Gimikera Is In

I'm now an open water scuba diver!

Finally, I'm a certified PADI open water scuba diver!

I took up scuba diving classes in February 2007 but my dive instructor bailed out on me so I was forced to find another instructor for my checkout dive, which finally took place at Puerto Galera from December 1-2.

Four dives cost a cool P5,000 and I realized I need to buy a bigger mask since the one I'm using is too small for me. In fact, I even had to change masks with the divemaster under water since it wasn't clearing up.

Anyway, I've uploaded my underwater pics at Photobucket and Multiply accounts. Check them out here:

http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i165/jociepd/Puerto%20Galera%20underwater%20pics/

http://lagimikera.multiply.com/photos/album/58

These pics were taken using a waterproof case (costs only P500) and my trusty Kodak DC3200 1-megapixel camera that is five years old. =) I wasn't able to photograph the 12-inch puffer fishes, lionfish, eel, parrotfish, giant clams and other sea creatures.

Shallowest depth: 10 meters and deepest dive: 18 meters. Total dive time to date: 2 hours

PEP @ 1!

An acquaintance of mine told me recently after I had talked lengthily about my Senior Editor position at PEP, “You must really love your job, huh?”

I responded candidly by saying, “Life would be perfect if we had 48-hour days.”

I guess that’s how anyone would feel if their job loved them back. =) On the first anniversary of Philippine Entertainment Portal, it would be nice to reminisce about the humble beginnings of www.pep.ph

On 9/11, I officially joined the PEP team but were just working on a simple fuschia-colored site with the URL yesmagazine.com.ph

It just had Breaking News, Photo Galleries, and the Forums. We were a young team—most of us were just starting in the entertainment beat. There were two editors, three staff writers, an editorial assistant, and a photographer manning the site.

By November 15, the soft launch of PEP’s beta site took place. New sections were added such as my section, the Entertainment Guide, Celebrity Life, Views, and Videos. It was an overwhelming task to fill up all of the sections of the site. I was assigned to handle the five subsections of the e-guide, namely, Television, Movies, Indie, Music and Theater. Our workload grew and so did the team.

There are now four editors, a community editor, two staff writers, an editorial assistant, a web designer, and a photographer. We’re also accommodating stories from contributors and videos from TV networks.

It’s been a year since our company embarked on this experiment—and we’re looking forward to the challenges ahead as we continue our work as the online home of YES! Magazine.

Click here to recall PEP's firsts, facts, and feats.