I wanted to go shopping today, but it being Sunday none of the shops I frequent were open. I decided to try my luck anyways. After a late morning breakfast & leisurely shower I started the day out by getting to Music World & Planet M. I bought a copy of the album featured in the previous post and a cd copy of an album I already owned on cassettes – Lost Dogs by Pearl Jam. It was a sweltering day this afternoon and I was feeling very tired after my short walk up to Shenoy’s junction. I stepped into Cafe Coffee Day which was nearby but since I have a cold & cough, I couldn’t go for any cold ones. So I decided to try out an Orange Mocha, which as the name states is a hot coffee with chocolate & orange flavours. Now, among hot coffees, cappuccinnos & irish coffees rule my world. But this one is something else altogether; the aforementioned two have a strong competitor in the mix now. Hmmm, a mix of hot chocolate and coffee, with a light orange flavour. Let me tell you that this is the way to relax; I have heard more about the cold version (orange mocha frappuccinos) but this is truly great.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups milk
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 pieces of orange zest
- 1/2 tsp instant coffee
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
PREPARATION:
Melt everything together in a saucepan, but do not let boil. Whisk until foamy, then remove the orange zest pieces. Whisk again and serve.
Alrite, the Ottawa Senators are playing some of their best hockey at the moment. They took care of the Atlanta Thrashers 5-3 last night. Goals came from Peter Schaefer, Chris Kelly, Mike Comrie, Dean McAmmond & Mike Fisher. While Brian McGratton remains scratched (for 9 games at a stretch), any Sens fan’s heart would be warmed by the consistent contributions of Comrie & McAmmond. Go Sens Go!
John Williams is one of the world’s most popular classical guitarists. An Australian born in Melbourne, he was initially taught by his father, Len, until he was a student under Andres Segovia in Italy and later he attended the Royal College Of Music in London, studying piano and upon graduation was offered to start their guitar department, which he ran for 2 years. He was also a member of a fusion band – Sky. Williams has won numerous awards for his music, mostly guitar arrangements of classical pieces. Cavatina was the theme of the movie The Deer Hunter in 1979 and was a world-wide hit single for Williams. He resides in both London & Australia. This cd is sort of like his best of and was released in 2000. It showcases his nimble and gentle style of playing the guitar. I have recently started to listen to classical styled acoustic guitar based pieces, mostly of Don Ross & Andy McKee. These two guys imbibe influences from rock, folk & jazz into their playing, while Williams’ stuff is predominantly classical. 
The Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers 4-0, with Swiss goalie Martin Gerber making a rare appearance as the starting goalie in place of the suspended Ray Emery. With the help of his teammates, Gerber posted his first shutout of the season, as Mike Comrie, Chris Phillips, Mike Fisher & Dean McAmmond scored the goals. Comrie scored his 14th goal of the season and 7th for Ottawa, being setup by both Dany Heatley & Jason Spezza, while Phillips was assisted in his 9th goal of the season by Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly. Gerber, who moved from Stanley Cup champions Caroline, had a bad start to the season and was kept as the backing goalie to Emery.
Arsenal beat Bolton Wanderers 3-1 and moved into the 5th round of the FA Cup, thanks to a brace by Emmanuel Adebayor and the deciding goal by Frederik Ljungberg. With Thierry Henry rested and Robin van Persie absent through injury, the goals had to come from elsewhere and come it did. Adebayor opened the scoring and it looked to be enough for the win, until Bolton’s Abdoulaye Meite equalized in the very last minute of normal time. In extra-time Swedish midfielder Ljungberg scored a superbly-taken strike at the start of the second period of extra-time, finally taking Arsenal through to the last 16 and a match against Blackburn Rovers. Adebayor made it 3-1 in the dying seconds of the match – Julio Baptista had missed a 118th-minute penalty. Arsenal’s coach & manager, Arsene Wenger is chasing his fifth FA Cup triumph since taking over the London club 11 years ago. In addition, they are also in the League Cup final and are in the last 16 of the Champions League. 
Well today I wasn’t sure what to expect form the session of Train The Trainer. I suppose that those of you who work in huge MNCs or other such companies and work in their customer care, quality or training divisions may be familiar with this term. It is molding the trainers (and in this case the Process or Team leaders) to be able to impart the required tools to properly train and guide the entry level trainees and customer care representatives. I did not have anything like this in my old company and I wish I did. I had to develop my own techniques and styles and methods as I went along. I may have to unlearn what I have learnt all this time. So we went in to meet our trainer coach, a lady from the corporate office in Mumbai, to the sounds of Celine Dion belting out ‘I’m Alive’ playing on the speakers attached to the laptop! WTF? Anyhow we met her, a tall Punjabi gal originally from Chandigarh and now posted in the client’s corporate office in Mumbai. She greeted us and got us to introduce ourselves. She started it out with a game and promised us chocolates when we contributed correct answers for the many tricky quizes she had arranged for us. For the record I had properly got one right and was ‘rewarded’ with a chocolate bar! I didn’t eat it thought, instead giving it to the rather pretty Quality person from our client’s Kerala office we had befriended and who was sitting behind me. ;)
Today was a good day for the teams I support – both in the EPL (Arsenal FC) & the NHL (Ottawa Senators) – as they won their respective matches. Although technically it was Saturday night when Ottawa beat their rivals the Montreal Canadiens, for the second straight time, it was in the morning hours for us in India. Mike Comrie and Chris Kelly scored in the first period to build a 2-0 lead midway through the first 20 minutes for the Senators, only for Montreal to counter back with two of their own with goals by Steve Begin & Michael Ryder. Sens Defenceman Wade Redden scored to make it 3-2 for the Sens and in the 3rd period two quick goals by Mike Fisher & Jason Spezza made it 5-2. Andrie Markov would get another one for Montreal. With this Comrie has six goals and five assists in 16 games with Ottawa since he was acquired from Phoenix on Jan. 3. It seemed like an odd & surprise move for both the Edmonton native & the Senators; Comrie once the darling of the Edmonton Oilers was criticized for his lengthy holdout over a contract dispute and subsequent move to the Philadelphia Flyers. From there he moved to Phoenix Coyotes and now is with the Sens.