Washington beats Giants
Cincinnati beats Green Bay
Dallas beats Arizona
Carolina beats Minnesota
Cleveland beats Houston (both are so bad)
Detroit beats Chicago
Tennessee beats Oakland
Jacksonville beats St Louis
KC beats San Diego
Miami beats New Orleans
Tampa Bay beats SF
Denver beats Philadelphia
New England beats Buffalo
Pittsburgh beats Baltimore

Happened to catch The Apprentice tonight and what an end! All 4 in the boardroom gone. FIRED. Over!

Wow. I was shocked. The Donald has done weird stuff before, but this was amazing.

What was that guy doing putting balls in the ball machine? What was Jennifer doing? What was Josh doing? I think James may have been the only one who got a bad deal. Everyone else was dead weight.

Wow. I am still stunned.

From BBC Sports:

F1 2006 schedule:

Mar 12: Bahrain Grand Prix (Bahrain)
Mar 19: Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang)
Apr 2: Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)
Apr 23: San Marino Grand Prix (Imola)
May 7: European Grand Prix (Nurburgring, Germany)
May 14: Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)
May 28: Monaco Grand Prix (Monte Carlo)
Jun 11: British Grand Prix (Silverstone)
Jun 25: Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)
Jul 2: United States Grand Prix (Indianapolis)
Jul 16: French Grand Prix (Magny-Cours)
Jul 30: German Grand Prix (Hockenheim)
Aug 6: Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungaroring)
Aug 27: Turkish Grand Prix (Istanbul)
Sep 10: Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
Sep 17: Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps)
Oct 1: Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka)
Oct 8: Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai)
Oct 22: Brazilian Grand Prix (Interlagos)

Some switching around next year.

And I didn’t need a paper and pencil! :-)

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

I happened to see the 5th inning and then all the way from the 11th to the end of the game.

Great game, especially if you are rooting against Houston! :-)

I have decided to make a change to the name of this blog. I know people keep changing the titles all the time. I don’t like it too much, but I thought it is time to change it.

“Passionate about sports” does explain moi, but I wanted to make the title a little more general. “According to USC Trojan” sort of gives me an opening into non-sports posts, and of course, it still keeps it generic enough.

So welcome to the new and (hopefully) improved According to USC Trojan.

There could have been some inspiration from the TV show According to Jim ;-)

In trying to import my blogger posts and comments into wordpress.com, I missed a very important step - back up blogger template - and it caused my template to be replaced with ‘Please use a better blogging system and wordpress.com’!!

Since about 5pm yesterday, when I realized that there was a problem, I have been frantically trying to recreate my template. Not the basic stuff like the layout and such, but the customization that I had put in.

Thanks to google cache, I was able to get most of the stuff. The only thing that was tough to recreate was the Tagging part. And that too, I was able to get from the cached page, but there were no variables. The cached page was for a particular post, so the variables (or blogger meta tags) had been instantiated. So I had to guess a bit, and decipher a bit, but I think I finally have it now.

A very important lesson learnt - don’t mess with blogger template without making an explicit back up copy of it.

Phew! That was close.

From Deccan Herald:

They make hay while it rains in Bangalore
By Shubha Narayanan DH News Service Bangalore:
First the good news: Like Mumbai, Bangalore too has its share of good samaritans — strangers who will willingly lend a helping hand as you find your way in waist-deep water, give a push to a stranded car, and flash a cheerful smile as you groan over your soiled clothes.

Now the bad: Good deeds, in Bangalore, cost money.

For holding your hand while you wade your way out: Rs 15. For pushing a two-wheeler: Rs 100-Rs 150. For pushing a two-wheeler: Rs 250-Rs 300. For repairing a vehicle: Rs 300-Rs 500.

The local population around Hosur Road has hit upon a profitable business proposition overnight. Over a hundred villagers from surrounding villages have posted themselves next to the flooded Hosur Road, waiting, and praying, for the passing cars and two-wheelers to get stuck in the submerged stretch. Fortunately for them, this situation is not a possibility, but an eventuality, on this clogged road where the water level has reached over three feet. There are over 10 mechanics on the job, making the best of the situation. Each had an army of at least 10 younger boys, who were responsible for bringing in customers-in-distress for help. Thousands of broken down vehicles were pushed or repaired by these men over the last two days, and many have managed to earn up to Rs 10,000.

“There is nothing wrong in charging money, because we are, after all, providing a service,” says Shankar, a resident of Bommanahalli. One of these “helpers” admitted to having a differential rate chart. IT professionals are charged more, and so are owners of swanky cars. This reporter, who was at the site, was let off at a discounted price of Rs 25.

So much for writing about my trip and all that. I just did not get a chance to write about it.

But I can say one thing. We primarily used two books on the trip - Oahu Revealed and Maui Revealed.

For anyone who is planning to go to Hawaii, I would strongly recommend these books. I think there are others too, in the series. But since we used these two very much, I would say that we loved the books.

The writing is simple. The writers are from Maui. They have taken some real nice pictures to add to the description of the various places. They have written it not like a quick and dirty tourbook, but more like a guide for people who want to see the obvious and the not-so-obvious things there.

For example, we went to the Portlock Blowhole which was mentioned in the book, but there was no one there! The view was simply amazing and we could not believe that we were actually able to find it. The entrance to the blowhole is through a completely residential area, and we almost missed it too. Discovering small gems like those make the book worth it.

I’m the milk, said the white man.

Just so that the coffee does not seem too dark.

Is that true?? I really thought the “random” check was random. I guess not.

A pathetic week following a great week. Need to pick up the points through the next few weeks now!

Miami beats Kansas City - the emotional factor did not work here (0-1)
St Louis beats New Orleans (1-1)
Minnesota beats Green Bay - I did not know the kicker from Minnesota, but now I love him! (2-1)
San Diego beats Philadelphia (2-2)
Washington beats San Francisco - too easy - (3-2)
Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh - kept it close for a bit - (3-3)
Indianapolis beats Houston - Houston makes the 49ers look ok - (4-3)
Detroit beats Cleveland (5-3)
Seattle beats Dallas (6-3)
Buffalo beats Oakland (6-4)
Denver beats NY Giants - damn you, Eli - (6-5)
Tennessee beats Arizona - damn you, Tennessee - (6-6)
Baltimore beats Chicago (7-6)
Atlanta beats NY Jets (7-7)

7-7 after 12-2. Sucks.

Man, my body hurts. Played again after a long long time. Every time we play, we decide not to let up, and invariably it gets let up.

Played only for about 25 minutes. Stayed unbeaten, which is a big deal because normally if I am tired, I tend to lose. So it was quite a strong statement for me, to be tired but still coming out with a win in that last game.

As luck would have it, no courts were available for the rest of the week … so have booked for Monday.

In this day and age, with the current economic and political scenario around us, it is nice to come across kindness and the wife and I were on the receiving end of a nice gesture yesterday.

At about 10am, I received a call on my cell phone from a number I did not recognize. I answered the call and it was from a person who had found some cards and stuff of my wife in a wallet, on the road. He said he picked up what he could and gave me his contact number and such to go and pick it up.

I called the wife and she connected with him and went and picked the stuff up from him from his office. But we later realized that he was riding a bicycle on the way to his office and saw the stuff lying by the roadside on an expressway! He stopped, collected the stuff (it was thrown all over the place) and put it together and took it with him. He could not find any contact information for the wife, but fortunately my business card or something was in there so he was able to get in touch with me.

Then, he also gave us the exact location where he found the stuff, so we could go look for anything else that he may have missed picking up. It was unbelievable that someone would do such a nice thing.

On the damage side, there was not much that she could have lost. All her credit cards and her driver’s licence was with her in a different wallet. Some of the stuff that was in the lost wallet was things like Blockbuster card, airline frequent flier cards, and such. The most important thing that seems to be missing is the California State ID. She is going to go to the DMV and get her state ID duplicate ordered.

But now, I have to set up monitoring on my credit report with the various agencies so that we can pick up any fraud that may occur in the future.

But I don’t want to take anything away from the positivity of this post - about the nice gentleman from the Mountain View office who went out of his way to pick up the stuff, and called us and gave it to us.

Thank you, sir.

I like Gaurav’s post a lot better than what I wanted to write. But in any case, I can say that Sachin is back. And boy, it seemed like the old Tendulkar innings.

I hope this is not a blip and the 5-6 month rest has helped him take care of his brains and understand that he is the best.

I did not see it, and my brother and I exchanged a few SMS’es trying to see if this innings will make me sign up for the Willow TV broadcast. I don’t think so. Not yet. I have “given up” on Indian cricket and will continue to not support the team till they show up like this consistently. I am looking for the Indian team of the last World Cup and thereabouts, not the recent bickering, nonsense, political team.

Oh, and what a wonderful thing to see Rahul Dravid back to form also. Looks like now he knows that perhaps he is not a stop gap captain anymore. And that is allowing him the freedom to play normally, without any pressure.

And guess what - he was not the bridesmaid anymore. In his life, Dravid has almost always been overshadowed by someone else’s innings whenever he has performed. His debut with Ganguly, the famous Kolkatta test, etc. But this time, even though Sachin and Pathan scored big, Dravid got the man of the match award. Good for him.

Some comments from Dravid (from cricinfo):

On having Sachin Tendulkar back

It’s fantastic to have him back especially when he puts up a performance like he did today. It’s not easy to come back after four-and-a-half, five months out of the game. Physically also, it’s tough on you. He played a great knock for the team, batted for a long period of time. He suggested that we have Irfan (Pathan) up the order and that worked as well. So it’s just great to have him around, not just because of his batting but for his presence on and off the field. He didn’t look like he hadn’t played for six months.

On the team looking like a good unit

When you go out there and everything clicks for you – you get a good start, your bowlers bowl well and everything works, you look a great unit. When you score 350 and knock the opposition over, you are going to look a good unit. When you are having great success, it is not difficult to look like a good unit. Winning is the key. You also have to realise it is a seven-match series and we have just had a day where everything has worked for us.

Oh my god! I was off my chair listening to this one!!

Link to google video of Curry and Rice Girl!

It’s only the second week of the BCS rankings. We still have almost half the season to go. Plus, they tell me that this is the slimmest margins between #1 and #2 ever in the short history of the BCS.

Nothing to worry about. USC is #2 and Texas is #1. So be it. USC can only do one thing - keep beating its opposition. Rest all is not in their hands.

Fight On!

Wow, that was quick. Just the other day, I read about a proposal for a new format, and today, I read in the BBC Sports section that it had already been approved, despite objects from teams!

This format is going to create more problems if weather has a role to play. Imagine if the weather changes from the first cutoff and the second. And what about if the final qualifying time ends up being slower than one of the cutoff times (because of weather)?

It is not a good idea and we’ll see how the teams cope.

On the positive side, tire changes have been approved. That is a big deal.

White Sox 1, Houston 0

Yay!

USC won big in Seattle and they are going to be back at home for 4 of the next (last) 5 games. The one away game is what was supposed to be the big game for USC - at Cal. It may still be a big game, never mind the 2 losses that Cal has had so far.

But for now, it feels good that they are going to be home for a while now.

Minutes before sunset.

Seven Sacred Pools in Maui.

Nice view of the ocean from the Portlock Blowhole scenic lookout. Oahu.

Luckily that start for Washington did not get converted to 7 points, but the coverage on that initial kickoff was pathetic.

They really need to pull up their socks. It is sad to see a score in such a short time.

Bernie may be re-elected, and he is talking of changing the qualifying again.

There is never going to be a good qualifying system especially if you keep comparing the previous year’s performances and seeing how to neutralize some of the front runners' strengths.

So just have one system and keep it for a few years before deciding to change.

I still need to test absolutely new batteries because I do use rechargeable batteries and I have been using them for quite some time. But most of our Hawaii pictures have turned out to be pathetic. I have forced flash to be always on because I thought it is easier to darken a picture in photo editing software than it is to brighten it.

And since it was so bright most of the times in Hawaii, the pictures with the flash have turned out to be very very bright and I have had to discard a lot of them.

I am not giving up on the pictures yet, because I have Paint Shop Pro that came with my Dell laptop and will be trying that to see if it darkens evenly because Picasa’s shadow feature is so-so. Everything else in Picasa is fantastic.

But maybe I will use Thanksgiving as an excuse to upgrade digital camera anyway. It will of course trigger a whole new exercise of looking for the ‘best’ one around … and ‘best’ includes a good price.