Espresso foam art originally uploaded in Flickr by numstead
Month: July 2010
What A Nice Afternoon
Well well it’s been a while since I went out and spent some time in town. Today seemed as good a day as any other to rectify that. Sat reading the papers and drinking coffee through most of the morning. I was also hoping that I wouldn’t get too many calls from the office and it was an ok day in that area. I shaved, showered and went out a little before noon.
My first purchase was to get some medicine and then visit the ATM to get some money out. Then I headed out to Marine Drive for some coffee. While waiting at Barista’s counter I looked back and saw Binny who was also in town waiting for some of his friends and killing time in the cafe. We ordered our coffee & tea and took our seats in the couch area. I really like the big single seat sofa / chair that they have in there. We spent about 40 minutes talking until his friends arrived and he went to have lunch with them. I sat in the cafe for some more time and then took an auto to Mamma Mia for a hair cut.
My hair had grown quite a bit and was getting quite difficult to control as it curls around the collar and also was getting haywire at the ears. I hate to have my hair pointing in different mad angles and looking that unruly and so….chop chop! There was no power in the hair saloon when I reached there and I had to wait until they got their generators working. Soon I saw down and the barber got to work and cut a whole lotta hair. I’m balding but I still have a lot of hair and it’s better to keep it at slightly less than medium. It’s just better that way.
After that I went to Velocity and sat down at the very front of the large screen plasma tv and watched most of a Jean Claude Van Damm movie called Sudden Death showing on HBO. It’s an ok movie much better than most of his stuff plus it features a lot of hockey as it’s filmed during a fictional Stanley Cup match between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks. Me thinks that the movie makers has some psychic abilities – 2009 Cup winner (Penguins) vs 2010 Cup winner (Blackhawks). Cool, very cool. I had 4 Romanov vodkas and Spirite had egg burgi, fried rice and chicken for a late lunch. Everything was delicious and tasty. I spent a long time there, taking it easy and just chilling with my drinks and lounging on the comfy sofa styled seats. After Sudden Death, Forgetting Sarah Marshall came on and I watched half of it. By then I was tired and so I came home and took a nap.
You Walk Into The Room
You Are Amazing performed live by Anthony Gomes
Hope It’s Worth The Trip
I haven’t traveled much since my early 20s and I haven’t been anyplace interesting since then. Since 1998 I have been out of the state only once – for a two day official trip to Trichy and visit the Tamil Nadu branch of our BPO. Although I am not much for traveling, I would like to see other places, meet some interesting people and especially visit the many offices that this company has. It’s the actual traveling that I don’t like.
I don’t like sitting in buses or trains for hours on end and I certainly do not like sleeping in trains. I hate having to pack and while unpacking at your destination realizing that I have forgotten to pack underwear or socks or soap or night clothes. I also am weary of food while in another state. Despite all this I still do like to see other cities and towns. So I am excited about the prospect of visiting either Chennai or Bangalore later this month for an official reason.
There’s a GB training session planned sometime between the 20th and the 30th of this month in one of the 3 offices that my company maintains in Bangalore. If not Bangalore, there is also another one planned in one of the 3 offices in Chennai. I’ve been nominated along with 3 other Assistant Managers to attend one or the other batch and then move onto a project at the earliest. I’m sure that it will be fun and I guess I should go if the opportunity does come up.
Holland Send Brazil Packing
The Netherlands showed Brazil the exit door while beating the overhyped and overblown South Americans 2-1. Brazil also had a player sent off.
Robinho gave the Brazilians the lead on Felipe Melo’s brilliant low pass up the middle of the field that the striker put home with a low shot. Wesley Snijder was hugely instrumental, setting up the first and scoring the second. The Dutch levelled out of the blue in the 53rd minute after a rare mistake from Brazil’s usually impenetrable defence, as Felipe Melo headed Sneijder’s cross into his own goal.
Then Sneijder headed a winner as the Dutch, battling to their 13th successive World Cup win to maintain a perfect record in the qualifiers and finals, avenged a quarter-final defeat in 1994 and a semi-final defeat four years later. Brazil were not able to shutout the Dutch, who took charge in the second half and showed their desire. Brazil paid dearly in the 68th minute when Dirk Kuyt flicked on Arjen Robben’s corner at the near post and Sneijder headed into the net.
Shortly afterwards, Felipe Melo was sent off for stamping on Robben.
Transactions Around The NHL
- The Ottawa Senators sign defenceman Sergie Gonchar to three-year, US$16-million deal on Thursday, just minutes after the start of free-agent season. The addition of Gonchar, who’s been named to four all-star games and won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 during his 15-year NHL career, gives the Senators a different look on the back end.
- The Calgary Flames signed two former players who they had previously traded away; Flames signes forward Alex Tanguay to a one-year contract; signed forward Olli Jokinen to a two-year contract.
- The Vancouver Canucks signed forward Manny Malhotra to a three-year contract; signed forward Joel Perrault; signed forward Jeff Tambellini; signed defenseman Dan Hamhuis to a six-year contract.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs signed forward Colby Armstrong to a 3 year contract to add to the trade of forwards Kris Versteeg and Bill Sweatt from Chicago in exchange for forwards Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis.
- The Montreal Canadiens acquired forward Dustin Boyd and future considerations from the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Sergei Kostitsyn and future considerations and also signed goalie Alex Auld.
- The Chicago Blackhawks traded forward Andrew Ladd to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday in exchange for defenceman Ivan Vishnevskiy and a second-round pick in 2011., a day after dealing forward Kris Versteeg to Toronto. Last week, Chicago sent playoff star Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel and Ben Eager to Atlanta and shipped Colin Fraser to Edmonton.
- The Dallas Stars have signed goalie Andrew Raycroft on a 2 year contract
- The Phoenix Coyotes added scoring depth Thursday, signing veteran 38 year old winger Ray Whitney to a two-year deal.
ROSHAN’S ELEVEN : CANADIAN THINGS
I’ve had this affection & admiration for Canada & all things Canadian. Her cities & towns, her musicians, her singers, her actors, her wilderness, her majestic natural beauty, her beer, BlackBerries and hockey!
From 12 years or so, listening to many new, up and coming musicians and getting interested in hockey, I’ve been in love with the second largest landmass and the first nation of hockey. And today she turns 143. So in honour of this Canada Day, 2010 here’s my top 11 places I would love to go and visit in Canada. Happy Canada day to all Canadians.
- Montreal
- Halifax
- Quebec City
- Ottawa
- Vancouver
- Niagara Falls
- Toronto
- Calgary
- Victoria
- Hamilton
- Edmonton
In The Meanwhile
Once again, I’ve been disconnected from the internet. Last evening I came home and tried getting online – but lo and behold the server in Cochin was having problems again. What’s worse is on these days it’s extremely difficult to get connected to my ISP’s call center. I have to dial them 10 times just to get connected to the IVR! TATA Indicom this is a big fail on your part.
I tagged a complaint with them and got an initial confirmation of 4 hours as TAT but I was able to get intermittent albeit extremely snail pace service in between. I gave it up and knew that I would effectively have to wait until I come home from work the next day (today). They did outcall me twice – once to tell me that it was almost fixed but that it would take some more time and then around 6pm they called me to tell me that it was fixed and could I check? I answered that I was at work and could only check post 9:30 pm.
Lots has happened at work this week. As eventful a week as it is has been next week is even more stressful. We have all bigwigs coming in to the office where I work and it’s gonna be pretty tiresome. There’s also a client review happening next week on Tuesday. Also we are going through a major change due to the DGM in charge of our center is being transferred and a new one is taking his place. Atleast the new DGM is not a completely new person for us as we have had some interaction with him. So things are going to be a little heavy at work.
Oh and I learnt that a colleague of mine, who worked alongside me for 6 months here in Cochin, from the Tamil Nadu office branch is ill – with Swine Flu! He and his wife have both been diagnosed with H1N1 and are admitted to hospital. Let’s hope that they recover soon and get back to normal life. And I hope it doesn’t spread around.