Most GDG (Google Developer Group) organizers going to I/O 2015 attended the GDG Organizer Summit at Computer History Museum in Mountain View on May 26 and 27.
On the morning of the first day, we had the welcome and community keynote, and talks about Google Translate Community, Web, and GDG Wisdom Gitbook. In the afternoon, we had two workshops: CSI:Lab (Creative Skills for Innovation) and Non-violent Communications.
The second day sessions were divided into six tracks. I attended the Firebase, Kubernetes, Community Leadership, GDG Attendance Counter, and GDG Creations sessions. In the GDG Creations/App Demo Lightning talk, I did a short demo of the GDG Android Wear Watch Face that I just published a few days before.
Photo taken by Esther from GDG Surabaya
Afterwards, we met shortly for the Study Jams Debrief and closing before going to Moscone to register and get our I/O badges.
A lot of things happened in 2014. Here are some of the highlights of the year that was.
Local Travel
From January 18 to 19, we went to Nueva Ecija, Tagaytay, and Manila. Wayne, Celine, Mama Chelle, Amit, Josh, Jona and I went to Nueva Ecija on January 18 for the Nueva Ecija Technologies @ Work (NETWORKS) Student Developers Day event. I did a talk about the basics of Android apps development there. The next day, Celine, Mama Chelle, Amit, Josh, Jona and I travelled to Tagaytay (People's Park in the Sky, Starbucks, Rowena's). After that, we visited the National Museum. It was my first time to visit there and it was a great experience. We then went to Intramuros and had lunch at Coco Bango Cafe. Afterwards, we went to San Agustin Church.
Celine and I went to La Salle University in Ozamiz City for the 5th ICT Youth Convention on February 27. I did a talk about Google Developer Tools and Technologies in the morning and conducted an Android Workshop in the afternoon.
Wayne and I went to Angeles, Pampanga on June 7 for a GBG Angeles-GDG Philippines Developer Meetup there. I was able to try Marco's 3-way Tinapa-flavor pizza and Pacencia a Kapampangan mom's sweet recipe pasta in Historic Camalig Restaurant. During dinner, I was able to try tilapia and chili frog in Apag Marangle, and Kabigting's Halo-Halo in Marquee Mall.
I followed Celine in Cagayan de Oro during their two-week work there and spent the weekend (October 10-12) with her. On October 11, we went to Camiguin Island and visited Katibawasan Falls, Ardent Hot Springs, Old Volcano, Sunken Cemetery, and Guiob Church Ruins, Soda Swimming Pool, and Sto. Niño Cold Spring Resort. In CDO, we went to St. Agustine Cathedral, Gaston Park, MacArthur Memorial Marker, and Capitol Grounds.
We went to Ilocos on December 2-3 for the Google Philippines and Philippine Science High School event. Our technical talks were in the afternoon of the second day so we were able to do a quick side trip to Vigan (and eat authentic Vigan empanada) in the morning.
International Travel
Celine, Mama Chelle, Mitch, Wayne, Jerome, and I went to South Korea from March 21 to 24 for a short vacation. We met with the GDG community managers there for dinner and also had lunch in the Google office. We visited Nami Island, different palaces, temples and other historical/cultural places there.
This year, I was also blessed to receive a US VISA so I was able to go to the United States for the GDG Organizer Summit (June 23-24), Google I/O 2014 (June 25-26), and a short trip to San Francisco, Oakland, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
Personal Apps
Sweldong Pinoy apps were updated based from PhilHealth Circular 27 s.2013 and SSS Circular 2013-010. The tablet-optimized version of the Sweldong Pinoy Android app has also been released. Sweldong Pinoy was updated for Government employees (computing GSIS contributions instead of SSS contributions) and RHQ/ROHQ Employees (computing corresponding tax, deductions, and net pay). Check the Sweldong Pinoy Blog for more details.
I have also developed Thirteenth Month, a
tool for Filipinos in computing their 13th-month pays. Thirteenth Month has a website/web app at http://13thmonth.sweldongpinoy.com and Android App.
Gadgets
I bought a Nexus 5 on February to replace the Nexus S that already stopped working. I also received an LG G Watch and a Moto 360 from Google I/O.
Runs
My only run for 2014 was Takbo.ph RunFest 2014 (July 13). On 2015, I am hoping I can do more runs, probably one per quarter. I had already registered for Takbo.PH 20 Miler Run 2015 (10 Miler/16k) and Condura Skyway Marathon 2015 (10k).
I went to the United States from June 21 to July 1 to attend the GDG Organizer Summit (June 23-24) and Google I/O 2014 (June 25-26). I was blessed to be granted a US VISA this time to go there.
We left Manila on June 21 and arrived in San Francisco on the same night. We stayed in Hyatt Regency San Francisco for the night. Our body was still under jet lag because we woke up at around four in the morning. We decided to walk outside and wait for the sunrise. We had breakfast then went back to SF International Airport for our shuttle for the summit hotel.
The GDG summit was held in Googleplex, Mountain View, California. The first day of the summit was in the Olympic Tech Talk of Quad 3 Building while on the second day, we were at the Main Campus. On the first day, we had various talks while on the second day was mostly unconferences. We also went to the Google Store to buy some stuff and to the Android statues to take pictures.
After the summit has ended, we went to Moscone West to register and get our badges and schwags. We checked in to Holiday Inn Civic Center afterwards. While most of the women went to the Women Techmakers Manila, we went to Intel's Official Unofficial Google I/O Pre-Party. We got the chance to receive an Acer Iconia Tab 8 there.
The next day is the first day of I/O. We woke up very early and lined up outside for the Keynote. It feels great to be able to watch the keynote live. After that, we joined the sessions, workshops, and 'box talks. In the evening after Day 1, we went to the After Hours in Yerba Buena Gardens. After the second day, we had a GDG farewell dinner at Google San Francisco office.
On June 27, we joined the GDG/GBG SEA tour. We went to the Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge, and Muir Woods National Monument. We also had wine tasting at Cline Cellars. We also dropped by the Conservatory of Flowers before going back to the hotel. Afterwards, we went to Ross to buy luggages and other stuff. We also went around to buy TSA locks and other different stuff. We rode a Cable car to Fisherman's Wharf and had dinner there.
On June 28, we went to Oakland International Airport for our flight to Las Vegas, Nevada. We will be there just for the night before going to Los Angeles, California. We stayed there in Blair House Suites. It was so hot in Vegas. The temperature was 40 degrees celcius! We decided to rest and sleep first. At around eight in the evening, we walked to Peppermill to have dinner and then we went to the different places there and took pictures.
The next day, we woke up really late. We went to Greyhound Bus Station for our six-hour travel to LA. Celine's Tita Vicky and Tito Deo picked me up from the station and we met with Celine's Tita Dioly, Tita Che, and cousin Stacy for dinner. They are very hospitable and they even toured me around the next day.
Wayne, Chelle, and I met in the Los Angles International Airport for our flight back to Manila on July 1. In the Starbucks near our boarding gate, I was able to use the $5 card I got during I/O and just paid a cent for a Double Chocolate Cookie and an Oatmeal Raisin Cran cookie.
Here is the Google+ story of my short trip to the United States:
My travel to the US is very short. I wish I can go back there again soon, and hopefully with Celine too.
We attended the GDG Organizer Summit from June 23 to 24, 2014 in Googleplex, Mountain View, California. It was attended by around 350 GDG community managers from all over the world who are attending Google I/O 2014.
The first day of the summit was held in the Olympic Tech Talk of Quad 3 Building. There were a few talks in the morning. After lunch, we had a Google [x] talk, an a conversation with Howard Reingold. We then had the lightning talks. My proposed lightning talk was selected and I was one of those who did a lightning talk. I talked about Collaboration with other communities. I was so nervous during the 5-minute talk.
Photo taken by Reymart
Google talks and GDG Women Diversity Stories from the different GDG Women communities were next in the programme. We then closed the program, had dinner/after-party, and exchanged schwags with one another.
The second day of the summit was held in the Main Campus. We had a group photo before proceeding with two rounds of unconferences. We also had a meeting with the managers from South East Asia. Then, we went to the Google Store to buy some shirts and other stuff. In the afternoon, we had a Google Glass Design Sprint. After the closing talks, we all went to Moscone West to register for Google I/O and get our badges.
We were invited to attend the Search Summit 2013 in Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta in Indonesia from June 20 to 22. The SEARCH (South East Asia Outreach) Summit is a conference to bring together the Google communities across South East Asia: Google Business Groups (GBGs), the MapMakers, the Google Student Ambassadors (GSAs), and of course the the Google Developer Groups (GDGs). It was the first of its kind and it was a great experience to be a part of it.
Taken from http://www.seaoutreachsummit.com
On the afternoon of June 19, we went to the airport, along with the other delegates from the Philippines. While waiting for our flight, the GDG managers (Celine, Josan, Anne, Reymart, Theo, Ruben and me) started our plans for the DevFests in the country for 2013.
Photo from Celine
After the four-hour Cebu Pacific flight to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Low-cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), we went to the Plaza Premium Lounge to stay for the night. Our flight to Yogyakarta is at nine in the morning the next day. We arrived in Yogyakarta Adisucipto International Airport around noontime of June 20 and a shuttle picked us up to the hotel. It was around one in the afternoon already . We only had a few minutes to prepare and have lunch because the keynote starts at 2:30 PM. We checked in to our rooms, took a bath and changed into our national costumes.
Me in barong with the Android tarp
In the first day of the summit, there were talks from different countries sharing about their communities. After that, we were separated into our own track. The best session was Dan Franc's GDG Wisdom. After dinner, we had drinks with the GDG SEA leads, Chelle, Uttam and Van.
(Photo from Josan Dometita)
On the second day, we joined the GBG leads for Dan Franc's Community 2.0 session. In the afternoon, we had talks about Dev Updates from Google I/O, Google for Entrepreneurs, HTMl5, App Monetization, and Diversity. Then there was a cultural show near the poolside during dinnertime. The GSAs had their different presentations.
After that, Josan, Anne, Celine and I went for a swim before sleeping.
In the third day, we had GDG managers sharing their experiences: Samdy from GDG Phonm Penh (keeping the community engaged), Ruben from GDG Cebu (collaboration among communities), Louis from GDG Singapore (PlugFest), and Josan from GDG CDO (Student Dev Day). After the talks, we had swags exchange and GDG tattoo session.
GDG SEA Leads in the Summit (Photo from Josan Dometita)
Another year has passed. It was one of the busiest year I had but it was good because I also accomplished a lot. Here is the list of some of the things I did during the twelve months of 2012.
January
Not much happen during the start of the year except on January 9 when I got my NBI Clearance. I attended the Philippine Android Community meetup for the first time on January 21. On the last day of the year, the GTUG Philippines (now GDG Philippines) show-and-tell meetup for 2012 was held at the O&B office. I presented the Pinoy Jokes Android App which I just published to Android Market (now Google Play) the day before. I continued working on the app and it also reached the following accomplishments: Top Free Apps #15, Top Free Applications #7, Top New Free #5 and Top Free Entertainment #2.
February
On February 6, I attend Mobile Monday Manila (MoMoManila) for the first time. Unfortunately, this was also the only time I was able to attend a MoMoManila meet up in 2012. Celine, her best friend Deci, her college block mates and I went to Gandiva Archery for a few hours of Archery lesson. On February 11, we also went to the 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and Zoobic Safari. GDG Philippnes also had the Global Android Dev Camp, a global Android development hackathon, from February 17-19.
March
On the first day of the year, we were invited by the College of Computer Science of University of Makati to be the judge in the Android competition in IT Olympics 2012. It was my first time to judge in a contest. After judging the apps and having lunch, I was also invited to join the Board of Arbiters in the IT Quiz Bee. On March 3, we watched the Pyromusical competition with China and Netherlands at SM Mall of Asia. I also had my first 10k run for the year (Run United 1) on March 4. We also attended the Google Map Maker Manila Workshop at Asian Institute of Management Conference Center last March 17.
April
April is one of the busiest month of 2012 for me. We had the Pre-Startup Weekend Manila Bootcamp on 14. Then we went to GenSan for the Mindanao leg of the Map Maker Summit. It was my first time to ride a plane and first time to be outside Luzon! From April 27 to 29 was the Second Startup Weekend Manila. Celine and I also walked at the Hyundai Fun Run on April 29. Despite being busy, I was able to develop the web app, Chrome Web Store app and the Android app of Sweldong Pinoy (then named Filipino Salary Calculator)
May
May was when I started to work at Stratpoint as an Android apps developer. I've been busy with work this month. On May 5, we also went to Cebu to help out with the first Pre-Startup Weekend Bootcamp.
June
June was another busy month at work. On June 17, I had my second 10k run in Run United 2. GDG Philippines also had the I/O Extended viewing party and it was held at Payroll Hero's Dojo.
July
On July, we had the Google Apps Challenge Meetup/Hackathon in Manila (July 6-7). We also went to Bacolod for the Google Apps Challenge Meetup (21-22). The slides I used in my talk about Google Drive even got featured on Slideshare on July 13!
Celine and I also went to Singapore from July 27-30. It was my first trip outside the Philippines and we went to the Harry Potter Exhibition. We also visited the Google office, Merlion Park, Sentosa and Universal Studios.
August
We started August with the GDG DevFest Philippines. We also went to Davao for the Google Apps Challenge Meetup. We had our first (complete) family dinner outside home with the girlfriends of my brothers this month.
September
On September we attended (and volunteered) for the Globe Labs Developer Day on September 15. The day after, I had my first run in the rain at the Run United 3 in SM Mall of Asia (again). At the end of the month, I volunteered at the next Startup Weekend Manila (28-30).
October
On October 6, we were invited to La Consolacion College Manila and I gave a talk about WHy you should go into Android apps development. Celine presented our Moochfood app in the first GDG Geek Girls Manila meetup. We also went to Mind Museum and Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street. Globe Labs Developer Relations Manager Anne Michelle Santos and I was invited by ANC Alerts for an interview about the upcoming DevFests in Bacolod and Cebu.
November
On November we went to Bacolod (November 5) and Cebu (November 7) for the GDG DevFest Bacolod and GDG DevFest Cebu. I talked about Location-Based Services on Android at DevFest Bacolod and my talk at DevFest Cebu was about Google+ and introduction to Google+ Platform. On November 9, we went to Smart DevNet's Appy Birthday Android, which is a simple party to celebrate Android's fifth birthday. Michelle Orosa-Ople of TV5 invited Celine and I for an interview in their radio program Oplan Asenso last November 10. After the radio program, Michelle also interviewed us for TV5 News. This was aired on TV5's Pilipinas News and Aksyon TV's Andar ng mga Balita last November 14, 2012. Before the end of the month, I also published the Pinoy Jokes Chrome Extension in the Google Chrome Web Store. We also joined the Philippine Android Community's Christmas picnic and Kickstart's start-up mixer Christmas Party
December
We started December with the Sanitation Hackathon, in cooperation with GDG Philippines, GBG Philippines, World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program and Blogwatch. Sanitation Hackathon is a social good hackathon that aims to develop open technology for sanitation challenges. We attended a lot of Christmas Parties this month: Globe Labs Thank You Partee, Mashable TweetMas Tweetup, Ideaspace's Faces of Change, and GDG Philippines Christmas Geekup Party. We also were also invited in PUP Google Fest and I talked about the basics of Android and Android apps development. And we also went to India for the GDG India Summit in Hyderabad, India.
A lot has indeed happen last 2012! I am looking forward to all the possibilities that 2013 will offer. I'll continue to post on this blog the things that will happen soon.
GDG community managers from Southeast Asia were invited to join the India community managers in the GDG India Summit in Hyderabad (December 29-30).
Initially, all of the community managers from Bacolod, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, Manila and Zamboanga were supposed to attend the summit. However, due to problems in the Indian embassy (they say their machine is not working and they won't be able to process it until the 28th, only five of us were able to join: Chelle, Anne, Josan, Bryan and me.
GDG community managers from the Philippines (Photo by Uttam Tripathi)
The five of us went to NAIA Terminal 1 on the afternoon of December 27. Our flight to KL was delayed and when we arrived there for our connecting flight to Mumbai, we run to the monorail and then to the plane. When we arrived at Mumbai, we processed our VISA. We were informed by Malaysia Airlines personnel that our baggages got left behind in KL and will be delivered to the hotel the next day (December 29 because it is already December 28 that time). It took hours for our VISA to be processed and we went to the domestic terminal via shuttle bus. There, we had a bit of breakfast and rest. We then boarded the plane to Hyderabad.
We arrived early morning of December 28. We waited a few minutes for our cab which will take us to the hotel. It took us around an hour to arrive at Westin Mindspace Hyderabad, where we stayed for more than two days. We informed the hotel that our baggages will be arriving there soon. They were so kind to give us a care package with a shirt, toiletries and other stuff. We rested the whole morning then had lunch with Uttam, Bhumi and Anash. After that, we rested again while Mam Chelle and Anne went for the spa. In the evening, we went to the nearest mall, Inorbit Mall and bought personal stuff at Hypercity. We also bought food at KFC. Their curry chicken tastes so good. After arriving at the hotel, Josan, Bryan and me went for our spa. After that, I had dinner and slept.
The next day was the start of the summit. We had breakfast at the hotel then took the shuttle bus ride to the Google India office. When we arrived, it was almost lunch time and we ate there. After lunch, we went to a meeting room. Uttam welcomed us and talk about Story telling. We had a quick tour of the office then ate the Android cake. After that, the GDG community managers presented about their chapter's past events and future plans. We left before seven in the evening to go to Dhola ri Dhani. It was a pretty good place. We had dinner and it was pretty good! When I got back to my room, I fell asleep easily.
Some of the Indian food we had at Dhola ri Dhani
The next day of the summit was held in Ballroom 3 of Westin. I woke up late and we had a quick breakfast. We went to the ballroom. The other community managers who were unable to present yesterday had their chance to present. Ater that, there were two workshops: public speaking and organizing events. Ma'am Chelle was the one who conducted the events organizing workshop. At around three in the afternoon, our baggages finally arrived. I had a quick shower before fixing our stuff because we need to check out at around five o'clock and go to the airport.
In the airport, we said goodbye to Josan and Bryan who will still be going to New Delhi while Mam Chelle, Anne and I will be going back to Manila. Our next flights are pretty good. When we arrived in Manila, we hurried back home to celebrate New Year's Eve and rest.
It was a pretty great experience despite the long flights, the loss of our baggages, and even if we were unable to explore the city more. I would love to go back to India next time, with Celine.
