I have to go through 250+ pictures, cleaning them up and renaming them with something meaningful. I am not even half done and it is getting more and more intimidating. But I shall do it. While watching Apprentice. While watching the USC football game. While watching the World Series.

Those are the only ways I can possibly get done.

It actually turned out to be a good song after all. Man, Wyclef Jean must have had so much work to do. Commendable.

This week is early because the Miami/KC game was pulled up to Friday.

Miami beats Kansas City
St Louis beats New Orleans
Minnesota beats Green Bay (both of these teams are so bad)
San Diego beats Philadelphia
Washington beats San Francisco
Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh
Indianapolis beats Houston
Detroit beats Cleveland
Seattle beats Dallas
Buffalo beats Oakland
Denver beats NY Giants
Tennessee beats Arizona
Baltimore beats Chicago
Atlanta beats NY Jets

So Diwali is coming upon us. Parties are being planned and celebrations will be in order. Clean out the house and get it ready for the New Year.

This truly starts the happiest part of the year for me. Happiness spread around the Diwali time frame that goes into Thanksgiving and the entire month of December, which ends with the New Year. Won’t talk much about the depression that follows ;-)

Just the other night, some friends and us were talking about the various types of firecrackers were used to light during Diwali…it was fun to recollect those memories and even though we were from different parts of the country, we ended up discussing similar crackers! And strange enough, similar ways to abuse them!

Some examples of crackers and their (mis/ab)use:

1. Standard sparkler (phool-jarri)
2. Spinner (Jameen-Chakkar)
3. Anaar - the conical one and the big pot where you have to make a hole with the back of the sparkler and then light it
– a misuse of it was when these things would defuse without flowing fully, they would be thrown in the final bonfire and lit up at the end!
4. Telephone - tie the string on two trees and light it and see it go up and down. All of us thought it was stopped for some reason, and we concluded it must be for safety reasons.
5. Snake - dirty smelling, and mess-creating black pill-type thing which you light up and see it create tubes and leave a black mark on the floor.
6. Of course, the ‘Laxmi Bomb’ or ‘Atom Bomb’ - the green bomb with the loudest sound.
– a misuse of it was to put it in a Bournvita can or worse, in a rat hole!
7. Those pink-and-white ‘tada-fadi’ - the most common noisy cracker, came in various sizes.
– the worst feeling was at 4am on New Year’s day when some idiots in the neighborhood would set up a 10,000 reel with a whole bunch of laxmi bombs in the middle. The noise would never end, it would be loud for lack of other ambient noise and it would leave the entire street filled with pink and white paper mess. Besides, the smoke would take forever to clear out.
8. Rockets - the popular, crazy crackers which were typically lit in a Thums Up bottle.
– a misuse of it was to light it in someone’s hand and let it go whichever direction it would go (burnt curtains was the ‘worst problem’!); or on a level ground, to light the rocket HORIZONTALLY, and let it take off due to uneven terrain!
9. Pencil - colorful nonsense cracker which just spit colored sparks and created unnecessary smoke ;-)
10. Sparrow bomb (Chakli bomb) - those little triangle things which could be lit with an incense stick in the left hand and throwing it after lighting it in the air. The noise level is low and is fun to see it burst in mid-air.
11. Pistols and the corresponding rolls of pellets - the most irritating in terms of noise because they could be used INSIDE the house!

Can’t remember more, but these are a lot! I am glad I put them down on paper. I have not lit firecrackers for a LONG time now and would love to see some in action. Not sure when I will be in India during Diwali next ….

Recently I had a bad experience with a cashier at Circuit City ignoring me just because I was his kind. I have seen that quite a bit and I am not sure why it happens. In other races, I have seen a lot of happiness in serving your own type of people, but with Indians, I have seen that a lot of folks behave negatively with other Indians.

What is at the bottom of this sentiment? Sure, there are still a majority of Indians who act equally with non-Indians as with Indians and there are still more Indians who like Indians than not.

But where is the bad feeling coming from for the rest of the folks? I am not sure.

But I did write to Circuit City about it and they are apparently going to have the store call me and talk about it.

Very interesting post on his blog…some comments are noteworthy:

The reality for the NBA however is that we have let the media coverage of our game be personality based. The NFL has someone on trial or in jail every single week. Sure hasnt affected their ratings at all. Why ? Because media coverage is of the team, game strategy and in game matchups. Most of us couldnt identify 90 pct of the players on our favorite football team in a lineup. You might know their name and number, but you have no idea what they look like.

Watch the pregame of NFL games. They have talked to coaches about plays. They talk about plays. They talk about defensive strategy. They talk about what will be run in which situations. Fans do the same. It makes watching the games a lot more fun.

What do we talk about before an NBA game ? Sure we talk about individual matchups. We might even talk about individual skills. But how many in the media even know that there is a play run and a defense called , with options, bailouts and audibles on almost every single possession ? And how many write or talk about them ?

Watching the ESPN crew with Stephen A, Greg Anthony and Tim Legler is painful. They are a cliche a second. Same soundbites every single game, just the player names are changed. TNT isnt much better. At least Barkley is entertaining at saying nothing.

Has anyone ever heard after a basket; ” I expect the Mavs to run a thumbs down or horns side in this situation. Detroit is probably expecting them to push the ball, so watch for the Pistons to use a send 4 to the Offensive boards and everyone else gets back when the ball goes up into a man to man, gold on the post, come on first dribble on an entry pass”.

Never. Instead we get mindless drivel about players. I know the game is fast and doesnt have the breaks that football has, but there is still time to discuss these things during stoppages and free throws.

Im just as guilty of letting it happen at the Mavs in our media. Its something I have to find a way to cure.

Well, the subject of this post makes it seem like I have some pics that I want to post, but they are not my pictures. These are taken from CNNSI.com and ESPN.com. All copyrights with them.

Thank for the tip, mr./ms. anonymous poster. I think I like the concept of Firefox on a Stick.

As soon as I get a good thumb drive, I will start using it for Portable Firefox.

As a sidenote, I would also like to put my Trillian program on it, so the logs stay all in one place. Neat use of the thumb drives.

They have won the first elimination game dramatically. Now they go back home. Can they win two at home?

I don’t think so. It only happens once in a while. The only thing going for them is the fact that they are at home. That’s it.

The longer this series goes, the better it gets for the White Sox. More rest for them and easier to strike in the first couple of games of the World Series.

From wearesc.com:

The horrible officiating to start the Trojans’ games continued against Notre Dame. What at first was laughable is now downright ridiculous. On the Trojans’ first punt, the referees missed an obviously blatant block in the back on the first Trojan downfield. On Tom Zbikowski’s punt return, the first two Trojans’ downfield were also blocked in the back, neither of which drew a flag. On John Walker’s first pass interference call, Irish receiver Maurice Stovall ran out of bounds, then was the first player to touch the ball, making him both an ineligible receiver and guilty of illegally touching the ball. Of course, 15 yards were marched off against the Trojans. The referees also did a horrendous job of uncovering the pile after an Irish fumble, which would have resulted in a 4th and 19 inside their own 10 yard line. The referees took their time uncovering the pile and refused to break up the individual spats going on around the play, each of which could have resulted in offsetting personal fouls. The ultimate result of the play? A fifteen yard personal foul against Josh Pinkard, called about five minutes after the end of the play.

Jacksonville beats Pittsburgh (1-0)
Minnesota beats Chicago (1-1)
Tampa Bay beats Miami (2-1)
Giants beat Dallas (2-2)
Baltimore beats Cleveland (3-2)
Carolina beats Detroit (4-2)
Cincinnati beats Tennessee (5-2)
Kansas City beats Washington (6-2)
Atlanta beats New Orleans (7-2)
Buffalo beats Jets (8-2)
Denver beats New England (9-2)
San Diego beats Oakland (10-2)
Seattle beats Houston (11-2)
Indy beats St Louis (12-2)

Wow, 12-2! That’s a new high for me.

The BCS rankings come out and once again, it will be time for the East Coast and Mid West and South (everyone but the Pac 10) to start chanting USC is overrated. They will say USC does not deserve to be #1. They will say Texas has beaten more quality opponents (hahaha). They will say the SEC has tougher opponents in general (hahha).

But all that is bull shit. USC has won on the road, which is tough no matter where you go. Secondly, those road wins were against highly ranked teams. No matter what you say, the rankings at the time matter a lot, especially given that the players are a bunch of 19 and 20 year-olds.

They have not only stayed unbeaten, but they have proved in a variety of ways (blowout against Hawaii, come back from behind against Oregon and ASU, and the cracker of a game against ND) that they are true champions who know that a win is all that matters. There are no points for style. A win is a win, no matter how ugly it looks.

Champions find a way to win. Champions don’t get fazed by undue pressure and media criticism. This team coached by Pete Carroll has learnt to get the job done and leave it to destiny to decide their fate. The goal is simple - win the Pac-10 and go win the Rose Bowl.

I am not going to say much else, because I tend to jinx my teams. But I want to pre-empt nonsense talk about USC being overrated and Pac-10 being a weak conference (4 teams in top 25 and 2 othes receiving votes - boo ya!) and such.

While on vacation recently, I ended up using the wife’s computer. And she does not have Firefox installed, and even if she did, it would not have my settings.

I wish there was a “web-based” browser that I could log into anytime I am connected to the internet. That way, my bookmarks and settings and extensions and greasemonkey scripts and such would all be in one place.

Is there such a thing?

Australia has won the Super Series ODI’s and the Super Test big time, and it cements their place as #1 team in the world, without doubt.

The World XI, especially the test side, was a dream side. But the Australians were fired up and even though they did not have everyone play well, they did enough to crush the World XI.

Congratulations, Australia.

Charlie Weis saw the clock tick down from 5 seconds to 0 and he raised his hands, celebrating a win. USC was not done. Pete Carroll was not done. Matt Leinart was not done.

For a change, the fumble out of bounds was actually a good thing. It stopped the clock and gave USC another chance. 7 seconds were put back on the clock and USC came up with a miracle touchdown with 3 seconds to go. Leinart was able to push himself over a pile of guys into the end zone.

What a game. It was even better for us because we were actually at a sports bar, watching with a lot of Trojans, but also a lot of vocal Irish supporters - including some Texas Longhorns folks who would want USC to lose in order for Texas to become #1.

But after a roller coaster last few moments, USC ended up victorious, and those last-second victories are memorable only for the supporters of the team winning the game, and it was for us.

USC has overcome a big hurdle, winning over a good Notre Dame team. Hope this does not get into the guys' heads that they can do anything, because the penalties and turnovers were still killing them big time. They need to improve there and stop beating themselves.

Jacksonville beats Pittsburgh
Minnesota beats Chicago
Tampa Bay beats Miami
Giants beat Dallas
Baltimore beats Cleveland
Carolina beats Detroit
Cincinnati beats Tennessee
Kansas City beats Washington
Atlanta beats New Orleans
Buffalo beats Jets
Denver beats New England
San Diego beats Oakland
Seattle beats Houston
Indy beats St Louis

A great post (with a lot of links to other posts/websites) on the topic I was completely unaware of, because I was away. A blogger posted something bad about a sort of premier management institute in India and the institute has struck back and the battle rages on.

Looks like the issue is gaining steam by the day and all the support we bloggers can give to the fellow bloggers is welcome.

Thanks for the detailed update by Amit Varma at India Uncut.

$4 or $5 per gallon of gas is good for the SUV-loving American public because soon they will realize that the days of gas guzzlers are out.

SUV sales are down industry-wide and if the upward trend in gas prices, real or not, continues, we may see some more meaningful cars on the road, like the hybrids or smaller cars with better fuel efficiency.

Of course, the soccer mom may still get the minivan and the crossover SUV may still be in vogue among the young parents, but the real guzzlers like Expedition, Sequoia, etc. will have to change quickly.

Tried to watch it according to Eastern time zone, but it looks like it comes tape delayed in Hawaii, which at this time of the year, is 3 hours behind Pacific time zone.

That’s sad for Hawaiians. The excitement during the game is quite low, I guess.

My picks here.

Detroit beats Baltimore (1-0)
New Orleans beats Green Bay - SO wrong here! (1-1)
St Louis beats Seattle (1-2)
Tampa Bay beats Jets - aw come on, Bucs. (1-3)
New England beats Atlanta (2-3)
Buffalo beats Miami (3-3)
Chicago beats Cleveland (3-4)
Tennessee beats Houston (4-4)
Indy beats SF (5-4)
Denver beats Washington (6-4)
Carolina beats Arizona (7-4)
Philly beats Dallas - whooped (7-5)
Cincinnati beats Jacksonville (7-6)
Pittsburgh beats San Diego (8-6)

Another 8-6 week.

My picks were mentioned here.

Tampa Bay beats Detroit (1-0)
Settle beats Washington (1-1)
Cincinnati beats Houston (2-1)
Denver beats Jacksonville (3-1)
Indianpolis beats Tennessee (4-1)
New England beats San Diego - wow, SO wrong on this one! (4-2)
Buffalo beats New Orleans (4-3)
St Louis beats NY Giants (4-4)
Baltimore beats NY Jets (5-4)
Atlanta beats Minnesota (6-4)
Philadelphia beats Kansas City (7-4)
Dallas beats Oakland (7-5)
San Francisco beats Arizona - saw parts of this one - pathetic! (7-6)
Carolina beats Green Bay (8-6)

8-6 for the week.

I did not know that guy at all, and happened to watch a few innings of the Angels game vs NYY. He is a fantastic guy - and I did not even know that it is his rookie season and that was his first postseason game!

This guy is good.

What seemed to go unnoticed was Sania beat #1 seed Zvonareva last week only to lose later.

This woman is confident. If she can rectify her game a bit, she will certainly be able to cause trouble in the coming years.

The second half was definitely better than the first. But then again, the first half was not pathetic. I saw the first half and realized that if it were not for two mistakes (one fumble by Desmond Reed and the interception by Matt Leinart), USC would have been up by 2 or 3 touchdowns.

And so it is now on to the much touted USC-Notre Dame game. Pete Carroll vs Charlie Weis. I am not sure what to expect of this game. ND has been playing awesome football. I saw a couple of their games (most of the couple games) and they do look very similar to the Patriots style football. Clean, simple, efficient. Keep getting first downs and keep converting scoring opportunities. They use the tight end a lot and unfortunately for USC, all their players have started believing.

Reggie Bush is not 100% and that takes away more than one player out of the equation. I know that he will play even if he is less than 100%, and if he is in fact less than 100%, it will mean less effectiveness.

Anyway, I don’t want to talk too much about the game because I don’t want to jinx anything. Fingers crossed. It will be a good game and I am going to watch it in a public place with a classmate who is visiting us.

I am so glad the Yankees are out! Good job, Angels. People who know me, know that I don’t like the New York teams - Yankees, Giants, Jets, whatever.

And what a nightmare for the Angels - flying from New York to Los Angeles and flying to Chicago on the red eye flight.

And they won!

Of course now it is 1-1 and the series moves to Los Angeles. I am not sure which is my favorite team. I don’t like the Astros because of the (what I think is) unnecessary hype that follows Roger Clemens. I couldn’t care less if it is the Cards or the White Sox. I probably feel closest to the Angels becausee they play in the AL West, and I get to hear of them more than the other teams.

So I will try to watch as much of the LA-Sox series as I can. And of course hope that the Angels go all the way.