These Days

I've known about this title for a long time but I never bothered to check it out until last Wednesday's book-browsing episode at Booksale. I read the blurb and found it interesting. I hoped it was as good inside because I didn't want to add to my unfinished book list. This book did not disappoint. It covers Iaccoca's early life as the son of immigrants, college education during the war, his professional life in the auto industry and his family. It's a pretty straightforward outline but the events in his life were far from straightforward. Lee Iacocca was president of Ford Motors in the 1970s. He had a successful career in sales and marketing, was 'father of the Mustang' and was instrumental in the development of several other vehicles. However, he clashed with Henry Ford II and was fired in 1978. Iacocca was then approached by troubled Chrysler which, at that time, was spiraling towards bankruptcy. He joined as president, and immediately instituted changes i...

Neil and I went for a stroll around the village yesterday afternoon. The sun was about to set and it was breezy too. It was a pleasant walk and Neil enjoyed seeing other kids playing, biking or rollerblading. We went as far as the guard house and passed by the pool on the way back. I decided that we should do this more often (what usually happens is that we just linger outside the house, rarely going beyond a two-block radius). So today we also ventured out but then it started drizzling so we had to run back to the house -- me running and pushing the stroller and Neil probably wondering why the world was moving so fast. :) We just stayed outside for a little while to watch the rain. Bukas ulit!

Malcolm Gladwell releases another Pampatalino book! That’s just my categorization for non-fiction books that are teeming with interesting information. His books are very well-written theses on social phenomena. Tipping Point was an exposition on epidemics and similar processes, i.e. how big changes are brought about. Blink was on how people seem to discern or know things in an instant (The Power of Thinking Without Thinking). For his third book Outliers, Gladwell focuses on extraordinary success (and failure) stories. Success stories abound and we inevitably hear about how intelligent, forward-thinking or ambitious successful people are. What not usually revealed are the extraordinary circumstances or opportunities that came their way. In two cases, the birth month or the birth year were significant advantages. But that is not all. Not only did successful people take advantage of the opportunities, they also invested hours and hours of effort before they really had it made. And in case...

Do you know Pushing Daisies ? It's a TV series that I've been following on 2nd Avenue. I saw the very first episode last year, and was instantly hooked. It's funny, quirky, colorful and refreshing. It's a romantic comedy, murder mystery, sometimes a musical. The visuals are almost cartoonish and there's always play on words. It's unlike anything I've seen on TV. The plot: Ned the piemaker and owner of The Pie Hole has the ability to bring dead people and things back to life with his touch, but a second touch will kill them for good. He can only keep them alive for one minute, otherwise the closest living person or thing has to die in its place. Interesting concept, no? Ned's ability was discovered by private detective Emerson Cod and they become partners in a crime-solving enterprise. Ned wakes up the dead for one minute, Emerson asks questions, they solve the murder and claim the reward. In oe of these expeditions, Ned came face-to-face with h...

Tennis blog! Photo from SI.com . The biggest upset of the year happened in the French Open last night. Robin Soderling of Sweden beat #1 Rafa Nadal in 4 sets. The final score: 6-2 6-7(2) 6-4 7-6(2). From the first set, Soderling was aggressive and executed some killer shots. At some point, Rafa looked like he was the less experienced player, being made to run around the court. It was unnerving, especially if you're used to seeing Rafa ahead and controlling the plays. I couldn't relax the whole time! Rafa lost the first set 6-2. Somebody finally broke Rafa's 31-set winning streak in Paris. Even then, I was only a little worried for Rafa. Surely he can elevate his game, no? :) He's mentally strong, he can get over this early loss quickly. It probably wouldn't affect the final outcome. But Soderling stuck to his guns. Second set came to a tie-break, which Rafa easily won, thanks to consecutive errors from Soderling. Oh, so maybe his nerves got the best of hi...

Our village finally elected a new set of officers. The election was last Sunday. We purposely took the time to register in the morning so that we can vote in the afternoon. Richard voted for our family (one house = 1 vote) but I was the more informed one who decided on the names. I attended the miting de avance last Friday while Richard was in Manila for his MBA class. This was the first ever community meeting/gathering/activity that I ever attended. The whole pavilion was filled with the village people – supporters and those like me who came to know the candidates and their platforms. It bears mentioning that this is not our village’s first attempt at electing a new Board of Directors this year. There have been elections but the results were questioned for validity and legality. Meetings have been called and I heard it really got ugly. People did not agree, to say the least. But we moved on and thus this last official election. It is easy to not care and just let the events p...

Neil turned 10 months old last Thursday! Two more to go before he leaves babyhood and becomes a toddler...*Big sigh* Current Stats: Weight: 22.5 lbs Height: 30 inches Teeth: 8 The skills he learned over the past month are: Standing for a few seconds without support. Handing over the object he's holding if you prompt him by saying "Give." I thought it was just a fluke initially but I tried moving my hand in different positions (left, right, up, down) and he does give me the object. :) Waving. Clapping. He eats a lot during the day now. His meal schedule is: milk at 6am, then solids and milk at 8am, 11am, 3pm and 6pm. He naps before the 8am meal and after the 11am meal. I think he gets around 2-3 hours total of daytime nap. And he's been sleeping through the night for the last three weeks or so. Yey! Neil's bedtime is 8pm and he wakes up before 6am. Actually we don't know exactly what time he wakes up because when Richard's alarm goes off at 6am, Ne...