As I try to wrap up work for the year, once again, I find myself unable to focus on anything. And it’s troublesome, as I still have a some more important meetings to attend to, twp of which are coming up in a few hours as I write this. My Auntie Aida has just passed…

As imposing a presence my dad can be at times, it may come as a surprise for some people that he actually did not have the last say in matters of the Librero clan. That honor belonged to his elder brother. But that has changed now. Florentino, Flor, Tino, my uncle, godfather, benefactor of my marriage and patriarch of…

The past two weeks had been a relaxing and enlightening experience in so many ways. This was my first real vacation in a long time. I am grateful to my family, university, superiors and colleagues for allowing me to take time off at such a busy month. I am also thankful for the people over…

Today was Dr. Grace Javier Alfonso’s last day as Chancellor of the UP Open University. It brings up a lot of memories and stirs a lot of strong emotions. It was around a year ago when I realized that I had only had a meaningful working relationship with one big boss my whole life. Of…

As I write this, I still may or may not make this trip to London which I had been thinking about for the past month. But it didn’t stop me from applying for a visa despite the cost, anyway. Applying for a visa is always a stressful undertaking for me, as it may be for…

Setting up my home office has so proven to be more costly and work intensive than I had first imagined. I took for granted the fact that furnishing it does not end with a good-sized desk, a small steel cabinet and a few shelves. But everything that I have done so far has been fun…

* This is a re-write of a past blog. Along with a few dozen others, I lost it when I screwed up my site’s database late last year.   Honestly speaking, I am taken aback by the seeming obsession of some UPOU students with their grades. It would be ok, if this obsession went hand…

I remember the time my parents took me to the mall to buy my first electric guitar. It was the old Park Square 1 in Makati around 1993. There were like four music stores there at the time. But it was in JB Music where my eyes got fixated to this guitar sitting on a shelf…

Last week, I had a brief conversation with one of my former teachers in UP Los Baños, Dr. Pidz Agbisit, who is now the Director for the Animal and Dairy Sciences Cluster in the College of Agriculture. We were having a little discussion on some opportunities for collaboration. We’ll see where that leads to in…

Last night, I received unexpected and unpleasant news which stirred a lot of memories and emotions. I was supposed to write about the UP Academic Leadership Conference that I just came home from. But this news prompted me to write something different, instead.   October 2007 – I was probably within my first week on…