Superbowl, Makati - After months of delay, day one of the Catuwaan Billiards Tournament finally happened last May 24, 2006, 8 - 11 PM. 8 teams composed of 6 members each competed in the first round of the tournament.
Milo, one of the members of group 6 faced off in a singles match against Leo of group 5. The match was dead even; each competitor making several unforced errors during the course of this race-to-three match.
Rack one went to Milo due to an accidental scratch when Leo potted in the nine-ball. The second rack went back and forth until Leo managed to pot in the nine-ball across table. Milo almost managed to steal away the third rack with a two-nine ball combination with ball in hand, but missed by a few milimeters that the nine-ball went out of the hole. Leo managed to win the third rack a few balls after. Milo got extremely lucky in the fourth rack when he missed potting the 6-ball in the corner pocket, but on the rebound, the cue ball hit the 9-ball and went in the side pocket. The deciding match went back and forth until Milo finally potted a mid-range shot at the nine to seal the game at 3-2.
Milo choked big time when he competed along with Ramon in the doubles match against Francis & EJ. The score was 2-1 in favor of Milo & Ramon, and had the chance to seal the victory 3-1. Milo managed to pot three balls straight, 6-8 in different pockets with a very good position for the nine. Just when you thought it was over, Milo missed an easy nine to the top left corner pocket; the ball rattled out for an even easier shot for his opponents. Things were never the same after that miscue, and Milo's team bowed down to the score of 3-2.
However, team 6 edged out their opponent in the overall standings with the score of 10-6. Team 6 advances to the second round of the tournament; the date to be still determined.
May 25, 2006
May 24, 2006
A Blue Savior
This time around, it was a convincing win.
Being the only team garnering a perfect score and also logging in the fastest time, team /\/\1L0 3\/3r'/D4'/! managed to win its second pizza in a weekly quiz game.
This week's quiz was all about guessing the words patterned inside a crossword with an overabundance of clues. Coming from a fine arts background with four years of creative writing under his belt and a love for crossword puzzles (he also makes some himself), team lead and only team member, Milo, felt that he had the advantage for this week.
"Once I saw the quiz, my eyes sparkled and I started to work on the puzzle in haste." Milo said. "I did have a hard time though in the early stages of the quiz as there were more clues than answers."
Whoever knew that a little blue dog would be the key to unlocking the entire puzzle.
"A few months ago, my sister and I came across Nickelodeon while we were surfing channels. They were showing Blue's Clues and they were teaching them color combinations." Milo explained. "To think this was a show made for kids, they were teaching pretty hard stuff. I didn't even know the word 'chartreuse' before the show."
When he saw the clue "Color that is primarily green but has hints of yellow", the word appeared immediately on his mind, and saw that it fit the puzzle. Every word in the puzzle fell into place stemming from the word chartreuse afterwards.
This marks Milo's second first-place win. He has a record of 2 first-place wins, and 1 runner-up. He hopes to be the first team to enter the hall of fame by winning twice in a row.
"After the hall of fame, I'm not sure where to go next. Maybe, I'll join a team with members now, or people would come and form my team."
May 23, 2006
May 22, 2006
Hingis wins Italian Open for first title since return
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylt=Ao6E.pcGoB3dN8657S73FdU4v7YF?slug=ap-italianopen&prov=ap&type=lgns
By ANDREW DAMPF, AP Sports Writer
ROME (AP) -- Martina Hingis saw a different side of life in her three years away from tennis. Some things, however, don't change: She can still win tennis tournaments.
Hingis beat 16th-seeded Dinara Safina 6-2, 7-5 Sunday in the Italian Open final for the 41st title of her career, but first since winning in Tokyo more than four years ago.
She returned in January after nearly three years out of the game with foot and ankle injuries.
"I lived a different life and experienced a lot of things, and that probably helps me today in those moments," Hingis said.
"If I could turn back time, of course I would have continued to play. But at that point it wasn't possible -- the pain and the operations. Right now, I'm very happy that my health is as good as it is."
After winning the first set in 27 minutes and taking a 4-1 lead in the second, Hingis faced three break points that would have sent the second set to a tiebreaker. But she gathered herself and served the match out.
When Safina's backhand return sailed long, the Swiss player placed her hand on her chest and took a deep breath of relief.
"I know how life is after tennis, and that probably gives me a lot of joy at these moments. I want to save them as much as I can," Hingis said.
The 25-year-old Hingis said the victory boosted her confidence entering the French Open, which starts next Sunday. The Italian Open is a key clay-court warmup for Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam that Hingis hasn't won.
"It's a great victory, but it doesn't end," Hingis said. "This is just the beginning of tough tournaments coming up -- the French Open and Wimbledon."
In the meantime, Hingis plans to reward herself by reverting to her retirement lifestyle for a day or two.
She said she would probably have a glass of wine and not set her alarm clock for Monday morning.
"You know, I haven't been used to doing this for three years," she said. "Now you really have to have this solid life. That's probably my biggest joy for the next couple of days."
Hingis is projected to rise to No. 14 in the rankings Monday. She came back to beat Venus Williams in three sets in Saturday's semifinals.
It was Hingis' second Italian Open title. She beat Williams in the 1998 final.
Safina appeared tired from her 2-hour, 33-minute win over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals and, Hingis was in top form from the start.
The former top-ranked player broke Safina's serve in the opening game by hitting a sharply angled shot to Safina's backhand that the Russian -- stretched far off the court -- hit into the net post.
Hingis went on to take a 5-0 lead in the first set and made only four unforced errors. She won a series of points by picking on Safina's weaker backhand.
To the crowd's delight, Safina managed to win two games, but Hingis promptly closed out the set when Safina missed another backhand.
"You don't get any free points from her," said Safina, the younger sister of two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin.
Hingis also took a big lead in the second set, but Safina came back with a break in the sixth game and saved two match points with Hingis up 5-3. Safina hit an ace on the first match point and a service winner on the second.
Safina broke again to even the set at 5-5, but Hingis then came up with another break and served out the match on her second try after falling behind 0-40.
"I felt like I never really had the game out of my hands," Hingis said. "I almost feel like I won my first title. This is what you play for, what I came back for."
By ANDREW DAMPF, AP Sports Writer
ROME (AP) -- Martina Hingis saw a different side of life in her three years away from tennis. Some things, however, don't change: She can still win tennis tournaments.
Hingis beat 16th-seeded Dinara Safina 6-2, 7-5 Sunday in the Italian Open final for the 41st title of her career, but first since winning in Tokyo more than four years ago.
She returned in January after nearly three years out of the game with foot and ankle injuries.
"I lived a different life and experienced a lot of things, and that probably helps me today in those moments," Hingis said.
"If I could turn back time, of course I would have continued to play. But at that point it wasn't possible -- the pain and the operations. Right now, I'm very happy that my health is as good as it is."
After winning the first set in 27 minutes and taking a 4-1 lead in the second, Hingis faced three break points that would have sent the second set to a tiebreaker. But she gathered herself and served the match out.
When Safina's backhand return sailed long, the Swiss player placed her hand on her chest and took a deep breath of relief.
"I know how life is after tennis, and that probably gives me a lot of joy at these moments. I want to save them as much as I can," Hingis said.
The 25-year-old Hingis said the victory boosted her confidence entering the French Open, which starts next Sunday. The Italian Open is a key clay-court warmup for Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam that Hingis hasn't won.
"It's a great victory, but it doesn't end," Hingis said. "This is just the beginning of tough tournaments coming up -- the French Open and Wimbledon."
In the meantime, Hingis plans to reward herself by reverting to her retirement lifestyle for a day or two.
She said she would probably have a glass of wine and not set her alarm clock for Monday morning.
"You know, I haven't been used to doing this for three years," she said. "Now you really have to have this solid life. That's probably my biggest joy for the next couple of days."
Hingis is projected to rise to No. 14 in the rankings Monday. She came back to beat Venus Williams in three sets in Saturday's semifinals.
It was Hingis' second Italian Open title. She beat Williams in the 1998 final.
Safina appeared tired from her 2-hour, 33-minute win over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals and, Hingis was in top form from the start.
The former top-ranked player broke Safina's serve in the opening game by hitting a sharply angled shot to Safina's backhand that the Russian -- stretched far off the court -- hit into the net post.
Hingis went on to take a 5-0 lead in the first set and made only four unforced errors. She won a series of points by picking on Safina's weaker backhand.
To the crowd's delight, Safina managed to win two games, but Hingis promptly closed out the set when Safina missed another backhand.
"You don't get any free points from her," said Safina, the younger sister of two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin.
Hingis also took a big lead in the second set, but Safina came back with a break in the sixth game and saved two match points with Hingis up 5-3. Safina hit an ace on the first match point and a service winner on the second.
Safina broke again to even the set at 5-5, but Hingis then came up with another break and served out the match on her second try after falling behind 0-40.
"I felt like I never really had the game out of my hands," Hingis said. "I almost feel like I won my first title. This is what you play for, what I came back for."
May 18, 2006
Seems promising, but is it worth it?
Samsung SCH-B600
I love cameras on cellphones. It saves the hassle of lugging around two gadgets at one time, and you can have one ready anytime. No more "missed Kodak moments."
Then bam, Samsung will release a model this year that is five times more powerful than the current camera phones, and 2-3 times more powerful than the average breed of digital cameras.
Think of this model as a digital camera with phone capabilities, and not the other way around because it certainly looks like a camera when viewed from one side rather than a phone! It boasts the first-ever camera phone with a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom, and LED auto-focus! Yes, optical!
On the phone side, it has a microMMC slot to store your big-ass photos and files, QVGA 16-million colors screen, QVGA video recording at 15-30 frames per second, dual stereo speakers capable of playing mp3s, AAC and AAC+, supports the SDMB digital satellite TV system, Bluetooth, TV out function, document viewer, Pictbridge, MPEG4 Video playback, and 3G capability!
Talk about a superphone, but is this overkill?
I love cameras on cellphones. It saves the hassle of lugging around two gadgets at one time, and you can have one ready anytime. No more "missed Kodak moments."
Then bam, Samsung will release a model this year that is five times more powerful than the current camera phones, and 2-3 times more powerful than the average breed of digital cameras.
Think of this model as a digital camera with phone capabilities, and not the other way around because it certainly looks like a camera when viewed from one side rather than a phone! It boasts the first-ever camera phone with a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom, and LED auto-focus! Yes, optical!
On the phone side, it has a microMMC slot to store your big-ass photos and files, QVGA 16-million colors screen, QVGA video recording at 15-30 frames per second, dual stereo speakers capable of playing mp3s, AAC and AAC+, supports the SDMB digital satellite TV system, Bluetooth, TV out function, document viewer, Pictbridge, MPEG4 Video playback, and 3G capability!
Talk about a superphone, but is this overkill?
May 11, 2006
Enjoyable Sitti'g
No wonder this album reached the top of the Tower Records charts and very popular amongst the yuppie crowd.
I bought a copy of Sitti's Cafe Bossa Album last May 9th in Music One Greenbelt and listened to it right away in the office. Since then, I have it on loop in my music player.
I do not think that there are any original songs here in this album, but one cannot dismiss it as a cheap knockoff compilation where the artist is using mainstream songs to garner publicity. By the way she sings it all so smoothly, like every note falls into the exact place in the greater scheme of the song, it sounds like she was the one who first sang all these songs. It sounds like she owns the songs. Her renditions of pop hits Tattooed on my Mind, I Didn't Know I was Looking for Love, and Lost in Space would make you even wonder why the original arrangements were not in bossa nova.
It's a very relaxing album, perfect for listening during a hectic day of work or while on vacation. Listening to the album is more effective in relaxing your mind than drinking four gallons of One Ice Tea (One Ice Tea's label: Soothe your body, relax your mind with One Green Tea. And feel the calmness and comfort just washing all the stress away) or relaxing on a recliner watching TV.
I bought a copy of Sitti's Cafe Bossa Album last May 9th in Music One Greenbelt and listened to it right away in the office. Since then, I have it on loop in my music player.
I do not think that there are any original songs here in this album, but one cannot dismiss it as a cheap knockoff compilation where the artist is using mainstream songs to garner publicity. By the way she sings it all so smoothly, like every note falls into the exact place in the greater scheme of the song, it sounds like she was the one who first sang all these songs. It sounds like she owns the songs. Her renditions of pop hits Tattooed on my Mind, I Didn't Know I was Looking for Love, and Lost in Space would make you even wonder why the original arrangements were not in bossa nova.
It's a very relaxing album, perfect for listening during a hectic day of work or while on vacation. Listening to the album is more effective in relaxing your mind than drinking four gallons of One Ice Tea (One Ice Tea's label: Soothe your body, relax your mind with One Green Tea. And feel the calmness and comfort just washing all the stress away) or relaxing on a recliner watching TV.
