Power Rangers Power Off!

A Taiwanese utilities corporation is now on the island providing a "free" assessment of the power plants around the CNMI. The ever huggable Saipan Mayor brought the group from Guam after being referred to by Taiwan's North American Affairs minister in July.

The Mayor hosted a dinner for the group together with the Acting Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez. The highlight of the meeting was that the power company initially concluding that the main cause of power problem here in the CNMI is maintenance of the power plant.

As the dinner went on, the power in that area suddenly went off. "Mayor, meeting this group is very timely huh?" quipped the acting governor.

Was the blackout part of the setup, to make the meeting more credible, thus provide more drama?

The Reveler

Isn't It Ironic, Don't You Think?

When the beloved CNMI governor graced for the first time the Rotary Club of Saipan's weekly meeting not so very long ago, he talked about the effects or impacts of the impending federalization of the CNMI. A Rotarian asked him if there were studies about all what he was saying. The governor replied with a strong "yes" and the study is being funded by the Insular Affairs Office.

OIA is a federal office, which obviously helps in drafting, amending and pushing the bill of the takeover. Hmmm...

All together now!

It's like rain, on your wedding day,
It's a free ride, when you're already paid,
It's a good advice that you just didn't take
Well, who would've thought, it figures....(Alanis Morisette)

CSI: Saipan

Chinese-Stabbing-Incident (CSI)

Did you read about this scary crime going on around the island, like this one Chinese non-resident worker who was biking home was suddenly stabbed at the back by someone inside a passing car.

Isn't that scary?

The Reveler

The Buzz: The Railroad to Recovery

Oh no, not that the CNMI will have a railroad construction here to take Marpi residents to Garapan and San Antonio, but this railroad is meant for "the CNMI's recovery." The Middle Roaders just heard from someone who works for a federal office that the US department of that office has instructed the NMI office to restructure and prepare for the federal take over. His term was "railroading" and "sure."

The Buzz among the federal workers is that the implementation is set next year (yeah, we've all heard about that before). Now, here's an old one, a contract worker went back to his country to renew his US visa, but was told by the consul to wait for the takeover.

Now, now. Down boy, down. Fetch!

The Rev

Burglar King Anyone?

Yes. I was not spared from the attack of the Burglar Kings. Our house was burglarized last night, taking two of our mac laptops (MacBook and iBook G4) Now, im using a borrowed Vaio, thanks to TacDer. We came home and discovered our glass window by our dining table was smashed into pieces and the window screen was totally ripped for entry. The burglars took my other Nokia 3230 gsm phone, videocamera, external hard drive, and gameboy SP.

Life has become so tough now, that people really resort to such crimes. Let's befriend CrimeStoppers now....

This life changing incident has made me tired of posting in this blog for a moment. Can't sleep thinking and dreaming that the Kings might attack again. ;-( Geek and Weird have long been hibernating in an early winter season. So, all I can say is that watch for your possessions at home, the Burglar Kings might attack any moment with a Simpson's action figure.

The Reveler

New Poll: On Federal Takeover

<---- Cast your votes for our latest poll on US federal takeover of the CNMI Labor and Immigration system.

Comments are always welcome to back up your answers.

Governor race is on for Angelo, Cinta and Heinz

Yup, the blogging people (130pax) of the CNMI and the world have spoken and ranked Angelo Villagomez (40%), Rep. Cinta Kaipat (29.2%), and Rep. Heinz Hofschneider (24.6%) to be the next gubernatorial bets in the next election.

Happy now Angelo, at least here you've won something. Harry is not a governor material anyway. Let's just leave him to be the spice of the island--Le Critique.

Mike Sablan (15.4%) surprised me the best. Hmmm...could it be possibly, inevitably...
Former Gov. Babauta still gets the nod with 11.5 percent of the votes followed by Rep. Estanislao Torres, yes that's his real first name, with 9.2 percent.

The Tres Amigos, Rep. Waki, Rep. Babauta and the Juanpan each got 6.2 percent of the votes.

Well, happy with the outcome?

Watch for our new poll!

Chamber and the President on Fire

This is not a regular scene from the lobby of the Guma Hustisia House of Justice in Susupe. This was the scene today during the Congressional Hearing with Reps. Christian Dior, Bored-hallow, and Fatun-gaga (who could remember the names anyway). Anyway, going back to the Chamber, I guess, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce finally came around to let Alex Sablan to speak on its president's behalf.

Questions:

1. Did they let Alex Sablan speak up because he is more eloquent and articulate?
2. Did they let Alex Sablan speak up because his business would not be directly affected by such boycott threat?
3. Did they let Alex Sablan speak up because he is more telegenic?

You tell me.

Btw, Juanpan (Chamber president) was inside the court room for the hearing. He was present.

Can You Hear Me?

Now all eyes and ears are out for House Hearing here in the CNMI with Rep. Christian Dior. Oh, is it Christensen? Anyway, the hearing is just a side trip for the congresswoman, hitting two balls with one bird (oh whatever).

Everyone is going to be watching this hearing this coming Wednesday to be held at the Guma Hustisia Bldg. in Susupe.

It's the clash of the titans this Wednesday:

1. Tina Sablan vs. Tao Tao Tano's Greg Cruz
2. Dekada leader Boni Sagana vs Dr. Doom (oh i don't know who else is taking the stand)

We'll see what happens next on the CNMI's federal takeover possibilities///

The Reveler

Kings of My Papaya

Isn't it great to wake up in the morning and be greeted by these birds perching by our yard on one of our papaya trees at home? Are these king fishers? These birds never fail to perch on this tree every morning. I just sit on the couch and watch them frolic on the tree.

'Wish I took my Wildlife 101 course in college seriously.

How many birds species does Saipan have? Oh well...

The Reveler

Chamber and the Prisoners of Business Ban

News today about Saipan Chamber of Commerce's public voting on its stand regarding federalization of the CNMI, majority voted against it but largely divided on the grandfathering issue, says the papers.

Questions of the community are:

1. Was the voting a vindication on the boycott or business ban on its president's business empire on Saipan?
2. Would the result of this voting affect the federal decision on the take over?
3. Why didn't the Chamber provide the public the names of the businesses that are against or supportive of the issues today?
4. Do consumers have the right to know which are which?

You tell me.

The Reveler

Saipan Blogger Chronicles: #1

Move over Libra Mae Sparks, it's Saipan Blogger's turn now. Ok. Riding on this guy's popularity and online notoriety, we are here to watch out for this guy. Not that we want to be the next LA's defamer.com or TMZ, but this topic, we believe is something to watch out for.

To start off, let us thank Saipan Blogger for making us on his top three list of recommended bloggers. Of course, Jeff Turbitt disagrees. He and his hyper-critical thoughts. (Is he related to Harry? sfx/biz: Twilight Zone Theme)

Allow us to share Saipan Blogger's aka Angelo Villagomez's thoughts:

Now that the contest is over I have restored everyone's links in my sidebar, with a slight change. I have created a new category called "Saipan Blogger Recommended Saipan Bloggers." I link to EJ, Jeff, and the oversenstive writers over at Middle Road.

In my opinion, those are the three best blogs currently being published in the CNMI (excluding The Saipan Blog - Saipan, CNMI's most popular blog since ever since, of course).

Jeff and the Writers both have blogs with pleasant, uncluttered templates and the content of both blogs always makes for a good read and, more often than not, a good laugh.

Both blogs can be controversial, as evidenced by Richard Pierce hunting down Jeff early Thursday morning and by the number of comments generated every time the Writers mention my name.

EJ's blog is a different type of blog. It is not controversial, it is not that well written, and the pictures aren't really that great.

The Reveler

Hollywood: Female directors underdogs?

This I came across reading the CNN website. It's about "Chick Flicks: Where's the Love?" article. Favorite line in this piece is this:

"What's funny is, now people are trying to contact me to do movies," Delpy adds, "like, they're looking for a female director, and it's all about a relationship. You know what? I don't want to make a movie that they want a female director for. To me, first of all, it's condescending. What does that mean? Is it about breast feeding?"

In other countries I believe there's a balance between male and female directors, almost. Most male directors in Asian countries are gay men or on the effem side.

More on this article is on this site.

The Reveler

Of Marine Biology and other courses

The CNMI would have been perfect for Marine Biology courses, since the island is surrounded by waters that are rich in marine resources, not to mention there's Rota and Tinian too. However, the CNMI has no college nor vocational institutions that offer such course, thank goodness for the DEQ, CRM, DFW staff who try to educate and impart knowledge through internship programs.

I remember Bree attending NMC Board of Regents meeting to defend a marine vessel acquisition at the college.

The only bachelor's degree being offered at the college is BS Elementary Education, to prepare and train future teachers in the CNMI. It's just sad that despite the need for teachers, the local government can't afford them.

The Reveler

Would you go to beach 1 or 2?

Would you go to beach 1 or 2, yes, two beaches on Tinian (?) named Leprosarium 1 or Leprosarium 2? What's up with the name? To top it all, these two beaches have been red flagged by Division of Environmental Quality.

We were wondering why would you name your beaches like these? Imagine dipping your toes into the waters of the Leprosarium beaches.

Our guess in the office is that these beaches were named during the WWII when lepers used to be exiled on this island.

Just a thought.

The Reveler

Study: Good to be cut

This is somewhat old news but I just remembered hearing from the news about this recent study about circumcised men have less likely to transmit or contract the dreaded HIV disease. According to that news, I guess I heard it from CNN, that men or gaymen that are cut are safer to have a one night stand with than those that are uncut, due to the sensitive skin around the unexposed portion of the penis.

I guess this has changed the pickup lines among the coquettish world of hanging out in bars, "Hold on, before we go, are you cut or uncut? Just want to be 'safer."

The Reveler

What? The machine`s broken?

If you think you could have the new, supposedly better-looking CNMI driver`s license than what you currently have, well, weep.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles` machine which processes the more modern CNMI driver`s license`s broken as of last week.

Retracing the steps motorists take when renewing their driver`s license

1. Go to BMV, get a yellow form, fill it out
2. Go to the Superior Court for a traffic clearance. Window 1 first. Pay $1.
3. From window 1, go to Window 5 to get the traffic clearance
4. Go back to BMV, to the farthest left window to pay $25
5. Then proceed to the farthest right window, submit all the receipts, documents, old license. Wait for your name to be called for a photograph.
6. Wait for the processing of your new license.

And just when you thought you`d be able to have a better looking driver`s license which you will carry for 3 years, well...

Minority Report

Yep. That's true. If you'd read one of Saipan Blogger's comments in our post, he called us gay, conservative and minority bloggers.

Oh wow, coming from a superior race.

What do you think?

The Reveler

The Buzz: Nikko-lodeon

Well, it's not new though, but the news around town is that:

1. Hotel Nikko is left suspended up in the midair. Bidders like Asiana or Kumho has backed out, they say, realizing that if Japan Airlines couldn't fill it up, how can they? So, they say, it's closing.

2. The revolving restaurant or simply called the 360(degree) is not at all going to happen. The AJ's Restaurant staff are now left out in the open.

3. Business owners and officials with business groups are cooking up something to express their protest against federal takeover. Buzz is, that they are meeting up silently how to counter federalization of the island.

So what've you heard around lately?

The Reveler