The only sane voice

Of course, as always, he has the only sane voice, among those who would be President (except the link has not been working as of late) from the opposition..

He did it again

Tiger wins by two in the Buick Invitational. This is his 3rd consecutive Buick (5 overall) and his 7th consecutive PGA.

(photo from CNN)

Be careful

Be careful what you ask for. Are they really asking to junk my beloved UPCC?
Here is another photo.

Masha fails herself

I didn't get to watch the match, but with a score of 6-1, 6-2, Masha failed herself. Miracles really do happen. But it could have been the case of the veteran vs. NGOTB (new girl on the block). I wonder how high the decibels reached in this match.



If it is any consolation for Masha, she is the new #1 and the richest athlete (male or female, in any sport) in endorsements.



But a Grand Slam is a Grand Slam and Serena must be really happy. In any case, this Australian Open was full of upsets.

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Oh Justine

It was bad enough that Justine loses her #1 ranking, but what is worse is her separation from her husband Yves. This was probably the reason why she begged off from the Australian Open. But what is the #1 ranking if one's marriage fails? No success can compensate for the failure in one's marriage or family.

Australian Open

Well, well, Masha is in the finals after winning in her semifinal against retiring Kim Clijsters (6-4, 6-2). The miracle could happen with Serena Willams, the winner over teener Nicole Vaidisova (7-6, 6-4).

The men's semifinals are the following:

(1) Roger Federer (Swi) v (6) Andy Roddick (US)
(12) Tommy Haas (Ger) v (10) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)

Here's what MSM did not talk much about

March for Life in Washington, D.C., some days ago wasn't reported much about by the MSM. Here's a link to some pictures about how well-attended it had been. Thanks Barbara.

And this is very interesting indeed. Am sure the "employee" (although some sources say the email source is actually a co-owner) was just exercising his freedom of speech and his "die-you-stupid-soldiers" right to free expression.

Masha will be number 1

With Justine withdrawing from the Australian Open, the number 1 rank would have been a toss-up between Maria and Amelie. But Amelie lost by an upset in the 4th round, and so Maria will be number 1 when she reached the round of 16. Will she win the Australian Open, her 3rd Grand Slam? Miracles do happen. hehe.

Here's from a website.

The disappearing

Not until the fat lady sings

First of all, forgive me Ate Shawie.
Because you may no longer be the fat lady.
But it is true.
That on any Superferry voyage, you know you are still far from port, until Ate Shawie starts to sing.
Sharon Cuneta has been the celebrity endorser of the Superferry boats for many years. She also sings the jingle.
Aside, I know some batchmates in university who had a great crush on Sharon. I remember one who when we had our yearbook photos taken at Chat Peypoch's almost kissed Sharon's huge photo on display in that studio.
Backtrack.
So it goes, that when Superferry plays the jingle, you can now start preparing yourself for disembarkation.
This morning on SF 16 nearing CdO port, Shawie started to sing 4am. It's good that she has a good voice. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to jump out of bed -- at times, you should definitely not jump out of bed especially when you're on the upper bunk. You could hurt yourself.

In the afternoon, I gave a talk to teachers of Rosevale School on the tutorial system. One thing my school and Rosevale share is the tutorial system, where instead of guidance counsellors to take care of the students, some teachers and staff are assigned as tutors to offer a more holistic formation. Each student has a tutor assigned to him, a faculty or staff who is like an older brother or sister. Parents who like can also be assigned tutors.
It was fun, but a little, how shall I say it, I wasn't used to talking to a mixed group anymore. The last time I spoke to a group of ladies and gentlemen was in 1997 when I still taught at UP in Cebu (and it was a Quantitative Methods in Management subject).
Scratch that, I did give a class on the Philosphy of Man to a technician class in 2004 at TESDA Region 10 Training Center in Tagoloan.

After the class, I was full of envy watching some kids play football. But I could not play. I didn't have the proper gear. They should have told me about the game. Awshucks. I would not know how I'd fare in a football game in this time and age. BTW, Ronaldo had reached a "personal agreement" to transfer to ACMilan. Of course, with the galacticos in poor showing (notwithstanding Becks' not signing up for another year, as if he really mattered to them anyway), Ronaldo's only so wanting to get out. The Rossoneri aren't doing pretty well in Serie A either (with the points deduction), but it is still a great team. Should I and my fellow Rossoneri tifosi welcome him?

Some pix to smile about?

Gracias, Perdon, Ayudame

This is my wish to God and everyone else for this new year.

Gracias -- for all the good things that came around for me and for all. Also for the not so good ones that only helped me to persevere to do better even more. For all the good that will come this year, and, those that don't work out as well, those too.

Perdon -- for all my faults, and those who got hurt from them.

Ayudame -- only asking that you help me in whatever way you can, considering first of course that I should also do my part.

New Year, New Struggle.

Pope Benedict XVI Christmas Midnight Mass homily

MIDNIGHT MASS
SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Saint Peter's Basilica
Sunday, 24 December 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have just heard in the Gospel the message given by the angels to the shepherds during that Holy Night, a message which the Church now proclaims to us: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:11-12). Nothing miraculous, nothing extraordinary, nothing magnificent is given to the shepherds as a sign. All they will see is a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, one who, like all children, needs a mother’s care; a child born in a stable, who therefore lies not in a cradle but in a manger. God ’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. Only in their hearts will the shepherds be able to see that this baby fulfils the promise of the prophet Isaiah, which we heard in the first reading: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder" (Is 9:5). Exactly the same sign has been given to us. We too are invited by the angel of God, through the message of the Gospel, to set out in our hearts to see the child lying in the manger.

God’s sign is simplicity. God’s sign is the baby. God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby – defenceless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will – we learn to live with him and to practise with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome him, and love him. The Fathers of the Church, in their Greek translation of the Old Testament, found a passage from the prophet Isaiah that Paul also quotes in order to show how God’s new ways had already been foretold in the Old Testament. There we read: "God made his Word short, he abbreviated it" (Is 10:23; Rom 9:28). The Fathers interpreted this in two ways. The Son himself is the Word, the Logos; the eternal Word became small – small enough to fit into a manger. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way he teaches us to love the weak. In this way he teaches us respect for children. The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze towards all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn. Towards children who are placed as soldiers in a violent world; towards children who have to beg; towards children who suffer deprivation and hunger; towards children who are unloved. In all of these it is the Child of Bethlehem who is crying out to us; it is the God who has become small who appeals to us. Let us pray this night that the brightness of God’s love may enfold all these children. Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected. May they all experience the light of l ove, which mankind needs so much more than the material necessities of life.

for the rest of the homily, here's the link: Official Vatican post

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!
This is our Belen at home . . .

Cannavaro

Azzurri captain Fabio Cannavaro was chosen FIFA World Player of the Year (together with Brazil's Marta). At least it is not Zizou. At least it is not Zizou. At least it is not Zizou. Ok, so he still got his Golden Ball. Brazil and Spain jointly won the Fair Play award (was there any doubt?), and Klose got his Golden Shoe awarded to him also. (pic from FIFA)

I first met Lando in 1989 when I transferred to Cebu because of work. I took a job as a research assistant for the Cebu office of the Center for Research and Communication. Lando was more than 6 months ahead of me in the office. He finished high school that year in Our Lady Academy in Ronda, and CRC took him in as messenger/utility person. Since I was new in Cebu, he taught me the jeepney routes, never mind if I had a street map with the jeepney routes, among other things. Nothing beats experience. Lando loved to sing, and Saturday afternoons, while he cleaned the office, he would sing-along karaoke-style.

The following year, I joined CITE, but I still had some contact with him. After a couple of years, he left for Davao, to work for an NGO there in a PCSO-funded project. The NGO ran the Apo Study Center, an apostolic undertaking of Opus Dei. Lando served as caretaker of the center (up to the day he died!).

When the project ended, he was set to come back to Cebu, but Boyet asked him to stay on and work for him. In that way, he can still serve as caretaker of the center, which we could only manage to use for a few days every fortnight (trips from Cebu had to be made as the work in Davao was not stable enough to spend more days).

In 1998, I started coming over to Davao to help in the activities of the center. Lando was a big help. When Boyet and Elaine gave the center a microwave oven, I started to experiment on cooking. Lando would join me for lunch, whenever he could. Whenever he had the time (as he was still working for Boyet), and not whenever he could stand my cooking. Lando would cook too so we usually had a shared experience -- his fish sinigang was exceptional. He had married by then, blessed with three children.

In 2002, we were celebrating the centenary of the birth of Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva. We put up an exhibit in March at the Gaisano Mall. Lando gave a testimony of how Opus Dei helped him spiritually and personally during the opening of that exhibit (the picture in this blog was taken during his testimony). He told me that was his first speech ever, but it meant a lot to him.

I last saw him in September 2004 in Davao, but communication lines were always open, SMS and phone calls.

Some months back, he was diagnosed with leukemia. His doctor said it was an easy case and he should proceed with chemotherapy. With that and a lot of prayers, Lando came through with the chemo. Except for some infection that was cured with antibiotics, the prognosis was very good. Another bone marrow test showed very few cancer cells left, as expected.

He went through a second batch of chemo sessions in the first week of December. On the afternoon of December 4, he even phoned me and we spoke for almost 6 minutes. He was his usual self, although he had just finished his chemo for that day. I told him I was probably going to Davao in April next year and that I definitely will see him by then (I would have gone in September this year, but plans fell through). I was wrong. I won't see him in April.

At past 8pm on December 15, I received a message from his brother Rey who works with us in CITE, that Lando had passed away. He had some bleeding earlier, nothing extraordinary really as it was expected, but apparently, the hospital made some blunders when he was brought to hospital. If the hospital wronged him, I am sure Lando forgave them. Who would want to be delayed going to Heaven?

A good man Lando was. But very young to be recalled by God. But such is God's ways.

I could hear our Lord telling him that Friday: Lan, clima na*. Claim the seat reserved for you in Heaven.

*As I am not Bisdak, I did not understand Lando at first as he told me during my first day in CRC, when I asked him to buy rice as I usually brought viand from home and took my lunch in the office: Sir Pet, clima na imong rice.

Justine and the UN

Justine Henin-Hardenne was named UNESCO Champion for Sport, for her untiring campaign against drug use in sports, among other things. Here's zeenews.

And. More on Lindsay's choice of motherhood on zeenews.

Stats again

Many MSM outlets, reporting on the number of deaths of American soldiers, would put the figure at close to 3,000. Wow, that's a lot.
But US casualties have actually been dropping (DoD data): 848 (2004), 846 (2005), and 768 (2006). Note of course that there are still about 2 weeks left in 2006, and this would mean 78 deaths more to equal 2005 figures (God forbid that there will be no more deaths).

Life after tennis -- divine

When I was in highschool, and still playing lots of tennis, one of the women (teen) tennis players I followed was Andrea Jaeger, she with the long ponytails and braces on her teeth. She did reach No2 beating at some point the likes of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, yet she never won a Slam. When I thought she'd get to No1, she had to retire at 19, with a shoulder injury (that needed many operations). Gone too soon. She didn't have the "airs" of the teen stars of recent years though, and that made her likeable. Although probably she was just enjoying her youth. She put up a foundation later to help children with cancer. In September 16 of this year, at age 41, she took her vows as a Dominican nun, and she is now called simply Sr. Andrea. Not all tennis. She has an interview with Sports Illustrated, first time a nun gets interviewed by SI. Here's that interview.

Another women's player I've kept tabs is Lindsay Davenport. She wanted to retire last season but found herself winning matches towards the end of the previous season. Now she will probably retire to start something new in her life. Rather, she's about started. Lindsay says that she is pregnant with her and husband Jon Leach's first child, due early next summer. SI says a little about this here.

Way to go ladies, uhmm, lady and sister.

8th POY

Tiger Woods wins the 2006 PGA Tour Player of the Year Award, also known as, what else, the Jack Nicklaus Trophy. This is the 8th for Tiger, the only player to have won it more than twice.

This year, Tiger also won the Arnold Palmer Award for leading the money list and the Byron Nelson Award for the lowest scoring average.

Oh, Justine Henin-Hardenne was named the 2006 International Tennis Federation world champion together with, d r u m r o l l, Roger Federer.