Where is Berris Trick Team?

I just received an email:

Hi Benjie,

I saw your profile in internet and im trying to keep in touch with the berris bmx team I am  also a member of berris trick team back on the days….I just want to know by chance maybe you know address and phone number of berris bmx store in sampaloc.

And also about building the a website how much  it cost to make one…thanks hope to hear from you soon…

Sony Bolus

Wow, talk about blast from the past! lolz. That was like 20 years ago, actually my most active BMX days were 1988 to 1993 I think although interest in BMX racing and freestyle started as early as 1986. Man, I that old already? And I still want to ride ramps if given the time. When is it time to let go? I got 2 Mountain Bikes and 2 BMX’s in the Philippines and 1 BMX here in the US. Or do I have zero mountain bikes? I heard Allan Go brought the mountain bikes to Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Which reminds me of my BMX in the Philippines, the one in North Olympus, that I believe I have spent a total of P35,000 (about US $700) and it was kept it in the rain for 2 years, and looks good as trash today. That’s a easy let go. It looks worthless. The freewheel rear sprocket will surely be rusty. But that will not go to the trash right away. Those have original Shimano DX pedals. Every BMXer wants those, compared to some Victor Pedal imitation. The Araya rims for sure will still be great. Maybe I will take it apart and just get what still has value and put something together when the house in the Philippines gets bigger with a nice covered garage.

As for Sony, sorry, I have no contact information of the Berris Trick Team, nor was I active with the group. I was always with Rad World, the people in Lagro, Novaliches, Quezon City, and when that group died, I had several set of BMX buddied in the Teresa Heights, and occassionally went to Villa Sabina in Talipapa to ride the Quarter Pipe.

And I just went to Berris to buy parts and watch the other freestylers. But do you agree that the Berris quarterpipe was kind of extended in front? It was kind of shaped differently. I also had a chance to just ride the launch ramp once in Guadalupe and also jam around with the flatlanders by the parking lot of SM North EDSA. I personally do not know everyone by name, mostly by face and by bike. Except the oldies in Lagro and Talipapa in Novaliches since they were closer to me by location.

When it was the time of the Philippine’s XGames qualifiers for Asian XGames, that was already like my BMX retired period. And I just go to watch the Philippine Radness as it progressed from what it was before. Still we (pinoys) need a lot to work on to really become competitive. Like in the Philippines… at least 1 or 2 can do a backflip, 1 or 2 can do tailwhip airs, 1 or 2 can do 900’s and these 1 or 2 people are not the same people. Unlike in the US, backflips are like basic to all ramp riders today. But more ramps are coming out in the Philippines, and more riders are progressing, so maybe there is a good future for BMX in the Philippines. Let’s see. And to answer your question, nope, sorry I do not have the address or phone number, but I think I have heard they are closed already.

Funny thing is that this was so long time ago, but I still raced in June 2002 and got a not-so-cool 4th place with no prize!

Paying HSBC Credit Card for Nothing

After signing up for a Best Buy Credit Card, where they teamed up with HSBC to offer the service, I was also asked to sign up an optional HSBC credit card application. So ok, I signed it up, pass or fail their credit check, they said it was a no obligation thing.

I never received my credit card in the mail. But I think this is a California issue since I had the same problem with a Target card before that I needed to call them several times and all they said is that the California post office has block the mail and that I have to confirm the information by phone calling them up and keep complaining I never received the Credit Card.

And here comes the HSBC Credit Card bill. And I never even received the HSBC Credit Card! Duh, bill me for nothing. I did not even buy anything yet, but this card had annual fees. And they are billed first before getting the card. This card only had a credit limit of $300, it is not any special card at all. It is good as not having this HSBC Credit Card, it has no value to me at all and I needed to pay them an annual fee for an HSBC Credit Card with only a $300 Credit Limit? And I never even received the HSBC Credit Card?

That is like paying for something I never received! What is that called? Charity? Donation?

Now someone in India calls me saying I have to pay my bills. So I said I will cancel the account, and the only reason I did not cancel is because, this guy in India says I will receive the HSBC credit card in the mail soon, and it is nice to have some credit card even just for emergency. Well I said, since my application is in, ok, and that was last February. I paid a partial balance of $40 for the annual fees.
Up to now I never received my credit card. And my fees increased for non-payment of my HSBC Credit Card with a low $300 credit limit, billing me for something I never got!

I got a bills and I got a phone call from the HSBC Credit Card Call Center and this time, looks like an American, not from India, but who knows, he might be in the Philippines who are good in copying accents as compared to India Call Center agents. Again reminding me of the bill to pay. And I said, didn’t I call up to close this account already?

And they checked it out and yes it is closed and I still have some balance to pay. Funny, I have to pay for something I never have received. But the credit card system in the US is so connected and automated that this gives a red flag on your credit report. And here in the US, where there is Transunion, Experian and Equifax for the credit report, these are not like the Philippine companies: Philippine Credit Reporting Alliance Inc., CIBI Information Inc., Asian Credit Consultants and Business Services, Equifacts Information Inc., First Asia Corporate Business Connection, Excellent Credit Information Inc. where everything is connected together it one large database that businesses just subscribe to and check the credit information of anyone online.

It was like a no choice thing, that I had to pay this HSBC Credit Card annual fee just to keep my credit report nice and clean to avoid any denials in other subscription services or installment payments I may have in the future. So that’s it, I paid for the HSBC Credit Card service for something I never had.

I paid $40 last Feb 13, 2006, and another $140.15 total balance today, for this now closed HSBC credit card that I never used, and never received in the mail. I haven’t even gone through the activation thing, where I call up to activate the HSBC credit card. All I was charged was annual fees for having the HSBC Credit Card service.

After my transaction was done over the phone, I said just a few words before I end my conversation with you. I said I paid this bill, but I never received my HSBC Credit Card. And just right after I said that sentence… I was already thinking of telling him more how displeased I was and I wish it does not happen to others and that they should make it a point the HSBC Credit Card is received and activated, then they bill the client for the HSBC Credit Card annual fee. But the moment I thought of that, I did not tell it to him anymore, since I said nevermind, what will happen if I talk to you. You are in a call center, and what kind of heirarchy structure this message has to go through to get to the person involved in the system? So I just said ok thank you and byebye. And I just thought that I will just blog about this Hongkong Savings Bank Corporation Credit Card service that I was displeased of not receiving the service since I never received the HSBC Credit Card and was required to pay the annual fees. Instead of complaining and nothing happens to the complaint against HSBC Credit Card, then I will just blog about them and do some SEO magic.
So what credit card company do I recommend? Maybe any company listed in the links above this article or on the side that is not HSBC. I actually have a Direct Merchants Bank Platinum Credit Card and a Best Buy Credit Card and are happy with them, even if they are both powered by HSBC. Check the links above for other credit card companies.

What credit card do you recommend? Low APR and no annual fees. Tell me which one you like in your comments below.

And now that I have mentioned 3 credit cards here, phishers are everywhere. So those planning on doing phishing attempts, please do not bother my inbox with all the trash emails.

200 Soon!

I was expecting to hit the 200 domains hosted on my server by the end of 2006. Looks like I hit it already even before the first half of 2006. Now I will target 400 domains hosted on my server then for 2006. It requires even more planning, and that is exactly what I am going to do.

Near 200 domains

A Peek of the Future: John Travolta Reincarnated

We all know John Travolta, if you don’t, he was in several movies and some of the notable John Travolta movies are Pulped Fiction, Swordfish, Face Off, Phenomenon, Staying Alive and Greese. You can search a complete filmography of John Travolta here. I have read several articles saying that John Travolta has autism, that he is gay and he is into scientology.

John Travolta has shown great dancing skill in Staying Alive and Greese. In the movie Greese which was also like a musical, John Travolta was paired up with excellent actress and signer Olivia Newton John. Although there were some rumors that John Travolta and Olivia Newton John were not equally compatible off-screen compared to their on-screen appearances, their on-screen appearance was like magic.

If you believe in the Hindu belief of reincarnation, as what they call Karma, where when a person dies, depending on the life that person lived, he may have a better life and wealthier when he is reborn into a new body if he lived a good life before dying. And if one was bad, he may be reborn in a lower status of life or even not human. You can be an animal or plant as punishment. Based on research, this was true, and using clairvoyant technology, (Similar to what you saw in the Minority Report movie with Tom Cruise where 3 psychics that can see the future, are hooked up to machines that can show on a video screen what is in their mind.) a video of John Travolta in the future was seen as he was reincarnated. And using past life regression, it was determined that the being in the future was indeed John Travolta and he even did a remake of the movie Greese, but no longer with Olivia Newton John.

Below is a video of the future, using clairvoyant technology showing John Travolta’s remake of the movie Greese.


http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvp.video.google.com%2Fvideodownload%3Fversion%3D0%26secureurl%3DoAAAAKCY2ZauzAJPl2X0VpHqgfbkXxPVMgD-3h4iIpYvE9lTyH8O1WqCZmzawhGuVPnmP2jftYl_81RagyYFtwVf9PWbItoUVfX7-QEs9PQX1ekWcvbw7rq0q9jWhnsSx3gRg5-Y7jnl4R6OlI9vghM7Pd7QILLc84XYp5Cg-oGxxwBs0ytGptXnrieFEUIgmVSPyrjQ5U6RbC1xG7UWPOLfD5qtarqzIh7pUJJXxzB7gGYy%26sigh%3DlIa3PqGkpqc5OYrnez98J-mfmm4%26begin%3D0%26len%3D132866%26docid%3D6960295146523698319&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer%3Fapp%3Dvss%26contentid%3D408938442e35fc0%26second%3D5%26itag%3Dw320%26urlcreated%3D1145688320%26sigh%3D-i4ebOot9KAA1vFep5B9UPZQjYw&playerId=6960295146523698319

Found an expired domain website again!

I found an expired domain website, created 2001, tons of inbound links, has a PR5 and is in redemption period. I got it queued up for snapping. Hopefully I get it, and make good use to it. Hahaha.

I only told 1 person about it, and better not post it in the comments if ever you plan to comment about this post. Or else someone else might target it too. 😀

Stop Working! Time for back up.

Well I just noticed that my 120GB Hard Disk in an External Casing with USB, was getting near full. A lightning storm can wipe everything out. So many projects in there, and since I am fixing up a bunch of mess, I think it is time stop working for a few minutes to some hours, and do some back of near 120GB on my external drive and a bunch more on my desktop and my documents etc.

Don’t talk to me about the status of any project, LOLz, let me back up everything first.