Of Fans, PBA and a guy named Wynne

The video was all over Facebook and Youtube.

Wynne Arbo… wait. His name is Wynne? as in… the pooh?

Anyways, Arboleda is now tagged as the Pinoy Ron Artest after our version of the "Malice at the Palace". After committing a flagrant foul, this fan at courtside shouted something. Next thing we know, we have a ticked off Arboleda charging towards the fan and throwing kicks and punches before being restrained and escorted away.

Now, I’ve been to these games before and fans shout a lot of stuff. If you commit a turnover, you’re immediately a “bano”. If you commit an obvious foul and still complain to the ref, you’re a “best actor”. If you throw up an airball, you’re a “duling”. If you run slow, you’re a “pagong”. If should know since this happened to er… uh… a close friend of mine.

I’m curious as to what the fan shouted to make Arboleda blow up. I’m guessing the fan shouted the Arboleda will not get promoted, will not get a salary increase and will have to work 5 quarters in a game to stay competitive with this league in another country.

Arboleda has apologized but was slapped with a season long suspension. The fan however, is suing and wants Arboleda to be banned from the league for life. The reason? I lifted this off the Internet:

“I now endure not only physical suffering, but mental anguish, uncontrollable fright, serious anxiety, a besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and other similar emotional and psychological injuries because of the respondents’ actions.”

I don’t see that statement coming from a rowdy courtside heckler. I wish he’d drop the whole thing while he’s still the good guy in this story. Once he flexes his muscles and brings in his lawyers, he twists the story into this power mad jerk who’s picking on an innocent basketball player. Poor fan though... imagine getting beat up by "Winnie"?

The Rolex Heist

Last week, the Rolex store in Greenbelt 5 was robbed by armed men wearing bomb squad uniforms in broad daylight. They went to the basement parking then told the guards that they were responding to a bomb scare. They stormed the store and did the ol’ smash and grab until they were confronted by the bodyguards of the Taguig City mayor who was having lunch nearby. One robber was shot dead while the others were able to get away.

The dead robber was carrying a .45 caliber pistol while the others had Armalite rifles. I pity the guy who drew the short stick and ended up with the pistol.

How did they pass through the entrance? Weren’t the mall guards supposed to frisk them? Maybe the guards frisked them and checked their bags but as always, they have no idea what they're looking for!

Didn’t the basement guards notice anything funny when the “bomb squad” arrived riding a Honda City and a Toyota Corolla? In our office building, it’s already a big deal when pizza delivery boys arrive in tricycles instead of their motor bikes.

Poor mall guards. Reports say they were overpowered and didn’t offer any resistance. Who could blame them? They were only armed with a batuta, a flashlight and a long stick used to “search” bags.

Can you imagine if the robbery went really wrong and they didn’t reach the Rolex store? What if they ended up robbing Pink Soda? Headlines the next day: “Really Gay Robbers Robs Pink Soda: Escaped but Looked Fabulous”

What if this was a big misunderstanding? What if they obtained a cellphone from one of the robbers with a text message “Here na us in CALTEX GREENBELT 5. Where na U?”

Parking at Greenbelt is so expensive that the robbers had to use one of the watches they stole as payment for their basement parking fee.

I heard there was supposed to be one more of them but one robber got lost and ended up at Timex.

Investigators say the whole heist was well funded but poorly executed. A rich powerful man but ridiculously stupid… hmmm…? Isn't he running for... uh... nevermind.

Here’s the thing, according to reports, the robbers ended up stealing only the “Tudor” watches. They were not able to get any Rolex watches. This means it’s like storming a local bank then making away with the bank’s ballpens and manong guard’s columnar notebook.

I pity the people who were planning to give away Rolex watches as gifts for Christmas.

I pity the people who bought those black “bomb squad” shirts in Green Hills.

Seriously though, I wish establishments would beef up security now, not just for malls but for everywhere else. Who knows where they could hit next. At least I know they couldn't hit the place where I work. Before they could get to my floor, they would have given up on those looooooooooong lines for the elevator.

WTF: Work Time Fun / Wala Tayong Facebook

According to this article in Inquirer, more than half of US companies do not allow employees to visit social networking sites. 54% of these do not allow access to these sites at all.

Bummer, especially for me who’s normally a grazer worker – meaning I take frequent breaks within the work day just like my Internet service provider.

In our company, they have this site blocker thing that redirects you to this page whenever you access certain non work sites such as youtube, facebook and other networking sites, sports sites, entertainment sites, forums and emails. Basically, they blocked all the fun sites. They do give you access to search engines, Wikipedia, technology sites and news sites. Can you imagine how fun surfing now is? Inquirer >> Philstar >> CNN >> wikipedia >> MSDN >> Inqui… zzz…

It was only then did I realize that reading the local headlines and related articles can really make you feel upset, angry and depressed (in that order).

I don’t blame the company especially since it’s a fact that some people are abusing this privilege. Take away Facebook and we have more time working (and less load for the network). At least we still have our MSN messe… oh wait, no we don’t. Well at least we can use the DVD drives to listen to mus... oh wait, no we can't. How about just listening to music in our USB driv... oh wait... crap.

Now here’s the thing. We’re not just regular employees, we’re Filipinos! Kung gusto, maraming paraan! I must admit, I saw some pretty creative ways on how to deal with this site blocker thing. I don’t think aything can really get in the way of Pinoys and their Facebook.

Hello HR Team and Security Team, I know you’re reading this and NO, I'm not going to tell you how. Try searching for that other blog, you know, the one from that guy who writes... you know... the one with the… you know…

Just a Thought

Personally, I don’t see the difference between person A who visits Facebook, person B who visits CNN, person C who reads a book and person D who plays with his/her PSP during office hours. Let’s throw in Person E who’s sleeping. If persons A, D and E are reprimanded, shouldn’t B and C as well? I mean, all of them are as productive as Lito Lapid anyway. Diba?

I don’t get it…

31 pesos for a 1L Real Leaf green tea drink. I’m really ok with the price but I don’t understand why their cashiers get really really irritated when I don’t have a 1 peso coin with me. Maybe it’s because there are times when I know I have 75 cents in my pocket, I take out each 25 cent coin one by one then hand them a pocket lint with a “ay, bitin!”.

2009 Fantasy Basketball

It's Fantasy Basketball Season Again!

Last year, I walked away as the co-winner in our league and I can't wait to defend my title. This year, I was picking 4th in a "snake" format with rotisserie scoring.

By the way, I know fantasy basketball is big in the office but I had no idea it was THIS big. My style has always been reading articles over the Internet, making personal notes and ranking players manually. Some colleagues of mine even purchase extensive draft kits which have full, in-depth analysis and predictions of the players’ performances this season.

Here are the picks I made this year. Instead of using the same old pictures of them, I decided to use random odd pictures... wala lang, para maiba lang.

#1 Chris Paul, PG - They already picked Lebron, Wade and Kobe in that order. The 4th pick is always Chris Paul and the 5th pick is always Dwight Howard. This is as predictable as sunrise. Chris Paul is a very quick point guard who scores, passes and defends well, until he's kicked in the yagballs.

#2 Chris Bosh, PF - I was looking for another point guard and while Deron was gone, Nash was still on the board. Do I risk picking an aging point guard or an injury prone forward? Nash just signed a fresh contract while Bosh is on the last year of his. Greedy players are good but I don't think cowboy hats go with basketball jerseys unless they're doing some sort of Brokeback basketball.

#3 Carmelo Anthony, SF - I'm not sure how he slid this far but he was available so I took him. Honestly, I made this pick first before thinking about it. It's like craving for some Hotshots from KFC but opting to get the chicken wings because there's only one order left.

#4 Mehmet Okur, C - Memo on the 4th round? There were only a few good centers to go around. Pau Gasol, Al Jefferson, Howard, Brand and even Brook Lopez were already gone. There were still lots of good forwards and guards but I just had to pick a center... and a played with a name that doesn't start with "C" and could play basketball in a suit.

#5 Stephen Jackson, SF - I was going for Arenas but he was picked right before my turn. I wanted Rashard Lewis but he'll be having a bad year with VC clogging the position. I wanted Boozer but I know he'll be playing for half a season only this year. That plus I don't like his name.

#6 Mo Williams, PG - I wanted to go for a point guard and so can't explain why I picked a fake one. Mo is listed as a point guard but he neither points nor guards. He's a chucker which makes him a true shooting guard. I passed on Okafor for Mo based on a gut feeling... or deep inside I know Okafor has no power and can't run forward. Besides, how can you go wrong on a guy named “Mo”?

#7 John Salmons, SG - He was the best player available. If already had Anthony and Jackson so why pick another played with the same skill set? Well, there were two other good players available - Al Harrington, a center who plays like a small forward and Andrea Bargnani. I'm not picking a player named "Andrea".

#8 Zach Randolph, PF - My first true risk. Zach is playing on a new team which is good, but he's playing with Iverson which is bad. He had good numbers last season which was good but he was injured a lot which is bad. Zach is really good when's good and really bad when he's bad. Does that makes sense? Just do me a favor and don't get into fights too much ok?

#9 Eric Gordon, SG - I wanted Felton here but Gordon is another risk. In theory, Eric should have a superb year with a year of experience. In theory, he should be a superstar next season. I've heard of the sophomore jinx as well where second year players play terribly for the entire year, but that's just a theory.

#10 Raymond Felton, PG - Funny. Ever since round 2 I said I was looking for a point guard and I picked my second guard in the 10th round. Felton was the best available player available who happens to be a point guard. Sorry Raymond, not that I don't believe in you, well... actually... I don't. While other players do fist pumps or show off their biceps after doing something spectacular, here you are showing off your... armpit?

#11 Marc Gasol, C - Beasley, Kaman and Bynum were both gone at this point and I wanted to make sure I had another decent center. Tyrus Thomas would have been the high risk - high reward pick but I opted for this big lug who loves reporters instead.

#12 Leandro Barbosa, PG - I'm predicting Steve Nash will be injured for most of the season and so Barbosa will be a beast. If Nash ends up playing all the games for Phoenix and Barbosa gets another bad year, he’s the first player I imagine I would drop back to the waiver wire.

Overall, I'm pleased with my picks. I know by half the season I’ll be dropping half of them anyway for surprise players or players having breakout years. Ah, Fantasy Basketball… It’s that thing that makes guys come to the office early, keep stats on paper and start cheering individual players and not the teams. Funny isn’t it?

Back from Blog Leave

I'm back from blog leave!

It was a crazy month of September as life gave me lots of lemons and I wasn't sure if making lemonade was the smart thing to do. It was a month when reality finally set in, true friends showed themselves and big decisions had to be made.

During these times, I promised myself to think about things very carefully, to set aside my emotions and to slap a temporary restraining order on blogging.

Don't promise anything when you're happy. Don't blog when you're... well, in my case, emotional.

It's a good thing things are back to normal now. Tuloy ang ligaya!