Living Life, Loving It!

i came upon this quote while reading HP book 7:

"where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.." 

this is really true.. i am here in the city but my heart’s left in mati, all of it.. 

i don’t eat much this past few days.. seems that my appetite is lost.. i guess i just missed my papa’s cooking and everything that touches my tastebuds here in the city seemed stale and flavorless..

anyway, yesterday i was shocked with the news that i received a grade of whapping 71 in my SAD midterm grade.. wtf! all that hardwork and all i get is a f**k*n* 71? upon hearing my teacher’s summarization of how i got the grade, my temper arose to a boiling point.. someone copied my work without me knowing it.. spineless git! the nerve of him! and all along i thought he was a friend.. i confronted him later that day and he confessed that he really copied all my answers, as in staright-A bulls-eye COPY-PASTE for Pete’s sake! hell yeah.. my, i got really furious.. he explained to the teacher and at the end of the day, the mistake was corrected.. my grade escalated from 71 to 83.. not bad eh? considering that my head ached after answering all the questions last week.. well, my temper ebbed after that.. ok na ko.. i just hope it won’t happen again..

 

 NEW YORK - Pink and motocross racer Carey Hart have separated after two years of marriage. "This decision was made by best friends with a huge amount of love and respect for one another," Pink’s representative, Michele Schweitzer, said Tuesday in a statement. "While the marriage is over, their friendship has never been stronger."
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Pink, whose real name is Alecia Moore, met Hart at the 2001 X Games in Las Vegas and proposed to him four years later during a race in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. They were married Jan. 7, 2006, in Costa Rica.

Pink, 28, won a Grammy for best female rock vocal performance for her song "Trouble" in 2003. Her hits include "Get the Party Started," "Stupid Girls" and "Don’t Let Me Get Me

 

  SAN ANTONIO - Manu Ginobili scored 18 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to an 85-65 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night in the defending NBA champions’ first home game in more than three weeks.
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Michael Finley scored 14 points and Ime Udoka added 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Spurs’ third straight victory. Tim Duncan shot poorly, going just 2-of-12 from the field, but he got five blocks and 15 rebounds.

Raymond Felton led Charlotte with 19 points, Jason Richardson added 13 and Nazr Mohammed scored 12.

The Spurs were sloppy early, committing 18 turnovers in the first three quarters and 21 in the game. But they outscored Charlotte 31-16 in the decisive fourth period.

Still, it was clearly good to be home, where the Spurs have lost just five games this season. Tuesday was the team’s first home game since going on a three-week, nine-game road trip.

The Spurs went 6-3 on the trip, an annual event that happens when the rodeo rolls into town and takes over the AT&T Center.

After a slow first half, both teams picked up the pace in the third quarter. A quick Spurs burst gave them a 44-34 lead off recent addition Damon Stoudamire’s 3-pointer with 9:38 to play in the period.

But the Bobcats answered right back with one of the night’s highlights: Stoudamire turned over the ball, and Felton dished out a nifty over-the-back-pass to Richardson for a slam dunk that sent Ginobili skidding to the floor.

Felton followed with a 3 — after the Spurs turned over the ball yet again — to bring Charlotte within 44-39 with 6:28 to go.

The Spurs stopped the sloppiness and put together a modest run to open the fourth, a 67-55 lead on Bruce Bowen’s corner 3-pointer with 8:18 on the clock. Duncan had three blocks in the last quarter.

Bowen hit another 3, this time from the wing, with 5:36 to play to put San Antonio up by 18 points. The Spurs increased their advantage to as many as 23.

Charlotte led 18-13 after one, the Spurs’ lowest-scoring first quarter of the season. They managed to take a 36-32 halftime lead.

Notes:@ Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said pregame that he might let G Tony Parker play a few minutes, but Parker instead sat out his ninth straight game with an inflamed left ankle. … Felton got a technical foul in the third quarter, and Charlotte’s Jeff McInnis picked one up in the first quarter. … The Spurs celebrated the franchise’s 35th anniversary with a halftime tribute. … The Spurs won the season series 2-0. … Charlotte’s 65 points were the fewest scored by a Spurs opponent this season.

 

  SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. is getting ready to take its bid for Yahoo right to the Web portal’s shareholders, even as analysts wait for a higher offer.
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Separately, Yahoo Inc. adopted new severance packages that protect employees in the event of a Microsoft takeover.

Microsoft has hired proxy solicitation group Innisfree M&A Inc. to help oust Yahoo’s 10-member board, all of whom are up for re-election this year.

A source close to the deal who is not authorized to speak publicly about it said Tuesday that Microsoft could spend $20 million to $30 million on that effort.

That’s much less than the $1.4 billion each $1 uptick in Microsoft’s bid would cost. Microsoft’s offer two weeks ago was originally worth about $44.6 billion, or $31 a share. Based on Microsoft’s closing share price Tuesday, the offer is now worth about $40 billion.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker’s board plans to authorize a proxy battle this week, according to The New York Times DealBook blog. It has until March 14 to nominate a slate of directors for Yahoo. Microsoft and its advisers declined to comment.

Election results would be announced at Yahoo’s annual meeting. Last year’s was held in June.

Microsoft also may simultaneously circumvent Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo’s management and ask shareholders to sell their stock to Microsoft directly.

So far, Microsoft has given no signs it will raise its bid, even though a person familiar with earlier talks between the two companies said Microsoft was willing to pay at least $40 per share for Yahoo a year ago. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the offer was never made public.

In an interview with The Associated Press Monday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the software maker was not talking to Yahoo about raising its bid.

Analysts, however, still believe there’s wiggle room.

"I don’t think what they’re saying now precludes" a higher offer, said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Charles DiBona.

DiBona also said he thinks Microsoft would prefer not to go hostile but will if no progress has been made by the March deadline.

Yahoo reiterated Tuesday that its board is "carefully and thoroughly evaluating all of the company’s strategic alternatives."

The Web portal and search company’s new severance plans — to take effect if Microsoft succeeds in its takeover bid — cover Yahoo’s top executives and all full-time employees. The plans are designed to keep workers on board even if the company changes hands. They also could make it harder for Microsoft to move Yahoo staff to Redmond and raise the overall cost of integrating the two companies.

In an e-mail to employees last Friday, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang wrote that the severance plans "shouldn’t be construed as any indication that a change in control might or might not take place."

The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday that workers who lose their jobs without "cause" or quit "for good reason," as Yahoo defines it, would continue to receive their salary and medical benefits for four to 24 months, plus reimbursement for "outplacement services" for two years.

A Yahoo spokeswoman would not say what might constitute good reason.

Departing employees’ stock options would also vest faster than scheduled under the new plans.

Microsoft has said it will offer significant retention packages to Yahoo engineers and other key employees, including some executives. The software maker has not said how many jobs could be cut if the companies combined.

Yahoo’s board spurned Microsoft’s bid last week, saying it "substantially undervalues" Yahoo’s assets.

Microsoft fired back that its offer was "full and fair," and that it would "pursue all necessary steps" to get the deal done.

Shares of Microsoft slipped 14 cents to close at $28.17, while Yahoo’s stock fell 65 cents, or 2.2 percent, to close at $29.01.