Math Olympics Results from Mayagüez

From the category, of things I'd like to see more of, as expressed yesterday, I wanted to share with everyone the results of the Olimpiadas Matemáticas de Puerto Rico, which concluded recently at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, recinto de Mayagüez (RUM). What a magnificent effort, which not only encourages students to excel in mathematics, but also provides math teachers with tools to help talented math students.

The competition started back in November when 5,000 students started the process of taking exams. The Olympics continued through two more phases of exams and concluded with the students with the highest point totals attending the 7mo Campamento de Verano para Estudiantes Talentosos en Matemáticas, which was held last weekend. During the camp, winners of the gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded to 32 students.

The gold medal winners, that will represent Puerto Rico in international math competition, are:

• Mariangel Rivera Faría, 4to grado de Cupeyville School;
  
• Juan José Jiménez Lizardi, 5to grado de Cupeyville School;
  
• Verónica Jardón Salas, 6to. Grado Colegio Marista;
  
• Diego Huyke Villeneuve, 7mo grado Cupeyville School;
  
• Caterina Colón Oyola, 9no.de Cupeyville School;
  
• Alan Wagner Rodríguez, 10mo de Baldwin School of Puerto Rico;
  
• Sara Rodríguez Martínez, 11mo. del Colegio Espíritu Santo;
  
• Eduardo Pérez Torres, 12mo de Caribbean School en Ponce.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: fdecomite

Who's the evolved one?

In the past I've been critical of the importance society places on music awards, and while we're at it let's throw movie and television award shows as well, oh yeah and let's not forget the chart topping programs American Idol and Objetivo Fama. As many might respond, well music, in particular, is so universal, so emotional, so much larger than life it's only natural that we give it so much attention. I'd say, that is so much a load of horse crap. According to new research, maybe we just can't help ourselves. Maybe, we're not much better than monkeys who would rather look at pictures of female monkey butts than get more of their favorite juice.

Well, I for one am not willing to give up any of my favorite juice to look at female monkey butts. I prefer to find my pictures of female monkey butts for free on the Internet. No, wait a minute. That's not what I mean. What I mean to say is, and let me be perfectly clear, is that as a society I believe we are better than having our primal desires satisfied by looking at female monkey butts. Not that I'm saying that there is anything wrong with looking at monkey butts, some of my best friends enjoy it every now and then. I'm just saying that we are more evolved and should aspire to more lofty pursuits.

For this I commend El Nuevo Dia and their "El Nuevo Dia Educador" awards program. Recently they announced the 2008 recipients for their program. 325 candidates were nominated for the sixteen prizes, eight first prizes and eight second (honorable mention) prizes. The first place winners received a $4,000 scholarship, a statue, two round trip tickets to any destination in the United States, and a medal. The honorable mention winners received a $1,000 scholarship, two round trip tickets to any destination in the United States, and a certificate. I also commend the sponsors for these prizes American Airlines, Fundación Muñoz Bermúdez, Amgen, and the Fundación Comunitaria.

Let's all take a moment to congratulate this year's winners listed below:

• Spanish: Ángel Yamil Ortiz Torres; Escuela Nicolás Sevilla Guemárez in Toa Alta
• Social Studies: Sashmarie Z. Rivera López; Carvin School in Carolina.
• English: Ana María Hernández Rosa; Escuela Eugenio María de Hostos in Mayagüez,
• Art: Johnny Santiago Jaime; Escuela Josefa Vélez-Bauzá in Peñuelas.
• Science: Carlos E. Muñoz Santiago; Escuela Elvira M. Colón-Negrón in Santa Isabel
• Health: Carla M. Agosto Ortiz; Escuela Isabel Flores in Juncos
• Mathematics: Yairanex Román García; Colegio De La Salle in Bayamón
• Physical Education: Roberto J. Pérez Román; Colegio Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Hatillo.

No really, in all seriousness. I didn't intend to make light of this. Sometimes you just have to roll with what inspires. Anyway, I think it sucks that we give all of our money and attention to celebrities, music, television, and movies and such little money and attention to education. I concur completely with my good friend over at Gil The Jenius, and what he has to say about education. While there are a lot of serious problems we, as a society, face, education is the one universal problem that impacts so many of our other ills that if we can't fix education, then our chances of fixing anything else are severely reduced. Without an educated, reasoning, and thinking populace we'll never get over our fascination with monkey butts. And I, for one, will not give up anymore of my juice for monkey butts. Good day, sir!

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: law_keven

Los 50 Más Bellos 2008

People Magazine, en Español, has released it's list of the 50 most beautiful people issue. And of course, there is a nice list of Puertorriqueños. To start, reggaeton superstar Ivy Queen and Miss Universe Dayanara grace the cover of the magazine with other Latin celebrities Angélica Rivera, Marlene Favela, Myrka Dellanos, Christina Aguilera, Sofía Vergara, and Danna García.

This year, the magazine selected Noelia for the first time to join the list of the most beautiful. Noelia, who was born as Noelia Lorenzo Monge on August 31, 1977, is a pop singer and actress who rose to fame in 1999. She is the first daughter of Puerto Rican singer Yolandita Monge and Alfredo Lorenzo.

Other Puertorriqueños that made the list this year are: Giselle Blondett, the husband and wife pair of Luis Fonsi and Adamari López, and Daddy Yankee. In total the list has 29 women and 21 men.

Yeah! More Music Awards

It must be like a dream for Kany Garcia. For me, I'd classify it more like a freaking nightmare. Between the endless drone dominating our airwaves from American Idol and Objetivo Fama to celebrating more music awards, this seems like when your arch enemy not only gets the promotion you wanted, but he also wins the lottery too. When did popular music become such a dominate cultural influence? Sure music has always been popular and extremely influential, but for my taste, it has gotten out of hand. For not only is music on our radios and iPods, but now it's the most popular programming on television. Making it, probably the most influential art in existence. Oh and it doesn't help that the majority of this music is Pop music, for me, as Mick likes to say "I know it's only Rock and Roll, but I like it!"

Anyway, blah, blah, last night Daddy Yankee, blah, blah Jennifer Lopez, blah, blah Chayanne, and finally blah, blah, Wisin & Yandel. Just kidding. Last night, the Latin music industry once again gathered to pat itself on the back. This time they awarded Los Premios Billboard Latinos, which took place in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood Florida. Neighboring Dominican Republic took home the most awards when native son Juan Luis Guerra won three.

Locally, the big news was Kany García, who swept the new artist awards by winning Álbum pop del año nuevo artista and Tema pop airplay del año nuevo artista. Finalists and winners of the Premios Billboard Latinos are determined by their performance on the Billboard charts, as measured by Nielsen SoundScan and BDS during a one-year period from the Feb. 10, 2007, issue through Feb. 2, 2008. That being the case, this year they offerred an award in a surprisingly new category. It's probably not a surprise if your under the age of 25, but I'm sure many veterans in the music industry never expected to give out an award for the most popular ringtone. Local reggaeton artists RKM and Ken - Y took home the distinction of Latin Ringtone Of The Year for their "Me Matas."

The complete list of local winners:

• Hot Latin Song Of The Year, Vocal Duet: "Pegao,” Wisin & Yandel f/ Los Vaqueros (WY/Machete)
• Latin Album Of The Year: "El Cartel: The Big Boss," Daddy Yankee (El Cartel/Interscope/IGA)
• Latin Pop Album Of The Year, Female: "Como Ama Una Mujer," Jennifer Lopez (Epic/Sony BMG Norte)
• Latin Pop Album Of The Year, New Artist: "Cualquier Dia," Kany Garcia (Sony BMG Norte)
• Top Latin Albums Artist Of The Year: Valentin Elizalde
• Tropical Album Of The Year, Male: "El Cantante," Marc Anthony (Sony BMG Norte)
• Tropical Album Of The Year, New Artist: Andres Jimenez: El Jibaro, "Mi Parranda" (Cuarto Menguante)
• Latin Pop Airplay Song Of The Year, Male: "Si Nos Quedara Poco Tiempo," Chayanne (Sony BMG Norte)
• Latin Pop Airplay Song Of The Year, New Artist: "Hoy Ya Me Voy," Kany Garcia (Sony BMG Norte)
• Tropical Airplay Song Of The Year, Male: "Mas Que Tu Amigo," Tito Nieves (SGZ/La Calle/Univision)
• Reggaeton Album Of The Year: "El Cartel: The Big Boss," Daddy Yankee (El Cartel/Intescope/IGA)
• Reggaeton Song Of The Year: "Igual Que Ayer," R.K.M. & Ken-Y (Pina/Universal Latino)
• Latin Ringtone Of The Year: "Me Matas," R.K.M. & Ken-Y (Pina/Universal Latino

Los Ejecutivos del Año 2007

Recently the website Adnotas.com, with the support of the Bacardí Corporation and El Nuevo Día announced the 'Los Ejecutivos del Año 2007'. We here at DóndeEs.com would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners:

• Ejecutivo de Mercadeo: Yamilette Torres - MMM Healthcare Inc.
• Ejecutivo de Publicidad: Carlos Carbonell - Y&R
• Ejecutivo de Strategic Planning: Josean Alustiza -Badillo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi
• Ejecutivo de Agencia de Compra de Medios: Tere Guerrero - Arco Publicidad
• Ejecutivo de Media Planning: Dennisse Díaz - Universal McCann
• Ejecutivo de Relaciones Públicas: Odalie David - Autoridad del Distrito de Convenciones de Puerto Rico
• Ejecutivo de Promociones: Gerardo Bosch - Evenpro Marketing Group
• Ejecutivo de Internet: Carlos Moreno - ENDI.com
• Ejecutivo de Mercadeo Directo: Carlos Marchi - El Día Directo
• Ejecutivo de Outdoor/Rótulos: Beatriz Planas - Lamar Outdoor
• Ejecutivo de Periódicos: Carlos Nido - El Nuevo Dia
• Ejecutivo de Radio: Luis Soto - Uno Radio Group
• Ejecutivo de Revistas: Manny Casiano - Casiano Communications and Joe Ramos - Televicentro
• Ejecutivo de Ventas: Raymond Totti - Telemundo

Yes, congratulations to one and all. We'd also now like the marketing directors from each of the companies listed above to contact our sales team so they can buy advertising space. In a long tradition, honed to a science by the business magazine Caribbean Business and El Nuevo Dia, we think you should demonstrate how proud your companies are of their distinguished employees by congratulating them in a large banner advertisement on DóndeEs.com. Our sales force is standing by....

20th Premios lo Nuestro

It was certainly hard to deny that this edition of the Univision awards show came out with a real Puerto Rican flavor. Puerto Rican artists swept the urban category, while many other awards ended up in the hands of fellow Puerto Ricans. In all Puerto Rico won 11 awards.

It was a big night for Olga Tañon. As well as winning a "Maximum Excellence" award for her 20+ years of service to the industry, she also won two other awards. The other big winners during the evening's festivities were Wisin & Yandel with their two urban awards.

The complete list of awards won by Puerto Ricans includes:

Album Pop del Año: Ricky Martin - "MTV Unplugged"
Male Pop Artist: Chayenne
Soloist of Pop Group Performance: Jennifer López
Female Tropical Artist: Olga Tañon
Tropical Merengue Artist: Olga Tañon
Tropical Salsa Artist: Marc Anthony
Urban Album of the Year: Ivy Queen - "Sentimiento"
Urban Artist: Wisin & Yandel
Urban Song: Wisin & Yandel - "Pegao"
Video of the Year: Daddy Yankee - "Impacto"

Excellence, Dreams, and Disrespect - Banda Escolar de Guayanilla

Last Wednesday night I had to pick-up some family from the airport. They were flying in from the west cost of the United States where they had spent the holidays. As I arrived to the airport late that night, really it was already in the wee hours of Thursday I passed three buses from Guayanilla. The buses were at the Luis Muñoz Marin Airport to pick-up a group of young kids who should be celebrated as national heroes.

As we return back to our normal lives following the wondrous holidays, I wanted to share a little of their story. It is a tribute to excellence and to the power of dreaming. First of all, let's get something on the table right away, very few high school bands are chosen to participate in the Tournament of Roses Parade. It is an elite activity which immediately casts prestige and honor onto all of its participants. The event is so elite, in fact, you have to be invited in order to participate, and that is the easy part. After being invited it is then up to the band to finance their own trip to Pasedena California. According to the Tournament of Roses Parade web site, the estimated cost for each band member to attend the parade is between $1,500 and $1,700.

To give you an idea of what that means for the Banda Escolar de Guayanilla, they have 157 members in their band. They also have 33 students who carry flags or are cheerleaders. That's a total of 190 students. Let's use the higher of the two estimates of $1,700, that gives a grand total of $323,000, which excludes the band director and his staff, and a host of chaperons and parents. In total, the entire trip has probably cost them nearly a half a million dollars.

So it is with much perseverance, dedication, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that a high school band participates in the Tournament of Roses Parade. So what do we do to celebrate their sacrifice? What do we do to honor their achievement? What are we doing to promote more young students to dream big and excel? Well from what I can tell, we aren't doing anything! It just makes me sick that all of our government and business leaders say that "Children are our future. We need to invest in them...blah, blah, blah" Then they turn around and do nothing to support, promote or applaud our children when they do succeed.

Oh but of course, when someone else from Guayanilla came home in defeat from competing in a freaking beauty pageant, everybody was falling over themselves to congratulate her for having represented Puerto Rico. Where is the respect? So what we are saying is beauty is everything. Get a face job and become a national hero. Work hard, achieve international success, dream big and get nothing. And then we have marketing agencies and newspapers wonder "¿Que nos pasa Puerto Rico?" I'll tell you what's going on, we collectively have our heads up our collective asses, that's what! We are stuck in a "matrix" where we believe that image is everything and words matter. Words don't matter, only actions matter. So no matter what anyone says, when local banks congratulate losing beauty queens and ignore outstanding students, it sends a clear message about what they believe is important. And no matter what anyone thinks, it does matter. It is impacting our children and guarantees that what is wrong with us today, will still be wrong with us tomorrow.

My congratulations to the Banda Escolar de Guayanilla, their families, and their schools from daring to dream big. Also to all of the people who believed in them and supported them, and yes Gil I remember you told us about them first, may I thank you for giving us all something for which we can be proud. While the Guayanilla band has to wait three years before they can apply again, let's all do what we can to make sure that the debt they incurred to make the trip, and the next band who dares to make the trip is fully funded and they get the respect and congratulations they are due.

Various Puerto Rican Artists Honored with Grammy Nominations.

Yesterday the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be held on Feb. 10, 2008, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. While recording artist Kanye West topped the nominations with eight, there were several nominations for local artists.

Legendary Salsa recording artists, El Gran Combo lead off the nominations. El Gran Combo’s “Arroz con Habichuela” (Rice and Beans) Record was nominated for the “Best Tropical Latin Album” Award. The group will be competing against Cubanismo, Isaac Delgado, Juan Luis Guerra and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra.

“Rice and Beans” already won the “Best Salsa Album,” during the past Latin Grammy Awards, which were celebrated in November at Las Vegas, Nevada. Other local recording artists receiving nominations include Black:Guayaba, Tego Calderón, Calle 13 and Daddy Yankee.

Black:Guayaba's "Adelantando" will compete in the Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album category, which also includes nominations for: "No Hay Espacio" by by Jarabe De Palo; "Amantes Sunt Amentes" by Panda; "Kamikaze" by Rabanes; and "Memo Rex Commander Y El Corazón Atómico De La Via Láctea" by Zoé.

For Best Latin Urban Album, which includes the remainder of the Puerto Ricans nominated, nods go to "E.S.L." by Akwid; "El Abayarde Contra-Ataca" by Tego Calderón; "Residente O Visitante" by Calle 13; El Cartel: "The Big Boss" by Daddy Yankee; and "Vacaneria!" By Fulanito.

Historic Upset for Puerto Rican Mens Volleyball

Monday, in the FIVB Men's World Cup, Puerto Rico upset the United States to go to 2-0 in the 2007 World Cup.. It was a historic moment for the Puerto Rico squad as this was the first time in thirty years that Puerto Rico has beaten the United States team.

Perhaps the United States went unprepared mentally after themselves upsetting volleyball powerhouse Brazil in action from Sunday. While the Puerto Rican team (2-1) lost to the Bulgarian team in Tuesday's action, they still advanced into the second round of the competition. Their first matches in the second round is, first, the top standing Brazilian team on Wednesday and then Spain on Thursday.

While taking place in Japan, the other countries participating in this year's men's volleyball World Cup include:

• Japan , Host Country
• Spain, Europe Champion
• U.S.A, Norceca Champion
• Brazil, South-America Champion
• Australia, Asia Champion
• Egypt, Africa Champion
• Russia, Europe vice-champion
• Puerto Rico, Norceca vice-champion
• Agentina, South-America vice-champion
• Tunisia, Africa vice-champion
• Bulgaria, Wild Card
• Korea, Wild Card

Kudos for the Puerto Rico Convention Board

The "Destination Marketing Association International" (DMAI) has granted accreditation to the Puerto Rico Convention Board (PRCB, their initials in English). This marketing institution recognizes marketing organizations for destinations around the world that offer an exemplary service to the meeting planners, organizational congresses, and partners.

The accreditation, entitled "Destination Marketing Accreditation Program" (now that's unique and creative), converts Puerto Rico into the first destination in the Caribbean and Latin America to receive the distinction. Other destinations which already have the accreditation include Naples Florida, St. Petersburg Florida, and Montreal Canada. I must say, this is quite an achievement. Puerto Rico is the first "Latin American" country to receive the accreditation from an organization that has only accredited almost only United States destinations (a curiously non-international list). Wow, what a surprise.... The only "international" destination is Montreal Canada.

For filling out the application and paying for the accreditation, according to Ana Maria Viscasillas, president and principal official of the PRCB, it demonstrates their commitment to quality programs and service. Yeah right, it also demonstrates their commitment to have the Puerto Rico Convention Center run by SMG World, out of Philadelphia, PA.

Besides purchasing a membership, the PRCB had to comply with 87 standards established by the DMAI. Some of the standards included:

• finances
• regulatory direction
• technology (oh brother)
• human resources
• investigation
• administration
• services to visitors and groups
• sales
• innovation.

Created in 1993, Destination Marketing Association International Foundation's mission is to enhance and complement the association and the destination management profession through research, education, visioning and developing resources and partnerships for those efforts.

Note: We would like to thank the user Tiffany for pointing out an error within this post. The acronym PRCB stands for Puerto Rico Convention Bureau.

The Hotel Horned Dorset Primavera

Travel and Leisure magazine has announced that the Hotel Horned Dorset Primavera is one of the top 100 hotels in the world. The magazine, which produces an annual world's best edition, placed the Horned Dorset 83rd on the list. The August special "Word's Best" edition should be on sale now. Earlieir this year the Horned Dorset was included in the Gold List of the prestigous magazine Condé Nast Traveler.

Travel and Leisure selects the best hotels by using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with Harris Interactive. The questionnaire was made available to Travel + Leisure subscribers at tlworldsbest.com between January 17, 2007 and March 27, 2007. In the February and March 2007 issues of Travel + Leisure, subscribers were invited to participate. A rigorous process was used to prevent subscribers from duplicating answers. Any responses from any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally. Harris Interactive collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame

"Una de estas cosas no es como las otras" used to be the little musical introduction into a matching game on Sesame Street. I'm sure you remember it warmly, as I do. So in honor of that game, I have a new episode for today. Tell me which of the items in this list doesn't belong with the others.

"Robert Redford, Mel Gibson, Jane Fonda, Ricky Martin, Clint Eastwood, and John Denver"

What did you come up with? I know this is a tricky one, but here goes. Only one of these celebrities will have a star on the infamous "Hollywood Walk of Fame" after next year. Can you pick which one? Eeehhh. I'm sorry, the correct answer, the one which doesn't belong with the others is: Ricky Martin.

Yes our own little Ricky Martin will earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Shame before Clint "Do you feel lucky punk" Eastwood. As it turns out the Hollywood streets which are adorned with immortal stars, such as Pee Wee Herman, Big Bird, and Rin Tin Tin, is actually available to celebrities in five different categories:

• movie stars & directors
• television
• singers, song writers, and recording artists
• radio luminaries
• live stage performers.

Each category has a different symbol to identify the category. By the way, the celebrity with the most stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is singing-cowboy Gene Autry, who earned five different "stars," one in each of the above categories.

Also, the only other Puerto Ricans with stars are José Ferrer, Tito Puente, and José Feliciano.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: atomic0x

Se Corona Juan y Objetivo Fama.

Juan Antonio Vélez, from Coamo Puerto Rico, has won the fourth edition of Objetivo Fama. Receiving 40.59% of the approximate 3 million votes cast, "Juan" was proclaimed the new star in music. This year's victory for Puerto Rico eases, some what, the pain of Arquímides loss last year to Marlon. This was the first year, since Janina won the inaugral edition, that a Puerto Rican has won the contest. For winning Objetivo Fama #4, Juan will receive a recording contract with Univision Music and a new automobile.

However, not only was it a big night for Juan and Puerto Rico, but it was another big night for Univision and Objetivo Fama. The reality show formula of Objetivo Fama once again dominated ratings all season long and recently was also crowned the program with the largest audience in local television. With an average of 34.6 percent share of the television audience, Objetivo Fama was significantly ahead of its closest competitor, the Billboard Latino Award Show Special.

For a small taste of the gala red carpet before the show check out this video, courtesy of Univison.

Puerto Ricans Dominate the 2007 Latin Billboards

It was a big night for Puerto Rico in the Latin Billboard Awards. With a mixture of awards for both salsa and reggaeton, here are the categories and winning Puerto Rican artists:

• Hot Latin Songs Artist Of The Year: Wisin & Yandel
• Tropical Album Of The Year, Male: “Decision Unanime” Victor Manuelle (Sony BMG Norte)
• Tropical Album Of The Year, Female: “Soy Diferente” India (La Calle/Univision/UG)
• Tropical Airplay Song Of The Year, Male: “Que Precio Tiene El Cielo” Marc Anthony (Sony BMG Norte)
• Tropical Airplay Song Of The Year, New Artist: “Tengo Un Amor” Toby Love (Sony BMG Norte)
• Reggaeton Album Of The Year: “King Of Kings” Don Omar (VI/Machete)
• Reggaeton Song Of The Year: “Down” Rakim & Ken-Y (Pina/Universal Latino)
• Latin Ringtone Of The Year: “Rakata” Wisin & Yandel (Mas Flow/Machete)
• Latin Dance Club Play Track Of The Year: “Just For One Night/Solamente Una Noche (Dance Remixes)” India (La Calle/Univision)
• Latin Rap/Hip-Hop Album Of The Year: “Toby Love” Toby Love (Sony BMG Norte)
• Producer Of The Year: Luny Tunes

It truly is amazing for Puerto Rico to be recognized in such a way, our esteemed congratulations to one and all.

Luis Fonsi Premiado

Yesterday in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, Luis Fonsi received the Casandra International award for his artistic work. The award was given by the Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos (ACROARTE) as part of their annual awards. The awards were created in 1985 in the memory of the folklorist Casandra Damirón.

Fonsi thanked the association for the award and expressed his affection and admiration for the Dominican Republic. According to Fausto Polanco, president of ACROARTE, Fonsi's single "Abrazar la vida" is very popular with a large group of admirers in the Dominican Republic. In addition he hoped that they would be happy with Fonsi's award.

Note from MC: Man do I feel dumb. After some research I think I've settled on Association of Entertainment Critics as the accepted translation for Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos. And then he said to himself, thoughtfully "Oh, I get it now."

Premios a la Calidad 2007

Since we started this blog back in January, I've been paying a little bit more attention to the news related to our core interests; everything Puerto Rico that concerns what to do, where to go, what's it like, or who or what's happening. So now when I see that next Wednesday, March 21st, the tourism industry is awarding prizes to their members, I become curious. However, when I learn that the tourism industry has done this before, and I've never heard about it, nor can I find any record of it on the Internet, then I become even more curious. It's like I tell my family, if it's not on the Internet it doesn't exist.

While I believe that the award ceremony will be in the Puerto Rico Convention Center, I just have to take their word on it that the Tourism Company has given out these awards before. The awards are meant to recognize their members in the sector that during the previous year have offered tourists and visitors excellent products and services. During the award ceremony the Tourism Company will recognize:

• El Mejor de los Mejores - the tourist lodging with the highest index of quality out of all candidates that have over 90% in evaluations.
• Prizes for each classification of stars, as well as inns and paradores
• Apoyo al de aqui - the efforts and support from the business community to improve the quality of their services
• Estímula al de aqui - the foreign or local business that supports with their own capital in the renovation and improvements of their properties, creates new employment, and continuously trains their personnel.

According to Terestella González, executive director of the Puerto Rico Toursim Company, the awards not only recognize our hotel industry, but they also motivate them to increase their levels of quality. Funny, I thought that being more profitable was incentive enough for a company to be motivated and increase its level of service.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: timparkinson

Miguel Cotto is the Best

For the third straight year, Miguel Cotto was named the Best Boxer of the Year by the Professional Boxing Commission of Puerto Rico (CBPR, for its initials in Spanish). The boxer dedicated the award to recently deceased commissioner of the CBPR, Rubén 'Papo' Bibiloni. In dedicating the award, Cotto said "Papo fue un trabajador inconsable del boxeo de Puerto Rico". In addition Cotto added "También se lo dedico al pueblo de Puerto Rico, en especial a mi familia". Translation, I think, "Hi Mom!"

March 3rd, Cotto will defend, for the first time, his welterweight championship against Steve Urkel at Coliseo Roberto Clemente. Cotto shared "Estamos un poco ansiosos, pero conscientes de que tenemos que hacer el trabajo". Translated to the worst of my abilities: "I'm anxious about fighting that guy with glasses. He looks so fragile, I think I might kill him with the first punch. But I'm aware that it is my job, so I'll do what I have to do."

My prediction is that Cotto will knock out Urkal in the third or fourth round.

Estaba de show in Miami

Last night in Miami everyone was "de show" with "Lo Premio Nuestra a la Musica Latina". It was a spectacular opportunity for the elite celebrities within the latin music community to strut their stuff. Except for the Latin GRAMMYS, their problem isn't any other event that brings together this much Latin talent under one roof, and no better place to do it then the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

Perhaps no one had a bigger night than Maná, who swept the rock category and taking all three awards. Other stars that fun that night include RBD who won two awards for Group of the Year and Album of the year, our own (and very pregnant) Olga Tañon won two awards for female Artist of the Year and for Tropical Merengue Artist of the Year, and finally Wísin y Yandel who took the awards for Artist of the Year and Album of the Year.

As with any special event like this emotions, expectations, and confusion run high and this event was not without its own drama. First it seems Daddy Yankee and his wife were left behind when their limousine failed to appear to pick them up. Apparently they waited patiently (hmm, yes wouldn't you agree that patience is one of most Puerto Ricans vitures?) and found their way to the show because Daddy Yankee was on stage to give Don Omar his award for Video of the Year, which really did not like receiving his award from the hands of Daddy Yankee. Víctor Manuelle almost had to buy a ticket to get in to the event, it wasn't until his manager came to his rescue did Manuelle actually join the other celebrities on the red carpet. And finally, in showing us that they are really just like us, Fonseca became so nervous before entering the stage that he asked permission to use the bathroom to make an "emergency liquid break."

The Univision web site has some great pictures from the event, including the one I included above. In addition, they have a section where you can vote on your favorite celebrities in the following categories: Sexy, Elegante, Extravagante, and Galan.

A complete list of the winners follows by category:

Pop
ARTISTA MASCULINO DEL AÑO - Luís Fonsi
ARTISTA FEMENINA DEL AÑO - Shakira
GRUPO O DUO DEL AÑO - RBD
SOLISTA O GRUPO REVELACION DEL AÑO - Chelo
CANCION DEL AÑO - "No, No, No" (Thalía y Anthony "Romeo" Santos de "Aventura")
ALBUM DEL AÑO - "Nuestro Amor" (RBD)

Rock
ARTISTA DEL AÑO - Maná
CANCION DEL AÑO - "Labios Compartidos" (Maná)
ALBUM DEL AÑO - "Amar es Combatir" (Maná)

Tropical
ARTISTA MASCULINO DEL AÑO - Marc Anthony
ARTISTA FEMENINA DEL AÑO - Olga Tañón
GRUPO O DUO DEL AÑO - Aventura
TROPICAL MERENGUE ARTISTA DEL AÑO - Olga Tañón
TROPICAL SALSA ARTISTA DEL AÑO - Víctor Manuelle
TROPICAL TRADICIONAL ARTISTA DEL AÑO - Aventura
SOLISTA O GRUPO REVELACION DEL AÑO - Fonseca
CANCION DEL AÑO - "No Es Una Novela" - (Monchy y Alexandra)
ALBUM DEL AÑO - Éxitos y Más (Monchy y Alexandra)

Urbano
ARTISTA DEL AÑO - Wísin y Yandel
CANCION DEL AÑO - "Llamé Pa' Verte" (Wisín y Yandel)
ALBUM DEL AÑO - "Barrio Fino en Directo" (Daddy Yankee)

Video
VIDEO DEL AÑO - Don Omar (Angelito)

Las Casitas Village - Best Caribbean Resort

In the March 2007 issue of Travel and Leisure magazine, Las Casitas Village was named the best Caribbean resort. According to the magazine:

"If you and your clan were stranded on a not-quite deserted island... which would it be? Your answers to our annual hotel survey came in by the boatload. Here, your 10 favorite places to play castaway."

So in response to this annual hotel survey, Las Casitas Village was idetified as the best Caribbean resort. What is kind of odd about this article, is that in the Travel and Leisure 2006 World's Best Awards, none of the Puerto Rican hotels or resorts made any of their lists which include "The Top 100 Hotels", "Top 25 Hotels in The Caribbean, Bermuda, and the Bahamas", "Top 10 Cities Overall", or "Top 10 Islands Overall" (Although, the island Phuket in Thailand did make the list. Just how do you pronounce that place anyway?). So how did Las Casitas Village zoom to the top of the Caribbean resort list? These are the mysteries of life, that no one (I know) can answer.

Terestella González, Executive Director of the Tourism Company, expressed "este hospedeía es ejemplo de calidad y excelencia." Translation: "You just can't buy this kind of publicity. Uh oh, wait a minute, I guess you can." Excuse me, I think I might have screwed up that translation.

Trivia

Why is DóndeEs.com a better solution for any tourist related company?

Answer: We have the most accurate map of Puerto Rico. Just take a look where Las Casitas Villages themselves indicates where they are. Now compare it to where we say they are. If you were trying to get there, which would you choose?

Hoy! Premio lo Nuestro

Tonight are the Premio lo Nuestro a la Musica Latina awards in Miami. The award show will be televised live at 8:00 pm on Univision, from the American Airlines Arena in Miami. With a large group of Puerto Rican artists nominated in numerous categories, there are bound to be many awards won by Puerto Ricans. We'll cover the results after they are available.

This is the second edition of the Premio lo Nuestro. Last year the limelight was shared by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Juanes. There are the same set of usual suspects nominated for most the categories this year. In perhaps one of the most prestigious awards, because it cuts across all genres of music, the nominees for video of the year are:

• Don Omar - Angelito
• Maná - Labios Compartidos
• Julieta Venegas - Me Voy
• Ricardo Arjona con Intocable - Mojado
• Belinda - Ni Freud, Ni Tu Mama
• Gloria Trevi - Todos Me Miran

All of the links above are to YouTube versions of the videos, create your account now, and enjoy these videos from the convenience of your computer.

In some last minute strangeness according to the chismes on the Internet:

"Don Omar, "El king" del reggaetón, tuvo que abandonar el arena rápidamente pues de acuerdo a sus representantes tenía una cita urgente con el dentista. A lo mejor el Don nos sorprende con algunos dientitos de oro, uno nunca sabe... el bling bling hay que llevarlo hasta en la sonrisa"

Translation, Don Omar "the King" left the rehearsal to attend an urgent dentist appointment. Upon his exit everyone in the auditorium shouted: "The King has left the building, .... to go to the dentist". It seems Don Omar is having gold, rubies and diamonds installed on his teeth spelling out "This space for rent". At least that's what I got out of the quote.