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by Philipina A. Marcelo
It's been a tiring day that I nearly ran out of gas halfway through... but it was a wonderful day! Yep, today's exciting surprises were punctuated by a couple of "firsts" that, I hope, would be the start of a string of many similar events in the future.
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Hey, sister!
Let me begin with this...
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| Google's tribute to women in this year's celebration of "International Women's Day". |
For the first time, the Chemical Engineering Department - my Department - at the University of Santo Tomas took the lead in celebrating the "International Women's Day" (IWD) in the campus. The Chemical Engineering Society (ChES), through their President-elect, Mr. Julius Puentes, organized a symposium-socialization event dubbed, "Thomasian Women in Science and Technology". It was hoped that the event would contribute in heightening the world's awareness and appreciation of the invaluable role of women in our society today.
Yes, the engineering field, and most of the S&T field for that matter, may be a "Man's World"... and yet, there is no denying the invaluable contribution of women in its exciting advancement through the years. Thomasian S&T women offer an even greater value to women contribution through their unique qualities, defined by commitment, competence and compassion. That shone through vividly in the sharing of our wonderful speakers: our Department's 2001 summa cum laude and one of the Philippines' Ten Most Outstanding Students in 2001, Ms. Valarie Ku, our University's Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences Director, Dr. Christina A. Binag, and the Dean of the outstanding UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Graciela Gonzaga. Our students were treated to a lively, informative, emphatic and truly inspiring sharing from the three women, who are all highly acomplished in their own tough fields, and still embody the God-given loveliness and natural nurturing qualities of women.
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| Our first celebration of the International Women's Day at the UST Department of Chemical Engineering. |
We hope that our first IWD celebration today would be the beginning of a yearly tradition that woud recognize and celebrate the Thomasian Women and their remarkable contributions in making our beloved University continue to flourish and in keeping this world of ours a wonderful place to live in!
To all the beautiful women in the world, HAPPY 'OUR-DAY', SISTERS! :) And, CONGRATULATIONS, ChES, for starting a new trend! :)
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| Mr. Julius Puentes (7th from left), the ChES President-elect... the "main man" who made our International Women's Day celebration possible. Thanks, Juli! :) |
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Messi-merizing!
I had to get up two hours after passing out at midnight - from exhaustion... to work some more on some things, what else! :( After working for three hours or so in silence, with only the clicking of my mouse, the ditdit of my keyboard and the fizz from my Coke reminding me that, uhm, life is good... I desperately needed to take a break. So, I switched the TV on... and guess what I found: UEFA Champions League - LIVE!
I know, I know, I have been so out of touch in the world of the 'beautiful game' for the past two months now. What can I say... uhm, I have a demanding 'day job'? :) Anyway, luck has gifted me with a great treat: the second leg of the FC Barcelona vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Camp Nou! Aw, yeah!
Naturally, the match was fantastic!
Revived from a somewhat "sluggish" start in the season (by Barça standard, therefore, a galaxy-high standard) - after some incredible feats from the last season - due mostly to physical fatigue and major injuries, the Catalans are "back" in their glorious form! Those couple of months of recovery from their gruelling title-haul in the previous season proved costly in their La Liga title defense this season... they fell to second place in the Table, a place that doesn't suit them, being the BEST Club on the face of the earth - ever!
It looks like, after accepting their fate at the La Liga this year being 10 points behind the leaders (how very surprising!), Real Madrid CF, the Catalans have focused on defending their Champions League title. But, there was one of them whose focus at playing awesomely skyrocketed outside the galaxy... Lionel Messi hammered the visiting German side with five goals... yes, that's right, FIVE GOALS! He is the first player to score five goals in a single match in the Champions League. Yowser! While I have been a BIG admirer for sometime now, it was my first time to be rendered emotionally incapable of containing the excitement of witnessing the relentless display of out-of-this-world talent on the pitch. All of a sudden, 90 minutes was suffocatingly short for too many bursts of brilliance! But five goals?? If the little genius was starting a new personal trend of scoring goals, then I'm glad I saw the first act!
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| Lionel Messi... forget 'hat-trick', 'tricky five' is the new Champion's trend! |
Don Andres Iniesta added to the mesmerizing display of awesomeness on the pitch, together with Xavi and Cesc Fabregas. And then, that young fellow, Christian Tello, debuted in the Champions League with a brace of goals - a first in the Champions League, too! Ah, what a way to introduce one's self in that all-prestigious football league that featured only Europe's best Clubs! Messi and Tello's goals brought the Leverkusen rout to an confidence-wracking 7-1, 10-2 on aggregate. The Catalans are now through to the quarterfinal round. Game on!
Hmmm... I can't wait for my day job's "heavy days" to wrap up... so, I can put more attention to the 'beautiful game'! :)
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Image credits: Thanks, Google and Zimbio (Leo Messi's photo).
