My Reflection

Fed Vs Nadal

2009-02-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

The matchup between 'Fed express' and 'Nadal the machine' at the Australian open was anticipated by every tennis fan around the world including myself. Because of the time difference, the game was around 2:30AM on sunday morning. To my luck I had a pretty busy saturday and hit the bed around 11PM.

When my alarm rang, i couldnt get up as i was tired and lazy. But somehow I was able to subconsciously drag my feet to my couch and settled down.

Usually in a big match like this, the players are slightly off balance and rallies are usually quick and easy in the first set. But ohh my god...it wasnt the case..The first four games played between them was simply breathtaking and the kind of rallies they played reminded me of a xbox tennis game that i played long ago. It felt like a dream. Both these guys were hitting the ball so crisp and perfect that they could place it wherever they wanted the ball to go. If i was a bit drowsy in the first few mins, it went away ASAP after the first couple of games.

I have been following tennis matches in the past few years, but Fed and Nadal has taken the game to an entirely new level and it seemed clear that they are far ahead from the rest of the pack.

I was totally amazed at their fitness, crosscourt shots, backhand and..i can go on and on and on...It was a spectacular treat to watch. The game was close till the 4th set and it could have gone either way, but Nadal the machine, continued his form and took the fifth set easily without too much of a fight surprisingly from Fed. I didnt feel bad for Federer because he was ousted by a better and tougher player, atleast on that day.

It remains to be seen when and how will Federer take the 14th grand slam and it would be a sweet revenge if he can win the french open by defeating the Master of Clay Court....

Events....

2009-01-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

I brought my lunch from home this afternoon which is a very very rare event. Hence there is a strong urge for a new blog and be proud about this day..hehehe...I really cant remember the last time i brought my own lunch. Anyways, as i was munching my well heated food, i thought over the events happening in the next few weeks.

First and foremost of all the season premiere of Lost Season V begins tonight and i really cant express myself how excited i am about this season. I spent part of last weekend trying to catch up with the final episodes of last season and cant believe how many minute details i missed and how some of the puzzles fit so well. Unlike the previous seasons, i seriously hope this season answers more questions than raising them.

Australian open is in full swing at the moment and the fab four are going as strong as everyone would expect. So it promises to be an humdinger and a race to a fantastic finish.

Superbowl 43 is nearby and for the first time in a few years, i am not that excited. I seriously hope it becomes an offensive game, though the probability of that happening appears to be very slim. The cardinals are on a roll, but they are facing a team that faced one of the toughest schedule and the best defense in NFL. The way big ben is playing over the last few weeks, i just hope it doesnt get one sided, which would spoil the whole party. Though i am not playing down the chance of a cardinal win, it is very clear that Steelers are the better team with more talent and experience. Hence there is a strong need to make this Superbowl a much more fun event than in the past, where the game took the center stage.

Here is another beautiful song called "Downtown" from Lost with my favorite character Juliet....

Happy New Year 2009!!!

2008-12-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone a very very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2009!! May you all be blessed with great health, happiness, excitement and success and hope 2009 is another year where we go and chase our dreams and get it..!!!

India Trip..Part II

2008-12-31T07:33:00.000-08:00

As it was so hectic the first couple of weeks, i was hoping that I would spend the last couple of weeks in leisure and eating some good food and chill..but it never happens as you expect isnt it.?

On the contrary, it turned out to be one of the most exciting/hectic and at the same time fun couple of weeks as suddenly life took a complete U-turn with sudden two big events in my family.

The bend in that U-turn was so sharp, that there was no time to react or ponder. Though the turn was executed in a haste, the process itself was smooth, planned and to perfection. At the same time, there was some drama, nervousness, lots of thinking and maybe to some extent hesitation.

All of a sudden I couldnt find the "dont care, fun loving, easy going" attitude in me...The new feeling was different, something i never felt before and only time can tell what exactly it is.....

Overall, it was a wonderful and a fantastic trip back home and i couldnt have asked anything better.. It was very sad to leave home and start back, but as i was flying back, i was able to recollect each and every glorious day i spent and cherished every moment of it....

India Trip..Part I

2008-11-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

A trip across the oceans to meet your family is always an exciting and a much needed/most looking forward vacation for people who study/work in the US.As its been a while since i made a trip home, I had a chance to visit home on the occasion of my Dad's 60th bday celebrations. I didnt really know the importance of the function unil the day of the event.This event is considered bigger than one's marriage. So it was done very traditional, some of which i had forgotten and had a chance to observe and learn the customs again.

So it was not only a reunion with my family, but a reunion of all our relatives who showed up for the function. The function was a huge success and everything was planned to perfection by my parents and some of our close relatives. Though my participation was there, it was minimal and more organizational work than physical. I was impressed with the research that my parents did on fixing up the venues, the caterers and the other usual suspects.

I met a lot of my close relatives and as usual have to take in their comments/take on life in general. I had a mixture of comments such as i have put on weight/lost weight/look different/same compared to my last visit/get married soon/should come back and settle in india/should stay in US..etc..I cant blame them because they really dont know what kind of a person i have become since my move to US, but the fact is that, they cared for me and want to share their opinion. My usual and typical response is to acknowledge and smile it off..

One thing i observed during my stay in chennai was, the general public hasnt yet mastered the fashion compared to cities like mumbai or delhi or bangalore. Only people who live in "those popular" areas seem to have a great fashion sense. Others have been how they were since my last visit. There have been some flyovers constructed which has greatly eased the traffic conditions, the cost has increased, people are spending more money and at the same time, there has been shortage of water/power etc..However one thing that surprised me was the weather..it was awesome almost in the 70's everyday i am staying here, though couple of days i was hampered because of heavy rains staying at home and just didnt know what to do.

I met some of my friends from US who also had come over to visit their respective family. So using them as an excuse, had a chance to explore some of the restaurants/places in and around chennai. Travel is a hassle as most of my friends live in different places. However i did have a chance to ride motorcycle and also after constant pressure my dad's car. I was surprised and impressed with myself that i could drive and able to navigate in our traffic conditions.

So far, i had a chance to visit a beach, watch a movie in Satyam theatre, ate in couple of good restaurants, travel in train/bus as well as got drenched in rains!!!.. Till now the ride has been excellent....except that I realized i missed my grandpa the most who had been one of my sole advisor in the past...

eye-Touch..less

2008-10-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

I love to listen to music..but i dont fancy listening to music when i am doing other activities..(such as at work, gym. travel etc..i like to talk to the people around me and socialize..)
However recently things have changed after i bought this new itouch and have been playing with it for a while now. Though i use it mostly to browse the internet, check my mails and stuff, i am slowly starting to use it other times as well...
Especially i have begun to use it when i workout at the gym..though it hampered my ability to talk to other people around me , i have realized that it does help doing my workouts. I probably enjoy my workout a bit more now than before and it definitely increases the effectiveness of my workout. Of late, i cant go to the gym without the touch.
I have actually considered before that such items could possibly make a person lonely. But however the features that it has definitely has proven me wrong.
I am still yet to explore all of them, but i am sure i will get there soon. There are some cool games in the appstore i want to lay my hands on, but i am kind of afraid, it would be addictive and hence i am staying away from it for the time being.
With information at my fingertips, it is going to be a hard instrument to get rid of once you are used to it...

ISA Cup'08 Part II

2008-08-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

I walked back with a bit of disappointment, but was reasonably happy with the start i gave. We had two of our main big hitting batsmen at the crease and just another 6-7 overs to go. They were beginning to find their rhythm and scored valuable runs in the next few overs. However we slowed down a little bit due to some terrific bowling by our opponents and our slog shots didnt find the bat. In the end we mustered 74 runs, and i thought we were probably 6-10 runs short of what we wanted to achieve.

However, with they way we bowled on the light-affected match, the previous match, and the fact that the other team had to chase under lights, i fancied our chances 60-40 to win.

Their openers were very positive and were in attacking mode. They took risks, irrespective of our bowlers and during the process they gave chances which we didnt take. For some reason, our fielding wasnt upto the mark, but i thought our bowling was pretty good and like the other day, we gave away very less extras. We bowled with good pace and made the batsmen work for their runs. But we gave too many second chances to their batsmen and slowly that was beginning to make a toll.

Our inability to take wickets and bring in a new batsman to face the music prevented us to slow down the run-rate. The other team was always in a acceptable run rate until the last 2 overs. We dropped several chances in our penultimate over which resulted in valuable runs and under the context of the match each and every run was killing us and the moral of our team. Their main batsman who was still at the crease, because of our generosity, was finding the meet of the bat and was easily putting bad balls to fours.

It came down to 9 runs off 1 over with their main batsman still at the crease. I gave our chances 70-30. First ball was a dot ball. Second ball a risky single which resulted in a double because of a overthrow. I was not happy with that overthrow as wickets was our least concern at that time and there is no reason to bring their main batsman on strike. The next thing we know, the batsman hit two consecutive fours to seal the victory. The bowling in the last over was not great, but it wasnt bad too. They played some shots better than us, took more risks than our team and it all paid in the end. They lifted the ISA cup finally that has been avoiding them for a while and I would like to congratulate them on this victory as well as providing an exciting finals to our audience.

Except in the field, our team gave their best and i enjoyed playing with this team. The camaraderie started with designing our own t-shirts (at odd times) and ended at misty's. We had our own official team manager, photographer, cheerleaders as well as a Video Camera Specialist. Only thing missing was a team song!!!!! Btw our team name was Red Bulls!!!!

The tournament, however brought an end to a fantastic cricket season i have ever been involved with. I had a terrific time both on and off the field and had an opportunity to make some new friends.

With the football season, expected to start soon, the next few weeks are required for a much needed break!!!!

ISA Cup'08 Part I

2008-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

After a one-sided victory in the fun cricket cup, the isa cup was eagerly anticipated by everyone involved. Out of four teams that took part, two teams were very strong (compared to other two) and one of the strong team was ours. As expected, the two strong teams made it to the final with relative ease.

I was looking forward to this final very much as in last year's final my contribution wasn't great. (I was run out as a result of a good fielding and a direct hit). This time, i was determined to stay at the crease for a while and show some patience. I was also disappointed with the way i threw my wicket out in the previous two games when i had just started to find my timing and get settled.

Before the finals, i told myself two things
1)i am going to play a patient innings
2)i will not be run out like last year.

However to my dismay, both of these conditions were thrown out of the window, when we learned that its going to be a short version due to light conditions.
I also had to attend a wedding reception, the same evening just an hour before the game where i helped myself to some cocktails, appetizers and a half course meal. I just barely made it to the stadium (hoping on the way that we wont bat first) with my stomach so heavy that i was barely able to move. But as expected or I feared, we won the toss and elected to bat and i was going to open in a few minutes.

I didnt have any time to think about the kind of innings i was going to play. However i wanted to stay there for at least 3-4 overs before our main big hitters can take stage.
I am generally nervous, when i play my first ball. Usually in any cricket season, i have always fallen cheaply in my first over with a nick behind. However this year, it has never happened, and for the first time i can remember, i wasnt nervous facing the first ball in the final. Actually i was ready for it.

At the same time this season has been the one, where i never played a long innings which i was usually accustomed to play and definitely there was no opportunity for me to play one in the finals.

85 from 10 overs was my target when i marked my crease and since first 3 overs was power play i wanted at least 20-25 runs on the board. Unfortunately we lost a quick wicket in the first over and i was just getting set.So we could not score much off the first over. Our key batsman was at the other crease and we started playing some shots on both sides of the wicket and had no choice but to take risky singles, as the bowling was not that easy to hit fours. I hit couple of good shots before a risky single turned into a disaster and i had to throw my wicket away as a severe miscommunication happened to us. I always feel that i am a good runner between the wickets and for me to be involved in a miscommunication bothered me. But anyways, our key batsman was there and i was hoping he would play a good innings.

Fun Cricket Champions..Hurray!!!

2008-06-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

The last three of weeks of my life has been so tumultuous that a win in the fun cricket tournament restored some normal order back. It is always good to be involved in activities of any sort when you are going through a rough stretch and I was glad that I was part of a very good understanding team during this tournament.

Though my batting form was indifferent at times, our entire team bowling,fielding and catching was superb that we rarely gave our opponents an opening. We were probably never under real pressure throughout the tournament thanks to some excellent captaincy and sensible bowling/batting whenever we were slightly tested.
I thought we played with good passion and intensity which according to me is more important than pure talent alone. (ofcourse there must be some talent..)
The finals, which everybody thought was going to be a real close game between two opponents that never lost a game during the tournament, didnt really live upto that.
There was good support for both the teams and i was really glad to see a good turnout for the finals.
There were some close moments in the game, but our team was able to come up with key plays during those moments which changed the total complexity of the match. Chasing under lights in the finals was never going to be easy for our opponent, especially when we had put a pretty good total.
I knew that we were probably going to win this game after the end of first half, unless we didnt take the opportunities that would be presented to us. We obviously did and too much pressure and some loose shots made it a comprehensive win for us.
I will continue to work on my batting meanwhile and hopefully i will get back to my usual form in a few weeks.

Does true sportsmanship exist anymore???

2008-05-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Everyday in the press all around the world, we hear stories of cheating,manipulation of the rules, steroids,match fixing and what not on all form of the games...Obviously they are violating true sportsmanship...

what else is violating true spirit??

Here is a story in a women's softball game that happened recently that surprised me a little bit...

It was obviously a great gesture for the opponents to carry her, especially after the home run was hit...

I would be curious if that would have happened in a real competitive game where lot of other factors are involved...
To me, its(sportsmanship) just about playing by the rules (as one of the readers comments accurately describes it), appreciating your opponents, if they got the better of you and moving on.....

what are your thoughts and what else do you think show true spirit???

Favrewell !!!

2008-03-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

March 6th, 2008. Green Bay Packer veteran Quarterback and one of my most favorite player Brett Favre retired from NFL after playing for around 17 seasons.
When the news surfaced couple of days earlier, i really didnt believe it. After all he had one of the better seasons playing football as he took the packers to NFC championship game. There has been so much said about his retirement that i really dont have to add much.
I rate him as one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the history of NFL only based on his toughness, passion,improvisation skills and a knowledge of the game. His inability to win more than 1 super bowl and his interceptions definitely rule him out of the top 3, though one can argue that he hasn't played for a team thats abundant with talent.
He reminds me of the way Australians used to play cricket(not recently as they are lacking toughness..)...
after all, Green Bay Packers are green and yellow/gold isn't it???

You've gotta make your own kind of music...

2008-03-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

After watching several seasons of the thriller drama "Lost" in the last few weeks, i have to admit that i have become a fan of the series. I have no idea why i never watched it in the first place till season 4...Perhaps there is a reason for everything (which is coincidentally one of the base theories in lost...)..it took my first ankle injury that i suffered in years of playing to get my attention towards lost...i was stuck at home not able to walk for a few days due to the injury and it was at this time (through my friend's attention) that i got my first exposure to lost and started watching it..luckily all of the initial seasons were available online free streaming with HD quality..so i didnt even had to move from my bed..ahha..how sweet that must have been..

If you do now know anything about lost, its a drama-thriller serial in abc. The story is about survivors of a plane crash that land in a mystery island (mystery bcos of the island's secrets...of which some are still unknown) and their survival. The story contains mixture of emotions, puzzles, math, mental games,killing, double crossing and humor apart from unique and entertaining individual characters. So easily it caters to a wide variety of audience including myself, who hates watching serials in general bcos of their longevity..but what is amazing in lost is that, every week you think this could be a solution, there will be an entire new twist, new questions and more confusion....as the seasons progressed, there are more questions than ever and its at a stage now where it has taken a complete new turn with the last 2 episodes taking us to the future, past and present.
I just cannot wait for the new episodes every week...However the final season is still 2 years away and i somehow have to be patient to know all the answers..

If you have never heard of this beautiful lost theme song, please do so here ...

Nobody can tell ya
There's only one song worth singing
They may try and sell ya
'Cause it hangs them up to see someone like you

But you've gotta make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along

You're gonna be nowhere
The loneliest kind of lonely
It may be rough going
Just to do your thing's the hardest thing to do

So if you cannot take my hand
And if you must be going
I will understand

History Made!!

2008-02-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

It was wed,Jan 30th,2008 the day of the most hyped KSU-KU basketball game. We were ranked 22 and KU #2. We have never beaten KU in over 24 years at home.

I got up very early it was just around 7:40 when I was driving towards my workplace. My drive to work usually has to go through our football as well as our basketball stadium. Unusually that day, i saw an umpteen number of cars parked near the stadium. It didnt strike me much and i got to work after picking up the collegian on the way. We had our usual Wednesday meeting and obviously people were excited about the game and most of the people thought, this could be the year that we are going to beat the Jayhawks..I was as usual skeptical, but was admiring the optimism of our colleagues, who never till that point made a convincing prediction favoring k-state.(at least that i know of..) .I also heard that the students were standing in line from early morning (2:00AM) to get the best seat..(that explained the crowded parking lot..)

Anytime, ksu-ku games are played, its a big rivalry game, no matter which team is better. Students are charged up, the ambiance ecstatic, and its a game you would want to be, if you are a ksu or a ku fan. Unfortunately, at the time, i didnt have tickets to the game and was quietly continuing to hunt one for a reasonable price. As i was reading news news about this game, for some reason i felt that maybe we will win today against a team thats ranked #2.I felt we will make history...

Through some luck, i was able to get a ticket and to go with it, it was a reserved ticket and so i dont have to stand in line in the cold to reserve a good place. This gave me enough time to goto the gym and do some workout. As expected, the gym was almost close to empty with all the students already getting ready for the game or waiting in line.
As soon as i heard from someone that, they had opened the gates, i didnt want to be in the gym. I wanted to be in the stadium..So i wrapped up my little session and walked over to the court. I met my friends over there, but obviously and unfortunately they could not reserve a seat next to them because of the crowd and i was forced to sit in my reserved seat which was actually not far away from where they were..Nevertheless, it didnt bother me much, as i know once the game starts, there are going to be 10k+ friends cheering for the wildcats...
As i was watching the KU team during the warm-ups, i could see why they were #2. They never even missed one 3 pt shot during practice...It was nothing but net..i was concerned, but thought that maybe the destiny could take us for a win today..

The whistle blew with the crowd roaring at their feet..Both the teams started to shoot well after a nervous few minutes. The crowd was extremely loud and you could easily see how much every ksu fan hated ku...referees were booed very loud, irrespective of whether the call was wrong or not. KU defended well against our best player, but on this occasion, the rest of the players stepped up and was able to make perimeter shots. Whenever KU made a run, and was threatening to take the lead, someone stepped up and made a crucial basket. We never let ku off the hook and constant pressure, loud crowd, kept us in the game till the middle of the 2nd half, after which Ku could not sustain their efforts...I have been to several bball games here in the past couple of years,but i have never heard a crowd as loud as this one.we took a nice lead of 15 and within the 1 min mark, we were very close to winning..Fans realized that, and they were all walking towards the court side to storm. I joined them as well. As soon as the whistle blew, within a blink of an eye, i was in the center and almost the entire court was covered with ksu faithfuls..
i saw tears in some old people's eyes who had never seen a ksu victory at home..i was only here for a very few years and i could feel myself with lot of emotions running through my mind So i could very well imagine what they would have gone through..The delight in all of ksu's fans were indescribable and there was no doubt in my mind that this was the best basketball game that i had seen live in my entire life...
Later that night we celebrated the victory by going to aggieville with my friends.It was cold, but we didn't even feel it..

All in all, it was a memorable day and an unforgettable one.

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-16T11:37:00.000-08:00

First of all, i would like to wish everyone a very happy new year 2008!! I spent my new year in dallas,texas and had a wonderful time with my friends.
Ever since the new year, it has been a very hectic time..both at work as well as away from work. New projects, new upgrades have all resulted in a slight increase in workload. Nevertheless, it isnt over stressful and so i should not really complain about it. Away from work, its been the usual, friends, gym, nfl playoffs and the most important cricket test series between india and the aussies..There has been enough said in the papers all over about the incidents that happened during the second test. It is very disappointing to see that the umpires played a crucial role in determining the outcome of a match and in all essence, the entire series. Its also disappointing to see india lose their final wickets in one session to part time spinners. We should have shown a little better fight than that.
Last weekend's nfl playoffs was the best that i have ever seen in the last few years. I could be little selfish here as probably, the teams i had supported all made it through. Three of the four games were decided in the fourth quarter and two by the last play. How else could it have been better?? I am really happy to see the giants and green bay make it to the championship game as, at the start of the season, they weren't expected to be in.
Lets hope the final three games live up to the expectations...I am really in a dilemma which team to pick, as they are all in my list of favorite teams....I just wish kansas city were in the list...

back again!!!

2007-11-01T12:29:00.001-07:00

Its been ages since i wrote my previous blog...Its been close to two months and if i tell you that I havent had a chance to write one, you might be laughing..Though its not completely the case, the football season, 20-20 world cup, work, trips, and more football has definitely contributed in a way...
I love the college football season this year..Right now, there is no team favorite to win the championship, none for the Heisman candidates...and any week any top teams are in definite trouble to lose..NFL on the other hand, is getting so lopsided especially when the colts or pats are playing and so far i havent seen any team(including the chiefs) to do anything to stop one of these teams from playing in super bowl.
On the eve of this mega game coming weekend (in case you didnt know..pats-colts), the fact that T.O is going to face eagles hasn't even been mentioned. Such is the domination of these two team topics in the media that all other teams are forgotten...
For NFL sake, lets hope the colts defeat the pats, but however for someone like me, i would like to see the pats not only win, but win big and prove that a team with toughness,good coaching, personnel is probably unbeatable on any day....
Meanwhile i haven't forgotten that Ind-Pak cricket series is soon be underway and i was stunned on the selectors decision to drop Dravid off the first two one-dayers...its just crazy...I have no idea whats wrong with the selectors and I sincerely hope they get their act right sooner than later....

Its that time of the year.....

2007-09-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Just cant wait...!!!!

One-liners...

2007-08-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

I am always fascinated by one-liners....and if they are funny, they tend to be more appealing. Every day on tv, internet or through other people, we hear funny anectodes told to us. Depending on individuals, we may find some, more appealing than the other...I used to wonder..how do people come up with these ideas?? Would it come out of their life and day to day experience..or does a humorist actively look for an opportunity to find a comic element in everything he does??

Recently i came across this funny one-liner..

"How fat was Elizabeth Taylor??" She has got more chins than a chinese phone directory..."

Whoever came up with this, probably was browsing a phone directory while having conversation about fat people or about chins..maybe or maybe some other story....we wouldn't know for sure.. Obviously its not easy even for a humorist to come up with something that everyone could enjoy..because of the varied audience taste, their culture and habits, as all of these elements play a crucial part for success...for example if you come to KSU to do a comic and you make a joke about KU, no matter how dumb it might be, the audience will most probably enjoy it..:-)..

Some other one-liners...

"Home elevators are always slower than office elevators as you dont have to be on time" ==>Seinfeld..

"I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it"

"I call my maid a commercial cleaner. She cleans only during commercials"

Bonds Hits 756..

2007-08-07T21:38:00.001-07:00

After several days spending in front of tv, i had the privilege of watching Bonds break the HR record of 756 amidst several speculations and controversy last night.......
I was at one point, thought that hes gonna hit only when i am not around to watch...thankfully he proved me wrong....
Congratulations to him and also to the lucky dude (a new york mets fan who was soon going to visit australia, but decided to attend the game..) who caught the ball.!!!!

Test Cricket Back at its Best!!!!

2007-08-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

If you are a cricket fan and you didnt follow the second test between Ind and Eng, then I must say without hesitation that you missed something. For people who follow one day games and are of the opinion that test cricket is boring, this test match would have made them think again.

I love cricket and I am a bigger fan of test cricket than one day cricket. The key to a good test match is the nature of the pitch and in Eng, Aus and SA, we find pitches where both the bowlers and the batters have equal chance. I prefer Aussie pitches (surprising..he he..) as it aids the spinners as well thereby giving everyone some chance to prove their mettle.

I always thought English pitches were mostly bowler friendly. I didnt want to see pitches where either bowlers or batsmen are dominating. However this test match had everything with assistance all around. Fantastic batting by Karthik, Sachin, Jaffer,Vaughn and Ganguly and excellent bowling by both Eng and Indian seamers. Most of these guys who batted well were under pressure to perform and they played really well in spite of difficult conditions. I haven't seen good swing bowling like these from Indians for quite some time. Ashes 2005 provided some terrific contest, but after that, this contest has been equally close.

Shenanigans apart, the intensity of both the teams were very high and very determined. India desperate for a victory in the foreign soil, while Eng keen to keep its good home record intact. The contest was filled with dramas, trash-talks and of course the one you have heard about, the jelly beans.

The highlight of the match which was sort of overlooked was the type of Innings Sachin played. It was a typical Rahul Dravid/Steve Waugh type of innings. I couldn't be more proud of him. It was a gritty, patient, ungainly and at times graceful innings. Hardcore Sachin fans wouldn't have been excited about this innings, but when you know things are not going your way, you gotto dig deep and thats what the master did. I have been waiting for a innings like this from Sachin for a long time and I was delirious when he delivered one. I couldn't agree during a conversation with a friend of mine that Sachin's probably the only batsman who has altered drastically his technique after several years of International Cricket where he would have faced all kinds of top bowlers and seen everything thrown at him.

I cant wait for the third test and lets hope Ind pulls off a deserved victory, so that the Eng media wont point out at the Lord's ill-luck for England!!!!

Finals..Part II

2007-07-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

At halftime, it was obvious that our opponents were in a better position than they thought they would be. However I knew pretty well they might be reasonably edgy when they came out to bat as I was , even though the target wasnt difficult to chase. This, being a final and with most of the crowd supporting our team, I was confident that it wasnt going to be easy for them.

They tinkered with their batting lineup for the final (to my surprise and to which i thought wasnt a bad idea).But when they faced the first over, i could see that they were more nervous than i thought. They were over-cautious and were more content to defend than to score runs.
Adding pressure to ourselves, we dropped a chance in the second over when a pretty good fielder mistimed his jump to catch the ball that flew off the leading edge. But our team opening bowlers were superb and very consistent and absolutely gave nothing away. Slowly pressure started getting on to them and a simple dismissal of their main batsman when he spooned a drive straight to point put them immediately on the back foot after which they never looked back.

Though one or two batsman in their team played some good shots, they never really threatened us and if we had taken our catches, the game would have been over long back. Inspite of our bad catching, our fielding and bowling was pretty much on the mark and we gave only just 13
extras on that game, while on an average, we were giving around 20+ in games running before the finals.

It was one of the best team performance, as everyone contributed to our success, be it bowling,batting or fielding or even catching. (yeah we eventually did take some catches..:) )
Surprisingly our celebrations after the game wasnt that exciting, as we were expected to win, apart from happy smiley faces of our team...

I thought our opponents bowled really well and had a good plan entering the game. But somehow they were unlucky and if they taken some catches or got some extra luck along the way, who knows what would have happened!!At the same time we were unbeaten during the tournament and it was a deserved victory for us...

This ends our cricket season here and I wish good luck for the people who are graduating and moving on to the next stage of their lives...

Finals..Part I

2007-07-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

It was a very very hot day. Early in the morning, I had to help a friend move their stuff to a new apartment. Even though i didnt really lift heavy stuff, after all the move, i was sweating like a pig, because of the conditions. I was also careful not to hurt my hand or finger before the game during the move. After the move, i took much needed rest and was getting ready for the evening game. As i was about to head to the ground, there was a sudden rain out of nowhere. I was disappointed at first thinking that rain would play spoilsport. But when i looked outside, it more or less seemed like passing clouds and in fact, the rain helped cool down the temperature by a few degrees.

I was looking forward to the finals. I was in good form leading up to the finals and was consistent during the warm up games.I did my usual warm-ups before the game and I was hoping that we would win the toss and bat first and to my fortune, we did exactly that.

I usually like to face the batting when opening. But that day, When i walked to bat, I was definitely nervous. As the bowler was setting his fielders, I was thinking to myself " Dont get out first ball". I havent played a tournament game in two weeks and I was facing a bowler who has been bowling pretty good first over during the tournament.

I did my usual nervous prod outside the off stump, the first ball i faced. Luckily it was wide and didnt catch any edge and aptly called wide. That ball took the pressure off and I was slowly getting to feel comfortable, but not totally yet. My feet, for some reason, was moving slow. A drive to cover point area, which got the middle of the bat,for a single, got me off the strike. I felt really confident after that shot. I had a very good partner who was in good form as well and generally was setting the tone in the first few overs. He did the same that day as well and got things going. But unlike last time, the opponents bowled really well and didnt give easy scoring opportunities nor did they concede extras.

I got my rhythm going when i drove through the offside for a couple. The next ball was full toss and I flicked it through mid wicket. The fielder at short mid-wicket stretched full hand and stopped the ball and in one motion threw a direct hit at the stumps. I thought the ball would miss the fielder and was starting to take off for a single. When i realized that there was no run, i turned back and while doing so, i slipped. I couldnt recover in time and the direct hit found me short. I was very very disappointed to get out in this fashion, as this was probably the last game of this cricket season.

My other opening partner continued to play well and was keeping us in the game. Though we didnt score at a rapid rate, we were keeping wickets in hand and were playing sensible cricket. Every shot was encouraged and supported well by our cheerleaders with their antics and bringing in distraction. A short cameo in the final few overs got us to a respectable target and we knew we had a good chance to win...if we bowl the way we have been bowling and concede less extras.

Law of Averages...

2007-07-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a very hectic and wild couple of weeks for me. ISA cricket tournament and a well deserved vacation to DC, VA and NC kept me totally occupied and very active. I had a wonderful time during the trip and hopefully I will find time to write about it in the future.

Having lost in the fun tournament in the semis, I was much determined to show better results in the next tournament and thats exactly what has happened...

Yes, our team is in the finals which we are scheduled to play this Saturday(14th). I agree that we have a good team, but still it needs a good overall effort to win a game. We all know that any team can lose to any other team on a given day. Thats why we played all games seriously and have been unbeaten till the finals. We cannot predict what will happen then, but we definitely know that our team will try its best to win.

In the midst of all, I have been enjoying some glorious batting form for the past few weeks. Luck has also been coming my way with an occasional mishit dropping short of fielders and edges short of keeper. Nevertheless I have played some good cricket shots in between. Apart from my usual off side shots, I have got better at playing pull shots on the leg side and I am really happy for doing that consistently. I have been batting so well that I haven't failed even once in my last 10 or so batting appearances.

But at the same time,I am extremely nervous that the law of averages is going to catch up soon and I just pray that it doesn't happen during the finals. I am not a bad player under pressure and usually I count myself to perform in the key matches. But this situation is very much different. I have to keep up with my current form and expectations are more. I have never been in that situation before. Usually I will be under the radar and I used to get away with it. Now, at least I know two quality bowlers who are going to target me for the finals and will be well prepared to go against me. If luck doesn't go with me initially, then I better prepare for a tough time ahead.

I am looking forward to an exciting finals, irrespective of whether I am gonna click with my bat or not. At the same time I am sad that an amazing cricket season will soon come to an end. I will definitely remember this season for making lots of new friends and my new improved batting form.

A triumph in defeat..perhaps??

2007-06-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

As the clock ticked close to 9:50PM on a wonderful Sunday evening under floodlights, our hopes to win the crucial tie to go to the finals of the fun cricket tournament faded. Our opponents needed a run to win with just one crucial wicket in hand and as the batsman played a shot uppish in the air, which just eluded the mid off fielder by an arm's length, we knew we lost. It was hard to believe that we lost. We had performed so well during the whole tournament and I thought we were peaking at the right time.

I liked our team even though I met most of them recently. Like me, they never believed that they would lose the game. After a rusty first game which we managed to win, we started playing really well and i thought we were the team to beat. We were never overconfident nor had doubts about our abilities. The girl in our team improved every game and did exactly what was required from her. Our bowling was tidy and batting was methodical throughout. We pretty much did the same thing in that game as well, except we didn't create any chances to take a wicket. I must also appreciate our opponents, as they failed to give nothing away, dug deep and made sure that they didn't beat themselves.

My friends, and other people who watched the game, informed us that we made a logical fallacy in our bowling order. It could be true. But we made a decision, hoping certain things would happen, but it didn't, and hence it would easily appear that we erred in our bowling order. A loss usually doesn't bother me, but for some strange reason, this actually took me a day to sink in. I couldn't believe that I was upset with the loss. I always believe that a failure actually helps you learn a bit more about yourself.

Looking at the bright side however, I made a handful of good friends during the course of this tournament, enjoyed every experience of it, was never dismissed when batting throughout, bowled reasonably well and definitely enjoyed the support,trash-talks,cheers and banter from the crowd. What more could one ask for????

Ahh..the cellphones..

2007-05-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Every time I have gone out shopping for a new cell phone in the recent weeks i always felt that the new phones could never match the signal quality of my current phone. I really do not know why that occurs to me and always felt that my old cellphone performs so much better than the new one.

The current phone, which I have been using it for more than two and half years works perfectly fine, however with one glitch. Its ugly,unseemly and I only have myself to blame for that.
I have a tendency to drop my phone (as its slightly heavy and I always carry it in my hand) and its unfortunate that most times it falls exactly on the hard floor rather than the carpet floors nearby.As a result of these drops, my phone has scratches all over. Its bulkiness, however has helped withstand all the bad treatment it has taken in the past few years.

I finally decided that enough is enough and started shopping for a new phone. The problem with the new phones, however are the cost and the plan if you are an existing customer. If you are an existing customer for any specific career, you dont get all the benefits a new customer to the same carrier gets. Its just frustrating and there is nothing anybody can do about it. Hence you end up paying a lot more for the phone and its new features, many of which you may not use it, if you dont have a enhanced phone plan with Internet connectivity, online access etc.. Though the features are cool, I am not sure how often i would be using them.
1)How often do you want to watch a music video in your cellphone when you have a big screen TV at your home??
2)How often will you be checking the scores online or reading news online, when you are a software professional and are always connected to the net through your laptop?
Maybe its handy when you travel, but how often do I get to do that anyways???

I also feel that because they give so much importance to these new features, the signal strength and battery life(both are of paramount importance to me) is very much compromised.
However I still went ahead and got a cell phone with all the latest features as they promised me that I can use a months free net service for free. The features are awesome, the phone looks "cheesy" but the signal level and especially the battery life is not what i had with my previous phone.

I have been using this new phone for about a week now and so far its been ok though I dont like the ring tones that came along. I have a 30 day return policy and if the phones battery is as bad as it has been in the first week and I manage to avoid dropping my phone(which is a big challenge) I would probably go ahead and exchange it with a model that's going to be out in the next few days with better battery life.

Can the Questions be Answered??

2007-04-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, my thoughts and prayers to those people and their families who lost their lives in the recent tragedy at the hokie land. I just cant imagine someone with an educational background as the person involved was, could do something very putrid. Its unbelievable and something that cannot be rationalized, however you think.

I add that the person sinned himself more by sending information/videos to the media, thereby reaching the public and agitating further the people directly or indirectly involved in the tragedy.

A severe debate has ensued thereafter regarding the gun control, security, mental illness and what not...and I just cant see them coming up with a solution at the earliest.
When a person is a loner, its almost next to impossible to figure the characteristics of a person. Based on my personal experience, as inquisitive as I could be at times, I could not figure out a certain individual, the reason for their actions and never ever it would cross in my mind that they could be harmful to other individuals.

Its entirely debatable whether watching horror movies, shooting/thriller movies playing killing/shooting video games..etc could be a factor or not.
Obviously I am not going to agree with that as I do pretty much all of the above things and just forget about it later..But the minds are different and effects it can have on them are going to be different as well...

so it just might be interesting to see what sort of actions the government would take....

Pleasantly Surprised

2007-04-18T14:28:00.001-07:00

March-April is that time of the year in US, where there are no engaging sporting or other events in the US that appeal to me. However this year, I thought world cup will fill the void, but rather disappointingly it left a bigger one to the Indian Team.

Anyways, I reorganized my schedule and wanted to make this time very constructive and inventive in terms of career as well as personal life.

I started volunteering tasks at work, experimented several new technologies/projects, solved some critical security issues that would otherwise have gone unnoticed and tried to keep myself very active. (as you can see..havent written a blog for a while..)

Away from work, apart from regular gym and baddy, started taking tennis lessons and have been working on my game skills and fitness level a bit. After a few listless performance with the bat, I have found my batting form as well, especially the cover drives, and eagerly looking forward to our own cricket season here.

Global warming confined me at home for the past 3 weeks or so and as a result of which, have been experimenting with new xbox games and it took us a laborious 20+ attempts to clear a level from the game Black Hawk Down that was very very challenging. I was happy with the strength of our group and they showed a lot of patience to overcome the obstacle. The game not only taught me patience, but gave me a lesson on team management, strategies..etc and I really really enjoyed finishing the task.

Chatting/meeting with friends over a cup of coffee to discuss different cultures, traveling, occasional movies and even catching up with some episodes of planet earth(very surprisingly)..etc has kept me really busy for the past month or so that I am barely sleeping for more than 6 hrs a day.

I just hope this phantasmagorical trend persists and I continue to explore new avenues...

Burger King..

2007-02-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

During the student days (those days when you compared dollars to rupees), it is a general consensus to save every penny and minimize spending costs, especially eating outside food.But during project deadlines or finals week,the assignments and projects usually takes a toll and we end up eating outside.
One of my popular destination was Burger King a.k.a BK. Not only was it walkable distance from my home, it was also on my way towards the school.I typically used to order a B.K veggie (a burger with a patty and some vegetables throw in) and some onion rings. This is probably the simplest meal and very quick to eat as well. Sometimes I used to carry it to my department as well, especially the onion rings I loved it and whenever i had a chance to eat out, i made a pit stop at BK.
As time progressed, the monotony got the better of me and i rarely ate at BK. I have no idea why this happened, but BK would be my last choice if I had to choose to place to eat out. For the next three years (especially all through my stay at MN) i never ate at BK. Since I never paid a visit to BK, I could not have onion rings, which has always been my favorite snack.
But in the last year or so, I again started eating at BK at regular intervals. I really don't have an answer for the sudden change (maybe bcos of the onion rings, but i doubt it) and I just hope that i don't goto a slump like before, because i do really love onion rings.

A change in the wind...

2007-01-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

Its been three weeks since the new year and I am proud to say that, I have been following most of my new year resolutions except one, which is getting up early..I am usually not a big sleeper and that's why its a surprise to me not to comply. Even though I do manage to get to work just after 8, it is my resolution to make it even earlier. But the cold weather, snow and the most harrowing act of car cleaning obviously doesn't help either.
I am both sad and glad that the football season is going to end. This season has been reasonably good considering the fact that the chiefs made it to the playoffs and colts are in the superbowl.
On the other hand, it has made me a couch potato on the weekends and the big screen tv has made things much more harder to move out of the house. There are times where i wanted to do so many things over the weekends but ended up procrastinating. I am glad that its going to stop..(really?? with Australian open final stages lurking in the corner and the super bowl a week away and ksu basketball playing as well as anyone right now...) Well I should say eventually..well maybe not..sucks.....
But this time I am determined and I expect to change my routine in the coming weekends with priorities on other activities rather than just watching sports. Only time will tell whether I can do even a substantial portion of what I intend to do.
Lets just hope an exciting superbowl is in store and colts come out victorious because the big 'man'ning deserves a ring!!!

Happy New Year

2007-01-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

First of all,Wish You all a very very happy new year!!

Dawn of a new year is always the most cherished, as new agendas, goals, resolutions are set and I am no different than others in that regard. Looking back at 2006, I know that there are some things that i didnt do well and could be corrected. Here are my new year resolutions for 2007.

Start following early to rise,early to bed approach.
Spend time reading books.
Be organized and planned.
Be regular to gym and do workouts at regular intervals.
Experiment different food recipes,thereby making me a better cook.
Make new friends.
Work harder and improve my business and social skills.
The most important of all is to always have fun and enjoy doing the above.

A day to be remembered...

2006-12-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

Dec20th,2006 a day that will be remembered for a while as one of my most coveted cricketer Mr Shane Keith Warne announced his retirement at the end of the current ongoing ashes series(well, in australia, it was actually 21st Dec..). I will also remember that day as I bought my first ever Suit!!! Yeah its a great feeling indeed.

Warne, always portrayed as one of the most controversial cricketer outside the field is, according to me, the most talented cricketer ever to touch the ball. Everytime someone has counted him out, he has come back with a bang and delivered his goods, no matter the conditions or the opposition. His aggressive nature, on the field antics, trash talking made him one of those characters that you would love to watch while on field.

Aptly described by another legend of the cricket times, Steve Waugh,"He has been responsible for winning more Test matches than anyone else I have seen or played with."

Nobody can question the records he has achieved, nor the timing of his decision especially after leading Aus, to a dramatic comeback win in the second ashes test, which was definitely the antidote for clinching the ashes series.

It also marked the day when I bought my first ever suit. After spending quite a bit of time on the internet, reading about the type of suits, fabrics and styles, I drove to topeka, accompanied by a close friend, to get a suit that I can use for all conditions. It took me an hr and half to decide on one, but it was all worth it. After several repeated tries on several suits and suggestions from my friend and the salesperson, I was able to finally pick one that was within the budgetary constraints.

I am all excited to witness one of the legend bow out and watch his final tests and at the same time looking forward to wearing my suit on the 29th!!!!

Fesitivities,Catch Up...

2006-12-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since i wrote my last blog..Work,football,poker all have kept me occupied for the past month and i finally had a chance to pen one this morning..
It's holiday time here in the US..you can just feel it when you drive around and you see streets
decorated with lights all around giving you a festival ambience. As it gets dark in the
winter early even by the time you get out of work, your energy is refurbished with the decoration of christmas trees and lights when you head back home. Inspired by this, I have had a chance to put up my own christmas trees and lights in our home and though it hasnt been as attractive as the others around, its been pleasant, to say the least.
As the weekends have become cold and with the football season at its peak, the outdoor activities have sort of diminished and hence i have been spending time at home most times either playing xbox or reading books.
Over this weekend, I also had a chance to attend a christmas party at a friends place. I could feel that the place was energetic, filled up with lots of people and really looking forward to christmas season. Couple of my friends sang christmas songs accompanied by a backdrop of guitar and drums. I had a chance to meet new people and made some good friends. It was a fun night filled up with laughter,good conversation and ofcourse some food.
As we near the end of this year, i just cant imagine how fast time has gone by. It feels like i
just went back home to India,but its already more than an year. Its been a eventful year and I have lots of memories,cheers and good feelings to take to the next year and I sure wish the new year is as eventful as this year.

Monday Night Football

2006-10-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

One of my all time favorite programs on TV is the Monday Night Football. The build up, energy, excitement,drama and the music (my favorite...) that comes along with the game is unparalleled and peerless. Inspite of its transition to ESPN from ABC and my favorite commentators taken off air, it did not dampen the spirits of MNF, still keeping the tradition,music and the fans alive.
One great Monday Night game at New Orleans this year was enough to convince anyone(even if you are not a football fan) to appreciate the importance for the entire city. As we walked through the parking lot of the arrowhead stadium(Kansas City Chiefs Stadium) the other day, I realized the truthness about my friend's remark that football is like a festival for these fans. Infact every Sunday seems like a halloween..
If the fans are so passionate for a normal Sunday afternoon game against a non-conference team, i just cant imagine their fervour on a monday night game against a rival opponent..
I quenched my thirst by watching a first NFL game live last weekend when the chiefs pulled off an exciting win...
when will be my chance to watch the first MNF game live???
As one of my favorite teams square off to play this monday, I cant possibly wait for the kick-off...

Does anybody have an answer??

2006-09-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

I am fed up of some recent happenings about my predictions and misfortune. We have been playing a NFL fantasy game where the participants choose the winning teams before the kickoff on Sunday. In the past 3 weeks, I was not even close to picking the right set of teams and have been on the receiving end all times. I cant say that I made the wrong pick, but just that my picks dont win!!!! Is it some kind of ill luck???
Why is it that the teams that I support always end up losing?? Be it K-State or Chiefs or Indian Cricket or ....whoever..
Only the Aussies make my day and cheer me up!!!!

A Sixty-Four-Dollar-Question or Is it??? Part-II

2006-09-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Before continuing, here are some pictures and descriptions of our CO Trip taken during labor day weekend.

Among many mystery movies, I prefer very intense mystery movies with a breathtaking suspense in the end. I do not mind watching gory scenes that come along, if the movie has the ingredients I look for, that is suspense. One such movie that had a amalgamation of both was 'SAW'. It is very safe for me to say that, this is the best thriller(i may be wrong in saying thriller, but definitely the movie with the best suspense..another movie was sixth sense, but thats kind of fictional) I have watched till date. Yeah, it had several gory scenes..so what?? Its just a movie..

Lot of my friends that I talked to, hate this movie or dont even want to hear about this movie. If you are not the type who like watching mystery/thriller/horror movies, then I would agree with you. But most often thats not the case. People ask me what kind of logic does this movie have or what kind of saddistic movie is this?? Yeah it may not have a sound logic or it may have a saddistic part, but in one's life, believe it or not, every person in the earth would have seen atleast one illogical movie that had some ugly part associated.

Some people say that, they get disturbed by watching these kinds of movies and cannot sleep. I dont know whether I can entirely agree with that. When fighting is going on all times, at some part of the world, gory things happen even in real life. Technically, then you shouldnt get sleep everyday..but that doesnt happen is it??? Obviously people are able to overcome that and are able to lead a normal life. Similary is it wrong for me to expect people to watch these kinds of movies(which are not real life anyway) by skipping the parts that they dont like and take the good parts and enjoy the movie???
The argument can easily go both ways and its always going to be a sixty-four-dollar-question. But, at the end of the day, I would like to suggest everybody that its just a movie and if you watch it just as a movie, you would definitely enjoy it, especially if you like suspense.

A Sixty-Four-Dollar-Question or Is it???.. Part--I

2006-09-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Until my 7th grade, I stayed in relatively small cities and had to do my education in relatively small schools. Hence, the exposure and the competitive nature wasnt present in me (except ofcourse sports) especially in studies. Things changed impromptu after I moved to Chennai during my eight grade.
I had to compete with really talented people on all skills. My close friends talked about things that I never understood sometimes and they seemed to be of a different class altogether. They were also a big fan of reading novels like hardy boys,three investigators etc. Tempted by their recommendation, and my curiousity as well, I started to read my first novel. My english skills was pretty much below average and I had to refer to dictionary more often than not to finish each page of the novel.
It took me atleast a week to finish a 200 page novel. But then, slowly my vocabulary improved and was able to increase the pace of my reading as well. We would discuss the happenings and try to predict the villain in the novel during breaks and lunch time at school.Some people in my class even thought that we were crazy.This is when I became big fan of mystery, suspense, murder and thriller stories. I would only read archies or tin tin or other comics, if a particular book i am looking for isnt available or checked out. My pace was so high later on that I easily surpassed a book a day and more importantly without referring to dictionary. After I reached 10th grade, because of pressure in studies, I completely stopped reading novels and ever since, my penchant for reading novels decreased dramatically. My folks were delighted that it was only spasmodic and would not affect what one could call as "crucial phase of ones career".
However my fondness towards mystery,suspense,thrillers never diminished and even though I couldnt spend time reading novels, I would watch movies of that genre to satisfy my quest whenever I had a chance. Remember in those times, it is a luxury if you have a VCR to watch movies and if we did happen to rent one, my folks wouldnt agree for these types of movies. So my frequency wasnt obviously that high. It is only after my exodus to U.S, that I had access to all sorts of stuff and could actually awaken my passion for watching mystery movies.

Its kickoff time!!!!

2006-09-06T13:50:00.001-07:00

I would never regret the harsh winter that I spent two years ago in minneapolis. It made me confine to home most times and exposed me to watch one of the most demanding sport in the world today.Yes, its the football season back again folks!!!!
Inspite of not knowing the rules of the NFL completely, I used to sit infront of the idiot box and watch for hours. The more games I watched, the more familiar I became and more involved I got. According to me, its one of the best strategical game ever to be played in the history of sports. There are so many permutations and combinations involved that its impossible to predict the result of the game. Given any day,any condition,any team can beat any other. Thats the beauty of it.
As the NFL season kicks off this week, I have to admit that, inspite of the big tv, I have not watched even one full football game yet.
(This reminds me to also say that, I have got my big screen TV and its just awesome!!!)
At the NCAA level,after a near debacle against a low ranked opponent, KSU wildcats doesnt look to be too promising to head even to any bowl. However having said that, we have a new coach, new system and we need to give them some time to figure out the winning recipe. Chiefs however seem to be improving. So I am going to keep my fingers crossed and enjoy the ride of the football season.
Go WildCats and Chiefs!!!!!

A trip to the grasslands...

2006-08-25T08:34:00.004-07:00

It is no secret that one among my passion is sports and a sport that has eluded me in the recent years has been Golf. Thanks to my friends, I had my first driving range practice with some "real professionals" this week.
On a very pleasant evening, after a hectic day at work, Me and My friend headed to Colbert Hills Golf course, barely a mile or two away from my home.As I was introduced to our waiting friends near the entrance, I could immediately sense that they were experienced golfers with their own golf kit. A bucket of balls was only $5 thanks to my friend who had a coupon downloaded from the net.
For the next few minutes, I was given a quick lesson on golf. I was explained the various jargons involved,the gripping style,the swing technique,style,posture..etc..I was ready to roll on, as many thoughts were racing through my mind.I placed the ball in the Tee and practiced some swings before I could embark upon a shot.
My first several swings at the ball was awesome.yeah!!! I swung the club so hard that the ball didnt displace from the Tee and I could only hear the sound of the wind..A tamil jargon "verum kathu than varudhu" crossed my mind as i laughed it off...I went back to practicing some more swings before I had my next shot..Bang!!! I hit it this time and the ball rolled out of the Tee and the Tee broke...hahahaha..I got myself another Tee and this time practiced several more swings before my next shot..Bingo!!!this was struck perfect and as i was receiving an applause from my friends,the bird flew all the way down to the flag area where i had actually intended. I really enjoyed this shot and a glimpse of the ball flying all the way thrilled me. Trust me, it was really exciting.
I soon got the hang of it and sent the balls flying on every corner with occassional tee-breaks and misses.I explored various clubs and practiced shots with no Tee as well...it was really a lot of fun, and after a day that began very engaging at work, it was a well deserved fun outing. I thank my friends for giving me this opportunity and next time, I promise to share this fun with my other close friends.

A week that was...wax and wane

2006-08-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

I am just glad that this week has come to a close. Aside from the Independence Day celebration, its been a frustrating week for me. Having not got to work on time most of the week, I did not make a lot of progress either at work as well. I missed my workout schedule, MNF sucked big time without the duo of Al Michaels and Madden, my TV suppose to arrive today, is not gonna arrive..Chiefs had a horrible set of pre-season games..the cricket match got abandoned....a potluck suppose to be today got cancelled because of me...oooph!!!!..
But then it may not be that bad at all after the good times I had almost every night of the week hanging out with my friends, a victory in the ISA Badminton cup, a green signal to audit a finance course, a Roger Federer loss, and an overconfident bunch(eng cricket) struggling against the Pak's!!!
Anyways I think thats enough "gibberish" right now and I am looking forward to this weekend with a lot of zeal.

Short and Sweet Trip-Part II

2006-08-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Before continuing on our trip, I would like to mention that our badminton finals went well and we got a well-deserved victory in straight sets(15-8,15-3). Apart from the loss of a set in the previous game, I thought we played really well. It really feels good to have two badminton championship under our belts.
After I finished my 10th grade, I had two different directions to pursue my career. I chose Computers in favor of Biology for only one reason...I sucked and still suck in drawing. I remembered only that, as our group sat down to play a game of pictionary that night.
Obviously, because of my drawing skills, I have never been a big fan of this game, and if I remember correctly never played this game. My request for being lenient on the timings was dismissed without any hesitation and at that time, I couldnt help feeling sorry for my team. Did they think that I could draw something in less than a minute and make them guess the answer?? I found it hard to believe.
After the game started neither team could conjure up an answer in the specified time till we got lucky and landed ourselves an easy word. As we played more, I realised that I was having fun playing this game. I wanted to draw, even if it wasnt my turn and even if the experienced people found it hard. While playing the game, my attempts to draw a cricket bat, a music system, a sheep etc.. were all mocked and my opponents were having way too much fun at my expense. We continued to survive in the game due to my partner's drawing skills(far better than mine) and my guessing skills which aint that bad. We had so much fun that we didnt realize it was close to 2am and unlike KS folks here, the MN folks sleep early and so had to call it a day...
The next day was very busy visiting some friends for lunch(where I had awesome food) and some further shopping before I got ready to leave back home. I picked up my friend and we drove back home amidst heavy rains and continued our rambling. We got home at around 3 and I had just enough energy to hit the bed!!!
The trip was very short and sweet and I wish I had spent some more time so that we could have done some outdoor activities like camping or canoeing or something like that.
I also had to admit that i enjoyed pictionary very much and I would like to end by asking a trivia for the readers..How do you draw and show the word "difficult" ????

Short and Sweet Trip--Part I

2006-08-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

A trip to minneapolis has been beckoning me for the past few months and eventually, after some dilly-dallying, was taken last weekend. Forced to take a day-off from work due to the nature of the drive, me and my amigo started our road trip reasonably early,digressing all the way, on topics that were interesting,very interesting, very very interesting,..not interesting, boring, very boring, very very boring....interesting...

Due to our varied interest in music, it was an exception rather than the rule, when we agreed on a number that was akin to our liking. Hence our rambling continued all the way till MN after which we parted ways to meet our respective friends.
I got to my friends apartment and to my surprise found it to be neatly ornated. After some initial chit-chatting, we made our way to a nearby restaurant called 'Big Bowl' which my friends quoted it as an extension to P.F.Chang's. Since MN people have a lot of respect for fellow Kansans, we got a table without any waiting time, while for any others it would have been atleast 30 minutes. The ambience and the food was top-class and we bloated ourselves happily and we talked about the changes that happend in each of their lives in the past year or so. Plans to watch a traditional Hindi movie was dismissed and we ended up watching a movie descent,for which i dont want to waste any more time writing. Yeah it was that bad!!!
Most of the next beautiful day was spent outside roaming and shopping and during most of the driving, i sucked them into the world of lateral puzzles. My friends,novice to these types of puzzles, had a lot of fun playing and ofcourse who wouldnt???. It brings people together, questions their mind and knowledge and makes them put on their thinking cap.
After yet another amazing dinner coupled up with a dessert combination of tiramusu cake and an icecream, at a beautiful Italian restaurant, we settled for a game of pictionary. This needs a separate blog and will be continued later.
Before signing of, I would like to remind that we play our finals badminton game tonight and i hope my lack of sleep/practice in the last few days doesnt affect my game. I envision this to be a good game and as I say usually, may the team that plays better win.

Its time....

2006-08-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

After doing reasonable research I finally ordered a 46" Samsung HDTV this morning. I am really excited and with the NCAA and NFL football season looming up in the near future cant wait for the TV to get here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F2P31E/ref=pd_po_rvi_1/002-1236685-8710404?ie=UTF8

Folks, its party time and rightly so, they have predicted some rains this evening.....!!!!!!

This time we are the Underdogs!!!!

2006-08-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

As we take on the mighty mixed doubles pair this evening, we need lots of skill and luck to have any go at them. Some key questions that will linger in our minds are
1)Can we play mistake free game??
2)Can we unsettle our opponents through our strategies??
3)Can we handle their powerful smashes/drops??
4)If we do take care of these issues, can we sustain them throughout??
we will soon find out...

An evening to remember or maybe to forget..

2006-08-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

A short nap after work was essential after a hectic weekend before facing the "Second Underdogs" (the name underdogs was taken by another team) in the ISA Badminton tournament. Our team on paper was purported to be stronger than our opponents and we were expected to win in straight sets, if not easily. I played couple of warm up games and I was in such a good form during those games that i thought well, they really have to play better than their best game to defeat us.
To my surprise it wasnt the case. If I recollect, a first meaningful rally was played after like 8 points were reached. Both the teams played way below par and the crowd had absolutely no clue as to what was going on. Talking about myself, I had one of the worst games ever smashing easy volleys onto the net, innumerable service errors along with a lack of co-ordination with my partner. Be any opponent, I am usually well prepared before the games and this was no different.The only exception being that, we havent played together a meaningful game for a while.
Even though we managed to put up a win it was definitely not a satisfying performance.The final score read 15-10,12-15,15-8. As i try to find the answers for the debacle,the pressure, good play by our opponents, especially their ability to lure us into mistakes, our lack of co-ordination, too much concentration on the mixed doubles and maybe a little casual playing approach especially in the beginning could all be a good fit.
Looking at the point of view of the audience, it was indeed a nail-biting game with sets apiece and I am sure they all had good fun.I thank all my friends for the cheering and the support and I know they would be a tad dissappointed. I hope to bring my 'A' game for the mixed doubles and the finals with no respite for the opponents. Lets wait and see whats in store.

As the addictive sound of chips chimed in....

2006-08-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

As unsuccessful snooping for a big screen TV continued over the weekend at KC, an unwarranted trip to a local casino ended up being a boon rather than a bane. The casino entrance with flashing screen images of the new poker rooms, as we grazed to the parking lot, led to an impassable feeling of the Vegas night years ago.
Under a domed stain-glass ceiling, amid hand-made Moroccan tile, intricate in-laid terrazzo floors and artist-rendered finishes, sounds of chips sent our adrenalin pumping with excitement. After our initial scouting of the casino floors for a few minutes we agreed to redeem some chips for an amount that brought the ladies at the counter to laugh at. Not deterred by these trivial issues, we made our way to the new poker room as the sound of chips got louder and louder.
After ascertaining the rules, that seemed far simpler than we were used to, we were ready to roll on. Though our hands was as weak as it could ever have with a three or a four,or a five or six, neither did we falter nor did we lose hope at any stage. The realisation that we were adroit enough to compete with the "other professionals" around thrilled us. The pace at which the game was played,the betting,card shufflers,trash talk and of-course the hot dealer made up for the weak hands that we had throughout. Due to time constraint, (as we had to pick our good old friend from the airport) we egressed to our car,sipping up a cup of free coke. Debating all the way the strategy we used and cribbing our bad fortune, we got to the aiport on time to pick our friend. This was something we didnt think we would do when we went to KC, but happy that we did at the end.

Potluck

2006-08-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Inspite of my hectic schedule filled with the puzzlers,badmintons,tv huntings and pokers, i could muster some time over the weekend to attend an international potluck party hosted by a friend who was leaving to Japan for good in the next few days.The fact that i am going to see awesome culinary display skills inspired me to show my own.
I made an Indian spicy dish (i am not going to name what it is as it could land me in trouble) for which I was nervous on two counts. It had to be palatable and shouldnt be too spicy to handle. Fortunately I was lucky as the dish came out decent and all my friends enjoyed it. Starting from soup to applie pie dessert I had a good workout. In the limited time i was present, I made new friends, enjoyed some stimulating conversation and ofcourse tasted wonderful food.
I wish good luck to my friend and a safe journey back home. I hope to see him again soon.:)

Is it going to be Zip/Zap??

2006-07-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

Eating spicy food is customary for Asians. Brought up in South India we are exposed to meals that have spicy masalas, pickles, chillies in almost every day-to-day life. Since living in the United States for the past few years, exposure and the penchant to eat spicy food has dramatically declined for me. Even though I am very hesitant to acknowledge the fact that I cannot handle spice, my friends tend to disagree. It is their assessment that they are able to handle more spice than me. It has been a bit shocking to concur with this fact and hence i have to test myself in the next few weeks or so to unearth whether i dont like or cannot handle spicy food(that is too much spice). Wish me good luck!!!

Against all odds

2006-07-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

This is my fortune today in orkut..
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do"
Usually i get some crappy fortunes which may not have any meaning or related to me in any ways..Even though this is a generalized fortune, its amazingly true. The excitement is definitely unmatched and unparalleled if you go and achieve something against all odds. Everyday we hear stories around us like "ohh..he/she created history" . I always wonder how these people get inspired to perform or achieve something that they really are not suppose to achieve. How do they get that fire in them?? Is it because of people who support them or that extra sense/fire in them??? I have faced several situations like this before..But all of them are minuscule compared to what some great people have achieved over the years.
A typcial example was when i was stuying 6th grade in Sivakasi(place in southern part of India), in a school where Hindi(our national language) was a regular subject. Hailing from TamilNadu usually in schools Tamil would be the main language.But this school was an exception which meant that i had to clear the exam to goto 7th grade.I had no clue about Hindi and didnt know the 'abcd' of it.I failed miserably in all the exams until the finals(Annual Exam). I was against all odds, but bent my back,went for tuition..etc and got somewhere like 78/100 in the finals. Before the finals my highest was only 34. Even though my score in other subjects was 90+, it was 78 that i enjoyed the most..:)

Internet Age

2006-07-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

How important is the internet?? I am writing this blog only because of an internet outage througout K-State. I didnt know earlier that cox is the one who provides the Internet2 connectivity. I was thinking that K-State has its own network. As a web programmer, without internet i am almost doomed and I literally cannot do anything other than maybe go through some tutorials/pdf's i have downloaded in the past. We cant check our emails, read the latest news nor refer to online help.
However its also a good opportunity to interact with other colleagues in my team freely and for once talk about stuff thats not related to work. We rely too much online these days that we are addicted to it. I dont think we can change that and i seriously hope that we are connected at the earliest. Otherwise i am in for a long long day.
Well i just got the connection back..so..time for some work..

Apprentice and Mr Trump

2006-07-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

Apprentice is a reality TV show where some of the top successful people of various fields compete with each other and vie for a spot to work with one of my most admired businessman Mr Donald Trump. It is one of my favorite shows on television.
Lots of people I know are not fond of him because of his debonair,extravagant and cocky attitude. But i like him for his aggressive style, arrogant comments and some weird but clever business decision making skills. He pulled one of the most remarkable turnarounds in history from almost bankruptcy to a billionaire.I would term him as one of those rash, arrogant genius and lives a priveleged life that we can only dream of.
The competitors in the program are really rich and talented and hence,their personalities clash and intervenes with the task that they are suppose to accomplish. Some of the arguments they have would be so kiddish, that you would wonder how these people became so successful. Well thats just human nature..:)
The most intriguing part of the show for me is the final 15-20 mins which is known as "Boardroom" where one member of the losing team get evicted.In the boardroom they are face to face with Mr Trump and must prove their mettle in that iota of time.Some of the conversation they have are scintillating,tense,nervewracking or whatever you may call accusing each other and defending themselves.It does get ugly sometimes as not often people can keep their cool.Eventually the person who is unable to defend well loses and hears the catch phrase "You are Fired" from Trump.
I just love this show for the people involved, their vocular fluency under pressure and ofcourse the boardroom.

2006-07-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Soccer

On July 9th,2006 almost all of the entire world came to a utter standstill for a couple of hours watching the FIFA World Cup Final. It has been estimated that over a billion people watched the world cup final between the two powerhouses Italy and France. The reason is pretty simple i.e the no of countries who play or involved in soccer is more than the number of countries who are member of the UN. That shows the power of this sport and the reason why its a big hit among the masses. Me, being an Indian was dissappointed that we did not qualify for this big stage. India, tipped to be the most populous country in the world by the year 2015, could not muster up a team that could qualify for this big cup.
I caught most of important matches in ESPN and was waiting eagerly like everybody else for the final. Most of our friends assembled at a friends place(who had a big screen flat TV) to watch the World Cup. A few of them supported France while the rest supported Italy. The game was pretty good until the final 10 minutes when Zidane's header on a Italian player sent him packing and the press buzzing. That was the talk of the final more than Italians stealing the win away from France on the penalty shootout.Zinadine Zidane, however great player he may be, let the world know how human emotions play an important role in all phases of life. He lost his control and correctly was ejected out of the game for his kiddish act.
The soccer mania didnt end just there for people like me. I joined a bunch of arab guys at our recreational service center and started playing with them. They were obviously more talented than me. Even though i am not that good in this sport, i joined them for two reasons. One to improve my stamina which isnt that great and second to learn this game. It was fun playing with them until i injured my right hand while blocking a powerful strike from an opponent. My hand got twisted badly and luckily no bones were broken. I initially thought it was a severe injury and was even thinking how it could affect my participation in the upcoming badminton tournament scheduled to start by july 21st..but thankfully its only been 4 days since that happend and i have recovered almost 95%. The irony is i still continue to play soccer with those guys and am enjoying every moment of it and i just hope i dont get further injuries.

2006-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Lateral Thinking Puzzles

For the past few weeks or so i am fascinated by a type of puzzle called lateral puzzles. In my years, i have solved logical puzzles, mathematical puzzles,riddles etc. but have never come across lateral puzzles.
So what are these lateral puzzles??Lateral puzzles are mostly called situation or scenario puzzles that needs some kind of elucidation why a particular set or series of events have occurred. The question to the puzzle itself is sort of incomplete to solve the problem at first sight and hence the puzzle solver should ask several types of yes/no questions about the situation in the puzzle to approach the problem. The best lateral thinking puzzles are intriguing and illogical, but have proper answer to satisfy you. It all started when we were driving to Kansas City with some friends. While driving we got bored and we started playing some sort of games..Then I put in a puzzle(which i didnt know was a lateral puzzle) so that we can spend some time. I could see that it generated an immense interest among my friends and within no time ideas were pouring in and all our minds were occupied with several lines of thoughts. Its really interesting to see how different people think in a different way, given the same problem. No wonder they say two heads are better than one. We almost cracked one of the biggest lateral thinking puzzle and were all satisfied at the end of the day that we atleast have some set of skill level to approach these kinds of problems. Remember that these puzzles expand your mind and at the same time helps you learn some of the interesting facts of life.
I will leave this blog with one of the most common lateral thinking puzzle.

A man comes up to the waiter and asks for a glass of water. The waiter pulled out his gun and pointed it at the man. The man said "Thank You" and walked away. Why is that?

2006-07-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since i had written a blog..so i thought i should update it a bit...its very difficult to write the events about what happend for the past month or so in one blog..however i will be as short as possible...we spent the most of the weekends of june playing cricket...i was involved in two tournaments one 6 overs a side and the other is a regular 15 overs a side..we played really well during the 6 overs a side and was undefeated till the finals..we choked in the finals and lost badly even though it was against a better team(who infact we beat them convincingly in the earlier round)...it gave me a valuable lesson to prepare well before any game..I had lots of friends cheering for us in the game and it was absolutely disappointing that we were outclassed that day...later in the second tournament our team wasnt that strong and we lost both the games we played...we had our chances to win, but we couldnt finish it off and we didnt have a playmaker in our team...even though my performance was decent in both the tournaments, it wasnt good enough for a title...this being the last season in manhattan, i would have been happy if i had won any..but it wasnt the case...we played under lights and it was a very good experience..we had total fun..

2006-05-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

On the next day(sunday) we relaxed at home for a while and then went to a place called pearl street. The weather was glorious with sun shining and at the same times clouds threatening for a rain. Pearl street was like burma bazaar(chennai) where people sell stuff on that street. THere was a lot of crowd shopping, kids playing and stuff like that. We spent some time shopping and looking around the street and then decided to hit the italian restaurant for lunch. Later after that, we went for some go karting, air hockey before relaxing at a coffee shop in a mall..we also watched MI III and i thought it was a pretty good action movie..we drove back home and watched the nba games before retiring to bed.
I had to rent a car next day as i would be on my own during the training week..i was there on time at the training center and i was surprised to see quite a few number of people turning up for the training..some were very knowledgeable and knew about the contents of training in advance while i was just chilling...The two days of training went by smoothly i had a pretty good time at the training..I went to some indian restaurant with a batch of people who came for the training and the following day went to a mexican restaurant with another batch of people...Didnt do much on the weeknight as i was really tired, and just watched the cable at the hotel and dozed off pretty early...flew back to KC and picked up my car and rode back to manhattan..it was uneventful and i was all set to goto bed that night...

2006-05-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

continuing my CO trip...the next stop was a trip to place called Seven Falls..it was around 10-15 drive from the pikes peek and we were able to get to the destination without losing our way..by the time it was evening and was starting to get chilly..
Reading from the name, it was obvious that it was going to be seven different water falls..(atleast thats what we all thought...)
An elevator took us to the top floor from where i assumed we can all have a view of the falls..That was indeed the case and instead of seven different waterfalls, we saw the same set of waterfalls divided into seven levels..i thought this was funny..but the view was excellent and we definitely agreed that it was not worth 10 bucks..however the drive inside the seven falls was awesome, with mountains on both sides of the road and rocks almost covering some parts of the road..

2006-05-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last week was one of the really busy week i had in the recent past. I had to goto Ft Collins,Colorado for a conference/training. SO i decided to go boulder where i have one of my good friend and decided to spend some time with him and also go around colorado a little bit..As soon as i landed at the Denver International Airport, my friend picked me up and we went to a resaturant called noodles and company..i had never eaten there before and it was really really good indonesian style noodles i had..it was yummy and really tasted good...then we went home and took rest..
next day morning we woke up and got ready and first we went to a place called pike's peek which is around 14100 feet above sea level..we went there on a train called cog railway where the train tracks are unique and are pushed up/down the slope by teeth like steels stacked next to each other..there are only two such rail in the whole of United States and this train takes a longer route than the other one..so we were all excited to go on this train..the pikes peek was around 9 miles by train..and as we went up we realized that it was getting colder and colder..(its ofcourse obvious)..its good that my friend cautioned me to take jacket...we went up there and the scenery there was superb...it was a thoroughly fascination sight which no one should miss, if they ever goto colorado springs..we enjoyed it..
just as we were getting back to the train, it started snowing and we were all happy that we did all the sight seeing before the snow arrived....
the journey down was uneventful and we were all pretty tired bcos of thin air and less oxygen...
i will continue to write about the co trip in my next few blogs...

2006-05-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

this weekend was total fun as we had gone over to meet some of our close friends..it was one of my close friend's bday and we threw a huge surprise birthday party for him..
the next day we went for speed boating which was the highlight of the weekend..i am never a big fan of water as i do not know how to swim, but i like risky rides/thrill rides...we decided to take the speed boat and attached a tube to the boat so that at a time one person can lay on the tube while the boat drags them around at full speed...i was really afraid initially to get on to the tube, so i let someone else start off the proceedings..even though it was looking scary,my guts told me i am ready for it...so i went ahead and did that...it was really a lot of fun ..the only time you could feel scared was when the boat turned from one side to the another.Thats when the waves generated by the boat hits the tube and causes the tube to jump over the waves..it was definitely fun and i enjoyed the ride like everyone else in our boat did...
i also enjoyed kobe's last shot victory over suns..it was worth watching the final minutes..:)

2006-04-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

first of all, we won the badminton intramural game against a couple of chinese guys..the score was like 15-8,15-2 and we played really well..
i was pretty confident that we would win, but didnt expect by that margin..
lot of my friends came over to cheer us and i am sure they all enjoyed our success..
last weekend was a very hectic with lots of activities and fun and frolic..
first there was this poker night which went till 3 or so...and we played all-in for the first time, meaning you can bet all you have even in your first chance..that was exiciting though i never made it to the final 3...
saturday we had a music concert organized by the students here and we had fun dancing and singing...later that evening we had a spring football game which was pretty good..
on sunday, there was a screening of rang de basanti and i watched with a american friend of mine..it was really a good movie and i thoroughly enjoyed it...next weekend is already going to be hectic as we are going to be out of town with some activities planned...i will write more about it after the trip...

2006-04-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

yet another weekend passed by and i soon realized that its going to be 4 months over in a couple of weeks since the new year..it still feels as though just now i had a great time with my friends over the new year..how time flies..one cant imagine...
As it was tamil new year, we were invited to a family dinner on friday..it was good to eat some well made home food without working hard on any of the dishes..I had a good time, chatting with people and going over the events in the past month..then later after dinner, we played poker till it was like 4 and we had total fun...looks like thats going to be the regular on friday nights..
on saturday we had a friends birthday party and had gone over to a friends place to celebrate..there was good food yet again apart from the cake :)
Sunday was the usual lazy sunday and i was just cozing up at home and didnt really do much except to watch some tv programs and talk to friends over the fone...

2006-04-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last friday, there was a party at our place. We had pizzas, drinks for around 10 people..we had the music turned on, took some pics, did some gossiping..Later after dinner, we played some fun card games..UNO most of the time and i am sure everyone had good fun that night.
Saturday was poker night. We had a big group of 9+ people. we got poker chips and and it was a professional setting. It was fun as i did make it to the final 3. It took pretty long to finish the game and by the time we were done, it was 3. However we learnt the important rules of the game and i am sure we will play this game during the next several weekends...
On sunday we had our second intramural round in badminton and we probably faced the toughest team in the tournament. Myself and roomate were partners and we went a little early, got the feel of things and made sure that our form upto the mark.Usually we are bad starters and so we discussed before that we should start well...To our fortune, we started real well in both the sets and we were ahead 7-1 and 6-1 in both the sets before we closed 15-9,15-6. It was a convincing win and at the moment, we are pretty confident that we will go all the way...

2006-04-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

This week we had a potluck at work as we threw a baby shower for one of our colleagues who is due anytime soon. All my team members chipped in and we gave her a cute gift of a stroller and a car seat(for the new kid ofcourse).
She also received several other gifts from other people and i was amazed to see how many things a new kid needs before even it faces the world. I wish her good luck and hope everything goes well for her in the next few weeks or so.
On saturday night, I played poker for the first time with some friends, and we all had a lot of fun. It was pretty exciting and luck changed from hand to hand which kept the game alive and kicking. we played till almost 3 before we realized about the daylight savings and then called it a day.
next week doesnt sound to be too exciting with lots of work coming in my way and i hope it gets over quickly..

2006-03-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

this friday started with the usual badminton practice with my roomate. Even though we didnt play that well in most of the games, we ended up winning. But i know for sure that we gotto play better, once the tournament starts otherwise we would be found wanting.i was invited for dinner that night to a tamil family house and i ended up watching a good movie pirates of the caribbean sea.
My friends had rented the xbox video game and i found out that i sucked in these video games..or in other words my friends were probably very good...
Next day we had this big potluck among several friends and i had a make a sambhar which i call it as "hotel sambhar" . I love this sambhar as this time when i went to india, i invariably had either idli/vada with sambhar no matter which resaturant we went. The sambhar i made was very good or atleast thats what i felt and it was very close to the taste that i was used to eating. All my friends dishes were extremely good and we had one ball of a time that nite. Later we played some cards and got involved in some fun activities. It was a probably a better weekend that i originally thought would be.
In the meanwhile, the weather god has smiled and i guess the last week of winter went past us.

2006-03-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

it was just one of those weekends, where i wanted to do so many things, but ended up doing nothing..apart from the usual badminton,cards and movies, there was nothing productive/exciting i did..
yeah we did go for some bowling ...
every time i started to do some reading, i was always distracted by something else or the other and stopped reading..
this week being a spring break, most of the students are out of town partying..they should be glad that they are out of town, as its suddenly snowing here in the month of march and for the first time in almost over a year and half i was late to work by 20+ minutes on monday......
everytime myself and another friend try to plan for a fishing expedition, the weather becomes nasty and cold and we cant even step outdoors..
i m just trying to stay warm this week.and i hope this is the last week of winter..

2006-03-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

my workout intensity has been increasing ever since the beginning of this new year and i am already seeing some drastic results. This has also helped my eating habits and my appetite has been really good of late.
This week has been less hectic at work as my boss has gone out of town for the spring break. He wont be back till the end of next week and i hope to utilize the coming week for doing up some cleaning activities and doing some reading. i want to do something exciting this weekend, and lets see what we all end up with...

2006-03-14T09:27:00.000-08:00

last friday i had gone camping with my friends...even though i have stayed in US for a number of years, i cant remember when i had done camping before..it was quite a large gathering of people, mostly undergrad students..(around 25-30 of them...)...we did lot of activities even though it was dark.. we played frisby for a little while, then started lighting campfire and cooked some nice dinner...some of them were wandering around the nearby lake..,had put up tents to stay overnight..
even though they were young students, i should appreciate the planning they had put in for this event and it was well done..
after a while we started chatting with each other sitting around the campfire and then there were some crazy people jumping over the fire and trying to drink a gallon of milk in 1 hr..then we started to have some meaningful discussions on certain sensitive topics...
it was a fun night and i felt that i am getting to become real close friends with these group of people...

2006-03-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

last evening i had a chance to spend some time with an american friend of mine..he was curious to hear about the kind of food, culture, religion and other key aspects of india. My friend, having travelled across several international borders was quick to learn about the history and heritage of india...we discussed about the ways in which american people lead their life, with lot of debts, but still enjoy the most comfort..
also it was one of my friends bday, and we all had gone out for a party..cake and stuff usual...

2006-03-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

this is my first blog with the hope that i would do this continously for a finite period of time...
i have become a fitness freak in the past month or so and i am striving hard to achieve my goal...however today wasnt a great day at the recreation complex as i was not able to lift the usual weights that i normally do...maybe bcos i had a slightly busier than normal day at work, and probably the food at subway wasnt enough for me..we had a two hour meeting at work, which actually ended in no proper conclusion..which is always disappointing...however thats how it goes, sometimes with result and sometimes without...