One of the pillars of SKY is Carlo L. Katigbak, who packed up for Cebu in order to kick-start the company’s provincial expansion in 1994, when he was 24 years old. After a detour to organize ABS-CBN Interactive, he returned to SKY in order to help nurse it back to health. Together, Lito Mapolon and Jude Pambid have logged almost half a century in SKY, being among the pioneering batch of engineers hired by the 25-year-old pay TV operator. These three veterans give us an inside look at the challenges they hurdled over the past couple of decades and how SKY came to be the cable TV and broadband Internet powerhouse that Filipinos know it to be.

Do you remember a time when the weather bureau would simply state peak temperatures (“a high of 36 degrees”) in its summer weather advisories? The past couple of summers have been so scorching that the reports have been adjusted to include heat index or “felt air temperature,” which means the temperature the body feels after factoring in air temperature and relative humidity.

Despite the heat index this summer hitting the high 30s and occasionally the low 40s, hundreds of kapamilya turned up at the First Philippine Industrial Park grounds some three weeks ago for OML@85. After all, it’s not often that one gets to walk with the chairman emeritus—and to celebrate his milestone birthday with him at that. The morning’s highlights included a flash mob that the chairman emeritus himself gamely took part in, as well as raffle draws and a tree planting activity which is a mainstay of the walks held at FPIP.

We’ve also been busy on quite a few other fronts. The HR Council led by Cedie Lopez Vargas had its second general membership meeting for the year, with young world-changers as guest speakers, while Lopez Group PR scored a homerun with its day of pampering for the members and guests of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, a new thing to watch for in the 2014 cycle of the Lopez Achievement Awards (LAA) is the Unsung Hero Award for individual employees. LAA followers remember this to be an idea broached by ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III during the 2013 LAA awarding ceremonies. Who will be hailed as the Lopez Group’s unsung heroes and LAA winners this time around? We’ll find out in October. Good luck to all the nominees!

There are dads who aren’t big mall goers, but we bet they’ll allow themselves to be dragged to Power Plant Mall for a Father’s Day celebration like no other. Check out the mall’s lineup of dad-centric treats later this month. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!