The Earth Hour - Global Event on Climate Change

Today is the graduation of my wife's cousin Yeyen. We attended her baccalaureate mass and the graduation rites inside the Immaculate Heart of Mary College.

We had the after-graduation celebration at Five Cows, where we had a very good dinner.

Since today is the Earth Hour day, Trinoma celebrated the event with Live Percussionists and Fire Dancers. I tried to get some pictures but the digicam of Yeyen wasn't good enough to capture the dancers, although we were able to get a video of the dancers. After a few minutes, we headed to timezone to play some games and left at around 9PM.

When we left, it was really dark outside Trinoma as well as SM North Edsa, which I believed caused the heavy traffic along EDSA. Both SM Malls and Ayala Malls participated with the Earth hour.

Very Lucky Shot

I'm a huge basketball fan since I learned to play the game when I was 10 years old. I always make sure that I visit NBA and PBA's website to get updates with the latest news. I even play the fantasy basketball and update my online team on a weekly basis.

I started my day by watching the game between LA Lakers and my favorite NBA team, the Detroit Pistons. The game was held in the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan and Detroit played without three of their top scorers (Allen Iverson - back; Richard Hamilton - groin; and Rasheed Wallace - calf). Since January 8, 2002, the Lakers never won in Detroit. Last year's MVP Kobe Bryant scored 30 points to help the Lakers to a 92 - 77 win.

After eating lunch, I decided to play NBA 2K9 in my Playstation 2. Of course, I'm using Detroit Pistons. I had a quick game with my eldest brother before we went out.

In the evening, the Alaska Aces, my favorite PBA team, played against Talk N' Text Tropang Texters. The last time they played against each other was during the last conference's Game 7 of the championship. Alaska lost the game and I believe they are waiting for this game to get their revenge against TnT. Unfortunately, the Aces lost the game by two points, 124-122. Better luck next time.

While I was browsing the Internet, I saw this video from www.yahoo.com. It was an almost impossible shot, thanks to the court's scoreboard not located in the middle of the court. You can watch the video below.

NCAA Tourney: Top Plays, 3/26 @ Rivals Video

Gov. Ed Panlilio for President?

The next presidential election is more than a year from today but several people already announced their plans to run for the highest position in the country. Vice President Noli de Castro, Senators Ping Lacson, Loren Legarda, Manny Villar, Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, Defense Sec Gilberto Teodoro Jr and even former President Joseph Estrada are among the names that come into my mind when talking about the next national election.

Recently, another name was added to the list of "presidentiables". Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio announced that he might run for president in 2010. Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca would be the running mate of the Catholic priest-on-leave.

Governor Panlilio received a lot of support from several people, after he was able to make changes in Pampanga. Even if a lot of local politicians from Pampanga hate the Governor and even planned to oust him, citing that the people lost trust in him. Amidst this all, Ed Panlilio was able to do his duty as the Governor of Pampanga.

Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales of the archdiocese of Manila has said he "would never endorse any priest who would eye for public office for the 2010 elections." Archbishop Rosales didn't want to comment, saying that he doesn't want to interfere with politics.

Other presidential candidates, including the Malacanang, welcomed the decision of Gov Panlilio.

With the growing number of possible candidates in the upcoming election, Filipinos can choose the next rightful leader of the country. I just hoped that the computerized-election will push through to minimize the possible election fraud. With this names, I pray that each Filipino will look at each candidate and think for their future before casting their votes. The next president should bring a clean government.

Teleperformance acquires Dell - Pasay Call Center

While reading gmanews.tv today, I found this article "Dell sells Pasay contact center, keeps QC facility."

According to the news article, the move was due to the global crisis, which greatly affected the sales of the largest computer company in the US.

It was part of my plan, way back in January, to join Dell Philippines. I've been part of an outsource company of Dell since November 2006. I'm a Dell Certified Systems Expert and one of the best technical support for Dell (ask my friends and former colleagues hehe).

Teleperformance, a French-based call center operator, said that the estimated 1000 employees of Dell will be absorbed. But based on the article, TP will be giving new job offers to these employees. I think a retention or separation package will be offered.

Now, I'm thinking if I will continue my plans to join Dell or should I look for another company. I really love to be part of this company, but with the change of management, I should think twice since I heard a lot of negative comments with Teleperformance, especially with their compensation.

I Miss Blogging

I forgot the password for my previous blog (fritzerwin.blogspot.com) and while trying to recover the password, I found out that I used our company's E-mail and since I'm no longer with the company, I don't have an access to the E-mail. And so, I just created a new one.

It's been a while since the last time I created a blog post (more than a year! whew!). A lot of things happened since then. I got married, joined a new company, transfer to a new apartment, etc.

I'm really motivated to continue blogging since I read several travel blogs during my free time. I really enjoy reading other person's experience of traveling around the Philippines.

Anyway, let me introduce myself (again!) to the blog world. I'm Fritz Erwin Fernandez, turning 24 this coming May 17. I work as a TSR for 24/7 Customer Philippines, handling Time Warner Cable account. I love reading blogs (just like what I said!), watching basketball (I'm really don't have the time to play the game anymore), watching news & movies and learning new things about computers.

I'll try to share a lot more things in my future posts.