Off To Los Angeles Triathlon

Finally, it is the day of my travel to California for the L.A. triathlon. It's been 4 years since i last visited California. It was sort of business trip, a training for the then newly introduced Canon copiers where I attended the Canon Support training at the facilty in Irvine,California.
This time is a personal trip.
My Northwest Airline flight to Japan, where I am to get my connecting flight was delayed! And you know what causes the delay of the flight? POWER OUTAGE!Ai, Adeey!!Nobody is now exempt from this failure. A failure that is now emblematic to

CNMI government inefficiencies. What a shame! I can feel at the airport all the frustrations of Japanese tourist because of this outage. Oh well. Thanks to Weng's free VIP Hafa Adai Lounge voucher. I had a "eat all you can" free snacks at the lounge for the rest of power outage...The TSA inspectors had to checked our carry-on bags manually which literally created a line up to main entrance of the airport.

Japan to Honolulu is the next segment of my trip. I was supposed to visit Honolulu next month, in time for the Xterra World Champioship in Maui, but then decided to join instead this LA triathlon where I am now heading. My first time to be in Narita International Airport where the athmosphere is a bit different compared to Nagoya Airport where I had a lay-over flight last May 2008 on my way to Manila. Narita Airport looks more modern compared to Nagoya Airport, but just the same both airport has plenty of Japanese. Jokex3.

Honolulu to Los Angeles, last part of my trip. As I've heard so many times about U.S. air transportations services, my Delta Airline flight was delayed for almost two hours, and the more than 5 hours of travel was spent mostly playing solitaire using the built-in monitor installed on each rear side of the passenger seat. No in-flight movie on my monitor, as the flight attendant announced that movies can only be viewed in selected monitors because of "technical difficulty". However, we are free daw to move into other seat and look for a functioning monitor. How can you move around if those other seats are already assigned to passengers!!!Laaanyyaaa!!

L.A. Triathlon

XTERRA TRIATHLON SAIPAN SERIES 2005

Less than a week before my departure to Los Angeles,CA.... .So excited to join my first triathlon outside Saipan. It was year 2000 when I first started joining triathlon competition in Saipan. First was the Tagaman triathlon (2km swim, 60km bike and 15km.run), then followed by Rota triathlon and Xterra Triathlon where I recently qualified to Xterra World Championship in Maui, Hawaii. I've been planning for years to join the Asian International Triathlon in Subic, Zambales but I always ran into glitch when everything seem to be set and ready...
This time, theres no more stopping! Ticket is ready, registration to LA triathlon has been paid and the most important thing, my body is now ready. Just in time to peak for the race to reach my target time. 3 hours and 30 minutes is okay. 3hrs and 15 is good, less than 3hrs is best.
Just hope for the best and an "injury free" race.

Pinoy Contract Worker Missing

It is now a month since Alex Matubis was reported missing. He was last seen July 29, coming from Tinian, and was reported missing 2 days later. Until now there's still no news of his whereabout. A lot of Pinoy workers here in Saipan are asking me concerning any development of my "friend". Actually, he is not my friend or acquaintance, it only happen that I was the one who first posted his disappearance and made it announced to the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation (NMITF)website, since I know that members of this group are the ones who often venture out in the boonies or tangan-tangans(forest).True to my insinuation, the NMITF group members found the Toyota pick-up last driven by Alex....The sad thing is that a Malacanang cabinet member was in Saipan the last 2 days and I doubt if this missing case was reported by the Saipan Philippine Consulate Office to the Malacanang official.

crystal clear blue water of saipan

DAY 1

Day 1 of my blogging....I dont why I am into this world of web communication. Maybe it is because of my curiousity. I have read and heard a lot about this....
To start with, let me first introduce my self...

I am Manny Sitchon, a Filipino currently residing here in the Island of Saipan. Way back 1999 when I first arrived, and just most OFW would say" I never thought my stay here would last this long". No regret, this island is a "paradise" as many people would say...We have very beautiful beaches, a lot better compared to what we have in the Philippines, with exception of course with the likes of Bocaray, Palawan, etc.., astounding sunset. Yes, sunset, I love sunset! Especially watching it from the beach road portion near the Oleai Becah Bar/Grill..Clean air is another thing Saipan has a lot, where doing an afternoon or morning run is world class because of the unsullied and refreshing air of the island.