One of my trainers is paid below average. My MIS guy deserves a little bit more than what he is getting. Two of my boys are getting way, way below than what they should be getting; it’s day light robbery if you ask me. The other three senior trainers could also get paid a bit more for their efforts & talents. And then ofcourse there is me; an Assistant Manager underpaid drastically.

Today after such a long time, many roadblocks & hurdles later, I was able to get them something. Not much but it’s still something to show them appreciation for their efforts.  This also happened parrallely for the Quality department; my counterpart in Quality and I had planned this together. So after getting an approval, I was able to hand over Rs.500 worth of gift vouchers to each of my team members that they can use at any one of the Varkey’s supermarket.

I think they were all happy at this gesture. And I was happy that I could do it for them. Then it became too much for me. I’m ashamed to say that I bawled my eyes out for a good 5 minutes. Bah, us sexy men cry…sometimes!

The Montreal Canadiens have revamped their squad on the first day of free agency. At the end of a day of handing out more than US$70 million to free agents, general manager Bob Gainey signed wingers Mike Cammalleri from Calgary and Brian Gionta from New Jersey and defencemen Jaroslav Spacek from Buffalo and Hal Gill from the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Gainey inked the four players a day after making a trade with the New York Rangers to land stocky centre Scott Gomez for Chris Higgins, which he said was key in landing the free agents.The Canadiens let 10 free agents of their own go onto the market - so, gone are Saku Koivu, the team’s captain the last 10 years, as well as Alex Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Mathieu Dandenault and other veterans from last year’s squad. MikeKomisarek, 26, signed a reported four-year, $22.5 million US deal with Toronto.

At the evening rounds of the R&R function on Tuesday, which started at 5:30 pm, there were songs and a couple of dances after the obligatory Welcome speech and lighting of the lamp. Then there was an all male fashion show round, which went on too long and the guys were coming up to the stage far too many times. I got bored and so I went back to the office, which was walking distance from the hall, and completed some work that I had to do.

What I didn’t know was that I had won an award! It’s a ‘Bandhan’ (bond) award for co-ordination and team work between my company and our clients. 2 or 3 people get it every 6 months amongst 600 odd people. I wasn’t expecting it at all. It’s a nice looking crystal trophy. They kept calling out for me but I wasn’t around.

I wish I had known and could have been there to accept it myself. I would have got up on stage, smiled for the cameras, taken the mic and said “Fuck you god, kiss my ass!”

No, I would have thanked my 7 member team, because they are my Rainbow and I shine due to them!

So thanks team!! That’s - Manoj, Jins, Nazer, Rashba, Ajeeba, Sreekumar & Neil.

As most of you would know today, July 1st, is Canada Day. 142 years ago, Canada was united and created as a country seperate from the United Kingdom.

Some of you may know that I have a love affair with Canada - I love the country, her women (growll), her singers, musicians & bands, hockey, her actors & actressess and some of their tv series & movies. I wish I could scourge up enough money to go & visit the cities of Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton & Toronto, enjoy some Tim Horton’s coffee, eat poutine and drink some Canadian beer while attending a BNL or Hip concert.

So happy Canada day to all Canadians and especially those of you who visit my blog & are listed in my blogroll.

I am a person who loves funky designs but also loves comfort. Does this look comfortable to you? I’m not sure but I would love to own this sofa - the Do-lo-rez modular sofa designed by Ron Arad.

Ofcourse there’s no way that I can afford this $22,572 wonder unless I rob a bank or win a huge lottery or have some filthy rich uncle or aunt who wants to leave everything to me as their dying wish.

Well, my team members got up on stage tonight and sang two songs with all their might. But I missed it

Well, due to problems in getting a karaoke version of the songs that they wanted to perform (We Will Rock You by Queen & Another Brick In The Wall by Pink Floyd) they were in two minds as to whether to perform or not. I went to the auditorium at 5:30 pm and watched some of the show till just after 7 pm. It was the dumb fashion show that bored the shit outta me. So I went back to the office.

The guys weren’t sure if they should go on stage at all and so I left for home at 8:20 pm. A few minutes back, they SMSed me that they did finally go on stage towards the end of the show and were well recieved. Damn I hate myself  for missing it! But I’ll watch it on video - the whole show was taped by a professional crew.

Back in 2001 I made a chat friend who live in a farmhouse just outside of Vancouver, Canada. He was a big folk-rock & country music fan and he and I would exchange ideas and introduce each other to our fav bands. He also had a webpage where he would hosts pics of concerts & photos taken at autograph signing sessions. One of the artists he introduced me to was Jessie Farrell.

In 2002, Jessie released her debut album Today on an independent label in Canada. The songs were more of a folksy balladsy nature and I was able to download a couple of her songs for free from her website. Her voice and her beauty captivated me and I was an instant fan. 5 years later, Jessie turned country-pop and put out her second album Nothing Fancy. She also changes her apperance - gone are the dyed blond dreadlocks, she’s a stunning redhead with straight hair!

Alright, so on to the songs. We start off with the catchy & instantly memorable Let’s Talk About Love. The video, which I had embedded on a post here much earlier is as catchy and fun filled as the song. It’s a great way to introduce new fans to Jessie. Next we go to very playful & tongue in cheek I Guess - which is about dating 2 guys at the same time and not knowing whom to choose! Time for a ballad - listen to Fell Right Into You, a song about love that happens unexpectedly and comes just at the time that we need it.

Best Of Me is about giving your all in a relationship, even if your lover isn’t reciprocating the same way back to you. Lucky is a song about being happy with yourself and feeling glad to have what you have. Sorry For You is about refusing to let your friend or partner bring you down to the woeful level that they are at. Another love song is Falling Asleep (In Your Arms). Prettiest Things is stating that all the best things and simple things lead back to the loved one.

I Am Rock is about facing your past problems and telling yourself that you are above such things at this point. Jessie probably leaves her best vocal performance for the last song, Coming Home (Juno’s Song) about a young girl’s longing for home. All songs are easy listening and will end up being favourites for many a year. I love the album; go get it and you will too.

Here’s the video for Let’s Talk About Love that I like so much.

Tomorrow is a celebratory day at the office. It’s the R&R function that’s held once every 6 months which is supposed to be quarterly but we are smart and we cust costs! (note the sarcasm) But it’s also an event that will mark our 2 years in business in the city of Cochin. It feels good to be part of something from inception till 2 years.

I enjoyed the very first such function that we had way back in November 2007, when I got up on stage with 3 other guys (one guitarist, one bassist & a keyboardist) and sang my heart out to 3 popular rock songs. That went down very well with the people and they had wanted us to get on it once in a while. But since the bassist and guitarist no longer work with us, the band is no more.

However, I am pleased to say, that the rock bug is well and truly active with my team members. My trainers, 2 girls & 4 guys, will get on stage tomorrow and sing We Will Rock You & bits of Another Brick In the Wall. A karoke version will be playing in the background as they sing as a group. The 2 girls and 2 of the guys know nothing about rock music and if you asked them about heavy metal…..they would probably look for the nearest peice of iron or aluminium!

But they are going at it with gusto and full of enthusiasm and it sounds good enough. I only sow the seeds, the plants grow by themselves!

At the last update I was at the 28.25 GB stage as far as my collection of mp3s were concerned. That was on the 19th of March this year.

Right now I have 28.6 GB of music stored on my external hard drive and I have 5 GB more that I have recently downloaded + ripped stored on my hard drive. In a couple of days, after I have backed up the 5 GB onto dvds, I will move them over to the external HDD for a little more than 33 GB.

I forgot to switch off my cell phone alarm (it plays Shipping Off To Boston by The Dropkick Murphys) and so woke up at 7 am this morning. 7 am on a Sunday morning! Isn’t it illegal?

I tossed and turned in my sheets, trying to go back to sleep but it was a futile experiment. By 8, eyes slight shut, I dragged myself into the bathroom to take a leak and then brush my teeth inorder to drink a cup of coffee. But wait - jeez louise peppa cheese! I put shaving cream instead of toothpaste on my toothbrush! This outta tell ya how sleepy I must have been - my shaving cream is in a ocean blue & white tube and my toothpaste is blazing red!

The city of Cochin and it’s musical artists have decided to band together and pay a tribute to the departed King of Pop. As confirmed through tweets and articles in Cochin based blogs, a tribute performance has been organized at the Gokulam Convention Center in Kaloor. The entry and the event is free of cost.

Some of the artists that will be performing for free are: Kalinga,Mother Jane, White Sugar, Dancers from the Dancers and Choreographers Association, Anna of Super Dancer fame, Jazzpeekers, Dezzlers, Michael Jackson look-alikes, Stephan Devassy, Dj Savio, Dj Arvee, Percussionist Gino, etc. It’s confirmed that there will be around 150 bands/artists at the center.

My only complaint is that Renjini Haridas will be there - she pisses me off big time!

The Birdman from Our Lady Peace’s 1994 album Naveed. When I see videos like these, I’m reminded of circus that comes into town!

A raging question during the last season was the one regarding Florida Panthers defenceman Jay Bouwmeester - would he be traded or not? Since the end of the regular season it’s been burning again. Now, after the draft, it’s finally been answered.

The Calgary Flames have traded defenceman Jordan Leopold and a third-round pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Jay, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The deal is not complete - the Flames have 4 more days to get a deal with Bouwmeester before he becomes a free agent on July 1st. Bouwmeester had spent his entire career with the Panthers, scoring 15 goals and 42 points last season.

Despite showing good defenceplay and contributing offensively and being touted as one of the best in his position, most critics feel that the best is yet to come from the Edmonton born & raised Bouwmeester.

As expected by most hockey fans & pundits, John Tavares was selected first overall by the Islanders at the NHL draft on Friday night at the Bell Centre.The six-foot, 198-pound skater for the London Knights led the Ontario Hockey League in goals with 58 in only 56 games this season. The Tampa Bay Lightning followed by taking rangy Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman second overall and Colorado chose Brampton Battalion centre Matt Duchene - an avowed Avalanche fan while growing up in Haliburton, Ont. - with the third overall pick.

Toronto drafted Nazem Kadri, a player that the Ottawa Senators had hoped to snag, in the 7th pick. Instead Ottawa grabbed defenceman Jared Cowen with the ninth pick. The 18-year-old helped lead the Chiefs to the 2008 Memorial Cup championship, and had seven goals and 14 assists with Spokane last season. grabbed defenceman Jared Cowen with the ninth pick. The 18-year-old helped lead the Chiefs to the 2008 Memorial Cup championship, and had seven goals and 14 assists with Spokane last season.

The Canadiens delighted the Bell Centre crowd by taking Montreal native Louis Leblanc with the 18th pick. The Vancouver Canucks took centre Jordan Schroeder with the 22nd pick. The Calgary Flames were the last Canadian team with a first-round selection, and they snagged Tim Erixon with the 23rd pick.

Meanwhile Chris Pronger has been dealt by the Anaheim Ducks to the Philadelphia Flyers. Pronger was moved for cap reasons after veteran Scott Niedermayer informed the Ducks today he was returning for another season. The Flyers acquired Pronger tonight for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and two first-round draft choices. The draft picks are this year’s top pick and the Flyers’ first-round pick in 2010. The Flyers also dealt a conditional third-round pick. The Flyers also acquired 24-year-old center Ryan Dingle from the Ducks.