What a year it has been.....

Its that time of the year again, 2011 drawing to a close and 2012 approaching. I can't believe the world has gone by quickly and such, we've been witness to numerous events the changed the course of history. On a personal note, 2011 though not as eventful as 2010, has been filled with lots of memories. As 2012 looms its time to put things into perspective.

The year may have started in a quite interesting fashion but it'll surely end much better than I imagined. I'm very thankful for all the blessings that I've received no matter how big or small. But most importantly its the simple blessings like family and friends that I'm most thankful for.

I look forward to the challenges that 2012 will bring and I'm more than determined to face and clear each hurdle that will be thrown my direction in the year ahead. Whether it be work related or eventually finding the "right one" I'm committed to simply take and enjoy the ride and simply remain thankful.  More than anything I'm determined not to hold back and face each challenge thrown my way head on.

More than anything, I look forward to new memories with family and friends. Whether it be watching the Super Bowl with my dad (here's hoping for a Patriots victory), going crazy watching the Stanley Cup (hoping for a Canucks victory) or a the resurgence of the Red Sox after a disastrous ending to 2011, watching the annual Miss Universe and Miss World pageants with close friends, or even a nice meal with the family or a simple night out with friends I look forward to what 2012 will bring.

But most importantly I'm very thankful for what a great year it has been and looking forward to the upcoming year full of hope and optimism.

Let's all drink to 2011 and toast the upcoming year ahead.

Peace and Love

Lex

Welcome back Canucks - 2011-12 Season

Well, the puck drops on hockey in a matter of hours and as I title suggest, yes I bleed blue, green and white for the Vancouver Canucks (Bruins are my second NHL team). Last season, the Canucks came one game of short of lifting the Stanley Cup but despite the cup final lost, it was still an excellent season. Winning the President's Cup and coming one game short of the championship are no small potatoes. But for many fans me included, the defeat still stings. Many were hopeful that after 18 long years a Canadian team will be able to lift the cup again. Sadly, the cup has been won by a American team from 1994 to the present. At present, I see the Canucks as being very motivated and and hungry after that stinging seventh game loss on home ice.

Though right now, the team needs to do it without Selke winner Ryan Kesler who's recovering from off season hip surgery and speedy Mason Raymond who's still recuperating from a broken vertebrae suffered during the cup finals. However, Canuck fans are cheering for rookie Cody Hodgson who'll be part of this year's roster as well a healthy Manny Malhotra who recovered from a possible career ending eye injury to play just in time for the cup finals. Also back after surgery is d-man Dan Hamhuis who's expected to lead the defense together with Kevin Bieksa. I'm looking forward to see the twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin pressure their opponents and hopefully Roberto Luongo will be finally able to exorcise his demons.

Its also worth noting that during the off-season the two former Canucks passed away: Rick Rypien and Pavol Demitra. Its confirmed that the Canucks will be honoring Rypien on October 18 against the Rangers while no plans have been reported yet for Demitra who was killed together with the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team of the KHL when their plane went down en route to Minsk.

Hopefully this is a season where there will be lots of cheers, goals and hopefully we'll see our team finally raised the cup and return it to Canada after nearly two decades. Also, I'd like to welcome back the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL. Its nice to have another team from Canada.

Anyway, welcome back Canucks and NHL 2011-12 season.

RIP Boston Red Sox 2011 Season

Boston Red Sox logo courtesy of www.sportslogos.net 

What started out horribly ended up the same for my Boston Red Sox. Coming into the season, baseball fans, writers and analysts have expected the Red Sox to return to the playoffs after missing last season due to numerous injuries to key players. 2011 started with a bang with the acquisition of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. Things may have turned out right after all, hopefully (fingers crossed). Players like Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie to name a few are returning from injuries that derailed their 2010 campaigns, maybe its was going to be a good season. Then it happend: the team got swept by both Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians. It seems the team was caught flat footed out of the starting block. Then things started to look better. After a disastrous April, the team started to turn it around. Winning one game at a time. Red Sox players like Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were main cast of MVP discussions. Our team carried the lead till the start of September and everyone expected a trip to the playoffs. Then disaster after disaster happend. As if someone turned on the switch, Boston began to collpase. Losing one game after another. Who knew how September would've turned out had Ellsbury, Marco Scutaro and Alfredo Aces tried not to carry the team,. Sadly, our season ended a few days ago and questions are being asked left and right a about what went wrong. Reports on twitter circulating that jealously has been going around the Red Sox clubhouse as players with smaller contracts are outperforming players with bigger contracts. Could chemistry have been the main culprit? Sadly, the lost to the Orioles on our 162nd game of the year also signaled the end of Terry Francona's tenure as skipper of the team. Tito led us to 2 World Series titles (sweeping both WS opponents in 2004 and 2007) and sadly those are just memories now. We'll see what the off-season will be for us. But in my opinion we need to get pitchers, quality pitchers who'll be able to thrive in sports-mad Boston market. For anyone interviewing for the managerial position, be prepared and you must be thick skinned. Boston is not an easy place and will never be an easy place to manage. Hopefully, our team's collapse doesn't hurt the MVP chances of Jacoby Ellsbury who after just playing last season came out firing from all cylinders this year. Fingers crossed for Jacoby. Lastly, this Red Sox fan are rooting for either of the teams to win this season : Texas Ranger, Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies.

Off to follow my New England Patriots and Vancouver Canucks. Hopefully, those two teams will give something to cheer after coming short last season. Patriots losing to the Jets in the divisional round while the Canucks coming one game short of lifting the Stanley Cup (Boston Bruins still my second team, but my allegiance will always be to Vancouver for ice hockey), as for my Boston Celtics, looks like the NBA is headed for a lost season.

Peace!

Meeting Shamcey

Last 19 September, I was a guest on ABS-CBN's Kris TV. During that particular guesting (my second) I met Shamcey Supsup, Miss Universe 2011 third runner-up. The meeting was brief yet I was able simply congratulate her for her success and had a brief chat with her before going live. I'll admit that I'm somewhat of a bandwagon jumper to the Shamcey bandwagon. I only came to appreciate her after the Miss Universe prelims, why? Because I saw a different Shamcey on stage in Sao Paulo, than the one I saw during Binibining Pilipinas. There was a glow and presence which was very present in Brazil than what we saw a couple of months prior. During the said event she delivered the goods yet there was some concern if the judges are favoring her or not. Some contestants may have been more facially beautiful than her but Shamcey comes as the complete package. Humble, pretty, sophisticated, intelligent and very graceful.

Author and Miss Universe 2011 third runner-up Shamcey Supsup

During that guesting I was able to know her and what she is as a person. She's a real person by the basis of that brief encounter yet despite of all her achievement (architecture board exams topnotcher to name a few) her feet seems to be firmly planted on the ground and she is determined not let her recent success go into her head. During the encounter, I met a young lady who's determined to further her studies and at the same time would like to make the world a better place by being able to help transform a city through the means of proper urban planning and efficient building methods she acquired in college. Aside from that, she comes across as sweet, level headed and determined which are very good qualities to have. To be honest, I felt rather bad that Shamcey only finished fourth when in my opinion she should've been ranked between first to third only. One thing that me and friend predicted that its going to be a fight till the finish between her and eventual winner Angolan Leila Lopes. But then there are other plans for her. Perhaps, she'll one day follow the footsteps of architects like Zaha Hadid, Cesar Pelli, Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Santiago Calatrava or even Daniel Libeskind who have made great names for themselves in the field of architectural design. Will she be entering showbiz like several titleholders have done? Right now, Shamcey is simply starting a new chapter of her life, one that promises to be rewarding, challenging, and fun.

Kudos to you Shamcey on your success and all the best on your future endeavors.

Just an added bonus: Author with Binibinibing Pilipinas International 2011 Dianne Necio and  Binibining Pilipinas Tourism 2011 Isabella Manjon. Good luck in Miss International Dianne. Bring home the crown. 

WE REMEMBER - 9-11-01

Exactly ten years ago today, the entire world stood in shock as terror struck in New York City and Washington D.C. We remember the thousand of people who lost their lives in those attacks and commend and remember the passengers of United Airlines flight 93 who was able to thwart the hijackers plan of crashing the doomed plane to a target in Washington D.C. I remember learning of the attacks when my dad called my attention while talking to my friend Missy on the phone the night of 9/11 here in Manila, Philippines. Dad simply told me to tune in to CNN and from there noticed that both towers were on fire. At that time, no one knew if it was simply an accidental crash or was it purposely crashed. Hours later, we realized that terrorist supported by Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were the perpetrators of the attacks. The attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. as well as the downing of flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania awakened our quest to continuously fight to make the world a better place for all. Let us remember that the fight continues and we will ensure that we will beat any form of extremism and selfish interest of those people who only seek chaos and plant fears and hatred in the hearts and minds of people the world over. No matter what your race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, beliefs or nationality we look back at the past ten years and think, are we safer now or are we more vulnerable to extremists attacks? Directly or indirectly our lives were affected one way or the other. My utmost respect and commendation to those who have been fighting in order to make the world a safer place. To those people who will not stop until more innocent blood are spilled, watch out, we will never give up our fight. To those trying to take advantage of this event, shame on you! 9-11 Never Forget, We Remember. May We Never Forget 09/11/01 - 09/11/11

Sex and the City

Its been quite sometime since Sex and the City went off the air and going through Youtube, I saw this really nice clip featuring Kim Cattrall. In my opinion, there would be no SATC without Kim Cattrall. She put the word Sex on the title. Her one liners are the best and she's just plain hilarious. Here's the best of Samantha Jones.

If your underage, please watch something else.

NFL 2011-12

Here were are, less than a 2 weeks before the start of the NFL season. Glad a lockout was avoided and the season and the Road to Indianapolis site of Super Bowl XLVI will commence as defending champions Green Bay Packers open the season at Lambeau Field against the New Orleans Saints.

Meanwhile my team, the New England Patriots will open their season at Sun Life Stadium in Miami against conference fellow AFC-East rival Miami Dolphins on September 12 (September 13 in Manila). Go Patriots!!!

9-11: We Remember

As we're days away from marking a decade after the 9/11 attacks, we pause to remember those whose lives were lost. Whether it be in New York City, Washington D.C. or Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We remember what we were doing that very moment. Directly or indirectly we were affected and we give thanks to those who continue to fight to make the world a safer and better place. Never Forget! 11 September 2001 - 11 September 2011. 

Miss Universe and friendship

Every year me and my friends gather together to watch pageants (local or international). We either go to the venue (local) or watch it on TV or livestream. Last year was rather memorable for me, my designer friends Veejay Floresca and Martin Bautista and our friend Aleck Africa. As we were watching the live telecast of the Miss Universe pageant from Las Vegas via Starworld, Veejay came up with the idea of taping how we'll react during the semi-final announcement. We placed the computer on top of the TV and then it went into sleep mode forgetting that the camera was recording. The result was a seven minute video which was very funny, spontaneous and memorable as it captured the emotion filled with nervousness, doubt, surprise and most of all jubilation when Venus Raj was the last contestant called to the semi-finals. Let's just say my sister's bedroom was full of energy after the semi-final announcement. We enjoyed every moment of last year's pageant from swimsuit, to evening gown and even the dreaded Q&A round. Though Venus did not win the crown, we were happy for her as it finally ended an eleven year drought at Miss Universe (last placement was 1999). We only realized that a video existed more than 2 hours after the live telecast and Veejay went to work editing the video which I then uploaded on my Youtube account. Let's just say the video went viral. From that point on we were invited on several TV shows, the video were featured on numerous shows here and abroad and eventually landed a product endorsement from KFC. In just 12 days, a new Miss Universe will be crowned in Sao Paulo, Brazil. No, we won't recording one this year, (Sorry to disappoint some), but we'll still have a get together which will be bigger this year.

Here's a fond farewell to Miss Universe 2010 Jimena Navarrete of Mexico

 Felicitaciones Jimena!

Yankees vs. Red Sox

Earlier today the Yankees and the Red Sox played one of their 18 games this season. What was rather funny was after my Red Sox won, my dad who's a big Yankee fan sent me an SMS saying my team got lucky (I was just upstairs but dad opted to send me an SMS). When it was time for me to go down, I picked up my Red Sox cap and flaunted it in front of dad. Needless to say he asked me to take it off just as I asked him to remove his Yankee cap yesterday when his team beat mine. Its rather funny that here I am a Red Sox and my  dad the big Yankees fan going at it. Its always like that during baseball season.