PHX

Uncle Raf

Uncle, according to Wiktionary, is a brother or brother in law of someone's parent... but, it's also commonly used in Asia (and in southern U.S., apparently) to define a "close male friend of the parents of a family".

So, according to the latter, I just became uncle for the 2nd time.

The first time was back on January 24, when my bro Andy and Maria became parents of Lydia, a pretty pretty little girl. Since then she has changed a lot, and living nearby, I can enjoy seeing her rather often.

Her baptism is taking place in Athens, so I surely will enjoy the ceremony, some good local food and the places... I really enjoy the deep Mediterranean life style, the feelings, the sights and sounds, the smells and fragrances, the way you can also find them in certain places in Spain and southern Italy.

Then I became uncle for the second time on June 21, when my bro Tad became the proud father of Tian. I just came back from Slovenia, where I went with the purpose to see my new little nephew. He was supposed to be born at the end of the first week of July, but he obviously had enough and decided to get out earlier. Unfortunately, when he was born, his body was unable to retain any kind of sugar in his blood, to an extent that he had even no hunger. So he had to spend the first 3 weeks of his young life in a Ljubljana hospital attached to all sorts of tubes delivering him the necessary food and medicines.

Luckily, with time his body found the right balance, and although he is still rather weak, he was released from hospital just few days before my planned visit, so I was able to see him and enjoy his company. Needles to say both Tad and M are really happy, and M really looked good after her pregnancy. It was a pleasure to see them all, together, HOME.

So uncle Raf now is happy with his cute nice and nephew. And he couldn't be any prouder...

9/11

I was working on THAT September day...

and I remember exactly what I was doing 6 years ago while the tragedy of September 11 was unfolding... I bet you all do too...

What were all you doing at that time?


Take a look at this pic...

New ride

Hey John, your ride is awesome man!

Looks so cool....

A night out

It was nice to see the guys at Mullin's few nights ago...

I arrived there after my afternoon, to meet David. David is a controller in Australia, and he took leave of absence and travelled throughout Europe for 5 months with his family in a motorhome.
He was in town before finally returning back home, and since we have met many times for conferences around the world, I thought I couldn't miss the chance to see him here and offer him a beer on my home turf.

At the pub Dave was there as well. Dave is also Australian, but he has been working here for about 7-8 years now and on October 4th, he will leave to return home for good. It's been great meeting him, he is really a friendly and laid back person, and I wish him the best once back. Have a good life back home mate, take good care of yourself!! Maybe one day we'll meet down there, or should I say, Down Under...

So now, back to my life...

Monuments

Not all monuments are to remember something terrible or the sacrifice of young lives... There are some, which are beautiful and they just stand to remember important milestones, achievements and important people...

Like the one in Kansas for Mr. James Naismith, the man whose genius invented the game of basketball. I think the NBA trophy shouldn't be named after former commissioner Larry O'Brien, but after Mr. Naismith as without him, there would be no NBA, and no basketball, for that matter.

Extremely pretty is the newly built monument in Vilnius, Lithuania, where basketball is closer to being a religion than a national sport. In any case, Lithuania's pride IS basketball, and during the past 30 years, Lithuania was home to few of the top European players: the most famous of all might be Arvydas Sabonis, but worth a mention are also Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Sarunas Marciulonis and Rimas Kurtinaitis.


Last, but certainly not least, the MJ statue erected just outside the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls. There are a number of these statues around, Magic Johnson in LA, Karl Malone and John Stockton in Salt Lake City to name only a few. But my personal favourite is obviously MJ's, a tribute to the best basketball player to ever play this AWESOME game.



I love this game :)

Moments of Italian sport

Football:


Last friday, in a rather emotional game in Monaco, AC Milan won its record setting 17th international silverware, the 2007 European Supercup.

It wasn't a game as any other, as Sevilla, AC Milan's opponent, had to cope with the premature loss of one of its players, 22 years old Antonio Puerta, killed by multiple heart attacks suffered during a game.

All players and supporters were united in remebering and honoring him, and the 3-1 final score for AC Milan is only for the records. Touching were the AC Milan players that, after the game, went near the Sevilla's supporters applauding them in sign of respect for their loss. And in return, those very same supporters who just watched their team losing, chanted "Milan-Milan" in sign of appreciation. I think I never saw something like this before. Respect and appreciation for each other, regardless. All beautiful and uniting, but why it must take always tragedies to unite people?

Basketball:

For something entirely different, tonight the European Basketball Championships have started, played in Spain. Spain, having won the World Championhips last year in Japan, and Greece as runner up, are the heavy favourites.

As for the Italian squad, unfrtunately it will be a very a difficult task. Key players of the starting 5 such as Menson Rocca, 2008 draft prospect Danilo Gallinari and capitain Giacomo Galanda will all be absent due to injury. New NBA players Marco Belinelli is not in perfect shape and Andrea Bargnani is trying to cope with a foot injury.

This year's winner and runner up will qualify directly for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Italy opened tonight against Slovenia with a disappointing loss , making the their olympic dream harder to achieve, already. Italy played really bad for 3 and 1/2 quarters, then with a final rush got close and eventually took the lead in the final minute. After Slovenia took back the lead with a free throw 14 seconds to go, Soragna scored a three pointer with 5 seconds on the clock to put Italy up by 2 but to answer that, Slovenia's Lakovic scored a winning three pointer buzzer beater. 69-68 the final score. We almost won, but Slovenia deserved it more.

But let's keep the hope alive. Tomorrow another tough test with France, led by its NBA superstars Tony Parker and Boris Diaw.

Rugby:

And in few days, the Rugby World Cup will kick off in France. Italy will play their opener against New Zealand's famous and feared All Blacks, with their aesthetically beautiful and powerful style of play. The All Blacks,performing their Maori Haka before each kick off, are arguably the top team in the world. It will surely be an interesting game, and with Italy set to beat Romania and Portugal, the game against Scotland will probably decide if Italy will go through to the quater finals.

Formula 1:

And the upcoming week end, the "circus" of those cheating F1 people will race for victory at the Monza GP, where Ferrari needs to secure first and second place to keep its hope for a championship alive.

Volleyball:

The European Championship is starting in a couple of days too, and apparently, Russia and Italy are the two heavy favourites. Italy, having won a medal in basically each tournament they played from 1989 till 2006, has a really important history in volleyball, and Italian is also the player of the century. A top 3 finish, as usual, shouldn't be out of reach.

So, some interesting sport events to liven up this September... stay tuned.

Pie

Pie, always look how far you have come through the difficulties, rather than how far you've still got to go... and look at what you have and count your blessings, and not at what you miss or lost, however dear that was to you...

Be strong, I'm near you... and remember to keep positive and happy, you know you have a good heart and good things are coming at you... and will keep coming...

And be proud of yourself, I know I am proud of you...