Malibu coke, Absolut Vanilla, and one more which I forgotten. That's all it takes to turn me ruby.

By the way, that's Roy, my buddy since secondary school. The one Amanda thought is a GAY. heheheh.

My "action scenes" are liable to be inspired by the old Batman TV shows (of which I have seen approximately 2.5 episodes, but it made an impression nonetheless).

Surprisingly I have not received a single red letter bomb although the electronic version is just as deadly.

^ Not their girlfriend wife

Nonetheless, just want to take the opportunity to say thanks for making me feel so old, to make me cherish my bachelorhood more than ever, and finally congratulations to Roy, Sheau Huey and Marvin (LOL).

PS: Can I humbly request to NOT attend the full moon party in the event I'm still single?

Rather than commenting uselessly, I will instead quote a few things one of my brothers said when he was previewing this episode:

Brother: Puns that bad should be illegal.
[A few moments later...]
Brother: There's another one?!
Me: So, on a scale of one to ten--
Brother: Ten.

Also... watch out. The next one is a double.

For the past 60 days or so, since about the end of June, the people of Kashmir have been free. Free in the most profound sense. They have shrugged off the terror of living their lives in the gun-sights of half a million heavily armed soldiers, in the most densely militarised zone in the world, writes Arundhati Roy.

I kind of agree with her, from what I felt in those three days. Yet, a land is not run on the principles of poetic reveries. The State always plays a different version of Sudoku than you and I know of.

So, when the stone-pelting youths ran out in the streets, New Delhi's response was of a different mettle: it fired at them. 38 unarmed Kashmiris died. Around a thousand got hurt and bled their ways back to huts, back into their sullen realities. I was gauging the responses in the rest of the states. Most of them just want the irritating headlines to vanish. Be that by spraying a few more bullets on the people.

Several of the living room citizens kept themselves busy delivering tirades against the emotional voices like that of Ms. Roy. Even when the Kashmiris overwhelmingly announced that peaceful processions and not guns are now their favoured means of protest. Even when the reporters in the region who make sense, wondered why can't anything be positive about this protest.

Delhi has waged successful wars. It knows how to crush riots, though at the cost of thousands of lives. It also knows how to keep its own people divided and entertained at once. But I'm afraid it doesn't know how to handle non-violence. If peace gets crushed, what follows?

A few days back, my son, before leaving for the school on the independence day, staged a mock march in front of us. Then he mumbled a few lines from his morning school pledge: 'India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters..'

Later, as we walked up to his bus stop, the naive nine-year-old, apparently resonating his thoughts on the pledge, asked me: 'Appa, how can everyone in India be my brother and sister?'

I guess he'll have to grow as old as you and me to be a perfect hypocrite.

First off instinct starts very aggressively and gains control of top mid then slides down and takes rockets. On this push Ghost pushes top mid but gets no help from the rest of his team.

1:45 Walshy moves up in front of Roy(who has snipe) and distracts carbon drawing them into a battle at top mid allowing Roy to pick them off one by one. Meanwhile Lunchbox has rockets and pushes into Carbon Mancannon spawns and Soviet stays bottom mid forcing Carbon to either push top mid or get naded in the L2/R2.

2:10 - after sniping Roy pushes WITH Walshy into the top of Carbon's base. This forces them to stay in their base and allows Lunchbox to respawn and support he and Walshy

4:45 - This is one of the few bright spots for Carbon, you see and example of what Ghost is capable of he gets on a rolls and is putting shots on and finishing other kills.

5:00 - Karma is caught standing still on spawn and this is a perfect statement of this game for him.  His head was just not here.

6:01 - nearing the end of the game Instinct get s both snipes on top mid Roy on the right and Soviet on the left.  What is nice to see here is that they don't get conservative. Lunchbox and Walshy keep bouncing around in the top of Carbon base allowing Roy and Soviet to pick them off.  Carbon can't escape because snipes are watching both sides of the base.

6:23 - one more example of their team as Roy hits Karma with a jumping body shot and Soviet finishes it with another jumping body shot.

This strategy is a unique variation to some that we have seen before, but i think it is proof that Walshy still has a few trick up his sleeve and that he most definitely has the talent around him to pull off whatever he can think up.  I think that this is a dangerous team as their play style, whichis controlled aggression, lends itself to competitive halo 3. Watch out.

And now, everything hits the fan. (Meaning: Oh, boy, action scenes!) In any case, after today, episodes may slow down a bit, due to increasing length and complexity. It depends on how much of the ol' free time gets spent on this...

Lou Piniella played in the major leagues for 18 seasons, winning Rookie of the Year back in 1969 and 2 World Series rings with the New York Yankees.  After his successful career as a player, Piniella moved on to coaching and has managed 5 teams in major league baseball - the Yankees, Reds, Mariners, Rays, and now the Cubs.

With all of his accomplishments, Lou may be remembered most for this...

Happy Birthday to the guy that made kicking dirt and throwing bases a baseball tradition!!

Where do you start with this?  Here are some of the numbers that get thrown around when the debate for the getter player takes place.

I find the number of steals particularly interesting.  Biggio was just a few swipes away from joining the 300/300 club.  Bagwell didn't do too bad either when it came to base running as 200+ steals for a first baseman is hard to come by(even if it is over 15 seasons).

In a very tight race, my vote goes to Bagwell.  With a higher career batting average, a ROY award, an MVP award, home runs, and strong steals Bagwell is my choice.  I take nothing away from Biggio.  Being a member of the 3,000 hits club and narrowly missing the 300 home run/300 steals club is nothing to take lightly.  But his average is lower and I don't think that at any time Biggio was ever considered to be the best player in the league.  If he got into the 300/300 club my vote might swing to him.  But, who knows what Bagwell could have done with another 5 seasons... 500 HR's would be a certainty and a career average above .300 a possibility.

So, the vote is yours and you can only choose one of these guys.  Who's your pick and why??

Yesterday was Roy's last day at work, actually it is today and it's weekend and so I don't think it counts. I am really going to miss him. He's the first boss that I have had and have been working with him for the last four years and I must say that it was wonderful and a pleasure working with him.

I once read somewhere in Mountain Wings I believe, that the person that you become depends on your parents and then your first boss!! And I am glad that my first boss was Roy cause he has taught me a lot of things through his words and deeds, and one thing I have tried to do everyday is to become more like him.

Then again he is just down the road for me and I can meet him once every week when I go to church and that I think will be a new agenda in my weekend planner ;)

Speaking of the other things that are happening.. Babu is going to get married in December, Mereena is going to get married in Jan and then my long wait is over and I can marry my darling.. Another four more months.. Yippee  :D

I had the opportunity to meet him at a Cubs Convention in either 1989 or 1990 and he was extremely gracious and really took the time to say hello.  That meant a lot to me as you see so many older players that seem so bitter.  But not Billy, he was very kind and made the few seconds we shared together a personal experience for me even though there were hundreds of people behind me on line waiting to share what I just went through.

Today I have 12 of his cards, but one of my goals now that I am collecting again is to complete the entire set.  I want EVERY Billy Williams card made from his playing days.  This is tougher than it sounds even though Topps was the only brand during this era.  I want the League Leader cards, the All-Star cards, the Team cards, I want all of them!!!  I'm sure that I will go after some of his modern cards as well as it seems that his issues in the last 5 years out number what was issued during his 18-year career.  I don't think I'll be able to avoid grabbing a few certified autograph or game-used cards as these seem just to sweet to pass up.

Here is my current collection as it stands today.  I'll keep you updated on what I am able to pick up.

You've got to love 'Sweet Swinging' Billy Williams.

And hence, since this politician is a feminist and former Communist shows why Islam has a problem with secularism.  The secularists constantly want to implement laws to impede the practice of religion.  Hence, forget about whatever fundamental freedoms they claim to honor.

Confused me too to be honest...

Here is what I have to say on the matter:

FUCKING NORFOLK

That's it in a nutshell.

Here is the slightly extended version.

Got up at six a.m.  Rounded up the troops.  All in car, fed and watered with our entire lives packed around us by 7 a.m.  Feeling very, very cross, rather owlish and yet strangely impressed by our own competence.

Drive like maniacs for hours and hours until we arrive at Jason's mother's house at half past ten in the morning.  We were so early and so fast that the pensioners of Wroxham were still curled up like dormice in their brown, corduroy boating caps.  Did manage to see that Roy has advanced his plans by building a garden centre.  What next? The Bookies I expect.

Spend most of the day at nana's house being good and dutiful.

Set off from nana's house at 3.15 p.m.  Have to arrive at holiday cottage by 4.30 or they bugger off with the keys.  We are confident.  We have sat nav.  We have crisps.  We have maltesers without moles in.  Everyone has had a wee.

We drive around a small patch of Norfolk in the hammering rain.  Get stuck behind several people driving large sandwich boxes on wheels, none of whom believe in looking through the windscreen at the road in front of them.  Our average speed is 32 miles per hour.  Jason is beginning to get white knuckles and hair rage.

We arrive at our destination.  Through the driving rain we can see that it is a small country lane near a Bovis housing estate.  No cottage, no lake.  Nothing.  We drive about.  It is now 4.15 p.m.  Eventually at 4.20 p.m. we give up and ring the office.  The man berates us for trusting the stupidity of Sat Nav technology.  Explains that they don't do things like that round here.  Apparently there are two roads with the same name within the same postcode bracket, as any fule 'no'.

I hate Norfolk.  The children are getting restless and shouting 'out' and 'biscuits' and 'grrrhhhhh!' at the top of their lungs as an irate Norfolk person directs us up a crease in the map.

We arrive at our destination and are given keys and instructions.  We drive to our 'cottage'.  Jason says, and I quote: 'I have a bad feeling about this.'  This is what people say in Scooby Doo.  I have to say that I agree.  We leave the children in the car, in the drive and go and look at the house.

It is hideous.  It is a series of tiny, box like rooms leading off of tiny box like corridors.  The only bathroom is by the front door.  It has a bath the size of Tallulah.  It looks like the bathrooms in the PE block of my middle school but with less charm.  Bits of it are broken.  It smells, not bad, but institutional.  It is freezing.  The kitchen is the size of the cupboard under the stairs in our house.  It is a symphony of beige formica.  It has two inches of work surface space and room for one person as long as they don't have sticky out elbows.  The lounge has a suite that should be in a museum and a television that looks like you have to stick money in the back to get S4C in the snow.

Upstairs is the coup de grace.  There is no upstairs loo.  Turns out PE bathroom is the only bathroom in the whole house and it is right at the other end of the house on a different floor.  There are indeed three bedrooms as advertised.  What it didn't advertise was that you could only get to the third bedroom through the master bedroom.  It didn't say that the only double bed is in the master bedroom.  This means that when Mum and Dad come on Monday they will either have to sleep with the children en suite, or in twin beds.

The whole house is decorated in wood chip.  The electricity runs on a pound coin meter.  There are no creature comforts.  The cupboards are, and I kid you not, so narrow that you cannot even insert a suitcase, sideways in the bottom.  You can hang nothing.  You can put away nothing.  There are no bedside tables.  There are no lamps.  The most comforting thing in the house is a kettle.  It turns out that there is a washing machine.  Unfortunately it is twenty yards down the garden in an out house.  There is no drier, and nowhere to dry things.  There is not even a towel rail in the bedroom.  It is lashing it down with rain.  You cannot see the lake out of the window.

We look at each other.  I say: 'We could manage.'  I want to cry.  He says, 'Shall I take you home now?'  I love him.  I say: 'Yes please!' 

We take our keys back to the shouty man.  He isn't so shouty now.  We explain our dilemma.  We point out that if he had told us how the cottage was configured we would have known it was not suitable for our needs and that we would never have paid £600 up front for a week of hell.  He agrees that this was very naughty.  He apologizes and gives us our money back.

We drive home.  The children cry, but are very good about it.  We drive through the gloom ringing other possible places.  There is nothing. Even the Little Chefs are all closed and abandoned.  We are starving.  We finally find a Little Chef in Suffolk, near Bury St Edmunds.  We are so hungry and miserable we eat all the table mats.  I call a very chi chi luxury family hotel I know near Bury, somewhere we used to stay when we were richer.  They have an apartment available.  We can only have it until Thursday morning.  It is £320 per night.  This is after she feels sorry for us and knocks it down from the usual rate of £500 per night.  If we want to stay until the weekend and there is availability it goes up to £500 per night from Thursday.  It is ridiculous.  I say no.

We get home at 9.00 p.m. and unpack.  We throw the children into bed with promises of treats next week.

I fucking hate Norfolk....

Among the many things that happened, there are a few that still stand out, one of them being that Roy is leaving the company and going to work for his church in the capacity of a Church Administrator. I am going to pray that his decision is blessed and bears fruit for the Lord. 15th of August is his last day at work and there are just a few days in between - time sure does run fast when you don't want it to!

This weekend I brought the domain chacko.in and have registered it with Google Apps to set up a mail server. Something I have always wanted to do.

Anyways, it's getting late and I better head to bed so as to get back to work tomorrow. Twp days sure does make a person lazy, speaking of which my colleague Gari is also on vacation, so I better be double my usual self. Hope it stays quiet!!

In spite of a burgeoning population in the East African region, and expansion in trade, the Kenya - Uganda Railway is carrying less cargo and passengers today than was the case in 1960 when independence washed across Africa. Hundreds of kilometres of line have been ravaged by vandals after they saw the railway lying idle for decades. Locomotives have been described as, "museum pieces." The same wagons left behind by the British are still in use today.

Where passenger trains do operate, the schedules are as rickety as the trains. Twenty years ago, the Mombasa to Kisumu line had eight passenger trains a night, with reliable timetables. Today, the passenger service has been cut to two passenger trains a night, if at all. Often, trains break down in the middle of the African bush. A journey that would have taken 10 hours in the 1980s can easily take 24 hours today. Passengers have to travel in darkness as the lighting system broke down long ago. Toilets have been converted into "passenger cabins."

Regional industries long gave up on trains, in spite of the fact that road transport is very expensive. Delays, pilferage and damages to goods in transit was simply not worth the savings. By July this year, the railway was handling only 7% of regional cargo, a figure described by its management as, "the most that our capacity can handle." Consequently, the highway between Mombasa and Uganda resembles a convoy as thousands of trucks ferry containers in every direction. The rate of road accidents increased dramatically as overloaded roads simply crumbled under pressure.

With this sorry state of affairs, the governments of Kenya and Uganda implemented a concession plan backed by the World Bank. Under the plan, a private railway operator would run the railway exclusively for 25 years. In exchange, the Kenya and Uganda governments would get annual concession fees. On the surface, it was a good plan because both governments had neither the funds nor the political will to rehabilitate the railway.

However, the plan was doomed to fail. Selection of the private operator - the concessionaire - ran into difficulties as influential forces sought to muscle their way into the potentially lucrative railway sector. By 2006, two front runners had emerged: Rift Valley Railways and an Indian firm linked to Indian Railways. Rift Valley Railways is a consortium consisting of Sheltam Rail, Transcentury Ltd, Centum Investments and Babcock Brown Investments. Sheltam Rail is a South African railway company while Transcentury and Centum represent Kenya's wealthy ruling elite.

Technical reports indicated that the Indian firm ought to have won the concession. But the Kenyan and Ugandan governments dithered over the matter before finally settling on Rift Valley Railways. By the time the concession documents were signed in November 2006, Rift Valley Railways barely had the funds to revamp a railway system that was on its last legs. However, all was not lost for the Indian firm for it won the Tanzanian railway concession.

Trouble for Rift Valley Railways(RVR) began in January this year. Political and ethnic clashes in the wake of Kenya's disputed elections brought the economy to its knees. Rioters and militant groups blocked roads and railways. In some places, such as the Kibera slum and in Kisumu, the railway was completely uprooted by supporters of Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Not only did Rift Valley Railways lose hundreds of millions as trains lay idle but it had to spend millions in reconstruction.

In July, staff of the RVR went on strike over poor working conditions, delayed pay and uncertain terms of service. The workers claimed that RVR was not willing to employ them on permanent terms while expatriate staff got huge pay perks. Meanwhile, the Kisumu to Nakuru railway line was closed due to vandalism.

RVR announced that it was bringing into its board two additional shareholders to boost the firm's management. The two are Primefuels Kenya Ltd and Mirambo Holdings of Tanzania. They joined the existing board made up of Sheltam Rail, Transcentury Ltd, Centum Investments and Babcock Brown Investments.

The closure of the Kisumu - Nakuru line, coupled with the workers' strike caused a huge pile up of cargo at the Mombasa port. Ships could not dock as manufacturers suffered from delays. Uganda, Southern Sudan and Rwanda - which all depend on Mombasa - protested to the Kenyan government.

This week, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, chaired a meeting that fired RVR's Chief Executive, Roy Puffet. "The government of Kenya and that of Uganda have decided to give the RVR management three months to do whatever they can to restore services," said Raila. According to the Standard daily, the meeting also resolved to allow other shareholders into the consortium in order to inject Shs260 million (US$3.8 million) into operations.

More importantly, was the decision to revoke RVR's exclusivity in railway operations between Kenya and Uganda. This, Raila said, was to allow for the construction of a parallel railway line using the international standard gauge. According to Kenya Railways, the construction of the new line requires about Kshs50 billion ($746 million).

This money will be impossible to get considering budgetary constraints facing the Kenyan and Ugandan governments amidst rising oil and food prices.