BEST WISHES FROM ALCATEL-LUCENT

Alcatel-Lucent wishes you the best this holiday season:
http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/2007

RELIEF FOR BICOL

I have been under the weather, so to speak, for the past several days that I never really had the chance to keep myself up-to-date on news. It was like, news was dealt with in an in-passing mode. So imagine my shock when my high school classmates and a few bloggers I regularly read, clued me in on the devastation in Bicol, particularly in Daraga, Albay [where I was born and lived until graduating from high school] wrought by typhoon Durian (local code name: Reming), Durian/Reming was not only a Category 5 typhoon, it also brought down mudflows (lahar) from our beautiful Mt. Mayon.

Looking at the photos and imagining the accounts shared by my classmates, I am becoming emotional as I am writing this.

I vowed to my classmate/bestfriend Thiele [in an email] that as soon as I land in Manila for my Christmas break, I will get together with her immediately to see how I can share in her (and my high school classmates) efforts to bring relief to Bicol, specially to our high school (Aquinas University Legazpi).

Check out blog "Our Awesome Planet" at http://anton.blogs.com/ and http://www.rambocam.com/ for photos of the devastation, among other issues.

Anton also recommends using http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp200624.html for weather updates. He claims it is more accurate than PAGASA.

My classmates also mentioned http://www.bicolrelief.org/ in the event you wish to donate to the relief efforts. God bless my classmates in the USA for doing their bit.

WISHLIST

Me want this for Christmas!

MY EPITAPH

On my marker (cremated my remains may be), I would want this to be written:

All he wanted in life was to die in a state of grace.

FLEDGLING LIBRARY

Compared to serious bibliophiles, my book collection is a fledgling one. There are many reasons for this. One of them is the fact that life in these parts is so temporary that it will be such a waste to keep buying and collecting books, only to spend a fortune on shipping them back later to Manila [actually, in Binan, Laguna] when it's time to finally settle in Merrill Court. Another corollary reason would be the high cost of books which I usually buy from bookstores/bookshops or online [the latter entails the additional cost for shipping and sometimes customs/duties]. The emergent prevalence of e-books doesn't really impact my love for books that much since even if books I want/love to own appear as e-books, I would surely still get myself a copy of the real thing.

Though my library is still quite small, I realize that I tend to collect an eclectic mix, including Harry Potters (I'm just waiting for the seventh book to complete my set), Dan Browns, Mitch Alboms, Jeffrey Archers, autobiographies (I now have Katharine Graham's and Hillary Rodham-Clinton's), some serious classics (would the complete volume of works of Shakespeare fall under this; JRR Tolkiens), reading lite (The Nanny Diaries, Blessing) and lifestyle books (Martha Stewarts, architecture and design, travels, muscles, diets and exercises). I also have a stash of erotica but it is of course not for the general public to find out really.

I look forward to collecting/owning fashion and photography/photographer books, John Irvings, etc.

I have yet to come up with a complete list/inventory but I think you can already form conclusions from my book choices. One of them could be that I am really such a pretentious bookworm!

WE'RE NOW ALCATEL-LUCENT

Alcatel and Lucent Technologies announced plans to merge in April 2006. The merger was completed in November 2006. Day One of Alcatel-Lucent is on December 1, 2006.

In celebrating Day One, which actually fell on December 4 in Saudi Arabia, former Alcatel and Lucent employees gathered at a hotel in Riyadh. Photos of the gathering are posted below.

In addition, here also are blurbs about the new company, taken from the website --

"The combination of Alcatel and Lucent creates the world's pre-eminent communications solutions company. Alcatel-Lucent is a truly global enterprise that transcends national borders, with an extensive, well-balanced global presence in terms of both resources and revenues, a comprehensive portfolio of industry-leading products and services and one of the largest and most innovative R&D capabilities."

"Alcatel-Lucent provides solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. As a leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications, and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home, at work and on the move. Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry, and one of the largest research, technology and innovation organizations in the telecommunications industry."

The company's new logo is a stylized version of an infinity symbol that looks as if it were drawn by hand. Embedded within the symbol is an A and an L. It is both fluid and infinite. The signature color of the new logo is purple, a bold color that symbolizes ambition and is also associated with creativity, wisdom and dignity.

Note new Lenovo laptop, the official computer of Alcatel-Lucent.

Former Alcatel and Lucent employees gathered at a Riyadh hotel to celebrate Day One.

Alcatel-Lucent image model 1.

Alcatel-Lucent image model 2.
In honor of the French ancestry of Alcatel-Lucent, model wears Lacoste.

Image models enjoying refreshments.

The image models from Asia and Europe (Poland)!!!

The image models from Asia (the Philippines)!!!

The Filipinos of Alcatel-Lucent (including Cong. Jun Manalili)!

Photos by Blogger.