Wanderlust Heaven!

In fine Filipino form, his wife became President after the ouster of Marcos, and his only son is now a Senator. No laws here against nepotism – in fact, there’s probably a law mandating it.

Intramuros doesn’t smell much like piss. Might be because it was flattened in WW2, and rebuilt after that – somewhat haphazardly, like the rest of Manila. But come to think of it, my theory doesn’t work – most of Manila was flattened during the war. Perhaps people are more respectful inside Intramuros…or the police keep a tighter leash…who knows. I do wonder how long it takes for a good stink to build up – how many gallons/liters of urine is required? And how long would it take for the stench to die down? Has anyone done a study on this? Might be useful given the state of affairs around here, and in many similar places…

Just outside Intramuros is a statue of King Philip II of Spain. The Philippines were named for him – which I’m sure I knew, but had forgotten 50 times. Here’s a cool little plaque, go ahead and brush off your high school Spanish:

Walked by a store selling pet food. Laughed when I saw a sign for Eukanuba, a major dog food brand. For some reason the brand name makes me laugh…it’s just such a bizarre name. My friend Johann is similarly taken with it – our former employer did some work for the manufacturer at one point and we were exposed to the stuff, and to this day we’ll just mention the name ‘Eukanuba’ and break out into laughter. You probably don’t give a shit, but here’s more than you want to know about Eukanuba, straight from the website:

‘Eukanuba – What’s in a Name?

In the 1940s, jazz was evolving and with it, its own unique language. Eukanuba (“You Kan Noo Bah”) was one word that grew out of the jazz culture. It was reserved for something that was “the tops” or “supreme” – whether it was the latest song or a fast car.

In 1969 the founder of The Iams Company was looking for a memorable name for his new dog food formula. The quality of his food was unmatched – now all he needed was a name that was just as special. He named the product Eukanuba.

Today, Eukanuba is still “the tops.” Using high-quality ingredients, it’s uniquely customized for your breed’s individual needs. So when you reach for a bag of Eukanuba, you can be sure your dog is getting our best.

When The Iams Company introduced its new premium dog food, Eukanuba, in 1969, no one had ever heard of chicken parts in dry dog food. Sales for Eukanuba in the specialty channel grew slowly at first, and not many had even heard of the new product. Of those who did, few knew what to make of Eukanuba, manufactured by the same equipment used to manufacture food for mink.

Chicken?
Chicken parts in dry dog food? It was a wholly new concept. But guess what? Eukanuba’s 25% protein and 16% fat levels dwarfed the competition’s respective 11% and 7% typical levels.

The cost of raw materials (like real chicken) made Eukanuba significantly more expensive than the competition. In fact, Eukanuba sold for three times the price of a popular competitor’s. Many felt Eukanuba’s high price would keep Iams from selling enough product.

Breeders & Kennels Find Eukanuba
Clay Mathile, then in charge of Research and Development, Sales and Marketing, believed there was a real future for high quality pet food. He began introducing Eukanuba to pet shops, breeders and commercial kennels. Initially available only in one size ” a 32-ounce, purple and green milk container ” the company then released a 50-pound bag of Eukanuba as well, available for $15 wholesale.

The Drawing Board
Some kennels who were buying Eukanuba told the company that, although their dogs found the food palatable, they as consumers felt Eukanuba wasn’t meeting their full expectations as specialists focused on top-of-the-line breeds.

“We went back to the drawing board,” Clay recalls, and “reformulated the product” from the ground up. They raised the protein levels from 25% to 30%, and the fat levels from 16% to 20%. The changes made all the difference, and sales increased.

Word of Mouth
In Dayton, Ohio, a pet shop owner was so impressed by Eukanuba he sent samples to professional breeders in Kansas. Also impressed with Eukanuba, especially its palatability and stool results, the Kansas breeders placed the very first ton order of Eukanuba.

Soon, breeders determined to maintain their puppies’ top-notch condition, urged their local pet shops to carry the product. At first, many pet shops weren’t sure where to get this new product. But by 1973, Eukanuba orders began arriving unexpectedly from retailers across the country.

Within Every Crisis, There Is the Light of Opportunity
Due to economic pressures, President Richard Nixon installed national price controls in late 1973. Unfortunately, certain agricultural commodities were exempt, and the cost of meat and bone meal tripled, making it almost impossible to maintain a profit with Eukanuba and its high quality ingredients.

Taking a risk, Eukanuba decided to maintain their high quality, letting profits suffer, with the hopes that prices would soon return to normal. At one point, it costs fifty cents more to make one bag of Eukanuba than the wholesale price of the bag.

“Strangely enough, it was the best thing that could have happened, although it sure didn’t seem like it at the time,” Paul Iams recalls. “Our competition cheated and used corn gluten. At dog shows in 1974, half the breeders were feeding out of Eukanuba bags. We began getting orders from all over the country. People knew we stood for quality.”

Please don’t arrest me for violating any copyright laws here. Anyway, now you know the rest of the story…

Have been spending a fair bit of time at Ciboney, the bar I wrote about last week. Johnny the owner is a real prince, there’s live music every night, and it’s become my ‘local.’ I do have a good nose for these sorts of places – drop me anywhere and in under a week I can find a great place to hang out on a nightly basis. Of course, you might say it’s because I look hard and have the time…and you’d be right.

On Monday I walked over to Ciboney, and en route saw a Spanish restaurant I’d heard good things about. I’m generally skeptical of all things Spanish here – the Spanish run the country for 350 years, the Americans for just 50, but it seems the recency factor rules…the RP has much more cultural affinity with the US than with Spain. Sure, Tagalog has many Spanish loan words, and the numbers used most of the time are taken from Spanish…but English words are probably even more common, and there are very few Filipinos who actually speak Spanish. And restaurants claiming to have ‘Spanish food’ are usually full of shit. Still, I walked into this place, Casa Armas, and was floored by the quality. Truly reminded me of tapas bars in Spain. The locals were gorging themselves on paella, and that’s fine – but to me, paella is for tourists and the best Spanish food is the simple meat/potatos/seafood/bread/wine offerings, e.g. chorizo, pulpo, patatas alli-olli, gambas, those sorts of dishes. All very simple, hearty, and earthy. Had a few tapas, some pan (bread), a couple glasses of Spanish rioja, and now my food budget looks set to be ruined. The place isn’t cheap by local standards – I spent about US$25 all told. Think I’ll make a couple visits per week and fill my stomach…damn the expense. The ambience of the restaurant is pretty good – nice long bar, very woody, and sometimes a few musicians playing. The choice of songs was odd – ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ and ‘Moon River’ were a couple when I was there – but the musicians were be-vested, had an old-Manila look and it somehow worked. I was in the depths of my wine and food and felt very much at home.

I continue to be intrigued by the local accent and way of speech. For a while I thought that women were being addressed as ‘mum’…which is perhaps appropriate for older women, but bizarre with regard to young women/girls. Finally dawned on me that they were saying ‘ma’am’, an altogether more normal address. I am a bit slow…

So there is an accent here, at least when people speak English. It’s sing-songy and often quite nice. Very Southeast Asian. But when people here sing, the English is perfect. And I’ve already remarked at length about the pop culture here – everyone seems to be musical. At Ciboney a few days ago, I was listening to the band, and a ‘civilian’ from the audience went up and sang a song with the band. Turned out she was a singer herself, half Filipino/half American, named Shane. Sang ‘Better Days’ by Dianne Reeves (incredible song – go get it on iTunes). What a tremendous voice – I was floored. This 5-foot chick was belting out a soulful song that would test someone with far larger lungs – she sounded just like Dianne Reeves. Her band plays Friday nights nearby and I’m going to see ‘em this week. Was in a karaoke place last night – ‘Better Days’ was in the songbook and I briefly considered trying to sing it, but it’s far beyond my ability and I went with something simpler – ‘Just Once’ by James Ingram…

Dreamed that I broke my toothbrush while engaged in some vigorous brushing. Not sure what the dream signifies…but I did once almost put out my eye while brushing in a hurry. Happened one very busy morning in Tokyo. The brush flew out of my mouth and got into my eye, just a bit – stung like hell and I swore I’d get myself out of a lifestyle that required (in my estimation) that I brush my teeth at the speed of sound. Perhaps this new dream was a bit of nostalgia…or perhaps I’m getting too busy again.

And I have been keeping myself fairly busy, to be sure. My project here hasn’t been that demanding – we have discovered some important information which I’ll share with you pretty soon. But other things have taken my time. An old friend from b-school was forced out of his job with a big retailer in the States, and I’ve been helping him look for work with my contacts. Another b-school friend is starting up a biotech company and I’m considering investing with him…and there are a few other investment opportunities to consider. I’m happy that I’ve got the time to mull these opportunities – when I was working I had to table most of ‘em and it didn’t feel right. These things all take up a few minutes/hours per days, and combined with this slog, exercising, sightseeing, and of course, eating & drinking, I haven’t had a dull moment. I also bought a DVD set of the entire 24 TV show series – all 5+ seasons – for 500 pesos (approx. US$10). Unbelievable. This is the one show I (try to) watch, but got into it last year, in season 5, and now I can catch up on the back history. Have started – but at this rate it’ll take months to watch all the past episodes. Which is OK – can watch 1-2/day at the margins of the day.

Have noticed that Pinoys (Filipinos) tend to either be awed/cowed by foreigners, or they get in our face fearlessly. When I walk around I get a lot of looks – many people appear to find the concept of an outsider fascinating – but most don’t want to get too close. Others come right up – usually selling something or begging. And I recall one night in The Library, a bar-cum-comedy club where the troupe on stage roasted me mercilessly for my big nose and white skin…they did a pretty good job on me. Revenge for the colonial days, I guess…

Heard about the sudden death of former Celtics guard Dennis Johnson, aka DJ. Shocker. He was only 52 or so, and you just don’t expect ex-athletes to collapse and die from acute cardiac arrest. Seems like yesterday that I was sitting in Boston Garden with my dad, watching DJ, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kecin McHale, and Danny Ainge beat the Lakers. Oh, my lost youth – hearing about DJ’s passing makes me feel old.

Back at Ciboney – there was a benefit the other night for one of Johnny’s friends – her house burned down. Cover charge went straight to her. Three bands played, two of them quite good. And in between sets, the DJ played random stuff. I was amazed when he put on ‘Time Ago’ by the San Francisco band Black Lab, a real gem of a group that might not even be around anymore. I went to see them in Boston, at the Paradise, back in the winter of 1997, with my friend Seung. The story went like this: I was hard at work at Monitor in Cambridge, anticipating a long night. Seung called and asked me to join him that night at the Paradise – he knew one of the bands. I said I was probably too busy. He called me a loser and told me to reconsider. Called back later and jawboned me into going to the show. Felt guilty leaving the office, but went anyway. The show was excellent – Black Lab was on first, they were great, and I bought their CD and have listened to it often since. Second band was Athenaeum from North Carolina – also great, also bought their CD. That band is no longer around, their second CD was released in September 2001 and you can imagine how screwed they were by that situation.

Anyway, I told you that to tell you this: one, you never know what’s coming on the airwave next, in the most random of locales. Two, that winter night at the Paradise in Boston taught me something – on the most innocuous of evenings, nearly everywhere, there’s great music being played and fun to be had, and being handcuffed to your laptop isn’t the way to spend the night. That night got me thinking about how I want to spend my life, and started me on the path to where I am today. You might say, where the fuck are you, Mike? – a very good question. And the answer is not forthcoming. But I’ve certainly listened to a hell of a lot of great music, and had more fun, since making a change.

Last Sunday I went to Subic Bay, the old US Navy base near Manila, with a friend from Ciboney named Bell. Our driver was a mysterious fellow known as ‘The Engineer.’ Bell knew him, but didn’t seem to know his name, she always calls him ‘The Engineer.’ Random. This in him, in full relaxation mode later in the day:

Anyway, walked from my hotel to Ciboney at 6 a.m., through the streets of Malate. People were still partying hard – bodies everywhere, eating, drinking, looking for a bit of flesh. Bell rents a room from Johnny just behind Ciboney itself. So I walked there and found her and The Engineer, ready to go in a jeep.

Our mission wasn’t particularly clear. Bell said she had a meeting or some commitment in or near Subic, whereas I was just along for the ride. Subic conjures up memories of US power in the Pacific – WW2 and afterwards – and I wanted to see it, and at some point Clark Air Force Base as well. So I was just tagging along.

Subic was just OK – it’s a huge ‘freeport trade zone.’ I didn’t expect that much, and that was about right. A few thoughts on the place:

• Subic is Federal Express’s Asia-Pacific hub. Many trucks and planes there.
• We were pulled over by base cops for having ‘incorrect license/paperwork.’ The cops were obviously looking for a bribe – The Engineer had to deal with them for a half hour before they let us go. The Engineer had a weird ‘Delta Force’ ID card – not sure what it is, and I don’t think he showed it to the cops – but Bell and I made fun of him for the rest of the day.
• Subic has a Dunkin’ Donuts. And here I had thought that DD was a New England chain trying to go national. Well, it’s leaped its bounds, folks.
• There’s no Wal-Mart in Subic – but there is a ‘Wall-Mart.’ ‘Nuff said.
• Went to a decent beach – photo below. It’s surrounded by sizeable hills and mountains, and in general this part of Luzon, and to a greater extent the north, is quite mountainous and impressively lush.
• The lack of clarity of our mission had a downside. I had wanted to go diving at Subic – there are a few wrecks (US and Japanese) to be seen. But due to our meandering around the zone, that didn’t happen. I am planning to return, just to dive the wrecks.

Subic abuts Olangapo City, a real dump of a place, the raison d’etre of which was to take care of the US forces stationed there years ago. They’ve been gone since ’92 and Olangapo has taken a major league hit. Still, the usual establishments predominate, i.e. girly bars (DM’s Pub – Girls & Grog), liquor stores, drugstores, minimarts, and photoshops. Depressing. But I had to see it. I want to see it all…don’t you?

On the way home, went to The Engineer’s house for dinner and to pick up a computer monitor for Bell. Turns out that was the commitment she had for the day. Not sure why it was so difficult to tease that detail out of her. Felt at times like I was being kidnapped. My paranoia is difficult to still, sometimes. On the drive there, saw evidence of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption of ’92, which helped prompt the US withdrawal from the RP. One house was literally buried up to its roof. And there was a lot of light-colored ash and soil everywhere – which seems to be good for the plants, the place was green and lush. The Engineer’s wife served us some delicious bangus (milkfish), sinagong (sour soup) and rice. Over dinner The Engineer told us that the Pampanga River behind his house floods most years, and the first story of his house gets flooded for a week or so. They just move all their stuff upstairs and wait it out. Doesn’t sound like much fun. But it does explain why the first-floor floor is simple concrete – looks crappy but does the trick.

After dinner we sat around drinking warm San Miguels, till The Engineer’s son brought in some ice. Am getting used to popping some ice in my beer, everyone here does it. Talked about weird local foods – real and imagined. Some people in northern Luzon eat dog. That’s a fact. So I said that the next time I visited The Engineer (we made an appointment for March 16) I’d want to eat a few exotic dishes, including cat nuggets, monkey bulalo (bone marrow), tarsier brain (raw or cooked), pancit (noodles) raton (rat), and snake soup (actually a delicacy in China – I’ve had it, tastes like chicken). The Engineer laughed and said he’d see what he could rustle up.

On the topic of food, I find myself ‘needing’ constant variety, and often something quite specific. There are nights I crave Mexican or Spanish food…lunches where I’m dying for a pizza…and some mornings I rush over for an Egg McMuffin. What are the genetic, psychological, and environmental drivers behind this? Not sure…but I do know that if I eat the same thing every day, I go crazy. The only time in my life when I wasn’t interested in eating (besides when suffering bouts of Delhi Belly) was when hiking in the Himalayas, when dhal bhat (rice with lentils) was served every single meal for days. I have read a piece on Inuits ‘needing’ to eat whale blubber to stay strong and healthy – that’s what got them to the present day. Probably something to that theory. But my whale blubber tends to be all over the place. Might be a function of having lived nearly everywhere and tried almost everything. There’s some sort of queuing algorithm in my brain and stomach and I should try to decode it.

All right, enough for this week. Send me some comments and see you next time. Can you believe it’s already March?