2 Years and Counting

Image by Ralph Balanta

Yes! It's our cotton anniversary! Two lovely years in the making and more to come in the service of our city! April 10 marked the day when I started to create a separate blogger account for Naga City updates which is Naga City Deck today. April 10th was the day I created the blog's name out of nowhere.

Blogging Experience and How it All Started
I started with a personal blog and was named too personal and too "high school-ish" not be noticed by the 1,304 likes in Facebook as of to date. Back when I was in first year college year 2002, we had a project in our computer class which was to create a website with the use of basic html and used Angelfire as the host. I thank God for having us thought back in high school basic html and it was an icing on the cake as a reward.

Image source: Angelfire.com

Year 2003, Friendster boomed here in Asia and I got oriented with the word blog as one of features of the said social network. Sad to say I lost track of the stuffs I've posted there because when I last visited Friendster there was a tab which says Create a Blog. Okay, so everything is now history.

Old Logo Image source

New Logo Image Source

Years passed and I was busy with college and internet was still expensive. What I did was compose things back in my apartment, save it in a floppy disk and upload them whenever I go online. Breaks between classes, after classes or late night renting at the nearest internet cafe near my apartment was the remedy to keep me up to date with my family and friends back here in Naga. For 4 years I was a visitor in my city and since the internet was still scarce, I always get surprised whenever I go home for a vacation.

Image Source

Image Source

After Friendster here comes Multiply and MySpace. Suddenly there were changes of interest when my friends abroad would ask me to Sign Up for a new social network so that I can catch up with them. Online social networks were sprouting like mushrooms in the world wide web. You're "in" if you have an account in almost all of them and yep I was guilty of that.

Graduated in 2006 and went back here in Naga for good. (You can probably calculate how old I am now). After college, I went to school again. Got bored sometimes and decided to go back to blogging again, this time with a blogging host and not in a social network. January 2008, WORDPRESS was my first home. I used my first name as the url and got bored with it because I was having a hard time with codes, it was not user friendly for me who is not a graduate of a computer related course.

Image Source

Image Source

Our first banner, a photo from a friend (Ian Agawa) which gave justice to the blog's name - deck.
Photo taken from Mabolo By-Pass Bridge, a view of Sabang Port at night in Naga City

So I tried out Blogger, it was easier to navigate and everything was just running smoothly. October 2008, I transferred everything that I posted in Wordpress to my new home Blogger. My personal entries were just tiresome that I got to post things about Naga with photos to break the monotony. I was really enjoying during those months and I didn't realize that it was running like a newspaper not until when some people from other countries started to write comments on how much they miss our city. So it was on the 10th of April 2009 that Naga City Deck was born, http://www.nagacitydeck.com/2009/04/under-construction.html. This was the time when we changed the template which we got from CahayaBiru.com. After a few months, a very generous graphic artsist and also a co-forumer from SSC, brattrap aka Ralph Balanta, made a banner for NCD.

NCD had it's own domain after more than one year which was August 16, 2010 http://www.nagacitydeck.com/2010/08/welcome-to-wwwnagacitydeckcom.html. NCD is no expert in blogging, I just learned by hit or miss and by trials and errors. Even my grammar is sometimes questionable that I get to be corrected which by the way I am so appreciative of for it gives me room for improvement.

Blogging is just like writing down a poem or a short story with the use of a paper and pencil, but with our modern age, everything is now digital and fast paced. Internet and social networks paved it's way to shorten the gap of distant people to be together, break barriers of languages and provide us with information overload in just a type or touch away.

I know how it feels to be away Naga and NCD is just a way for Naguenos and Bicolanos to cope with their nostalgic feeling for the city. We are also glad that mini_lamb is also on deck to bring everyone updates on a different perspective. We are enjoying what we are doing and through NCD we are able to promote Naga in our own little ways. Yka nga, "sa maabot ng aming makakakaya". I did not graduate college with a computer course, so please bear with us when there are glitches here and there. So thank you for your patience and understanding. But that weakness will not hinder us from sharing with all of you anything about what's happening in our city.

There may be numerous types of deck of cards, but there will only be one Naga City Deck serving our fellow Naguenos and Bicolanos out there to feel at home through pictures, videos and stories. Come on board, come on deck, let's talk Naga on Naga City Deck! 


Thank you everyone for supporting and inspiring us!


*For comments and suggestions you may use the Contact Form or email us at ncdadmin@nagacitydeck.com or  nagacitydeck@yahoo.com