Punzi's Corner Blog

Just wanted to post something here in the City of Pines before I head on home tomorrow.

I just want to give a quick hat tip to the Department of Tourism for its deft move in hiring HappySlip to tour the Philippines and record some footage to promote tourism here.

Even with recent setbacks related to our air transportation, that seems like a small, insignificant step. But reaching out to Fil-Ams to go back and trace their roots here is a small investment (in an all-expenses paid trip to HappySlip, Josh Verdes and company) will surely pay big dividends in the end.

That move will give a big bang for the proverbial buck. It's creative thinking for the least amount of resources at its best.

I have to call a spade a spade. It was a very good move.

That first day of the week was not so good.

Started with a miscue about my new flute. The lady from Yamaha said they had a YFL-421 but when it was delivered to them, it was a YFL-321. I know that model and considered it, but that is not what I want. That flute only has a sterling silver headjoint. It is not all silver, unlike the YFL-421. It is not a substantial upgrade from my current YFL-221.

Anyway, I will just wait for them to import a YFL-421. It will also give me time to raise the funds to pay for it without too much pressure.

And then there's this utter miscue related to work I can't even blog about. I'm just putting it here to vent.

I'm set to go out of town this afternoon. I would have gone earlier, but I still have a hearing to attend to this morning.

I'm still thinking of leaving Scarlett behind since I may have to commute home Thursday night. Oh, I finally fixed the her settings so I can connect it to my phone and to the net via bluetooth. As it turns out, the settings for Leopard was more straightforward than in Tiger.

So I may be out without any connectivity for this week.

Here's to a great week for all of us, nonetheless.

This song is dedicate to someone I have not met and I may meet soon (in probably, two weeks).


"Believe"
by Cher

After love, after love [repeat]
No matter how hard I try
You keep pushing me aside
And I can't break through
There's no talking to you
So sad that you're leaving
Takes time to believe it
But after all is said and done
You're going to be the lonely one, Ohh Oh

[CHORUS:]
Do you believe in life after love
I can feel something inside me say
I really don't think you're strong enough,
Now
Do you believe in life after love
I can feel something inside me say
I really don't think you're strong enough,
Now

What am I supposed to do
Sit around and wait for you
And I can't do that
There's no turning back
I need time to move on
I need love to feel strong
'Cause I've had time to think it through
And maybe I'm too good for you Ohh Oh

[CHORUS]

But I know that I'll get through this
'Cause I know that I am strong
I don't need you anymore
Oh I don't need you anymore I don't need you anymore
No I don't need you anymore

[CHORUS repeat to fade]

Today was all about my family.

I took Bea and Nico out for some errands. Went went to the grocery, at lunch at the mall and purchased a new washing machine, as out old one (which was a wedding present some 10 years ago) finally hit the bucket.

A few hours of rest and it was off to a family dinner at our favorite steakhouse to celebrate my dad's birthday about 3 days in advance. His birthday will fall right smack in the middle of next week so most of us will be busy. My dad and I will be out of town at that day, in particular. So we decided to celebrate early.

After a big steak dinner we're all retired to out respective rooms.

Next week will be another busy week. As I mentioned, I will be out of town for three days for my consultancy's planning session. Then, we have a lot of pending cases and meetings. I expect everything will work out for the best next week. And I expect I can get my new flute by then.

Here's to another productive week ahead of us.

Yesterday, I made the downpayment/reservation for my new flute. It will be, by far, the biggest investment I will have in a musical instrument. It will also be a major upgrade from the flutes I have now.

It's a Yamaha YFL-421. It is similar to the flute I have now (a Yamaha YFL-221) but it is solid sterling silver, which gives a sweeter tone and a different cut on the embrochure. It will be harder to play, people say, but it has a greater payback.

I also chose to retain my YFL-221 as a back up and perhaps for any of my kids who may be interested in taking up flute.

In another front, Bea had her annual field demonstration. She dances well but quite reserved. I'll try to post the video.

Anyway, I hope to rest tomorrow, after doing some errands. I almost forgot. I have a lot of pleadings to do...

At least, I'm grateful I'm not waking up early tomorrow because there's no school.

Got this from my inbox:

Dear Lucky Winner,

It is our pleasure to inform you that you have emerged as a Category "A" winner of the International Premier Lotto United Kingdom.

You are entitled to a prize sum of Four Million Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds; Reference number for your prize is PILS/SA/UK/69-810278, ticket number A/04-3919.

As a category A winner, you have been selected from a total number of Twenty Five Thousand names drawn from Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East and America.

After the computer ballot of our International Promotions Program, only six winners emerged in the category and therefore both are to receive payouts of Four Million Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds from the total Twenty Seven Million British Pounds for second category winners.

This is part of the Country's Programme to fund for the Olympic Games in 2012 The1.5bn Olympic lottery puzzle
()

The Lottery must raise 1.5bn over the next seven years to pay its share of the public money going into the Olympics.

A further 650M will be raised from council tax in London and another 250m from
the London Development Agency, while similar sums will be raised from ticket sales, marketing, sponsorship and the sale of television rights.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your 4,500,000 Four Million and Five Hundred thousand British Pounds will be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

To immediately collect your prize, please contact our Category "A" financial handlers with information below:

Mr. Richard Spencer
Premium Finance & Trust Ltd
United Kingdom
Tel: +44-703-193-1033
Fax: +44-87-0913-4460
Email 1: spencer.richard78@yahoo.com
Email 2: info2spencer@gmail.com

Provide prize reference number-PILS/SA/UK/69-810278 and winning ticket number-A/04-3919 for confirmation.
In your best interests, you must initiate contact within one week of receipt of this correspondence.
You are also advised to send a copy of this Email, either by fax or email, to your financial handler Mr. Richard Spencer when contacting him.
You are to keep all lottery information from the public as we will not entertain cases of multiple claims processing or compromise the privacy and security for all winners.

We congratulate you once again and it is our hope that you participate in any of our international programs in the nearest future.
Thank your sincerely,

Rita Sunderland,
The lottery Coordinator
International Premier Lotto United Kingdom
Great Surry House
203 Black Friars Road,
London SE 1 8NH

Yeah, right!

I'm blogging in a new office laptop (a Sony Vaio NR series with C2D 1.6 Ghz, 2Gb RAM and a huge 200 Gb hard disk.)

It has Vista Home Premium. Given my previous Vista experience, I was not excited about this, to say the least.

But since it was already there, I was not about to downgrade to XP because that would be expensive. So I decided to give this operating system another chance.

The Vista revisit (pardon the pun) was not bad, I have to admit. I got Firefox to run (because IE7 still sucked) in this machine and as it turns out, when it's on form, it's XP will the eye-candy.

I particularly like the visual effects in this one and it already approximates OSX Tiger.

But it's still Tiger that it approximates. It does not even equal it. Then, there's Leopard...

Unfortunately, this experience, though somewhat pleasant comes, at a price. First, it has to be Home Premium, minimum. Second, the specs have to be so high.

But in any case, admittedly, I have to revise my opinion on Vista given this new computer we have.

So that's my experience with Vista so far...

I hope there products live up to their ads... because I'm so getting one:



And the sequel product:

Before, having some disposable income takes me straight to Ynzal, to SM City Cyberzone, to Greenhills or some other place that would satisfy my gadgetlust.

But with that addressed by my gadgetlust fund, it was time to invest in enduring technologies (or gadgets). Simply put, these gadgets will defy obsolescence as there are no newer models available and they will always be useful. You can even pass these things on to your children.

For my law partner, his investment in enduring technologies took him to Rustan's Makati to get a Montblanc Meisterstück Chopin fountain pen. Though expensive, this writing instrument is a fine example of what I'm talking about.

I'm equally guilty.

No, I did not buy a fountain pen. I just decided to buy Clarry's upgrade. My first clarinet was a cheap China-made resin one. Don't get me wrong, this instrument was fine for a beginner and I had fond memories with Clarry, but it had poor workmanship. The keys are already corroding and the cork seals are already thinning with only less than a year of occasional use.

So I got Clarry II this afternoon. He's a Japanese-made Yamaha YCL-250. It's almost the same as Clarry in terms of materials (ABS resin and not grenadilla wood) but the workmanship and the sound is far superior. Clarry II is surely and investment in enduring technologies because it will not be obsolete and I can even had him down to my children if they're interested in taking up the instrument.

Next on my agenda is a flute upgrade to probably a Yamaha 400-series flute. I feel I have outgrown my Yamaha 221 and perhaps ready for an upgrade. But I'm keeping the old flute as a backup just in case I have difficulty adjusting to the new one.

Then after that, perhaps upgrades to Sophie and Al as well... then on to a Rolex watch...

I'll probably sell Clarry to a chamber session member (on a pay-when-able basis) who has shown interest in getting him. I'll know that by the end of this week.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm getting acquainted with Clarry II right now.

How Beautiful
by Twila Paris
(rendered here by the Ateneo Chamber Singers)

How Beautiful the hands that served
The Wine and the Bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty roads and the hill to the cross
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How Beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

And as He lay down His life
We offer this sacrifice
That we will live just as He died
Willing to pay the price
Willing to pay the price

How Beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
How Beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives so that others may live
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King
How Beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread and the sons of the Earth
How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

I got Bea's grades early Saturday morning and the results were dismal. Don't get me wrong, I'm still somewhat satisfied with her grades and she's doing a fine job (and she's not failing, which is already very good for me). I'm not pushing her too much and because of my new practice in a law firm, I have not been putting in too much on the home front (which includes helping her in her studies). So in a sense, I am ultimately to blame if I did not like her grades. I have to put in more effort with her and also Nico.

So to "reward" her for her performance, I took her to her doctor for a long-overdue Typhoid vaccination shot.

Some reward.

Anyway, the rewards of last year's efforts have started to trickle in. And part of the reward entails me getting a flute upgrade soon. It could have been earlier, had I had the funds then. But when I got back to the store, the only remaining unit has been sold. They offered to order me a new one and the good thing here is, I can order the model of flute I really want.

But there is a new reward in the offing.

The new car, though, is out of the picture. But in its place is a budget to satisfy my gadgetlust for a long, long time. Only thing is we don't know when that client will deliver. But it has to be soon for his sake. He has the big problem, not us.

That's why I was able to resist the temptation to get a new 160Gb iPod Classic yesterday with my flute budget. I know I can still get that with the big, big gadgetlust budget we are going to get.

And for that, I'm grateful. For everything.

Anyway, here's to a rewarding week ahead of us.

Simon Cowell had this sinking feeling that this song would be a hit.

So let's start to make it one.

This one is a remix of Renaldo Lapuz's "We're Brothers Forever."

Enjoy and spread the love:

... in tidbits...

... new car on again and off again... let's wait for tomorrow...

... a (expletive) wanna-be motorcycle driver trying to be cool got detained for 6 hours for plowing into my car... for sure, he's not going near a motorcycle again...

... accompanied my mother to GSIS to fix her pension problems... since I was there... I partially solved my own GSIS problems as well... but I ran out of patience to get my own E-card... maybe next year...

... drooling over a MacBook Air... but may decide to get one once the specs go higher than Scarlett... Mr. Jobs had me at "Manila Folder" demo...

.... drooling over Time Capsule... and in weird way... an Apple TV...

... enjoyed the resumption of American Idol... 5.1 surround sound courtesy of my Pioneer Home Theater system...

... on the verge of getting a new flute... and some other stuff I should have gotten last holiday season...

... can't wait for tomorrow...

.... admiring Olivia Munn...

.... zzz... zzz... zzz...

Fr. Eduardo P. Hontiveros, SJ, was born on 20 December 1923 in Molo, Iloilo City. He was one of eight children born to Jose Hontiveros and Vicenta Pardo.

Fr. Honti, as he is fondly known, was educated at the Capiz Elementary School and the pre-war Ateneo de Manila in Padre Faura, graduating from high school in 1939. From 1939 to 1945 he was at San Jose Seminary. He entered the Society of Jesus after the war in 1945, pronouncing first vows at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches in June 1947. There he finished his studies in philosophy and then proceeded to Ateneo de Zamboanga for his three-year regency, teaching religion, Latin, and English, and moderating the Choir String Band. In 1951, he traveled to the United States to study theology, and was ordained in 1954 by Francis Cardinal Spellman. After earning a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to teach in the Philippines in 1958. He pronounced final vows in the Society of Jesus in 1960.

Fr. Honti had a long career as a theology professor and seminary formator for Jesuits and San Jose seminarians. He served in various capacities, including as Rector of San Jose Seminary and Dean of Loyola School of Theology. For more than thirty years until 1991 when a stroke seriously hampered his mobility and capacity to communicate, he was a fatherly figure to generations of Jesuit and Josefino seminarians.

But Fr. Honti is best known for his music. In 1965, as the Second Vatican Council ended and called for inculturation of the liturgy, Fr. Honti, whose family is musically inclined, was already composing Mass hymns in Tagalog. He asked the church choirs in Barangka, Marikina, and Pansol, both communities near the new Ateneo campus in Loyola Heights, to sing his songs, and he readily adjusted the notes if the choir found his compositions too difficult. Before long, he had composed a complete set of hymns for the Mass. Thus began Fr. Honti’s love affair with heartfelt liturgical music. His songs spread to other parishes and by the 1970s, aided by a fresh wave of nationalism, his songs had become staple fare at Masses.

His name may not be familiar to all, but his music certainly is. He was not the only Filipino who experimented with sacred music in the vernacular starting in the 1960s, but he was certainly the most prolific, and most successful, if success is measured by the popularity of one’s work. Over a period of twenty-five years, Fr. Honti composed hundreds of hymns, many of which with moving stories of ordinary people behind them. He has inspired younger generations of composers like Fr. Nemesio Que, Fr. Fruto Ramirez, Fr. Manoling Francisco, Fr. Arnel Aquino, and Fr. Jboy Gonzales. It is no exaggeration that Fr. Honti has been called the Father of Filipino Liturgical Music.

Today it is a testament to Fr. Honti’s pioneering spirit that so many styles of church music are sung in our Masses and other gatherings. The choices can seem quite daunting, and it is never easy to select songs that various generations of churchgoers can follow, but play the opening notes of Fr. Honti’s Pananagutan, or intone his Luwalhati, Santo, Kordero ng Diyos, or his Magnificat, and everyone can join in. That is the surest way to show that while his name may not ring a bell, his music does.

Fr. Honti’s initiatives have been recognized with the Ateneo de Manila University’s Tanglaw ng Lahi Award (1976), the Asian Catholic Publishers’ “Outstanding Catholic Author” (1992), and the Papal award Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (2000), among many other awards and citations. He suffered another major stroke in early January, and went home to the Lord on 15 January.

His wake is being held at the Oratory of St. Ignatius, Loyola House of Studies, Ateneo de Manila University, where daily masses will be held at 8:00 p.m. The funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday, 19 January, 8:00 a.m. at the Church of the Gesu in Ateneo Loyola Heights campus. Interment will follow at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Loyola School of Theology, for the Eduardo P. Hontiveros, SJ, Professorial Chair.



15 January 2008
Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus

The reason for the offline weekend is our firm's first ever planning meeting.

With the death of our partner last year, we took in additional partners. To date, we will be 6.

With that many, we really had to meet to plan the future of this endeavor. We had verbalize where we are, visualize where we want to be and venture how to get there.

That took the whole weekend. But since we brought in our respective families, it was also a bonding opportunity. And for me personally, it was family bonding time with my kids, since we went without my parents.

It was really supposed to be an offline weekend. But there was a time I needed access but unfortunately, my upgrade to Leopard threw off my bluetooth gprs modem settings. I had to retrieve the files I needed some other way.

Anyway, what we achieved were:

1. The agreement, in principle, to be partners. That's a given and without that, the whole weekend's point would be moot.

2. A crucial decision to relocate from Quezon City to the Ortigas Business District. Getting back to OBD was fine with me because my solo practice actually started there and I have fond memories of working in that area.

3. The timetable. We have set our formal opening on 08 August 2008, to capitalize on that "888" thing...

But we were five last weekend. Last night, we became 6.

I really believe we have found the right mix of people this time. Each person has a different field of expertise. Providentially, we compliment each other's skills.

In my opinion, this new firm will go far and will last a long time. That session was worth missing choir last Saturday.

The name? We really have not decided yet since we actually added another one last night.

Wish us all the best.

Just to let you know, I may be offline for this weekend (perhaps until Sunday) because I will be out of town.

We will have a partner's meeting so we can set a new direction given the death of one of us. We have to know where we are, where we want to be and how to get there. And that requires the entire weekend.

Yes, I will miss choir tomorrow. But I'm sure He'll understand. I may even get to play on Sunday. Or at the very least just catch up on mass by then.

A client will also visit us tomorrow as his problems cannot wait over the weekend.

So until then, wish us luck.

But let me leave you with HappySlip's latest Vlog:

A massive traffic pile-up in the news greeted me this morning. Fortunately, I'm not headed that direction at that time. I was just taking Bea to school.

But things have been piling up. I really don't want to go into specifics because these are a mix of good and bad things. And I don't want to attract the bad things at the expense of venting myself in this blog.

So I'll focus of the good things. Work has been piling up, which is good since it will mean revenue sooner or later.

Opportunities have been piling up, which is also good since opportunities can give rise to good things for me, my friends and my family.

Now if I can just make it through these couple of weeks, I guess I'll be fine.

Sorry for neglecting my blog lately.

It's a combination of being busy, as I hit the ground running last Monday. Meeting after meeting as soon as I arrived at the office. Did not even have the chance to show up at my consultancy for that day.

Compound that with being under the weather yesterday. It was a good thing that I only showed up at a short meeting near our house while I attending to an essential errand because of two things. First, that meeting showed the way to a potentially big case. Second, I would have been stuck in traffic due to the UP Centennial celebration had I went to the office yesterday.

I was feeling better later in the afternoon but I'm feeling worse right now. I have barely enough energy to blog and I have a ton of paperwork backlog right now. Hopefully, I can muster enough energy later to finish it all, attend to my government consultancy and show up at the office today.

I need to focus. The current finish line is nearing.

Here's to a great week ahead. It's a fair conclusion, given the developments last Friday.

The difference here is, there is a different feeling in me coming into this week.

There is more than hope. There is expectation.

And expectation is more powerful than hope. It attracts good things faster.

And I wish you the same good week, too.

A good day is contagious.

A good breakfast (at Manila Hotel for that matter) set the tone.

A good first hearing of the year (where I was the witness instead of the lawyer) put it to a good start.

A good meeting followed, where my new car suddenly became closer to my garage that I thought.

Some more good news from good earning cases then flurried afterwards.

Then I capped off this good day with a good meal in a good restaurant (Casa Armas) at Trinoma.

Good news attracts good news. A good streak attracts more of the same. You can call it contagious.

Then, Happyslip released a good new video aptly called "Contagious?" Oh, I can't say anything more about to day.

Another day of days.

I did not realize that this first working day of the new year would be that busy.

First, I went to my consultancy, which I did not do since the agency's Christmas party.

Then a full day at the office, where we interviewed a potential associate (who comes from the same law school as my partner and I), which is a refreshing experience and some paperwork.

The next two days will find us at Manila City Hall for a filing and a hearing. And we are waiting for some unfinished business from last year to push through within a few days which may make me miss a planned family affair extravaganza in Subic. But I'm prepared to do that. As the Witwicky motto says: "No sacrifice, no victory." It's a sacrifice I'm willing to take.

If this first workday will dictate the rest of the year, we are in for a wild, but rewarding ride in 2008.

And it will be just as lucrative. On to victory!