Super Mario

Four days of nothing. That's how I describe my long weekend (Friday to Monday). Well actually, it doesn't mean I didn't have anything; it was just different from what I expected.

It was a rainy Thursday night when I started packing for our trip to Kibungan for the UPM induction climb. I knew it would be a wet weekend since the forecasts said so very early in the week. But I didn't expect that the weather would turn for the worse. I was woken up by a call from my brother-in-law asking if I can lend them my pick-up truck, because their house was on the verge of getting flooded. It didn't sink in at first, but then we realized that the situation was bad; Mario's wrath was reminiscent of Ondoy five years ago. 

So much for the weekend plans. At least we have something to keep us warm. #MarioPartyPooper #Osprey #GP (Instagram)

[Book Haul] No Impact Man, by Colin Beavan

To justify my nontstop book collection, I made an unofficial vow to finish books I've started reading, and to reduce the number of unread volumes in my shelves (i.e. read more). I'm happy with the progress I'm making, especially after turning the last page of Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard; the book that took me at least 3 years to read. It's a great book; worthy of the paper on which it was printed. 

The next unfinished tome to go down was No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process (whew! what a long title!). Written by journalist Colin Beavan, it chronicles his year-long experiment to make his household "carbon neutral" and reduce their overall ecological footprint to zero. 

GiG Talks - September 5, 2014

Friday next week (September 5), the UP Mountaineers will once again hold the Green Is Good (GiG) Talks at the College Architecture of UP Diliman. This will be the fifth in the series, and third to be held in UP.

The forum is patterned from the popular Ted Talks in the US, but focusing on social issues that are somehow related to the environment. Past speakers come very varied fields, from architects, to artists. From people from the academe to hobbyists with a passion for mother nature.