Popoy's summer workshop

I registered Popoy for the McDonald' Summer Kiddie crew workshop. The Php650 fee covers the following: a cap, shirt, and a meal for the 5-day duration of the workshop. Popoy and his cousin, Dindin, will join the other kids in the worskhop in the McDo branch in Puregold-Agora. The workshop has three main activities per day - values formation lecture, some on-the-job training and art workshop. With a fun mix of learning activities, the kids will be taught how to man the counter, greet and serve guests and bus tables. There will be art activities like puppet-making. These activities are designed to promote positive values like hard work, friendship, team work, self-confidence and cleanliness while having fun.

This McDo program is noteworthy. I see that McDonald's competes with Jollibee not only with its products but on corporate responsibilities as well. This can only mean better service for everybody. Good job, Ronald.

Lechon is best Pig

Sometime in February, Anthony Bourdain featured the Philippines in his show No Reservations. In that episode he ate Cebu lechon and blogged “that of all the whole roasted pigs I've had all over the world, the slow roasted lechon I had on Cebu was the best,” placing it over the Bali and Puerto Rico versions.

Time magazine took the cue from Bourdain and featured the lechon in its April 23 issue. The magazine glowingly salivated: "A pig is roasted for hours over a fire of open coals, slowly rotated on a bamboo spit, lovingly basted and meticulously supervised until its flesh is so tender, moist and succulent that it can be sliced with the edge of a plate, and its skin so crisp it can be punctured with the tap of a finger. You could call it the Platonic ideal of a pig, but it's doubtful if Plato, or even an entire faculty of philosophers, could have imagined anything so exquisite."

Notwithstanding swine flu, this Pinoy food is among the most missed by my batchmates based abroad. I am sure we will have lechon again in our planned reunion. We'll take our chances.

NBA predictions

I am busy this week watching the NBA first round playoffs, among other stuff. With the Suns out of it all, I was rooting for the Celtics to win again but with The Big Ticket sidelined for the playoffs I switched allegiance to the Cavs.

I am still anti-Kobe though I still predict a Lakers-Cavs finale. The Lakers are the heavy favorites in the West. Kobe is playing a much controlled game. Perhaps he is put on a leash by Phil Jackson, to preserve him for the final push where he his pent-up desire to take over the game will be unleashed. Or perhaps, he is not that young anymore. There is a better chance for the West teams to upset their top seed than for the East teams. The Nuggets, barring another post-season bad luck for George Karl, stands the best chance. They are followed by the Mava snd the Rockets. The greatest thing going for the Lakers is that they are all healthy at this time. Tex Winter suffered a stroke but expect Phil Jackson to make that a rallying point.

In the East, the Celtics cannot ride on emotions to make it all the way. I believe emotions can only sustain the charge for only three games max, after which, the body will not respond and the other team's pride and emotion will in turn carry them through. So emotions can carry the Celts, net of Garnett and Powe-less, past the young Bulls but they will be tested to the hilt and further weakened by the second round. The Cavs on the other hand are healthy with the King James not even in his primest.

The expected Lakers-Cavs setto is very evenly matched. The Cavs cannot be trumped in the forward position with King James on their side. The middle decidedly goes to the Lakers with Gasol, Bynum, Odom. The guard position again goes to the Lakers. The coaching, too, shows advantage for the Lakers with Phil's nine rings waiting for the tenth so each finger will have one. So in the Lakers-Cavs finals, the Lakers will be the heavy favorites. But I am still rooting for the Cavs. Because I am anti-Kobe.

Facebook simplifies relationships

My wife is new on Facebook. When she accepted my invite to FB, she immediately became an FB friend. But FB made an entry on my wall that "Perry and Josephine Hugo are now friends". Wtf? She's my wife. Before some flipped up friend thinks otherwise, I clicked on the Info tab->Edit Information->Relationship Status dropdown combobox, and chose married. I typed my wife's name on the box. Hmm, good, it filters my friends' names based on the characters I type. So I passed on Joel, then a Josephine (not her), then to Josephine Hugo. But before it accepts my wife's name, it says "We will notify Josephine Hugo, who will have to confirm that you are in a relationship."

Somehow I find this absurd so I decided to cancel the status update. But FB already has already posted on my wall that my "Perry went from being 'single' to 'married'". I checked that my married status, while still awaiting 'confirmation' from my wife, has stuck despite my cancel of the update. I, then, edited my personal info again. I 'canceled' my relationship with my wife. FB then posted another update on my wall - "Perry went from being 'married' to 'single'.". Hahaha. I just deleted the misleading wall updates.

I have friends who are in complicated relationships. They can benefit from such facility in real life. If FB can do that - change relationship status in a flash - then it is definitely the all-time best application. Imagine the possibilities.

Gerry Penalosa loses to Juan Manuel Lopez! Time to hang up gloves, Gerry

Freddie Roach showed up with a new look. He is sporting what we call the uno haircut. Maybe he wants a lucky charm for his ward Gerry Penalosa to win.

Juan Manuel Lopez is the heavy favorite. He is also visibly the much bigger man. He can bulk up and challenge Edwin Valero someday. He is also younger than Gerry Penalosa, who is now seeking glory at this late stage in his career.

At the onset, Penalosa is outgunned. He is absorbing a lot of 1-2 combinations to the body. His answers are few and far between. Gerry appears ready to fight toe-to-toe, but he is outpunched by a ratio of 8-to-1. There is no way he can win this bout at this pace. While Gerry is being softened by the many blows to the body, JuanMa does not show any signs of tiring.

The 6th round is painful to watch. Only the Floyd-Gatti fight is more one sided than this one. By the 8th, Gerry's face looks like pop corn with caramel. JuanMa has his own welts. But Gerry is not human. No man can absorb 8 rounds of such punishment. He went on to a 9th round, with Roach's warning for Gerry to make or break. Essentially if nothing's changed by this round, Freddie's going to stop the fight.

But the 9th round is more of the same. So Freddie stops the fight after the 9th. JuanMa by TKO.