The first time Yahoo! gave me more relevant information than Google

I had a few minutes of spare time this morning (yes, I had responded to all my mail...yes, I had completed all the stuff for the day...yes, I was done checking the news for what's happening in IT and the world as a whole) and so was wondering "what new?"

So I went over to Google (where else) and hit "what's new?" as my search.

Surprise. Surprise.

The first link that came up was a Yahoo! link which took me to a section that Yahoo! has on "What's New" for today. Scanning through the page took me to V's blog which I thought was wonderful.

One post in particular caught my eye. It was a pleasant surprise hearing a woman talk about all the male bashing that happens. Another one was saying the same thing that I keep telling my wife (something she does not seem to get). But what I liked most about the blog was the honesty in the narrative. Yes, she's opinionated and she likes it that way.

If you don’t have the guts to step outside of your comfort zones, you will never grow and change as a person. If being well liked is more important than being yourself, then you will never say anything of value and you will never have true friends. If you don’t have the balls to be hated, then you don’t deserve to be loved.

In all the junk that's there on the net today, I think I just found one more place that I would like to visit once in a while and feel like I am hearing myself.

Just wish I didn't have to go to a blog to do that.

Unofficial consultant

As you might recall, I am a regular contributor to the xdaindia discussion alias as well as a moderator and (recently not very regular) contributor to the indippc forum.

I got a call last evening from a guy who I interact with on the xdaindia forum. He was in Dubai looking for a Windows Mobile (WM) based phone and wanted to know my opinion on a couple of models. Even though I was not aware of the model he was talking about, he still wanted to know what he should look at before deciding to buy the phone.

This is not the first time someone has called me to check if a particular phone is a good-to-buy decision.

It's almost like I have become an unofficial spokesperson and consultant on WM phones, mainly because of my interactions (hopefully positive) on both the xdaindia as well as the indippc discussion forums. Funny how people who don't know you personally trust your judgement while making a fairly expensive purchase in their life.

Hmmm....

The Supermen are at it again

Roger Federer and Tiger Woods showed the world why they are the best. Why both are already making history at a very young age. Why there are so many expectations from them. Why they inspire so many emotions from opponents and spectators alike. And why both of them are brand ambassadors for Nike.

Roger, in true masterly form, dismissed Chilean Fernando Gonzales in straight sets to become the first man since the great Bjorn Borg to win a major without dropping a single set in the tournament. Such is the dominance of The Champion that he is winning tournaments without seemingly breaking a sweat.

As Rod Laver (the all time great who won the Grand Slam TWICE...once as an amatuer and once as a professional) said, Roger has too much talent in one body! Coming from Laver, that's phenomenal praise. This is the same man who handed Roger the trophy last year and caused The Champion to break into tears.

This brings Roger's tally to TEN majors, only four behind the record of 14 held by Pete Sampras. This could come down to only one behind Sampras if Roger does what we all expect him to do - win the Grand Slam - this year. Knowing that this is one of the most difficult things to achieve in the competitive world of tennis and that only five people in the history of tennis have been able to complete this, there are a lot of us who think that it is right to expect it from Roger. And he certainly does not disappoint. And that is the true mark of a champion!

On the other hand, The Ghost Who Golfs (a nickname - taken off the old Phantom comic books - that me and my friends have come up for him), Tiger Woods won his seventh (that's right, seventh) consecutive PGA tour event.

Now I am sure there is enough and more that is said about Tiger and that there is not much left to say. But this is my blog and I am going to say it anyways. This man is incredible!

Tiger has not placed lower than second place since the middle of last year. This is after he came back from the death of his father. This man has come skill, but it's his mental abilities that distance him from the rest. He delivers when it matters. Consistently.

When I am on my death bed, I will be glad to say that I lived to see Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumaker and Michael Jordon dominate their respective sports. And that I was grateful for the enjoyment they have given me.

A trophy...despite not playing for more than a month!

That's right...you read that correctly.

Remember I was talking about this golf tournament I was going to play in, despite not having played for more than 6 weeks? Well, I did play. And I came runner up!

The front nine was a complete and utter disaster. Shot 12 over with the ball going all over the place. Main culprit was my putting. Of course I can blame the greens at the Jurong Country Club (which were sandy and super fast despite the all night rain), but after not playing for a really long time, I had no feel about how much to roll my putts.

So after a depressing nine holes, I thought in my mind that I needed to pull up my socks if I had any hope of doing better in this tournament, even if it was only for my own sake.

So a beautiful tee shot and an even better approach shot later, I rolled a thirty footer putt for birdie! And then parred the next few holes. A par, a few bogeys later, I had completed the back nine five over...Not my lowest 9 hole score, but certainly a lot lower than what I am used to playing. Especially after playing so terribly on the front nine.

So after adding everything up, I knew I had no chance of anything, but there's always hope.

It turns out that most of the people had a terrible day that day, mainly thanks to the putting (cause everyone was cursing the greens). And in the presentation ceremony, I found out that I had the lowest 9 hole score and that I had finished runner up! So I took my trophy (I'm sure the picture will show me with a bemused look) and came back home.

So there it is...The first round after a really long break and I realized that my swing is still pretty much there, that I need to work on my short game and that if I play regularly, I will add to the trophies (only two so far) in my cabinet.

Single handicap, here I come!

You have to agree that this takes guts!

I'm going to play in a golf tournament tomorrow morning...despite not hitting a single ball for the last - let me see - EIGHT FULL WEEKS!!!

With guaranteed chance of embarrassment and a promise of duffed shots, I still am going to play tomorrow at the Jurong Country Club.

If nothing else, you have to appreciate my utter lack of shame. And trust me, I will be even more shameless when I regale you with the story of my debacle.

Until then, scream on!

A bit of de-jinxing

This pal of mine is getting a bit of deserved de-jinxing.

If you know him, you would know that he is blessed(?) with the worst luck anyone can have. If something wrong is going to happen, it will happen to him. If anything (not just anything wrong) is to happen, it will happen to him.

Only, this morning, when I spoke to him, he told me he had gotten a more-than-expected raise in his salary. It was part of repairing the damage that had been done a while back and was to get him to a place where he would live a comfortable life. He was finally getting what he deserves.

I hope this is the start to a major de-jinxing initiative by God to make the rest of his life a better one.

Cheers, Mate! Congratulations on the raise! Enjoy the sweet sensations of a few moments of peace and happiness!

I celebrate with you...

This is the kind of feedback I need

So there's this gof tournament that I am entering in a few days. And yeah, I haven't played at all in almost 8 weeks. I realized I was running really low on my Titliest ProV1 balls (I only lose the best!).

So I walked into this place at United Square which is part pro shop, part teaching shack, part golf store. They had three sleeves of ProV1s, but at a price higher than what I would get elsewhere. So I did not buy. But I was curious how this really old guy teaches.

I asked him how much he charges and he went on about the basic course, the medium course and the group course. I don't think he figured it out the fact that if I am using Titliest ProV1 as my golf ball (which is one of the most expensive golf balls on the market), I better be playing decent enough to not lose too many of them.

I told him that I just wanted to figure out what was wrong with my swing. What I wanted (truely) was to see my swing from a third person perspective. He offered to show me ... get this ... for free!

So I stood there and took two swings. And as soon as he showed me on the screen, before he could even say what the problem was, I knew what the problem was.

It is something I worked towards correcting on the driving range and then lost all of the correction in these weeks of inactivity.

Fundamentally, what I am doing wrong is in two departments. Actually one major mistake and the second a cause of the first. I am bending too low at address. Because I am doing that, I am not turning completely and therefore making a handsy swing. Not only that, I am completely across the line at the top of the swing.

I came home with these two swing thoughts in my mind and then took a few swings in the living room, standing in a place which allows my bathroom mirror to give me feedback on the top of the swing. And sure enough, when I go too low on the address, I go across. When I stand they way I used to, I am on line and making a full turn.

I hope this will help to save some of my pride when I go out and play this tournament. But mostly, it's going to be a round of embarrasment. What can I expect if I am going to play a tournament after 8 weeks?

Even Tiger missed his first cut after he came back. "Not that there's anything wrong with that" (Courtesy - Seinfeld)

How can I deny this request?

You tell me...

As I mentioned in my last post, I was up until late last night watching the Arsenal - ManU game. Egro, I woke up later today than I do most days. That meant I could not get my daughter ready for school (which is supposed to be my job). Neither could I say goodbye to her when she left for school.

When I woke up this morning, I had a piece of paper in my hand. It was a note from my little baby. See for yourself...

In case you cannot read it properly, it says:

"come home quickly pupy. before I come."

Isn't that cho chweeeet? I melted right away. There is no way I am going to miss this request. This is the power my little one has over me. A tiny request on a scrap of paper and she made me the happiest person this morning.

Oh, and in case you did not figure it out...She calls me Pappi, which is her lovingly cute way of saying Pappa. And since she is not used to spelling it, she has spelt it the way she thought it would be...by pronunciation!

She's such a sweetheart. I really love her! More than anything! Ever!

Losing to a worthy opponent...and Boo Hoo to you!

Sounds contradictory?

Last night I stayed up to see ManU lose a fantastic game of football to Arsenal. I celebrated with them when Rooney ended his goal drought by scoring a fantastic header and then watched in horror as Arsenal equalized with only 8 minutes to go. And then saw Thierry Henry head a nice goal to seal the fate.

Well played Arsenal! I am not a big fan of the club (in fact, I hate them...save for Henry and Fabregas). But they played really well. So well done.

The night before, I watched with glee as Chelsea went 0-2 down to Liverpool! I watched as the richest team in the EPL struggled to get a decent pair of central midfielders into the game and ended up getting thumped by The Reds!

As expected, Jose Morinho (or should we call him Mourn-inho) cribbed about how he did not have his best players in the game, how they were struggling to accomodate with John Terry's absense. And here's the thing...

The Blues have spent the most amount of money and yet are cribbing the most about the lack of players!

Boo Hoo! Oh, Sfo sfad fwar fyou!

That is the difference between Chelsea and ManU. Even Liverpool. Even Arsenal. It takes a lot more than money to become a great club.

So Chelsea does not have the best players in the world playing at the same time and so they lose matches. Well, surprise...surprise! Look around you.

Every team has a few superstars and a few not-so-superstars. What matters on the pitch is how well the team plays together. Look at Arsenal. They have one of the worst defender (according to me) in Senderos and yet they play on. Toure is not the greatest defender in the world and yet they trod on.

Look at the Chelsea lineup. Drogba, Robben, Lampard, Ballack, Makalele, Essien, Ashley Cole, Wright-Philips, Carvalho, Terry, Cech....with a lot of talent on the bench. That's a star studded line-up. And yet they struggle.

So the points difference stays at six. ManU could not capitalize on Chelsea's defeat at the hands of Liverpool. But that's OK. With 14 matches to go, I am still hopeful that ManU will lift all the trophies this season.

May the sublime football continue.

Bickering in the middle of the road

This scene unfolded right in front of my office building this afternoon.

Two woman drivers (go figure) collided with one another and then started a screamfest right in the middle of Havelock Road which, in case you did not know, is a really busy road.

And here I thought this kind of stuff happens only in India. Lo and behold, it happens in Singapore too!

I learn everyday. I am a better person today... :-)

Congratulations, Mr. Khan! You are truely the Dilip Kumar to Amitabh's Raj Kapoor!

This is what Steven Colbert, of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, had to say in his "new" section called "We the MEdiators".

The section is about celebrity fueds. The first two are about Rosie McDonald vs Donald Trump about the Miss USA (Tara Ried) controversy and the next is Angelina Jolie vs Madonna on the adoption case.

Then he unexpectedly (for me, that is) moved to Amitabh and Shah Rukh Khan and the disagreement over B not attending SRK's new year party. It's funny hearing Steven pronounce the names of the Indian actors.

Have a look and wait until the end. You won't be disappointed!

One man blamed for the failure of an entire team

So David Beckham is being maligned by pretty much everybody. From Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello to former England Manager Bobby Robson and of course, the British Press. Everyone is having a field day about Beckham's decision to move to LA to play in the US Major League Soccer.

However, support has also been coming in from surprising quarters. England International and Bayern Munich star Owen Hargreaves said "Beckham will have the last laugh". Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has questioned Real's decision to freeze out David Beckham. The Spanish press has asked for the resignation of Real's President Ramon Calderon after he made remarks about Beckham moving to the US because he wanted to be a movie star. And of course, the fans have come out in full force. They don't want to see him go, but they are behind him in this melee.

Here's my view:

Beckham joined Real which already had a formidable side with "The Galacticos", all superstars in the lineup. Yet no one bothers to blame a Zidane or a Raul for the lack of trophies added to the Real cabinet. The blame is on Beckham.

A similar reaction came when England fell out of the World Cup last year. If you analyse the situation, Beckham was involved (in some form or another) in most of the goals scored by England. Let's look at the situation, shall we?

England vs Paraguay (1 - 0)
The goal was declared an own-goal after it hit the Paraguayan goalkeeper before going into the net. But the pin point accurate delivery was from Beckham from his free kick spot.

England vs Trinidad and Tobago (2 - 0)
England struggled to put the ball in the back of the net for most of the game until the 87th minute when Peter Crouch headed in another accurate deliver from Beckham. Of course, later came the Superman Steven Gerrad to seal the match with a classic goal.

England vs Ecuador (1 - 0)
Another Beckham goal of breathtaking precision. No chance for the goal keeper.

It must be remembered that this world cup should as much be remembered for Zidane's headbutt as for the lacklustre performances from Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, John Terry and the rest of the England gang. The only player who played his heart out and was outstanding was Owen Hargreaves, the same guy jumping to Beckham's defense.

They are looking for a scapegoat and they have found one. Instead of twiddling his thumbs waiting for Coach Capello to get him off the bench, David made his move. Whether I agree with his move to the US or not is not the point. It is his decision. Where I stand is people not giving him his due. He has been a successful England Captain and a great player to watch for so many years. His success off the pitch has actually been a disadvantage as he is increasingly considered a commercial prospect rather than a player.

That is what I mean by not giving a person his due.

What we need is non partisan reporting where facts and not opinions get reported. The viewership / readership around the world is smart enough to make their own damn mind.

Busy with a few things

Once again, this post comes after a fairly long silence. Why? Cause, of course, I've been busy. With what, you ask? I'll tell you.

For one, there is work at the office. There were a couple of fairly high level customer presentations that I had to make over the last couple of weeks and even though I have made this particular pitch a few times, I still like to tweak my flow and the story depending on the customer and their requirements. And after all that hard work, it's music to my ears when the people who were attending the presentation get really charged up and gung-ho about my suggestions.

Then there was the other front.

My wife, along with three other doctors, has started Holistic Healing Homeopathy Center (a.k.a H2Homeopathy). Just in case you guys are not aware of Homeopathy, it is an alternative branch of medicine which attempts to treat "like with like", sort of like using steel to cut steel (like the famous "Loha lohe ko kaat ta hai" dialogue from the blockbuster Bollywood movie Sholay).

What Homeopathy does is try to cure the ailment rather than suppress the symptoms. To cite an example, I asked a pal of mine what he would do if he had a runny nose and a headache. He said he would take a Panadol, which is a Paracetamol based drug you get off the counter here in Singapore. What Panadol (and any other Paracetamol derivative) would do is stop the running nose and stop the headache.

Problem solved? No. Cause the cold you had does not go away, just the symptoms get suppressed until the effects of the drug wear out.

This is where Homeopathy differs. It actually tries to look for the person's body constitution, the symptoms and then prescribes the medicine for that person's ailment.

What that means is that two people can have the exact same ailment, but may go back home with different medication! And what that achieves is a personalized treatment for all ailments: From acne to heart problems, from eating disorders to allergies, from common cold to menstrual ailments. And when it works, the effect is like magic! You can feel the difference!

So that's what's been going on the last few weeks.

Oh, and we are going on vacation to Sydney in the middle of next month. We'll be Down Under for a week and hopefully, we will have a great time there. I'll obviously post pictures when I get back.

Other than that, the only other update is on golf. And the update is that there is no golf! I haven't played for the last 6 weeks in a row. I need to get my ass back to the course or I am going to forget my swing!

I need to do that this week!

Radio, TV, iTunes

That's the generational split.

My dad used to tell me stories about how he used to stay up late just so he could catch a few programs (with great difficulty, I might add) on BBC Short Wave. This was a time when not too many people had a radio set in their house.

Then I remember when we first got our TV set. It was a huge box with a tiny black and white tube. The only programs available at that time were televised from the government owned station, which was mostly boring stuff like the news (which is still boring in India) and the occasional BBC sitcom like Yes Minister. Apart from that, TV did not have that big an impact on my life.

Then came the colour TV and Cable, thanx to Rupert Murdoch's entry into India. And from there, things exploded to a point where TV became a constant companion in every home.

Now, my daughter is looking at either high definition content on my 42" flat screen TV or watching a movie on her 20" iMac. Pretty soon, she will be downloading content into iTunes.

This is the great big gap between generations. From a point where my dad could not properly hear most of the radio programs on air to a point where DVD quality (or better) content is available for download at your beck and call. This is the kind of progress this last few decades have meant.

And it is an astounding amount of progress. And the inevitable march continues on, as humankind by nature refuses to stop thinking. And that in a nutshell is why it's great to live in this day and age.

I just hope that the tomorrow that my daughter will see will be as exciting as it is for me today.

A happy new year to all of you

I know I am a couple of days late, but it's the thought that counts.

Here's wishing all of you a Happy New Year and a great 2007 ahead! I hope this year is way, way better than anything you have ever experienced so far and may it be the stepping stone to a better, brighter future.

Now, back to my usual stuff.

So the new year came and went without too much pomp. It was a subdued celebration with a quiet dinner by the Singapore river at Boat Quay along with my family and my in-laws. A few beers, a few bites and then back home before the clock struck the magic number.

We did manage to catch my family on Skype (cause that's the only decent VoIP software available for the Mac) for a video call to wish all of them. And that too on the stroke of 12.

The day before, we had taken my in-laws to the standard Sentosa Island tour that we usually take all our guests to. This time, though, we decided that we all would not see the whole thing along with the guests. My daughter and I have seen these exhibits a zillion times and are not really interested in seeing them again.

So we decided to do our own little trip. My wife would take her parents to the major attractions and my daughter and I would spend time with each other.

I had, however, warned eveyone that Sentosa would really be crowded on Sunday, mainly because the sun had come out after a week's worth of rain and because most people had a long weekend. So Sunday was always going to be crowded. What my wife did not expect was the number of people who queued up to get into Sentosa.

My daughter and I took the cable car from Mount Faber, where the queue had to be wound around three times in that extremely cramped up space. But we did get into the cable car before my wife (along with my in-laws) had even got the tickets! That's how crowded it was.

So obviously, we reached the island(!) way before them.

I took her to the 4D Magix show (which I would strongly recommend to everybody, just for the fun experience) where she had a ball. She was talking about it for more than an hour after the show finished. Of course, we had to wait for an hour before we got in, that's how long the queue was.

From there, we took the Dragon Trail, which is like a nature walk with a few dragon figurines thrown in. But it was a great stroll with her chattering away with all sorts of questions and all kinds of observations. She really is a smart kid!

Then, while the rest of the family watched the Dolphin show, the two of us went across this rickety (well, not really) bridge to the marketted lowest point of the Asian continent. A few more pictures there and we had a really great time. Running on the beach, playing games, we just had a great time together.

Then it was back home to watch ManU beat Reading 3-2 with a Ronaldo double (AGAIN!). It was great to see Solksjaer in the form of old, with great first touches and even better finishes. Of course, Reading did not look boring at all. They had me on the edge of my seat for a while. And of course, it wasn't until Giggs came on that we started to make penetration into the Reading box more often. So it was a great night of football, especially since Chelsea drew with Fulham to go even further back.

As I write this, both ManU and Chelsea have drawn their respective matches last night (against Newcastle and Aston Villa respectively) and so the lead is now 6 points.

What I hated the most was Jose Mourinho cribbing that he could not win because he did not have the best players in the world. Yeah, John Terry and Petr Cech are out with injuries, but to say an entire side cannot perform "because the best players are not there" is insane. Whatever happened to Lampard, Drogba, Essien, Ballack, Ashley Cole, Makalele, Carvalho, Robben, Kalou? Most of these are part of the so called "Untouchables" in Jose's list...his first team people. All of them are fit and playing.

Just goes to show that just throwing money at the game does not make a great team!

Sure Chelsea have spent more money in the last couple of years, but ManU has been working towards building a team which works. And this is despite people like Rooney not completely firing right now. It has been a while since Rooney scored, but it's only a matter of time. And when that happens, may God have mercy on Chelsea!

But...enough of soccer. What else did I do?

Oh, we went to IKEA yesterday. I noticed that the bookshelf we had bought (also from IKEA) when we moved here was sagging under the weight of all the books that we I had brought with me from India and the additions that I have bought since. So we needed a bigger, better book case.

Which we did get. We also saw a great showcase that we liked and which was really cheap. So we got that as well. And so the evening was dedicated to putting them all together. A couple of hours of work and the new book case, complete with all the books put in, and the showcase were assembled and in position. A satisfying few hours. I really love putting these things together. It's probably one of the reasons I love buying stuff from Ikea. They design such great stuff, such precision. It's just fun to get my daughter involved and assemble everything.

So that was yesterday, which incidentally was a holiday for us. It's back to the grind from today.

The new year beackons.