NO SCHOOL. No hullabaloo. No boombox trisikads. Sunday for seven days, my internal calendar is completely screwed and we have a thread.

You know, those interweb things, and ours is Lelani Echaves' couple of columns on names. I've hard and fast rules pertaining to my names as folks have discovered to their cost. We inherit a family name; our parents bestowed upon us a first name and they are the names we should be addressed by. It's correct, it's courtesy; why should we need shortened forenames, nicknames or 'fondly called' names? What is the point?

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My forename is short and sharp and my parents chose it so -- they didn't want a name capable of being abbreviated into a joke. People try, lopping of the "y" to make Gar. I jump on them at once -- my name has only four letters to start with and, anyway, Gar is a shortened version of Garrett.

Some individuals have even had the noxiousness to mutilate my forename into Gazza. I've no idea how this variation came into being. It gained popularity in the 1970s (I think) thanks to a footballer who started well, wrote his autobiography at 23, then sank into oblivion and the lower divisions.

Local news and construction of Buhangin's new public market goes on apace. One corner of the old wooden building was pulled down making way for an access road and without a murmur. Demolition without demonstration. What is strange is that behold -- there's an architect's perspective billboard but not the usual tarpaulins of local worthies beaming down at us.

Strange because rather than a few hundred meters of concrete laid in a prefered purok or a roof painted battleship blue here's a properly worthy project and yet no-one (so far) is claiming the 'initiative'. Will wonders never cease?

On Monday we were treated to a nice little column from Ismael Tabije asking why Hedcor and the DCWD can't get their act together over the River Tamugan.

One of the reasons is that the DCWD, an outfit which deals exclusively with water, when it comes to water geology, obviously has no idea what it's talking about. Here's DCWD spokesperson Imelda Magsuci on Friday -- "The portion of the river at 400 meters above sea level is crucial for the recharging of the city's aquifers."

Somebody ask Ms. Magsuci how a river, which is purely a surface transport system, charges an aquifer, which is an underground reservoir?

Lastly lastly, good to see Davao's Public Library voted as the best in the Philippines. Pity though that City Librarian Nora Fe Alajar didn't see fit to acknowledge that part of that success is due to the thousands of books donated by foreign aid agencies, Davao-based businesses and even private individuals.