Hard Rock joins Japan relief drive

Marianas Variety

March 22, 2011

SAIPAN’S Hard Rock Café  has placed a donation box on its counter to help raise funds for the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.

Hard Rock Café Saipan operations manager Rey Perez said he will seek the support of residents until the end of the month.

“We are knocking on the doors of our fellowmen to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Your contributions, no matter how little, will go a long way in helping them rebuild their lives,” Perez said.

At the end of the month, Perez said Hard Rock Café will turn over the donations to the local Red Cross.

“As of now, we only accept monetary donations,” he said.

Hard Rock Café Saipan is  one of the branches around the world that have joined “ALL IS ONE — Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Movement.”

Hard Rock International has launched several initiatives in conjunction with the Red Cross to support relief efforts in  Japan.

Among the initiatives Hard Rock is conducting is the global “CRANK IT UP” Program which encourages diners and customers to round off their bills to the nearest dollar amount so the remainder will be donated to help the relief efforts in Japan.

Each Hard Rock Café outlet is also conducting a donation box drive and proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross.

Hard Rock Café will also tap various resources, including social media such as Facebook and Twitter, to deliver messages to supporters on how they can donate.

You can help by dropping your donations at the Hard Rock Café donation box in Garapan. For more information, call 233-7625.

Sweet success for Rota’s sweet potato festival

Marianas Variety
March 21, 2011

ROTA — Locals and tourists got the chance to try over 30 delicious varieties of this island’s main root crop during its first annual Sweet Potato Festival over the weekend.

The downpour did not hinder the crowd from heading to the stalls at the Metkaon Luta Ground in Sinapalo on Thursday evening where over 20 participants conducted  demonstrations on the different ways of cooking sweet potatoes. They also displayed ready-to-eat sweet potato products for sampling.

“We have the best sweet potatoes and we have industrious farmers on island. With this combination, we can market our sweet potatoes and make them  a brand of Rota,” Mayor Melchor A. Mendiola said in his message.

“Sweet potato is something that we already have, resources that is within our means to help us spur the economy so let’s tap into the abundance of this product toward progress,” he added.

Overall event chairwoman Julie Calvo of the Rota Department of Cultural Community Affairs said they hope to help  farmers in promoting sweet potatoes not only to the neighboring islands but to other parts of the world.

Calvo said some of the participants who did not register just brought their finished products for the food sampling on Thursday night.

On March 15-16, farmers attended workshops conducted by speakers from Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research and Extension Education Services, the University of Guam and other experts. The workshops were held at As Paris Restaurant in Songsong.

Among the categories submitted for sampling and demonstration on Thursday were sweet potato salad, ice cup, cookies, alaguan, saibok kamuti or sweet potato with coconut cream, titiyas kamuti or tortillas, pancake, crunch, sweet fritters potato, tarts, sweet potato shrimp tempura, sweet potato porridge, bread, bunelos kamuti, sweet potato with coconut milk, pies, chips, cheese cake, barbeque, twists, sweet potato leaves salad, baked sweet potatoes and more variations.

The theme was “Eat healthy, Eat Kamuti, Our Tradition, Our Pride, Our Economy.”

Mendiola commended the organizers for holding a successful event.

“We hope to do this every year and encourage the residents to continue cultivating the sweet potato to help the island move toward progress,” he said.

The festival was also coordinated by the Women in Action, a group headed by the mayor’s wife, Estrella Mendiola.  The four-day event, which culminated with the start of the San Isidro fiesta celebration in Sinapalo on Friday evening, was attended by guests from Guam, Saipan, Tinian and other islands.

Profile: Anna Olaes: Juggling career and family successfully

SHE starts her workday checking her activity-filled calendar in her computer, taking note of things that need to be prioritized within the day. Next, she opens her employer’s calendar and checks on his schedule.

Juggling her diversified chores as marketing officer/human resource department head and executive secretary of McDonald’s Saipan president/owner Joe Ayuyu is not an easy task, but prioritizing is the name of the game, and before Anna Olaes leaves her table to do a routine check on how things are going at the fastfood, she has her day mapped out before her.

She rotates between checking on the employees, browses through daily reports, checks if there are new products to introduce and places orders, prepares layout for promotional materials and contact publications, and a hundred and one other chores to do.

As executive secretary, Olaes reminds her employer if he has appointments, and if travels are scheduled. She sees to it that necessary arrangements are done from booking airline tickets to accommodations and every minute detail.

But this is one job she has been doing since she joined the McDonald’s family in 1997, and she will not dream of switching jobs.

“Throughout all these years, I have learned so much from McDonald’s family and from my employers,” she said.

When she started as administrative assistant for McDonald’s Saipan, Olaes said she was not glued to her office table, but asked the management to allow her to work at the fastfood counter.

There, she experienced being a cashier, a food handler and everything else so that she understood how the business was being run. It was only then when she completely understood all the paperwork that landed on her desk.

Shuttling between her office work and her personal life as a wife and mother requires a gargantuan effort to keep things flowing smoothly, but Olaes has the full support of her husband and children who understand her busy life.

Although Olaes has Saturdays and Sundays officially off from the office, she still brings home some work and has to go out to answer office duty when necessary.

She has a message to all other career women who are already successful in their various fields, and those who are still working their way to the top:

“Make every day at work a learning experience, and grab every opportunity that you have to move up and on in your career. Don’t be stagnant but continue to strive for more,” Olaes said.

(This article was first published HERE)

Woman wins $70K baccarat championship

FOR the first time in the history of the tournament, a female player has grabbed the grand prize of $70,000 in the second Baccarat Challenge hosted by the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino over the weekend.

Imagawa Kayo, a 31-year-old office secretary from Osaka, Japan, bested 112 other players when she maximized her bet and ended with 21,200 chips in the final round on Saturday night.

Kayo hovered between  third and fourth places before placing second to January’s Baccarat champion and  tournament favorite Ozakazi Takao in the penultimate hand.

Coming in second with $23,000 prize was Hanazawa Osamu, followed by the eventual third place winner Takao who went home $10,000 richer. Takao bagged the $65,000 grand prize during the first Baccarat challenge in January.

He was in the lead throughout the recently held tournament but ended in third.

Fourth place winner Namura Tamio won $4,000. The fifth to the 10th place winners who received $1,000 prize each were Heo Ji Uk, Yamasaki Kumi, Hideaki Kobayashi, Mabuchi Jun, Cho Hyun Chan, and Onuma Ryo.

In an interview, Kayo said it was her fifth time to join major tournaments, but her first time to win. She is a regular at Tinian Dynasty.

“I am very happy to win the grand prize, and being the first female to win makes it all different,” she said.

When asked what she planned to do with her winnings, she said it is up to her husband to decide.

Kayo said she may be back here for the next tournament in June.

Casino manager Tim Blythe said he was very glad of the turnout despite the emergency brought about by the tsunami warning.

“Over 40 of our players were not able to come in because their flights were cancelled, but that was something beyond our control,” Blythe said.

Casino marketing and promotions manager Chell Funtanar said they expected over 170 players from Japan, Korea and other places but the number dipped due to the tsunami.

“It is sad but despite it all, the tournament was successful. We hope to see more players in the future tournaments,” she said.

Fifty-five of the 113 players made it to the semi-finals on Saturday evening, and 10 made it to the finals. Two of the 10 got eliminated from the game within an hour, two turned in all their chips while the last the six players fought to the end.

Bridge Capital still interested in La Fiesta Mall

BRIDGE Capital LLC says it remains committed to its goal of assisting the government to revitalize the abandoned La Fiesta Mall in San Roque.

Despite the government’s rejection of the company’s proposal in March 2009 to revitalize the mall and operate video lottery “in a bid to sustain tourism” on  island, Bridge Capital chief executive officer and managing member John K. Baldwin said in a statement that the company is “still fully committed to assisting the…government in revitalizing the La Fiesta Mall.”

“Bridge believes that sustainable tourism is an important key to reviving the economy of the CNMI, and that a revitalized mall can be an important element in increasing tourism and helping the economy to rebuild,” Baldwin said.

He said Bridge Capital remains interested in renovation and operation of the entire mall property and will participate in any new requests for proposals that might be issued.

Bridge Capital, an international investment banking, real estate, hospitality, and asset management company headquartered on Saipan, has interests and investments throughout Micronesia, the United States and Southeast Asia.

Baldwin earlier said that the company was willing to spend up to $5 million to renovate the abandoned mall and use it to attract more tourists.

“We need to bring back the tourists to the island, but we need to have something to attract them,” he added.

Bridge Capital was the only company that responded to the request for proposal to revitalize the La Fiesta Mall. (Published at the Marianas Variety)

NMI’s first urban boutique opens

THREE young men who want to create change and rouse Saipan from its economic lethargy opened the CNMI’s first urban boutique in Gualo Rai, Middle Road across from the Docomo office on Friday afternoon.

Young entrepreneurs Rob Travilla, Chris Santos, and Dustin Camacho, who all have regular jobs, planned to put up a store where they can introduce urban culture to the islands, develop their talents and skills in arts, and earn at the same time.

Their dreams came true on Friday afternoon when they officially opened Tha Trapp, a one-unit store whose walls are covered with colorful graffiti designed by a local artist. The store carries a wide variety of apparel, lifestyle and Swagg, a store that brings a customer to a different world where urban culture reigns.

“We feel that it’s time we introduce the ‘swaggers’ lifestyle and culture not only to the young people but to those who are young at heart,” Travilla said.

“All our t-shirts, stickers and accessories carry the I Love Sensi and the Affiliated Lifestyles brand but we also incorporate our own artwork with local island flavor into some of our stocks,” Travilla said.

They also carry the Salbaje Brand, NMI Chow It and Chokechain Athletics.

“Opening this store gives us a chance to keep the people of Saipan updated on the different flavors and scenes of urban culture and development,” Travilla said.

Santos said with the opening of Tha Trapp, the community will become more open to “things that other people always consider as taboo” such as tattoo, Mohawks, graffiti and more.

Tha Trapp sells T-shirts of all sizes and colors for male and female. T-shirts sale from $18 and up.

They also offer customized printing, so if a customer wants specific designs and graphics, they can do it.

Travilla said the three of them have always been interested and involved in arts for so many years.

Tha Trapp is open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday to Friday, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit www.tha-trapp.com, check out the page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/trapp670, twitter.com/trapp670, myspace.com/ trapp670, or youtube.com/ trapp670.

(first published HERE)

Tinian company to launch locally made perfumes

BREAKWATER, the name of a locally made perfume, will soon make its way to the store shelves here and abroad as a local company gears up for the launching of its new line of products early in May.

Mary Susan Cruz, owner of Susan’s Creations on Tinian, said the new line of perfumes is ready for launching.

“We are only waiting to finalize the names, labeling and packaging but the products are ready,” Cruz told the Variety yesterday.

She said  the local perfumes they will be launching are manufactured using local products.

“The perfumes will initially be in 10 different ‘flavors’ and they are not only competitive with the leading brands but also affordable to the local market,” Cruz said.

Launching the new perfume lines, she added, will hopefully add more exposure to Tinian and the CNMI islands.

“We will be selling the perfumes to our international markets, to tourists and to online customers along with all our other products,” Cruz said.

“These perfumes will carry something of the CNMI islands in each bottle — from the name, the flavor and the packaging,” Cruz said.

With this new product line, they hope to tell the world where Tinian and the CNMI is.

“Tinian and the CNMI are only known for their roles in World War II.  We want to give the world something else to think about our beautiful islands,” Cruz said.

The new perfume line will be launched by the last week of April, and will be on the store shelves by the time Tinian celebrates its town fiesta during the first week of May.

(first published HERE)