“Oram gives World Cup the finger!”

Read this on cricinfo. Allrounder desperate to appear in World Cup and Fingers optional as Oram pursues dream.

After breaking his left ring finger in a freak fielding accident he's so desperate to take part in New Zealand's campaign that he is willing to do away with it altogether. "If it means cutting the finger off, if that's the worse-case scenario, if that's the last resort, I'll do that, there's no way I'm missing this," Oram told NZPA.

I am disappointed that in this era of catchy headlines, none of the papers claimed “Oram gives World Cup the finger!”

A different perspective

When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. - Dale Carnegie.

“X” told me the other day – "I am a very proud person. You piss me off once and I will never forgive you. I haven’t talked to my brother for 20 years now and I don’t even remember why we fought."

Me (gulping down all my questions and pity - with the rest of my cola - for reasons ranging from apathy to mild horror) - "Cool"

Chewing Gum

TV is chewing gum for the eyes. - Frank Lloyd Wright

So I chewed gum for 4 hours last night and watched 'The Departed' win the Best-Picture Oscar.

Stay Focused

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work. - Oprah Winfrey

I was never much of a runner. Even at my peak fitness as an Engineering student (several years and pounds ago), 3 miles was the best I did and preferred weight training over cardio. Running for more than 30 minutes was boring and I looked at it as something to get out of the way before starting my “real” workout. I played cricket and didn’t care much for soccer (which involves a lot more running that I could have bargained for). I could run if I wanted to – I told myself – but never really got around to it. Running was non-glamorous, monotonous, and too tiring I decided as I silently dreamed of playing for the Indian cricket team regardless of talent (or rather the lack of it).

A friend of mine, KR, ran the half marathon in Bangalore in 2005 in spite of a bad knee. He posted his experience on his blog and it made a good read. Heck, it was inspiring and almost made me want to run a half marathon. Well KR is a natural athlete. I would never be able to do it…

Read it again a couple of months ago and decided I wanted to be fit enough to run a half marathon – not because it sounded exciting, but to show myself I could. Since I was nowhere close to my desired levels of fitness, I chalked out a 12 wk program – thanks to the www. Starting this program was tough – I barely ran a mile the first day and I was puffing and panting. In the first week itself, I had several thoughts of quitting. But quitting is easy, staying focused is tough… I don’t want to sound like I am making a big deal out of this, but different individuals require different levels of effort for the same damn thing. An ‘effort’ might be physical/ emotional/mental. For instance, the mental effort required by a smoker to cut down their smoking by half might be the same as the physical effort required by a mason to work twice as hard.
In my case, it was a matter of convincing myself that I needed to do it and then sticking to the plan!

I am currently in week 5 and I ran 7 miles last night. I am hoping to stretch it to 13 miles in the next 8 weeks. Let’s see how it goes. All I have to do is stay focused.

World Cup history

A brief history of previous world cups. An interesting read.

Dessert for the day: Humble Pie

Have you noticed how when you start thinking you are invincible, the next thing you know you are lying on the curb, your ass hurts and you don’t have insurance?

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. Bill Gates

The Black Caps gave the Aussies a rare whitewash. Although the Aussies played without Ponting, Gilchrist and Lee, this is bad timing for the defending world. The Aussies do have the best team in the world - and that’s putting it mildly. However, after their recent Champions trophy and - more importantly - Ashes success, and being hailed as the best team ever, one gets the feeling they might have become a tad over confident.

'Sport Killings'

Read this disturbing piece on CNN.
Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise

Story Highlights
• Number of attacks on homeless at highest level in almost a decade
• 122 attacks, 20 murders in 2006, according to National Coalition for the Homeless
• For some teens, "this passes as amusement," expert says

What kind of a twisted world are we living in?

Brain dead

Have you noticed how your brain seems to desert you when you need it the most?

The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office. - Robert Frost

We shave our head.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein

To her credit, Britney Spears is a decent singer (I think she is. Although I can’t really say in this techno world where everybody sounds the same) who has given us a few hits. But to call her the ‘America’s youth icon’ etc is stretching it a bit. But for some reason everything she does is news. To my utter amazement CNN has a front page article screaming “Britney goes bald.” Like we care - I thought. While the world is struggling with issues like global warming, bearded terrorists and Virendra Sehwag’s form, we have all the newspapers in the world talking about (of all things) Britneys hair or rather the lack of it.
However, today I saw another “hair raising” piece on the web which made me rethink the existence of the human brain. So while the world’s (read America’s) obsession with Britney continues, I quietly think: Human stupidity has scaled new heights. But who is stupid? Is it Britney who can’t seem to control her life? Is it the media who wastes time, resources, personnel, valuable printing space publishing this crap? Maybe not. The media can only print crap as long as people read it… Then maybe it’s the masses that are to blame. But who? The ones who read this crap? Or the ones who are stupid enough to sell Britney’s hair on ebay and call it a ‘piece of history’? Or the ones who actually buy the hair?

Or maybe it s just me. It's definitely me.

World Cup schedule

World Cup Schedule.

Prediction of the day: India will win this world cup.