One Flight Up, One Flight Down

Elevator going down... stops at 18th floor. Person slowly walks in, presses "17" and everyone in the elevator groans silently. Me? Of course I have to be professional and just ignore though sometimes I have that "anak ng..." yamot look.

The delay isn't really that long. I timed it one time (ganun ako ka bored sa elevator) and it only took around 25 seconds which is the same time it takes me to go to the pantry or walk to the mail bin and back or think up of an excuse how come some features are not working in our application. It's really more on the momemtum stopper... the "delayed feeling". Look, the scene here is is slowing down to 18th, stopping, door opening, person entering, door closing, going down, stopping again, door opening, person leaving then door closing before finally going again. Sometimes this is even compounded by people going down from 17th to 16th. (By the way, the same applies going up.) See, even reading the whole process is such a pain.

...and is it me or does the door pause an extra second or two (or three) after the person just stepped off the elevator? Tapos hihirit pa ata ng "Sorry, to keep you waiting"

Haayyy, you guys are fit naman e. Use the stairs!

...and take a bath for crying out loud.

Being a geek, Men in drag and Handbags

I still remembered one of the old stories back in college wherein she and her barkada would pass by one of my classes in the Gokongwei building and see me seated front and center. Kakahiya, what a nerd! The reason I sit there is that I easily get distracted and most of the time, I'm seated beside Deney (ako sa front-center-left, si Deney sa front-center-right) where I can easily ask questions if I don't understand something.

Anyways, this suddenly popped in my mind because last Tuesday, I was seated front and center again in a "Best Practices and Techniques for Developing and Designing Advanced Database Applications" session (and I admit I was really interested with the topic) Once a nerd, always a nerd.

~
Last week, we had this "MISSter CIO" thing which was basically a "men in drag" pageant show. Note, men... no queers. I've never really heard of an event like this before eventhough Mags told me they had a lot of these events in UP. We "assigned" someone from our team to be the contestant and a crew of 9 or 10 people handled the dance routines, costumes, speeches, etc... It was a lot of fun though especially during the pageant itself where we ended up with the "Best in National Costume" which translated to Monday burger meals hehe :D Great job by Clint and the Crew! For pics, check out this site. :)

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Yesterday, I had to bring Mags' handbag from her workstation to the clinic where doctors were recommending that she be sent home since she was ill. To get to the clinic, I had to ride down to the 12F and hitch a ride back to 29F where the clinic was. Bag in hand, I reached 12F with no problems... didn't run into any of our leads or managers, didn't run into anyone I know. The elevator going up was empty... good! then it stopped in the 26F... then around 12 people came in and packed the elevator - Accenture developers, leads and a manager from a different project... then I had to walk to the back area of the elevator... then I hid the bag behind me... then the elevator stopped at 29F and no one else was getting off... then I had to say "excuse me" to tell the other people behind the door to get off first so I can get off as well... then they saw the bag... then they looked at me... then there was an awkward silence... then the doors shut and continued up... together with all the pogi points I've accumulated through time.

Why Today's Not Any Typical Day

• Today's one of those very rare days when most newspaper headlines are about one POSITIVE story - Manny Pacquiao beating Hector Velazquez, Brian Viloria knocking out Eric Ortiz, Rey Bautista knocking out Felix Flores Murillo and Erik Morales losing to Zahir Raheem.

Side note: there's a story line behind every match but I think the most interesting is the one behind the Viloria-Ortiz match. Last May 28, Viloria battled Ruben Contreras, a known Mexican boxer. Fight was stopped when Contreras complained of a headache then had a seizure a few minutes later. He underwent surgery to stop a hemorrhage around his brain and was in a coma. He made significant progress and Viloria invited him to watch the match versus Ortiz.

Ortiz came out quite cocky and even announced that he dedicated this match to Ruben Contreras. He even walked down ringside and posed for pictures with him. Match started and Ortiz went down hard in the 1st round. He tried to get up but he fell again halfway. It's like a cartoon. He was ok though. Viloria was interviewed and he said that he also dedicate this match to Contreras and posed for pictures with him.

It's just not good when you come out, dedicate a match for someone then lose terribly. Kakahiya...

Anyways... back to the list..

• It's Ching's birthday! Happy birthday Ching!
• Today marks exactly one year of no basketball, no running, no badminton and no real exercise. Yep, I blew out my knee exacty a year ago... and it's still awfully weak :(

last but certainly not the least...

• Happy three years and eight months B. :)

Blog Color Should Be...

I was blog hopping all through lunch and I noticed that these blog quizzes are everywhere. Most of them are from blogthings.com, which I visited and checked out other uh... blog things. Lotsa quizzes! Some I already got through mail. I tried some... nothing interesting except for this one:

Your Blog Should Be Yellow

You're a cheerful, upbeat blogger who tends to make everyone laugh. You are a great storyteller, and the first to post the latest funny link. You're also friendly and welcoming to everyone who comments on your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Give Starbucks Another Chance

"Your name sir?"
"Rowan."
"Johann?"
"Rowan."



Hmmm.... puede na...

UAAP Saturday

ADMU vs UST
DLSU vs UP

Ateneo Gym.

Perfect :)

Well, tickets are cheaper at the Ateneo Gym and it's a lot nearer to our houses so we just couldn't pass this event up.

We arrived during halftime of the ADMU UST game. ADMU and DLSU were at the gallery near Katipunan and UST and UP were at the other so we were forced to be Ateneo fans for half a game. We didn't know any Ateneo chants/cheers except for "Get that ball", which we changed to "Get that boy" as an experiment. Wow, I guess it doesn't matter what you shouted as long as you did. Reyes can hit a 3 and I could shout "Tsamba lang yan!" and no one would hear (nor care).

It was the first time I watched an Ateneo game at the Ateneo gym and I think it's just unfair. I observed the entire gallery and everyone is rooting for Ateneo except for a small group of 60-70 wearing yellow. More than half of the UST gallery is rooting for Ateneo. The two sides behind the boards are rooting for Ateneo. The janitors are rooting for Ateneo. The vendors are rooting for Ateneo. The cats and mice were rooting for Ateneo. That makes it just that small yellow dot in the crowd, the UST players, coaches and crew, and five secret fans in the stands (cheers for both teams hehehe) rooting for UST.

Last two minutes came and Ateneo managed to cut down the once 20+ point lead to 2. As expected the crowd was alive. They were shouting different Ateneo cheers which I couldn't follow anymore. For us, we wanted Ateneo to lose so that the 2,3 and 4 slots will be up for grabs and Ateneo has been having a good year so we're cheering for the underdogs and oh... did I mention I've been a La Sallian for more than 16 years? Cheered for UST we did. Crucial defensive play for Ateneo and Kramer missed a defensive switch enabling one of the UST players to score and ice the game. Timeout Ateneo. Tenorio was furious and at Kramer and was shouting at him while walking back to the bench. That dude sure have guts, being small and shouting and pointing at someone as big as Kramer. Guts... but that's also a lot of leadership. Final buzzer sounds and no miracle for Ateneo. The big blue gallery was silent except for a shouting and jumping yellow dot, players and coaches celebrating below and five actors in the stands pretending to be upset. Ateneo lost but the crowd was still cheering for the Blue Eagles and they sung the school anthem still loudly and proudly. Now that's class. :)

Ok. On to the second game so we slipped down to the lower box seats and was now courtside just a few feet away from the UP bench. Manny Ramos, BJ Manalo and some tall dude I don't know were sitting on my left and guess who's on my right, Mang Jack! It's been a long time since I last saw him. We wanted to boo Vainio and Gavino but baka i-dunk kami e. Wag na lang.

There are a lot of stuff I got to see that you only do on live games:

• What happens during a timeout? Players walk back to the bench either celebrating or shouting at each other. On the bench, trainers are icing up the players just like boxers. The cheers slowly dying down.
• There's a LOT of cursing going on. Someone steals the ball from your point guard - *?$#&%*!. Opponent gets offensive rebound - *?#&%*!. Players curse in the court - *?$#&%*!. Lahat na lang minumura.
• Injuries. 6 foot + players screaming in pain. There was a UP player who tweaked his ankle and was really hurt. Not a pretty picture. :(
• Courtside reporters practicing.
• It's hot in the Ateneo Gym. The fan doesn't reach us. :( *whew*
• Cheering on momentum. One play you're just sitting and gently clapping. Two steals and one three pointer after, you're off your seat and shouting insanely. Well, actually we do that at home too :P

It was a close game between UP and DLSU but at the end, Tang and Yeo caught fire and the full court trap was clicking. Last two minutes and DLSU was up big. Here's where I noticed more things you only will on live games:

• Tang and Yeo were pulled out and the crowd gave them a standing ovation for a job well done.
• The UP gallery was filing out now to avoid the traffic. Game's decided anyway.
• Mang Jack was singing "uwi na kayo!" :P

Lastly, the game ended with DLSU up big. Crowd was cheering then I got to do something I haven't done for a loooong time - sing the alma mater song and I don't do it with the pumping fists - mine was just stationary - old school high school way hehehe I suddenly missed my high school and college days.