Star and Ginebra are tied at 2-2 in the 2017 PBA All-Filipino Semis

It's amazing how a few days ago, people were talking about the Star Hotshots sweeping the Barangay Ginebra. And rightly so, since during the first two games, the guards of Star were waxing hot. And if Star wants to win this series, they have to get back to basics.

Never mind the wrong calls of the officials. In my opinion, there were some calls that should have gone Ginebra's way, and there are some calls that should have gone Star's way. But if players and coaches keep dwelling on the non-calls even when the game has already progressed, it destroys team and player morale.

If Star wants to know the reason it is losing, here's a piece of my mind:

• They have lost their three-point shooting. And this favors Tim Cone. Coach Cone had a hard time when he was against team's that relied on the three in the past. Coach Cone favors two point exchanges. I don't know why Mark Barroca, Paul Lee, Justin Melton and Alain Maliksi suddenly are throwing bricks. Jio Jalalon has yet to prove that he can score beyond the arc.  But the four guards should get back their shooting form. And Marc Pingris and Raffy Revis can work better if they have more space down below since the defense is trying to guard their shooters. And if you want to get to the Finals, and you end up facing SMB, you'll have a hard time keeping up if you can't match their three point shooters with your own.
• Stop using Mark Barroca and Paul Lee as defensive stoppers. They are the play makers of Star, so they have to be fresh. Use Jalalon, Dela Rosa, Melton, Simon and other players off the bench for defense.
• Maliksi should learn to be a better defensive player. If you keep throwing up three-point bricks, then at least show some defensive hussle and make things happen on the court despite your scoring absence.
• Raffy Revis should really learn to rebound using two hands. Those one handed rebounds keep getting deflected to the opponent.
• Mark Pingris should loosen up. Playing too tight and with a temper affects your team. I know you are the leader of the Hotshots, but if your teammates see that you're not enjoying the game, they won't enjoy the game either. The series is tied. You guys are not down. You can still win this game. And stop guarding Sol Mercado during crunch time. You are the last line of defense. The reason why Aguilar was getting those alley-op plays was because you weren't in the shaded area. Put Jalalon, Maliksi, or Dela Rosa on any guard that thinks they can slash into the paint.
• Coach Victolero, stay calm and composed. If you team sees that you're rattled just because of a travelling violation non-call, they'll be rattled and play tense.
• Star team, please enjoy the game again. You have great new teammates in Paul Lee and Jio Jalalon. Use these guys' strengths. Lee is better shooting from the outside, and occasionally slasing. Jalalon should either slash, post, or shoot from mid-range until the time he has proven that he has a three-point shot. The semis isn't the time to experiment. Go back to your strengths.

This is just my two cents worth.

I'm enjoying this series because Coach Cone coached Star in the past and led it to a grand-slam. Now that Coach Cone is with Ginebra, I think the true test that one has learned lasting lessons from a mentor is if one can beat the mentor. And if Star wins, I think Coach Cone would be proud deep inside, since he taught that Star core how to win. With the exception of James Yap, that Star core is still in tack. And I think they still have a couple of championship runs within them.

Powerless TV Series 2017

Warning: Possible spoilers

If there was a DC Comics show for girls, this would be it. Basically a show about a product development team that works for Batman. Think Community thrust into the DC Comic world. I'd probably give it one season at the most.

Training Day TV Series 2017

Warning: Possible spoilers

The only thing I will say about this show is the following: Having a baboon listen to daft punk music is an effective means of torture. That scene had me laughing so hard. Still, Lethal Weapon beats this TV show so far. Perhaps Die Hard should be converted into a TV series to try to take away some of Lethal Weapon's market share.

Riverdale TV Series 2017

Warning: Possible spoilers

Riverdale isn't the town it used to be when you were young, reading Archie Comics. In an effort to make the show current, the writers and producers have made a lot of changes. Archie is now a wanna be music composer who has an affair with Miss Grundy. And Miss Grundy is younger. Jughead is now a depressed loner narrator. Mr. Weatherbee is now black and thin. Josie of the pussycats is black, too. Reggie is Asian. Moose is gay. Veronica is poorer. Mr. Lodge is a con artist. And Archie's dad is Luke Perry of Beverly hills 90210 fame.

It's like they crossed How To Get Away With Murder with a high school show like Parker Lewis Can't Lose. The latter would probably have been my idea of what an Archie Comic TV series would be like.

Midge, Mr. Flutesnoot, Hotdog, Pops, Sabrina, and Chuck have yet to make an appearance.

I guess we all have to grow up at some point. And coming up with a rendition similar to Glee where you feel good and have positivity is rare these days. But if the point of a TV series is escaping from everyday reality, then I guess Riverdale feels more like the news.

Betty Cooper seems to be the only authentic character that stays true to the originals. It's like Flash went and thrust Betty into an alternate reality Earth 2.

It ain't authentic but it sure is interesting.

Globe's New Transfer to Supervisor Policy

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, Globe surprises you. Beginning 2017, when you ask to speak to a supervisor, you are given a Reference Number instead of being able to speak to the supervisor immediately. You are then transferred to a queue where you might have to wait indefinitely. This is in the hope that you probably have something more important to do and decide to end the call. All this does is adds more delays to the dispute resolution process.

Globe's customer care policy seems to revolve around creating more delays in the process than actually resolving issues immediately.

"Globe. Mahirap kausap." should be their new slogan.

I think the reason why supervisors probably came up with this new policy is because agents have been flooding them with transfers. But a probable reason for that is that agents are not empowered to resolve issues. Take a Bill Dispute. An agent can only request a Bill Adjustment, but some other department approves it. And that department will most likely reject the Bill Adjustment. So, after a month, if the customer thinks that his bill has already been adjusted, he ends up seeing an even bigger bill. So he has to repeat the same process, but ask for a supervisor so that the adjustment is immediately approved. The customer has to waste a lot of time just to get an adjustment done.

So if you take out the supervisor out of the equation, the bill adjustment never happens. After three months of non-payment, the customer's service is cut. And if the customer wants to continue the service, he has to pay a re-connection fee. More money for Globe at the expense of an unhappy customer.

At some point, if Globe wants to lose their customers, they will. For the customer, it's only a matter of finding an alternative service provider.

.lnk USB Virus

It seems like every year, this USB Virus mutates and becomes more and more difficult to remove. Here are some steps I found online to remove it.

1. Try to scan your USB drive first with your anti-virus software
2. If no threats are found, go to Start and type cmd on the search bar
3. When it appears, right click on it and choose the option Run as Administrator 
4. Navigate to Flash Drive by typing its assigned drive letter, then colon, and hit Enter (i.e. H:)
5. Type dir /w/a to check what files are present. This virus usually tries to hide all your original files in the USB and will only show two files - an autorun.inf.lnk file and another .lnk file
6. Type del *.lnk in the cmd window and hit Enter on your Keyboard.
7. Now type attrib -s -r -h *.* /s /d /l and hit Ente
8. Your now might see two folders, one named _ (underscore) and another called System Volume. One of the folders should contain all your original files. Just copy your original files to a different storage device and delete everything else you don't recognize. You can also just format your USB drive once you've retrieved the original files.

The Old Woman at Crystal Beach

It was a hot day at Crystal Beach in San Narciso, Zambales. The time was around 2:00 pm. There was hardly any people at the beach. There were two young men wake boarding several meters away, while my friends were having fun taking selfies, and frolicking in the sand as white foam from new waves swept ashore. I needed some respite from the sun's heat, so I sat at one of the nearby cottages built by the local fishermen.

I saw her approach from the distance and I knew she was going to sell me something. I just didn't know if it was local produce, like dried fish, or souvenirs. It became clear when she was able to take refuge from the sun's heat under the shed.

"Would you like to buy some key chains or some necklaces?" she asked. I looked at the items she was selling and asked how much each one was. The key-chains sold for 35 pesos a piece but she was willing to sell three for 100 pesos. The necklaces were 80 pesos a piece.

I asked her how long she had been selling these items at Crystal Beach. She started out more than thirty years ago. Her family was originally from Zamboanga in Mindanao, but her grandparents decided to take a risk in Luzon, and they ended up in Subic. That's where she still lives up to this day, but there are times when she travels to near-by towns to try to sell her wares since tourism at Subic beach has dwindled because the shores there are no longer as clean as they used to be. She even used to sell sea shells when she was starting out. But now, her items are key chains, necklaces, refrigerator magnets, and pouches - a reflection of the changing times.

She only has one child, a boy, who finished high school and had a family early. Now, she has six grandchildren - potentially serving as motivation for her to work despite nearing the age of retirement. She wakes up at around 5 in the morning and travels to her target selling spot and stays there until she is able to meet her daily quota. During the summer, when there are plenty of tourists, her daily sales can reach thousands of pesos. But during off-peak seasons, she tries to make sure she at least comes home with around 400 pesos. There are days when she doesn't come home with anything at all. That means she still loses money since she has to spend around 100 pesos for transportation to and from the beaches she goes to.

Her son also does what she does, selling the same items to tourists at a beach. One wonders sometimes, if we are to end up doing the same things our parents are doing, why then do we even need to study in school? Aren't we better off shadowing our parents until we become good at their craft?

Her husband is a fisherman who also tries his best to earn a living. Sometimes, there are good days when they catch plenty of fish. But there are also days where they end up catching nothing, and losing money on gasoline for the boats.

But despite their hardships in life, I saw an old woman who is relatively happy in life. She has a family who loves her, and she loves and strives for in return. And she gets to spend her days at the beach, something most people working at an office cubicle would probably trade for. And the fact that she has lasted in her business for more than three decades must mean that she has developed a love for her work. Perhaps she has mastered the simplicity to life.