2016 from 12pm to 4pm only.

Use this code and get a discount of P50 off your total bill.

PROMO CODE: Z3N

Valid from August 12 to 18, 2016 for one use only.

Use this code and get a discount of P50 off your total bill. This promo can only be used by the first 1,200 users.

PROMO CODE: GRABNAIA

Valid from August 10 to October 10, 2016

Special promo for our travelers!

Whether it is you or your loved ones who arrived you can claim a discount of P200 for one ride only when you are traveling from any NAIA airport to your home.

Valid for one ride, when you select any Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal as your ride’s pick-up point.
Valid for cash, debit, and credit payment methods.
Valid for GrabCar, GrabCar Premium and GrabCar 6 Seater services.
Valid whether you book on the Grab mobile app, or at the Grab booths at each of the NAIA terminals.

This is just for ONE RIDE so don’t forget to tell your family and friends who are flying in to make use of it. After all, can’t we all use the P200 discount? 🙂

PROMO CODE: HALFTHEPRICE

Valid from August 13 to 15, 2016

For Manila, Cebu, and Bacolod Grabbers: Enjoy 50% discount up to P200 on one GrabCar ride. This promo code is valid for both cash and credit card transactions.

PROMO CODE: POKEMON

Valid from August 6 to 12, 2016

POKEMON GO IS NOW IN THE PHILIPPINES! Make sure to Grab ‘Em All!

For Manila, Cebu, and Bacolod Grabbers: Use this promo code on your way to catch one. Hurry! Get P50 off on one Grabcar ride valid for both cash and grabpay transactions.

PROMO CODE: GRABFRIDAY

Valid on August 5, 2016

For Manila Grabbers: Get P100 off on one Grabcar ride when you go cashless. Valid for GrabPay transactions only.

Dine and Ride with Grab at BGC

Promo period: August 1 to 31, 2016

This promo is open to all customers of Bonifacio Stopover, Park Triangle and Crossroads merchants. Click HERE to find out how to avail of this promo.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, A Review

by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 4, 2016 | Book Reviews

This blog post about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a review, of sorts. I will try my best to avoid spoilers when I can help it so that those of you who intend to read it can still enjoy it spoiler-free (from me, at least).

When the last movie version of the Harry Potter story, The Deathly Hallows Part 2 hit the theaters there were rumors about another story in the making, presumably the Cursed Child. Some said it was going straight to film, while others said it would be a short story. There have even been rumors of a play and even animated shorts. But the one thing everyone was clear on was that JK Rowling did not intend to write another book that involved her much-loved character, Harry Potter. After all, if I recall correctly, JK Rowling herself said so. 🙂

But the epilogue of The Deathly Hollows left her fans expecting more.

Nineteen years after the Battle at Hogwarts, we see Harry married to Ginny, and Ron to Hermione. We see that all of them have children, including Harry’s school nemesis, Draco Malfoy. We discover that Neville now teaches in Hogwarts. But what brings our tiny hearts a-skipping is this scene …

We get to see Harry’s son! And he was blessed/cursed with:

having Harry for a father, and
being named after two of the biggest heroes in the history of the wizarding world: Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape.

And right then and there we just know that the story has not ended … but in what medium it will appear, we still didn’t know.

The Cursed Child

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series

JK Rowling did not disappoint her fans. She later announced that, yes, there will be another Harry Potter installment … but it will be a stage play. This news was met with mixed emotions.

Those who resided in the UK and those who can afford to go to the UK had no problem (other than how much the tickets would cost). For the rest of the world, though, we mostly felt sadness and regret and resigned ourselves to the fact that it may take years before we would be able to enjoy The Cursed Child ourselves.

And then, sneaky JK, announced in Pottermore that they will be publishing the script of The Cursed Child. Oh, gladness! Yes, I realize she said SCRIPT, not book, but for bookworms like me who grew up reading Shakespearean plays it didn’t really matter. Reading a book for me is like watching a movie in my head. And reading a script actually helps me in blocking my characters in the scenes in my head.

Of course, I realize that JK didn’t write the script herself (it was actually Jack Thorne who wrote it) but JK was part of the process from the beginning. After all, this is her “child” we are talking about. Additionally, the finished product has her stamp of approval and that is good enough for me. 😀

The Cursed Child Unboxed

So on July 31, 2016 (Sunday PHT) Harry Potter fans from all over the world prepared to go to their favorite bookstore for the worldwide unboxing of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child … which opens at the same time as the play itself!

In the Philippines, Scholastic (the U.S. Publisher) partnered with National Bookstore for local distribution. And it was at the Glorietta branch of National Bookstore that Hogwarts Philippines (the official fan club of Harry Potter in the Philippines) invited Potter fans from all over the metro to join in the fun and excitement of being the first to own and read this much-awaited publication.

Fully Booked also came out with their copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child but, apparently, they are the distributor of the UK Publisher, Little Brown UK.

My personal opinion …

My sister and I split the cost of the book and bought it and then tried to take turns reading it as we had free time since she worked at night and I worked during the day. My sister actually started reading the book immediately while I was buying a cool beverage. 😀

I do not recommend that you do that, by the way. It is difficult to read a play unless you read it all the way through. It’s like stepping out of the theater for a potty break and then coming back a few minutes later and missing your place.

As I said at the beginning, I will try my best not to post spoilers but I cannot always tell if what I will say is a spoiler or not so if you are unsure then you can stop reading right now. 🙂

Ebony wand pen and bookmark were giveaways at the unboxing event.

It is a script of a stage play. Transitions are fast and it lacks the setup narration of regular books but, as I said … it is a stage play. The script of a stage play usually just gives a brief description of the scene, then focuses on the dialogue of the characters plus some direction on what possible action/emotion the character is supposed to portray. This is so that the directors and the cast have leeway to infuse the story with their own special brand.

For people who are unused to reading plays, this book will be confusing. They will go, “Wait! didn’t he just get on the train as a first-year? How come he is a second-year a page later, and THEN a 3rd-year another page later? Where are all the Hogwarts years?”

Ok, my first advice to this person would be “catch a play sometime”. I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just that understanding it is a play and knowing the mechanics of a play would make them understand the transitions better.

My second piece of advice would be “don’t fixate. It only means the ‘action’ does not happen until later so there is no need to take the slow route.”

Friendship

Scorpius and Albus

Just as with the original Harry Potter books, the main theme of this story is friendship. And in this story, centers on the friendship between Albus Severus Potter (Harry’s second child) and Scorpius Malfoy (Draco’s son).

They create a bond from the very beginning … on the Hogwarts Express as they share a compartment on their way to school. Because of his parentage, Scorpius is shunned by his peers as most are under the impression that his real father was Voldemort. Albus, on the other hand, is burdened by his legacy … of being the son of the famous Harry Potter.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron

It also shows us how the friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione has grown over the years as they assume their roles as responsible adults and parents.

Harry and Hermione work at the Ministry of Magic (only to be expected, don’t you think?) and Ron, well, I don’t want to spoil it so let me just say Ron is doing something else.

Father and Son

Harry and Albus

It also tackles the relationship between Harry and Albus. Think of Albus as the rebel — the misunderstood kid that his parents couldn’t understand. Because, in a nutshell, that is what he was. He didn’t fit in at home, he didn’t fit in at Hogwarts.

Where his dad, Harry was Mr. Popularity, Albus’ only friend was Scorpius.

Perhaps it is because they are so alike that made it difficult for them to understand each other. And just like his dad, Albus wanted to do the right thing and right a wrong that happened many years ago even before he was born.

If at first, you don’t succeed, try and try again. And THAT is how the trouble began.

As I continue reading, though, I found myself wondering who was really the cursed child. Initially, of course, I assumed it was Albus, because, the title did say Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which kind of implies it would be his son. But then knowing Scorpius’ story I couldn’t help but think that is it possible that it is actually him?

I got choked up

Call me sentimental but my heart soared at the cameos of some of my favorite, much-loved, or even drool-worthy characters. I laughed, I cried, and I had to pause to wipe my tears. My heart was squeezed in a giant fist and seeing new heroic moments in my head was just phenomenal! Even if they turned this play into a movie, it just won’t be the same without them.

In conclusion …

I loved it! I had to repeat it from the beginning and then read it straight through to the end for five hours straight. I only took short breaks in between to shift position on the bed and to go to the toilet. Would I read it again? Absolutely! But I will wait until the rest of my family has read it, too. 🙂 We are mostly theater enthusiasts so I am confident they will enjoy it as well.

I do hope the play comes to Manila, too.

How about you? How did you like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? Share your thoughts below.