Thursday, May 24, 2007

Fooseball

I have a new addiction now. Its called Foosball. It has become sort of a routine for me to have a game or two post - lunch in our office cafetaria. But a game or two ain't enough. So i try to squeeze in another game or two before i leave for home everyday.
This tell two things. Even after crossing the psychological age of 30 i am still enthusiastic about sports. Indoor or Outdoor, doesn't matter. Secondly i can pick up a new sport fast; though not as fast as i used to do earlier.

And that is a worrying point for me. Earlier, i used to get in the groove of the game very soon. I would pick up the finer points, the tricks etc of a sport naturally within a few games. And would start beating a supposed expert fast.
But not with fooseball.
Foose - ball requires quite a bit of hands-eye coordiantion. It needs good reflexes and nice anticipation. I thought i had all that since i used to be a decent close in fielder in cricket. Or even table tennis i picked up rather fast.

But with each passing day i am finding that i am not as quick as i used to be. Secondly, i have started giving up soon. I am not fighting hard enough. And i am worried that i am becoming more matured now. I used to like winning. Now i think i am not working on my wins hard enough.

All these are not good signs. Or may be they are. The obsessive need to win everything in life may not be a very good sign after all. Who knows.

Right now i am enjoying my fooseball. Analysis about me getting older, can wait.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The UP Election Analysis overkill

"Aur Caravan chalta raha...."

The Lady in Pink, Mayavati without making a single media appearance quitely [well not exaclt quitely, but still..] conquered UP. On her own.
The 24 X 7 *anaylsts* still are not able to figure out what went wrong for others and what went right for Mayavati. I don't know why it was so difficult to accept the UP election's results? It was in the end quite simple. It's not Rocket Science for crying out loud.

Here's my take. A simple and neat , point by point take. I can kick Sardesai's and that irritating wanabe sauve Yogendra Yadav's ass any day.

Why Mayawati won?
1. The Dalit vote stuck to her
2. The upper cast vote joined her
3. 2+2 it is, ass-freaking-hole !!!

Why Mulayam Lost?
1. He retained his votes. But it became more two cornered than three this time. 1+1 > 1.5. One of the corners shrunk, damn it, its that simple!

Why BJP Lost?
1. It lost UP in 1999. and not in 2007 as we think.
2. This is what remains of BJP in UP. Neither hardline hindutava, neither caste appeal. Its neither here nor there.
3. UP either knows cast or muscle or both. BJP has neither.

The top bullets were what the UP Election was all about, you freaking psycho 24X7 analysts of IBN and NDTV !!!!!

Prius Rocks

I have become fond of my new silver Toyota Prius. I was concerned initially with the 45 mpg mileage it was showing. But last week i took the car for a longer drive in the city and man, that car ROCKS
It clocked 55 MPG.
The best part is you can monitor the average on the screen and adjust your driving according to the display. On the down side, if you become too obsessed with the mileage and keep monitoring the screen you may end up bumping someone in the front :)

Toyota off course claims a 60MPG in cities and 50MPG on highways. [Yes its inverse in Prius and not a typo on my part]. On highways and high speed it uses more fuel, on the other hand in cities, it uses lesser fuel and more electricity.
The current gas price at my place is 3.30 $/galon roughly. Last week i refilled my gas tank to full and guess what? I got that click sound in just 8.8 galons. Obviously for fuel efficient car, the gas tank has to be smaller. And smaller it was.

Gone are the days when i filled 15galons in my old SUV and still managed no more than 300 miles per full tank.

Coming back to Prius. I like the interiors too. The drivers seat has enough leg room apart from the control it has on the wheel. The front view is not all that great from the driver's seat as my reference point is still my old SUV which gave me a clearer view. The pickup is not that great either. But that would be expected trait.
Also the smart key option helps. I can keep the keys in my pocket and not worry.

Here's my small little contribution to Going Green. Well not *little* really, as it cost me over 22K in greens. But as long as i can help make this world less dependant on the Middle East oil, i am ok :)

Hoping for a day when we are totally independent of the oil that funds 7-11.


Tuesday, May 08, 2007

test

testing email blogging