Month: November 2011

I’m in Taipei, Taiwan now for some official work stuff and partly this is the reason why there were not much updates here at menardconnect.com. But enough of the excuses, I’m back and is ready to blog again!

I recall saying in my old post that

A Taipei visit will not be complete without a dinner at Din Tai Fung

So let’s make the Taipei visit complete by checking one place on the Taipei hitlist 🙂

Because we were so hungry we attacked the food without taking some pics. Here are the lucky xiaolongbao that survived M+K’s opening salvo.

Aside from the xiaolongbao, we also had the hot and sour soup, as well as some delicious kangkong veggies.

Come dessert time, we requested to our lovely host(slash-boss-chief-and-financier) that we are really excited to have our favorite dessert “Taro Mini Pao“. We did not get it correctly the first time as we were served with a bigger version of the Taro, Red Bean and Sesame seed Mini Pao

but we enjoyed it anyway 🙂

But we were really persistent (ala-APT) and we will never give up so we tried to order again and this time it was a Success!!!

Looks like xiaolongbao, but this one’s really special and it is that tasty taro sweets inside that we are carving for!

Taro Mini Pao dessert for the win!

Hope you liked my Din Tai Fung 2011 post!

I mentioned in my last post that we would never run out of stories and conspiracy theories about the Pacquiao vs Marquez 3 bout so here go with Part 2.

No! I won’t share some foot tricks and cheats conspiracy theory here because I know that when a southpaw and an orthodox pugs box it out in the ring this is really very likely to happen 🙂

But I would like to share an inspiring article that I chanced upon recently. It’s an open letter to Pacman offering a different perspective. Read Dear Manny Pacquiao, the “Man in the Arena” article

He also wrote an open letter to Marquez with matching translation.

Re-posting the links here is my way of appreciation.

Kudos to you, Mr. Michael Sellers.

Congrats to Pacman and Team Pacquiao!

Image Credit: assets.sbnation.com and wikipedia.org

I am happy that Pacquiao won but I am also sad that it was a controversial win and many people (Pinoys and non-Pinoys) have doubts on the final outcome.

Come to think of it, we Pinoys may be just accustomed to the wins wherein Pacman either totally devastated his opponents (Dela Hoya, Hatton, Cotto) or he simply outclassed them and got convincing win via decisions (Clottey, Margarito, Mosley).

But guys and gals we should always remember this: boxing is Boxing.

I will leave the other analysis and expert opinions on the outcome to legit sports analysts and other boxing expert wannabes 🙂 . We will definitely never run out of stories and conspiracy theories for the xx number of days to come…

Lastly, my salute goes to you, Juan Manuel Marquez. You put up a good and clean fight today in the ring and you earned my respect.

Update 2012.12.09

This previous post was for the Pacquiao vs Marquez 3. For Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 please go to Pacquiao vs Marquez 4

Update: Pacquiao won via Majority decision

This is my good luck shout out post to Pacman and Team Pacquiao!

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will be boxing out Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12, 2011 (November 13 in Manila). The WBO Welterweight World Title will be at stake and the boxing match will be held at MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Image Credit: assets.sbnation.com and wikipedia.orgThis time I will be in Manila, Philippines like the Pacquiao Mosley, Pacquiao Cotto and Pacquiao Margarito bouts. I am not sure if I scored free seats courtesy of PLDT MyDSL Watchpad, because as of posting the contest organizer haven’t confirmed it yet. Update: Confirmed, I got some free invites courtesy of PLDT MyDSL Watchpad 🙂

Win or lose I will be posting some tips on where viewers can catch the Pacquiao vs Marquez match aside from the usual choice of Ilemi TV, Sopcast, Justin TV, and PLDT MyDSL Watchpad. But a teaser first, the Pacquiao vs Marquez weigh in

Video Credit: Youtube and fightfan.comPacquiao vs Marquez HBO PPV

Pacman is returning to HBO PPV (Pay Per View). So if you have HBO this is the top choice. I suggest you gather your family and friends and divide the HBO PPV fees among yourselves. Bring some food too (potluck)!

Pacquiao vs Marquez Solar Allaccess

Solar Allaccess is like HBO PPV and it may be related to Solar Sports. But if this is like HBO PPV then I guess Pacquiao vs Marquez Solar Allaccess may be good option

Pacquiao vs Marquez GMA 7, Solar Sports and AKTV/IBC-13

This is free Pacquiao vs Marquez viewing but will come with a tradeoff: delayed telecast. Yes, network rival ABS-CBN CH2 will already report who won the match via their news flash and yet you are still watching tons of TV advertisements/commercials between say round 1 and 2? Mas matagal pa ang commercial kesa sa aktuwal na bakbakan!!! Winner!

Let’s get serious with the next options:

Pacquiao vs Marquez PLDT MyDSL Watchpad

In my other post, I invited my readers to kindly visit www.pldtwatchpad.com and register there to check how they can Pacquiao vs Marquez III event. This is definitely worth a try but you should hurry as slots may run out soon.

Disclaimer: I do not guarantee if the channels below will work. Some of them worked in the previous Pacman fights against Mosley, Margarito, Cotto and Clottey. But I will try my best to update this one with available ones…

Pacquiao vs Marquez Ilemi TV (Ilemi.TV)

Ilemi TV is a streaming site. Ilemi have gone several changes in their domain name, before they were Ilemi.me, then they changed to Ilemi.com and now they are Ilemi.tv. This is another option for Pacquiao vs Marquez: Ilemi, just remember and try their sites (go to ilemi.com or ilemi.me or www.ilemi.tv) or ilemi.eu and look for Pacquiao vs Marquez related channels.

Pacquiao vs Marquez Sopcast

Sopcast offers video streaming services. You have to download Sopcast client first and then know specific channels playing Pacquiao vs Marquez Sopcast. This worked on previous Pacquiao bouts but the issue we got last time (Pacquiao Mosley) is that Sopcast was heavily monitored and policed. The usual known channels returns error when I tried it now so I will check other sources soon.

Update 2011.11.13 8AM (GMT+8)

Some Pacquiao vs Marquez Sopcast channels courtesy of a reader in the comments.

sopcast channels unavailable

I have not verified yet, but some are familiar sopcast channels of previous Pacquiao matches. Try it.

Pacquiao vs Marquez Justin.TV

Justin.TV is another video streaming site. Viewers need to go to Justin.TV website, and for popular boxing fights like Pacquiao vs Marquez, Justin.tv usually highlights that they are serving it. But just like Sopcast, the problem we experience with Justin.TV was the heavily monitoring and policing and channels streaming Pacquiao were booted out. This happened in the last four to five fights of Pacman so I am not hopeful with Justin.TV but again you can try and try in case you have no luck with ilemi and sopcast.

I will update this post if I have other choices.

Again, Good luck to Manny Pacquiao! Go Pacman! Go Team Pacquiao!