Quitness Returns

The event was so hyped but with good reason. When the NBA schedule was released after “The Decision”, I immediately looked for the two Miami @ Cleveland games and I marked them on my calendar – December 2 and March 29. The first game is the only one that matters since the March game is just too far off to be considered.


(photo from ESPN.com)

I was watching ESPN all afternoon and the game was really overhyped – from the security plan, to the “wing flap” issue with the plane, to Mo Williams wearing a BoSox jacket to the arena, to whether he'll do the powder thing, all the way to the opening tip. When Jaye arrived from the office and I filled her in with what has already happened, we were both rooting for the Cavs to win… until we were reminded that they sucked really really bad by the middle of the first quarter.

It was so bad, I had to look closely if Miami was really up against the UP Maroons and not the Cavs.

Now what? Another Comic Sans letter from Dan Gilbert?

Black Friday

It’s what they call the Friday after Thanksgiving which marks the official start of the Christmas shopping season which means stores put lots of stuff on sale and shoppers line up at dawn, go wild inside the store once it opens and kill each other to “get it while supplies last”. It’s like Greenhills during the Christmas season though there, it happens every day until December 26.

Before this, Jaye and I would like to sincerely thank Bruce and Ethel for hosting the pre-Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment unit and then Rian and Trisha (and family) for hosting the actual Thanksgiving dinner at their house. After co-hosting Thanksgiving back in 2007, it was only then I realized how tough it was to host the event, cook the food, don’t screw anything up and have enough energy to enjoy the party (and clean up afterwards). So again, thanks guys!

Jaye and I had lots of fun shopping and basically enjoying everything that came with it! Here are a couple of Black Friday thoughts:

1. It pays to know the reputation of the stores when it comes to putting items on sale. Some stores honestly do try to empty their inventory and give decent to good deals for almost all items (like say, Old Navy). Some “scrooge” stores are just forced into the whole black Friday thing and put minor items on sale or just give you additional useless stuff (like that store along Michigan Ave with the big apple logo outside). Some stores are just jerks by pretending to put items on sale by raising their prices then “reducing” them back to normal (too many to mention).

2. Two ways to do black Friday shopping: online or going to the actual store. Online is fine but you tend to go overboard because it’s easy to “overclick”… you know what I mean. I want to go to actual stores since the Pinoy in me wants to smell, touch, feel the actual product before purchasing it. This year, we got a car (a really cool Dodge Charger) and drove all the way to Kenosha. We woke up really early and arrived home late and exhausted but there’s a certain feeling of accomplishment that comes with it.





3. Driving here in Chicago is weird. I use this thing beside the steering wheel which lights up the left arrow on the dashboard and the car on my left lets me pass. I saw this bus and it didn’t try to sideswipe me. The pedestrians were all crossing this path with all the white striped lines. Cars stopped whenever this thing above us had a red light on. It's like everyone was following some sort of traffic rule. Weird.

4. Unlike Los Angeles, Chicago is not overrun by Pinoys. There are only a handful if Filipinos around here and only 2 events force us into one place: Pacquiao fights and outlet malls. For some reason, Pinoys really love outlet malls… outlet malls and stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx.

5. I learned that outlet malls are different from tiangge stands. I grabbed a jacket I wanted then went over to the check out counter. I asked if it was the last place, they said yes. I asked if they didn’t have any more discounts, they said that was it. I asked if it came with any more freebies, they said no. I asked if it came with a discount coupon, they said no. I asked if they can give me the hanger where the jacket was. They gave it to me.

It was really a fun day and Jaye and I were happy with our purchases even though our expense metrics indicate that we spend almost 500% more than our usual expenditures. Home metrics suck.

A City Called Naperville

Naperville, Illinois. A city found 30 minutes west of Chicago. Once voted as the second best place to live in the United States. It has one of the best public libraries in the nation and Naperville is where you’ll find the majestic Moser Tower and Millenium Carillon.

We never saw any of these. Instead, we hit the shopping areas and restaurants.

We visited our curly haired friend CheChe who works near Naperville. Jaye and I took the train from Chicago to Naperville then from there, CheChe picked us up with her Nissan Sentra. Since this was the first time I left Chicago since I arrived in the US, I immediately felt the difference between being in downtown and being in the suburbs. There were less people on the road. There were no taxis, no buses. There were just a few tall buildings and between them are wide open spaces. There are big ponds with geese munching on… whatever they usually munched on. No subway noises. No trains. No ambulance sirens. Just the noise of the tires against the pavement and the chattering of your curly haired friend. Our first stop was Cracker Barrel. I had no idea what it was.


Waiting for the train to Naperville

Ok, turns out it was a restaurant. It has a nostalgic aura which again is a welcome change from where we usually eat. We all ordered the usual all-American meal consisting of sausages, hash, grits, biscuits, jam, gravy and coffee. Food was better than we expected. Expensive, but good. We’re never eating there again anymore though... I forgot to tip the waitress.


Our curly haired friend


Jaye and me at Cracker Barrel


Jaye and CheChe outside Cracker Barrel

Our next stop was the Chicago Premium Outlets. Yep, it’s the same outlet mall as before. Unlike before though, their stock was not impressive and their “sales” were fake so we ended up buying virtually nothing. Check this winter cap I saw at Reebok:




Walking along the Chicago Premium Outlet

We left Aurora, went back to Naperville and had lunch at Olive Garden. I loved the stuffed mushrooms. I loved it so much that the next day, I went to Jewel and bought a pack of fresh mushrooms and replicated the recipe. Jaye says it tasted the same but mine cost a couple of dollars cheaper. Take THAT Olive Garden!


Outside Olive Garden. Jaye's all bundled up while I have a spring jacket on. :P

We next went to Burlington Coat Factory (where I bought a cheap running jacket), Old Navy (where I bought cheap gloves and Jaye bought a cheap jacket) and Walmart (where one section smelled like dog pee). After doing all our shopping, CheChe drove us back to the train station where we had 10 minutes before our train leaves for Chicago.
We had lots of time but while driving there, Jaye and I can’t shake the feeling that we might miss the train. What if the train left early? What if the car’s clock was late? What if CheChe got lost along the way? (which almost happened)

When we got off the car, we had a quick hug with CheChe then it was a 5 minute walk to the other side of the rail. The train hasn't arrived yet but Jaye suddenly ran because she said she didn’t want to get left behind. I ran behind because well, that’s what good hubbies do. Little did we know that there were a few people behind us that were also catching the train and when they saw us burst into a sprint, they sprinted too causing a mini panic at the train station.

The train arrived 20 minutes later. :P

Goodbye Singha :(

Singha is this Thai restaurant along Clark street and yes, it’s now closed. They lost their lease to the location and now it’s an empty space and the two statues up front are now gone.

I know I’ll only get two reactions from the statements above. Either you’ll be completely nonchalant or like me, you’ll go through the 5 stages of grief:

Denial: "Nooooo! They can't close Singha!"

Anger: "P*%#$@na nila! Bakit nila sinara Singha?!"

Bargaining: "Maybe it moved! Maybe they just changed the name to something more appealing to Pinoys!"

Depression: You start sharing Singha stories with friends like your favorite dish or who you ate there with.

Acceptance: "Hooters!"

So what's the big deal about a Thai restaurant closing down? For one thing, it's located on the same block where a magical building called "The Sterling apartments" was located. Click here if you want to view it in Google Maps. Back in the good old days, everyone sent onshore from Chicago to Manila by my previous IT company were set to live in Sterling for a couple of months. Since Singha was literally a few steps away from the apartment, it was the place we most frequently ate out at. In the winter when the temperature drops to -20c, if you go out, you'll end up frozen once you walk past Singha so you might as well eat there. Convenience is just one reason though.

Price. Compared to other restos in Chicago, Singha is cheap. If you factor in how frequent you eat out (or how lazy you are to cook), you'll have no idea how important this is.

Rice. Being Pinoys, we can't live on burgers, fries, pasta and sandwiches. We need to eat rice at least once a day (or else you get weird cravings like microwave mac and cheese).

Plastic containers. If you order take out from Singha, they place it in these sealable and reusable plastic containers and if you were like me, you have one cabinet almost dedicated to a big stack of singha containers. These are extremely useful for storing leftovers, coins and other stuff plus, they come with the food and anything free is good.

Food. Of course it wouldn't be special if the food didn't taste good right? My personal favorite is the pad see ew which is Thai flat noodles with Chinese broccoli and beef cooked in a dark soy sauce. The 2 dishes in a close second are crab rangoon which is deep fried wonton stuffed with cream cheese (yeah, as if you'll ever taste the crab there) and the basil chicken which I've been trying to cook in Manila. There's also the beef fried rice and the tom yum soup but we rarely order them.

Memories. I've eaten here with my closest friends during my onshore assignments. I've ordered take out here alone. I've eaten here to celebrate a recent milestone. I've eaten here to console myself. I've eaten here when I'm bored. We've eaten Singha for lunch especially when you wake up really late on weekends you have absolutely no desire to cook and wash dishes. We've eaten it for dinner especially when you've used up much of your cash and you want to eat something decent for less than 10 bucks. We've eaten it for lunch since it's just nice to wake up munching on a piece of crab rangoon. Jaye and I have eaten here when we were still friends.

(deep sigh)

I do have good news though. All is not completely lost. If we go back to the 5 stages of grief earlier, it turns out the third one (bargaining) is true. The same person who owns Singha also owns the "Star of Siam" which is just 2 blocks away from Jewel. For my birthday, I asked Jaye to have dinner there so we can check it out. I think you already know what we ordered.

Is it the same? Close. Pad see ew is almost identical. The basil chicken is still close but the spices are a little stronger this time. The beef fried rice is the same. The crab rangoon is a little disappointing though since when you try to slice it with the side of a fork, it flattens like a burst balloon and you find a very small amount of cheese inside. Now you're left with just a flat dumpling on a pile of white goo.

Eating at the Star of Siam is like using your friend's laptop. The keyboards are the same, the screen is the same, the applications are the same but there's a great deal of unfamiliarity and you can't stop thinking about your own laptop. Eventhough the food's the same and they even have the same weird enclosed seats, I guess nothing can still replace the original thing.

I miss Singha.

(Sigh)

The Trip to Chicago

I’ve flown to Chicago before but it’s always been with Northwest Airlines. It always leaves NAIA around 8 then goes to Narita or Nagoya then from there it goes to Detroit then Chicago. This time I was flying to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific then straight to Chicago via United Airlines and this is the first time I’m flying with them.

Like before I never sleep the night before the flight. This means from Manila to Hong Kong, I was asleep. After I checked in, paid the terminal fee (ugh), went through customs, waited at the gate, boarded and took my seat, I was immediately out like a light. I even forgot to place my carry on baggage to the overhead bin. I don’t even remember the plane taking off. When I woke up, we just landed in Hong Kong. Time elapsed: 2 hours. Wow, it was like time traveling but without the damage to the fabric of time.

In Hong Kong I was still woozy and was very thirsty. After getting a boarding pass for my connecting ticket, I immediately went online to get in touch with Jaye so she knows we landed safely. Fortunately, I had some US dollars with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t know any restaurants in HKIA other than Popeyes and Burger King. When I reached Popeyes, it was already closed. I ended up eating in this Italian restaurant serving sandwiches. It was like a cross between Subway and Potbelly.

No more Popeyes =(

It's cool that they have these plugs where you can charge your stuff. The problem is they only have the HK type plugs and the converters cost an arm and a leg.

Free Duty?

Next was the long and boring flight to Chicago. It was forgettable since I was seated beside Mr. Smells like an Old Man with Flowers and in front of Ms Laughs at Everything (on te onboard flight movies). The flight itself wasn’t bumpy and they showed more movies here than in Northwest flights. They first showed Toy Story 3 then The Grown Ups then Letters to Juliet and another movie where I was asleep already by the time they were showing the opening titles.

First glimpse of Chicago... or maybe this was Detroit. :S

We arrived in Chicago and immigration was fast. The luggage carousel was also super friendly as it spitted out Crispin and Basilio (my two luggages) almost immediately. Then came the scene I’ve been playing and writing for the past two months: how I’m going to meet Jaye at O’Hare. I’ve always had this romantic scene where Jaye meets me at the gate then I rush to her with a hug. Did that happen? Of course Jaye and I always write our stories with a twist – I came out of the immigration area with my luggages but no Jaye in sight. I checked the other gates and she wasn’t there. I sat down and just rested in one of the chairs instead. A couple of minutes later, she arrived THEN I got my hug. It turns out O’Hare is bigger than we thought and she got lost in the maze of terminals.

We took the cab back to downtown and seeing everything again brings back a lot of memories, good and bad. I saw a sidewalk where I slipped and hurt my arm which was bad. I saw Jewel-Osco which was good. I saw La Salle St which was…uh… boring.

Either way, it’s good to be back. When I stepped down the cab and brought down my luggages, I couldn’t really believe that I’m actually here again in Chicago. Then the wind picked up, blew my luggages down and frazzled my hair. Yep, it’s Chicago’s way of telling me welcome back too.

Our first picture at the airport

The Big Move

It’s the big elephant in the room so I guess I need to write about my recent resignation from this IT company. Also, people have changed my name from “Arn” to “Arn! Congrats! Bakit ka nagresign?” since that’s how I’ve been greeted since October 22.

I’ll keep it short and simple, I answered this question:

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

My answer was: “I would quit my job to be with my wife and pay more attention to her, my health, my family, my photography, plan Jaye and I’s future together and make things happen.“

The key word is the word that I didn’t use: “wait”.

People have called me brave. People have called me romantic. People have called me a boneheaded idiot.

I’ll tell you one thing though – it feels better than I imagined. There’s a difference between pressing the pause button and the stop button. There’s a huge difference if you press the off button and this is me now – off. At last my mind is working the way it’s supposed to be and have my priorities in check. I’ve also started thinking differently, have a longer patience and I see things a lot happier now. BP has changed from poor to healthy. Life just got a lot brighter and more interesting. I know there’s nothing coming in yet through my bank account but I couldn’t really care less. Life has been too happy for me to notice.

So what would you do if you weren’t afraid?

The ABL Farewell Game

My ABL career has two parts: the early community-based teams where I played while I was a junior programmer and the current conference-based league where I played as an associate manager. During the early years, I had an accurate three point shot, a decent tear drop shot and basic jumping and lateral movement. Then came my major injury, onshore assignments and a long stint at rehab and I came back heavier than ever, an erratic “jump” shot and lost virtually all lateral movements and jumping ability. I guess it’s the age thing and the fact that I gained weight which messed up my center of gravity (yeah, right).



Age 23:
Michael Jordan: 37.1 points per game
Arn: 3.0 points per game

Age 29:
Michael Jordan: 32.6 points per game
Arn: 0.3 points per game

See? Us great ones decline with age.

For my last game, I weighed in 11 pounds lighter than my last ABL game. It was also the game where I didn’t have the heavy knee brace anymore and I could actually run back and forth now. Unfortunately, our opponent was a full run and gun team which basically means I get to check in and one minute later, my substitute is already in the scorers table. This game was the worst game I’ve ever played.

During the first play, a teammate bricked a shot, I got the offensive rebound but another player was poking it away so I tried to pry it off him then went out of bounds. It turns out that he was a teammate and we turned the ball over. It was more confusing on the defensive side since again, the opposing team found a small fat guy manning the post and so they forced the ball into whoever I was guarding. I didn’t contribute anything on offense either. My only attempt was a three point shot that went wide because the guy who tried to block my shot hugged me on the way down. After a couple more possessions, they subbed me out. The way I played, I would have subbed myself out 5 seconds into the game.

We eventually lost but we kinda knew we were bowing out sooner or later. We gave a good fight. Romer was aggressive. Franco was blocking shots with his elbows. JV cheered from the stands with his broken arm. Sonn had a cool motorbike. Tholitz had a bleeding knee for crying out loud. It was a happy bunch. Despite losing a playoff game, it didn’t feel like it. Sure, it would have been happier if we won. It would have been extremely happier if Jaye was in the stands. I still think it’s a cool way to leave the league.

The next basketball I'll be busy with in the next couple of months will be here:

The Ten Truths About Tech Arch People

No, they’re not human. They eat even if they don’t have to. Yes, they don’t sleep but they aren’t vampires (and they don’t put product on their hair or shimmer in the sunlight). Yes, they’re hot tempered but they aren’t werewolves (and they don’t take their shirt off for no reason at all).

We have lots of books about hobbits, elves, dwarves and other woodland creatures but there’s nothing much on these strange beings they call Tech Arch and so I’ll tell you more about them… presenting the ten truths about tech arch folk:

They’re Time Travelers. They can bend the fabric of time and move to the past, the future and back to the present. They can implement requests that were logged today but due yesterday and they can do that “on time”. They can slow down time in such a way that they can implement a 2 hour task in 5 minutes. Why, I’ve seen them perform server maintenance in 0 hours, 0 minutes and 0 seconds. Amazing!

They’re Magicians. No, not wizards with point hats… magicians, as in they can pull something out of nothing if needed. Ask them if they have a roll back script or a maintenance document. The answer’s no. Close your eyes, turn around, open your eyes and voila, a roll back script and a maintenance document. Check the create date and you’ll notice it was done 6 months ago. Wow.

They’re Self Regenerating. Think Wolverine with a Microsoft Professional Certification. Even with the flu they never charge any sick leaves. They never take annual physical exams. Having a fever only slows them down a bit but they’ll still be in the office. They’re not zombies though since they bleed if you cut them or ask them to attend a one hour all English conference call.

They’re Robots. They have a high tolerance for repetitive tasks. They can perform the same boring task day after day after day after day after day after day after day… Plus, they don’t need to eat. You just plug them on a wall socket to charge them and they’re good to go.

They’re Allergic to Documentations. The only creatures known to be afraid of any documentations. They don’t like creating process documents, they don’t create status reports, they don’t write crap about anything. They’re tech arch, they don’t think or write - they DO. For them, it’s better to need a business continuity document and not have it. What’s the point? They can conjure it up out of thin air in an instant. One thing that puzzles me about them is while they do hate documentations, their resumes are always up to date with what they accomplished 3 hours ago. Go figure.

They’re Psychic. Imagine this, you’re thinking of a good web design. You make designs for it. You document it. You test it. You make the deployment instructions. Before you give it to them, the changes have already been implemented. They know what you were thinking. They know what you’re planning. They know what you did last summer. They just do.

They’re Insensitive to verbal abuse. When things go wrong, they take more tongue lashing than a PBA referee on the 7th game of a finals series. You can call them anything you want. You can tell them what you’d do if you had more authority. You can say anything and they just smile. They smile because they’re professional and they understand the business and that things can really just be emotional from time to time. Or they smile because they know if things go really wrong, people end up begging for help from these guys anyway.

They change names. Let’s say John Michael R. Villacosta is a new tech guy. After a month, the “Michael” is dropped permanently. Next month, the “R” is gone. Next, “John” is changed to “Jon” then “Villacosta” will mutate into “Villa” then eventually just “Vil”. After a few years, it just becomes “JV”, first name J, last name V but then get lots of certifications and so you now have “J V, MCP, MCAD, MSTCS” written in his birth certificate.

They Level up Really Really fast in Facebook games. While their friends are stuck at work creating documents and presentations, these guys are stuck at work planting cabbages in FarmVille then ask help from you because they need a new secret ingredient in Café World or they need a satellite phone in Mafia Wars. They also like statuses almost instantly. If you post “Ah-choo!” they reply back with “Bless you” within 5 minutes. They have magical accounts that just somehow slip through the firewall for some reason.

They Believe in the Concept of the “One Ring To Rule Them All”. They have administrator access to everything and everyone knows this as the highest, most powerful account but they’re wrong. There’s always a hidden, more powerful account which can control these other administrator accounts. It’s hidden. It’s not mentioned. It’s only passed on when one tech arch leaves permanently, like how the matrix of leadership was passed along to Optimus Prime in the Transformers. It’s not documented. The account name is usually a fictional person (eg “Rey Pinoco”) or the name of a guy who used to work but left eons ago. It can do anything and yet the password is just “password”. Tech arch folk hate complex passwords but they take care of the preccciousssssssss.

ABL Playoffs - 1st Round

It's the playoffs! Players run faster, jump higher and the pressure's always on. For players like me, it means I get to ride the bench even more which is somewhat expected. I could have arrived in the court with bunny slippers on and it wouldn't have made any difference. I know this was winning time and I know my role - I have no intentions of playing, I'll keep shooting video clips of the game and I make fun everything on my blog the next day.

With so many players confirmed to play (14), I know I'll only get a small window of playing time and I know I have to make it count. For someone with a big belly, my gas tank is awfully small but I think I can manage to go all out for 5 minutes.

To my surprise, I entered the game in the middle of the second quarter with us leading by 2 points. I didn't touch the basketball on offense the whole game but I managed to make myself useful. I set low post screens for Rex so he can drive freely to the basket. Low post screens are perfect for me. All you need to do is stand in the low post position and stay fat.

Also, I saw the advantage of having me set up screens. Since I'm short, the tall guys I screen out can't see me in their peripheral vision which means they need to constantly turn their heads to see where I go. Since I'm short and when I position my arms to do a screen, my elbow lines up perfectly with the yagbadoodles and they know if they knee me on my back, I can do a little Bruce Lee elbow strike. I also found out how annoying I can be when I set screens. It's like running on a field that's covered with cow dung. You can run fast but it messes up your form because you need to constantly look down or you else you step on one.

(Wait, did I just compare my basketball abilities to cow dung?)

On defense, I managed to tip away a drop pass that would have been an easy shot. That play was big for me since the one thing you can't count on me is be athletic and for me to jump and tip away a pass on my right side (note, I can't jump off my left leg) is surprising.

I was also all over the floor, literally. I hit the floor hard twice. One was on a loose ball skirmish where I got the ball and I had to throw an off balance pass that led to a fast break. On this play I realized that even when falling I'm so slow. By the time I hit the floor they were already past half court. The other time was when I tried to draw a charge and ended up splattered below the basket. No call. I don't think I'll ever get that call.

By this time, I was spent. I sprinted in all plays except for one. I poked away loose balls and rebounds. It feels good to know you played your heart out. I had myself yanked out after four minutes. I was lightheaded and I had nothing on the tank anymore.

The game was close for most of the way before they managed to build a four point lead and clung to it before we answered with a three and an open shot. They had a chance to win it with two free throws in the end but they missed both. They also missed the last shot at the buzzer which sealed our win and breaking our first round curse from last year.

By the way, during the game I went to the front desk to buy some Gatorade. While waiting for the cashier to ring me up, I overheard this kid with his mom near the badminton area who was observing our game:

Kid: "Bakit ang gagaling nila mag-basketball?"
Mom: "Game yan sa office nila. May mga mabilis tumakbo, may matatangkad, at may magaling mag shoot"
Kid: "E yung matabang yun, bakit siya naglalaro?" (while pointing at me)
Mom: "Ah, manager nila yan. Siya nagbibigay ng pera sa mga workers nya."

Hmmm, other than the "nagbibigay ng pera" part, that's almost spot on. :-/



and here's my statline... 1 steal?!?

ABL Game 4

It's the 4th game of the season and we're on the verge of wrapping up our division. After so many years of watching ABL basketball, the real formula for winning a game is talent (40%) + attendance (20%) + number of players taller than 5'10" (10%) + work schedule (10%) + luck (10%) + fun (10%) - jerks (x%). Talent includes your star players' stamina. If you see them outside with Marlboro Lights prior to the game you're basically screwed. Attendance is a big factor because teams usually falter in the end because they're tired and they don't have decent subs. Height is might and that's a given. We don't care if you don't know how to shoot a basketball but as lone as you have the span to reach the board, you're useful. Work schedule is tough because we've seen people miss games due to overtime or weird work shifts. Luck is also a big factor (and this includes the refs... wait I'm still checking the rule book if it's ok to criticize refs in blogs.). Fun is the the most underestimated factor. The teams that have fun play loose. Playing loose lets you concentrate on the basics and the team that keeps it simple wins. The last is the jerk factor. These are guys who take the game too seriously (when they start wearing headbands and sleeve warmers ala Iverson, you're dead) or are black holes (pass them the ball and you never see it again). In the end, these games are supposed to be fun.

So why does our team keep on winning? We have decent talent, attendance is perfect (we always dress at least 10-12 players a game), we have a tall skilled guy who can block a jumpshot with his forehead if he wanted to, we don't give a crap about work schedule, we think we have average luck, we always have fun (when was the last time you saw a team jump up and down while laughing after winning a non bearing game?) and we don't have a single jerk on the team.

Going back to the game, I started at power forward because we needed to have a smaller, faster team on the floor to blitz the opponent. We also wanted to have the star players come off the bench so they can play the rest of the first half and still have enough energy to finish the game. Also, the star players were late and we were only five available so they HAD to start me.

By the way, before the game there was a 50 peso bill on the floor of the men’s room in the basketball court near our office. We were changing into our basketball uniforms when JV found the bill and no one claimed it. We decided to give it to whoever scores the first basket in the game.

First play of the game, a teammate took a jump shot that went wide. I got the offensive rebound (Arn with a rebound?!?) against their two tall guys and saw JV wide open for a corner jumper. Did I pass? Hell no! This was fifty bucks! I turned around and shot a weird overhead double handed hook shot right in front of the two tall defenders! They didn’t really cover me since they looked surprise that I was dumb enough to shoot it in front of them. I never saw the shot leave my hand but I saw it hit the board and lazily fall into the hoop. 2-0. For 2 minutes, I was the leading scorer for the team! Wait, I hogged the ball to earn 50 bucks, what a jerk!

When the stars were ready, they subbed me out and I never played in the game again which was fine for me since my leg flared up really bad after running back and forth with little warm-ups. This was a fun game with us winning on a wild ending. There were definitely lots of scary moments but we held on. I miss Jaye watching me from the stands though. =(

(By the way, I’m not posting any articles on our 5th game because we won by default. Other than the fact that that was our first game in San Carlos Seminary and the bathroom was no lights was one of the scariest places I’d ever peed in, there was nothing interesting. I don't agree with the rule that a team must forfeit the game if they dress less than 5 players. If they're less than 5, the committee must bring out a cardboard cutout of a player and declare that THAT will be their teammate.)

Jon and Annie's Wedding

Inter-project romance here in our company is like going on a blind date set up by your best friend, it always leads to something very good, or something very very bad. There’s no gray area in between and all it has are two extreme opposites. Take the case of my old projectmates from way back who fell in love, got engaged in Chicago, got married in the Philippines and are now living happily together in Minnesota (awww…). On the other side of the coin, we also had inter-project breakups where we now have a Team A (who thinks he’s the overly jealous possessive type) and Team B (who thinks she flirts and parties too much with boy “friends”) and until one leaves, there’s always an awkward moment. As if office politics wasn’t complicated enough already, now we add showbiz alliances.



This is the reason why it feels good to see Jon and Annie get married. They’re both team leads in the same project I’m assigned to and I know for sure this will turn out pretty pretty well. The held a beautiful ceremony held at The Loft over at Rockwell. I volunteered my photo services since both are good friends of mine and honestly, I'm very interested since this is the first Muslim wedding I'll ever attend.

For my photo gear, I usually bring two cameras (one for ultra-wide, one for telephoto) but for this day, I decided to try bringing just one camera body and 3 lenses (my ultra-wide, my telephoto and a prime lens). When I did my equipment check, the whole thing weighed 10 lbs. Ouch.

I was at the condo one hour before the event. I entered the parking area when the guard stopped me:

Guard: Ser, dito po kayo magpapark?
Me: Oo.
Guard: Sigurado kayo? Mahal dito. Sa mall na lang kayo.
Me: Sige ok lang yan!
Guard: Hindi po naman puno yung parking sa mall.
Me: Hayaan mo, OK LANG YAN.
Guard: One hundred po first hour tapos singkwenta na bawat oras.
Me: San ba ang mall?
Guard: Deretso tapos kaliwa.

Like a good photographer, I was there early which means I get to test the lights and calibrate my gear. Like a bad guest, I was there early which means I get to see the organizers do their last minute preparations. When two of my managers arrived (Joyce and Leah), I took a test shot and they both came out pink. I never could get the white balance of my camera on the first try.

Gerald finally arrived. He’s also with the project and he also brought along his camera to take extra pictures for the event. Another photographer means we get to share notes on lighting settings, angles and well, it means someone gets to take my picture too.



The ceremony was different as expected. I’ve already attended a Christian wedding and a Catholic wedding but this one was entirely different. It helped a lot that they explained what the different parts of the ceremony were for and I did learn a lot. Often times I found myself listening too much that I forgot to take pictures.



Then came the father-daughter dance which was preceded by a speech. Annie was crying. Jon was crying. The guests were crying. I couldn’t take pictures because I myself was crying. Even the waiters at the back row who didn’t know what was going on were crying. To me, this pretty much summed up the emotions for that evening – it was mostly happy and casual but the sentimental part, even if it only lasted a few minutes, will be the most memorable part.



There was a short break in the program and I went to the front of the stage and asked them to kiss so I can get a picture. I took one then I told them to kiss again…. And again… and again… I wasn’t taking any pictures anymore, I just wanted then to kiss and kiss. No one complained.



All in all I took over 800 shots (100 were not usable – too blurred, too bright or too dark). After taking pictures of the guests at the tail end of the wedding, I packed up my gear and realized I had a stiff back (from crouching) and a cramp on my left forearm (zoom lens was too heavy).

Overall it was a very very good event. The program didn’t drag. The food was good. The AV presentation was good. The guest singers were good. The appetizers were… welll, I didn’t have any but I’m sure they were good too.



Best wishes to the newly married couple!

ABL Game 3

The game I’ll always call the one with the reverse shot.

It’s the third game of the season and thanks to a lengthy three week rest, I was able to regain most control of my legs (I got hurt bad in game 1 and played like a turtle in game 2). I was actually moving fine in this game and in fact, I had the first fast break attempt of the season. Our opponent took a shot and instead of running for a rebound, I ran the other way towards our basket. The shot missed, JV brought the ball down and passed it in front of me who was already passed half court. The pass went wide, I couldn't even touch it, it rolled out of bounds and I just focused on not hitting the floor again.

I don’t know. It’s not an ABL game without my sprawled across the floor. True enough, a few seconds later, I got knocked down by their center while I was trying to do a full court press on their point guard (by full court press, I meant I was SO slow going back to defense that I decided to just pester their point guard).

Then came the reverse shot. It was our ball and I was on the extreme right side of the court. Erwin shot a high jumper from the other side that came up way short. I ran down the baseline and got my first offensive rebound (actually, my first stat). Ok freeze it there. I had the ball exactly underneath the basket with the closest defenders both 3 feet away. If I had the chance to finally score a basket this year, this would be it and it’s not a meaningless jump shot during garbage time where they toss you the ball in every possession just begging you to score. It was actually a crucial part of the game since we were clinging on a two point lead in the second half. After catching the ball, I went straight up again and shot a reverse shot. The bench stood up and screamed as the ball went around the rim, around once more until it rimmed out onto a defender. This was followed by a loud groan and with me with my hands on my head and with a sarcastic grin on my face.

To others, yeah it’s just another missed shot. On paper it’s a FGA (field goal attempted). Others get a lot of that every game. For me, I play with an extremely small window of opportunity. For every 40 minutes of game time, I only play 5 minutes at most. I’m also the last guy you want to swing the ball to which means I’m the last option on offense. 94% of the time, I’m standing way beyond the three point line. I spend 5% of my time with my butt on the floor and there’s this 1% chance that I would sneak behind the defense. Add it all up and you get me hitting that shot as likely as someone getting hit by lightning. For me it’s not just a missed shot in a game, it’s a missed opportunity in a season. Oh well.

With my legs getting more tired and our opponents getting tougher (and taller), I’m guessing that’s it. I predict that in the next game, I’ll still have fun on the bench watching my teammates play but I almost know I’ll only register 5 minutes, a foul and a short meeting with Mr Floor.

Or maybe lightning will strike twice?

Week in Review - Basyang and 'Bron

Typhoon Basyang

Noynoy grilled PAGASA after they failed to alert the people on time that a big badass typhoon was going to hit the country. We all know what’s going to happen when the next typhoon arrives – PAGASA will then give an overblown prediction and will basically tell everyone to flee for their lives… even if it’s just a small weak gust. Remember how people panicked when typhoon Pepeng was coming while we were still recovering from typhoon Ondoy?

On Thursday morning, because of the strong winds from Basyang, the people were really worried and were asking the same question: “Ok lang ba yung ad ni Mike Lao sa EDSA?”

Free Agent Signings

I’m a Lebron fan, well, was. I guess it wasn’t the fact that he left but how he did it – getting a 1 hour special just to announce to the world that you’re leaving a city that has embraced him like a god. For sure they will be fun to watch but I’d rather see the Bulls and the Lakers beat them by 30 points and give them a lesson on basketball that complete teams win championships.

My prediction is that they get enough desparate veterans to join them to form a decent team. I say Wade gets injured for a long time while Bosh gets winded and eventually starts missing games. Bron will be Bron but they’ll come up short in the playoffs.

By the way, Mike Miller has announced he has signed with the Heat… K.

Lastly, since Bosh and James have jumped ship, the cover of the Cavs official site? Boobie Gibson. The Raptors official site? Leandro Barnosa.

ABL 2010 Game 2

2 objectives for this game:
1. Don’t fall face flat anymore during the game
2. Try not to get backache while sitting on the bench.

We were up against a team that was beaten by the team we have beaten in our first game. (For you programming nerds, that’s A > B > C where A is our team is C is our opponent). The good news is, we had a full team and almost everyone was available to play. The bad news is, I saw the other team and they had big tall guys. Big tall guys means when I’m on the floor, I’m like a red flag and all of them want to post me up. It happened in the first game, it was no different in the second game. Heck, even the refs would have wanted to post me up.

Fast forward to the second quarter when I entered. On defense, their forwards were on the corner and they were shouting to their guards to post up their big gorilla on me. Is it really a good idea? One, I weight almost as much as they do plus since I’m shorter, I have a lower center of gravity. I’m like the equivalent of two Djigs double teaming them except well, I don’t like the Lakers. Second, I have 5 fouls and I don’t give a crap if I foul out. Third, I know my goal – keep them far from the basket, don’t let them back me down and force them to shoot a 4 foot hook shot or a scoop shot that either Franco or Tholitz (our two tall guys) could easily block.

In this game I think I was able to hold my ground. When King Kong started to back me down I got hit with a shoulder check and a forearm. I responded with an elbow, a high knee strike and a push (sounds like GameCast updates from an MMA fight). The ref called me for a push. King Kong approached me then apologized. Both of us weren’t hurt in any way. That’s one advantage of being uh… padded. It takes a while before we get damaged. You know that Pacquiao ad for Alaxan where a trainer is hitting Manny with sticks to thicken up his ab muscles? I could do the same and just watch my belly jiggle.

Unfortunately, I only hit the floor once during the game and it was to dive after a ball that was going out of bounds. I did something good for the team though: I actually had two turnovers caused and in both cases they got whistled for a travelling call. Also when that big guy was in the paint, a lot of us were trying to pry loose the ball from his hands. I got like 4 solid strikes on the ball which eventually led to a missed shot. I also fired up a three that hit the side of the rim, I guess that’s my quota for the game. A few minutes later, they subbed in Bertie Bert for me – he’s a bigger version of me who shoots better, rebounds better, runs better and is whiter than me.

It was a close game but in the end, we outlasted them. Romer was the usual Romer. Franco and Tholitz were still tall, blocking shots and getting rebounds. Wendell did a good job at point guard. Rex was wild but in a good way since he can score with 6 people defending him (including the ref). JV remembered our advise to not cross the line when shooting free throws (he also mentions that he’s not bald, he just cut it that way). Sonn? He had that weird looking shot where the ball kinda got stuck at the back of the rim. There’s also boss Anselm who hit a big three and I stand by my rule that managers who hit contested three's during games are required to buy pizza from everyone.

Game Notes:
- Not sure if anyone noticed but the the scorer’s table was activating the clock even during deadball situations. Even if the ball has not been handed to the inbounds man, the clock was already ticking. We didn’t complain since we were leading.
- This was a game where the player of the game would be one of the guards on the other team who travelled all the time. I think he had like 5 or 6 turnovers just because of that.
- I'm used to getting fat jokes and slow jokes (since I really am slow and fat). This was the first time I heard me being too white though. I dunno, Bert is whiter. I mean, when he entered the game he virtually glowed in the dark parts of the court. I dunno Bert, you may be whiter but let's face it...

I'm hotter than you.

Week in Review - LebronMania, Django and WangWangs

Wang Wang

I love the “No Wangwang” rule which is probably the most memorable part of Noynoy’s speech. I’ve been meaning to write about it after I’ve been asked for the nth time to give way because the mayor’s son’s friend is late for his dental appointment. I just hope they don’t ask jeepneys to remove that “FIRE! FIRE! BRATATATAT!” sound effect.

Free Agent Mania

With Lebron, Wade and Bosh possibly switching uniforms for the next season, things are really getting interesting this off season. I was initially predicting that Bosh will join Lebron in Cleveland while Wade will be in Chicago with Boozer. Now we’ve confirmed that Boozer is indeed joining the Bulls but Wade and Bosh has decided to go to South Beach. LBJ is still the biggest question mark though and quite fittingly, he organized a one hour special on ESPN just for a simple announcement… kinda like the American Idol results show.

As of 2am CST, they’re predicting he’ll join the Heat. I still say the most logical fit for him is to join the Bulls. Poor Cavs… Poor Knicks…

Django, 2010 World Pool Champion

Django Bustamante won the 2010 world pool championships in Doha, Quatar which makes up for the tough loss he suffered in 2002. Really? They still hold the world pool championships? I thought they’ve permanently dissolved it since 2007. In a sport dominated by Filipinos and Taiwanese, why would anyone hold the tournament in Doha, Quatar (apparently, they’re slated to hold the event for the next 4 years). I guess after 2 years in Taiwan (with Filipinos crying home court advantage) then 2 years in the Philippines (with the Taiwanese then crying home court advantage)… mga hayop kayo! Fine! Sa Quatar kayo maglaro!

ABL 2010 Game 1

It's that time of the year again! The company basketball league has kicked off yesterday and again, I've joined a team who was part of the novice division. Nothing much has changed since last year: I'm still wearing the same uniform with the same shoes but I'm now doing away with the metal supports for my knees. I guess the 7 months of running has strengthened my knee enough. With everything almost the same, I have the same expectations for this year including continuing the "victory cigar" status I've established last season. Again, what better entertainment for the starting players to see a slow fat guy hoisting a looping three or bumbling an outlet pass or dribbling the ball off his foot?

Our first game this season was against a divison leader with a 2 win, 0 loss card and two quick forwards. Our team was composed of the old team from last year combined with members from another team within CIO. I know half of them - we still have Djigs who's the best player during clutch time, Tholitz our center from the US who blocks a ton of shots each game and talks a lot of trash - the good kind (think KG... with hair) and Sonn the feisty slasher. We also have two other tall guys who we can nickname Cybergate Tower 1 and Cybergate Tower 2. If I stand in the middle of them, I get my new nickname - "Ministop". Oh, we also have JV who's... er... bald.

The game started with a fast pace and as true in all games, the team that keep things simple, meaning - just takes it slowly, pick the best shots, rebound and run will win. The first quarter was also the "Romer" show, our teammate who I think was possessed by Ben Gordon. At the end of the first quarter, they cleared the bench and I got the first half garbage time (end of first quarter, start of second quarter) playing (gulp!) power forward? My first play of the game - they find me open on the wing and I have a defender two steps away from me. You see, 2009 Arn would have launched it to the back of the board. 2010 Arn gave a quick fake (new move!) and drove right (new move!). When I saw this big guy out of position I bumped into him, threw up the shot and fell on the ground (new move!). Sadly, the big guy lost his balance and landed on top of me. I was down on the ground with my face flat on the floor and this guy was sitting on me. Have you watched any of those Hannah-Barbera cartoons where one gets squashed with a steamroller?

I got up and did a quick check on my knees, my spine and my arms. Everything's in check. The ref called me and asked me to shoot free throws. Free... throws...? You know what happens when you push on "F1" the very first time on a computer and it suddenly indexes your files while preparing to use it for the first time? My first shot rolled out and my second shot didn't even graze the rim. The takedown I received a few minutes earlier didn't hurt but surely let out all the wind in me. I was gassed. I had another highlight in the game where I got the ball from Sonn, faked another shot then drove left. My legs got tangled with the defender's and again I landed flat on my face. Turnover. I got up and screamed "PANO NANGYARI YON?!?". If they gave me a T, I would have offered it to Rasheed Wallace. When they took me out for the second quarter they subbed the starters back in and we clung to a small 7 point lead until the end of the third, which was bad since we were up by 15 during the first quarter.

In the 4th quarter, Romer went back to Ben Gordon mode (for some reason he reverted to "Dick Gordon mode" during the 3rd) and our tall guys were still, well, tall. I think the key to the match was how our tall guys defended without being called for many fouls. The other team's tactic was obvious - go straight at our centers and get them out of the game. Once the big tall guys are out, they'll have to play their big fat guys - like that number 10 whose hair was worse than Donald Trump and Medusa combined. To the credit of our 3 headed center, they all stayed in and played excellent defense. Our top center collected like 154 rebounds I think. I didn't enter the game anymore. With us leading by 10 with 3 minutes to go, I don't think it's wise to use your victory cigar especially if the opponent erased a 7 point lead in 2 minutes at the end of the third. The game ended with us with a double digit lead. I got a copy of the stat sheet and recorded two stats - 0-2 FT's and a "10", my jersey number. Jaye tossed me a towel and a bottle of Gatorade which was funny since I was not even sweating and I think I would have burned more calories at home playing DOTA.

Jaye showed me a replay of my "takedown" video. She immediately stopped recording when she saw I got hurt (aww, sweet). I think the angle of the video made the whole thing just sick to watch.

- One guy leaped over the bench and landed awkwardly on his right knee.
- One guy was asked to leave the game since his jersey number 5 did not match the number on his shorts (#15). They said they could just tape over the "1" or find a blue shorts with no number but I guess they couldn't find one. He didn't play in the game anymore. He should have tried taping a "-10 = 5" on his shorts.
- Wendell was worrying before the game that we didn't have a big player. "wala pa tayong malaki, wala pa tayong malaki...". When I arrived, he then worried "wala pa tayong matangkad, wala pa tayong matangkad".

Week in Review - June Week 4

John Isner 70, Nicolas Mahut 68

No, it’s not a low scoring basketball game, it’s an extremely high scoring tennis match. If you’re not familiar with tennis rules, there’s no tiebreak in the 5th and final set and a player must lead by two to win the match and there’s no time limit. The match went on for 11 hours (spanning 3 days) and watching it felt like forever, like watching that Marmaduke movie.

Team Italy and Team France and the 2010 World Cup

Nah, I’m not going to pretend - I only watch the World Cup once it enters the knockout stage. In the 2006 World Cup final match, I saw Italy win the whole thing (and the Zidane head butt). In the 2010 World Cup, both clubs get eliminated even before entering the knockout stage. I know, I know, Filipinos can’t relate since we’re not a football country and we don’t really have a good national team (more on that later) but let’s just put it this way, the exit of these two teams is as disappointing as if say a VP candidate lost the elections after leading for most of the election period.

The Philippine National Football Team

The World Cup is everywhere and I can’t help but research more on our national football team. Apparently, we do have a national team but they’re ranked 169th in the world (to put that into perspective, the worst team is ranked 202nd – Papua New Guinea). How do we improve the team? For starters, we can give them cool nicknames like “Ronaldo” and “Ronaldinho”. How can we distinguish them from those Brazilian superstars? Insert an H after the first letter of their first names. Rhonaldo, Rhonaldinho and Dhavid are just screaming Pinoy.

US Advances to the World Cup Knockout Stage

One thing I learned about the World Cup in the US – every American is glued to all matches by the US National team but they stop watching once the US gets eliminated.

Charice on Glee

I’m not really a Gleek and I’m not a diehard fan of Charice but I do applaud her getting a part in Glee which is probably the hottest television show in the US. I just hope that she (1) gets recognized not just to be Asian but as a Filipina and (2) she does not get a stereotype role like say she’s an exchange student who sidelines as a nurse, a pool player or a boxer.

Sheed

Rasheed Wallace, who last played for the Boston Celtics and hit the most unexpected three point shot in game 7 has called it quits. Sheed has taught me two important basketball techniques - how to do that "No, that was NOT a foul" look and how old washed up players can play just by jogging from three point line to three point line and shooting an occassional looping three point shot.