Filoil Championships on June 12

Nambatac of Letran gets a free throw in their game against Xavier.

The NCAA and the UAAP champions battle for third place at the 2012 Filoil Flying V Preseason Hanes Cup tomorrow. 2010-2011 NCAA champion San Beda Red Lions and the 2008-2011 UAAP four-peat champion Ateneo Blue Eagles will play at 11:30 am on June 12, 2012.

The championship game between the NU Bulldogs and the La Salle Green Archers starts at 4 pm.

The Juniors Division has a similar line-up.  

It's the Xavier Golden Stallions versus the NU Bullpups at 9:30 am and the San Beda Red Cubs and the Letran Squires at 2:00 pm.

Letran 87, Xavier 82, at 3:22 pm.

Thanks to Mike 'Mic' Abasolo of inboundpass.com for the media pass and the company and to Rebound Magazine photographer Dr. Gerard 'Raddy' Mabasa for the ride and the guidance.

Raddy and I arrived at the Arena between 2:15 and 2:30 pm.  He said that he would normally park in Pinaglabanan at that time, but that there was a low turnout on account of the long holiday. 

He pointed out that the parking building was full.  We parked in the grassy area inside the compound.

Is that Bobby  Ray Parks (14) with the ball?

I brought some chichirya that my dad brought home from China.  Raddy warned me that bringing of food is not allowed, as there are concessionaires.  

But since I had a Media Pass, my bag was not inspected.  I had left my stash in Raddy's car on his advice.

 It was my first time to watch a collegiate basketball game and to go to my neighbor The Arena.

Raddy wonders why I would go to a bonfire but not Araneta Coliseum.  I told him that I watch the games at home on TV.  Wearing my blue shirt.

Being my age, Raddy warned me about the noise which I knew about because Mic said that he couldn't hear me on the phone.  

Among the starters were Slaughter (20), Salva (8), Tiongson (5).

Raddy asked me after it was over if I found it noisy.  I told him that I had attended an Appetite Restaurant Festival at Eastwood where a drum act was well-received.  I didn't enjoy it as much as the drumming of the school teams, even his school Xavier's, which Raddy did not notice.  The San Beda Red Lions' starting drummer gets the Bigay na Bigay award from me, as he even put his foot on his ledge for added power.

Raddy also asked me why I wasn't wearing blue.  I told him that my skorts were light blue.  Time to get a blue shirt.  I wish that Blue Eagles shirts are sold in malls or even at the Arena.  Aside from the expensive Adidas shirts.

Mic pointed out the best Blue Eagles cheer to me.  What was it?

I had suggested this to the Loyola Grand Villas library when I accompanied my friend Joy Uy but was referred to the gift shop.

Anyway, I hope to attend the championships on June 12 as I enjoyed myself last Saturday.

Two people held up banners each time the Bulldogs scored a basket.

Surprisingly, the Xavier-Letran game was interesting to watch as it was a close game and the Eagles-Bulldogs game was a yawn.  La Salle led San Beda all throughout until 38 all near the end of the game.  Wow!  That woke me up!  Was it in the third quarter when I told Mic that it looks like it's going to be San Beda versus Ateneo tomorrow?

9-year-old Joshua, who was yawning earlier, also stood up and bit his nails.  Literally.  When, after the tie and San Beda was down by four points and it was clear that La Salle was winning the game, he cupped his head in his hands.

Size

Today, I got this email from Miss Vegas: 'Miss anong size ka…. LARGE?????'


My answer: S to XL.  I don't mean before or after diets, I mean today, before, during and after diets, successful, accidental or not.  I have not lost or gained a lot of inches since last year when I went to Boracay when I bought my Artwork shirt, until sometime this month when I bought Collezione shirts.  My old clothes fit just about the same as my new ones.  My tops sizes are either 3 for Collezione, S for Artwork or XL for Lonely Planet.  I do not own a M or L shirt.  In a shirt company's eyes, I am either fat or thin, never just right.


The same is true with bottoms.  According to Space, I am S (shorts or denim pants), but according to Fila and Adidas, I am XL.  According to Nike, I am nobody, as it does not have XL and their biggest size, L, does not fit me.


Only Debenhams and Plains and Prints think I'm normal, at sizes 8 and USA 6.  But Plains and Prints is not normal.  They have clothes that, like Nike, do not carry my size, or of a different size.   I tried on three pieces of clothing at Plains and Prints at The Shops in Greenhills and they were all of different sizes.  Two fit me, and the other one was too small, even though it was the biggest size that they had.

   

Paging the size police!

     Tops

Spaghetti strapped 
 Space XL 

T-shirt 
 Artwork S
Collezione 3 
 Lonely Planet XL

Bottoms 


 Pants 

Maong
 Space S 

Sports 
 Adidas XL 


 Shorts

Mid-calf adidas jogging pants: XL.

Space S 
 Skirt 
 Denim 
 Debenhams 8 
 Semi-Formal 
 Plains and Prints USA 6 
 Skorts
 Fila XL  

Linda Salon's Holy Week Schedule

My Caronia moment in my bathroom.

Thanks to Ms. Linda Salon for rushing my manicure this morning.  I called up at around 8 am to say that I was getting picked up at around 8:30 am for work.

Ms. Linda told me that her niece-manicurist was still in the shower, and that she had just washed the A/C.  But sure, I could come over.

Ms. Linda removed my chipped polish until her niece (Nievel?) took over.

I brought my friend's Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Glazed Candy Frost (now Gla ed Cand    ost) nail polish which my friend shared with me (thank you!) as the usual salon polish, whether Bruno's Rockwell (P 380 for mani-pedi), Linda, or Ness Astillas (P 190 for one manicure and two pedis), lasts less than 24 hours on my fingernails (weeks on my toenails). Le Charmant lasted weeks, but no to snootiness, coupon or not.

I put the nail polish in the Body Shop cosmetic case that my friend gave me.

Although it is glass-enclosed and it's summer, Linda Salon was not warm.  Ms. Linda said that it was because of the mango tree in the Araneta property across the street.  At one point, Ms. Linda even turned off the fan to control my flying nails hihi.  Still not stuffy.

After all this time, I don't have a photo of Linda Salon because, for security reasons, I try to travel light when I walk over.  Plus I'm always in a hurry when I'm there, and my fingernails are wet when I leave.  This morning, I pulled out my payment (P 100) and tip (P 40) before the manicure started.

Not too light, not too dark.

Incidentally, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Glazed Candy Frost was not available in the Watson's Greenhills branch that we checked out.  Same with the Ateneo Blue Eagles alco-gel, which we tried to look for at two Watson's Greenhills branches, V- Mall and the one near Unimart/Kimpura.  Is this area called The Shops?  If so, no one I know uses that name.



Ms. Linda told me that the salon will be closed on March 28 to April 3, and on April 5 and 6:

Holy Week Schedule
Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
March
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
CLOSED
			Linda's Salon
April
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
				Holy Thursday	Good Friday
CLOSED
Linda's Salon				Linda's Salon

Ateneo: Fresh Air in the City

 When I read Soliloquium's post, I thought of  the Carnation Food Tour 2009 where we went to Balai Isabel and Tagaytay Highlands, Astoria Boracay in 2010 and Lima Park Hotel last year.

What do you call this tree part?  Seeds?

 There's already a lot of info on these places, so I thought of a place where I have played tour guide before:Ateneo.

I've brought clients, relatives, a balikbayan, her husband and a tourist to Ateneo before, and they seemed to enjoy it.

My Isang was surprised that a place with so many trees was so near San Juan.  She thought that Ateneo was far, far away.

Isok said that Ateneo reminded him of his school in China.

Besides, my Atenean friends don't know what Ateneo looks like anymore.  And my Favorite Cousin, who had gone to UP, has not been there yet.

The Bs posed in front of these trees.

My latest trip to Ateneo was last November 1, when the choice of places to go were limited.  I asked my balikbayan friend JK where she and her husband would prefer to go, Ateneo or Makati. 

The Makati plan was to check if Glorietta was open in the morning.  If not, we could have pancit luglog and halo-halo at the Pen 'if necessary,' as BB put it.

Football field where Jayson watched games before the Bonfire.

JK decided that Ateneo would be interesting for B, because of the Ateneo Fil-Chi books that she had bought in the mid-2000s at the UP University Press.

Everyone I know thinks that entering Ateneo is as difficult as entering DLSU or CSB.   At least, that was my experience when I went to La Salle and St. Benilde with friends.

And the last time I went to UP, I was asked to pass the visitors' gate (versus the sticker gate).   I hope to bring my defunct UP ID next time I go to UP.

When Jayson went to an Ateneo bonfire in 2010, he said that he was a media person.

Plant at the Ateneo Grade School

I told him that to enter Ateneo, all you need to do is leave your ID with the guard.  Just say that you're going to Gesu (church) or Moro Lorenzo (sports center) and you're good to go.

As Moro was probably closed, I brought the Bs to 'the forest,' the Grade School, the Loyola House of Studies where I had borrowed A Question of Heroes as a student, and the Church of Gesu.

I had not been to 'the forest' in years.  In the mid-2000s when JK and I went to Ateneo, there were shrubs lining the paths with benches every 100 meters, maybe.  Around that time, I remember that someone was praying the rosary as she (or was it they?) walked around.

 Now it was a full-blown 'forest.'  Too bad the pond was dry but the frogs still hung out there.

The funny thing at the Grade School was that, amid so many trees and plants, we saw a fake plant.

Trying to replicate my friend's shot of The Church of Gesu.

Walking to the Loyola House, we saw a swimming pool center which was more like Xavier's.  It looked more competition-style than the Ateneo Grade School's, where I had swim class as my college PE subject.

Because I sucked at gym class, my PE teacher assumed that I was not good enough for the intermediate swim class.  He thought that Basic Swimming was more appropriate for me.

Little did he know that I had gone to ICA when it was mandatory to know the Individual Medley and life-saving.  I wrote our swim teacher Mrs. Arellano a thank you note for being so strict.  She in turn told my mom how much she appreciated my letter.

 It was my first time to see it.  JK was impressed that Ateneo was progressing, what with the new Rizal Library with its modern look and moat.  We also saw the old Rizal Lib, maybe twice as big as when I was a student.  I wonder if the new lib was an extension or a replacement of the old one.

Hilda Kapauan-Abola?

At the Loyola House where I last went to attend Fr. Lahiff's wake in 1998, we chanced upon Fr. Guido Arguelles' wake.  We met his niece.

Leaning plants at the Ateneo Grade School.

I told the Bs that it was customary to leave a wake without saying goodbye.

I wish that I had given them the overall view of Ateneo in the car then looked at the campus more closely by foot.

We ran out of time so we didn't even see Bellarmine, the High School and even the facade of Moro, where I would have wanted to show them the PT clinic, the 'suspended' running oval from where a now-deceased colleague had called out to me in the badmin court below, and my favorite place in Ateneo, the quiet, Zennish prayer room.  Heck, it's one of my favorite places in the world.

I'm partial to light green leaves.  AGS.

Come to think of it, soon would be a good time to bring a depressed friend to the prayer room.

And of course, I'd like to show them the Ateneo Art Gallery and the University Press, as they thought that the Ayala Museum was fantastic.  Not that the Ateneo Art Gallery--I haven't seen it since I graduated--is better, but they're art lovers.

Maybe I can show these places to J's brother D, when he comes over late this year.

Total cost for going to Ateneo: gas.  Maybe P 50 if you want to run in the oval.  And change for the vendo machines.

Tree trunk at AGS.

Incidentally, I'm sad to learn that Ateneo does not allow dogs anymore, as it is perfect for dogs.  This reminds me of a dog owner, who was disappointed to learn that Velasquez Park does not allow dogs.

Isn't it what parks are for? she went, standing on the periphery of the park one Salcedo Market day this month, along with other dog owners and their pets.

Acer or eMachines?

320 GB versus Acer's 500 GB.

Took all the photos in this post at xT Pro.

Ever since my friend got an Acer Netbook for
P 12,000 (display unit, P 12,500 at xT Pro) in Greenbelt around third quarter last year, I thought of getting it as my next laptop, as I'm happy with my Acer Aspire One which I've had since around Chinese New Year 2009, which makes it 3 years old!

Now I'm torn between the eMachines Acer 355, which looks exactly like my friend's Acer, and the Acer Aspire AOD 257.  The eM costs P 12,500 at xT, while the Acer costs P 14,900 at PC Depot.

According to the Unofficial eMachines Forum, the em 355 - 1609 with 1 G of RAM is almost identical as the Aspire One 533.

This is the data that I could find online, which is not the latest since the eMachines 355 at xT Pro has 2 GB memory and 6cell Li-on Battery which makes it the same as the Acer AOD 257:

	eMachines	Acer
	355	AOD 257
processor	Atom Dual Core	Atom Dual Core N570
display size	10.1"	10.1"
CPU Speed	1.66 GHz	1.66 GHz
Installed RAM Size	1 GB	2 GB
Installed Hard Drive Size	320 GB	500 GB
Installed Operating System	Windows 7 Starter	Windows 7 Starter
LCD	color
Battery	4 hours	8 hours
		Intel Graphics Accelerator

The Asus was too heavy.

Feng Shui Figurines

When Ms. Vegas asked me to get her and her friends some figurines, I told her that the best time to get them is now that there are Chinese New Year exhibits.  She thought that I would need to go to Binondo to get them.  I told them that San Juan has everything that Binondo has.

Blue dragon, elephants, horses, birds at V-Mall.

Ms. Vegas sent me the World of Feng Shui links to guide me on what she wants:

Blue dragon

Ox

I might hop over to Megamall this long weekend to check out the sale that ends on January 31, but maybe the World of Feng Shui is a shop that Ms. Vegas can check out herself since it's a permanent shop or stall.

Green dragon.  Thanks to my friend for spotting and styling.

Anyway, when I checked out the V-Mall exhibit on the ground floor, it turns out that most of them have a stall or store upstairs.

The Chinese New Year sale ends on January 24, Tuesday.

Linda Salon Closed Today

Robinson's Galleria.  February 28, 2012.

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat December 19 20 21 22 23 24 Ayala Lights and Sounds 6-9 pm Ateneo de Manila University Ateneo Christmas Display evening for lights Loyola Schools Bookstore 8 am-5 pm Chartis Philippines closed at 2:00 PM Dr. Canonigo's Cardinal Clinic Closed 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Ateneo Christmas Display Greenhills Shopping Center Closed 10 am-9 pm 10 am-7  pm Linda's Salon Closed Power Plant Mall 12 - 8 pm 10 am-10 pm 10 am-8 pm Robinsons Malls 12-9 pm 10 am-9 pm Robinsons Supermarket Forum Galleria, Imus, Manila, Metro East 10 am-11:59 pm January Loyola Schools Bookstore 1 2 3 Ateneo Christmas Display campus hours Dr. Canonigo's Cardinal clinic  Closed Greenhills Shopping Center Closed Robinsons Supermarket Forum Galleria, Imus, Manila, Metro East upto  midnight