New Pix on my Multiply account

Well, not really new photos… I am archiving the My Pictures folder in my laptop so I decided to upload them to Multiply before I move them out.

Here’s the first series: 

• 2007 Navitaire Basketball League
• 20080112 Taal with our QA Director
• 20080223-25 Anda
• 20080503 Pampanga Tripping

My Idol on the court..

Ever wonder why I am so loud in the court? Here’s one of the reasons.

DeadHeads

Deadheading refers to crewmembers, including flight attendants and pilots, who are being repositioned as part of their assigned trip. That is, they’re flying as passengers while on duty.” – From USA Today

Now, what does this have to do with this blog entry? Absolutely Nothing!

As the category might have given away, this is not even about airlines but about basketball, particularly our company’s first ever basketball league. The plan came about a year ago after we competed in the commercial division of a summer league. The cut the story short, one of our officemates called a meeting a couple of weeks ago and then there we were last night, playing our very first game.

So, what does deadheading have to do with this? Again, absolutely nothing.

Well, ok fine, it is somewhat related because we decided to call our team, DeadHeads. Since our team’s “expertise” is on Airline Operations, we felt it was appropriate to use this Airline Operations term.

Come to think of it, it actually matches our team philosophy. Just as the crewmembers are open to being repositioned, our players are flexible in their role in the team. We have no legitimate superstar but we all knew that we all have to help in the little things in order for our team to win.

This attitude definitely made my life as coach easier. I had the luxury of playing around with the lineup. I would often have a different mix inside. I could use a lineup with two natural point guards, a line up without a legitimate center or even one with 4 guards and a power forward. I believe that this kept our opponents on their toes, never knowing what we would throw at them, and in the end it worked as we won our very first game.

Hope to see some of you there next time around.

Note: I will be posting the schedule of games here in case anyone is interested!

Cheers!

One and a half month of silence…

Yup, it’s been that long since my last post in this blog. It’s not that I had nothing new to post. In fact, it is the exact opposite. So many things have been happening at the same time that just when I am about to blog about it, something comes up to distract.

Well, things haven’t really mellowed down yet. There are still a lot of things going on but I am determined to keep this blog updated.

Before I go start blogging again though, here are some of the things that went on in the last couple of weeks/months (in no specific order):

• Christian Life Program 2006: I was again asked to lead the Christian Life Program for our chapter which started last Sep 10, 2006.
  • -> Me, inviting YFC leaders at a Kasangga assembly just minutes before our CLP started.
  • Note: During the post-session meeting, I realized that my shirt’s sleeves had holes.
• Navitaire Basketball: Our company had a fund-raising event for HMS (Hungry Minds School)
  • First there was the PD (Product Development department, where I belong) Rookies vs Veterans challenge. Of course, the Rookies team that I was coaching won Yep, I was coaching and I was my usual self.. Very strict and competitive. Actually, I was even grumpier than my usual self (imagine that) because of my toothache. Everyone kept quiet when I got mad at them for not playing without any heart at all.
  • -> Rookies Team
  • -> Rookies and Vets with our Director
  • Then I played and coached for the PD team (combination of Rookies and Vets) that played against the BPO team. Thank goodness that my brother is no longer with BPO ‘coz he would syurely know how to counter my plays. The PD team then wenton to playin a corporate league in the Bel Air subdivision. Unfortunately, we only came in third. But it was definitely a good experience for the team…
  • -> Navitaire Bel Air Team
• Bragging time: Sorry, I just have to brag about some recognitions that I received.
  • Although we lost in the championship game of the SFC Summer Basketball League, I was voted as the MVP. Here’s a picture of my trophy:
    • 
  • We had a bowling tournament to celebrate the 6th year anniversary of our company last Aug. I won the Samson Award.
    • 
• Blue Swoosh Toastsmasters Club: I joined the Toastmasters club in our company to help me improve my speakingand leadership skills. I delivered my first speech, entitled “Love Stories” last July 27 (see programme) and, after a couple of weeks, delivered my second speech project entitled “94 feet.”

I’m sure there are a lot more things that went on but I’ll just leave that for my future posts.

Back to playing the game I first loved

Nope, not basketball. As much as I am addicted (that’s what my GG calls it) to basketball, it is not the first game that I fell in love with. My first “real” sport was tennis. I started young, hitting, or trying at least, balls at the UP tennis courts with my sisters friends.

When we moved to Jakarta, I became more into it. My dad hired a personal instructor to teach my bro and myself. That didn’t help much though since he was not really a professional. But since I was so into it, I bought books and magazines about tennis, and spent countless hours hitting the ball against our garage wall. Something that my mom did not really appreciate =P

My dad was a constant winner in monthly FILCOMIN (Filipino Community in Indonesia) tennis tournaments. When Kuya and I first joined, another Salvanera entered the medal tally. Unfortunately, it wasn’t me. Kuya won in our first tournament we joined while I ended up without a trophy. What made it worst was that there were only six of us in that division so I ended up as the butt of all my brother’s jokes. And if you know my brother, he can really get under your skin. =) Peace, bro!

Anyway, call me a sore loser but I stopped joining those tournaments for more than half a year. I did not stop playing though. I continued hitting the balls in our garage, reading all those books and magazines, and playing against some friends.

After a while, I decided to join the tournaments again and showed significant improvement. I won numerous medals and trophies, even bagging the MVP trophy for the year 1993, just before I finished high school. When I entered the university, I was still very much into tennis. I even joined the varsity team but, somewhere along the way, the excitement I got from the game was lost. Maybe it died down when dad passed away, maybe it was because more people were into basketball or maybe I just burned out. In any case, I’m back.

I may not have the same stroke or same volleys as before, but the important thing is I enjoyed myself on the court. In the end, that’s all that matters. Of course, winning is always a bonus.

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On a sad note, one of my favourite tennis players will be retiring soon. Andre Agassi has decided to say goodbye to the game (at least professionally) after 22 years.

Goodbye, Andre! Thanks for the wonderful memories!