Wanna scratch you head?

Here is a hot online game(well.. dont get any ideas !! :), which was brought to my attention by a good friend and fellow blogger.
http://n.nfshost.com/1.html
Well.. at first it looks silly.. But what you see is th clue to next level...
Hints: After a level, if you think you are stuck, try modiying the URL to get to the next level.. Thats the mantra of this game... There might be visible clues, invisible clues, hidden clues and many more... So nalla Mandai-Odanjax (loose translation for Go bang your head)

Sail Boat experience

Summer is the time you would want to be in Norway :) Nice weather and Good sunlight lets you do lots of fun activities in the evenings after work and in the weekends. and July is the Vacation time. Even some shops close for Summer vacations. Thats quite a contrast to many other places.
One of the evenings on a weekday, we had been on a sailing trip with some colleagues who are good in sailing and all the Summer Interns for a Team Building excercise. We split up in 2 boats which are owned by 2 of our colleagues. The boat where I sailed in, was owned by an expert sailor who has travelled around the world ( I mean a complete circle around the world) in his sail boat for 4 years. That is quite impressive. He gave us some basic tips about the sail boat structure and how to use the Main sail and the auxillary sail named Genova and booms to line up with the wind and use the wind speed to go faster. Then he let us work in teams to figure out how to sail into the wind and also with wind on the side and then how to make turns or tack, as it is called in sailing terminology, by shifting the sails from one side of the boat to the other side using the sail ropes. It was a great experience. Since he is an engineer, he also gave us some insights into the fluid dynamics of the wind around the sail which makes it move forward.
It was a pretty interesting trip. I also got to steer the boat for sometime and it felt great to be the sailor. I wonder how it must have felt for him to be on the boat for so long in the seas and then hopping on to many islands along the way. Its so fascinating to read about Travel advntures and I cant imagine how he must have felt about this. He told us he took 2-3 years just for preparation for his Around the world in 4 years trip.
We stopped on a small island to relax and have some food and drinks and then we used to Motor to get back to get back to Oslo. For a first timer on a small sailing boat, it was a wonderful trip for me and weather was just perfect and made it memorable.

Click here for more photos.

Need a laugh?

After so much of serious football, if you need a laugh read this post from a friend of mine.
http://maduraiarian.blogspot.com/2006/07/everybodys-writing-football-why-not-me.html
The questions from a Non-football fan or Non-Sports fan... If you can answer his queries... :)

Au Revoir Zi Zou...

What a sad way to end one's glorious career!!! Head-butt someone and pick up a card and in the process walk away from glory, a certain glory which he could have easily acheived like he acheived so many championships with great ease. He lifted the spirits of the whole team and the nation and made them beleive in their team and their abilities only to throw it all away in a moment of madness. Why did he do it?? Why .. why.. why??? Couldnt he have just shut his ears off to that Frikkin Italian guy's chattering..?? I take back my comparison of Zidane to God, which I had mentioned in my previous post, as he proved that he is nothing but a mortal...
I feel so sad for him and yet can't accept that he actually head butted someone in the finals of the world cup. His Momentary madness cost him and his team so badly. I am sure the Italian guy provoked him to such an extent that he just lost his cool. The ref. wasnt any better in the game. So many times he turned a blind eye to what was happening on the pitch, when all of the italian defense was all over zidane and roughing him up. But Italians did what they always do the best. Just sit back and defend and wait for the other team to make a mistake and make the best of the situation. They did win it fair and square alright. Congrats to them and for many of their players, this is their trump card for their Pardon for all the cheating and match-fixing they did in their league.
Materazzi will always be remembred as the bad guy who effectively sent off Zidane from the game.. and Zidane will always be remembered for the great player he is, yet walking away from the glory and away from the World cup as one of the TV replay showed him walking with his head down and looking away from the trophy and disappearing into the tunnel. That was a poignant and symbolic moment of this worldcup which will haunt him to his death. What a player and what an end!.. Certainly, not the end he wished for and neither did his fans.. Just one of the bad incidents on the field.. Mr. Cool losing his cool in the Most important game of his career.. Shit Happens...
I was watching in a pub which was packed with both side fans who were waving their flags proudly and singing their Anthems. French fans were going crazy until this incident happened and then there was just absolute silence. Nobody knew how to react and what to do. Sorry guys.. You were robbed off your victory by the indecent action of a certain Italian guy and Most stupid reaction from your captain.
I still can't digest what happened and maybe tommorrow, I will wake up and move on.. But what will I do tommorrow? Everyday, for the last one month, I always had a game to look forward to and now it seems like I have fallen into an Hopeless Abyss.. Both teams I supported so vociferously just lost out. One team didnt play to their potential and lost and other one surprised everyone by reaching the finals and lost out because of a single moment of madness from their Captain, Marshall and Leader. I will just have to forget about this and wait for 2010.

P.S1: I took this pic from this website.. To read their full-story on this please click here

P.S2: If you are still speculating why zidane may have done what he did.. read this..More speculations..
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28783-2263995,00.html

Azzuri Victory

I didn't quite expect a thrilling encounter between Germany and Italy. Seems like they both play a very attacking game of football, which every fan wants ofcourse, especially when they are in search of a goal rather than trying to defend a goal advantage. Thats when the coach brings in an extra defender in place of a forward and then the whole game becomes extremely boring to watch. But this game was really interesting with both teams attacking and taking shots at goal. Italy on couple of occasions came so close that Woodwork denied their goals. But in the end they were deserved winners with couple of really good goals.
So one finalist is decided. Whos going ot be the next? I so cant wait to see the Fracne - Portugal game tonight. Its going to be very interesting or atleast I hope that it will be so.

Some history and Coincidences...

Euro 2000 in Holland...
Semi-Final 1 - Italy Vs Host Holland with Italians winning on Penalty Shootout... (*Except this time it was Host Germany)
Semi-Final 2 - France Vs Portugal with France winning with a Golden Goal by the God Zidane himself...

Finals: France Vs Italy and France won with 2 late goals from Wiltord and Trezeguet and Zidane was voted the player of Tournament...

Can History repeat itself?? We will wait and see... Atleast Italy are through.. We have to wait for France or Hope for France to get through to Finals... Both teams still have many players from their 2000 squad playing current team.

A Happy day for Indian Cricket :)

After drowning in sorrow in the wake of Brazil's deserved defeat to the Much better French 'Les Blues' team, this news is something to cheer for.. Atlast after 20 something years Indian cricket has finally won a test series outside Indian Sub-continent.. Isnt that great?? Again the Unpenetrable Wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid - the Indian Cricket captain, leading from the front with 2 half centuries made it possible. After the controversies surrounding Ganguly's exit and all the drama and the media criticisms, Dravid has finally lead the team to Series victory which none of the captains in recent past could acheive. Hail India and sing praise for Dravid... the unsung hero on most occasions standing up to the challenge everytime India needs him to deliver. This has more than made up for Brazil's loss for me..

Sad day for Brazilian Football

It was so sad to see the mighty brazilians just go down so tamely. A team filled with stars and worth more than any other team on paper and also on bank accounts, but unfortuntely just didnt gell so well as a team and didnt play much like they were supposed to. Then again they lost respectfully to a much better team in a game, which was not marred by any bad incident or bad ref. decisions. It was a graceful exit for the brazilians well scripted by the Master himself, the one and only Zidane. There is a saying that 'Wine only gets better with age'. and theres another that When a tiger is cornered, all it can do is bounce back with a mighty growl. So did Zidane.. All the criticisms against this Geriatric, but highly experienced French team, pegged them back on to the wall and the only option was to fight back. Fight back they did, but with great spirit and some wonderful football. Its just Zidane and Viera at their best and Henry with his clinical finishes. If they continue this way, I dont see any Portugal, Italy or Germany stopping them. Personally I wouldnt like the blue eyed italian sissies winning it, cos they are just cheaters and they also play a very boring game. Germans are Ok with a decently attacking team, but just not as good as this Resurgent French team. Portugal seems to be getting better and especially if the game goes to Penalties, I have no doubt esp. after Ricardo showed England that he can block anything. I expect a very boring First Semi between Italy and Germany and a very exciting attacking game of football between France and Portugal. I would like Zidane to announce his retirement with the Cup in his hand as the Captain of the Winning team. Go Blues...

P.S: Remember, in 4 years time, the trophy will be back in Brazil with Ronaldhinho...