Feast of the Archangels

PRAYER TO ST. MICHAEL

Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And you, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

PRAYER TO ST. RAPHAEL

Glorious Archangel St. Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court, you are illustrious for your gifts of wisdom and grace. You are a guide of those who journey by land or sea or air, consoler of the afflicted, and refuge of sinners. I beg you, assist me in all my needs and in all the sufferings of this life, as once you helped the young Tobias on his travels. Because you are the "medicine of God," I humbly pray you to heal the many infirmities of my soul and the ills that afflict my body. I especially ask of you the favor (name your request) and the great grace of purity to prepare me to be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

PRAYER TO ST. GABRIEL

O Blessed Archangel Gabriel, we beseech thee, do thou intercede for us at the throne of divine Mercy in our present necessities, that as thou didst announce to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, so through thy prayers and patronage in heaven we may obtain the benefits of the same, and sing the praise of God forever in the land of the living. Amen.

The Better to See You With, My Dear

When I was in grade 4, I got my first pair of glasses. I probably needed them in the 3rd grade but managed to squint my way through. I remember that when I got my first pair I was amazed at how clear the world could be.

I brought the kids to the ophthalmologist the other week. To my surprise (and horror), MyGirl couldn't read the letter chart past the Big "E". RD needed to wear glasses again because of his astigmatism. (Heavy sigh! I just gave away his old pairs. Oh well, such is life.)

So I let them choose their own frames and we had their glasses made.

Here are my little four-eyed angels.

High Tide

It was certainly a day to remember ... 26 September 2009.

Who would not forget this day? Anybody who was in Manila on that day will have a story to tell.

It was the day Ondoy hit the country ... and it hit the country BAD!

Here at Cebu Avenue, what started out as a beautiful cool Saturday ended in a house full of water.

This is what the gate at Cebu Avenue looks like from the second floor window.

The driveway leads up to the garage where one can find the entrance of the house. Upon entering the main door, there are stairs that go downstairs to the first floor and another going upstairs to the second floor.

At 10:30 am, we noted the flood but were not that concerned since we have experienced flooding in the past.

By 11:40, it had reached an alarming height. We knew this was no ordinary storm.

By this time, water was pouring into the first floor of our house, going down the stairs like waterfalls. The current of the flowing water was quite strong and the speed at which the water poured in didn't give us much time to move things to higher ground.

Based on the waterline, the water rose to about 5 ft.

Everything was wet.

We had food and water and a second floor. We were all together that day. We had extra hands to help us out. We are all safe and alive.

So truly, we are still blessed.

Sponge Bob Turns 10

Last July 2009, Nickelodeon celebrated the 10th Anniversary of SpongeBob Squarepants TV premiere.

Has it already been ten years?

I suppose this is why RD loves SpongeBob so much. Perhaps SpongeBob is to RD as Ernie and Bert were to our generation.

I can only shake my head because there are times when SpongeBob is utterly DISGUSTING yet the kids still adore him.

Anyway, I found these old photos of the kids taken some years back.



You can see how happy they were to be sporting SpongeBob.

And finally, if I didn't miss GI so much, I would have skipped this wacky photo. But even in his silly moments, GI is very hard to resist.

Norman Black

This article was taken from the PSBank InfoChannel. Norman Black, coach of the Ateneo Blue Eagles was invited to give a speech to the officers of the Bank during one of our Financial Reviews. He was accompanied by his mother.

Last January 28, a different kind of energy permeated the PSBank Hall.

The audience, composed of branch and area heads, department and unit heads, and senior officers, were 100% engaged, enlightened and entranced by a man who shared his wisdom, knowledge and personal experiences to kick off the first Financial Review of the year with a bang.

This man of great credibility and confidence was none other than Mr.Norman Black, former PBA player and coach and now PBA analyst and head coach of the renowned Ateneo Blue Eagles that won the UAAP season 71 crown through sheer hard work, discipline and motivation. As guest speaker and “honorary head coach” of PSBank for an hour, Coach Norman shared very important and useful tips to inject our own 2009 season with enthusiasm and team spirit.

A regular kid from Baltimore, Maryland, USA who didn’t start growing to his towering height until after he turned 14 years old, he said that he had to work hard to get to where he is now.

“I wasn’t as talented as my sister who got straight As or my basketball teammates in high school and college. I set goals and worked hard to achieve them. I studied well and came to basketball practice an hour and a half earlier than everybody else so I could run 15 rounds around the court and shoot 300 times to improve my game. By the time my other teammates arrived 10 or 15 minutes before the allotted time, I already felt more confident thinking I’m now an hour and a half better than them,” he said.

Indeed, Coach Norman always gave his 100%, allowing him to go on from success to success. He became an NBA player for the Detroit Pistons before taking his talents and work ethic to PBA. His most unforgettable stint was as playing coach of San Miguel Beer in 1989 where they scored a rare grand slam, the 3rd in PBA history. He then went on to become fulltime coach of other PBA teams and of the Philippine Team to the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games before finally setting his sights on the college circuit.

He advised PSBankers to always prepare and be in a position to be #1. “Do things (you have to do to improve) when people aren’t watching. Do your homework. This makes the difference. You must put in the much-needed hard work that develops you into a better player,” he said.

He also encouraged the team to bring enthusiasm to the job. “Say to yourself, I want to be with my team everyday. Enjoy. Work hard,” he shared. He also advised them to set short and long-term goals that are realistic, to always stay organized, and to not put things off.

Here are Coach Norman’s tips to achieve PSBank’s goals this year and beyond:

· Build self-esteem.

· Set demanding goals.

· Always be positive.

· Establish good habits.

· Develop the art of communication.

· Thrive on pressure.

· Learn from adversity.

· Survive success.

Finally, he told them this secret: “A good leader motivates his team to succeed. You can’t succeed by yourself. You need people around you.”

Indeed, the PSBank team went home with a lighter heart and a fired-up spirit after that event. May that old Black magic be here to stay in PSBank.

Some of the things I noted down, which were not included in the article were his insight and his stories. He mentioned that one has to have determination to succeed in spite adversities. He admonished that one has to bring a sense of enthusiasm to the task at hand. He admitted that when they scout for basketball talents, they look at the (a) athletic ability, (b) skill level and (c) attitude. He reiterated that it was important the person feels good about himself and that he have good work ethics.

There is no substitute for hard work, he said. He relayed how he would practice over and above the required hours. This way, when it was time to play, he had shot more hoops and ran more laps than any of the other players. On communication, he said that it is not just about talking, it is also about listening. He insisted that problems should be confronted immediately. As his talk drew to an end, his "survive success" portion reminded us not to stand still. He advised to keep striving to learn more.

A leader, he said, is someone who can motivate others to succeed.

So far, Ateneo is doing great in the UAAP. With a coach like Norman Black, it is not too difficult to understand why.

Crazy Drivers

If you were going down along Tomas Morato from E. Rodriguez towards Timog, you would cross Roces Avenue at some point. This is the corner MacGyver and I fondly call the "crazy driver" corner.

The term came about because he was driving Mother home one day and they were stopped at this particular corner. The light was green but MacGyver was waiting for the left turn light to turn green and signal permission for him to turn into Roces. Admittedly, he considered making the left since there were no approaching cars but hesitated because Mother was in the car with him. As he was contemplating his next move, several jeepneys turned left ahead of him in spite the red left turn arrow.

"Look at those crazy drivers!" my mother exclaimed as she saw the jeeps disregard the stop light.

MacGyver was quiet and thanked his lucky stars that he had not opted to run the red light that day. Truth is he hardly ever runs the red lights but he DOES like to go at the split second after the lights turn from red to green. I think even THAT would have caused Mother's heart to skip a beat. At least his prudence spared him the title of being a 'crazy driver' that day.

So whenever we are in that corner, waiting for the left turn light to turn green, he would ask me, "Shall I be a crazy driver today?"

My answer would always be 'NO.'

I thought that my answer would always be NO because I thought that the question would always be asked by MacGyver. However today, the crazy driver question was for RD and MyGirl to ask. They didn't exactly ask if they could be crazy drivers for the day but they may as well have.

They wanted to go go-karting today ... and the answer was 'YES!'

Go-karting was the highlight of our trip to Subic for RD and MyGirl. We were fortunate to have some sun that day and that the Go-Kart place was operational. Yesterday, when MacGyver, RD and MyGirl had checked the place, they found it to be closed. Apparently many of the employees were unable to report to work due to the heavy rains and the flood.

The last time we'd gone up to Subic, GI and RD were able to drive the go-karts by themselves but MyGirl was in the car with MacGyver as they raced around the tracks. This time around, MyGirl was on her own. She was given a smaller sized go-kart which allowed her feet to reach the pedals.


RD went on the tracks ahead.

He had gone around at least once when MyGirl started her ten rounds.



RD overtook MyGirl three or four times since he was driving much faster than his sister was. (Crazy driver!)


It was obvious that he was having fun. When he was motioned to stop since he'd gone around his alloted ten times, instead of decelerating slowly he banked to the right and screeched to a halt. When he got out, he was one happy, crazy driver.

MyGirl had about five or six more rounds to go when RD was done.


So we watched as she happily went around the tracks. When she was on her eight or ninth round, it started to drizzle. I wondered if the rain would bother MyGirl or if it would cause her to forgo her last few rounds. But NOOOO! She was having too much fun. (Rain? Hogwash!)





When she finally pressed on the brakes and got off the go-kart, I knew I had one more excited, little (hopefully not-so-crazy) driver in the family.

Here are the latest addition to the crazy drivers in our family.

P.S. Even their young cousin Ronald could tell that RD was a crazy driver. He noted that RD was driving faster than MyGirl.

Eric Herman Music

I met my little godson Ronald for the first time last Sunday.  He is such a sweet boy.

This morning, he introduced me to Eric Herman. Apparently, when Sunshine visited our sister in Ireland last week, our Irish niece Noelle shared these youtube song for her cousin Ronald to enjoy. 

Ronald and I started off with the Elephant Song which was quite amusing.



Then we listened to the heartwarming Tale of the Sun and the Moon.

And finally the amusing pirate story of Blackbeard, Bluebeard and Redbeard.  

I have yet to go through the other EricHermanMusic posts.  At least now I know that a pirate without a treasure is like a monkey without a spatula.   ARRR!

Last First Saturday

I left the house at 5:45 in the morning, walked to Quezon Avenue, rode a bus to U.N. Avenue, took the LRT to Baclaran ... then arrived just in time for the 6:45 a.m. mass.

Today is the last First Saturday I will be spending in the home country (as brother Slash M fondly calls the Philippines). We are scheduled to land in Australia in exactly four weeks.

After the mass, I went around to the back of the church where people say their prayers, give thanks, ask for intercession, beg for forgiveness, meditate and more. Physically, one can see people lighting votive candles and knocking on the glass covering the big mosaic of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. As for me, I lit two candles and said my own prayers to Our Lady.

After the mass, I had breakfast at McDonald's before going around the stalls surrounding the church. Then I headed for the nearby "mall" for more serious shopping. I didn't get too many items. The most significant acquisition was the beanies for the children. For P50, I hope their heads stay warm.

In the evening, MacGyver and I went to PSHS to attend the Alumni Homecoming.

The alumni homecoming is held every first Saturday of September. When we were still studying there, the Homecoming was held in the canteen. I suppose it is because there were only a handful of alumni. As they years wore on and the number of alumni increased, the Homecoming was moved to the gym which was bigger (but not necessarily better).

I don't really miss school but I will miss my friends from HS and I will surely miss my First Saturday trips to Baclaran.

Converse

I was reading a short article and came across the word "CONVERSE" used as a verb. My thoughts went to GI and his shoes. We have always pronounced 'Converse' (shoes) with the accent on the first syllable yet the verb 'converse' has the accent on the second syllable. I wondered whether it was supposed to be Converse shoes with the accent on the first syllable. It dawned on me that I didn't know anything about the origins of CONVERSE. I had no idea where Converse came from and why they called the shoes 'Chucks'.

A little research showed that Converse is a person and Chuck is a famous athlete. (Did YOU know that? I didn't until now. A closer look at the shoes does show that there is a signature across the ankle patch. I hadn't really noticed that before.)

If GI were here, he would smile at me and lovingly say, "Silly Mom, of course that's why they are called Chucks."

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1731/Converse.html

The origin of Converse shoes dates back to 1908 when Marquis M. Converse established the Converse Rubber Company in Malden, Massachusetts. The small company began producing shoes in 1909. In the last ninety years, the company has grown to become the largest U.S. manufacturer of footwear.

Converse made its mark on the footwear industry when it introduced the canvas All Star® basketball shoe in 1917. Through the endorsement of Basketball Hall of Famer Charles “Chuck” H. Taylor, the shoe captured a majority of the basketball shoe market. As the first athletic shoe endorser, Taylor became a salesperson for the company in 1921. He traveled the country promoting the shoes and conducting basketball clinics for coaches. His signature was added to the ankle patch of the shoe in 1923, and the shoe style became known as the Chuck Taylor® All Star®.

As one of the most popular shoes of all time, over 550 million pairs of the Chuck Taylor® All Star® have been sold. Until the 1970s, when leather supplanted canvas on the basketball court, the shoe retained between 70 and 80 percent of the basketball shoe market. The Chuck Taylor® All Star® continued to be popular as a fashion shoe, and it continues to attract devotees eighty years after its introduction. During the 1970s, Converse developed new, high-performance leather shoes and acquired new endorsers. Following in the tradition of Chuck Taylor, NBA basketball players Larry Bird, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, and Dennis Rodman have endorsed Converse basketball shoes.

All Tied Up

A couple of weeks ago, my dad pulled out some old neckties from his closet so there were over a hundred neckties lying around. Father set aside the ones he still intended to use, then let MacGyver and RD pick out the ones they would like to use in the future. RD had just recently worn a necktie to the 75th birthday celebration of his paternal grandmother so he was thrilled to go through the sea of neckties. Both he and MacGyver picked out two or three they wanted to keep.

Once upon a time, I knew how to tie a tie. (In my mind the instructions went something like left over right ... over ... under ... through ... I forget.) If my memory serves me right, I believe I was the one who tied the necktie of one of my College batchmates who was with me as we started our training program at the bank on our first day of work. (At this point, I can't imagine this friend of mine not knowing how to tie a tie, but that's what I remember, I distinctly remember helping him tie his necktie on our first day. He'll probably deny it and say I imagined the whole incident.)

Serendipitously, I picked up this book The Boys' Book: How to be the Best at Everything which belongs to one of my brothers and found How to Tie a Tie among the How To's listed in the Table of Contents. These were the instructions found in page 52.

How to Tie a Tie

Lift up your shirt collar and put the tie round your neck so that both ends hang down at the front. The wide end should hang about 30 cm (1 ft) lower than the thin end.

1. Cross the wide end over the thin end near the collar, then take it round underneath the thin end.
2. Bring the wide end over the thin end again and back underneath. Push it up through the back of the V-shape made by the partially formed knot.
3. Bring the wide end forward (i.e. away from you) through the V and down through the front loop of the knot.
4. Hold the thin end and slide the knot up to your neck. Hold the knot and with the other hand pull on each end of the tie until the knot is tight.

I immediately handed RD one of the ties he had selected then read out the above instructions. I figured this is one of the things a young boy ought to know. MyGirl got all excited and pulled out a necktie for herself.

The two of them worked at it until they were able to get the tied up look. MyGirl was able to do it first then eventually RD caught on. When I got my turn with the necktie, I said that this was not the method I had known before.

At this point, we called MacGyver to the rescue. HE surely knows how to tie a tie.

True enough, his method was more like the one I used to know. This was how he was taught by his father and this is what he has taught GI. He walked all three of us through the steps and the kids were thrilled. The kids tied and untied their ties until late at night. And in the morning, they showed it off to Father and Mother.

How to Tie a Tie (revised edition)

Lift up your shirt collar and put the tie round your neck so that both ends hang down at the front. Wide side on the right, hanging about a foot lower than the thin side.

1. Cross the wide end over the thin end near the collar, then take it round underneath the thin end.
   
2. Bring the wide end through the front of the loop of the knot in a downward fashion. It will be like tucking the wide end under your chin through the existing loop.
   
3. Upon creating the initial knot, place the wide end on the right side of the knot and take it across toward the left side.
4. Bring the wide end through the loop of the knot, this time from below in an upward direction.
5. Slip the wide end through the created 'V' and down through the front loop of the knot.
6. Hold the thin end and slide the knot up to your neck. Hold the knot and with the other hand pull on each end of the tie until the knot is tight.

To untie this knot, simply pull the thin end out away from the knot. The wide end should unravel itself once the thin end is out.