coda ... for now

due to the events of the last few weeks (no, not the emergence of her dumbness Sarah Palin), i've come to conclude that i won't be able to post in this blog as much as i would like to, as i need a lot more time these days to get my head into writing something substantial (as if i do that anyway). this blog has encompassed the personal and the outside view, the important and the mundane, the funny and the sad, and a great deal of it examining pop culture through my dirty eyeglasses.

digital dust, through its initial incarnation in Xanga and Blogger 1.0, has been my baby since 2003. the years have zipped by quickly, spawning a couple more blogs along the way. some time back, i opened a Vox account to get a version 2.0 of dust rolling, but that never got off the ground as much. i kept going back to Blogger. and for good measure. now, perhaps the time has come to close the door on this particular tome.

not that i've come to dislike blogging - far from it. writing gives me a slice of peace of mind, but at the same time activating it in all directions. its the one thing my parents blessed me with, i think, and although i wouldn't say i squandered that talent, i don't think its enough to pay my bills anyway. its more of a pleasure that i indulge in. however, it takes a lot more energy to string words these days that somehow make sense or make people laugh. one of my favorite topics to blog about is looking back at my childhood and fondly reminiscing and laughing at myself. my family recently sent me scanned copies of old pictures of my wonder years - the wife and i were in stitches all night. maybe at some point, in some form or another, i'll be sharing those with you. assuming i'm not senile by then.

i won't be deleting this blog (now how else would you be reading this eh?), and i hope Blogger keeps it up for sometime (is there a cutoff date for non-activity and they delete it themselves?). i'll still be posting in the shared blog with my pals, and my own stream-of-consciousness dabbling with my first love, comicbooks. at this point, it is easier for me pound a few keys, paste a few links and get on with my life. plus there's always my flickr page. am still going back here from time to time as i am too lazy to bookmark the links i usually visit on the right sidebar.

within a month or so, America will have a new president, and the way its going, there could be chaos either way. assuming the economy hasn't completely fallen flat on its place, there's still scary stuff out there. the blogosphere can be a force for change, but it can only do so much. perhaps you'll find me out there.

thanks for passing by, boys and girls. see you around. the internet's a big place, but not that big. ask the CIA.

eulogy

first, i would like to greet all my family, relatives and friends who are here with us, and in spirit, during this trying occasion.

i will be the first to tell anyone how much i would like to be here right now, and not recording this to be played at the funeral. unfortunately, these kind of circumstances cannot be projected or scheduled. it will be something i will always remember with regret, that i am not here with the family.

when my dad had his stroke three years ago, we all thought we might lose him there and then. it was then fortunate that i was able to still see him, that he waited for me to get home, that despite his injuries, he was still able to recognize people, that we were able to spend a good three more years with him before last week.

i do not have my Dad's gift for writing and talking. i should know, he used to write all our school speeches when we were growing up. he wakes up at 3 in the morning to write something, anything, even if its just a laundry list of things to do for the day. he loves to talk to people, talk in front of an audience, to tell stories. he's a politician who didn't want to be a politician.

and when his stroke robbed him of his abilities to write and to talk, i believe, that was the saddest blow he ever had. can you imagine if, in the last three years, he was at least able to speak and write? he would probably have finished an autobiography out by now (published by Armvet, no less).

Dad was the type who never aspired to be rich, and for some reason, life wasn't really always that generous to him. but his generosity to others sometimes approached the bounds of the impractical, which is strange because he's more likely to cut costs, especially on things for his own benefit. when he retired, he could have used some of his retirement money to travel around the world, but no. he put up a school, to help the community's youth, and give them a chance at a better future. the long term gains of this endeavor is neither here nor there, but i am proud to say that he has indeed helped a lot of young people in Aparri, a place which is not even his adopted hometown. i hope, in their hearts, they will remember his contributions as long as they live.

and for the record at least, on our insistent prodding, he has managed to travel and visit me and our other relatives abroad back in 2003.

for someone who had the insight for long-term returns, he sure liked to live on a day to day basis. i used to give him a hard time because he stubbornly refused to hand over the domestic budgeting to my mother. Dad likes to consider himself a businessman, which gave the rest of the family a lot of concerns. i still think he should have asked for and listened to better advice.

he had at least made better decisions with his choice of partner in life. i cannot even imagine repaying someone like my mother, who has managed to bring up three children (and me not even her own), shepherd us through school and work, keep a job, and tend to him during his last years here on earth. Mom, i hope Dad will ask heaven to bless you with an easier time in the next chapters of your life. Dad, can you please do this as a final request?

we all have our own memories of him, but i would think a lot more is lost through the years. at this point, i would like to ask each and everyone to recall and remember the one best memory you have of my father - and keep it in your heart forever. in this regard, he is rich and wealthy. may we all be as fortunate when we pass on.




in closing, I would like to thank all the people who have stood by us in recent years, and have given generously, not in just material terms - Bapang Meng, i will forever be indebted to you, Tita Mely and my three favorite cousins and their families, the Del Mundos, the Tius, the Tiglaos, the Lacsamanas, our kin in Mabalacat whom my Dad never failed to visit when he was still healthy, his friends who have in one time or another gave him just a little bit more reason to live, and last but not the least the Perez clan on my mother's side, whom i have come to love as family since 1983. thank you for your generosity and kindness.



It is with great sadness that i humbly bid goodbye

to my Father

your Coya Bel

your Attorney Adriano


Ing Ginung Dios atiu Queca.

picks of the week

let's see ... the Golden Boy is out, Vick's heir apparent is suicidal, its lights out for San Diego, the Rams and Raiders are still pathetic, and Ocho Cinco should be renamed Siete Cinco. that's only week 1.



Week 2
Tennessee @ Cincinnati
Green Bay @ Detroit
Oakland @ Kansas City
NY Giants @ St. Louis
Indianapolis @ Minnesota
New Orleans @ Washington
Chicago @ Carolina
Buffalo @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Seattle
Atlanta @ Tampa Bay
New England @ NY Jets
Miami @ Arizona
San Diego @ Denver
Pittsburgh @ Cleveland
Philadelphia @ Dallas
Baltimore @ Houston

last week: 12-4

the pain

with the emergence of a new player in American politics, the event which created a massive media frenzy not seen since maybe Hurricane Katrina, the Republicans have turned the tables on the Democrats and the American people are now flocking to the next American idol.

it does seem eerily similar that a woman could potentially take the presidential seat given the right circumstances. in 2005, ABC once produced a political drama starring Geena Davis, whose title role is the what else, Commander in Chief. they probably did it with Hillary Clinton in mind.

but now, Hillary is "olds" and not news anymore, the Clintons painted as bitter and jealous has-beens, in the afterglow of Barack Obama's stellar rise in the Democratic ranks. John McCain, war hero, does not have age going for him, and it is definitely a substantial question of his health holding up in an expected turbulent 4-year term, if ever? oh, but first, he has to win the election first. enter Sarah Palin.

i have no problem with women running for political office, even if i had the right to vote here. but really? you're thinking of voting for an unknown state governor who has even less experience than Obama? what happens if she suddenly gets thrust on the driver's seat? that will even beat Tita Cory's task of trying to repair a fractured country.

Robert Herbert of the New York Times eloquently says it better than me. take it away, Bob.

The economy is in a tailspin. The financial sector is lurching about on rubbery legs. We’re mired in self-defeating energy policies. We’re at war. And we are still vulnerable to the very real threat of international terrorism.

With all of that and more being the case, how can it be a good idea to set in motion the possibility that Americans might wake up one morning to find that Sarah Palin is president?

I feel for Ms. Palin’s son who has been shipped off to the war in Iraq. But at his deployment ceremony, which was on the same day as the Charlie Gibson interview, Sept. 11, she told the audience of soldiers that they would be fighting “the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”

Was she deliberately falsifying history, or does she still not know that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?

To burnish the foreign policy credentials of a vice presidential candidate who never even had a passport until last year, the Republicans have been touting Alaska’s proximity to Russia. (Imagine the derisive laughter in conservative circles if the Democrats had tried such nonsense.) So Mr. Gibson asked Ms. Palin, “What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?”

She said, “They’re our next-door neighbors. And you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska. From an island in Alaska.”

Mr. Gibson tried again. “But what insight does that give you,” he asked, “into what they’re doing in Georgia?”

John McCain, who is shameless about promoting himself as America’s ultimate patriot, put the best interests of the nation aside in making his incredibly reckless choice of a running mate. But there is a profound double standard in this country. The likes of John McCain and George W. Bush can do the craziest, most irresponsible things imaginable, and it only seems to help them politically.

even i can make a better political analysis about Russia and Georgia.

some people even think the Democrats made a mistake when they ditched Hillary for Obama. Hillary is probably even seething mad right now and would be so if McPain won the full ticket, McCain bites the dust and Palin gets the Oval Office. no offense to women everywhere, but i wouldn't pick Hillary or Palin at all. too bad i have no say in this election.

picks of the week

Here we go again (and on that note, kailan kaya ako magkakaHDTV?)

Week 1

Washington @ N.Y. Giants
Detroit @ Atlanta
Seattle @ Buffalo
N.Y. Jets @ Miami
Kansas City @ New England
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans
St. Louis@ Philadelphia
Houston @ Pittsburgh
Jacksonville @ Tennessee
Cincinnati @ Baltimore
Carolina @ San Diego
Arizona @ San Francisco
Dallas @ Cleveland
Chicago @ Indianapolis
Minnesota @ Green Bay
Denver @ Oakland

brb

urbanites

in the past week or so, i've had some kind of contact from old friends from my short stint in the late, maybe-not-so-lamented Urban Bank. for those who still remember, Urban Bank was a solid pillar in the Philippine financial community until an unfortunate series of events brought it crashing down to earth. 10 years later, i feel like part of a seminal rock band, which kind of broke up just before they hit the big time,  and the dissolution became a very hyped disaster. i left the Bank about a year before it went under, and i feel sorry for those who stayed behind then had to scurry like rats to flee the sinking ship. a sad story to this day, which culminated in the death of star banker TCB.

oh, yeah, back to my old friends. i received a message in my old Friendster account (i know, i know, i barely update the damn thing) that my friend Loida was getting married. i exchanged emails with her sometime back, and she was at a crossroads because her fiance and her had an adorable daughter and their wedding was called off. now, happy days have come again for her as she served notice that she was marrying the guy early this month. they've been together for such a long time, that there should be no other ending. congratulations, Loids!

the other contact i had (again through the trendy-in-2003 Friendster) was from the Australian transplant Maricris, who started a blog and ehem, credited yours truly for inspiring her. Maricris was the older sister/hen we had in our department, and she kept an even keel on things even though we didn't know what the hell we were doing (speak for yourself, grifter). the funniest thing i ever heard from her was her nickname during the Yuletide season (hence the name of her blog). she used to lend me Dragonlance books and that was my one-and-only time brush with fantasy novels, despite not having played any D&D and my tastes ran more along the lines of political/military superthrillers. having lost track of her in the ensuing years, i only had Friendster to tell me that she and husband moved to Oz with their daughter. she actually may have other ties to me as her sister worked with my mother-in-law in the previous decade. funny how life is.

oh, and before August ends, although he won't read this anyway, belated happy birthday, Pong Pagong! thank you for throwing me a line in 1996. it was quite an interesting 17 months.

1992 was so long ago ...

and i miss my well-worn copy of Zander Hollander's Pro Basketball Handbook. he made the reader so familiar with these strange tall men. so we'll just say goodbye to Duck. sorry you ran into that certain Chicago God, er ... guard.

yeah, i had to wake up for this

breakneck pace in first quarter woke me up faster than a cup of joe. playing more of run n' gun, the Spaniards played right into the hands of this generation of Yanks who really like nothing better than to shoot.

speaking of the Spaniards, some of their jerseys read: "Rudy", "Ricky", "Marc", "Bernie", "Raul" etc. sounds like Menudo to me, if only Pau Gasol wasn't a familiar face. and on the topic of faces, i bet they wouldn't be (caught) making this face again. by the way, that kid Ricky Rubio is pretty good for a 17-year old.

As for the Americans, well ... this is the most likable group since the (now-legendary) 1992 Olympians. good thing they weeded out the malcontents (Starbury, Iverson etc.). their 69-61 halftime lead yo-yo'ed between 10 and 2 points, and they traded big shot after big shot with the tough Spaniards and held on for the 118-107 final score.

Redeem Team? sounds like born-again Christians.

no more "Coach L". no more "LeBronze". the USA is back.

and on that note, thank you, Beijing, for a great Olympics (even if that girl didn't really sing, and those gymnasts aren't really 16).

everyone's looking at our building and i don't know why

there's allegedly a jumper on the roof. stay tuned.


update: after 20 minutes, looks like nothing happened. booooooooooo.

it could happen!

here's TMQ's prediction on Brett as a Jet. Jet fans, you have been warned!

If Favre can retire then nonretire every year, why not every week? Below is a weekly agenda for the Jets' season:

Sunday immediately following game: Favre tells reporters he's "considering" retirement. Says he will come back if all networks agree that cameras will show no player except him.

Monday morning: Favre's agent says client feels "not appreciated" because New York City has not been renamed Brettopolis. Holds tearful farewell news conference, says "I would never go back on my word unless there was something in it for me." Thanks teammates for not coming between him and cameras. Returns to Mississippi.

Monday evening: Hosts vigil in Hattiesburg tent. Tells Oak Grove High School players, "Always be a self-sacrificing team player."

Tuesday morning: Invites hundreds of reporters and cameramen to his farm to see him happily working the land.

Tuesday lunchtime. Tires of working the land.

Wednesday morning. Calls ESPN, New York Times to plant comeback rumor.

Wednesday afternoon. Calls ESPN, New York Times to deny comeback rumor.

Thursday morning. Demands immediate reinstatement. Grants "exclusive" interviews to ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, NFLN, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Fox College Sports/Pacific, CSPAN-2, Planet Green, Oxygen, Toon, Home Preview Channel, HBO Signature HD, SOAPNet, Canal Plus and the MHz4 Nigerian TV Authority. (you forgot the Food Network! - grifter)

Thursday evening. Demands New Jersey annex Delaware and give it to him, also demands USM change its sports nickname to the Golden Fours. United States Senate stages all-night emergency session to debate Favre return.

Friday morning. Congress offers $600 billion bailout if Favre returns. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explains, "We don't care who gets the bailout, we just like to give away borrowed money. Hey Nancy, they want more. OK, $800 billion."

Friday afternoon. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon flies to Hattiesburg in the space shuttle to accompany Favre on his return to New Jersey. Manhattan casting agency hires hundreds of extras to pretend to be adoring Favre fans at arrival.

Saturday morning. Favre attends walk-through, disabled children allowed to touch his garments. (hwaaaahahahahahaha - grifter)

Sunday morning. All other players' names removed from program in order to print Brett Favre in 72-point type across every page. Governor of New Jersey washes Favre's feet during player introductions. (but he's blind! no wait, that's the New York one! - grifter)

Postgame: Favre hints game may have been his last.

other notes: this thing could have been a lot worse than it should be. he could have thrown this tantrum right before August 8 (stealing the thunder from China - shame on you, Putin!), but the sports calendar has been designed as it is. so instead of gagging so much on Brett, we're being fed a steady diet of Phelps. which is not so bad. but check back with me on that in 10 days.


"it's been a very difficult season for me ..."


"ni hao, xiānshēng Favre Brett!"



by the way, my Madden 09 still hasn't been updated and Chad is still a jet. hmmmm ...

happy Olympic viewing, everyone!

jungle boogie

not having opened iTunes in a long time, doing so today resulted in an installation of Apple's Safari browser. sneaky Jobs.



i do like the Safari in my iPhone but i don't really need a third browser in my office laptop. but then again, it may have its uses. hmmmmm ... (but its still operating within Winblows ... arrghhh).

since they can't read this anyway ...

TIBET! TIBET! TIBET! TIBET! TIBET!

why are the Americans kowtowing to the Chinese? politics and money.

we have a Chinese Mainlander technician onsite now, and he's been adamant about things Japanese, World War II, and their current business practices. i've restrained myself so far about discussing Tibet with him. someone might go postal.

call you crazy

is this really the future? (for my young countrymen, at least)

"outsourcing" and "call centers" became two of the very important catchphrases at the turn of this century. the latter in particular becoming an overnight industry that spread like wildfire over the globe, with the maturation of the Internet and the reduction of (most of) the world to a true global village. and for (still) developing countries like the Philippines and India, who are not lacking in English language skills, putting up call centers and providing local employment has been a lucrative business.

and today's fresh graduates see it both as a potential first job and a fallback option, not to mention a trendy career opportunity. years ago, it was BS Commerce. then it was Computer Science (no disrespect to AMA and STI). now, i'm not sure if teenagers are not dreaming and wishing: "i want to be a call center agent when i grow up!"

i've had more than a passing experience with this, as my sister, whom we have high hopes for, landed a call center job - as her first job (i think). not a knock against the CC people. i'm just saying it seems like its a lifestyle for the desperate. do i really want to reverse my normal daily cycle - sleep by day and work at night? miss proper meals? get pressured by trainers and managers while your job security depended on not passing out? i've seen my sister go through that hell, and applauded when she finally quit that job.

so, in that article above, am i surprised that the Philippines had the worst turnover rate? no. i'm just surprised at the high number.

it was bound to happen anyway. you do too much, too soon, and burnout happens. is the demand really that high? are Americans too lazy already and can't possibly do this themselves? i guess they are ... obesity is a major problem and they don't need more of their people sitting around in cubicles, putting weight, and getting angina from irate debt-ridden fellow citizens. thanks for passing that along to the Third World, fellas.

and what about these standards? speaking English well gets you in the door for an interview, but then you have to pass rigorous testing before you are even deemed worthy of a paltry salary (maybe in two years, you might become team leader ... ooohh, reminds me of the ridiculous officer training in some banks). and who are we helping really? sure, it may put food in some tables, but you can't consistently do that if you're sick, dead or dying now, can you? might still be better off being an OFW, now, but then again, once you think about the corrupt government who's leeching off you ... well, that's another story.

At Convergys, training managers boast to new trainees that only one out of every 100 applicants they interviewed are actually hired. “So, you’re the best, the cream of the crop!" he tells a trainee.

what crop? what cream? are you sure this is cream? looks like sour milk to me.

speaking of Convergys, my sister did apply with them (yes, apparently this whole thing isn't behind her, as well as for a large majority of ex-CC agents, i suppose), and even before a dream came to fruition (a dream that didn't really pay much), majority of their batch-in-training got terminated even before they were officially hired. what a classy organization. do you really want to put "terminated @ my last job" in your CV?

in an effort to "understand" this atrocious turnover rate:

Both ACS and Convergys have “exit interviews" for all call center agents resigning or getting fired, to find out the reasons and causes of the high turnover rate in the industry. A pattern is slowly emerging from these studies—- bad training design, oppressive trainors, too much stress, too much pressure, ‘prison-like’ condition, pay not worth the effort, etc.

well ... DUH. with a capital H.

as much as i'd like my sis to find alternative jobs, one that doesn't include getting harassed, hungry-slash-eating-badly, shafted for minuscule pay, i guess this is the reality over there. far be it for me to tut-tutting, since i'm here (and that's also another story) and they're there, but all i want is for her to find her niche in life (usually happiness comes along with being in that niche).

so, sis ... just persevere, and always think 'stepping stone'. you're still young. the highway of life is still ahead of you. don't worry, you will know when it's time to stay put.

earthquake!

the legend/brat from Green Bay will now be throwing for the Jets.

that's a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view.

either way, he'll be selling a lot of jerseys. my question is, will Madden 09 be updated in time?

-----
update: i guess that is that.

biking hazard

the fascist pig is being investigated. investigated schmestigated. fire the asshole and plaster his face around the city! tarred and feathered! drawn and quartered!

update: the cop's name is Patrick Pogan and his badge and gun have been taken away from him. but he can still push cyclists anytime with his beautiful sexy hands. and what about his partner? they both arrested the victim who was allegedly 'blocking traffic' and 'assaulting a police officer'.

we demand that Hizzoner Mayor Bloomberg run this sorry excuse for a cop out of the Big Apple!

about time!

why did the Internet wait to be born till after i finished college?

and why did my college install airconditioners in the classrooms after i left, for that matter?

@#&&!$%@%@$!!!!

broken blogger

does this text look smaller?

old school

welcome back, time bandit. this office is now is majority old school (emphasis on "old").


oh, wait, your former employers seem to be headed this way. they're packing serious heat.

sing

there's nothing like hearing your stroke-disabled father, singing Nat King Cole's Mona Lisa, from what remains of his memory, live over a faulty internet line, from over 10,000 miles away.

i feel the crush in my mother's heart as she bravely encourages him to sing.

and i feel happy that he does get through the song.



here's the one song i always felt i could sing to him, although the lyrics may not always apply, and i definitely would not be able to do it justice:


The highlands and the lowlands are the routes my father knows,
the holidays at Oban and the towns around Montrose,
but even as he sleeps, they're loading bombs into the hills,
and the waters in the lochs can run deep, but never still.

I've thought of having children, but I've gone and changed my mind.
It's hard enough to watch the news, let alone explain it to a child,
to cast your eye 'cross nature, over fields of rape and corn,
and tell him without flinching not to fear where he's been born.

Then someone sat me down last night, and I heard Caruso sing.
He's almost as good as Presley, and if I only do one thing,
I'll sing songs to my father, I'll sing songs to my child.
It's time to hold your loved ones while the chains are loose,
and the world runs wild.

But even as we speak, they're loading bombs onto a white train.
How can we afford to ever sleep, so sound again.

"The Night I Heard Caruso Sing"
Everything But the Girl


go and love your parents, before they pass on without you letting them know.

iPocalypse now

the Jesus 2.0 comes out today!



and expectedly, more morons people have waited in line for a week, grabbed their spanking new 3G devil's tool iPhone, and found out that they can't be activated.

we really can't stem the tide of lemmings early adopters, especially when its been hyped that the price is 1/3 than what the early early adopters paid for this time last year. what the pundits have been telling, and no one is listening anyway (why should they? its the Jesus phone! i'll sell my soul for Jesus!!!), is that with that 2-year contract to AT&T, it would cost a lot more than the iPhone 1.0.

sure, 3G is fast, but do you really need to surf the web wherever you are? (wait, i do that when seated on the throne) really, its just a matter of time before its jailbroken (hint, hint). and even if my refurb 1.0 is still cost me $50 more, i am not beholden to AT&T, who's going to gouge everyone for every single cent before their 5-year exclusive contract is up. and based on the revered Walter Mossberg's review, the price of 3G speed is a battery that's easily drained.

but please, ignore everything else, and run screaming to get your iPhone. Steve Jobs is waiting for you.

chong vs punk, 20 years later

better late than never.



in just 10 minutes i got:
It's a Mistake - Men At Work
People are Strange - Echo & The Bunnymen
Baby's Got Rockets - Dancing Hoods
A Gentle Sound - The Railway Children
Wrong (Todd Terry Club Mix) - Everything But The Girl

a great selection, one i would play on my iPod.

go look for your favorite (dead) station on Live365.com. sadly, 99.5 RT isn't among the carcasses. and skipping the ads will set you back $8 a month. ah, hell, what's radio without ads?

wu?

in tribute to the late, lamented Deadwood (i'm 2/3rds finished with its stellar 3-season run).

blockbusting

update 1, update 2, to my earlier post.

hopefully, the charges stick and their lawyers won't be able to get them out in 25 years at least.

we got talent!

and she traveled all the way here for this.

bravo, Madam Prez. hope you get a couple of million at least. as long as most of it don't go into some fat pig's pockets.

druggy druggy

last Friday, Brooklyn cops swooped into my street and raided two notorious houses, resulting in arrests and general glee among my neighbors. had I known, I should have taken the day off and you would be watching YouTube clips instead of my boring prose.


these dens of iniquity (not obvious from the facade) housed what I called the "PBA" - the Puting Basura Association; in other words, white trash who were usually drunk, loud, belligerent, and generally not very nice neighbors. as i have learned, community activists have been pestering the police and local politicians for years to do something about them, and it turns out dealing and using dope is also part of their repertoire.

here's more details from the sharp eyes of the Brooklyn Eagle and the Bay Ridge Rover.

a tenant in my building who delivered the news to us after work wryly said, "now we have nothing to talk about."

my street still has a mobile truck stationed, raising the thoughts that the arrested felons may be out on bail soon, or they will be supplanted by others.



well, it will at least be quiet for awhile, especially for those who live just beside these houses.

should i throw tomatoes at her?

i have to find ones with the salmonella, no doubt.


our President goes on a junket while the country just finished another round with a typhoon.

... jetted off to San Francisco en route to Washington and eventually, New York, with the objectives of her trip still up in the air. Meetings with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (widely whispered to be no fan of the President) and with candidate Barack Obama ... have not been confirmed.

The horde of congressmen and the two token senators, the 10 Cabinet members and the President's own family will probably spend their time doing other things. The First Family, for one, will want to know how their San Francisco properties are doing. We can be confident other Filipino officials will similarly be inclined. At least Speaker Prospero Nograles has been frank about the main purpose of his visit: to attend Manny Pacquiao's upcoming fight in Las Vegas.

ahhh, kaya pala!!!! goddammit, if i had cable TV, i'd probably see them in the audience during this fight.

once she arrives here in NYC, the Philippine Embassy will most likely be closed again, for this "momentous event" (happens at least once a year, right?).

do you know how lucky the Embassy staff are? because they get a lot of holidays - following both Filipino and American calendars. June 12 Philippine Independence Day? check. US Thanksgiving? check. Good Friday? check (note: Good Friday is not a religious holiday here, so for the last 7 years i spent 3 PM reflecting at my desk). didn't Gloria also declare a Ramadan holiday back home? does the embassy close on that day too?

can anyone tell me the total cost of this junket is? better yet, tell it to the victims of the typhoon.

blue in red

with the frenzied opening day of the IKEA in Brooklyn (Red Hook) behind us, let us give a toast to the Big Blue Box and its controversial appearance in the borough, by running this.

originally appeared in Esquire Magazine, June 2006


oh, well, just like the normal people, i "need" to grab a couple of things. how's saturday sound?

from the brownstoner

holy Marty Markowitz! the venerable brownstoner linked to a photo of mine!



Thanks! Brooklyn, baby!!!!

Antoine Walker, where are you?

am sure he still wants to be Green.

Celtics achieve what the Patriots can't.

Kobe is NOT better than Jordan.

Ray Allen has the last laugh.

Doc Rivers, championship coach? unbelievable.

Phil Jax may want to quit at 9.

Sam Cassell should shut up now and return to his Alien Mothership with 3 rings.

The Finals MVP should be shared by the Big Three: Paul Pierce, Allen and Kevin Garnett.

Boston thanks Kevin McHale, Glen Taylor and the city of Minnesota.

and on that note ... this is how you do it, Stephon Marbury!!! moron.

get F'd

do we or do we not? what's going on?

ok, i see a green light. but then, when i tried, i got what i expected:


oh, well, i've been running an FF3 release in my home desktop for a month now (bundled with Ubuntu). i guess i can wait a few more hours.


ps. go Celtics! goodbye, Tim Russert!

all you need to know today

that game was for the ages.

back to high school

1984-87 ... that seems so long ago. and even though i was a barely-than-casual NBA observer back then - it didn't become a full blown interest until Jordan won his 1st championship in 1991 - it was like these two were the only teams that mattered (Bird vs Magic, always, all the time). in a small town in a Third World country (of course, the 1992 Dream Team would usher in a new age).

looking back at it now, that period was split with two titles each for Boston and L.A. Boston leads in overall titles between them, but the Lakers can close that gap to 1. and they sure can.

Kobe seems to be at the height of his powers, and he has a better supporting cast that does not include someone named "Shaq". the Celtics, hailed early this season as a great team with heavyweights, lost some of that allure in the Playoffs by not convincingly beating Atlanta, Cleveland and Detroit (playoff record 12-9). although the Lakers have not beaten the Celtics yet this season, that was before Pau Gasol's arrival via the Memphis fire sale.

being in New York City, i had misgivings; should i root for the Celtics because i am on the East Coast after all, or should i pull for the Lakers, because New Yorkers hate anything Boston sports-wise? (c'mon, the Patriots and the Red Sox are different circumstances) i'm happy for Kevin Garnett as his journey from the wilds of Minnesota have ended up here on the big stage, and even that alone puts me squarely behind Gang Green (and i never liked Kobe anyway - but i respect his talents). this is the Finals that i wanted, once the Playoff seeds were established.

one thing for sure, there's a lot of Pinoys who filed for absences from work for this one.

at the risk of being laughed at ... Boston, 4-3.

case in point

this is a funny post, but in my experience, i did it myself. i get sick with all the dust coating the DVD boxes, so i decided to move them on to sleeves instead (you can find lots at x-tremegeek.com). even the CD cases went away (really, all my CDs have been ripped to digital format anyway, but i still kept them in library binders). the racks and towers were left for donation. but i'll admit boxed sets are nice to look at. that's why they survived the cut.

arc of a viewer

after a couple of weeks of usage, i'm turning in the verdict for the gift i got from my family, the Archos 705 Mobile DVR.

really, i just wanted something to watch my movies in a larger screen, during my commute. the iPhone doesn't cut it (not if i want to save whatever eyesight i have). this baby does a lot more, but it does the basics and does it well. for that alone, i'm giving it a thumbs up.

the interface isn't Apple, but its okay. you can use your finger or the accompanying stylus (note: the iPhone doesn't accept stylus input - booo!)

you have obvious icons for videos, music and photos. i doubt if i'm going to use this as a music player, since the iPod and iPhone are the proper unobtrusive devices to use for the mobile commuter (mobile = walking).

the video list shows a looping few second clip of each movie. so far, it played the files i asked it to, except a couple with some codec issues.

since this is basically a hard drive, you can also use it as a DVR. but you have to buy some extra hardware (naahhh).

and you also have the choice to watch your movies on the big screen (ehhhh).


plug it in the electrical outlet, and you can be a security guard who'll never be bored.



now, it would be two thumbs if a couple of things happened:

1) i get the browser plug-in without paying anything ... somebody heeeeeelp!!

2) longer battery life - although we can skirt this problem by not forgetting to charge every other day, i feel that they could've done better. i've had a couple of incidents where i thought i had enough juice, but it conked out on me. i thought the files were bad, or worse, the battery was. i think it gets drained a lot when it goes into a suspended state. battery power is still the bane of portable gadgets.


and as i expected, i managed to watch a lot more stuff in my commute than i do at home:

The Bank Job - superb, superb movie! i don't care what you say about Jason Statham, i'd watch anything he's in.
The Proposition - a way-dark Western, set in Australia. Guy Pearce must be choosing roles that gives him all the opportunities not to take a shower. i don't think he took a bath since Ravenous.
The Matador - Pierce Brosnan as the anti-Bond? The Thomas Crown Affair and After the Sunset still had the Bond aura about him, but films like this and The Tailor of Panama shows there's life after 007.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - on the road to sobriety, Iron Man and triumph, Robert Downey Jr made this inventive little crime noir-slash-comedy with the now-underrated Val Kilmer. peaches.
The Golden Compass - i never thought about this beyond an adventure yarn. actually bitin pala, and since it flopped (by their standards) i guess i won't see what happens next.
Untraceable - a stab (pardon the pun) at torture porn, but mostly candy-wrapped with the presence of Diane Lane. its also unbelievable.
Walk Hard (The Dewey Cox Story) - now this one made me laugh with its double-entendre-a-minute style. perennial supporting actor John C. Reilly finally shines, and now i have proof how hot Pam the Receptionist is.

so far i haven't dropped it yet, but the odds are substantial ... better have good hands.

goodbye, Windows

well, from the home desktop at least.

no, wait, i still might need to install VMWare to put in a guest XP box to run my DLink Media Server. i still have to find a way around that.


but otherwise, Hardy Heron has seemed to do for me what Edgy Eft couldn't do two years ago (get the proper display drivers, for starters).

cheers, Ubuntu!

drug is the drug

unearthed from the last century!



i remember getting addicted to this when i first played it. its as addictive as the drugs you "peddle" in whatever metropolis you choose. note that this is the crude DOS version, and is much fun even if it isn't the Windows one.



by the middle of the month, i remembered how to sell, managed to pay off my loan, and even banked some money. hoooo-haaaaa!



by the last day, i banked most of the dough and took a slight hit with some unsold Ecstasy. almost $190,000 earned in 30 days. not bad for a one-off.



if only i was this judicious with money in real life. wait, that means i'm gonna be dealing. or in jail. or dead.

thanks for the memories, Beermat Software!

feeling like this

the patheticity

iI don't know if there's such a word, but it sure describes my blogging from a bar.

the view

i always love a delivery guy when he has something for me.



my effusive thanks to my bro, sis, mom and dad for sending this my way! dropping hints in a blog can be effective - i kid, i kid. salamat pong muli!!!

10 balls

ch-ch-changes.

1. goodbye again, Mavericks. 2008 COY Byron Scott exacts revenge against J-Kidd, Dirk is still looking for his heart, and Dallas is once again out in the first round. Mark Cuban, its time for the R-word. and i don't mean "reload". the Li'l General is on shaky ground too.
   
   
2. hello again, Orlando. back in the playoffs, i see. shed the curse of Shaq, why don't you?
   
   
3. speaking of Shaq ... bye-bye, Shaq. former MVPs O'Neal and Steve Nash could not stop the Suns from setting, and they may not prevent coach Mike D'Antoni from getting canned either.
   
   
4. Larry Brown takes over the Charlotte coaching chair, with blessings from His Airness The Tongue. how long is he going to stay this time? two years? or until Adam Morrison starts bawling?
   
   
5. let's also say goodbye to Pat Riley, who stepped down a few days ago after un-retiring in late 2005 to coach the Miami Heat to its only championship, effectively sabotaging and pushing out his protege Stan Van Gundy (no matter what the publicists say). now Van Gundy is chasing his own destiny 200 miles away in Orlando, while Miami gets a big chance to pick first in the 2008 NBA Draft due to its abysmal 14-68 record.
   
   
6. Black Mamba ... Black Mamba ... Black Mamba ...
   
   
7. holy crap! Atlanta has reduced playoff series with the mighty Celtics to three games?! Bill Simmons and his pop must be squirming right now.
   
   
8. how long before Denver trades Carmelo "I Think I'm Untouchable" Anthony?
   
   
9. T-Mac seems to have woken up eh? do we still call him "The Big Sleep"?
   
   
10. CP3 ... CP3 ... CP3 ...
    

need a donation

this, specifically.



drop me an email so i can tell you where to ship it, generous souls.

jules pwns jenny

here's a little story about my spring cleaning. deciding to remodel my teeny weeny apartment without spending much (in fact i even gave away stuff), much of the weekend was spent moving furniture around and throwing/giving away stuff. like the CD towers. and the weaker-than-weak stand fan. i'm still weighing on the magazine collection (yes, soon). which then brings us to a few VHS tapes i still keep around. i'm still not done with the cleaning so there's probably a few more lying around somewhere.



so to wit, i kept the blank ones and separated the following:

- Pulp Fiction (solid gold)
- The Usual Suspects (solid gold)
- Striking Distance (back when Horse Face was still a Pony)
- Jenny McCarthy: The Playboy Years (please don't ask)

so i took them all downstairs and left them by the lobby. i had a feeling that the first two would be taken first (this is kinda like the ongoing NFL draft). i mean who would not want those two landmark movies, one resurrecting John Travolta's career and the other putting Bryan Singer on the map? in my case, i already have them in digital format, so no problem. soon, they'll be storing movies inside nanochips in our brain, effectively ending the media storage furniture business.

an hour later, i discovered i was right!!

the Bruce Willis cheap thriller was still there, along with Jenny. poor Jenny.

does this mean nobody wants a piece of Jenny McCarthy? (right, they probably want her sister, Amy)

still a couple of hours later, Striking Distance was gone, and there still lay Ms. McCarthy, lonely and unwanted.

should we cook up a few possible reasons why this happened?

- the people in my apartment have a bit more class and know which side their bread is buttered
- those that bothered to notice the tapes were of the age where the prurient stuff no longer holds any fascination with them
- they already have better copies
- they've seen the damn thing
- they want Amy McCarthy

eventually, the last tape was gone from the foyer, which then leads me to think that i just witnessed a female version of Mr Irrelevant.

actually, we can also explain this phenomenon using the immortal law involving Kevin Bacon.

- Pulp Fiction stars Samuel Jackson as the iconic Jules Winnfield.
- Jackson worked with Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator and A Time to Kill.
- Spacey is the twist villain in The Usual Suspects (if i spoiled it for you, boooohooo; you should've seen this about a million times already).
- Bruce Willis appears in both Pulp Fiction and Striking Distance.
- Jenny McCarthy has not worked with any of the aforementioned actors.
- there is also no proof that she dated any of them in the past.
- neither has her current beau, Jim Carrey, dated or worked with them in the past.


i wonder which of my neighbors picked her tape? hmmmmmmm .....

dribble, dribble

first of all, kudos to my man KG for winning the DPOY award. i still keep my TWolves cap, for old times' sake (God forbid i get targeted by Mike Bibby or worse, the local crowd) - he's the only reason i bought it anyway. Lakers-Celtics for Finals! bring back my early high school daze.

second of all, and the best basketball event so far: Isiah has been fired, and good riddance.

looking back at my predictions last Friday, seems like i'm on track for most of it.

Boston is up 2-0, so is Cleveland and Orlando. i still think the Pistons will whup the Sixers; it just might take the full seven games. i'm rooting for my sentimental favorite, the Magic men, to get past Detroit if that's the 2nd round matchup.

i'm stumbling over with my West side bets, as Phoenix and Dallas are getting schooled and winless through two games. considering that these two traded for past-their-prime superstars (Shaq and JKidd, respectively), it looks like that experiment is going to blow up in their faces. Manu is the Sixth Man of the Year and a damn good x-factor, and Chris Paul is running rings around the Mavs.

Utah and the Lakers are handily winning - a Yao-less Rockets team and a dysfunctional Denver one wont be around much longer. i want a Utah-L.A. Western finals but that doesn't seem possible because of the seedings, unless the Hornets get upset and the Jazz whip the Spurs, probably.

since i don't have cable channels that show the games, i'm content with just checking the scores online. that's okay; there's a lot more to do anyway.

beware of geek (almost)

49% Geek
49%



and i won't survive the moon:
50%

and almost a seventh of a million died while i lived:
132,276 People

and my typing skills are nonexistent:
71

i blame jego for these quizzes.

hoops there it is

2008 NBA Playoffs begins tomorrow.

too bad we're at the NYCC this weekend.


do i have to ... oh well, alright ...

East:
Boston vs Atlanta ... Celtic revival parade will run over the Hawks
Cleveland vs Washington ... Gilbert Arenas will be 0-3 in career series with Bron Bron
Orlando vs Toronto ... i'm guessing it won't be Andrea Bargnani's coming-out party
Detroit vs Philadelphia ... can i imagine a Philly upset? naaahhh.

West:
LA Lakers vs Denver ... really? against an energized Laker team? nope.
Utah vs Houston ... T-Mac will still not get out of the 1st round
San Antonio vs Phoenix ... Shaq vs Duncan? the x-factor will be The Argentinian (sorry, Bill Simmons)
New Orleans vs Dallas ... time to see what Dirk's really made of



fire Isiah! fire Isiah!

green is in

congratulations, time bandit!!! i am now checking the menu for Tropic Zone.

prison break

time to break free of Windows Media Player and iTunes.



an open source love child of Mozilla and WinAmp, Songbird seems poised to be a solid alternative to those media players (WMP needs a bunch of codecs to play other formats while iTunes is notoriously sticking with their own). right out of the box, this beta 0.5 version already plays the high res .MKV files, something you can't do with WMP. this will still be buggy, but so what. i hope they keep plugging away until they get it right.

as i switched to Firefox/Thunderbird 4 years ago and never looked back, this looks like another road of no return (for me).

canine poop

aside from inanities involving dogs, here's what was on CNN.com a couple of hours ago:



on one hand, be glad it wasn't their headline. on the other hand ... is this even news? what's next, "Oprah's cat* has asthma"? i hope you choke on that grease money, CNN.


* ask Gayle King; she knows about that

touchdown

the Bigger Kahuna, Pope Benedict XVI (as opposed to the Big Kahuna, our St. Patrick's Church pastor in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and the Biggest Kahuna, the Lord God Himself), has landed today on American soil, the first such visit since 9/11.


among the issues he will be tackling during his visit will be the molestation-via-priest scandal (i expect heads to roll, il papa), pumping up the slumbering and disappointed Catholic faithful, subtly slapping Dubya's fingers for the Iraq mess, perhaps meeting with his potential successors (McCain or Obama), and generally bring sexy back to the image of a Catholic leader (i kid, i kid).

the Pope will be in the Big Apple this Friday, and will celebrate Mass in Yankee Stadium on Sunday. sorry, those tickets ran out as early as last year.

at least just for one day, this dude below won't be the "Big Dog" in that arena. for you n00bs, that's NY Yankees boss George Steinbrenner.


but don't they kinda look the same? they both have German roots, they can be ornery, and they rule over an empire ...

am just saying!

(bless me, Father, for i have sinned ...)

life is a box of ...

scenes from an afternoon along Park Avenue South ...


my boyhood idol (even more than Captain America) - those who want to tag with me on the opening screening, raise your hands.



Will Eisner lives!!!!



i don't care what you say, this is not to be missed as well.


how come no one told me about this?? that being said - photochopped!!! Jenna doesn't look like that anymore.



i read recently in Time Magazine that Howard Schultz has made a comeback to reclaim former glory. even better, he's trying to keep the Sonics back in Seattle (yes please).



i started doodling and drawing my current apartment, and invariably ended up trying to redesign the Iron Man armor. it kept looking like the Halo soldiers though (the paper below had more scribbles by the time i finished).

in case you're wondering ...

there's a point to these pictures. i thought i'd never see them again. and that's because i thought i lost my camera.

you know that feeling when you lost something valuable - let's keep our discussions on the material side of things, ok? - that you can't relax, your mind keeps drifting to it every 3 seconds, and you keep reliving and replaying the sequence of events leading to its disappearance? i couldn't sleep at all last night, after discovering its not in the places i've looked. i frantically emailed my friend time bandit, who's currently incognito in Ecuador to foment dissent and actually put a hit on that pig Hugo Chavez when he visits Rafael Correa, and there was a slim chance the object of my search may be in the stuff i left him back in Jersey last Friday. but none of that made me calm down, not even two consecutive missions in Hitman: Contracts that left a lot of Chinese gangsters and policemen dead, and sent my mass murderer rating soaring.

and then this morning, half-asleep and gears still turning in my head, the light bulb i was waiting to turn on - turned on.

you know that feeling too, right?

i stood up, walked over to a jacket i forgot i wore last Friday ... and viola.

24 hours of feeling distraught. oboy.


whom the gods would destroy, they first make senile.