Saturday, August 30, 2008

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Picked as VP

UPDATE:
Here's the acceptance speech:



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This blog was among the first blogs to take notice of Gov. Palin as possible VP choice for McCain. This was way back in February 2008.

Well, now we know she is the VP choice!

Here’s the entry en toto:

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Let' start with this one: the current Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, who is Republican.

There are now voices coming out from the blogosphere for drafting her as VP to Sen. McCain.

Is she any good, aside from the very pretty face?

Listen to an interview with the Washington Post:


Very refreshing views on public service, coming from a former beauty queen. She was Miss Wasilla in 1984.

And was a hoopster, too, according to this news item:

And she was a local girl: daughter of a popular local teacher and coach, she was a one-time Miss Wasilla and, in a basketball-mad town, was practically canonized as the point guard for Wasilla's 1982 girls' state championship team.


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That’s batting 1:1.

Now, it would be nice to go 2:2, if this choice makes it on the November race.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Vestiges of Old Cagayan de Oro

Curiously driving through the now congested old poblacion of a city that is bursting at the seams with people and structures, this wide-eyed visitor is gladdened to espy certain ancient residential structures that continue to clearly reveal the groaning city’s idyllic and left-behind past. Mostly erected of timber structures, of at least two storeys high under GI roofing, these once were prideful domiciles of old Cagayanons. Many of them have been grudgingly and consequently badly restyled to fit their current economic uses – from homey and quiet residences to a clutter mostly of commercial cubicles for small businesses in varying states of unintended ugliness.

Still, a good number of these remnants of a by-gone era continue to exhibit old quaint touches of their erstwhile uses in an almost rebellious bullheaded display of their once gloried past.

The ensuing picture gallery is a random sampling of some of these once proud structures that either refuse to go the way to oblivion, or because of lack of resources of the owners, unrepentantly continue on their inexorable path toward benign neglect and disrepair, uncared for and left mostly to the elements.
This first one sits at a busy corner a block away from the poblacion’s center of activity and attention, Divisoria Plaza, and looking like some brick house from some foreign temperate country. In actuality, its core structure was formed by coralline blocks shipped from some place in mainland China and hauled and stowed inside the dank hulls of trading ships, to find use in these once remote islands. Built in 1882 by some enterprising Chinese trader who decided to settle in the islands.

Now, layers of mostly concrete topped by the faux brick look hide the old look. And what’s more the old structure was incorporated into a newer concrete building built around it in a very tight embrace to form one unified structure.
Next comes this European looking structure (with a very unique roof structure) which during our youth served as the envied residence of the late Nemesito Chaves, father to one of our classmates/gangmates in HS. It sits at a corner of old Filipinas and Rizal Street, both streets now changed in name. Today while the exterior retains pretty much its old look, everything else has changed. A pawnshop occupies part of the ground floor, while an office takes the side fronting Rizal Street. And sadly the second floor which had the bedrooms then looks unoccupied. A short distance from it was another wooden structure owned by Mr. Chaves’s close relative. This once housed a respectable doctor’s office on the ground floor and rental residence above.
Along Victoria Street one lot away from its intersection with Del Mar Street is an old decrepit timber building built in the late 40’s and owned then by a close relative. Now it is occupied as boarding house upstairs and warehouse downstairs of the new owners who maintain a construction/hardware store along Divisoria, a block away.

And along Del Mar Street, again one lot away from its intersection with Victoria is another remnant of the early 50’s, built by an out-of-town aunt who used the place as a rental. It was bought by the same owners of the hardware store and now uses it as rented residence upstairs and warehouse on the ground floor.
Then along old Dolores Street which starts at the city’s main church, the San Agustin Cathedral and used to end less than a kilometer away to the city’s cemeteries. Running west to east, it has also been renamed and the cemeteries of old have all been relocated by the lot owner, the city government which wanted the space. But many of the old houses along this street are still standing today mute sentinels to the many church processions and funeral entourage emanating from the cathedral.
Lastly, this once was among the first commercial buildings fronting the venerable Ateneo, built of concrete and utilized by the owner as their residence above.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Man Years Vs Dog Years

Part of conventional wisdom instructs us that one year of any dog’s life is worth seven in man (homo sapiens) and over time we have come to accept that as accepted truth. Well, not so. Even Snopes.Com has weighed in to correct our wrong notions about this truism.

A couple of clear but general benchmarks for earnest dog lovers. Generally, small breed dogs live longer than big breed dogs. Per current history, longer living dogs can live to be over 20 years (record shows one living for 27 years).

Like us, abuse-prone creatures, the life span of dogs also depends on a host of factors. Genetics, environment, life style, and for dogs, even the type of breeds, etc.

And with dogs too, there is the at times forgotten angle to their life spans, that some dogs age slower than other dogs of different breeds. Meaning, two dogs born on the same day may grow, or “mature” differently. Thus, one may be said to be older than the other, though born at the same time.

To be realistic then, many would agree that a typical dog year is more like five years of human life.

Hey, no problem here. So you, Princess, are now two and one-half years old having been born about 6 months ago.

Another six months and you will be considered full-grown or mature. Enjoy the rest of your childhood!

For more on Princess, click here and here.