The Price of Bananas...Has Gone Bananas!

As you can see from the price tag, bananas are more precious than gold these days. This price seems more apt for the year 2050!
Not that we didn't see it coming: we did foresee a fruit shortage after Queensland was devastated with massive flooding half a year ago. But I didn't expect the price of bananas to go this high (it was $2.98 per kilo before the great flood).

Which is a shame because I really love this fruit. Because of its cost, I have not eaten bananas for months. We've only taken one piece at a time so our baby can have it during her meals (and she loves them!).

I just hope the Queensland farmers can get back their productions soon. They were having a record performance before disaster struck. It's time the farmers get rewarded for sticking it out in a difficult industry...Until then, less banana smoothies for Aussies!

Movie: Inside Job

I used to read the Wall Street Journal which was handed out for free in business school school. This was ten years back. The world was just beginning to recover from the Asian Financial Crisis and the mood was upbeat.

From this newspaper I first began to read of financial jargon like "hedge funds" and names like "Alan Greenspan", "Warren Buffet", "Berkshire Hathaway", "George Soros", "Merril Lynch", "Andersen Consulting", "Exxon-Mobil", "AOL" and "Enron".

Alan Greenspan was the center of attraction in those days. The whole US financial system seemed to ride on his official announcements. The stock market paused before he would make one...and then react immediately after. Don't ask me what he said in those announcements because I read them over and over again and I could not understand a word! 

Fast forward to 2011. The GFC (Global Financial Crisis) happened in September 2008. Major financial houses became bankrupt(including giants previously thought to be unsinkable) and people had no money to pay for their mortgages. What happened? Well I don't think I'm the best person to explain it.

But I did find a movie that gave me a rundown of all that happened from the late 90's to 2008. I heard about INSIDE JOB during the 2011 Academy Awards. I saw the producers accept the award (by the way, one of them is a Filipina) and they said that not one person has gone to jail for the GFC. 

I saw the movie a few weeks ago and I would like to recommend it to you. You can download it off Amazon. I won't attempt to make a review of the movie except to say that the presentation was crisp and not once did I get bored (which is rare for a movie about banking and finance). The movie will show you the role players in this whole mess. I was surprised as some of them were people expected to protect the interests of the public.

Go see the movie and tell me what you think.

Aussie speak: Maccas

In every corner of the world, McDonalds has been given a unique nickname. I only know three though: Mickey-D's in the US. Macdo in the Philippines. And Maccas in Australia. Aussies just like to shorten just about everything. 'Supa Centa' (super center) and Whacka (Whacker) are two of my favorites because they're brand names. Supa Centa is a store while Whacka is a gadget in car washes where you clean your mats by whacking them on it.

Living in the City: Garbage Collection

While walking to work, I saw this garbage truck in action. What's interesting about this particular truck is there's only one guy doing the work: the driver.

Once a week, homeowners are required to wheel out their bins in front of their property for collection. The "wheelie" bins are all issued by the council and have colored lids.

Red- regular household waste

Yellow - recyclable waste (cartons, bottles, paper)

Green - Garden waste (cut grass, leaves, branches, etc...)

The garbage truck comes out once a week to collect the bins. The reason why the council issues the bins is because they are compatible with the trucks hydraulic "arm". No garbage men to help lift the bins onto the trucks.

There must be a million reasons (particularly $'s) for investing in expensive gear to save on manpower costs. Garbage collection personnel are exposed to waste which they handle and are at a higher risk of getting sick. This probably translates to higher insurance costs for these workers. Another reason I could think of is that there may not be too many people available for this occupation (even if wages are higher than average).

Is this service possible for a place like Taytay? The investment cost is likely way above the means of our town. Such a move will also bring several garbage collectors out of work. But then, if we want these men to continue handling garbage, we should provide them with the right working clothes for the conditions they are exposed to. They shouldn't be wearing plain shirts, shorts and slippers ( I wonder how many injuries or health related incidents occur to these men on the job). And if the town were to issue bins to people, how long will it take before they get lost, stolen or worse, sold?

Classic PBA Game : U-Tex and Toyota (1980 First Conference)

I was crazy about the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) when I was growing up. The first game that I really paid attention to turned out to be one of the greatest PBA games ever...That was Game 5 of the 1980 First Conference featuring U-tex and Toyota.

Playing for U-Tex were Bogs Adornado, Lim Eng Beng, Fritz Gaston (a rookie that year from Ateneo), Jimmy Noblezada, and Dave Regullano. There were others whose names I cannot recall at the moment. Their reinforcements (or "imports") were the 6'8" Aaron James and Glenn McDonald. The coach was Tommy Manotoc who, at that time, was also one of the nation's best golfers.

Toyota had Jaworski, Fernandez, Arnaiz, Florencio, Segura, Abe King, Arnie Tuadles, Elmer Legaspi (a crowd favorite), Elmer Bulaong (a bigger crowd favorite), and Rino Salazar. They also had two imports but I can only remember Andy Fields. Their coach was Fort Acuna who was a former teammate of Jawo at Meralco.

This was one of the few championship series, in the early year of the PBA, which was not a Crispa-Toyota affair. Bogs Adornado had just moved from Crispa (where he had won two MVP awards) and was just beginning a comeback after missing almost two years with a serious injury.

The game will be remembered for its final 16 seconds. Toyota was up by four. Although U-Tex was inbounding the ball, it seemed like Toyota had already clinched the series. In fact, I remember the Toyota crowd celebrating already. A streamer had already been unfurled in the gallery section saying "Congratulations to the Toyota Tamaraws! 1980 First Conference Champions". I remember Jaworski waving to the crowd during that final timeout while putting his arm over his wife's shoulder.

U-tex scored a quick two on a layup from Aaron James. Toyota inbounded the ball and took it to the frontcourt. I think the ball was in Tuadles' hands when two U-tex players ganged up on him. He made a bad pass to the other side of the court, and U-tex was able to steal the ball. U-tex was able to tie the game on two free throws and they went into Overtime where U-tex took control and held on to win its first championship. It was a great game and it was amazing to see a crowd go crazy for 48 minutes.

What I found remarkable about that game is how the local players led the scoring. Both Adornado and Lim Eng Beng scored more than 30 points in that game. That would change a few years later when when it became normal for imports to score more than half of the team's points.

I wish the PBA will find a way to show us these classic games. I would subscribe to such a service. Maybe they can sell the games over I-tunes. That would really be cool. For the moment, PBA legends like Ricardo Brown, are posting these games on Youtube for us to remember.