Mark & Chuti

Uncles Joe, Dave & Frank:

Mark S. and his long-time sweetie Chuti have big and happy news! I suppose you can guess what it's about, but let him email you. (I took this picture at the reception of Howie and Aisa's wedding.)

If you remember, Mark graduated this March from his HRM course at De La Salle-Lipa (Batangas). Last year he was one of five top students sent from DLSU-Lipa to intern for six months at The Veranda, a 23-room inn in Nantucket, Massachussetts.

Chuti and her mom have a catering company. The last time we all went to Mark's place in Los Baños to celebrate the first death anniversary of Tita Josie, Chuti and her family prepared the delicious food.

Enjoying the BBC

I was having dinner last night at a friend's place, when, while channel-surfing, we came across a BBC documentary on Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic. He was recently found dead a few days ago; just today it was reported that he actually died from a heart attack rather than from suicide or assassination. (For another good British sum-up of Milosevic's bloody career, check out The Guardian.)

My friend, who earlier had accompanied me to the mall to help me choose new eyeglass frames, said that there were times he preferred watching the BBC over CNN. It was more calm and laid-back, and encouraged him to think. CNN, he said, is at its best for breaking news, but its programming is sometimes too adrenaline-charged, and therefore more tiring to watch.

The documentary was interesting. Apart from the usual biographical information it showed the evolution of Slobodan Milosevic and sociology professor wife Mira Markovich as Serbia's power couple, tracing their political affiliations from one extreme to another, and how the couple fed off each other's ambitions as they grabbed power and sought to remain there. The documentary also showed how they manipulated mass media to reposition Milosevic as a nationalist strongman despite having been indicted for ethnic cleansing and other war crimes at The Hague. Upon Marshal Tito's death, as Yugoslavia broke into smaller republics (talk about the term "balkanization"), the nationalist Serbs lapped up exactly what Milosevic had intended. The BBC documented every instance of individual and national betrayal. Biting stuff.

"Shades of Marcos and Imelda," I mumbled over a bite of brownies. "Mismo!", my friend said.

Now if they turn it into a biographical potboiler, I'd buy it to read in the farm. I'm into historical nonfiction in a big way -- countries, cultures, wars, biographies. When there's no television, and no new dvds, that's what sustains my imagination.

Mercury Retrograde Redux

Wasn't it Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawat who mentioned last year that Mercury Retrograde was not a good time for him? He must be making offerings to temples left and right just to stay afloat until March 25, hehehe.

On the home front...my Powerbook is back with a vengeance! The newly replaced LCD is working wonderfully! The techie at my friendly neighborhood Apple reseller also replaced my 768mb worth of RAM with just one 1G chip - I just traded in my two old 512mb Kingston chips (I have another 768mb worth of RAM in the other dead Powerbook I bought just for parts, all that remains now are the two OEM 256mb chips). He also tested my Firewire/USB mini HDD enclosure (which wouldn't mount). It turns out that the firewire cable doesn't work (the USB cable does, but you will need to plug the AC adapter, which defeats the purpose of portability). Good thing I can still have it replaced within warranty at Powermac Megamall.

What peeves me is that the enclosure cost me PhP 5,500 last year while my friendly neighborhood Apple reseller was selling a similar-but-fully- working product for PhP 2,000 less! Alas, that's what happens when one is desperate for emergency portable backup storage. I will NEVER buy from them again. My friendly neighborhood Apple reseller will now get ALL my custom. My techie there, Nomer, is THE BEST! If you are reading this and if you are a happy QC-based Mac owner, you probably know the outfit I speak of. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

As to the planet Mercury, I thumb my nose at you when I have such good friends at my side!