Posted 11:47 AM by Raghu
What a completely perfect Saturday. Went for a late lunch with a old friend, came back and napped. Then watched Arsenal beat Middlesborough and also saw a incredible Robin Williams DVD. That to me is the mark of a performer : The ability to just hold attention with no props but just pure wit and acting. Come to think of it'd get my attention even if it was a blonde bimbette standing. "Sir my standards are so low even a soap opera is highbrow for me". And on that note I'm off to watch Real Madrid v Barcelona. One of the 2 spanish league matches I make it a point to watch. The other one being of course Barcelona v Real Madrid. Have the nasty feeling this year Barcelona are going to blow it big time. Damn you Louis Van Gaal. First u got rid of Rivaldo and then buggered the season up big time.

Posted 5:52 AM by Raghu
This blog thing is getting a bit out of hand. Been messaged by people saying where is today's episode. HELLLOOOOO this is purely voluntary. But it does the ego good to know that there are people out there who actually want to read my mutterings. (Wanted to say rubbish but then why give people chances at cheap pot shots?)
Speaking of pot - I am all for it.
Anyway divine dinner yesterday night. Fruits de Mer. Fish, Fish and more fish. I like Fish :)
And to the people who compose Spam emails with deceptive headers wtf should I buy a mortgage/ insurance from you when u trick me into opening your email ?

Posted 10:53 PM by Raghu
Wow 2 posts in 2 hours. Jeez I'm really jobless. Anyway does anybody realise that increasingly we're being foisted with other people's choices ? There are 4 coffee bars around my house of which 3 are vegetarian. Why should I be forced to eat vegetarian ? I like choice but do not force me to make your choice. A friend has recommended that I publish my blog as a book. My suggestion for the title is "Pure Jain Soup for the soul".

Posted 8:31 PM by Raghu
I am now the proud owner of a Hercules MTB. Whee!. Went cycling yesterday and it was good fun. I suppose at some stage my muscles will protest but then it's in a good cause - MEEEEE!. For a man without a job I seem to be spending way too much money. Need to cut back I suppose. The Easter weekend is upon us. Brings back a bad memory. Back during my college days when I was slightly more clueless than I am now I called up somebody to wish them Happy Good Friday. Gawd the memory still haunts me.

Posted 4:08 AM by Raghu
I have started taking the first steps on a journey of a thousand miles. Only in my case it's to lose 40 kg. I bought a cycle today. I hope this works out or it's going to be a ridiculous me riding a cycle. But it brings back good memories of school. Incidentally if ever someone wants to build a shrine/memorial to whoever invented air conditioning include me in. The only thing keeping me sane in this heat is that.

Posted 11:29 PM by Raghu
Whoof I'm slightly sleep deprived. Was up till late watching the match. Which for all those intersted was a very exciting 2-2 draw. Yawn. Right now no thoughts suitable for blogging come to mind other than this - Why is Porn bad ? By all looks the performers look happy or at least seem like they're happy. This is my second post on porn so am betting that i'm becoming Porn centric. That's interesting might be worthwhile for researchers look into as a traumatic lack of work effect. Should be interesting checking out on Voluntary and involuntary lack of work respondents. Dammit there's the research phrase again. On a related note there seem to be some 65 billion new news channels coming up. What the heck is happening ? Suddenly so much news coming out of India ? Sandy - you now have so much more to worry about.

Posted 6:46 AM by Raghu
Here's a radical thought - How about licenses for pedestrians ? I don't own a car but I travel around a lot in friend's cars and cabs. I get amazed at the number of people who insist on cheating death. They've got absolutely no clue of what the heck they're doing or why. They just amble around the roads and attempt to get killed. Thanks to great brakes they somehow escape and then look back completely amazed at what the heck is the fuss about. I'd like to suggest that we have some sort of basic road training when you're say 8 years old with a mandatory certificate and then again at 18 for the permanent certificate. In the interim you have to walk around with a large dunce hat saying trainee pedestrian. If nothing else at least make the ridiculous look even more ridiculous with the attendant emotional scarring. And one final thought for the big match today - GO GUNNNNERRRRSSSSSS!

Posted 8:48 PM by Raghu
Warning - Full Scale Rant coming up. For all those people who are signing up for the internet just now - You missed the golden era. Back in the dot bom eras of ridiculous biz plans and even more ridiculous revenue models life was more fun. I miss the spam I used to get then. I think I still have my free t-shirt and mouse pad just for signing up for a free email account. Now my spam is so boring. The bulk of it is free mortgage quotes, insurance quotes, online dating and boring stuff. I get so bored reading spam nowadays that I've decided to buy a anti spam tool. I'm on a sabbatical and have no time to waste. More on the anti spam tool later.
On a related note the guys who just discovered the internet now - I'm not your guide. I get sick of answering question on the same topic again and again. Typically the internet newbies are also PC newbies. Nothing is worse than telling a 60 year old man that the reason he gets porn email is not because he visited one of those sites "by mistake". The last thing I want to do is share confidences on porn with 60 year old men.
And talking of spam the Mumbai edition of the Times of India is paid spam. The entire paper seems to be written by mentally deficient 8 year olds for other mentally deficient 6 year olds. And the amount of plugs for stuff the Times group does is ridiculous. Whatever happened to the notion that a paper should provoke its readers thinking ? Gone I suppose like the afore mentioned biz plans. Anyway I am switching to the Asian Age which is written by mentally deficient 12 year olds for mentally deficient 10 year olds like me. Dare I say it I miss The Hindu. It at least has some respect for it's readers intelligence.
I've been informed by the one other friend of mine that I know has read this blog that this page lacks a email address for people to respond. How does one go about setting that ? On second thoughts putting up my email address is a invitation for more spam. In classic Indian governmentese this requires careful consideration.

Posted 8:48 AM by Raghu
Phew what a day what a day. This taking a sabbatical is not easy. I just get so tired of being at home I end up cramming too many things in my day. Today was no exception. Being a sabbatical newbie means there is a steep learning curve ahead of me.

Posted 8:01 PM by Raghu
Ok call it newbie blogger blues but there was a link for the RIAA article which never got published. This is the link. http://www.azoz.com/music/features/0008.html
Anyway been a hectic week. Just got word that one more of my friends is getting married. That leaves just 2 of us as bachelors. What next I wonder ? And to my friends who are leaving for Sikkim - Damn You !

Posted 10:47 AM by Raghu
For anyone following the RIAA v/s the rest of the sane world this should be interesting reading . I personally see no point in buying stuff on CD at INR 450 upwards when I've already bought it on Record. I've already paid the bloody royalties. In any case with the way CD burners are proliferating I'd say the RIAA's biggest wory is not people downloading and burning CDs but people just copying CDs. People downloading Mp3s are far more likely to buy the artist/ album after checking how good/bad the album is. Case in point being the new Simply Red Album "Home" This piece of completely unlistenable junk is brought out by the same band which made the extremely divine "Stars". Sigh !

Posted 12:31 AM by Raghu
What a incredible day. I went to a Gym today to check out what they can do to salvage a hopelessly overweight physique like mine. I've never felt like so unfit in my life. Not even the day when I had 8 Tequila shots and then some vodka shots to see what happens. On another track altogether This being jobless has enabled me to listen to P.G. Wodehouse. I've read his books but listening to them makes me appreciate what a artist the man was. Incredible craft that. And on yet another tack just read a report in e-marketer that over US$ 50 million was lost due to net fraud last year. My first thought was the number was too low. When u consider the number of dot bombs that happened 5 million is peanuts. On closer examination it turns out that this is due to false auctions and non delivery of merchandise. Pity. I wonder if I could get a piece of that ? I'm not greedy even a million would do for me.

Posted 8:18 PM by Raghu
My feeble attempt to join the rush. I'm on sabbatical from a extremely hectic worklife and this seems like a good way to time pass. Now that my friends are all gainfully employed and I can't do lukka giri with them this is it. Aren't you all extremely lucky ?