UPDATE: WWE on Chris Benoit

It's official. As of today, all entries about Chris Benoit have been removed from the WWE website. Check my previous post for the Benoit-related WWE links that you will probably never see again! Good thing Wikipedia has compiled all the known information as well as rumors surrounding the tragedy on this link. Youtube was lined up with tons of videos about Benoit. This is my favorite video so far. You should see the different comments people port there! Man, we see the whole range of people there; while there are those who condemn the man for allegedly committing double murder-suicide, there are those who worship him regardless of what he's done.

Me? I cannot condone what he has done. Killing is wrong no matter how you look at it; well, except perhaps if it's in self-defense, but otherwise, it's just plain wrong.

What I won't do is condemn the man for whatever he has done; "let he who committed no sin cast the first stone". I'm certainly no saint. I didn't play judge and jury back then, I won't start now.

Needless to say -- whether he did commit those crimes or not -- sports entertainment will never be the same.

Chris Benoit found dead.

Yup, that's the WWE werestler Chris Benoit, found dead on June 25, 2007, in his his home in Fayetteville, Georgia, along with his wife, Nancy Daus, and his 7-year old son, Daniel.

I'm placing these info now before WWE.com finally removes all information about Chris Benoit, apparently as a part of their decision to sever all ties with the deceased wrestler (see below).

The Facts:
During the press conference, the investigating authorities made the following points, all of which run contrary to the media speculation that "roid rage" was a factor in the senseless murders and suicide:

1. The authorities stated that all drugs found in the house were believed to be legal prescriptions.
2. Steroids were not, and could not, be related to the cause of death (asphyxiation). Authorities had no factual basis to speculate as to Benoit’s state of mind, and rightly did not do so.
3. Toxicology tests have not even been completed, so there is no current evidence that Benoit even had steroids or any other substance in his body. In that regard, on the last test done on Benoit by WWE's independently administered drug testing program, done on April 10, 2007, Benoit tested negative.
4. The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage. The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage. The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage.
5. WWE strongly suggests that it is entirely wrong for speculators to suggest that steroids had anything to do with these senseless acts, especially when the authorities plainly stated there is no evidence that Benoit had steroids in his body, pending the toxicological reports, and that they had no evidence at this time as to the motive for these acts.

WWE's Next Steps:

From the WWE/Benoit timeline:

The decision to cancel the live event scheduled in Corpus Christi that night was made between 4 and 5 p.m. In keeping with company policy, and with limited knowledge regarding facts of the case, WWE choose to air a memorial dedicated to the career of Chris Benoit. As facts emerged surrounding the case, all tributes to Chris Benoit were removed both on-air and on WWE.com.


From A message from the Chairman:

"Last night on Monday Night Raw, the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit tonight. On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, the WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world – entertain you."

- Vincent Kennedy McMahon

The Possible Aftermath Note: These are just my speculations...

WWE severs all ties with Chris Benoit as described above so as to not be associated with a known suicide. Although probably not a popular decision especially among fans, this is actually an expected move from the company and we really can't blame them from protecting their name. Anyway, that means Chris Benoit will have:

• no entries in WWE.COM (articles and video tributes removed , BIOs removed, Benoit-related products pulled out from the WWEshop.)
• no news books sponsored by WWE will mention Chris benoit in full detail
• no WWE Hall of Fame :(
• no nothing

Sadly, Chris Benoit has always been dubbed as one of the future Hall-of-Famers, but his actions that fateful day has guaranteed that will never happen.

The Chris Benoit tribute aired on Monday, June 25, 2007, will no longer be aired again. It won't surprise me if JackTV (here in the Philippines) will not show that tribute. I hope I'm wrong with this one.

Many WWE fans will note the parallels with Eddie Guerrero, particularly, how WWE deals with the deaths of the two. Whereas Eddie Guerrero has been given countless tributes, Chris Benoit name will not be mentioned, as if forgotten. The same thing Egyptian pharoahs do when they defeat an enemy pharoah -- stripped all traces of them from history to be forgotten and, hence, be deprived of eternal life. Well, maybe not erase everything he has done -- he's almost 20 year career cannot be totally forgotten, especially with such a large fanbase -- yours truly included.

Another possible parallel: whereas Eddie's death prompted the drug-prevention program of the WWE, Benoit's death will prompt WWE to initiate a psychological wellness program. I hope this one does push through.

You're only as good as your last match, some wrestlers say. In Benoit's case, his last actions may have permanently stained his name in history.

What a waste...

MAN-SEC Milestone - 73 cases on Queue!

Today, June 26, 2007 APT, the MAN-SECURITY team reached (for the second time) the highest number of cases taken.

For the second time this month, MAN-SECURITY engineers took a total of 73 cases in a single freaking' shift! I can't remember when exactly we first reached the 73-point mark.

And guess what, one hour after the case-taking, there were still about 5 either burning or toasted cases on queue. Garrr..

And that's not all, Shubs pinged one of and DEMANDED that we take one of the cases IMMEDIATELY! The nerve! For someone who is not physically present in the office, she sure makes her negative presence felt by everyone.

This is definitely one of the more gruelling days we had.

Demonoid crash

Earlier today, you cannot go and login to the demonoid website, although you can actually ping that hostname.

Just now, when you go to demonoid, you'll get:
____________________________________________

We had a system problem which will force us to restore everything from backup.The disks are pretty much empty right now and until we are able to upload the backup and set up everything up, we have to close down.

We'll be back as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.
____________________________________________

Too bad... :(

Note that you can still upload and download stuff (I just finished leeching the Sensational Spider-Man volume 1). Although obviously you cannot download any other torrents from the site nor is it likely that you upload/download ratio could improve...

I'll continue monitoring this....

Of baptism and reunions...

11AM, I'm at Malate Church for the the baptism of our newest godchild, Quianne, Jane and Moore's first daughter. I though I wasn't going to make it because I left the house around 10:30 AM. Good thing it's Sunday and not many cars along the roads -- at least along the roads I took to get to Malate church.

Once, I get a hold of some pictures, I'll post them here ASAP.

Many old faces from SPI I haven't seen for quite some time, so it was also like a reunion of sorts. Too bad Che's not here. I'm sure she would have enjoyed it.

Anyway, the reception at Kamayans along Padre Faura is great! Nothing beats a good buffet to celebrate Quianne's baptism! Hehehe :-)

However, I couldn't stay for long as we needed to go to Nagcarlan, Laguna for the reunion with our Tita Vinia.

It's been almost 10 years since she and her family visited the Philippines. Her two children have grown a lot. Michael, 16, is now a senior high school student and stands 5'9"! (Geez, easily one of the tallest of my cousins.) Nicole, 15, is a sweet, beautiful young lady. She said they'll be back here in the Philippines for her 18th birthday.

It's really nice being with them. They remind me of the early high school days. Life was simpler, not much of a care in the world, and whatever cliches you can think of. Of course I didn't have my own income by then to buy my own stuff. I'm proud of these guys because actually had a productive summer vacation earning several hundred dollars doing stuff in their neighborhood -- mostly mowing the lawns for a few bucks... I wish I could have done that back then..

O well... Back to the here and now... :-) Keep on moving! hehehe...

A weekend without my Che...

A mighty fine day, if you ask me.

Did nothing all morning but be the coach potato that I am. :-) Watch mostly JackTV shows, such as Who wants to be a SuperHero and the WWE RAW reruns (man, you should see the drama there; it's funny and dramatic in an odd way), while downloading stuff from the demonoid.

After lunch, I went to Shopwise to buy some food and other stuff I can find there. It's a good place to buy stuff. I only had two frustrations there. One, there are no venetian blinds (which I need for the kitchen window; the first ones I bought don't fit) and, two, there are no mirrors -- at least the ones that are bigger than what they have there (one for each bathroom plus the dresser). I wished I could have bought these there as I will be extremely busy tomorrow.

I got back, thankfully, after one and a half hours later, enough time for me to do other things:

• wash the dishes (piled up there since the previous week; sure smelled quite terribly);
• installed the two blinds (originally intended for the kitchen);
• cleaned the entire second floor;
• organized the bills, my payslips (Im missing a few), receipts, in a clearbook;
• took blankets to the dryclean;
• update this blog :D; and
• read a few materials here and there (downloaded comic scans and His Needs, Her Needs; btw, I'll make a review this later in the week).

The to-do list:

• go to Quianne's baptism;
• go to Nagcarlan to visit Tita Vinia and family (they'll return to US this 27th);
• install the kitchen window blinds;
• install the bathroom mirrors;
• scout for side tables, console tables, display cabinets, etc.;
• research for a good camera (surprise be!); and
• buy nilon string (for the cork board; can't explain here).

I don't think I'd be able to do all of the above, though, since the trip to Nagcarlan takes around 3 hours one-way, depending on the traffic.

Then the next day, ah geez... Here we go again...

Try reading this one

Just saw it in my email earlier. See how fast you can read it :-)

AVG AntiSpyware

This software was recommended in several forums so I just had to try it out. So far so good. Found and removed around 30+ spywares on my PC in the first 2 minutes of scanning. I guess my PC's pretty messed up. I hope that will change soon.

Check out the AVG AntiSpyware here.

Why Employees Leave

This is a very old article that has been circulating through the internet for years, but the message is timeless and universal:

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS ?
- Azim Premji, CEO- Wipro

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.

Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office,and the very best technology,even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave ?

Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules". It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their manager .... manager is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he 's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge,experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies ," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Mostly manager drives people away?

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave,but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don 't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious,too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Unknown processes in WinXP Task Manager

My computer slows down to a halt shortly after I connect to the Internet. This is too irritating for me. Tinkering about, I found these processes running:

• 4.exe
• bltb.exe
• dooai.exe
• nvsvc32.exe
• nzgxtxtl.exe
• ogqpoxm.exe
• rkiggyl.exe
• trvy.exe
• vedstt.exe

Too bad I can't research on this now. My PC is just too damn slow. I'll work on this tomorrow in the office; the laptop is connected to a T1 line so it should be a lot faster than this one.

Windows XP

Home Alone again. Off to HK again!

I just took my wife to the airport earlier today as she was sent there by her company for two weeks. It was quite sad for us both, but honestly, it is actually getting easier to bear. I remember the first time she went to HK a few months ago, right after she went past the gate where only the passengers are allowed, I stood there paralyzed, and I can't stop the tears rolling down my cheeks. (Ahh shucks... Che will go crazy when she reads this!)

Anyway, my sweet wife took it upon herself to surprise me with three cheese mamons (we bought yesterday from Max's Sucat) topped with Super Mario characters. I first thought that they were plastic pencil toppers, but as it turns out, they are just plastic figures of the super mario characters: Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Toad, Yoshi, Bowser/Koopa, Donkey Kong, the ghost character from Super Mario 3 usually found in castles (sorry forgot the name), Wario, WaLuigi (I think), and another princess (brunette, don't know the name). She said she asked one of her officemates to buy them. I think it was either Gnet or Snow.

O well... More toys for the big boy (me)... God I love that woman! loveyou be! :-)

Anyway, she gave me a list of things-to-do while she's away. Just before I arrived home today, I was able to do a couple of them:

• My NBI clearance. well, at least step 1 to 3. As always the case for me, I was advised (again) by the NBI clearance guys in ParkSquare 1 Makati (BTW, in case you didn't know, they've moved their kiosk from near the restroom to the one near the tiangge area.) that I should go to NBI Main Office in Carriedo for steps 4 to 6. I plan going there tomorrow and the day after that after my shift. I've been doing this several times already. As far as I know, my name has a "HIT" in their records so I had to go there. Then since, I'm going there in the afternoon, I will only be able to go to step 6 (release) the following morning. Ahh well... Too much hassle.
• Power Saver thingy. I went to Landmark to buy the power saver thingy "As Seen on TV". Since buying that new 1.5Horsepower Aircon, I need all the energy saving techniques I can get.

Things I still need to do:

• Install blinds for the kitchen (since the window is directly facing the refrigerator, I have to close that one as soon as possible.
• Remove unused stuff in the kitchen (since the kitchen is quite small compared to the number of kitchen stuff that we have, we need to free up some space.)
• Pay the cable TV (thank you, there's an LBC in Shopwise Sucat :-))
• Document Pag-Ibig letters (BTW, if anyone is interested in renting a home in Cavite, let us know!)

I'm pretty sure I missed a few things. Hope to hear from Che soon. I think she has the complete list.

That's all for now.

Onslaught Reborn...

Marvel revisited the Onslaught Saga with a new mini-series, Onslaught Reborn.

What bothers me is the art. After getting the first issue, I was disappointed with the artwork, so I immediately sold it to my Marvel fan colleagues here at half the price. I just wanted to get rid of it.

Too many small lines in the artwork, giving a somewhat "dirty" feel.

Aside from the artwork, the story, AFAIK, is okay.

More information and scans from this link:

http://popcultureshock.com/?p=40183

Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness

The Marvel Zombies mini-series is one of the better Marvel mini-series that I enjoyed reading. And now, the Marvel Zombies are back! And now Ash Williams, aka the Chosen One of the Army of Darkness series, gets in the fray!

FYI, Marvel Zombies is 2006 Scream Awards Best Comic Book. Probably triggered by the popularity and success of the original Marvel Zombies Series, Marvel then printed the Marvel Zombies Dead Days (One-shot) and the five-part Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. As of this writing, the latest issue that I have is Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness Part 4.

Here's one of the spreads of the original Marvel Zombies #1


If you want a copy of the whole series, download at http://www.demonoid.com/. I'm currently seeding the series; please help me improve my ratio :-)

However, if you like the comic, please buy it. Support the comics industry!

Knights and Vampires

Okay, I'm back from the dead! :-)

Been busy for the past few months. The only online activity I have is KnightFight and MonstersGame.

So let's see... My KnightFight character is a one-hander (sword-and-shield) Knight of Light. If I only knew, I would have gone for the two-handed-sword-wielders. Grrr... Lower-level two-handed characters dish out more damage than my character. The only choice I have is to transfer more points to my Armor skill so I can soak up more damage.

My Vampire is now Level 30, but still fairly weak compared to the others. I came in pretty late in the game; I was level 1 when there are already level 20+ werewolves prowling on the server. Worse still, there is a clan that has pinpointed me as a target; I get attacked around 5 times a day before.

I know there are others out there who are probably getting beaten by higher level characters. So my advice, don't make yourself a target. The reason these guys beat on lower level characters is to get more gold. I mistakenly left my character with tons of gold; each attack cost me 200+ gold. After that, the entire clan has been beating me like crazy. Don't do the same mistake. As soon as you have cash, try to buy stuff; you can sell them, though you only get half your gold. Still, it's better than losing it to others.