friday afternoons

Catching-up Fridays is about invigorating friends.

I met up with Lette prior to an early morning flight to Caticlan. We met up in Greenbelt, Makati after I finished work in Laguna. Simple joys filled the afternoon: book cover browsing at Fully Booked, happy hour at Spicy Fingers, and Milo Dinosaurs at Kopi Roti before she met up with Mary for the evening screening of Toy Story 3.



The succeeding Friday (July 2, 2010) brought about a spontaneous meet-up at Le Bistro Vert, the venue of the #T13Tweetup. I was invited by Janette via a late Thursday tweet. It was great to finally see Ms. Chit Juan, who manages Le Bistro Vert and Echostore.
I intended to go to the cafe during the previous weekend to drop off some samples from Carmel's Food Products that she might be able to use for her menu. The two ladies were enjoying some red wine with thin kamote chips with aioli, and Janette was explaining the benefits of Foursquare for business owners.
We also tried some Caviar Pinoy on toasted ciabatta.
Kevin, fresh from a Vietnam work trip, dropped by after his dinner meeting with Kristin and Rochelle. Banana mojito shots were served shortly, and to my surprise, the ladies out-drank the men.

If you're weakened by the week or if your spirit is running on empty, plan an early Friday happy hour or night-out with friends and revive your energy. Cheers!

#T13Tweetup at Le Bistro Vert

Sustainable network?

We've seen the rise and fall of Friendster, and now Facebook has come, conquered. Which social platform can maximize the six degrees of the human web? Maybe a combination of all these, integrated with LinkedIn, Flickr, and future unnamed apps will be what brings us together in efficiency and productivity. I personally think it's time to start bringing people together and intertwine each one's social circles. Tweetups are a great start, being innocent-mababaw, fun, easy-to-plan, and there's immediate common ground (RP Twitter users).

Ria Juan planned and produced the #T13Tweetup, which was held at Le Bistro Vert in Salcedo Village, Makati last May 13, 2010. It was originally dubbed Thursday the 13th tweetup, then a name suggestion conversation started on Twitter. I live a couple of buildings away from Le Bistro Vert, but had to drive from the clinic in Laguna. The traffic along SLEX wasn't too bad. There were raincloud reminders again but it didn't rain.

I arrived third, with Kevin and Janette already enjoying the plush seats, Fraser Place Wifi & hot coffee. A few minutes & a lasagna bowl later, I see Ria distributing gum labels and colored markers for our DIY name tags. We then request for the bar menu & FORMALLY start happy hour. Kevin, Janette and I were in a table with Carl, Poch, Rian (pronounced Ryan), and Tonyo. When Sherwin arrived, the program/Quiz portion started. A photo op with Yves was the highlight of the evening. Photos of T13tweetup are available from JP's Multiply site. Ria has a list of all twitterers who went to #t13tweetup.

#beerstorming at Le Bistro Vert

Happy hour with friends is always welcome way to end the five-day work week. A semi-spontaneous tweetup had been planned last Friday (28 May 2010) with this agenda: to drink and discuss some ideas from previous tweetups. Who came despite the rain? First to arrive was (current 4sq mayor of Le Bistro Vert) Ria Juan / @juanxi who came from work errands. Next was Marissa Manaloto / @mcmanaloto who braved the Valero rain to get to Le Bistro Vert. Le Bistro was the venue for the recent #T13tweetup. The menu consists of dishes produced from sustainable food (the Asian Development Bank has an article on Sustainable Food Security in Asia which is recommended reading). I ordered and shared the Roasted Vegetable Pizza (yummy with the cherry tomatoes & fresh arugula) and Super Dry. Ria and Marissa had Mango Mojitos while waiting for Rob.

Rob Angeles / @robangeles arrived last and was excited in discussing ways to help local social media. I am very hopeful with this project.