UE at 60

I was going through the major dailies today and saw a huge spread on University of the East's sixty most distinguished alumni. I think it's part of their 60th anniversary festivities.

Upon looking and checking out who these people were, I was like, "Err? Who are these?"

No offense to the UE faithful, but if you compare their top 60 to Ateneo's top 60, these UE folks would tremble in fear.

Eaglets soar high

I watched the Ateneo High School boys win the UAAP Juniors basketball title earlier this afternoon. Hats off to these kids who have proved to everyone that they owned season 69. Having had a 12-game sweep during the elimination round, the only glitch on their erstwhile perfect season was an upset during Game 1 of the Finals. They quickly got back to form sweeping the next two games against a very tall, athletic but inexperienced FEU team. It was Ateneo's 15th championship in the Juniors division.

Eaglet Raymond Austria bagged the Juniors MVP trophy. I'm sure his dad, cager-turned-coach Leo, was prouder seeing his boy succeed at the high school level than his triumph leading Adamson to their first final four appearance.

It conjured a lot of memories for me back in my high school days. We were blessed to have reached the UAAP Finals in all four years of my stay. During my senior year, my class had two players from the Juniors squad. Though they weren't part of the regular rotation, it was enjoyable for the whole class to watch the games and show our classmates some love. Shoutout to Marti Gallego and Paolo Santos. 4L 1999 represent.

Milenyo paralyzes Manila

A super-typhoon named Milenyo ravaged Manila and nearby provinces last Thursday triggering a Luzon-wide power failure over the last couple of days. Electricity in my area was restored around 10:30 this morning, after being in the dark for about 50 hours. Some areas are still on blackout as of the moment.

Good thing IBM called off work as it was very difficult to get around town with the strong winds threatening to sweep you off. Only employees involved in critical processes as outlined in IBM's BCP guidelines were required to either come to the office, or be available to work at home. The latter, I think, was quite impossible as how can you go online if you don't have electricity. I skipped work altogether once I received notice of the announcement. On hindsight, I would've done quite a lot more things if I went to the office as there was a multitude of generators providing power to the building. Instead of staying at home with absolutely nothing to do, I could've drowned myself surfing the net.

I was watching CNN earlier and they were broadcasting news of the destruction brought about my Milenyo to the Philippines. They mentioned that the strength of the typhoon equalled that of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean region.

The atmosphere has cleared and things are slowly getting back to normal. I hope there won't be any Milenyo til the next millenium comes.

Value of Time

If you want to know the value of one year, ask the student who failed in the exam.

If you want to know the value of one month, ask the mother who gave birth to her child.

If you want to know the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly magazine.

If you want to know the value of one day, ask the worker who earns his bread for the day.

If you want to know the value of one hour, ask the family whose house was on fire.

If you want to know the value of one minute, ask the traveler who had missed the flight.

If you want to know the value of one second, ask the UST Growling Tigers.

One Second

All it took was one second to shatter the dreams of many. Lesson learned? It ain't over til it's over. Premature celebrations are worse than premature ejaculations. Ask Allan Evangelista and the rest of the UST folks.


The last moments of Game 1. Vid courtesy of YouTube.

UST + Referees = Ateneo win

Even with the refs on their side, UST couldn't complete the upset. Jervy Cruz kept pushing his defenders all day long, yet they never whistled him for any foul. On the other hand, Ateneans were called for numerous dubious offensive fouls while getting all sorts of fouls on the defensive end.

Anyhow, awesome look by Escalona to Kramer for that uncontested, game-winning layup. Doug would've been expelled if he missed it. It will challenge Gec Chia's winning jumper over UE a few years ago as the best shot in Ateneo's UAAP history. Because UST led by one point prior to that last second play by Doug, I'd say it overtakes Gec's (as he made his shot with the game tied, and UE still had a final possession).

Now Mr. Allan Evangelista, take that and rewind it back. You went from hero to goat in no time.

Mo' Money, Mo Problems

I don't know what, they want from me
It's like the more money we come across
The more problems we see...

What's goin' on? Biggie said Mo' Money, Mo' Problems. But I ain't got no money yet I've got a ton of problems.

ESP

Two people commented yesterday that I had extrasensory perception. I just happened to send them ST messages just before they were actually going to ask me something also through ST.

Amazing.

Yeah, maybe I do have ESP.

Watch out. I know what you're thinking.

You got it bad

You know you got it bad when your biggest problem should be somebody else's.

Ateneo marches on to the Finals

Ateneo clinched a finals berth by surviving a tough battle with Adamson earlier today. The Eagles hung on to win, 76-73, with splendid performances from JC Intal, Macky Escalona, Doug Kramer and Chris Tiu.

Props to Adamson big man Ken Bono. Dude's unstoppable in the collegiate level. He played his heart out today but fell short in the end.

Respect the shoe

I don't really watch GMA 7. I especially don't dig Starstruck. And hell I don't idolize Mark Herras. But I must admit, the kid's shoe game is next to none. Dude rocks the illest Jordans and Nikes all the time.

Props to him. Cat deserves the credit.

TASC Completed

Training Administration Service Center Wave 1: Mission accomplished. Sixteen FTE's onboarded by September 18. We're right on schedule.

Wave 2: Fifteen more folks by mid-October.

E-Ring

I've been watching the television series E-Ring since it debuted on Philippine TV. Nothing absolutely fantastic about the show, nevertheless I don't understand why they pulled it off the air in the US. It never finished its first season.

Anyhow, I actually like it. I guess there's something about guns, power and war strategy that fulfills me. Oh yeah, Kelly Rutherford is sizzling hot. And for someone who's 38, that is still an understatement.

Back to work

I skipped work for a few days to nurse my swollen knee. I ditched my crutches already cause I feel way better now. I'm still having a hard time moving around though, not to mention it takes me a long time to go up and down the stairs. Having four floors as your office makes life a tad bit more difficult.

an ACL injury is overrated

I was talking to a good friend of mine yesterday. He was a former soccer/futsal teammate of mine back in college. He moved to the States a few years ago, and is now residing in Orange County (Anaheim). Anyway, he was asking how I was upon learning that I busted my ACL. Told him I was pretty much alright, except for some swelling and sporadic pain. Also, I have very little range of motion which affects my mobility.

Our conversation led me to think and believe that an ACL injury is far too overrated. People think that it's all over once you tear it, and that it's like the Mount everest of sports injuries. There are people who think that someone who pops his ACL can't walk. I remember when Larry Fonacier tore up his ACL (and LCL) people were saying that it ends Ateneo's chances of winning in the UAAP. A couple of years after, Larry moves on to the PBA (with Red Bull) and wins the Rookie of the Year award.

An ACL injury is not the worst sports-related injury contrary to what a bajillion people think. It's not even a rare occurrence. I bet there's one dude who tears his as I write this. Also, I'd take several torn ACL's and reconstructions than PBA player Eugene Tejada's spine injury that paralyzed him from the neck down.

So don't ever go gaga over someone who pops his ACL. It's not as rare as you think and it's definitely not the end of his or her world either.

POP

There it goes.

I blew out my knee Wednesday night, completely tearing my ACL. I just hope there's nothing else damaged. I've yet to see my doctor. I'll go for reconstruction surgery soon and will be out of commission for the next 6-9 months.

I can still hear the resounding pop, caused by the twisting of my right knee. I was getting ready to catch a pass when I slipped. I knew the moment it tweaked that it was all over.

Having my rehab was useless. I went on a three-week strengthening program and it proved to be worthless as it couldn't hold up my knee.

Anyway, I'll pick myself up and get back to shape. Just need to get the surgery over and done with soon.

WHM

With the amount of workload the Workforce Management (WFM) team needs to do within the next few months, we might have to call ourselves WHM instead - Workhorse Management.