AWAKE & DREAMING

MOVED

2007-01-02T04:39:00.000+05:30

I have moved this blog over to AWAKE & DREAMING

Welcome 2007

2007-01-01T13:25:00.000+05:30

Last night my sister Sherine held a New Year's party and family get together at her apartment and really did a splendid job in arranging it. I wasn't sure that I would be able to attend it but at the very last moment my work shift was assigned as 10 in the morning till 7 in the evening. So by 7:30 pm I was at her place. The others were my dad, mom, Sherine, her three kids (Abishek, Aditya & baby Geethu), bro-in-law Deepak, his dad, my cousins - Raju with his wife Mallu & their baby Gayathri, Jayakrishnan, Kannanchettan his wife Sreedevi & their son Govind, Arun, Suraj, Priya, her husband Shaju, Shalini & Subin. I hadn't seen Subin in ages and Arun I was meeting for just the second time in 5 years.

For drinks we had beer, Bacardi White Rum & Johnny Walker Whiskey. Soon we were munching on fried beef, a fried fish chips , lots of Lays (hmmm Tomato Sauce flavoured is so delicious), salad, and lovely chocolate cake. There was water, club soda and what we thought was orange juice but turned out be mango juice upon close inspection of the carton to mix our drinks! That was hilarious - mango juice does not go well with bacardi! I found a big bottle of Sprite and mixed that with my white rum. The kids were playing and screaming and laughing. The ladies were yakking ten to the dozen and us guys were boozing and cracking bad jokes. As usual Arun was the butt of most of them. It would be so appropriate that he would make himself seem silly and drunk on a few beers. This was also the first time that I would have alcohol with Raju & JK and Deepak's dad.

There was some music played in the background but don't ask me to name any songs - I was too busy having a good time! Also, Star Wars : Episode III was switched on from time to time. A couple of my non-drinking cousins were also engrossed by Alien vs Predator and as to how the little black actress became buddies with the Predator guy! Some had to leave before midnite cause their car would turn into a pumpkin! No, Raju had to report for work from his home system so he left with his wife and kid and dropped Shalini home on his way. JK took Priya and Shaju home as well. The rest of us continued drinking till the last moment. We then had our dinner, which was fried rice, chicken and stuff that I did not even touch. I was pretty full by then but did enjoy the ice cream of two flavours. Surprisingly there were very few shouts of "Happy New Year" contrary to what is supposed to be tradition.

We left soon after and parted ways. This was a very special and enjoyable occasion, especially since they come so few and far between these years. Fun parties like this used to happen very so quite so often when we were younger and you get to appreciate them. I took a few pictures which you can seen in my Flickr site.

Happy New Year to you and yours, everyone. May 2007 be a whole lot better than 2006!

Song for the day - "Shoebox" - BARENAKED LADIES

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : First 11 Songs I Listened To In 2007

2007-01-01T12:02:00.000+05:30

Rained Out Parade - Wide Mouth Mason
Be Yourself - Audioslave
I Go Blind - 54-40
Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies
Boulevard Of Broken Dream - Green Day
Hero Of The Day - Metallica
Gyroscope - The Tea Party
I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan
Your Heart - Matt Mays & El Torpedo
Samson - Regina Specktor
Mr.Recordman - Ugly Kid Joe

Better Way

2006-12-30T22:01:00.000+05:30

So today was the day that finally came - they execute that dictator & overall motherfucker Saddam Hussein to death by hanging. This is such a welcome decision, even if the US now basically runs Iraq. Saddam deserves to die; he didn't even deserve to live. A better way was that he should have been hung by his balls and left to die. He should have been castrated. He was a rotten excuse for a human being and the very sight of him laughing has cause me to vomit my guts out. The day this asshole invaded Kuwait, he became the shit in my eyes!

What good will a three hour hartal do in Kerala in protest of his death? Why protest at all? Damn these muslim fundamentalists - some arab muslim, no matter that he is a rotten asshold, is killed and they all have to protest and have marches denouncing it@ What the fuck, wake up you morons!! He was a third-rate bastard! Why do u bother? Imbeciles

Song for the day - "Ain't It Fun" - GUNS N'ROSES

Can I Get The Job?

2006-12-29T23:59:00.000+05:30

Well round two of my interview at the rival company is over and I must say that it went so well, even I was surprised. I went there without a copy of my resume, since I had already emailed a copy to my friend who works there and I had also handed a copy over to a person in HR last Friday. But she was on leave today so the manager interviewing me today did not have a copy to peruse through. I felt like a doofus for not bringing along another copy!

But she said that she would take a print-out from the e-mail my friend had forwarded her and went to get it. I sat in the small room like a dumbo and twiddled my thumbs. She came back and we sat and talked about myself and what I have done for about half an hour to 40 minutes. After a few minutes I felt very comfortable as it was easy to see that she was a good person and genuinely interested in what I had to say. I think she left sorry for me at what had happened as she did ask me why I stuck around at my old company despite the lousy pay. I had nothing but the truth to tell her. That I have a combination of laziness and fear of leaving my comfort zone and plus the ridiculous loyalty that is nothing but fear in disguise.

She wanted me to come tomorrow and promised me a much better pay that what I am currently getting here. It was all I could do from jumping on the table and dancing and then getting on my knees and kissing her hands & feet. Ok, so I said that would be good. I am to meet their customer care head and will have something solid after I speak to him. So off I went back to my work with a big smile on my face. All I had was a choco frappe to celebrate. Wish me luck!

Song for the day - "Sweet Surrender" - SARAH MCLACHLAN

Boxing Day

2006-12-26T23:06:00.000+05:30

I have kept hearing about Boxing Day and the ritual of it. What did it mean, Boxing Day? Is it the international celebration of the great physical sport of boxing? Is this the day that Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, George Forman & Lennox Lewis were appreciated and celebrated for their sporting achievements and lauded for the entertainment that they brought to hordes of sports enthusiasts? Or is this the day that they released the controversial movie Boxing Helena? Lol, just kidding!!

Boxing day is a holiday celebrated in The United Kingdom & most of the Commonwealth Countries - but not here in India - and falls today, the 26th of December! It has been referred to as the day that most people 'box' away the Christmas decorations and keep them aside till the next year. There are also 'Boxing Day' sales, in which stores generally sell their after-Christmas stock at much lower prices than usual and I have seen hordes of the public waiting in line to rush into malls at the precise moment that they open! You can save a lot this way but you can also get a nasty injury if you fall and get trampled on. If a woman in high hells trods on your family jewels, you could never father children......or worse become impotent. You could lose your manly voice and start squeaking like a pre-teen girl!

By the way, why are they called Commonwealth Countries?

Because the British Commonly looted all these countries Wealth!!

Song for the day - "No Surprise" - THEORY OF A DEADMAN

HO HO ..........WHO?

2006-12-25T00:36:00.000+05:30

Merry Christmas.................................AND A CRAPPY NEW YEAR!

Smelly Cat

2006-12-24T14:49:00.000+05:30

The Obligatory Office Xmas Party

2006-12-22T23:56:00.000+05:30

So we had the party or what they seem to belive can pass off as a party! Meaning, while the main office had a grand feast, with much music & celebrations and made a merry old time yesterday, the call centre here worked and slogged as usual. Then today some old farts from the office (read that as upper management) came over to see what decorations the kids here had dished out. Sorry that I could only get two pics as the others came out badly as poor lighting & the fact that mine is only a cell phone camera played a huge factor!

Some of the kids spent a lot of time and energy in setting up the place and they did a good job considering the fact that they were on a tiny budget and had very little time to complete the training. The call centre never closes down so they still had to work almost a complete shift except for an hour or so to take part in the activities. Many came the previous night and stayed till the wee hours of the morning or before their shifts today, just so that it could look presentable. And I sure did like what they did, although the better parts of the hall are not shown in the above two pics.

We had some lovely cake (finally cake that I like) and work went along as usual. They had a small ceremony to hand out certificates to the agents who had successfully completed the next level of tests which could help them further their career. I was handed a gift coupon for discount at a local supermarket in appreciation of my 'excellent work at training a huge bunch of executives' according to the head of administration and HR'! My ass!

I got a cute little gift from a manager of training and quality. She has always been supportive and helpful to me and wanted to get me a little something. I was really touched that she had thought of me.

Oh and I had gone to attend an interview at a rival company of this organization! I was recommended by a former colleague who is working there now. I went to their impressive looking office and a short wait later had a brief session with someone from HR. I handed over my CV and explained what I was all about. She was polite and said that since the manager was busy today that I could come back later and that she would hand over my resume separately. I was happy to be considered and don't have much hopes of my chances in getting there. Anyway, I tried and hope for the best.

Song for the day - "Saving Me" - NICKELBACK

Bill Explanation

2006-12-21T12:55:00.000+05:30

I was having an issue with my ISP provider. Not about the actual service as such - it is first class. I took it in October and frankly, there has not been a single day that I have had an issue with the internet.

What I have had issue with and sent an e-mail seeking clarification was this : two days after I took up the connection, I was given a welcome outcall from their office and a girl cheerfully told me about my bill plan and such and pointed out the various features and where I could contact them in person or through e-mail. And she stated that since I had paid an advance rent, I would not have to pay one month's rent at all! I specifically confirmed with her twice; since I work for an similar service (though in cell phone service providing) and was aware of the advance bill which is only adjusted upon canceling the connection). And both times I was cheerfully told that 'yes sir, you won't have to pay your first month's bill'! I was quite happy about this and made it a point to tell that to a couple of people as well.

But as you may know by now, I was sent a bill with Rs.300 payment due (they did charge me the rent and long story of it, with the adjustments, I had to pay a pro-rata charge of Rs.300 since I had not signed on for an entire full month). So I called up their customer care centre (which is in no way toll free by the way) and a well meaning girl put me on hold 6 times (which she was was due to her system malfunction) and clarified that I would have to pay that Rs.300 but 'not to worry sir, it is only because you joined us towards the later part of that billing month! You won't have to pay your next month's bill!'

Like the schmuck that I was I believed that load of bull! I forgot about the Rs.300 and had my service cancelled and went to pay it two days after it got cut. I even paid a month's rent in advance so I won't have to be bothered to got up till there until January (to pay December's bill). Now, in the November bill, there was the rent charged again and this time I decided, no calling them up! I sent a polite e-mail asking them a clarification. I was sent a clarification of sorts - which I only read today! See, I sent them the mail from my hotmail account but they replied it to the e-mail account that they give me along with my connection (which I won't really be using). So I got a call from another girl, who had sent that e-mail and read it! It basically meant that I was given some wrong information....twice! I told her I had an issue with that! She agreed with me but did nothing further other than confirm the wrong information, so I said fine and kept the phone.

I should have pushed further, I should have been angry. I should have blasted them but I know that it is not the fault of the executive who called me. Since I work in customer care myself, I know what all they have to face. But, not everyone is gonna be like me. They better not bank on that.

Song for the day - "Fear Of The Dark" - IRON MAIDEN

Coffee & Beer with Wayne & Garth

2006-12-19T22:46:00.000+05:30

I needed to buy a new pair of jeans very badly as my faithful blue ones got a tasty big tear and I won't be able to wear them outside. It's been a few month since I got new clothes so I decided to spend the morning & afternoon out. First things first; since I had very little sleep, I headed over to Cafe Coffee Day and had a big cold coffee with chocolate stuff in it and it tastes so goooood and provided an excellent caffeine kick. I relaxed and listened to some songs on my Motorola V3i. I wanted to get a blue pair but since they were out of them in my size, I settled for a grey jeans that should be ok for most of the shirts that I wear. The place was so crowded with families doing last minutes Christmas season shopping and kids were scattered all over the place.

That done, I went to buy some books from the used book sale cum fair near Padma. It was dusty and hot as hell in there but I stuck around to get three novels - The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon, Blood And Gold by Anne Rice & Blood Canticle also by Anne Rice. I also decided to head to Music World and see if there was anything worth purchasing there and settled on getting a copy of one of my all-time fav movies - Wayne's World! Party on Garth, Party on Wayne!

The hot sun and the humidity I faced till then made up my mind for me and I went into Oberoi for two beers & a delicious plate of American Chopsuey that I took my time in eating and read 90 pages of The Stars Shine Down. I am a noodles nut! Then it was back home for a little snooze and more reading. The evenings are getting so hot even in December!

Song for the day - "Hold My Beer" - AARON PRITCHETT

Changes

2006-12-16T01:51:00.000+05:30

I had to go the main office today; as a favour to Seema I was to take a two hour session on the main software that we use for a batch of new agents. She was taking the induction course for them, but since she fell ill, she asked if I could help her out. She has often helped me out and ofcourse I would only be happy to return the favour for her. The only thing is I never feel good about going back there - my situation being that I had to move from there to the BPO means I miss people and several people miss me and my position should be much better than it actually is. All because the HR & Administration are a bunch of morons!

But go I did and checked with her as to how much she has covered and up to what should I cover. When I went in another colleague was taking another section of the training for the agents, so I decided to hang around for a bit and wait until the kids had had lunch since it was already 1:25 pm by then. I went up to see some of my friends at the main office and was happy to see several, like Jalpa - who always calls me and chats with me on the phone but who I haven't seen in almost a year! Went to the call centre there, my old stomping grounds, and saw Michelle. Plenty of changes all around, very few agents who I recognised.

Anyway, that part was pleasant but the training wasn't! I was shocked at the behaviour of the idiots who composed of the team of 25 new joinees that were there. A few of them especially rubbed me the wrong way and I had no interest in continuing beyond the first few minutes. If those assholes aren't interested then they have no business in being there in the first place. I almost blasted them and Seema berated me for not doing so. My reply was I only met them and didn't want to stamp my authority just then. It would be a different situtation if, like at the BPO, they were assigned to me for a whole 5 days! Then they would see a different me. But I did give them a casual warning and said that if this was their attitude ....wait! When they started work, they would have to survive me! Beware!

Song for the day - "Be Yourself" - AUDIOSLAVE

Joe Nieuwendyk Retires

2006-12-14T13:02:00.000+05:30

NHL veteran player Joe Nieuwendyk retired from professional hockey due to various health problems. In a lengthy successful career, he has won it all and did it with style and grace, always letting his classy play do his talking for him. Below is a short history of his career taken from Legends of Hockey.

Born in Oshawa, Ontario, and raised in Whitby, Joe Nieuwendyk played college hockey at Cornell University in New York state. A cousin of NHLer Jeff Beukeboom, he spent three years on the Ivy League school's team and was twice named to the ECAC's First All-Star Team, in 1986 and 1987. He was also selected as an All-American in both years. In 1985, after his freshman year, the Calgary Flames were sufficiently impressed to draft him in the second round, 27th overall. In his first full season as a Flame, 1987-88, the young center scored 51 goals and 92 points, becoming only the second NHL player after Mike Bossy to score 50 goals in his rookie season. His totals also included eye-popping 31 power-play goals and 8 game-winners, and he was rewarded with the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. Nieuwendyk's second season with the Flames was just as impressive as his first. He was the leader of a team that won the Stanley Cup, again scoring 51 goals. In 1991 he was named captain of the Flames. When knee problems prevented Nieuwendyk from playing early in the 1995-96 season, the Flames found few takers on the trade market. Finally, in December 1995, the Dallas Stars acquired Nieuwendyk for Corey Millen and Jarome Iginla.

Besides being an exceptional hockey player, Nieuwendyk was also considered to be the best lacrosse player in Canada, and at one point he even played on a team that won the Minto Cup, the country's top award in that sport. Known as an aggressive player in front of the net as well as a good passer, Nieuwendyk's style of play has caused him a number of health problems, he missed most of the 1998 playoff due to a knee injury. However, in 1999, his health and luck returned as Nieuwendyk scored 6 game-winning goals in the playoffs to lead the Stars to victory over Buffalo in the Stanley Cup finals. The Oshawa native went on to play parts of two more season's with the Stars before he was traded to the New Jersey Devils. Since his arrival in New Jersey, Nieuwendyk has reached numerous milestones including the 500 goals, 500 assists and 1,000 points. In 2003, Nieuwendyk earned his third career Stanley Cup ring despite missing the Final due to injury and then later that summer signed as a free-agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he would suit up for one season before opting to move on to the Florida Panthers in the summer of 2005. On the international stage, Nieuwendyk represented Canada at the 1986 World Junior Championships, at the 1990 World Championships, and is a two-time member of Canada's Winter Olympic team (1998-2002).

Song for the day - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - JEFF HEALEY

Windows Live Mail Beta is here

2006-12-13T22:27:00.000+05:30

Windows & Hotmail have finally woken up and smelled the coffee (ironic that that they are based near Seattle, the coffee capital of the world) and gone in for an overhaul of their oh so boring and oh so old style of their services. I have joined in to try out their Windows Live Mail beta version and so far I am pretty pleased with it! Microsoft can be as predictable as your parents and I was quite bored with the huge corporate giant. Yet this brave new direction may be the saving grace, atleast as far as Hotmail is concerned. I was quite fed up of their sedate & dull looking service page which made me wonder if they had any changes done to Hotmail since they bought the mail service from Sabeer Bhatia!

They are now ready to be compared with Gmail, my current preffered option for web-based e-mail. Infact, the current look for Window's Live Mail is so much like a bastard child of Gmail & your office version of Outlook Express! That's what I feel like when I was using Windows Live earlier this evening and just a few minutes back. Anyway, I like it and think that it is a great innovative change in the right direction and that they attracts a few more clients in this manner. Atta boy, Bill Gates, you are finally showing what your can do.

I just dig the Mail preview window that you can incorporate into WLM beta(a la Outlook) which means you don't have to click and open ur mails just to read it! This is an excellent tool which I use everyday at the office. This can be used to delete off your junk mail. Don't have to waste too much time on them. Over the next few days, after using it for a while, I may be able to give a full assessment of it but so far so good, it seems like a very good tool. I'm not big on mail and I will probably still prefer Gmail....we shall see!

Song for the day - "Blue Bayou" - ROY ORBISON

RIP Peter Boyle

2006-12-12T23:46:00.000+05:30

Perhaps most famous for playing the grumpy & sarcastically funny grandfather in Everybody Loves Raymond, actor Peter Boyle died today in New York. A native of Philadelphia, Boyle was 71 when he died. Before acting, he had a brief stint in the US Navy. Among his notable movie roles were the title character in Joe, The Candidate, as the Frankenstein monster in Young Frankenstein, Yellowbeard and Monster's Ball. He was also the tough guy commander of police in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Red Heat. He had brief roles in Taxi Driver, the Shadow & Species 2. He appeared in a series of ads for Alka-Seltzer along with his tv wife Doris Roberts. In real life, Boyle was married to former Rolling Stone reporter Loraine Alterman, who he met on the set of Young Frankenstein. He was still in his Frankenstein makeup when he asked her for a date!!!

Ofcourse the world knows him best & most recently as Ray Romano's (Ray Barone) funny dad (Frank Barone)in Everybody Loves Raymond who deadpans wise cracks all day and forever seems to be hungry, while watching endless tv, especially sports. He battles verbally with the perfect match for his - Doris Roberts. He always picks on his two sons, calling them names. There is no one in the world who can duplicate the role that Peter Boyle did to perfection. My other fav memory of Peter Boyle will be his Emmy Award winning (for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series) guest role in an episode of The X Files. He plays an ordinary guy who can see the imminent death's of others. He ends up being targeted by a killer because of this very ability and in a wonderful scene, tells Dana Scully about an emotional moment between them that is about to happen. Scully thinks that he means that they have sex together, but what he meant was, she would find him murdered and lying on a bed and that Scully would shed a tear for him. That was a truly great role.

Song for the day - "If I Were A Carpenter" - ROBERT PLANT

Sunday Afternoon

2006-12-10T18:35:00.000+05:30

Sitting here on a Sunday afternoon, nothing much to but aimlessly browse webpages and download mp3s. I was looking for some mp3s ofsongs that I really wanted, some of which I haven't heard in quite a long while. Mike Boon suggested to try downloading Sharezea in an e-mail a couple of days ago, and so I tried them out. Sp i did download and install their application to supplement my Limewire account. Today I was able to get "I Want It All" by Queen, "Be Yourself" by Audioslave, "Call & Answer" by BNL and videos of "Cherry Pie" (Warrant), "No Rain" (Blind Melon) & "18 & Life" (Skid Row). Both the applications are wonderful, although I prefer Limewire.

I had woken up so late this morning and still wanted to go back to sleep. The last few months, I sleep so little on the days that I have work. Nothing more than 5 hours or so. But I slept like a baby and it was restful. I had coffee and dry toast for a late breakfast. In the afternoon I watched an episode of CSI : NY - it was a good one, in which a cop is part of a bank heist. His three partners kidnap the baby of a bank employee and force her to help them in the looting of the bank's vaults. Things go wrong when the crooked cop's partnet investigates the noises coming from the valut and is killed. Two of the thieves are also killed and the CSI come in to investigate.

I was lazy and decided not to shower and just wanted to hangout, my plans of going for a movie were also scrapped at the last moment. I also had plans of going out shopping - but laziness prevailed. I hope to head out next saturday or sunday as I really need to get some new jeans.

Song for the day - "Skinned" - BLIND MELON

A Trio In Their 30s

2006-12-09T20:34:00.000+05:30

I headed out yesterday for a few drinks with Anil & Madhu. I normally don't like to drink at night when I have to work the next morning. I prefer to either not drink or to take it in the afternoon if I am going to the office the next day. But yesterday was an exception; Madhu and Anil calling me in the evening around 7 pm to come to Malabar House's roof-top garden in Convent Junction for a few. I was in two minds whether to join them or not. I actually said "you guys go on ahead without me, I'll join you some other day"! But it was eating away at me.

I left the office at 8pm and was going to head home, however I got down at the Jetty and took an auto to the roof-top garden. Madhu & Anil had started without me, having had a couple of drinks and some snacks. I quickly joined them, at the same spot that Anil and I had met a couple of weeks ago, and ordered a couple of vodkas and something to eat. And then the fun started!

For the next two and a half hours we cracked jokes, laughed ourselves silly and enjoyed some good drinks & food. Anil & I make fun of Madhu since he is the only married guy among us and is whipped and tied to his ball & chain. And Madhu makes fun of us because of the same reason. Madhu and I make fun of Anil due to his eternal flame for a girl, who worked with us earlier, and who did not have a clue about Anil's lust for her! And Anil and Madhu make fun of me.....well, because I am more sexier than the both of them combined together!

Soon we had to head back to our respective homes and we left, three on a bike! Very dangerous and especially after having drunk some! I went straight to sleep so I would be as fresh as possible when I woke up and had to go to the office. They both were off today!

Song for the day - "Down Boys" - WARRANT

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : Names As Song Titles

2006-12-07T00:42:00.000+05:30

Jeremy - Pearl Jam

Carrie - Europe

Wayne - Chantal Kreviazuk

Roseanna - Toto

Adia - Sarah McLachlan

Jane - Barenaked Ladies

Sarah - Maren Ord

Elmo - Holly McNarland

Sara - Starship

Jessica - Allman Brothers

Beth - Kiss

Song for the day - "Elmo" - HOLLY MCNARLAND

Firefox lover

2006-12-06T22:57:00.000+05:30

It is only lately that I have become a Firefox advocate and staunch user. I know, it seems kinda late. A lot of the personal blogs or websites that I visit has a link to download Firefox or something of Firefox but I couldn't do much with it since I didn't have a computer. Now that I do, I did download Mozilla Firefox, about a month ago, and you could too by click here. You would be amazed by how efficient and fast it is. How much better looking it is and how soon you will decide that this is the tool for you, whenever you want to browse the net. The Tab options which makes things so simple to use and easy to sort out you various pages and links within pages that you are browsing is so beyond IE. Firefox is free and it kicks Internet Explorer's ass anytime and anywhere on every platform. See the clever pic given to the left! You see foxy boy taking a bite off IE. That's it's foxy boy; go get him. Attack! Atta boy, good foxy!

I would suggest that you read their documents before you go ahead and download Firefox. Also, you get the option to shift your existing bookmarks and stuff from the browser(s) that you have, like IE. I still haven't selected Firefox as my default browser, simple because I use Windows XP and since IE comes bundled with Windows (because they are both from Microsoft) there are some things that I will want IE to automatically open instead of something else. Mostly for offline purposes. Or for direct links to my Hotmail inbox from MSN Messenger. Again, they also are from Microsoft. I prefer to keep it in this manner; but when I want to browse the net, it's Firefox all the way.

Plus chicks love Firefox. Just ask her!!

Ofcourse nothing is perfect and there are a couple of things I don't like about Firefox. Like the small window that automatically opens whenever I try to download something from a page. And while we are at it, it is still too big! I also use Opera browser and the thing I like about it is, everytime I reopen Opera, it asks me if I want to start from where I left off. Meaning that if I was browsing a few pages and then shut down the internet for sometime, I don't have to waste time in looking for the exact page(s) I was at! Opera does that for me everytime. Firefox only does this when it gets closed by error (like if it got hung or something). If Mozilla can add that into it, I won't think of using another browser again (hint, hint).

So be a good boy or girl and download the software! Down below are links to some Firefox related wallpapers for your computers.

Song for the day - "Foxy Lady" - JIMI HENDRIX

Save Your Scissors by City & Colour

2006-12-05T23:15:00.000+05:30

Turn out the lights, light a scented candle or two if you have them! Settle yourself in a comfy position with a pillow and play this song. You can open your eyes and watch the video or keep your eyes closed for this one. Relax & enjoy City & Colour.

December Flu

2006-12-03T19:40:00.000+05:30

Hey, I am at home having taken a sick leave from the office as I was suffering from a fever and cough and a runny nose. I was in between my training session at the office yesterday when I started feeling very ill. I had someone else finish the session for the day and rested for a bit at the call centre. If you can call being in the middle of a noisy group of call centre agents as resting! I tried staying on my feet but was so tired and coughing up flem that I decided to take off an hour early after arranging the remaining portion of the session. I struggled to get to the bus stop and on the way home got a couple of quick snacks to eat as I could not eat a proper lunch in the afternoon.

I was ok for the rest of the evening, other than feeling dry in the mouth and a very badly running nose. I had taken a couple of Paracetomols in the afternoon to no effect. So I put some songs in low volume on the computer and tried resting for a bit and then I tried reading. At night I watched a great episode of Enterprise before settling down for the night with some hot water kept on a chair near my bed.

Today was no better....in fact it got worse! I had a full blown fever by 12:00 pm and was actually shivering. A couple of cups of strong coffee and two crocins helped but for some time it felt like I was coming down with a major case of the flu! I slept a lot in the afternoon, before and after a tasteless lunch. In the evening, I asked someone from the office to send me a couple of files so I could wound up my report of the current crop of new joinees at the company and assigned the rest of the training part for them, atleast until Tuesday, when I hope I will be well enough to get back to work.

And I know that I usually fall sick in December or by the 28th of November every year, but deja vu 2 u 2! I was reading some entries of 2005 and 2004 in my old blog and I found out that I was sick at the same time in 2004! I had an entry that describes it here and was struck by the similarities in it.

Song for the day - "Sick & Tired" - DEFAULT

No Doubt A-Boot It

2006-12-01T21:34:00.000+05:30

Apparently my boots weren't made for walking! I had bought a new pair of shoes on the 24th of August; exactly the same day that we moved to the new apartment. I figured that new place, new start, might as well buy a new pair of walkers! Actually, my old pair was a bit old and a little worn out, so I went to the place I usually buy shoes from (we get a good discount from the owner as he is is friends with my mom's cousin) and I get great treatment when I go there. So I bought a pair made of really comfortable but thin and flimsy material, apparently. They felt good on my feet but when I was out and walked on rough roads with huge pebbles & stones (which in Kerala is almost everywhere) it was murder on my feet. I remember getting patches of bad skin on my soles and it was because of the thin material.

So I was planning on getting a new pair in a few days. The heels of the shoes were starting to tear a bit. Today, I was heading out to work, when I saw a stone lying on the path in front of me. Without thinking I just kicked at it....and got a shock! The damned stone was not loose and actually stuck to the tar but sticking out hence misleading me into thinking that it was just lying there. As I kicked at it, the sharp pointy edge of the stone ripped into my sole and tore the damn thing open! It was just hanging out like the tongue of a thirsty dog! Damn, damn damn!

I needed to get new wheels, so I immediately informed the office that I would be late and took an auto to drop me near Kavitha theatre. There are a few shoe shops over there, including the aforementioned friendly store. But since it was not even 9:00 am, they were all closed. A quick check with the security guards let me know that they would open only at 10 am. I walked a bit further and found more stores closed. So I decided not to wait but head for Thoppumpady and find a store there or head to the office with a torn shoe. Luckily there were a couple of show stores open by the time I reached there and I got a nice thick pair but it doesn't feel heavy at all. I really like them and hope that they last much longer than their predecessors.

Song for the day - "Shine Up My Boots" - CORB LUND BAND

Face The Heat

2006-11-30T21:05:00.000+05:30

It is such a shame that the company cannot provide proper work environment for their claimed biggest customer touch point - the Call Centre. I spend the majority of my work hours in a small room with fake walls, fake door and the heat of a sauna in prime condition. It does not help that the huge glass window reflects the sun's deadly rays into the room (despite being slighty tinted) and creates even more heat. We face the east side and so from morning till evening I get the sense of being baked! Now I know what bread feels like when it it being made. The rivers of sweat running down our bodies does nothing to make you feel fresh.

Anyway to beat the heat, as mentioned, I normally head to Cafe Coffee Day and indulge myself but today for a change and on the spur of the moment I went for a beer right after work. After I concluded my training for the day, I remained at the office to finish my report for the month of November. A little after 7, I left the office along with a technical staff and asked him if he was up for a beer. He said ok, so went to this noisy but friendly bar opposite to the bus stop and had a beer each along with plenty of peanuts and a little fried beef. It was a pleasant experience, since it was our first evening out and I promised him that we would get a few more people from work and have a great time soon.

Kinda feeling a little sleepy now, so I am gonna sleep a lot earlier than normal tonight. To each and everyone, I bid you goodnight!!

Song for the day - "Gyroscope" - THE TEA PARTY

What Kind Of Coffee Are You?

2006-11-29T23:47:00.000+05:30

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern

At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent

You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet

Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Song for the day - "I Wanna Do It All" - TERRI CLARK

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : Aerosmith Songs

2006-11-27T22:13:00.000+05:30

Janie's Got A Gun

Dude Looks Like A Lady

Dream On

Crying

Amazing

Jaded

Hole In My Soul

Rag Doll

Angel

Walk This Way

Blind Man

Song for the day - "Blind Man" - AEROSMITH

Frustrated Worker

2006-11-26T20:29:00.000+05:30

I have been feeling very frustrated lately at the things happening at the office. It is really organised chaos over there. Everything is a mess and we all know the lead cause for it; earlier we barely used to mention the reason but now we know what it is and we name it all the time. I can't belive the stuff they put us through and when we try to dedicate ourselves totally to something and it seems like such a waste of time due to no fault of yours, it is a sickening feeling.

I was put under some pressure to complete the training for several new agents and the batches are pouring in thick and fast. The small training hall that is so cramped and so hot is a torture for me. I can't belive that I am having to deal with this. It is just so fucking hot and miserable in there. My energy is zapped and I often end the day, drenched in sweat and stinking like a pig. I go out to have a cold coffee or a cold drink to cool off and I just hate that room now. I enjoying the training aspect of it but the room is so just bad and totally inappropriate for anything other than a sauna! My collegue in the main office exclaimed to others that she wonders how I put up with it. She says she cannot imagine how she would bear to spends days in it. Well atleast I was told that we will have a new hall from tuesday onwards; they have hired the office space in the building opposite to ours.

The next gripe I have is the fact that despite the situation with the room and how unbearable it is with several people in it, I still don't get full access to it. I am told to complete the training in 'x' number of days and yet it seems like a lot of time is wasted because the room is occupied. Since there is only one small room for any activities (other than the actual call centre) I get disturbed for three hours in a day and I have to stop the training and make these new joinees hang around doing nothing until it is free again! I have repeatedly expressed my deep disatisfaction at this and feel that they are being very stupid in their decisions (is that a new fact?) and one of these days it is going to bite them in the ass! And that day I will be laughing.

Song for the day - "Angry Chair" - ALICE IN CHAINS

Fussy Logic?!

2006-11-25T19:11:00.000+05:30

I type this, as I sip capucchino, on a borrowed laptop and using the cafe' wi-fi connection. I don't like it if people when people fuss about things that seem too trivial. At the risk of being hounded as a male chauvinist, let me tell you that I find that women tend to do that more than men. I have rarely seen men be so fussy about small details and stuff like that. But which ever sex is guilty of it, I never like it. I didn't say I hate it; it can even be a bit funny and bring out an endering quality in people. But I don't necessary like it. I think it is a bit immature of people to indulge in it.

Confused? Well, what I am trying to say is that, especially for girls, when they are being fussy, they can look cute and even sound cutish although I don't think it is right to be so. It is the equivalent of pouting - it can look so cute but I don't encourage it. Maybe a pre-teen can be judged to be okay when she does it but not on a grown up lady above 21! A recent incident is the one that made me enter this; a friend wants to "teach" a person a lesson as she felt that this other person insulted her. I know what the conversation was about and the other person in no way wanted to insult my friend. But she is adamant on to extacting revenge. I was laughing for a while but then was forced to scold her for being so childish. My attitute was met "Do you like me more than him? Does he mean more to you than I do?". I said that I would not dignify that question with an answer and that she should know better. I admonished her for the silly kind of in-fighting that I hope I am above of and told her to be a little more grown up. I left her sulking in a corner but I have no doubt that she will be coming back to be my friend in no time.

Song for the day - "Clumsy" - OUR LADY PEACE

What's Worse?

2006-11-24T21:06:00.000+05:30

Q. What's worse than a girlband? A. A boyband

Q. What's worse than a boyband? A. A gay boyband (but aren't they all gay)

Q. What's worse than a gay boyband? A. A boyband who covers rock anthemns

Q. What's worse than a boyband who covers rock anthemns? A. A boyband who covers rock anthemns and tries to act tough in the music video

Q. What's worse than Boyzone (borezone)? A. Their lead singer releasing solo albums

Q. What's worse than Backstreet Boys (bacteria boys) A. The Backstreet Boys now in their 30s and still calling themselves that! or (alternative answer, some idiots called Five or 5ive or some crap like that)

Q. What's worse than a boyband? A. A boyband that sings in Malayalam (after the world spits in disgust of the bitter taste of boybands being forced fed down the collective throats of the population and getting rid of it, Kerala finally 'discovers' boybandhood and out comes an album with Malayalam songs. In the poster that I saw while travelling to work, the boyband is all mustaches and look so stoopid!

Q. What's worse than a Malayalee boyband? A. A boyband that sings in Hindi (all of them are such poseurs and reek of Bollywodd style crap)

But the greatest grand-daddy of them all :

Q. What's worse than a Hindi singing boyband? (not much) but A. Baba Seghal rapping in Hindi and sucking worse than you can possibly imagine! Imagine a pile of crap singing.....now you get the picture!

Song for the day - "The Other Side" - OZZY OSBOURNE

Feeling Irish

2006-11-23T21:39:00.000+05:30

I am now recovering at home, safe in my room. It has been a hot & sweaty day, couped up like a turkey in that oven of a training room that we have in our office! Other than the training that I am giving, we also had another fuction happening in the same room and hence I spent almost all the nine work hours suffering the heat. I caught a bad cold brought on my sneezing due to allergy to the dust from somewhere and now am feeling so down. My nose is running much further than me and I feel awful. My throat is also a bit sore and I have a bit of a cough. I think it was the dust that started it, although it could be due to the heat in the room and all the sweat. I wanted to take a cold shower as soon as I reached home but decided to skip in due to my cold.

So I was on day three of my training this current batch of 12 but I had to give them a long break because we only have the one room to do any activities. The break lasted 4 1/2 hours and I wonder what impressions have been made by the mind of these young recruits! Certainly not one of much professionalism, I'm sure. We had the aforementioned function, which was a barrel of laughs however, from 12:30 to 5, with a 30 minute break for a late lunch. The cold & cough made me feel so tired by 6 pm that I boarded a bus and headed to Cafe Coffee Day. There a lovely strong Irish Coffee did much to soothe me. I think this will be my signature coffee from now; only thing is since it is usually so hot here, I prefer a cold coffee. Specifically a mocha frappe which is oh so sinful and delicious.

Now actual Irish Coffee is supposed to contain alcohol, according to what I have read. And the classic Irish coffee is supposed to have hot black coffee, Irish Whiskey, sugar & a double dose of creame floating like a 'head' of beer on top. The image is supposed to resemble Guniness beer! However, there was no alcohol in mine, as we are at a family coffee shop chain. Anyhow, it is excellent and I aboslutely loved it. I don't think one needs to add much sugar, especially if you stir the cream into the coffee thoroughly. The effect is much like an exotic dancer enticing you with her many charms.....if you know what I mean. Can't wait to have some more of it.

Song for the day - "Kiss My Irish Ass" - GREAT BIG SEA

AMAs 2006

2006-11-22T21:54:00.000+05:30

The American Music Awards were held earlier this morning (for North America, it was the evening of November 21st) and I was happy that atleast one of my favs won an award - Nickelback's All The Right Reasons for best pop/rock album. Furthermore, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers (a staple in every Indian kitchen, no doubt) won two awards for favourite pop/rock group & favourite alternative band (although the Americans spell it 'favorite'). I could have switched the tv off after knowing these results. Still I watched some of the show before I had to get ready for work.

The night's big winners were shitty rap band, the Black Eyed Peas or three guys and a woman with a big hump! Go get some talent you worthless shitheads. Mary J Blige and her annoying songs were there. Beyonce proved once again that she missed her calling as a slut. Britney was there, soon to be single mother of two and divorced from her 'what-was-I-smoking' marriage to a guy who is less charismatic than a pimple! Oh, the host made fun of Kevin Federline (like K-Fed isn't doing enough of it by appearing in the WWE and singing)....and the very next moment, out comes Britney to present something! Oh talk about fickle, a few weeks ago she was banging that talentless wop, now she joins in the fun to mock him! Not that I feel sorry for that Vanilla Ice wanna-be!

Jamie Foxx - I don't like him at all. I don't think he is great as an actor and he sucks at singing. Just wtf is it with actors who portray a singer in a movie and then immediately starts releasing albums in real life! We have to bear J Lo; and she is horrible. Now Jamie Foxx! And he won an award....please!!

Nelly Furtado got divorced, got all sexy, got idiots backing her up, got all rnb & dance stuff and shit and now sells even more. She performed a good enough song but she had this nutjob making stupid noises into his mic and a guitar player who would not have seemed out of place in Milli Vanilli. She used to be kinda unique with her folksy stuff. Now she is....Promiscous! I don't share the fanfare now.

Carrie Underwood performed in a dress that said 'I don't know, it was picked up for me to be noticed' and did I see her almost stumble at the end of her song? Faith Hill & hubby Tim McGraw won (so what's new, American country is so predictable). But the Rascal Flatts won and they seem like an ok band. I should try to download a few of their songs. The Pussycat Dolls belong in a strip club and sing songs that all sound the same. Barry Manilow performed and so did Lionel Richie! I think I was looking forward to them the most. That is how boring the whole show was!!! End review.

Song for the day - "Don't Forget To Remember Me" - CARRIE UNDERWOOD

Movie Time : Star Trek X - Nemesis

2006-11-21T19:49:00.000+05:30

I bought the cd for the movie Star Trek X : Nemesis, the tenth feature film based on Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek vision. The tagline states what hard core fans like myself fear - A Generation's Final Journey Begins - this appears to be the final Star Trek movie with the cast for the TNG series. A very successful tv series, TNG era has made 4 movies; all of which I have seen and loved but Star Trek X : Nemesis was a commercial failure due to a few reasons beyond the actual story. The movie stars when a Romulan senate is assasinated as a result of a milatry coup and is now controlled by a Reman warrior named Shinzon. Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew is getting ready to say goodbye to the newly wedded Riker & Deanna as Riker has been promoted to Captain his own vessel. Enroute to the Romulan homeworld, the Enterprise investigate a planet where they get energy readings from and find the seperated parts of an android that looks just like DATA. After reassembling it, the crew understand that the anderoid is a prototype of DATA called B4. They are then assigned to meet the new Romulan Preator, Shinzon, on a diplomatic mission. On meeting Shinzon, the crew and especially the Enterprise Captain are stunned to find that the warrior is actually human and a clone of Picard!

Shinzon seems to want peace but infact wants to destroy the humans and the Romulans. He was cloned by the Romulans inorder for them to kidnap Picard & then replace him with Shinzon at a later stage so they can have a spy among the Federation. However, when that plan was abandoned, a child Shinzon was abandoned in a Reman mine where he was taken care of my the slave race. With Shinzon at the helm, the Remans gradually built up momentum and they finally took power. Now, Shinzon is dying as he needs a full blood tranfusion from the only matching donor - Picard. He is captured by the Remans and freed by Data later in a thrilling fight scene on the alien ship. A showdown occurs when the Enterprise is attacked by the warbird and is later joined by two Romulan ships who want to dispose of Shinzon. One Romulan ship is destroyed and another paralysed. Picard goes to Shinzon spaceship to stop the Reman from destroying the crew by activating a superweapon. DATA joins the fight, in which Shinzon is killed and bravely sends the captain back to Enterprise while he is destroyed along with the Reman spaceship.

At the end, B-4 who has been downloaded with all of DATA's memories is possibly touted as a replacement, without actually mentioning it. Since he is an android and now has all of DATA's memories, it might only a matter of time when it could be as if DATA was never killed. With that optimisum in mind - the crew bid farewell to Riker who is about to take command of the USS Titan as captain, along with Troi.

Song for the day - "Hero Of The Day" - METALLICA

Domain Registered

2006-11-20T23:42:00.000+05:30

I have my new domain name registered and just finished settling the payment. My cousin Raju set me up with a friend of his who runs a web solutions company in Vaikom (of all places, Vaikom!) and they registered my choosen url for me for the duration of one year. So, I am now the proud owner of my own domain namehttp://awakeanddreaming.org - hey wait! No point in clicking your way over there, sweetheart! I haven't set it up yet. But it is mine, oh yes. She is mine! (now laugh like Dr.Evil)

I will soon be getting some web server space, from another friend of my cousin, to host my new website & link the url http://awakeanddreaming.org to it. I plan on continuing my blog over there with a similar design to the one here. But I will be using WordPress for those very purposes. I would like to experiment with the various themes & designs that the folks at the company have. You should try them out yourselves; really fantastic work done by talented people with too much time on their hands. My Flickr site will remain; however I will also be looking out for a photo album creator software so I can also host my pics in my domain without remote linking. Any ideas? If so please e-mail me about it @ roshangk @ hotmail dot com.

Song for the day - "Life Is A Highway" - TOM COCHRANE

Book Review : The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

2006-11-19T13:39:00.000+05:30

I used to devour whole novels in short time and be completely engrossed in them. I used to remember going down to Eloor Lending library and getting three to four novels, a couple of international magazines and a few Archies Double Digests and stuff like that, during the ages of 16 to 19, and finish them in a week or 10 days. Nowadays it takes me a few days to finish one novel, sometimes even a few weeks to finish a big one. I usually create an image of what a character looks like and that image will stick with me long after I am done with the book. I also like to read a good novel several times, enjoying it about as much each time. But cable tv and the internet, not to mention work, have come in between me and the books I love so much. I often play music in the background while reading and accompany the words with several cups of strong, black coffee. I used to smoke a little when I was between the ages of 18 to 22 and I often used to smoke while reading. Not anymore.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a novel by celebrated best selling authour Stephen King, who is my favourite of all time. I have read several of his books (IT is his best) several times and really enjoy this master of the macabre. The book is about a girl, Trisha, of 9 who is lost in the woods in upper Maine and neighbouring New Hamshipre, while out hiking with her recently divorced mother & hostile brother. Trisha seperates from her family as she takes a pee and is lost for over a week. She has some food in her backpack and a walkman, through which she gets her comfort - listening in to baseball games of her idol, Tom Gordon, and his Boston Red Sox. She wears a Red Sox jersey with Tom Gordon & 36 printed in it & also has a Red Sox cap which is autographed by Gordon. She survives by wisely eating as little of her supplies and then on berries & nuts. She has to resort to drinking dirty water which makes her sick and gives her pneumonia, diahorrea and makes her vomit. She gets fever and shaking while in the rain and makes a makeshift shelter. She starts hallucinating; she sees images of people in her life including Tom Gordon, speaking to her. King does not let on if the monster that she feels and has glimpses of is real or hallucinated.

She comes across the carcass of a dear and sees claw marks on a tree. She makes it to an old road and takes shelter in an abandoned truck from which she see a glimpse of her stalking apparition during a rainy night. Meanwhile, her parents are searching for her and have united in their fear for what has happend to their daughter. Trisha keeps listening to bits of commentary of Red Sox games. A symbol of her girlie attempts to keep upbeat despite her situation is demonstrated in her singing along with a jingle whenever it plays on the radio between commentaries. Finally she faces her stalker who looks like a huge bear to her but with black sockets for eyes and maggots, flies and other insects crawling inside it. However, it seems like a normal bear to a passing hunter and he shoots at the bear just as Trisha throws her now battery-dead walkman in a baseball curve at the bear's head. The "bear" is chased away and the hunter carries Trisha to a hospital, where as she recovers, she is reunited with her brother and her reconciled parents. The book is split up in the form of innings (nine) and a 'pregame' (the morning before she got lost and starts her adventure) & a 'postgame' (as she recovers in the hospital).

Song for the day - "Flying In A Blue Dream" - JOE SATRIANI

Home Improvement

2006-11-18T21:27:00.000+05:30

No, not the hilarious family sit-com of the 90's starring Tim Allen & Patricia Richardson. The title is due to the work - especially carpentery work - happening at our apartment. We are having kitchen shelfs & cupboards built and the same team is also building book shelfs & cupboards in the common room on the extreme left of the apartment. The kitchen work is designed according to specifications by my mom and the ones in the common room follows the doctrines (?!!) of my dad. I have only asked for a bed, which I got made a few days ago and which I am enjoying sleeping on, thank you very much.

I wish I could show you the amount of dust that has collected in heaps around the apartment since the work started on the various shelfs. My bed was made out of the building and then assembled in my room, which means that there was no dust left in the trail. But the current work is partially done inside the apartment and hence we are faced with inhaling nosefull of dust everytime we breath. But that is still ok; you can sweep up dust. What I hate about this place, and possibily the only thing other than the colour, is the ant problem that we have. They are everywhere!! Little fucking monsters, intent on creating havoc. I found them in folded laundry - on the underwear that I was about to wear! Imagine the bites & pain when they attack manland!!!

Song for the day - "Your Mama Don't Dance, And Your Daddy Don't Rock n'Roll - POISON

Unplugged

2006-11-17T23:30:00.000+05:30

I wasn't able to get online the last two days; my isp had cut my service since I was late in paying up the bill. See, a girl from their office had called me a couple of days after I joined up and in the welcome call, told me that I would not have to pay the first month's rent (since I had to pay one month's rent in advance on taking up the connection, along with the required security deposit). So I was pretty pleased at that time. But then I got a bill for Rs.300. When I checked up with their customer care call centre, I was informed that since I had joined in between the billing cycle, they had calculated my rent for the days my account was active (11th to 21st) and given me a bill of Rs.300. And I was told that I didn't have to pay the next month's rent!! This was a bit funny to me. I ended up forgetting about the due date, hence they barred my connection. Well I went today to pay the Rs.300 and an advance for next month as well, just in case! I didn't want them to tell me that the advance I had payed upfront was for some special month or something and ruin my mood.

During those two days without the web, I was feeling withdrawal symptoms, like a junkie whose supply gets taken away abruptly. I listened to my mp3s which kept me warm & safe. Oh, broadband, let us not part for a single day henceforth!! (snicker, lol)

Song for the day - "Fidelity" - REGINA SPEKTOR

Movie Time : Star Trek III - The Search For Spock

2006-11-14T19:29:00.000+05:30

I bought another couple of movies on VCD on Sunday. I have only seen one, so I am gonna post about it. Star Trek III - the Search For Spock is a sequel to the previous Trek film Star Trek II - The Wrath Of Khan. This is a movie featuring the oroginal cast of Star Trek with William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Captain Spock, DeForest Kelley as Commander (Dr.) Leonard McCoy, James Doohan as Commander/Captain Montgomery Scott, George Takei as Commander Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov & Nichelle Nichols as Commander Uhura. The guest star or villain in the movie is a surprising Christopher Loyd as Klingon Commander Kruge. The movie takes place almost immediately after the events of Star Trek II, in which Khan is killed but Spock dies after bravely letting himself be affected by the powerful radiation. At the very emotional funeral, Kirk eulogizes his old friend, and Spock's body, encapsulated in a photon torpedo, is launched onto the newly formed Genesis planet. When the USS Enterprise returns back to Earth, they find that the ship is about to be decomisioned. Meanwhile, a science team is headed to the newly formed Genesis planet and the two member team (Kirk's son David & a vulcan named Saavik) discover a life-form which turns out to be a resurrected and young Spock! The planet has affected his dead body and Spock ages rapidly from a small boy to teenage to a Vulcun roughly his age at the time of his deadth by the end of the movie.

A Klingon vessel heads to the planet in order to harness Genesis as a weapon. He destroys the science team's ship and holds David, Saavik & Spock as his prisoners. On Earth, the crew steals back the Enterprise in order to find Spock's body and return it to his father in Vulcan. On reaching Genesis, they are attacked by the Kligon Kruge's ship and have to surrender to them. Kruge has his men kill one of the prisoners on the planet and David sacrifises his life to save Saavik. Kruge & the Enterprise's crew beam to the surface of Genesis. A distraught Kirk, hatches up a quick plan to render the Klingon's helpless and later fights Kruge, defeating him in the end. He returns with his crew to the Klingon ship and brings Spock to Vulcan, where he must be prepared to recover back his thoughts and memories. The movie ends with the scene of old friends reunited.

I love Star Trek and I felt that he movies with the original crew were the best. They also had a darker quality and a forebodeing theme. The interaction of McCoy, Spock & Kirk is truly missed. One funny scene is when Sulu is called Tiny by a huge guard and is later shown beating his much bigger adversary and saying the words "Don't call me Tiny"! This is a good movie to spend a dull evening with.

Song for the day - "Time Of Our Lives" - DAVID USHER

Corky & The Juice Pigs

2006-11-13T13:16:00.000+05:30

How do you beat away the Monday Blues? Simple, you have an off day from work, meaning you have to work on the Sunday. But I can relax at home, sipping on some seven up and biscuits and laugh myself silly at something like this clip below. Enjoy!!

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : Police Series

2006-11-12T00:00:00.000+05:30

This is my list of favourite tv series with the central theme being cops. This is my list, which may differ from yours. So if you don't like it, bite me!

Cold Squad

Law & Order : SVU

ChIpS

CSI : NY

N.Y.P.D Blue

DaVinci's Inquest

CSI

CSI : Miami

Hill Street Blues

Blue Murder

Pacific Blue

I did not include shows which focussed on individuals who were cops (like Due South, or TJ Hooker or Kojak) or which focussed on just a couple of cops (Starsky & Hutch, Dempsey & Makepeace etc). I wanted it to be a group effort. Although Da Vinci's Inquest is named after the Coroner Dominic Da Vinci, the show revolves around a group of Vancouver's cops, patholigists etc.

Song for the day - "Saving Me" - NICKELBACK

RIP Jack Palance

2006-11-11T20:12:00.000+05:30

Another one of my childhood icons passes away. Jack Palance passed away yesterday, 10-11-2006, of natural causes. He was 87 years old. Palance was a fixture in my home during dinner time; he was a favourite of my dad's. My sister, mom, dad & me used to watch Ripley's: Belive It Or Not in the 80's, while we were in Kuwait. It was usually on during dinner time and we used to watch that show without missing an episode. I also loved his Oscar winning role (for best supporting actor) in City Slickers and he was great along with Billy Crystal. I will never forget Palance doing push-ups on stage at the Oscars (it was among the most unforgettable moments of all time) or his intimidating villan role in Tango & Cash. Other good roles of his that I have seen : Young Guns, City Slickers 2, Batman & Treasure Island. He leaves behind his two daughters (a son had died earlier) & his second wife.

Things I didn't know about Jack Palance:
1. He was born Vladimir Palaniuk, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, in Pennsylvania
2. He had a career as boxer before he started acting.
3. He also worked in a coal mine (like his father).
4.Was in the US army and his face got disfigured in a burning plan.
5. Had platic surgery to repair the damage
6. Although known more for his parts in Westerns, he also played Dracula, Dr.Jeckly & Mr.Hyde & Attila the Hun.

Song for the day - "Miracle" - JON BON JOVI

How Short This Life!

2006-11-09T23:56:00.000+05:30

I got calls from three agents in our Call Centre tonight while I was at home. These three have a mutual friend who passed away a little earlier this evening. The these agents hadn't seen him since they started working here. It seems that he passed away in an accident in his native place of Thrissur. They wanted to be granted leave as they felt that they just had to attend the funeral. They were unable to contact the BPO manager or the HR person this late at night. Thinking of me, since I sleep late, each of them contacted me from their homes to inform that they each needed to attend their friend's funeral and that they would require a leave from work tomorrow.

To each I offered my sympathies; I know that I would want to go if it were a friend of mine. However I cannot sanction leaves at all. I can however keep the management informed about the upcoming shortages in staff tomorrow and I offered to do the same. I said that I couldn't tell them what to do - to go attend their friend's funeral or to come for work. I am not authorised to do that; there are other people whose responsibility it is to ensure that the call centre is filled to capacity and/or does not suffer from too many absentees. But a friend is a friend is a friend. How can you not go to pay your last respects to a friend once he/she passes away? What about the friend's poor anguished parents? I would feel it is imperitive for me to go and hence I understand.

Just wondering what kind of a person he was - was he full of energy and vigour and enthusiasm? He was single - did he have a girlfriend? Was he planning on getting married and having kids? Was he close to achieveing his goals and ambitions? Was he hoping to celebrate something in the neat future? Surprise a loved one with a gift? Attempt to do an incredible feat? We will never know.

Song for the day - "Wayne" - CHANTAL KREVIAZUK

What's Your Mother Tongue?

2006-11-08T21:02:00.000+05:30

So....what's your mother tongue? And what does that term mean anyway, "mother tongue"? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it :

According to some, a person's first language, native language or mother tongue is the language that was learned first by the person. In terms of that view, the person is called a native speaker of the language, although one may also be a native speaker of more than one language if all of the languages are learned naturally without formal instruction, such as through cultural immersion before puberty. Often a child learns the basics of his or her first languages from his or her family.

Which means, for me, my mother tongue is English or rather Indian English. I grew up learning to speak English first. Whether this was because I was born and raised (until the age of 11) in a foriegn country as English was the standard language used over there or if it was due to the fact that my sister only spoke English (at that point of time) is not clear to me. But the fact is that I have not learnt to read or write Malayalam, the native tongue of my land, Kerala! This has been often surprising to other once they get to know me. To be truthful it has often stumped me as well. How come I never got round to learning it, is beyond me. Convinience and laziness is a huge factor perhaps. When my family settled down in Cochin and we looked for a school for me, language was a main factor. Hence I took "Special English" (a subject given to students who did not know Malayalam) in school from the age of 11 to 15.

Hence I conclude that my mother tongue is English. ALthough that does sound weird to me. Oh flippin' well!!

Song for the day - "Life Wasted" - PEARL JAM

Out On A Monday

2006-11-06T20:11:00.000+05:30

I woke up this morning feeling a cat had crapped in my mouth (that dry and crappy sensation you get in your mouth after a particularly dry night's sleep). I managed to drag me ass over to the loo and then brush my teeth. As I was off from work, I decided to go out for a while and sat at breakfast thinking of what I should do and where I should do. Since the lack of sleep over the last few night had left me craving for a healthy dose of caffeine, I naturally had to go to Cafe Coffee Day. Not that I hadn't had a black coffee with breakfast but I had run out of sugar and hence the coffee did not taste as good. So a bath & shampoo later, I was off and in a few minutes entered the cool air-conditioned confines of the coffee shop. Taking sips of my delicous Mocha Frappe, I dozed for a bit while my buddy dronned on about this & that; nothing in particular at all - mainly about his wife and stuff about married life.

The frappe was a welcome relief from my life and we sat there for as long it felt was decent to do with just one coffee each and having ordered nothing else. When the place started filling up, we picked up our cellphones from the nifty looking coffee-tables that accompanies the comfy sofa we were lounging on and headed out. We headed out to Paico and browsed through the cd collections and pc magazines - I was also looking to see if there were any good softwares I could pick up for cheap. Nothing good catching our eye, we went to the used book sale that is just a couple of feet away from Paico. Although I love the fact that they are selling used but still in good condition books, novels, dictionaries, almanacs, specials etc etc, from the US & Canada...I do have a gripe with them. It's the arrangement or rather the lack of it that really bugs. They have kept the books in size order, stacking like minded books of equal or appropriate size in rows. But you can never find what you're looking for. Fiction, non-fiction & stuff are mixed up together and they are not in alphabetical order! This means I have to search all through the place and often don't bother to read all the titles or authors names as my eyes and neck hurt & are strained after a while. My buddy was complainning about the very same thing.

He bought a book on interior decoration (he is about to move into a new house) and a novel by Judit Kranz. I stuck by some biographies & autobiographies of famous people and finally settled on a novel by Stephen King ("The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon") - review to come later. After spending more than two hours over there, we headed out to have lunch and a couple of beers. I rather enjoyed by mid-morning and afternoon out with my buddy and he seemed to be doing so as well.

Oh, while reading the newspaper - the biggest headline I have read in quite a long while. Saddam Hussien has been sentenced to death by hanging for the attrocities against humanity that he has committed. Why the delay? Kill the bastard now, hang him by his balls. Shoot him in the nuts and let him bleed to death. He is not fit to be called human.

Song for the day - "Are You Dead Yet?" - CHILDREN OF BODOM

Laura Branigan

2006-11-05T13:17:00.000+05:30

I had no idea that Laura Branigan had passed away. I do not think I had heard more than a handful of her songs and seen more than a couple of her videos. She was famous for her hit singles "Power Of Love", "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", "Self Control" & my favourite of hers - "Gloria". Laura Branigan (July 3, 1957 – August 26, 2004) was a popular American singer/actress from Brewster, New York. She recived four Grammy nominations and for sometime was a huge star, especially during the 80's. I remember her mostly for the song "Self Control", because my older sister was a huge fan of it and played it constantly while we were growing up in Kuwait. She has the video taped in her favourites list and was a huge fan of Branigan for a while (changes in recent years probably mean that, I bet my sister does not even remember the name Laura Branigan).

"Gloria" was probably the essential Branigan song; it tell us about a troubled & disturbed young woman ("all the voices in your head") and Laura sings it in a wonderful style. She was also an actress and did act in off-Broadway productions. Branigan's musical success was kind of limited to the first three albums and did not appear in the limelight once we reached the 90s. She was forgotten almost entirely except for her hardcore fans, despite being a tremendous success throughout the world when "Self Control", a partly sung & partly whispered singled sky rocketted to the top of the charts in every major country and it was the craze on the dance floor. She left the industry in 1994 to be with her ill husband, who died in 1996. Laura herself died suddenly on August 26, 2004; her death was attributed to a brain aneurysm, which had also caused the deaths of her father and her paternal grandfather. In 2005, a memorial for her friends and fans was held on the anniversary of her death near the Long Island home in which she was caring for her mother at the time of her death. Its success made it an annual event, with a second such gathering in 2006 as a celebration of her life.

Song for the day - "Gloria" - LAURA BRANIGAN

Family Ties

2006-11-04T12:34:00.000+05:30

I was up very late last night (or should it be this morning since I went to bed at only around 4:15 am or so and I couldn't close my eyes for a long time after that) and hence am in 'the zombie' phase (face?) for the rest of the day. My brain feels like it is floating above and watching me from afar. My head feels like it is filled with a ton of lead. My eyes looks like the way I feel after doing a whole lot more pleasurable activity. My nerves are shot and I could use some more coffee. With Milk! Lots of coffee. I might fall asleep in the toilet if I am not careful.

I was chatting on the phone and then on MSN Messenger with a cousin of mine this morning. I uploaded some of my pics into his website BKRIS.com and entered a couple of lines in his online forum. I saw that several of our cousins had already created ids in his site and had been posting for quite some time. Although I had known about this site and the facilities there, I dunno why, this was the first time that I had visited it properly. I had tried to go to his site earlier, but I only saw the front page with a picture of him and his wife in it. Somehow, my anti-social behaviour, established much earlier and then loosened in 2005, but again re-established with renewed vigour at the end of last year, prehaps prohibited me from connecting with various members of my family. Is it shame? Perhaps a healthy dose of it.

Anyway, while checking out some of the comments that were posted by many of my cousins, I did feel a bit of nostalgia and hoped to re-enter into that world, one which I had closed the door. Perhaps now is the time to rethink my position in the family. I am perfectly fine with being a loner. Let's see, I haven't been to a family function, other than the house warming of sorts of our apartment, which I could not avoid at all costs, in ages. Maybe I should start slowly and establish lost links. Connecting with them online is one thing; doing it in person is quite another. We shall see!

Thinking about this, one song came to me. Although the song sounds like a man losing and looking for his faith, when I thought about family ties, it somehow seemed appropriate. In the middle of the night, I go walking in my sleep". Great song!!

Song for the day - "River Of Dreams" - BILLY JOEL

Work, Work, Work

2006-11-03T23:57:00.000+05:30

Hope you like the new look of my blog....I had several intentions & ideas for designs and changes to the blog. But doing so would mean a massive overhaul of the entire thing and that would mean me perhaps losing my archives or other stuff. Plus, I am a lazy buffon, so what do you expect.

Suddenly I don't really know what I am supposed to do at the office. Am I supposed to do trainning and look after quality or am I supposed to continue with supervision work! It's funny, they kept telling me about my role shift from supervisor to quality. I have been in charge of trainning from day one of this call centre starting. It's not something that I have to start afresh. But my involvement will or rather it should increase tenfold. I would require time to arrange sessions & feedbacks and be able to gather material or create my own with help from several others. Other than the fact that I now have to create & maintain two reports going to two heads of departments, nothing much has changed. I am still stuck doing what I was doing plus a whole lot more. I am not sure how long I can keep up doing this, because it seems like I have two roles or two jobs (with the crummy pay of one job) and both seems to be clashing in that I don't have time to do both and I am not willing to strech beyond the 9 obligatory hours that I have to work. Certainly not on the lousy pay that I am getting.

I don't want to be taken advantage of; yet it seems that this is exactly what has been happening since January. People who have come in management at the fag end of last year are real delegators or job dispenserors. It's so easy to say what to do but you won't lift a finger to do anything yourself that mean squat to me! I think I have to be a little more careful and a little more wise in the choices that I make. Just because they have me doesn't mean that they can just use me and take me for granted.

Song for the day - "Tom Sawyer" - RUSH

This Hot Afternoon

2006-11-01T15:00:00.000+05:30

Ok it's November now but it still feels so hot outside. The day started out quite pleasant : a bit cloudy but cool with a lovely breeze coming in through my windows. It felt like a lazy day in which I could do absolutely nothing but browse online and watch tv and maybe sleep the afternoon away. Collecting the clothes from the hanger outside on the balcony, I still did not feel any different. A couple of guys came to take mesurements for making my new bed (I still sleep on a mattress on the floor) and I gave exact specifications. Spent the morning with the newspaper accompanies by dry toast and two coffees - one with milk & one strong black coffee. I checked my e-mails and spoke to a collegue on the phone about making a couple of quick changes to a report that I had actually incorrectly concluded. Seema was quick enough to offer her help, which I am so grateful for. I will be depended on her help a lot more, since we now will be sending our reports to the same person and she has more access being in the main office while I am stuck where I am.

Other than that, I slept a little and checked out some music videos on YouTube! (look below). Oh and I was reading about Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe heading for Splitsville - how sad! I never liked Reese at all, Ryan was ok (never thought he could act much). But Ms.Witherspoon, who did get a heck of a lot of acclaim & an Oscar for her role in Walk the Line has always been very annoying for me. I hated her on sight of the first movies I have seen of her - Cruel Intentions & the Legally Blonde movies (which I did not see completly). Her apperance as Rachel's spoiled sister Jill in FRIENDS was also very annoying and irritating.

But just what is it with women actors who get Oscars and then split with their husband actors, who although famous, have not yet matched the height of critical acclaim that they wives have got. Other than Witherspoon & Phillipe, just take the case of Kim Bassinger & Alec Baldwin! Hilary Swank & Halle Berry are also recent victims of success, although their hubbies aren't worth anything. I am sure that the fact that the woman got the Oscar (in Berry's husband's case, a Grammy)before or instead of the hubby, was a big factor in the splits. The wife gets more media attention, more write ups in magazine articles & on tv. The husband is known only as the spouse of a famous actress - a huge male ego in Hollywood cannot take it!

Song for the day - "Indian Summer" - TODD KERNS

Whoa Speedy!

2006-10-31T23:33:00.000+05:30

Will we ever learn? I don't think so! sigh!

THe bus owners & their union (and probably their gay fuckers as well) are in the midst of an indefinte strike against plying buses in the state. The reason for the strike - the government insisting on a new rule to advocate 'speed governers' on all heavy vehicles. See, with the increase if rash driving by heavy vehicle drivers leading to more & more accidents in & around the city areas, the government has decided that the 'speed governers' were the way to go. What these devices do is that they prohibit the vehicle from speeding beyond a certain limit, the limit which is to be fixed by the state transport authorities.

I think that the rule is actually way overdue and that it is a welcome and sensible ruling to have come out (huh! is it from our own government? Are you sure an alien being did not suggest it to them?) by the politicians that 'rule' the state. However, the union of private buses does not think that this is a good idea. They argue that the buses may not make it on 'time' (whose time table my friends? Make adjustments to it, buddy). Plus they do not like or want the pricy tag that comes in installing these devices, heard to be around half a lakh rupees! Mucho bucks but atleast it won't be bad luck. So what do we do? The union has taken up a work strike and that means people like me are stuck with having to find alternative arrangements to get to work and other places. Shelling out big bucks to get from point A to B does not seem like a fancy idea to me. I just hope that the strike is over in a day or two.

Song for the day - "Symphonic" - EMM GRYNER

Threat By E-Mail

2006-10-30T11:58:00.000+05:30

Some jerk has a failed love affair and so in retaliation he threatens the life of the Prime Minister and the President? Is he that dumb? A nutball by the name of Akbar Raj, was arrested by Kerala Police, after being traced as the source of the threating emails sent to the Indian PM & the Prez. He will be remainded in Police custody till 11th of November and has confessed to sending the emails. "The e-mail sent from an internet cafe on October 26 was received by several top police officials, prompting the police to take a serious note of the case in view of the Prime Minister's scheduled visit to the state on November 1st. DGP Raman Srivastava had said in Thiruvananthapuram that the investigation "prima facie" showed that the motive behind the crime was to cause trouble to a girl whom Raj had known through e-chatting."

Ok, now this guy had met a girl, alias Simi from Kottayam, via internet chatting and I am not sure about their meetings and such but it seems she broke her ties with him. To get revenge he had sent malicious emails in her name to several individuals and she had previously complained to the police about it. He created an id in her name along with the city where she is from and also threanted the current CM of Kerala. And in the email which threatens the life of the PM & the Prez he had put a code that states this girl (with her date of birth, educational qualification & college & such). Well what an embaressment!! Please find something more constructive to do. And if a girl dumps you, get drunk, shake it off or better yet, find a prettier girl and show off in front of you ex. But to do this, I mean, you gotta be really dumb, you moron!!

Song for the day - "Hey Stoopid" - ALICE COOPER

Movie Time : Miracle

2006-10-28T19:33:00.000+05:30

This is a feel good movie, a biopic sports flick based on an actual event that took place in 1980. Ah the 80's! Miracle is about the "Miracle on Ice"; the US Men's Hockey team, made up of 20 young college & university players, going on to beat the mighty & powerful Soviet squad of established stars enroute to winning the Olympic Gold at the Lake Placid Games of 1980. They were coached by the legendry Herb Brooks. The opening credits feature a montage of the 1970s, depicting events such as Watergate and the Iran hostage crisis. Then University of Minnesota head coach Herb Brooks interviews with the United States Olympic Committee, discussing his philosophy on how to beat the Soviet team. Despite the fact that they seem very skeptical of his ambitious goal, Brooks is hired. He would go on to state that he had already selected 26 of the players out of which only 20 would get to be in the final squad to represent the United States. Inspite of the obvious USA glorification (I feel like puking everytime I hear Americans do the "USA, USA" chant! Grow up!) and the predictability (tough love shelling out coach, team responds and inspirational music plays as good ole' America wins, it still is a good movie. Plus it is about hockey, the coolest game on Earth & elsewhere. I would watch a movie based on hockey even it was a 6 on 6 movie about African bush people!!

The team goes through an initial adjustment period - most of the players don;t know each other. A fight breaks out among forward Rob McClanahan and defenseman Jack O'Callahan based on their college rivalry. Brooks lectures the players that they are to let go of old rivalries and start becoming a team. He tortures them after they were distracted and staring at girls while playing a 3-3 draw against Norway in a friendly. Finally he gets what he wants from the player : that they play for their country & for their team. Like he says "The name on the front is a hellofa lot more important than the one on the back"!

O'Callahan gets injured in a warmup game against the Soviets, which the American lose 3 to 7. The players, now with a vigourous team spirit, draw with Sweden in the first game at the Olympics. Their important player, McClanahan, hurts his knee but an argument with coach Brooks entices him to play. They beat the Czechoslovakian team 7-3 and follow it up with victories over Romania and West Germany to earn a spot in the medal round. Up in the semis awaits the Russians. An exciting games ends up in a 4-3 win for the boys in the red, white & blue and they go on to beat Finland in the finals to win gold. It was considered one of the greatest moments in American sports history. You can really enjoy the movie, if you ignore the cliches - but hey, if it were a basketball or NFL movie it would be untolerable!!

Song for the day - "Eye Of The Tiger" - SURVIVOR

Hair Today, Gone....In The Very Near Future

2006-10-27T14:58:00.000+05:30

I decided that I did not want to spend all three of my free days (from work) just sitting in front of the computer and surfing the net (although to be fair, it was a lot of that). Thursday was just resting as I was a bit tired and surfing the net - went to different sports sites, some blogs, downloaded a bunch of stuff like mp3s and videos. I ate a little and had some coffee and not much else. Chatted with some old online friends of mine, exchanged e-mails & catching up with them. Chatted with some cousins as well.

Today I decided to go out for a bit and went out to both Music World & Planet M, which suprisingly enough for the two most major music outlets in the city (and the country), are right opposite each other. Music World having the larger showroom of the two also offers lots and lots of options. By comparision, Planet M seems kinda small and crowded. They have so many different CD titles stacked 5 or 6 in one slot that you may end up missing what you would like to get. For example, I once saw a Jennifer Lopez CD and normally would have uttered a "yuck" and ignored it. But when I looked behind that I saw Judas Priest, Joe Satriani & Johnny Lang cds!!! What the fuck!!!

Anyway, I went to both and was disspointed at the shortage of worthy material. Anyhow since I have broadband at home, I can just try to get all the good songs that I want and songs of artists that are not available here. But unlike several others I just like getting a CD - the covers, the images, the packaging, the artwork on the cd itself. There is something so great about it as a music & art lover that is pleasing. However mp3 is so convinient and space saving. I am temped to do what others do and burn all my cds into my harddrive or alternatively into blank cds. That will save up a lot of space and I don't have to change cds so often and can play songs from different artists so easily, whenever I have an inkling for a particular song or singer or band. That would be great. Anyways, I ended up buying a Rs.99 worth cd about Canada and her attractions and a movie - Miracle, which I watched as soon as I came home.

Anways, I then went to get an icecream and then to get my haircut at a place where my sister takes her kids to (of all the people to recommend a barber it is your sister, shame on you!!) My hair was getting kinda long and floopy (if that is a word) and kinda dull. No life, as one of my friends would have said on touching it. It was getting difficult to maintain. But I hate having to cut hair, as stated earlier in this blog, I am losing it at alarming fast rates. I have got a bald patch at the back (which I can cover if I grow my hair long) and a receding portion at my forehead (which hides well when I comb my hair but by lunch time it is there for all to behold) but you know the drift. It feels silly but I get so annoyed when someone points it out to me "hey you are losing your hair!!" And what I want to say back is "Hey asshole, I can see. I stand in front of the mirror every morning, so I am aware of that fact!! But are you aware that you are a moron for stating the obvious, dickhead ?(or if female vagina face? ) But no I be polite, smile a goofy grin and make some joke or two about the fact. While I grind my teeth and count to 10 in my mind.

Just writing this is making me depressed. I then had a little lunch and came back home to watch the movie. I plan on going to sleep late, since I woke up so late as well. Got into YouTube recently when my cousin Sandhya sent me a couple of links a few days back. I saw this one today and thought I'd share it with you. It's too long haired goofy guys playing air-guitar to the solo in November Rain. That is also my song for the day today. Enjoy.

Song for the day - "November Rain" - GUNS N'ROSES

Don't You Want Somebody To Love

2006-10-24T21:43:00.000+05:30

My cousin Sandhya has got me hooked on YouTube a visionary website which allows sharing & embedding of videos of all kinds. They are really cool and prood of the ideaology that the best things in life are free. Anyways, for those who like Jim Carrey, here is someone's tapping of the tv showing Jim performing his warped version of Jefferson Airplane's "Don't You Want Somebody To Love". People sit back and enjoy what this crazed comic genuis dishes out for us.

Buzz Beer

2006-10-22T17:57:00.000+05:30

How many Drew Carey Show fans are out there? Not owning to the fact that he and I do have similarities in apperance (expect for the crew cut), this show and Drew Carey himself are among of my favourites on television. Among the many funny anecdotes and running jokes in this brillant comedy series, lies the total genuis idea of Buzz Beer. Buzz Beer was invented by the makers of the show (meaning Carey) - a Microbrewery beer first seen on episode No. 22 "Buzz Beer" (5/8/96) on the sitcom. When Drew Carey's department store (Winferd Lauder) looked like it might be bought out by a Dutch company, he began brewing beer as a sideline to made extra money. He called his brew "Buzz Beer" - a coffee-flavored beverage (that cracked me up)- and placed it for sale around the Cleveland area especially at the Warsaw Tavern where Drew hung out. Other partners in the Buzz Beer venture included Drew's close friends Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles), Oswald Harvey (Dietrich Bader) and Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller).

Initially they manufactured & bottled the coffee flavoured beer in Drew's garage but the brewery was moved to Lewis and Oswald's house. Eeach bottle of Buzz Beer contains 12 fluid oz (355ml) of beverage. The recipe for Buzz Beer is listed on its label: "Brewed from nature's choicest Grain, Malt, Hops Yeats, coffee bean and water." The word "Buzz" not only means that Buzz Beer gives you a "Buzz" when you drink it, but also that it's the beer everyone's talking about...as in "What's the buzz?"

Motto & Mission Statement :
The motto of Buzz Beer is "Stay up and get drunk all over again!".
Drew once jokingly noted that the original motto was going to be "This doesn't suck."
The mission statement that the initial four members decided on was 4 Friends, 4 Ever, 4 Beer.

Song for the day - "5'O Clock World" - THE VOGUES

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : Barenaked Ladies' Songs

2006-10-21T22:22:00.000+05:30

These guys are my joint favourite band(s) along with Pearl Jam. These guys make me wanna groove, dance, smile, laugh, cry, think, ponder, shout, imagine, wonder, admire, adore and a zillion other such things!! Plus these are the silliest bunch of guys you can ever hope to listen to. The Barenaked Ladies are (in the same order as in the picture below): Kevin Hearn (keyboards), Tyler Stewart (drums), Steven Page (vocals & guitar), Jim Kreegan (Bass) & Ed Robertson (vocals & guitars).

What A Good Boy (live version)

One Week

If I Had A $1000000

Pinch Me

It's All Been Done

Who Needs Sleep

Falling For The First Time

Jane

These Apples

One Little Slip

Never Do Anything

Song for the day - "If I Had A $1000000" - BARENAKED LADIES

This Sore Throat

2006-10-19T13:30:00.000+05:30

Last night there was a thunderstorm of biblical proportions raging it's anger at Cochin city. I just managed to reach home before the torrential rain reached it's peak - but not early enough to miss getting wet! And I would pay the price today morning - the rain and me drinking a big bottle of ice cold water ruined my throat and I woke up sounding like a person in a horror story who wants to butcher people. I tried soothing it with two cups of strong & hot black coffee. It didn't work, so I called in sick today at work and rested my voice. Another cup of coffee followed and I lazed around in the morning for a bit, listening to some mp3s that I had downloaded.

At this time of writing, some cough syrup helped to ease my throat back to some level or normalcy. I took a couple of lozenges to ease the process as well. Orangy sweet tasting lozenges that kinda make your mouth taste funny afterwards. Trying to read a book as well - been having this novel around for three weeks but I just never got to reading it.

Song for the day - "Cotton Jenny" - GORDON LIGHTFOOT

Welcome To This World

2006-10-18T22:27:00.000+05:30

This is my neice, born two days ago in the early morning hours of Monday morning. She is my sister Sherine's first daughter & third child.

Won't U Guess My Name

2006-10-13T22:26:00.000+05:30

I did a check on my name in Wikipedia and this is what they threw me :

Roshan could refer to the prime minister of Turkey.
Roshan means "light" in Persian.
A very popular name in India
A literal meaning of shining or glowing
Roshan, a GSM service provider in Afghanistan
Roshan, a legendary Bollywood music composer
Rajesh Roshan, a Bollywood music composer and son of the above music composer
Rakesh Roshan, a Bollywood actor and movie director and another son of music director Roshan
Hrithik Roshan, a Bollywood actor, son of Rakesh Roshan
Roshan Seth, an Indian actor
Roshan Mahanama, a Sri Lankan cricketer
Roshan Soni, a Computer Engineer from Chicago, IL
Roshan - the strongest neutral creep in the popular Warcraft III: Frozen Throne map, Defense of the Ancients: Allstars
Roshan - Warder to Samitsu Tamagowa of the Yellow Ajah from the popular Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
Roshan was the name of a vassal state of Shighnan in nineteenth century Afghanistan.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL LYRICS (ROLLING STONES)

Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah

Song for the day - "Sympathy For The Devil" - THE ROLLING STONES

Story - Anita & Me

2006-10-12T07:22:00.000+05:30

I found this small, short story that I had created about 6 years ago and had managed to save onto a cd. I had completely forgotten about it and was reading it yesterday as I stumbled upon it.

This really happened to me!!

To preserve my annonimity, let's just call me James, although that's not my real name. And no I am not an American, cause people think that this sort of stuff happens only to Americans.

It was about 3 years ago, when I first saw her. I was working in a company that manufactures and exports leather shoes. On a Saturday, I called in sick (I dunno why, just felt like it) and went to look for some sruff to buy for my new apartment. You know some plates and glasses, a small sofa. I saw her at the book store I normally frequent in the evenings after work. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and I mean BEAUTIFUL! Not one of those made up dolls you seen on tv, this was real beauty. I kinda fell in love at first sight. Pretending to browse through the latest John Grisham, I stole many a glance at her. She seemed lost and lonely and I wanted to speak to her. Aparently she was working there, but she must be new as I had not seen her before. I took the novel I was holding in my hand and went up to her and asked her the price. I must have seemed an idiot, as the price was printed on the back. But she smiled and told me the price and I left. I went to the store often and managed to chat with her (let's call her Anita) once I got the courage. She was an orphan like me ( my parents having passed away the previous year in a car crash) and was new in town. She lived in a tiny apartment quite near my own, but she said that she was moving soon, as a distant aunt was allowing her to house-sit for her while she (the aunt) was taking a trip.

I soon asked her out for dinner and we started going out every 2 or 3 days. I could speak to her for hours and so could she as I gazed into her lovely brown eyes. Finally I invited her to my apartment for a home cooked meal. The evening turned out to be better than the meal, as we made love for the first time and I asked her to marry me. She said yes and I was on top of the world. Since I had only a handful of living relatuves and all she had was the aunt, the wedding was planned to be a small quite affair. Two days before the wedding, when I was supposed to meet her aunt, Anita told me that her aunt had passed. It did not spoil our wedding plans as I noticed that Anita was not particularly upset at the recent demise of her only relative. Anyway, she said that her aunt had left the house in her name ( let me tell u at this point that I had never been to the house as yet and Anita had moved back to her apartment when her aunt came back, although I had not met her). So we got married and went on a brief honeymoon to a cottage in the countryside. Soon I was back at work and busier than ever as I had been given a promotion. Anita and I moved to a bigger apartment, and she informed me that she planned to sell her aunt's house. I said fine. In the third month of our marriage, Anita seemed a little changed. She did not seem to pay much attention to me, and was ill a lot of times. I did did not complain or could not as I was up to my elbows in work. Then one day she told me that she was having some remodelling work done at the house before she sold it. I couldn't offer my help as I had little time free. And then within a few days it was plain to see that Anita was carrying child. She was pregnant and the strange part was that she looked like she was five months pregnant. I couldn't explain it to myself but she went through her pregnancy in 3 months instead of 9 or 10. When I asked her about it, she refused to tell me until the baby arrieved. Was it mine? I asked her and to that she said yes. I told her that she had a lot of explaining to do. She told me to stay in the apartment and that she would move to her aunt's house. I let her go.

A week later (and it was now 6 months since our wedding vows) she called me to tell me that she had given birth. She was at the house. I screamed on the phone, why she didn't got to the hospital. She just said that it was a boy. I finally went to the house, the first time that I was there. She help in her arms a baby boy, who looked kinda mature for a newborn. Then she told me the truth. Anita was an alien! She was from a planet of beings very similar to our own but much advanced. Even their babies came out to the world much sooner. That's not all she said, my son would mature in one year; he would look in age like me. How ? why? Words failed me. Was I chossen as some kind of experiment? She then told me of the war going on in the galaxy where her planet was located. Her people and another race had been fighting for centuries. In their culture women cannot fight battles, their contribution was to bear children who would become soldiers for their war. A few hundred women were sent to Earth, as both our races were rather similar. Her job was to bear a child, teach him their ways and then send him back to her planet to join the battle. The house was actually a spaceship that had been converted to look like an Earth home. She had a smalled spaceship that was in the garage, it would take our son back to the planet. Due to shock and anger at being duped, I left the house in a rage. Anita called out to me that she had never meant to harm or hurt me in any way. Well I went back to me apartment and started drinking. I refused to see Anita or our son and went back to work. Anita would call me and tell me to see them but I could not be persuaded. A year passed and my anger had withered a lot. I started thinking about Anita a lot. A few days later, Anita called and told me that our son had finished his training and was to leave for Anita's home planet that night. She asked me to come. Curious, I drove to the house. Anita opened the door and she looked even more beautiful than before. She led me to the basement, which was filled with equipment from her planet, things I did not even begin to ecognise. And then I saw him- my son. Fully grown; a yera after his birth he could have passed of as being of my age. That's not all he was the exact replica of me. I looked at him and wondered at the beings of their planet. He greeted me with a hug and said that it was nice of me to see him off. He went back to his preparations. The small spaceship was being redied for departure. As i studied it I relaised that it was quite small, only for one. Anita told me that women after giving birth had no importance in their world at this time of war and they could only reproduce once. The small space ship was built by the both of them according to orders from their leaders in thier planet - Anita was to stay back on Earth. She had no place in her homeland like all the other women of her planet. Our son readied himself and with our blessings took off for the planet he had never seen, but was raised to fight for. After we could no longer see the small spaceship in the sky, Anita asked me to help her to burn down her house before daylight. That was according to instructions. I did as I was asked and soon the place was burning brightly in the night. All traces of her home planet were now destroyed and she could never go back there again.

I asked her to come with me and we drove back to my apartment that she had left a year ago. I prepared a late dinner for us as Anita set her clothes and belongins in their former places. I could not let her live alone I told her. We would live once again as man and wife - even though we were of different worlds. As we lay down on the bed to sleep, she asked me if she could hold me. I said yes. It took us a few weeks but things went back to normal, we were like any other married couple. Although it seemed to me that she was much stronger than before. She could lift huge heavy things like they were dead flies and once during a fight that we had, I saw that behind her gentle nature was a fierce temper. Another night when we were walking home form a late night movie, a mugger appraoched us with a knife. Anita almost killed him, she attacked him with her hands and beat the shit outta him. I could not believe my eyes. I pulled her away (and it took all of my strength to do that) before the wretched soul was killed and we ran back to our apartment. Now I knew how strong she was, I was always on the defensive. I avoided arguments and hoped that no one else would make her angry either. Recently Anita accused our new neighbour, a young women, of flirting with me. It wasn't true; the young lady was just being friendly but no matter what I said, Anita still belived it to be something it was not. My worst fears came true. Our neighbour went missing one weekend - she was found floating in the river two weeks later. She was missing an arm and several toes. She had suffered. When I told Anita the news, she just said that the world was such a dangerous place and smiled and went on with what she was doing. Another time, Anita had an argument with an old lady in a store. The old lady went missing the next day. I am so scared now. I dunno what will happen next. I am doing my best to keep Anita in good humour and hope that there are no more victims. But lately she has been looking at me in a strange way. Like one looks at a small bird or animal that is injured and near death. And then she smiles. Who knows what her intentions are? I hope that I am not the next.

I have to stop now. Anita is back from shopping. She likes me to spend time with her when she comes back. I better not anger her, or u know what could happen!!!

Song for the day - "Cocaine Cowgirl" - MATT MAYS & EL TORPEDO

I Have Broadbanded

2006-10-11T16:03:00.000+05:30

Here I am sitting at home doing something that I haven't done in a little over 3 years - using a computer! Since my pervious computer died on me, I have been itching to get one, but as stated in this blog earlier, I could not afford it at all. Things have changed for me slightly, so I finally got a new pc assembled to my specifications (there wasn't that many anyways but I wanted one really badly) and last Wednesday, it was delivered to my apartment and setup in my room. I was busy installing a few programs, applications & copying all the mp3s that I have stored in several cds since the crash of my old pc. Ofcourse, I also installed two big games, although the titles need upgrading, they are so old - FIFA 99 & NHL 99. Needless to say, several name players are missing from both the lists and even several teams as well. I shall try to buy the latest versions if I can find them.

So since then I have been sorting out the various files that I had saved onto four cds - things I downloaded from the internet in a cafe and brought home on floppys and then saved into my old computer and then burned to a cd -, going through the various wallpapers and themes and winamp skins and whatnot, all the while listening to the many, many mp3s that I have. Atleast that was what I have been doing while not at work.....UNTIL TODAY BABY!!! Whooo!(only Rick Flair can pull that out, damn!) I am now the proud owner of a broadband subscription with TATA Indicom VSNL's service and sitting pretty from 2:00 pm surfing the net and reading e-mail. This is more than what I thought I could get. This is great; for all you guys who have been wired at home for several years can't imagine my excitement and contenment at finally being able to access the www from the comfort of my own room. I can reply to e-mails while in the nude if I want to. Well gotta go, I gotta taste for a cup of strong back coffee right now. Later baby!! Whooooooo!

Song for the day - "Alone" - HEART

New Watering Hole

2006-10-10T23:30:00.000+05:30

Since my move from Thrikkakara to Kacheripady, among other things, I would have to find a new watering hole closer to my new home. For those of you who did not get that, I mean that I would have to find a new bar! When compared to most people I know who do drink, I guess I don't really drink that much at all. Although, my cousin Manoj thinks that I must be boozing it up a lot since I post in this blog quite frequently about drinking. Actually Manoj, I don't, but it just seems that way cause here, there isn't much to do and my life is not very exciting.

Anyway, I decided to get a couple of drinks since I would be off the next day. I could leave from the office a bit later than usual and was looking forward to having a quite evening. It was just before I reached my new choice for having drinks, the Oberoi Bar, did I remember that this place is usually quite noisy. It's not too big but they have a family restaurant right next to it. I had visited this bar a couple of times earlier, while still living in Thrikkakara and found it quite and comfortable. But the three times that I have been here since I moved to Kacheripady, it has always been full and I often have to sit alongwith some other people and share a small table. Plus the smoking and loud banter that goes on there is enough to put a guy off his drink.

Having said that, the food is plentiful and reasonably priced and the taste is really good. I enjoy hanging out there if the noise level is at a tolerable level, like the second last time that I was there. It was a few people chatting away in corners and a few lonely chaps concentrating on their drinks and snacks in the centre tables. I think the ambience is much better in the afternoon as the evening crowd is quite rowdy and filled with imbeciles.

The funny thing is that place is run by a family and I don't think that they are orignally Malayalli. The grandfather started it off, I think, and the sons have carried it forward and what's more the eldest son's son also sits behind the cash counter at times! He can;t be more than 24 or so and proud to carry forward the family tradition started by loveable grandpa. Well boy, it is a commendable job, now what about cutting down the noise polution??

Song for the day - "Drinking Tonite" - MICHAEL BLAIR BAND

Welcome To The Hotel Kacheripaddy

2006-10-06T20:43:00.000+05:30

A hotel I frequent near my new apartment in Kacheripaddy. When I need to buy food for my folks and myself, I prefer this little place which they converted from a rowdy bar into a family restuarent!!

Computer, enter website address

2006-10-04T22:55:00.000+05:30

This is my brand new pc, asselbled to my specifications.

Black Coffee

2006-10-02T22:54:00.000+05:30

I don't want no sugar in my coffee, it makes me mean!!

Movie Time : Undiscovered

2006-10-01T14:27:00.000+05:30

Undiscovered is a 2005 film directed by Meiert Avis. The plot is about a group of aspiring entertainers who intend to establish their careers in Los Angeles. The film was originally called Wannabe, but was retitled prior to release. Undiscovered featured the first significant role in a film for Ashlee Simpson, who had previously acted on the TV show 7th Heaven and then launched a mediocre singing career. "Undiscovered" is also the name of one of Simpson's songs, the closing track from her album Autobiography, and the song is included in the movie. The film, which cost US $9 million to produce, grossed $1,069,318 in its first two weeks, after which its distributor Lions Gate Entertainment chose to cease tracking.[2] Undiscovered bested a record previously held by Gigli for the largest drop in returns in its second weekend (86 percent, versus 82 for Gigli).[3]

That was part of the official review of the movie, which I saw last night. The film was heavily critised and dereied for a bad script and acting - especially Ashleey Simpson, who was awarded the worst supporting actress at the Razzpies....and I agree. She is so pathetic. The rest of the movie and the cast, I actually liked. It's not a movie that I would remember for the rest of my life as being truly great but it still is an okay film. I really liked the lead actress, a fresh faced beauty with a horrible name - Pell James - as bad as she is beautiful. Plus the movie features the world of music, which is great!

Song for the day - "I Don't Wanna Be" - GAVIN DEGRAW

Resentful

2006-09-30T18:58:00.000+05:30

It's almost 7 pm on a Saturday evening, my weekly off from work. I just wound up a new trainning batch yesterday, before going over to the main office at 3:00 pm to attend a GPRS doubt clearing & Q&A session with a technical guy. I was joined by a few agents in the call centre and chatted with people I haven't seen in a long time. Several younger employees were delighted to see me as I have always had a wonderful rapport with them. I met some higherups who enquired about my personal & professional life - how was I, losing a bit of hair, Roshan?, how are things in your part of the company?, I heard that you moved to an apartment in town, how is it there? - the usual banter that I was expecting.

I met a former colleague, K, who berated me for not coming to her wedding. I managed a weak "I was busy with trainning and relocation stuff" (her wedding was on the 9th of September and I moved house on the 24th of August). The truth was that I had no intention of attending her wedding, as she used to be close to me once. When I had to be outsourced, she meanwhile was entered in the main company payroll. I was happy for her and let her know about it but she never even tried to contact me in 8 months until the day she called me to ask me to come for her wedding! She gave me a rather lame excuse for not keeping in touch with me - "I was busy"! What, not even the CEO is that busy that he can't call to speak to his friends atleast once or twice a month. And hello, we work in the Cellphone Industry, K!

All I want now is a big cup of iced coffee with chocolate flavours, but I won't be heading that way. I plan on getting instant noodles & a big seven up and heading home to watch football on the telly and sleep by 11. I have a heavy work load for tomorrow.

Song for the day - "Weapons" - TARA MACLEAN

Forrest Gump Goes To Heaven

2006-09-28T18:24:00.000+05:30

Got this is my office e-mail the other day :

FORREST GUMP GOES TO HEAVEN

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven. He is at
the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are
closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, "Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We
have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is
filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination
for everyone. The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can
get into Heaven."

Forrest responds, "It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But
nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test
ain't too hard. Life was a big enough test as it was."

St. Peter continued, "Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three
questions.

First : What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second: How many seconds are there in a year?

Third: What is God's first name?"

Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day and
sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, "Now that you have had a
chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers."

Forrest replied, "Well, the first one -- which two days in the week
begins with the letter "T"? Shucks, that one is easy. That would be
Today and Tomorrow ."

The Saint's eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, "Forrest, that is not
what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not
specify, so I will give you credit for that answer. How about the next
one?" asked St. Peter.

"How many seconds in a year? Now that one is harder," replied Forrest,
but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be
twelve ."

Astounded, St. Peter said, "Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's
name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?"

Forrest replied, "Shucks, there's got to be twelve. January 2nd,
February 2nd, March 2nd.... "

"Hold it," interrupts St. Peter. "I see where you are going with this,
and I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in
mind.....but I will have to give you credit for that one, too. Let us
go on with the third and final question. Can you tell me God's first
name"?

"Sure," Forrest replied, "it's Andy."

"Andy?" exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St Peter.

"Ok, I can understand how you came up with your answers to my first two
questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy
as the first name of God?"

"Shucks, that was the easiest one of all," Forrest replied. "I learnt
it from the song, "ANDY WALKS WITH ME, ANDY TALKS WITH ME, ANDY TELLS
ME I AM HIS OWN. . . "

St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: "Run Forrest, run."

Song for the day - "Blood Roses" - TORI AMOS

Movie Time : The Notebook

2006-09-27T19:03:00.000+05:30

I finally got to see a movie that I had been wanting to for a long time - The Notebook. Yesterday evening, as I waltzed back home from work and was reading the paper, I saw that the film was listed in the evening schedule and had just started. So I just missed a bit of the beginning but enjoyed the movie just the same. The Notebook is a romantic novel by Nicholas Sparks. The story opens in a present-day nursing home, where an elderly man reads a story to an elderly lady. Though her memory has faded, his words give her the chance to relive her turbulent youth and the unforgettable love they shared. The story is contained within a notebook that was written by a woman to her husband. The story is about young Noah Calhoun, a lumberyard worker, who is instantly smitten with seventeen-year-old Allie Hamilton, the daughter of a well-to-do Southern family who is spending the summer at their vacation home in 1940s North Carolina. Allie's parents disapprove of their relationship, and Noah and Allie are separated. However, Noah and Allie's paths cross again seven years later, but by then, Allie is engaged to wealthy Lon Hammond. Noah is dating a neighbor named Martha Shaw. It is evident that they still have feelings for each other, and Allie has to choose between her fiancé and her first love. As the story in the book draws to a close the ill woman realises that the man reading the book is Noah, her husband, and that he is reading the notebook that she, Allie, maintained. But her illness proves too much for her to handle and her memory lapses again to her husband's distraught. They both die together on a bed at the end of the film.

The film version was released June 25, 2004. It starred James Garner, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Marsden, and Gena Rowlands and was directed by Rowlands' real-life son, Nick Cassavetes. The Notebook film adaptation became a "sleeper hit" in Summer 2004 and put Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling on the map in Hollywood as "up-and-comers." Funnily enough, Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling have been linked together since the movie and are supposed to be close to getting married. Both Gosling & McAdams were born in the same hospital in their hometown of London, Ontario, Canada.

Song for the day - "Coming Home" - CITY & COLOUR (DALLAS GREEN)

A Laugh & A Voice

2006-09-24T14:53:00.000+05:30

I got a call today from a girl who I have been looking for and trying to contact for the past two months. No I am not chasing her, cause I have no intention of it for the time being. However I was pleased as punch when she called me or rather when I finally recognised who she was. I didn't at first, though her laugh & voice were familiar and she kept asking me to guess who it was and gave me an easy hint - but the dullard that I am, it just didn't click for a while. Still, you could have seen the brightness of my smile from Neptune.

She was supposed to work for the same office as me, but she didn't show up after the first few days. It seems that she was ill at first and then she got an oppurtunity to apprentice for three months at a small software programming firm, which she preferred. The embarassment of how to tell the management at my company that she wanted to quit just a week after joinning was too much and since she couldn't come for a few days due to her illness, she just dissappeared from the radar. I was deeply disappointed when she did not turn up. But now she is back in my life and this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Song for the day - "Mary" - SARAH MCLACHLAN

To Be Wired

2006-09-21T19:45:00.000+05:30

In a matter of days I will be getting my brand new computer and will also be getting a broadband internet access along with it. I have also looked over a simple but appropriate table counter for it. This will be the second pc that I have bought, the first having been bought in December 1996 (yes that old) and it "died" in 2003 having served me admirably for almost seven years. That was a pentium 100 model with just 640 MB hard disk space!!!!??? What the fuck, now everyone laughs if you have a 20 GB drive, what a long time it was!

I later managed to get me a 4 GB harddisk and even later a 20 GB hardisk, both having crashed on me because I did not have a UPS and with the current going off many times a week or even in a day, it totally screwd them up. The final straw after the hard disk crashed and the motherboard also died, I had decided not to bother wasting money to get it fixed. I didn't have any money to get another one, so from 2003 till date I have been "pcless" (a word I just coined up - too late you need to pay me royaties to use it for personal use!!!)

That will soon change as I am totally fed up of having to go to internet cafes to use the web. I can't just relax and play some games on a computer or even store articles, stories & webpages and read them at leisure at home, enjoying some coffee or a juice or a snack. I really like that and would love to swap having to sit at noisy web cafes where stupid morons chat loudly and play stupid Tamil & Hindi music at blaring noise levels. Sometimes the chairs are lousy and it hurts my back and ass and if I want to scratch my balls I better be careful and check if a girl is watching while I do it. So yippe, I will soon have my pc and get wired at home to browse the net at my convinience. Or like the "dad" character in a clip by the Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie says - "I want to be surfing up the e-mail and hooked up to webpages and stuff!" I just hope that unlike him, I don't lose my "mousy pointer thing" and think that "the cord that connects the tv to the typewriter" can roll off and hide under the sofa!!!

Song for the day - "Never Give Up On Me" - JANN ARDEN

Ache in Mah Joints

2006-09-19T17:17:00.000+05:30

I don't know what I did the last couple of days that has made me suffer like this. I can't remember getting wet in the rain either, although it has been rainning cats & dogs for the last few days. Not for long, but when it does rain it pours. So that was out of the question as well. Whatever it was, I was kinda sick today; by the time I reached the office at around 8:45, I was sure that I was going to get a fever. But a couple of crocins can do wonders for it, only thing is it did nothing for my body aches.

I felt the fever's effect in my joints, the effect feels like you are not suitably dressed in a very cold winter season. Only thing is you don't really feel cold otherwise, except the feeling is there in your joints & limbs. It makes working very tedious and I tired out before long. I couldn't sit for long as I would start feeling pain and I couldn't stand for long as I would get tired very quickly. I was told to go home and rest immediately if I wasn't feeling up to it but I soldiered on until late afternoon just for the heck of it. At 3 pm I knew that there would be people coming in for the late evening shift, so there would be enough support for the call centre agents. Exactly at 3pm I packed my stuff and left for home.

I feel a lot better now but plan on going to sleep around 6 pm, so I can be well refreshed for tomorrow. I may have a new trainning batch to start tomorrow and I was to be in fine tune for that.

Song for the day - "Hole In My Soul" - AEROSMITH

Keith Primeau Retires

2006-09-18T16:11:00.000+05:30

35 year old Keith Primeau announced his retirement a couple of days ago, from the world of hockey & the NHL. His decision is due to health related problems as a result of ongoing post-concussion syndrome. He was the Captain of the Philadelphia Flyers and one of their most popular & respected players.

Keith Primeau (born November 24, 1971, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) played his last six seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers and had also played for the Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers, and the Detroit Red Wings. He was drafted in the first round (third overall) in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit. He was traded by the Hurricanes to the Flyers in 2000, for Rod Brind'Amour, and Jean-Marc Pelletier after a salary dispute. His best season was the 2000-01 NHL season when he had 73 points. On May 4th 2000, Primeau scored the game-winning goal in the longest game in modern NHL playoff history (five overtime periods for a total of 152 minutes and one second) against Ron Tugnutt of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Only two games in 1933 and 1936 were longer.

In the 2003-04 season, Keith had only 22 points in 54 games. However, in the 2004 playoffs Primeau had a total of 9 goals and 7 assists for a total of 16 points; it was the best playoff year of Primeau's career. He recorded a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round of these playoffs. His play carried the team to within a game of the Stanley Cup Finals. Primeau suffered a concussion in October, 2005, and missed the rest of the 2005-06 season. It was this concussion that forced his retirement. His younger brother Wayne Primeau plays for the Boston Bruins. The two brothers fought each other on the ice during the 1996-97 NHL season. Keith served as Alternate (assistant) Captain of Detroit Red Wing and Hartford Whalers. Also served as Alternate Captain, then Captain of Carolina Hurricanes after the Whaler franchise relocated. Served as Captain of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Song for the day - "Somewhere Out There" - OUR LADY PEACE

Ode To The Mosquito & The Mosquito Coil

2006-09-16T17:51:00.000+05:30

Living in Thrikkakara for 19 years and the 11 years that I lived in Kuwait, I was mostly mosquito free. While many people I know have to depend on the various mosquito repellents available in the market, my folks and I went unaffected by it. Used to be that only when I stay over in Mattancherry, in my maternal grandma's house, did I have to revert to what the masses were doing viz-a-viz mosquito aversions. Ointments, mosquito nets, mosquito coils and mats plus the more effective choice of the liquid thingy. Now that I have moved to Kacheripady, I have to be more careful - this place is quite near garbage dumps. Hence mosquitos and their entire entourage abound in blood-thirsty glory and are just waiting for nightfall to start sucking on your blood. If I forget to close the windows after 7 pm, I am done for. I begin to understand what a vampire's victim goes through! (hey wait, I thought I was a Vampire....nevermind). Anyway, I penned a little ditty for the mosquito coil & the mosquito, to be sung in the melody of the hit song "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd.

WISH YOU WERE HERE (OUCH)
=========================
So, so you think you can tell female from a male,
yesterday's bite from todays'
I got one on my ass & face, one on the nuts, whose to complain
Do you think you can tell?

What do I do once the coils fade to just ghosts?
Should I beg on my knees? Repel them with a sneeze?
Bite them back for a change? Blood didn't exchange
one just buzzed in my ear and woke me up in a rage

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
I'm just a poor bitten soul searching for the repelent bowl,
bites after bites,
running out to the ground. What have we found?
More of the same,
wish you were here.

Song for the day - "Red Mosquito" - PEARL JAM

The Completed Supernova

2006-09-15T12:21:00.000+05:30

Ok the final votes are in and a rocker who was originally slated to be one of the top two candiates with the most chance of winning the gig, did win. The final four rockers started the final week by contemplating the pervious days & weeks which had led to the finale. All the other rockers who were eliminated and the discussions & fights that they had had. It is interesting to note that nobody in the final four was born in the United States (Lukas Rossiis from Canada, Dilana Robichaux from South Africa, Magni Ásgeirsson from Iceland and Toby Rand from Australia). For the performance show of the finale, the rockers were given a list of about 150 songs from which they could choose - only 4 were not sung before in the competetion. Lukas played "Fix You" (Coldplay)& then played an acoustic version of his original song "Headspin". Fesity Dilana played a god version of "Roxanne" (The Police) & her own "Supersoul". Aussie Toby played "Karma Police" - (Radiohead) and his popular original "Throw It Away". Magni chose "Hush" (Deep Purple) & his own "When The Time Comes".

On the final day the votes were tallied and they chose the bottom two as Magni & Toby, who had to play a bottom two performance. Magni sang "Fire" (Jimi Hendrix) & Toby sang "White Wedding" (Billy Idol). Magni was then eliminated by the member of Supernova. Down to the final three, the rockers were told to play their favourite songs of the show. Lukas chose "Bittersweet Symphony" (The Verve), Dilana chose "Zombie" (The Cranberries) & Toby chose "Somebody Told Me" (The Killers). Toby was praised by the band and then told that he was the next to be eliminated.

Which left the top two and at the very beginning of the show, the two who were noted to be the favourites. I had actually thought that Magni was the perfect fit for Supernova considering the three members of Gilby, Tommy & Jason and Dilana the next choice, although my favourite was Lukas.

Well, Supernova deliberated hard & long but there seemed to be only one choice for them. As much as they loved Dilana, Toby, Magni, Storm & Ryan, the superstar rockers knew that the person with the star quality, singing chops & charisma was Lukas Rossi. And chose him they did, with Tommy telling him as the annoucement "Lukas, you're our boy"! The now newly completed Supernova took the stage to perform "Be Yourself (And Five Other Common Clichés)" and "It's All Love" which are originals written by the band.

Song for the day - "Headspin" - LUKAS ROSSI

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : TV Roles

2006-09-12T17:49:00.000+05:30

This is my top/favourite tv roles of all time, the kind of roles I wish I could do if I was an actor. Mind you, there may be several more yet for me to discover but these are certainly some really good and even offbeat roles.

Constable Benton Fraser (Due South) - Paul Gross

Remimgton Steele (Remington Steele) - Peirce Brosnan

Ed Jeremy Stevens (Ed) - Tom Cavanaugh

Agent Fox Mulder (The X-Files) - David Duchovny

Angel (Angel & Buffy The Vampire Slayer) - David Boreanaz

Captain James T Kirk (Star Trek) William Shatner

Michael Knight (Knight Rider) - David Hasselhoff

Eric Draven aka The Crow (The Crow : Stairway To Heaven) - Mark Dacascos

Cade Foster (First Wave) - Sebastian Spence

Automan (Automan) - Chuck Wagner

John Crichton (Farscape) -Ben Browder

Song for the day - "Due South (theme from Due South" - JAY SEMKO

Album Review : A Matter Of Life And Death by Iron Maiden

2006-09-10T19:06:00.000+05:30

One look at the cover should give you an idea what the subject matter of A Matter Of Life And Death is all about; just in case the title does not. Then take a look at the names of the 10 tracks - mainly about war, death & human errors in the name of war & religion. This is their first release in three years is once again co-produced by Kevin Shirley alongside band bassist Steve Harris. Despite being around for 26+ years, Maiden do not pull any punches in the album. The bass is still galloping like a wild stallion on the loose that will soon kick you in the gut. Nicko McBain's drums pound in your ears, brain & shake the windows of your room. The three guitarists prove that more is better and Bruce Dickinson is the ultimate vocal shredder - one big lusty wail from him is enough to wake up the dead and please Satan.

The problem with this album is that after a while, you can't seem to distinguish it from their last album Dance Of Death. In subject matter and style of music, they both seem somewhat same. Brave New World could also join in the list, however that is a truly great album and the songs ensure that it reaches a plateau not often achieved by mere mortals. I will kill you if you talk bad of that album. But the songs & music seem repetitive - I really like The Longest Day & The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg but they seem oddly familiar. So do several tracks in the album.

Plus the songs are very long - for an album of just 10 tracks the length of the cd is over 70 minutes! Like a classical music album of Mozart or Bach. And, don't get me wrong, Maiden are equally or even better than them. I really love Maiden but they could have done a better job...nay they are expected to do so. But the three year gap between the albums seem like a resting vacation for the 6 guys; so give us a great album! The Pilgrim & For The Greater Good Of God make me feel as if these guys have discovered god all of a sudden -- what happened to the songs of evil and warnings against them? I miss them guys.

Song for the day - "The Longest Day" - IRON MAIDEN

Rockstar Supernova Finale Is Near

2006-09-09T17:16:00.000+05:30

The second season of the highly successful, most rocking reality show/competetion is about to reach it's conclusion in the coming few days. Millions will be tuned in to find out which among the remainning four rockers will win the chance to join Supernova - the supergroup rock band consisting of Tommy Lee on drums, Gilby Clark on guitars & Jason Newstead on bass - as their lead singer and experience life in the fast lane in front of thousands of fans on stage. 15 rockers started out, out of audtions done by thousands, in a mansion and performing in front of Supernova to try and impress them enough for the gig. Everyweek one rocker gets eliminated from the bottom three; the three with the least votes from a worldwide audience. Last year, the first Rockstar competetion, was won by Canadian JD Fortune, who now sings lead for INXS. Then it was an actual band, whose singer commited suicide in 1997, in need for a singer so that they can rock again and make a comeback. This time it seems to be an ego booster for Tommy Lee who will do anything to stay in the limelight and on tv. Gilby Clark seems like a down to earth guy, there for the rock & the music. Jason Newstead, it seems is the middle ground between the other two - a bit of both.
The Rockers who are eliminated:

I would just like to comment on some of the rockers who got eliminated, but who I really like based on their performances. Jenny Galt (born in Montreal based in Vancouver) is someone I really like. Her looks, her voice & singing, her charms are all apparant and she is a really talented lady. But it was obvious that she was not Supernova material right from the get go. She falls more in the singer/guitarist/songwriter category and is not the kind of singer to front a racaous, beer & whiskey fueled, arena monster like the three founding members. She would be more like a lighter version of Alanis Morissette or Jann Arden with some Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch in the mix. She should be a solo artist and I would buy her stuff if I can find it.

Dana Andrews, from Augusta, Georgia, was the youngest of the rockers at just 22 years of age. She clearly was not in the league of Supernova, just for her age and inexperience on stage. Don't get me wrong, rock n'roll knows no age usually, but in front of 40 year old stage veterans, she would stand out. But she was the sweetheart of the bunch, smiling gratefuly for the oppurtunity of a lifetime when she was eliminated. The guys in Supernova were impressed by her maturity and her innocence. Just like Jenny, Dana is a cutie. Her initial performances were strained, I did not particularly like her attempt to "metalize" Bon Jovi's anthemn "It's My Life", she did improve in time. However she too had to go.

The Rocker from Austin, Texas, hot mama Patrice Pike, was unfairly critised by Dave Navarro for what he thought was lame and safe song performance (she has done "Remedy" by the Black Crowes). She did not give in and stared right back at him and the next night did an extremely out there performance of Radiohead's "My Iron Lung". She is an artist who has written a Billboard top 10 song, played in support of Sarah Mclachlan, The Allman Brothers band, Sinead O'Connor and the Dave Mathews Band among others. I really loved her singing and she was kinda my favourite rocker other than Lukas. She is also hot and I felt that she could have fronted a band like Supernova.

Josh Logan is a good singer of the funk & soul kind. He likes to have cds of Boys II men & Stevie Wonder along with Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi. I really liked his version of the hit song "She Talks To Angels" an original by the Black Crowes. But his style and voice proved that he was in the mould of the soulful rocker and tailor-made for smaller more intimate theatres, 5000-6000 capacity crowds. The nail in his coffin was a horrible rendition of one of favourites of all time - "No Rain" by Blind Melon - which is a heartfelt semi-ballad. Logan tried to speed it up and make it a bit more rockier and upbeat....and it stunk. It is not an easy song to do and it showed. The Manchester, New Hampshire man might have a go at being a sort of rocker in the John Mayer category.

Jill Gioia is a real joy to watch! No kidding man, this hot tamale from Long Isalnd, New York is a small (read that petite) woman, something like five feet nothing. But she more than makes up for it with her voice. For a small lady she sure has a big voice that loves to tear it up. No wonder that her idol is Tina Turner and Janis Joplin. She did a great version of "Alone" (Heart), "Don't Forget About Me" & some others but relies on her big vocals way too much. The Simple Minds track that she did was a perfect example of a song in which she should have focused on the lyrics and the emotion and she could have made it really sexy. That said she sure is eye candy and has a big mouth (literally)!

Ryan Star, another New Yorker rocker, was dubbed the dark horse by Supernova and did do very well. He started out very uncomfortable with himself and totally lost on stage. He seemed to no know what his feet were doing; while his body wanted to move in one direction he wanted to go in another. "I Alone" & "Losing My Religion" were really good performances by Ryan and even his bizarre makeup in his version of "Paint It Black" was noted for his good singing. However he tends to just scream at times and his last couple of songs were strained, especially "Baba O'Reilly" which he introduced as "going to blow your brains out". But it proved his undoing and he too was sent packing.

And Storm Large...what can I say about a girl called Storm Large and who has a band called The Balls!! I am not worthy!! Just kidding, she has a killer vocal performance and delivers with kick several of her favs. She has legs that go on for miles. Her killer performance was "Anything, Anything" (Dramarama) where she blew the roof off the roof and then did a stage dive. Tall & gangly, she loves to rock on stage as explained by her take on "Suffragette City" (David Bowie) & "We Are the Champions" (Queen) and gave a classy performance of "Changes" (David Bowie). Her original song "Ladylike" went well with the audience and members of Supernova but not enough to keep her in the competition.

Song for the day - "Creep" - RADIOHEAD

Onam is here.....Does anyone care?

2006-09-05T17:27:00.000+05:30

Seemed like it for the past few days, I can remember my post last year where I typed similiar things. But really, who has the energy or time to really prep for Onam in the 21st Century? I don't. For me, and that is especially this year, I treated it like any off day - actually today is the real Onam and I was working, but I was off yesterday. I got up like any other day and it started out almost like any other day.

Last evening, since I was off, I slept late and watch tv for the remainder of the morning and around 1:00 pm took a bath before lunch. I dediced to just spend a couple of hours on the net and then come home to listen to my cds. However, fate intervened in the form of a call from my cousin's cellphone, as I was just about to leave the apartment.

Kannanchettan, called while he was at his lunch break at his office, which is just a 10 minute walk away from my apartment. He said, if I wasn't doing anything that evening to come out for a while. I said sure, that I would be wherever he wanted. Around 5:30 ish we met outside Seematti and on his bike went to Rama Varma Club and had a split 5 beers with a few bites between ourselves. We kept talking about the changes in all our lives and what pisses us off about them, our familes and relatives who do this and that and grumble at others. It was a good evening, he had to leave by 7:30, so I walked back to the apartment.

Song for the day - "I Think I'll Disappear Now" - CRASH TEST DUMMIES

Music Collection

2006-09-03T19:39:00.000+05:30

I am a person who has a huge album collection at the moment. And this is after chuking out a big bunch of tapes due to the fact that they were so old & you could barely hear them or just that I no longer have any purpose for them, other than gathering dust in drawers or being used as bookends.

During the move to the new apartment, I had discarded several tapes into an old box and given it to a guy who collects scraps of stuff and sells them at really low prices. I did feel funny throwing them out; if it wasn't for the move and the lack of space in the new place, I might have had those tapes forever! I mean who wants to throw out music tapes? It just ain't done under usual circumstances, but I just had too. Even the ones I still have are kinds old for the most part. I stopped buying tapes in 2004 and only buy cds since, now that I can afford to buy 2 or 3 a month if there happens to be really good albums out there. The quality difference is enough to make a deaf man notice!!!

I have stacked the cds I listen to pretty often (once a week or 10 day) on top of the big teapoy on the corner of my bedroom in stacks of 4. The lesser used ones are currently in my cupboard for easy reach. And the least played ones are still in a white carton, which I must unpack tomorrow as I want to clean the entire room out of unwanted things. And the cartons are really ugly in the room.

Song for the day - "This Is How I Live" - SAM ROBERTS

Settled

2006-09-02T16:54:00.001+05:30

Ok, now that it is exactly 10 days since the move to the apartment in Kacheripady, I am somewhat settled now. I still haven't spent a whole day in the apartment; I have spent a few hours alone and some evenings with my mom but not too long. The proximity to downtown (actually, I'm on the border of downtown) makes it too tempting to stay indoors. Also, I am used to bigger space for the last 19 years and so it kinda still feels a bit clautrophobic and all. I plan on staying home for the most of Monday, as it is a holiday and most places will be closed. I may just put my feet up and watch tv all day.

Anyway, today I was off as well, so I decided to have my day in town after a while. I slept last night around 1:00 am or so, my eyelids closing during the commercials between an episode of The Simpsons, so I decided to hit the sack. I woke up very late, almost 9:45 am and had a tiny bit of breakfast with coffee while flipping through the channels. A little argument with mom followed about.....nothing really. They usually are about nothing most of the time, you know. A shave and shower later and by 11:30 or so I was off to start my day out at Cafe Coffee Day. I had a couple of cookies with a big cup of Kaapi Nirvana, an award winning cold coffee with chocolate sauce & creame that tasted yummy.

I went to both Planet M & Music World and bought a cd each from both - a two cd best of The Scorpions and Iron Maiden's new album, respectively. I shall enter my reviews on them in later posts. Then it was on to Men's World nearby; the traffic was terrible, with cars going not much faster than a snail. I bought a pair of little brown jeans and two shirts plus a couple of underwear(!!) and while the jeans was being altered to my length specifications, I dediced to go for lunch.

The Oberio bar & restaurant is quite nearby and I popped in to a very crowded room for a couple of vodkas (changing to Moscovy from my usual Romanov, the former seems a bit more stronger in alcohol content than the latter) and had some ginger chicken & a plate of noodles, which was very good. Then I came here to browse for a while and now will be heading home to watch some football.

Song for the day - "Baba O'Reilly" - THE WHO

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : Acoustic Ballads

2006-09-01T14:41:00.000+05:30

What A Good Boy - Barenaked Ladies

Patience - Guns N'Roses

Angie - Rolling Stones

My My, Hey Hey - Neil Young

Dust In The Wind - Kansas

Two Steps Behind - Def Leppard

Going Where The Wind Blows - Mr.Big

More Than Words - Extreme

Back To You - Bryan Adams

Someonelse? - Queensryche

Space Dye Vest - Dream Theatre

Song for the day - "Patience" - GUNS N'ROSES

Steve Yzerman

2006-08-31T13:52:00.000+05:30

Everyone has their heroes in sports, I have mine. I follow football, tennis & ice hockey. One of my heroes & favourites in hockey is the now retired former long-time serving captain of the Detroit Redwings - Steve Yzerman. At the age of 40, Yzerman decided to finally hang up his skates as age & injuries take their toll on the man, a leader on ice who lead his NHL team the Redwings to Stanley Cup glory in 2002, while basically playing on one leg. He had to have surgery on the other after the playoffs. Joining Detroit in 1983, he played his entire professional career (1983 to 2006) for the Red Wings, leading the team to three Stanley Cup championships (1997, 1998 and 2002). At the age of 21, Yzerman was named captain of the Red Wings for the 1986-87 season, and continuously served as captain until his retirement nearly two decades later. Yzerman retired as the longest-serving captain of any team in NHL history.

Steve Yzerman was born in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada but later moved with his family to Nepean (Ottawa), Ontario, where he grew up. He played junior hockey with the Petersborough Petes of the OHL. Yzerman won numerous awards during his career, including the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1989, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1998, the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward in 2000, and the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance in 2003. He is a nine-time NHL All-Star, a First Team All-Star in 2000, and a member of the All-Rookie Team in 1984. He was also an integral part of the Olympic gold-winning Canadian Men's Hockey team of 2002. On July 3, 2006, Yzerman retired, finishing his career ranked as the sixth all-time leading scorer in NHL history. Despite the retirement, Detroit management wants Yzerman to remain in the organization, after a year off if he so wants to. His jersey number 19, will be retired in January 2007, in a ceremony held before a game against the Anaheim Ducks. He will be missed on the ice.

Highlights from his career

In 1995, Yzerman led Detroit to its first Stanley Cup finals series since 1966, but were swept by the New Jersey Devils. In 1996, Detroit finished with an NHL record 62 regular season wins but lost in the Conference finals to the Colorado Avalanche. In 1997, Detroit won its first Stanley Cup in 42 years by sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers. The following year Detroit repeated the feat, sweeping the Washington Capitals. Yzerman earned the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP. He handed the Cup to Vladimir Konstantinov, who had been injured severely in a car accident just six days after the Cup victory in 1997. On November 26, 1999, Yzerman became the eleventh player in NHL history to score 600 goals. In 2000, he made the NHL All-Star First Team and won the Frank J. Selke trophy. In 2001-02, Yzerman re-aggravated a knee injury, forcing him to miss 30 regular season games.[citation needed] However, he led Detroit to its 3rd Stanley Cup in six years--the 10th in franchise history. He was also part of the Canadian Olympic Men's hockey team that beat the USA 5-2 in Salt Lake City at the 2002 Olympics, winning gold for the first time in 50 years.

Song for the day - "On Walks The Night" - JESSE COOK

Alone In The Apartment

2006-08-29T18:21:00.000+05:30

Settling down somewhat ok in my apartment. It still feels kinda cramped and small, that makes me wanna go outside a lot. People seem to go up and down the elevators at all odd hours of the night and early mornings. I find it so odd that someone is using it at 3:00 am and the noise is so loud that I keep waking up. The pinkness of the rooms still hurts my male ego and my eyes.

I spent some time in the apartment alone by myself a night ago. My mom went to my sister's place and dad was at an uncle's place after being at a temple function all day. That gave me some time by my lonesomeness and time to reflect the changes in my life. From 6 pm I just sat there and watched tv for a bit before lying down for a quick, short nap. Then I decided to buy some stuff for my dinner and settles on biscuits, a bottle of seven-up and instant noodles instead of eating out. I went for a short walk before buying the provisions and came back to the sound of tv noise - I had forgotten to turn the damn thing off before I left.

While watching some funny show on cable, I eat a couple of biscuits and put the seven-up in the fridge, boiled water and put the noodles in to cook. I settled down for the evening to watch some WWE, part of a movie and some football before my eyes started closing away and I dragged myself to the mattress and went to sleep. It was an ok evening by myself.

Song for the day - "Hand In My Pocket" - ALANIS MORISSETTE

Move, Moving..........Moved

2006-08-25T14:23:00.000+05:30

It has finally happened and we can now relax quite a bit. The massive changeover has taken place and my folks and I have shifted from our home of 19 years (we completed the house in 1985 but only started living there permanently from 1987; until then it was a summer vaction house while we were based in Kuwait). I have so many fond memories of the house in Thrikkakara, which, according to the new owners, will only faintly resemble the original structure in a few months. The new owners are planning on doing so many changes, including building a seperate wing itself and demolishing a wall between two room to make one really large room. My little association with the Doc who bought my house (my father handled everything since I work and he is retired) has made me resent him a bit and as far as I am concerned, Doc you can pick it apart peice by peice and take it anywhere you want. As long as it is not mine now, I don't want to see it.

We moved the last of our belongings to the small apartment in Kacheripady and boy what a shocker. First of all, a major goof up happened by the workers and the walls ended up being painted a sick looking pink! Imagine a 100 people threw up bottles of liquid Gelusin in the rooms and you will get the picture! I can't stop wincing everytime I see the walls.

And it really is small, it's gonna take a whole lot of adjusting to get used to the smallness of the rooms when compared to the old house. My room is already feeling cramped and I still need to add a bed & a table & an armchair & a computer & a beanbag for guests! All it has right now is a big teapoy that my dad pushed on me to create my space elsewhere, a chair and a mattress that I slept on last night.

Song for the day - "Here I Go Again" - WHITESNAKE

Fire

2006-08-22T20:34:00.000+05:30

Fire - the destroyer or a cleanser? Everyone knows about the awesome destructive powers of fire. A small fire can burn & completly vanquish a vast, mighty forest as it's flames grows in size and envelops evertything that stands in it's path. In a couple of days, it can burn up things that may have taken years to build. It is is unrelenting and unfeeling. It shows no remorse or guilt or compassion. It can be the ultimate destroyer without soul.

Or you can look upon it as cleansing, giving a fresh start to the person who uses the fire to be in that way. By burning things that reminded you of the bad times and things that stood in the way of achiveing somthing good, it can free you. Which is why in myth & stories & movies, you always see fire as the weapon that finally defeats evil - a monster or a house or a building or an alien! Fire is that which we chose it to be.

Since I have just two more days before my folks and I vacate our home in Thrikkakara and move to the apartment in the city, we were busy packing up stuff to be moved to the new place. What we won't be able to squeeze into the apartment (hey, we have been piling up junk from the early 1980's; stuff which fits in a big house but will not fit into a 3 bedroom flat), we are temporarily storing in an uncle's house or in my maternal grandma's place. A whole bunch of newspapers, papers, magazine stuff, cards, letters & wrappers were found and dumped in the backyard to burn. I saw the burning going on and soon added a whole pile of my shit into the fire and further fanned the flames. I saw some old cards & books from lost loves, even some porno :) and other sort of stuff that I dumped into the fire pit.

I felt like my old life was being closed right before my eyes; chapters of my life being destroyed as the flames turned it into ashes. It felt like the end of an era & the beginning of one. The old one had a lot of fun and a lot of tears & heartaches behind it. I hope the new era is somewhat fun at all times. And as the fire died down,only black.grey ashes remained. Is that symbolic? Is life as I knew it been changed to this....ashes? Or is it signaling the end of the problems and the beginning of new hope and a new purpose in a new life? Well, only time will tell.

Song for the day - "Fire Woman" - THE CULT

Puke Fest

2006-08-18T14:53:00.000+05:30

Yeah like the title of this entry says, I puked....quite a lot yesterday. You see, I am not used to puking (barfing, throwing up, hurling, vomiting - whatever you may wanna call it) and I feel that it is the most disgusting thing that you can do, involuntarily ofcourse. Wait, is there such a thing as an involuntary fart? No, you don't think so? Ok then. Puking is the most disgusting thing that you can do involuntarily and as such I try to make sure that it and I be strangers as much as possible. I can fairly say that the last time I had puked was in early 2003, in Calicut. I had had two hours of sleep, followed by 5 hours of travel in a bus. That evening, I joined some friends in having 6 rums & 2 brandys along with peanuts & grapes....and later paid the price by hurling three times in the next 6 hours. That time I deserved it 100%. The next morning, I could barely get anything inside me, other than black coffee.

But yesterday I was the victim of some large conspiracy of the cruel kind. All I had had last night was three vodkas & a plate of fried chicken & rice. Now after the effects, I had some doubt if I caught bird flu or SARS. Wait, here was the problem - it was brought on by the fucking nay-sayers in India. You see, I could not add either of my usual Vodka companions; Seven Up or Sprite, as the Cola brands were banned until further notice. This is because of various debates in the media about the residue of pesticides in them. That is up for discussion another day. Anyway, back to my story; so I had to substitute with lime cordial and soda! Yuck! I did not like the taste while it went down my throat and was unhappy throughout the evening. I felt gas building in me all night but went to sleep without any events.

The next morning, I barely had any breakfast and was uneasy at work. I forced myself to stay upright the whole morning and tried to eat a bland lunch in vain as most of it was thrown away by me. But I was barely able to sit and the lack of sleep was also taking it's effect on me. So I asked permission to take some rest and put my feet up on a chair and tried to rest. Around three in the afternoon, I asked one of the maids there to get me a lime+soda and no sooner did I drink it, when I felt the old, familiar feeling. I rushed to the loo and just about closed the door shut when out came my insides into the bowl. A couple of violent heaves later, I was through.

That should have been the end of it but I was still uneasy and left an hour later. By the time I reached home I had a full blown fever and went right to bed shivering the whole night. It took me almost the whole of today to get back on my feet.

Song for the day - "Scar Tissue" - RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

Billy Lane - Chopper's Inc

2006-08-12T14:53:00.000+05:30

William David (Billy) Lane (born February 6, 1970 in Miami, Florida) is the owner of Choppers Inc. and a custom choppers motorcycle builder in Melbourne, Florida. He has became well known due to his appearances in numerous shows on the Discovery Channel. He holds seven US patents on motorcycle parts and accessories. Lane has authored two books, an autobiography, Billy Lane's Chop Fiction: It's not a Motorcycle, Baby, It's a Chopper (2004, Motorbooks International) and Billy Lane's How to Build Old School Choppers, Bobbers And Customs (2005, Motorbooks International). Lane also holds an engineering degree from Florida International University, graduating in 1997. Take a look at this guy's awesomely wiked bike designs & marvel at the details - the second bike, the one in red is titled "Miss Behavin" and is one of my favourite bikes.

Song for the day - "Horse Called War" - PRIDE & GLORY

The End Of The Babes Section

2006-08-11T20:12:00.000+05:30

Now that I have turned 30 years old, I have decided to kill off the Babe of the week section. It's only because I am getting a bit tired of it and I feel that it is for a younger man to do, that I am discontinuing it. It has been a wonderful ride, hosting pictures of the women who hold my fantasies hostage and sharing them with you. This is not the actual end of the list of these women - there are many more and I am sure many more who I am not aware of right now. I would have posted them here in case of the former, but as I said, my age. And in case of the latter, I might mention them a bit in forthcoming posts and even write a small bio about them. For now, this is enough. The Babe of the week section has run it's course in my blog and I fondly remember them. Searching for pics that I could post here has taken it's toll on me. Oh and in some cases, I might fancy and like a certain babe, but just can't find any pics of the said lady. That used to be a frequent problem.

So, I are closing this section and want to close it off in great style - with my favourite woman of all time. Yes, she is just simply the greatest, sweetest, sexiest & most beautiful woman (in my mind, don't know about yours) in the world. Some people like Sophia Loren, Angelina Jolie, Marylin Monroe etc etc. For me it has always been Samantha Fox. From the time I first heard & saw her video for "Touch Me", I was hooked. I have loved her for the following years and will do so. Samantha, I am 30 and you are 40, time is running out but you still have a couple of years left to propose to me, you sexy thing. Isn't she just hot?

Babe of the week - SAMANTHA FOX

Song for the day - "Touch Me (I Wanna Feel Your Body)" - SAMANTHA FOX

Album Review : Super Colossal by Joe Satriani

2006-08-10T18:30:00.000+05:30

Twenty years plus since he first started getting the attention he truly deserves, Joe Satriani, the world's greatest guitar player, has come out with another great album of instrumentals titled "Super Colossal". 1987 saw the release of "Surfing With The Alien" and with that, Satch was established in guitar & rock music history as one of the true greats, preferring to let his music do his talking for him. The album follows in the footsteps of his 2 recent albums, 2002's "Strange Beatiful Music" & 2004's "Is There Love In Space", footstomping numbers and thoughtful more melodious instrumentals that you can play in any enviornment and anyone can enjoy (except rappers who are idiots)! The wonderful CD artwork compliments the songs & overall attitute of the 13 tracks on the album, which starts off with the title track & first single.

"Cool New Way" is just that - a cool new way to make your ears perk up and pay attention with a cool vibe & melody. "Made of Tears" follows in the footsteps of an earlier favourite, "The Crush of Love" in guitar tone and melody, and will surely be a live fan choice. "One Robot's Dream" is another track that mines that "cool" vibe, this time with a space age feel, perhaps reminicent of "Is There Love In Space" or his "Engines Of Creation" album released in 2000. "Redshift Riders" is likely to be the song that guitar shredders will hail as the album anthem. The intro gives way to a thick, snarling rhythm track which allows Satriani to run through a few screaming solos and I can imagine hundreds of thousands of guitarists squinting in concentration as they try to understand just how it is done. A few more times of playing this track and they will pick up their own guitars and belt out their versions. Some of the hottest licks on the disc can be found in the final 30 seconds of "Redshift Riders." "Ten Words" and "The Meaning of Love" are the best of the more melodious tracks on the album, which does not (sadly) feature a ballad in the vien of "Crying", "Alone" or "Always With me, Always With You". Still "Ten Words" is surely a great tender song. The closing track, "Crowd Chants" is a rowdy rocker and will be great in concert. Recorded with 30 of his friends & musicians in Vancouver, the chants & voices adds another dimension to the already rambunctious fast track which struts like a stallion on steriods and is great way to close out the album. Go and buy it idiots, instead of reading this!

Song for the day - "Crowd Chants" - JOE SATRIANI

Coffee Fix

2006-08-09T17:35:00.000+05:30

I just wrapped up another batch of induction for new agents in the call centre. The last five days have gone by smoothly in terms of work and me finishing the topics on time as I had targeted. If the bitch was at the office these last few days instead of going for her management session, the sessions would have been in choas with unecessary interuptions and the agents sitting idle while the bitch wasted my time. Luckily for us, she was away and it showed in terms of things getting done on time. However I was not really that happy with the 4 agents who were selected out of 20 or so who came for the interview. You see, I don't take any part in the selection process; I just train them and several times I have reported myself to be not satisfied in the trainning hall due to the agents being sup-par. This batch was too distractive to me and I felt that they were not up to the standard. Oh well, my part is done. It's just that I normally feel great after an induction batch is over as it usually challenges me as well - not this time however.

I haven't been sleeping well these last few days because of change in my normal schedule. I prefer working from afternoon till night since I don't have to get up early to go to work. I am not a morning person but I can stay up all night if required to. Plus I watch tv from 10 till 1 am or 2 am or 3 am. Hence getting up at 6 or 7 am after a late night is very difficult. So these days with the induction training happening, I would go to sleep only after 2 am and wakeup four hours later at the unholy hour of 6 AM and drag myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth with my eyes closed shut so tightly, you would need a crowbar to pry them open. It's not until the first sweet sip of strong black coffee dances seductively into my throat that I begin to signs of life rather than the living dead!

I have been having quite a bit of coffee these days and also look forward to my infrequent visits to coffee shops like Cafe Barista or Coffee Cafe Day to treat myself. Today after my training batch was concluded, I decided to treat myself to a good cold cup of mocachillo at Cafe Coffee Day (pictured above) and ended up having two! This was despite already having had five cups of normal hot coffee till then - which would include two black ones in the morning before breakfast to get me energised, then a cup of machine coffee at 11 @ the office. Sometime after lunch, the obligatory afternoon cup was sent to me twice (I usually only have one in the afternoon at the office) and then my two mocachillos!

Epilogue entered the next day ---- No wonder I was so wired up last night and could not sleep until after 5 am! I watched lots of tv till then.

Song for the day - "La Camisa Negra" - JUANES

Apartment Building

2006-08-07T17:29:00.000+05:30

Decoration

2006-08-04T19:13:00.000+05:30

I have been thinking of how to tastefully decorate my new room (I have less than three weeks before I have to move along with my family to the new apartment) and keeping thinking of wild ideas, some of which I won't discuss here. I have seen some really good stuff in the new shops on Marine Drive and in some other places as well. If any of you have some good ideas for inexpensive ways to brighten up a room, send me a suggestion - roshangk@hotmail.com.

I saw a really good wallhanger/banner of Manchester United which I think will go really well on my wall or door. I hope they have similar stuff for Arsenal or Bayern Munich or Barcelona. I saw some posters and painting which also will do well as an eye-pleaser in my room. I have my heart set on a decorative cocktail glass set designer set decoratory peices (which glow in the dark) from a place in MG Road. A fake colourful beer mug night light will also be a great buy. I think a couple of bean bags and cushions will look really good in any bedroom. I hope to get some scented candles as well (I was given one as a gift, but it looks too gorgeous to waste away). A furry dog or panther in a corner of the room is one suggestion from a friend. I will keep you guys posted and upload some pics when they are done.

Babe of the week - KRISTIN DAVIS

Song for the day - "You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast" - SPIN DOCTORS

Shawny Vs The World

2006-08-03T19:04:00.000+05:30

I was hoping to get a picture that lookes like the cover of Pearl Jam's "VS" cd. You know the one I am talking about, the one that looks like a dog or a sheep strainning it's face against the wire mesh that seperates it from the outside free world. The album cover was supposed to define defience and rebellian attitude. Shawny is just over one year old, a cross between a dalmatian dog and a black labrador bitch and full of spunk, energy, vigour & love for whoever is kind enough to pat & fondle her head and feed her. This is my homeage to my fav band. Shawny the dog is very photogenic!!

The Big 3 0

2006-08-02T21:25:00.000+05:30

The Big 3 0! Three decades of decadence! Thirty years of fun followed by the rest of your life! Thirty years of silence to be followed by 30 years of wild sex & orgasms! This is the first day of the rest of my life! Whatever you may wanna call it, this day I turn 30 years old......or 30 years young, whichever way seems fit! I was born on the second of August, 1976 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Intelligent beings from this planet and the rest of the universe, stopped whatever they were doing to celebrate the birth & arrival of the chosen one - me! I guess that must be the vodka talking. No it's true, I was hailed as saviour of the entire universe.

I wasn't going to celebrate this day, thinking that such activities are for younger people and for people who are happy about their lives. Infact I almost forgot about it this day until about 11:15 or so when I noticed the date. I had remembered that it was my birthday when I spoke with two friends last night, but it skipped my mind until 11:15 that this was the day that I was hatched.

After work I left for Edapally and hade a few vodka+seven ups and some chicken with fried rice to celebrate my existence for 30 years on this planet. I wonder what's in store for me? What will happen in the next few weeks/months ? And next 30 years? Will I be alive, will I be happy, will I have a family of my own? Will I hate myself and want to end it all?

Song for the day - "30 Days In The Hole" - MR.BIG

ROSHAN'S ELEVEN : Songs of Warrant

2006-07-30T18:29:00.000+05:30

Heaven

Cherry Pie

Down Boys

Bitter Pill

Family Picnic

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Hole In My Wall

Sometimes She Cries

I Saw Red

Dirty, Rotten, Filthy, Stinky, Rich

Stronger Now

Song for the day - "Cherry Pie" - RUSH

Movie Time : The Amityville Horror

2006-07-29T18:29:00.000+05:30

This is a remake of the 1977 book which was ostensibly inspired by a real life mass murder in Long Island, New York. A movie was made in 1979, which is still one of my family's favourite horror movies, although I can't remember seeing it. And I didn't know much about the story either, so that left me as a newbie to the movie. It stars Ryan Rodney Reynolds as George Lutz and Melissa George as Kathy Lutz. The couple, along with their three children, move into what they believe will be their dream home; unaware that it previously belonged to the DeFeo family, and that Ronald DeFeo, Jr. had murdered his parents and siblings with a rifle the year before. DeFeo had claimed it was the "voices" that caused him to do it. It doesn't take long for the Lutz family to start hearing ghostly voices, and witnessing apparitions, including the ghost of Jodie DeFeo, who appears to little Chelsea as a friend. George is the most affected, and he eventually becomes a danger to those around him. In the true story (at least, some believe it to be true) that inspired "The Amityville Horror," George Lutz woke up demonized every night at 3:15 a.m., the exact time a boy living in his house a year earlier killed his family The local priest is called in to bless the house, and he fails, warning Kathy to leave the house before it's too late.

There are some creepy moments in the film, which dissapoints because it ends so quickly and without proper closure as such. There were so many angles that the movie makers could have tried, in order to really make this an excellent movie. I read that this version is more true to the book by Jay Anson and not the original movie of 1979. Hence people who saw & liked the first movie may have reservations after seeing the 2005 version. The kids in the movie do a terrific job, Melissa George plays a convincing young mother torn between protecting & raising her three kids and the love she has for her new husband. But the top marks for the movie should go to Ryan Reynolds, who plays a good disturbed character. Reynolds is know more for his goofy characters and his funny roles like "Michael Bergin" in the sitcom series Two Guys & A Girl and as "Van Wilder" in National Lampoon's Van Wilder. A guy who normally makes us laugh and wince to hilarious & disgusting antics like farting & stuff, stuns in a total makeover role for him.

Song for the day - "I Stay Away" - ALICE IN CHAINS

Celebrity Chaos

2006-07-28T19:33:00.000+05:30

I can't belive some of the famous people who are considered glamorous these days. The "in" people and the "it" girls as just so lame and I wonder what the heck is wrong with the general public and the media. First of all....Paris Hilton?? Why is she so famous and sought after for pictures and endorsements? She is butt ugly, is clearly a slut, no talent, looks like a whore with a semen fetish...need I go on? Whenever I see ad clips of "The Simple Life" in between the shows that I watch, I feel like puking. It is rediculous that she is considered beatiful and famous. What is she famous for? And I dislike her former best friend Nicole Richie, just a little less.

Lindsey Lohan - her picture should be in the dictonary under "idiot, stupid & ham"! She is not pretty, she can't act, is not a nice person. Why is she considered an "it" girl? Why are her lame movies getting so much attention even though she has no talent? You can add Hillary Duff to this list, although I do think she is preety, but I can't stand her singing!

People breaking up, people hooking up - Jenniger Anniston please open your eyes and smell that asshole next to you who is also known as Vince Vaughn. Yeesh!! Dean McDermott may not be very famous but what is he doing getting married to that nitwit Tori Spelling? Man, find yourself a good bride from your Canada!

Babe of the week - TRACY BINGHAM

Song for the day - "Sunshine Of Your Love" - LIVING COLOUR

Sunday Debauchery

2006-07-23T21:29:00.000+05:30

Wom man, I am recovering from a wild day of partying or I should just say drinking with my two buddies & former collegues from AspinWall. Anil Alappat and Madhu joined me to have a few drinks, some eats and to talk about the wonderful times we had at our former workplace. I haven't seen either in several months; Madhu and I haven't meet in well over 18 months, ever since he got a job in Hyderabad. He had had enough of the place and had come back to Kochi and was looking around for a new job. He got in an insurance firm but the profile was not really what he was looking for and plus he would be stationed in a place he was not keen on going to. Alapatt, had joined an MBA course in Bangalore but had come down to Kerala from time to time. Therefore, I saw him once every two to three months until his course got over and he started job hunting, without much interest as he is expecting a placing in Dubai.

So we had lots of catching up to do and drink was on the menu. Madhu, who lives nearby, picked me up at around 2:40 pm at my house and we drove to Edapally Toll. Since I didn't want us to be caught by the cops driving under the influence, I convince him to park the bike there and to take the bus to Menaka. We did and caught up with Anil at the shopping complex Penta-Menaka and decided to hit a nearby bar. It was a good choice, seeing as none of us had ever been there and we started with a vodka+sprite for me, whiskey & soda for Anil & brandy+soda for Madhu. To munch on, we had lighter stuff than usual, dry chilli cauliflaur and masala peanuts with chopped onions. We stayed for 6 rounds of drinks and a few plates of the snacks and generally had a great time. Ofcourse, Alapatt wanted me to call up the eternal object of his affection - Nitya Sarah. Now Nitya was closer to me for sometime than him or Madhu and it was known by everyone that he had feelings for her. So he used to make me call her up to get info.

I knew that it was coming and sure enough, around an hour and 30 minutes of us meeting, Anil made me call her up. I laughed and asked him if he thought that I was his pimp to set him up! Anyway, call her I did and I asked her how she was (I hadn't spoken to her in two years) and found out that she was getting married to a guy in her current firm! And get this.....she met the guy because of me! Gulp, it seems that he was a customer of my company and I had spoken to him many months back when he wanted to speak to a customer. Towards our conversation, I had asked him if he knew Nitya. He didn't then and went to speak to her and a few months later wham! he proposed. I hope Anil doesn't want to kill me.

Anyway, 6 rounds later, we moved to the sea side and later had cold frappes at Cafe Barista, which I must admit weren't as good as Cafe Coffee Day. That shook us up a little, especially when the bill came to 150 bucks! For that - shit! We left soon with promises of catching up soon and having an even bigger blast. Till we meet next guys, here's to the both of you!

Song for the day - "Rock n'Roll All Night" - KISS

Head Trainer

2006-07-21T17:43:00.000+05:30

I think I forgot to mention that towards the end of last month I was told that I was to be promoted as head trainer for my company's BPO venture. Which means that I would be in charge of trainning provided to the call centre agents in marketing, bill collection, retention & customer care. The onus is on customer care - and I have already been doing that since January. So it does not mean too much of a change to me. Another thing is, there is hardly any monetary benefits at the moment, although I was told that it would change soon.

I started out this month with big plans, knowing only too well that the asshole bitch involved would ruin things soon. She expects too many things with so little time and she keeps changing her mind half a dozen times in a week, heck even in a day. She keeps saying to us that we are not organzied - which is so fucking ironic, being that she is as organised as a nitwit. She is often the very reason why we can't get organzied and fails to see that; cause she is so full of it. My plans have all gone down the drain and I am reduced to doing several things in a day and not able to finish any.

For two weeks I gave the induction trainning to two batche of 3 & 5 new agents respectively. The first batch was three dull guys who I don't think will do well. But the following week saw me having fun with a really lively batch of 2 guys and three girls, who really kept me on my toes. It was so energetic & funny that I was sad to see it end last Saturday. I am not going to forget this experience in a hurry.

Babe of the week - THEA ANDREWS

Song for the day - "All Talk, No Action" - TODD KERNS

We Honour You

2006-07-18T18:29:00.000+05:30

I saw the VH1 Rock Honors program on Vh1 last evening in it's full entirety. I had earlier seen parts of it, having failed to check the timings in the paper. But it was worth the wait and I could watch it over and over again. This is a long overdue tribute of sorts to heavy metal & hard rock legends of the music world. The very idea is enough to make any metal-head lift his hands in the air, showing the index & pinky finger salute, and scream "oh yeah" into the night! And as soon as I saw the advert clip on VH1, I was all glea and had my air guitar tuned to perfection.

By the way the show was hosted by the hot chick Jaime Pressley, who is a big rock fan herself. The first honoree were Queen - who were represented by just two of the remaining three original members, bassist John Deacon having elected to step out of the spotlight upon his retirement from the music business. And ofcourse you all know that lead singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDS in 1991. Drummer Roger Taylor & guitar maestro Brian May still perform (with special guests) as Queen, however it just isn't right. A tribute, nonetheless, is a very welcome thing and an excuse to rock your bloddy socks off! The duo invited former Free singer Paul Rodgers (who does a tremendous job, btw) and gave the faithful crowd a dose of Queen songs. They were joined by drummer Taylor & singer/guitarist/drummer Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, who are huge Queen fans. Funnily enough, no spotlight was thrown on a bass player for the performance; they could have asked a celebrity bassist to join them for the night. Who would say no?

Next to be highlighted were the grandfathers of heavy metal, none other than Judas Priest themselves. Man do they rock hard! When I hear bands of Priest & fellow British metallers like Iron Maiden, I find it hard to fathom that Britan can now only produce wimp rockers like Oasis & Blur and every other member of a British rock band looks like he came out of his mother's nose while she sneezed! Anyway, Judas be my guide - the Priest rocked like it was 1984 all over again. Singer & screamer Rob Halford may look like Stone Cold Steve Austin's old father, but can he shake the house down or what! His voice is in fine condition. Tandem guitarists extra-ordinary, Glenn Tipton & KK Downing (pictured below) gave us a metal guitar lesson in harmonies, rhythmn and lead breaks. Ian Hill & Scott Travis complemented each other in a supporting role as the bass & drum rhythmn section, not forgotten in the background. It was magic to say the least. I was never a huge fan of the band but they played my all-time favourite JP tune - You got another thing coming - which I think is killer! Their presentation was preceded by the band Godsmack performing a medley of "Electric Eye"/"Victim Of Changes"/"Hell Bent For Leather".

The only band who I have followed and loved throughly came next - DEF LEPPARD! And they left their soft harmony driven ballads at home and ROCKED! They reminded everyone present that this band has a heavier side and can be counted to deliver the metal goods. They played "Rock Of Ages" & cover version of "20th Cenury Toy" a T-Rex original, which will also be included in their latest album. For the latter, they invited Brian May onstage to give the guitar sounds an additional tweak. Phil Collen and Viv Campbell sounded great with the former giving the shread section a much needed boost & it is always great to see the world's greatest drummer Rick Allen. Must admit that there were downsides - Rick Savage and his ridiculous haircut and it is a mighty shame to hear Joe Elliot struggle to reach the high notes in "Rock Of Ages". He just could not hit it and probably will never be able to deliver the goods like before. The second song suited him a lot better and I guess he will need to sing in a lower octave than before. The All-American Rejects suck and I reject them.....but they performed "Photograph" at the event as a tribute to the Leps.

The three British bands were followed by the American business institution - KISS. This is a money printing machine of the fastest rate. Kiss were there in their full makeup. Wikipedia notes them to be the most financially sucessful band of all time, what with makeup, t-shirts & all kinds of shit with Kiss logos selling faster than a comet. But Kiss are down to only two original members, Paul Stanley & Gene Simmons, who are now more astute businessmen than rockers. Guitarist Tommy Thayer has taken Ace Frehley's place and Eric Singer returns for his second stint in the band behind the drums. The band that got on stage to pay a tribute to Kiss were actually better and more exciting than the real thing. A Supergroup was formed to play the arena anthemn "God Of Thunder" - playing on stage were Gilby Clark & Slash on guitars, Scott Ian (Anthrax) on bass (he is normally a rhythm guitarist), Tommy Lee on drums and Rob Zombie on vocals. They were also joined by Ace Frehley. Okay! I am finally a fan of the Zombster, he was cool and rocked hard. I have to say this, Scott Ian looked like he was having a blast, Zombie was a demon on the mikes, Ace showed why he was also quoted as an inspiration by every guitarists who were prominent from 1980 to 2000 & Gilby looked like he was there purely to pay his respects. That leaves us with two guys who do everything to stay in the news, spotlight, tv, etc etc - Slash & Tommy Lee. I am not really big fans of either, although there was a time when I thought that Slash could do no wrong. Make no mistake, I think his tunes are great, not so sure about his intent. Anyway, Kiss came later to rock the fans out.

All in all, we saw/heard some great tunes, guitars that were in hiding came out, some rockers with balding or no hair at all and quite a few paunches fighting a battle with the tight leather pants. It was worth it, long live rock & metal and long live the music of these four bands! Peace!

Song for the day - "Breaking The Law" - JUDAS PRIEST

The Italian Job

2006-07-16T19:59:00.000+05:30

By now all you football fans might have known about the great controvesy that has befallen the Italian league or Serie A as it is officially known. The scandal broke after transcripts of former Juve general manager Luciano Moggi, telling the head of Italy's refereeing commission what officials he wanted appointed to specific games, were published in the Italian media. Along with Juventus, three other clubs were implicated in the match-fixing scandal - Lazio, Fiorentina & AC Milan. As well as the four clubs, 26 individuals were on trial for sporting fraud. "I am not bitter for myself, but for the teams implicated and for their supporters," said Moggi on Friday. No match was fixed, no referees were favoured. It is why Juventus and the other clubs, but especially the fans, are frustrated by this sentence."

The tribunal handed Moggi and Juve's former chief executive Antonio Giraudo five-year suspensions from all sporting activities; Adrian Galliani, the AC Milan vice-president, was banned for one year while Andrea Della Valle, the Fiorentina president, was suspended for four years. Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina were relegated to the Italian second division on Friday as punishment for being implicated in the country's match-fixing scandal, but AC Milan were handed a Serie A reprieve. Juventus were also deducted 30 points from their total for next season and stripped of their last two league titles. Lazio and Fiorentina were also relegated to Serie B and penalised seven points and 12 points respectively. All three have been banned from European competition. AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will lose 15 points and will also be kicked out of the Champions League.

Italian football punishments in detail:

Juventus:
Relegated to Serie B and deducted 30 points next season.

Stripped of last two league titles from 2005 and 2006 seasons, and demoted to last place in the 2005 season.

Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi given five-year ban.

Former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo given five-year ban.

AC Milan:
Deducted 15 points next season and kicked out of the 2006-07 Champions League.

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani given one-year ban.

Club official Leonardo Meani banned for three years and six months.

Fiorentina:
Relegated to Serie B and deducted 12 points next season.

Fiorentina president Andrea Della Valle banned for three years and six months ban.

Fiorentina honourary president Diego Della Valle given four-year ban.

Lazio:
Relegated to Serie B and deducted seven points next season.

Lazio president Claudio Lotito given three-year ban.

Lecce, Messina, and Treviso, who had finished in the Serie A relegation zone, will now not go down to Serie B and keep their places in the top flight.

Officials:
Italian football federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro banned for four years and six months.

Vice-President Innocenzo Mazzini suspended for five years.

Refereeing officials:
Head of Referees Association Pierluigi Pairetto banned for two years and six months.

President Tullio Lanese banned two years and six months.

Vice-president Gennaro Mazzei banned for one year.

Referees:
Massimo De Santis banned for four years and six months.

Paolo Dondarini banned for three years and six months.

Gianluca Paparesta banned for three months.

Pasquale Rodomonti, Paolo Bertini, Domenico Messina, Gianluca Rocchi and Paolo Tagliavento cleared.

Linesmen:
Claudio Puglisi banned for one year.

Fabrizio Babini banned for a year.

Song for te day - "There's A Fire In The House" - STEVA VAI

Web Woes

2006-07-14T17:20:00.000+05:30

I don't know what on earth is wrong with Geocities! This was a great service and a wonderful website tool for many average internet users who wanted a website or wanted to store files online. I had crated quite a few accounts in Geocities (which started out as a smaller independent company, before being swallowed by Yahoo) and had 5 websites created on 5 different sites of Geocities. I would often upload several files into one or the other of my accounts with Geocities and very often use that to remote link an image in this blog. I really also was a big fan of the site and it's community of fellow website creators. I had made a few friends on visting their site (or they having seen mine) and entering comments in each other's guestbooks. I would also get ideas for website designs upon visiting these website and several of them were very, vey good. But now all that is gone. You can't even view the Geocities homepage and none of my sites are viewable. I tried several other sites as well within the Geocities community, to no avail. I wonder what is wrong with them, did they close the service altogether.

Flickr is a wonderful photo sharing website, which has free & premium services to give out to just about anyone on the web. I had often visited numerous sites of the blogs that I frequent and amazed at the pics and the free service. I couldn't wait to start my own - the catch was I didn't have a digital camera and it was beyond my budget. Then I got my Sony Ericsson but I wasn't happy with the camera quality. I waited and got my Motorola RAZR and am quite satified with the camera quality so I plugged in to the USB port, created a Flickr site and uploaded a few pics. Now I find that I can't login to the Flickr website - I can view the front page and click the link for logging in. It asks me for my password and after I submit it, it goes back to the homepage without logging me in. Arrghhh! What to do?

Babe of the week - JAYNE HEITMEYER

Song for the day - "Call & Answer" - BARENAKED LADIES