When you really want something in life and you wish it with all your heart, the entire Universe conspires for you to have it.

thoughts....

!! Spike !!

What are the kids upto in different parts of the world these days!

While Punjabi Indian kids were singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The Americans kids in Georgia were busy plotting to kill their teacher.

Virender Sehwag scored a brilliant 309 not-out in the 1st test between India and South Africa on day 3. He batted under hot and humid conditions to equal his previous record of 309 against Pakistan.

The reason for motivation were - "It felt bad to have been left out. I wanted to prove I belong at this level..." What a man!!

Adversity brings out the best in great sportsmen - While he was dropped from the Indian team in both forms of the game, his father passed away. This knock of 309 would surely mean more to Sehwag than his previous one!

At 95, he tried to go for a six to score his century and he failed, he could only manage a 4 as the ball didn't clear the ropes!!
Undeterred, at 99 he whacked the next ball over the top to still score his century with a six... in style! (Now, thats the way to do it, Sachin!)

Only the 3rd player in the world to score a double triple century along with two other cricketing greats - Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara, Sehwag's feat exceeds theirs because he scored his in 278 balls - the fastest 300 ever !!

"This one of the best I have ever seen. We tried everything to contain him. But he countered us. He was unbelievable today. We were beaten by a champion player" - South African Coach Mickey Arthur said.

Sehwag is not content - He has already thrown himself a challenge - "I can surpass Lara's record of 400 runs"

Can he do it?

With a strike rate of over 100 and having scored 309, his magnificent knock has put India firmly in control of this test-match for the moment!

Way to go Sehwag! We need more lion-hearted players like you !!

So many people borrowing and doing so cluelessly.... this was a-coming long time ! I asked my friends who have houses payments in US "whats the rate of interest on ur loan?" they tell me "oh, we don't know that - but our monthly mortgage pmt is XXX dollars...!" They don't know for how long they have to pay and what happens if they can't pay - with 1 Bln-a-week Iraq war and 3.50 dollar a gallon of gas - this was coming a long time...! But how did it happen?

Blame it on Mr. Alan Greenspan - In his tenure as the FED chief, his policies created a financial scenario that allowed people to buy more than what they could afford and bolstered the economy such that it created an artificial increase in demand - termed as a bubble! This lax policies allowed financial institutions to lend to people with poor repayment abilities. This went on good for a while as these people made payment for a few months and then they could not.. This caused the rates of such loans to increase to the "default rate" This is a KILLER! because a person who cannot repay a loan @ 5% certainly cannot repay the "default rate" which is 3-4 times the regular rate!!

But alarms were not raised because banks thought - "we are making more profit as the borrowers have to pay the default rate" - the banks became greedy!!

Soon more and more loans became delinquent. The banks thought they had nothing to fear as they could always take possession of the houses and sell it. The problem happened when the people stopped buying houses - the housing supply became more than the demand, causing property prices to spiral downwards! This was something the banks were not ready for and the value of the property became less than the loan itself - still no alarms!

Now, keep in mind, house loan is not the only loan people had - there are car payments, credit card payments, etc as everything is bought on installments - the people enjoyed the spoils of luxuries they couldn't afford with money they didn't have - the loans could not be refinanced to a lower interest rate as the value of the property became less and the non-pmt of other loans lowered the credit-standing of borrowers.

Add to that rising oil prices coupled with war expenses and it's a perfect recipe for financial disaster - rising oil prices stretching the already-stretched wallets of consumers even more! This led to less spending in the stores and lowered profits of the businesses.

But, why are global markets falling? Cash strapped, the American financial institutions are forced to withdraw funds and book profits in other markets to show improved bottom-lines and prevent their stock prices at homes from tanking further!

Next question is - why is INDIAN market falling so much? One reason is what was mentioned above - but India should not be so much tied to the US... Indian economy is still strong. India needs to break the shackles, but it can only do so if China re-evaluates its currency, because then rest of Asia can do the same. India stands to gain a lot from it as dollar will weaken further and even though its bad for exports - it'll help India's imports as import costs will go down, thus cutting down the Import/export deficit.

Why is a falling dollar good for America? - falling dollar will help American exports as more people over the world will buy American goods thus boosting the American economy - Sure, it will take time and it means the American people will have to work hard for some time, but having already spent the money they didn't have, isn't it time they put in the work for it?

Blame it on Bush! In his tenure, we have seen it all - A fake war without WMDs, a war on terror that has more soldiers killed than in the twin towers! (and not even counting the number of people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, because that would be several posts in themselves). His vested interest in oil allows oil-cos to post PROFITS OF 40 BILLION DOLLARS WHILE THE ECONOMY DIES AND THE PEOPLE ARE STRAINED! Not having to deal with it as he moves out, Bush is hammering the nails in the economy's coffin!! He is who the American people should blame and not anything else. The question is - when Americans don't know what rate of interest they pay for their loans, how many will see this truth?

!! Spike !!
PS: hopefully this post will get thakurman back here :P

When I write a piece of code, I love to see it execute for the first time it goes live. Sometimes this happens in the wee hours of early morning / late night and being a night person, I prefer to stay awake. This gives me a lot of time to think about general stuff while trying to be patiently impatient for the big-moment to arrive.

[I couldn't watch "The Departed" bcoz after our discussion on Lalit's Little Italy revu, I didnt want Ipsi to think I got the movie only bcoz of our italian discussion and not bcoz of the Oscars ~ isn't life complicated :D]

I happened to read some food reviews and I felt hungry - This led me to the kitchen and I realised I was out of clean plates. A quick search revealed that I was also out of dish-washer liquid and not wanting to clean a dish at that god-forsaken-hour, my thoughts immediately went to the quick and handy maid that we so much rely upon in India.

This combo of hunger, snow (read prev. diary entry), laziness and being patiently impatient got the neurons firing and Eureka ! I found out the reason to our famous "Chalta hai" Indian attitude !

While relentlessly pondering and fretting and fuming at why does Indian customer care sucks .... the answer was right in our own backyard and it can be classified into 2 reasons.

1) In other countries, there are very few maids as the standard of living is high and most people cannot afford them. Thus, people have to do their own work at home after coming from work! This makes them realise the value of time bcoz if they are late at work or stuck in traffic, or if their schedule goes a little askew, the house work just piles on! In India, we have the maid do the work for us and this makes us not realise the value of time as ours is spent travelling and being stuck in traffic... this brought me to the other part of the answer.

2) While we are stuck in traffic, we have ample of time to see our surroundings - if in a car, it is at traffic lights or in just plain grid-lock, we see kids trying to eke a living selling the various magazines and news papers and other odds and ends. We see the poor begging for money. We see people sweating in a chock-a-block bus, travelling more inhumanly than cattle ~ If we are the human cattle in a bus or train, we go into day-dreaming mode, but our mind and our senses are sub-consciously absorbing the surroundings as we listen to the mundane woes of our fellow commuters and country-folks from all strata of society.

The point is, in India we are so much exposed to the everyday problems and daily musings that our inner being has hardened and our sensitivity towards other people has died or atleast lessend by a considerable amount. This, I believe is in the interest of our self-preservation and survival for if we act like people in developed countries do, we'll get nowhere in our country - should I say thanks to the govt.?

In India, people are in a constant state of survival as everyday tasks like commuting and completing the home-ofc-home routine itself is a big challenge for us.

This, my dear readers, is the reason for our lack of customer service towards our fellow Indians. We expect them to know and feel what we see and feel everyday and we expect them to "adjust" to our insensitivity towards their problem because we feel and know that we have seen and experienced much worse! How many times, while hearing about someone's problem, have you thought "This person is cribbing for such a small thing. What if he/she had to endure such-and-such problem?"

But while thinking that - we ought to remember that such-and-such problem was not their problem ~ their problem is what they are asking us to fix right now! And as we are in the business of customer service, it is our responsibility to fix THIS problem so the person can get on with his/her life.

But then even if we change our attitude towards life, I feel this change may last only till another road is dug up on our work route. And if the frustration increases too much, I think we should take a leaf from Mr. Bill Gates and like we restart our PC when it acts up, we should hit the "restart" button of life to re-adjust ur attitude and be more sensitive to the problem at hand and resolve it with a smile - one day at a time!

:-)

!! Spike !!

The weather man said we were going to get at least 10 inches of snow, but mother nature had other plans.

We got a record 20.4 inches and the bushes in front of my house are completely invisible :-) This snow-drop broke the previous record of 98 years set in 1910 with 15.3 inches of snow.

In some places highest level of snow emergency was declared - Level 3 - meaning you can go out only if its a personal emergency because the roads are too icy with drifting and moving snow because of the 35 MPH/55 KMPH winds that makes for treacherous driving. And boy, were they dangerous or what ! Vehicles sliding off and trucks jack-knifing. The news put the number of accidents because of this storm at more than 2000 - and thats just in one city !!

No wonder the media had a field day with the Blizzard of 2008 !

!! Spike !!

What do birthdays mean anyways?

Is it just another day in our lives or is it a day to celebrate with big pomp and show?

I know of a friend who likes to spend the day in isolation and thought - to ponder over his life.

I know many who like to splurge on that day and go nuts!

I know of many more who like to receive loads of gifts and cards - both real and virtual.

How do you celebrate yours, if you celebrate at all?

And while you are contemplating a comment, you may use your time to wish this writer too :p

!! Spike !!

It was the birthday of an ex. and she was memorable - such days need to be celebrated by going out and having a rollicking time!

Also, a writer on MS - Ms. Angel25 has been writing stories about a certain cowboys and such - all the best to you both sweetie - her talks got me interested in the breed and when The Worlds Toughest Cowboys came to town for their 2008 championship finals, I was too curious not to check them out.

There were 8 cowboys taking part in 3 contests
1) Bareback horse riding
2) Saddle Bronc
3) Bull Riding

In all 3 events, points are awarded for riding the animal for 8 seconds - now for those thinking thats a pittance, here is a news flash - riding these unpredictable animals is so dangerous that even professionals can get thrown off in less than 1 second at times. Sometimes that even get broken bones and can even die!

In the first event, the cowboys ride a 1100 pound horse with one hand wedged in a suitcase style handle. The rider cannot touch the horse with the other free arm. The wilder the ride, more are the points in the rider's kitty.

In the second event, the horse is similar, except that this time its saddled. Again - cannot touch the animal with the free hand. The rider holds on to the animal with a thick rein attached to the horses halter. The ride has to be a fluid and controlled one to get max. points. If the rider timing aint tuned to the horse's bucking style, he's gonna crash!

The third discipline is what I was the most interested in! In this event the cowboys ride an 1800 pound bull! The cowboy will have one hand to  grasp a flat braided rope around the bull's chest and has to sit up on the beast using his free hand to adjust and counter the beast's wild bucking and thrashing! A slight mis-timing and boom! the rider is on the floor and has to now fight horns!

In all three sports, the rider has good chances of getting kicked, trampled and the only way to get off the animal is to either jump on another horse or to get bucked-off the animal is a controlled fashion!

The event was hosted by Jagermeister and the winner would get his own Jager Ranch and bragging rights!

The event was a lot of fun - the finals were disappointing as the two finalists were thrown off their animals in 5 and 3 seconds and yet the 3 second guy was declared the winner with the spectators left scratching their heads followed by a lot of booing and hissing!

As the earlier competition was quite entertaining and fun to see - I didnt care too much to boo as having had a taste of the  sport - I was happy!

There was a Trent Tomlinson concert after the cowboy event and I admit, it was a lot of fun to see a live country concert! Infact the crowd was having such a good time at this small event and the energy was so high, I'm excited enough to go to another live event soon!!

The singer is pretty good and his songs are typically country and about whiskey, smoking, girls who break hearts, family, good-times!! The guy and his band rocked the place!! I liked it when he went into the crowd and shook hands with people, got on the fence and in the crowd - thats the way to spread the energy around!

The drummer of the band was very good to watch as he twirled up his sticks in the middle of the songs without missing a beat! He was a true rocker! It was also interesting to see an african american in a country music band!!

Hereis a clip of the group in another event that was hosted in Raleigh NC (I didnt go there) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=GAg5oOnDR7o
You can spot the drummer at the end of the clip, though not in action.

Trent singing "Angels like her"
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=2d221IeET7I&featur
e=related

Some other clips
http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=khf-bsA9Qyg

http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=5oWTvXni2lQ
http://www.y
outube.com/watch?v=SbA6gOmcMAM&
amp;feature=related

The best part was the after party! I went to my regular joint and guess what! They have put up a mechanical bull in that place! Now just put a group of drunk girls, and guys in a room with a mechanical bull and imagine the fun you can have with it! The party was wild! For my continued existance on this site, events that happened here are best left unsaid.

:D

Here's a toast to you - happy birthday sweetie .... wherever you are, hope you had a blast on your birthday ... I know I did!

XOXO

!! Spike !!

I was checking my profile when I saw I was one shy of a 100 people trusting me. I went to see who all they were and the count dropped to 98!

Woah! How did that happen so quickly?

A quick ctrl F revealed that Faisal was not in the list when I clicked on "Show All".

The question arises - Does Faisal's trust not actually count unless he puts me in his TL and clicks on the link?

MS gave me a star and yet, I'm not in his list - is this a paradox or just a counting flaw?

Will FE get a plane ?
(err.. that was just to remind faisal of FE's request :p)

!! Spike !!