Sports Limited

There are upsets, but at least there's one to be glad about.

Wimbledon 2008

In the men's singles, Andy Roddick is out of Wimbledon by day 4 - so is James Blake. Plus, Novak Djokovic was defeated by Marat Safin on day 3 - could this be a comeback? Well, it better be so he could stop Federer from dominating Wimbledon again. If not, let's hope at least Rafael Nadal or Lleyton Hewitt will get the job done. I'm just not sure how they're gonna do it given than Federer is unstoppable on grass.

Then in the women's singles, Maria Sharapova bowed out of the grand slam tournament by day 4, and Ana Ivanovic by day 5. Could Jelena Jankovic step up so we won't see a Williams vs. Williams in the finals?

All I can say is: it's a blood bath in Wimbledon this year.

81096394MW184_The_Champions
Originally uploaded by manuelgonzalez89

Lethal Combination

Manny Pacquiao once again brings glory to the Philippines by knocking David Diaz out after 02:24 in Round 9. Another blood bath.

Diaz Pacquiao Boxing
Originally uploaded by shoecrazy_24

"You apologize too much..."

Imagine watching "Sin City" without knowing that it's based on a graphic novel so you're expecting that the characters, action scenes, etc. will be somehow closer to reality, then suddenly you saw this Yellow Bastard and you said 'WTF?!'. Well, that's how my watching Wanted last night turned out.

A few comments first on the cast:
1) James McAvoy - He still looks like a loser to me even when he's supposed to be a kick-ass assassin already
2) Angelina Jolie - I guess I could never complain. Just look at this:

Image from www.hollywood.com

3) Morgan Freeman - He was ok in the first part, portraying an old leader full of wisdom. Near the end, however, I felt horrified when he was giving out papers to his team like a teacher handing out results of an exam to his students and finally giving a persuasive speech to join him in his quest for world domination. yuck.

Then the plot:
Had I known beforehand that this was based on a comic series, I would have accepted the plot as it is. Even if I haven't read the comics, I would have thought that this could be how the story was created, so I'll just leave it be and watch the whole thing with delight and amazement. However, I was completely clueless, so I kept on thinking 'WTF?!' when I encountered these scenes:

• a magical loom that weaves and tells the assassins who's gonna be their next target


• Wesley Gibson gaining entrance to the textile factory with the help of rats


• the idea of 'curving the bullet' - I was awed and even thought 'could that be possible?' - but then I saw how Fox killed her colleauges and eventually herself when she CIRCLED the bullet - argh, wtf?!


• Morgan Freeman giving that one speech that binds us all - one of my friends even said 'nababaduyan nako!'. haha

And then the ending credits said it was based on a comic series... WTF?! Ahhh, kaya pala.

Lesson learned: Do not be fooled by trailers. At least ask around what the movie could be all about so you'll set the right expectations.

TBA - Team Building Ano ba yan

Was it the just the weather, the venue, or both? I don't know, but I think my groupmates will agree with me on this: our TBA sucked. hehe.

It rained all throughout our team-building activity, with the storm showing off its peak strength in the evening. We looked like residents of Caliraya, Laguna stranded in a refugee camp, only the camp is more cozy because we're staying at a resort; and instead of queueing for relief goods and worrying about the properties we left behind, we were all busy watching movies, singing videoke, playing cards, and the all-time favorite 'Island Question.'

L-R, T-B: (1) Heading south (2) Since it's raining outside, we decided to pass messages, which is fun (3) And we watched the puddle of water on the floor get bigger, which is cool (4) Everyone's having a blast in our TBA (5) On the way to our sleeping quarters to have more fun (6) The venue is just perfect for our TBA

Blood Pressure

Last week me and my groupmates were talking about blood pressure and athletes. I can't remember how the topic came about, but I do remember watching an episode from House where, well, House mentioned that athletes generally have low blood pressure. My PM agreed with me, but one of my groupmates argued differently. He said that athletes should have high blood pressure since their hearts pump blood with more force than that of non-athletes. What they have lower than normal is the number of heartbeats per minute - and maybe this is what I meant by 'low'.

Anyway, since I'm not a medicine student, I decided to google the issue and, well, just post it here. hehe. The search words "athletes" and "blood pressure" got me quite confused because the results gave me links that point to some articles stating that athletes have low b.p., and some that say otherwise. I didn't click on all the links at the first page, though. What seemed to be a reliable source to me was if the url somehow has the words 'health' or 'heart' or 'medicine', etc. - and that made me click on the link and read the article.

Finally, here's how I got good, concise articles from google: "do athletes tend to have low blood pressure?"... Nice, isn't it? Just like asking someone (and hey, google's the best search engine there is, right? So my idiotic search strings should be no problem for it). Sorry, I'm not good in doing more advanced searches. Nevertheless, Optimal Heart Health has this article that says:

Athletes and people who exercise regularly tend to have lower blood pressure than other people. It is also the case for many people who eat well and maintain a healthy weight.

I also stumbled upon this by the Mayo Clinic:

Athletes and people who exercise regularly tend to have lower blood pressure than do people who aren't as fit. So, in general, do nonsmokers and people who eat well and maintain a normal weight.

See? I was right, and House too! hehe.

Which reminds me, we're about to undergo the APE (Annual Physical Exam) this June. I hope I don't faint again after having a test tube-full of my blood sucked out of me. My best guess why I always faint after such seemingly simple medical procedure is that since I normally have low b.p., having a considerable amount of blood taken out of my body will cause my brain not to receive an adequate supply of blood and hence, dizziness or fainting.

I remember last year's APE: after the needle got out of my left arm's skin, I dashed from the clinic back to my desk (with a lame excuse that I have to get something) and remained seated until my lightheadedness was gone. haha! What a loser. The clinic is just a few meters walk from my desk, so dear fainting didn't get a chance to embarass me in front of many co-workers lined up in the clinic. Oh, but this time, they said they're going to conduct the APE in our company's annex office - which is located in the other building!

Whuuutt?!? Hmmm, ano kayang pwedeng technique ngayon?