His Name Means Sanctified

We met each other when we were in Islacom (now Globe/Innove in Visayas) way back in the mid-90s. I was supervising the Accounting department then, while he was with Sales. Our paths crossed again in 1997 at RCPI/Bayantel (before RCPI spun off from Bayantel, and became USSC) where I headed the Finance and Admin Group for Visayas and he eventually led the Sales team in the same region. Our friendship went beyond the 7 years I spent with the company. The bond was such that we even moved out of the company at the same time. :)

Indulge me in recounting a few of the fun times we had. The one activity (among many others) that stands out, and never fails to amuse me each time I remember, would be our occasional trips to downtown Cebu to buy pirated cds. LOL. I know... bad! But now we know better.

Then there was a time in the early 2000 that instead of buying new desktop computers to replace our old ones (as a matter of practice, the old units were passed on to new employees), we bought ourselves laptops. Yes, laptops! Hala!

Our boss then was game and approved the purchase since it was within budget and allowed the Sales Manager to be mobile and online even in remote areas in the region. Hehe... What a trailblazing act at a time when the internet was not yet mainstream (at least for Visayas)!

Having him as colleague, with all his funny and witty retorts, made crunching numbers on spreadsheets and meeting deadlines a bit more bearable. Having him around is like having a resident stand-up comedian in our midst. Hilarious. Patawa talaga.

This post would be too long if I keep on with the nostalgia...

Fast-forward to year 2011. He is now based in the Middle East with a very promising career and he came to visit Cebu last January for Sinulog. We exchanged stories over coffee at Starbucks which he insisted on buying me (haha! katas ng ME) and everything seemed like it was the year 2004 all over again. Funny guy this Mike Sanchez... as always.

About.com describes "Sanchez" as a patronymic surname derived from the given name Sancho, meaning "sanctified". Very apt, for Mike has a generous and compassionate heart. To me, however, his name would have easily meant "comic" too.

Ayan Mike, as promised. Here are our pics. Nilagyan ko pa ng tribute ha! LOL. Stay safe and away from chaotic Libya and other warring ME countries.

Shokran (شكرا)! Thank you for the friendship!

PS: Feel free to grab the images from my Flickr page. I know di clear yung nasa DSLR mo. LOL....






Here with another very good friend, Ann