Happy Birthday, Arissa!

Dear Arissa,


On June 30, 2009, you were born. This was right about the same week that Michael Jackson died and when Ron Artest declared he will wear #37 as tribute to the 37 weeks Thriller was #1 (you can look him up when your older; just google "crazy but talented NBA player").


I remember seeing and holding you for the first time (you were so light and cuddly, but man, can you wail!).


It was a tough pregnancy for me and your mom, with her lupus symptoms and all. But it was also tough on you after you were born. We found out that the hard way that you couldn't drink the standard formula (mommy couldn't breastfeed at first because of all the steroids in her bloodstream).

You spent more than a week in ICU, and I had to split time between classes/reading business cases, and attending to our family as well as visiting you at the hospital. We had to bring you back to the hospital, to the emergency room in fact, because we didn't know why you suddenly turned yellow. We fed you milk not knowing it was making you worse. Yeah, it was pretty harsh.


Today, you still drink a special formula. Alhamdullilah, we got by through prayers and the support of our families, and you have become an incredibly healthy baby. And even more cuddlier.


It's been a year, and I thank Allah swt everyday for you, your mom, and your siblings.


Happy birthday, baby girl!


Love,

Daddy

I feel good!

Dear internet,

After weeks and weeks of carefully reaching out to corporate recruiters, one major bank has committed to 20 jobs for our MBA students graduating this year, and they will be located in Manila or abroad. 20 jobs! And they aren't hiring them as Management Trainees- the selected students will be hired as Program Managers! I choose not to say the name of the bank, but it kinda rhymes with this guy's surname.

I also have a couple more companies lined up, plus the students are doing a tremendous job in marketing our school to companies in the APAC region. So if any of you out there in the internet world want to look into the talent pool I'm managing, send me an email!

I'm feeling good, but I'll feel a whole lot better when their offers start coming in!

Altruism rocks!

Sincerely,

Fan of Ron Artest but not Kobe Bryant

Lebron in NYC?

I have been a fan of the NBA since I was a kid.

Back in the 80's while we watched games from betamax tapes from the video rental store near our place in Bel Air, I was cheering for Magic's Showtime Lakers and hated Larry Bird's moustache and the dreaded Boston Celtics. But now, even if Jackie Moon might somehow be based on the Basketball Jesus, I can honestly say that Larry Bird was a more formidable basketball player and a better team player than Magic. And looking back, I wonder if he could be just as good if he was on another team?

In the Nineties, I always rooted for teams against the Bulls just to piss off my brother who worshipped his Airness (I had to be a secret MJ fan for most of the time). So I was rooting for the Pistons (until I saw this) and I did want Barkley to win it in ‘93– but still I think hands down MJ is the greatest basketball player ever. But I always wondered what if he signed with the Knicks?

It’s a totally different scenario for Lebron – he doesn’t get to sign with a Patrick (Ewing or Riley). He won’t have Oak to get his rebounds. He instead gets a zero-defense D’Antoni and a clean slate of a roster. He may get other stars to sign with him and he might become the new King of New York, but unfortunately he also gets Eddie Curry.

If Lebron resigns with the Cavs, his chances of winning the title are very slim. But with NYC, everyone wins. Well, except Ohio. And of course, President Obama might have something to say about it.

But I really think the pros far outweigh the cons. Go Knicks!

The Kung Fu Kid?

I know - the title of this post is too easy. I may have missed out on something on why it was called "The Karate Kid" and not "The Kung Fu Kid", but I still enjoyed the movie. Besides, I had little expectations from the movie, considering it was reinventing the classic Mr. Miyagi franchise and considering it had the son of an uber-celebrity starring along with a very old Jackie Chan. (Whenever I see a child of a celebrity in a movie, I get a fictional scene in my head of Mikey Arroyo asking Mommy President to be in an action movie so he can play out the fantasy of being more invincible than FPJ and Lito Lapid combined + being more irresistible to women than Rene Requestas and Weng Weng combined.)



So just maybe Jaden Smith pitched the idea to Dad Will and Mom Jada on being the new Karate Kid – except he wants the cooler style of Kung-fu Panda and not of a local dojo karate class. If you get over this dilemma of not being aptly titled as quickly as I did, then the movie should be a worthy investment of time and popcorn.



The fight scenes were exceptional, especially the tournament battles. And even if I somewhat subscribed before to Bill Simmon's take on remaking this movie, I want my son to watch it and hopefully be influenced in learning martial arts (so that maybe ten years from now I can fulfill my dream of having a bodyguard free of cost).

Would I watch “The Karate Kid” again? Yes - to both Ralph Macchio and Jaden Smith’s version. I just hope there won’t be another lame-@$$ sequel like Karate Kid 2 or The Next Karate Kid. Although the Peter Cetera song rocked (...just kidding).