30 December 2007

Introduction to Kenya Airways

Finally, the day arrived. It was the 8th of December and at 11:20 am we were scheduled to be on a Kenya Airways flight en route Tanzania. Ore and I were really excited to be making this trip. We got up bright and early and were at the airport in good time to check in and all that good stuff. Imagine our disappointment when we learned that our flight would be delayed by 3 hrs! What the ... We shared a pot of tea as we patiently passed the time. I had a muffin which was had been microwaved and as a result fossilized as it cooled. Ore had marble cake. Finally like some 4 plus hrs later it was time to board. It was an uneventful flight thankfully, and save for a little mix-up with information regarding our connecting flight from Nairobi to Tanzania we arrived Tanzania a little past midnight local time. As we drove to the hotel I couldn't help but notice how familiar everything seemed even at 1 am in the morning and if not that we were driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, I could have been driving through Ikeja. We were barely asleep before we had to get up to catch the ferry to Zanzibar. Its a beautiful island, we had loads of fun, I will blog about that later. All of a sudden it was Friday morning and it was time to leave! :-( This time we assumed since we would be catching the first flight out of Tanzania all would be well, boy weren't we wrong. The flight was short (about an hour) and we got to see Mount Kilimanjaro which was nice. We arrived Nairobi on time and quickly got in line for our departing gate only to overhear some folks lamenting in Yoruba, the flight had been delayed! WTF?! Damn those Dubai passengers! I couldn't understand though why our trip had to be affected by the Dubai passengers, the last time I checked I had a ticket for a seat on an airplane, not on a Molue bus ... maybe herein lies the real problem. As an old school mate (whom I bumped into while passing the time) said this is Africa, nothing works as you would expect it. I had never traveled by air in Africa and my friend was quick to assure me this was the norm. Flights arriving and departing according to schedule now that was the exception. Sad. We arrived without incident, thankfully. I did get to witness a fellow passenger finagle whisky from the flight attendant with the help of a fellow Indian traveler, Nigerians!

Everton 1 - 4 Arsenal (and other gist)

Its been awhile, a lot has happened since we lost that game to Sevilla. We drew our game in hand against Newcastle, and hot on the heels of that lost to Middlesbrough. We did beat Chelsea against all odds which was nice. We drew against Portsmouth last week and relinquished leadership of the Premiership to ManU. Needless to say December has not really been our month but somehow the gods of soccer have been on our side, we head into the new year back at the top of the tables, 2 points ahead of ManU.

Da Silva Eduardo (47)
Da Silva Eduardo (58)
Emmanuel Adebayor (78)
Tomas Rosicky (90)

It was quite the strange win. Everton went ahead in 19 min from a corner which seems like Bendtner cleared right onto Yakubu's head or Cahill's boots. Our play was quite frustrating in the first half, our passes fell short and it seemed like the players were unaware of each other. I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when it was half time.

I don't now what happened in the dressing room at half time but the boys came out and in the 47th minute a Eduardo controlled a long ball (!) from Clichy, turned and slotted the ball in past Tim Howard. We were level. He scored the exact same goal again in the 58th minute and we went ahead. Just as I was wondering why Arsene hadn't made any changes (we were well past the 70th minute mark), Bendtner got a second yellow card and got sent off. Oh no! It was all the more sad because apparently Adebayor was waiting on th sidelines to come on for him! Bummer. He came on for Eduardo instead and 4 mins later a 'comedy of errors' occured. A goal kick from Almunia landed in the Everton half, Yobo for some strange reason decides to let Howard deal with it, Adebayor kicks the ball at Howard who fails to catch it, the rebound drops for Adebayor who has left the keeper behind and he scoes our 3rd goal. So much for my fears that being one man down might cost us the match. In the 84th minute Arteta was awarded a red card for his well placed elbow in Fabregas' face. Unfortunately the Oscar went to someone else but Fabregas deserved the nomination, for a second there I thought his eye had popped out or something. He did get booked for an unrelated infarction and was quickly replaced by Rosicky who scored our 4th in injury time. With ManU's suprising loss to West Ham (Imagine, they were a goal up, a missed penalty, and an eventual 1 - 2 loss) we once again moved to the top of the tables. We will be meeting a decidedly chuffed West Ham on New Years day.

My Chistmas Present

Aren't they cute, my toe warmers? I opened my door late yesterday afternoon to find two packages; one from adorama.com (yipee my memory cards have arrived) the other gaily wrapped and soft. Who could it be from, no stamps so its from someone within my building ... You guessed it, its from my neighbor of the Valentines Day chocolates fame. Did I mention that he also gave me chocolates at Easter? Yup he did, they are still on my refrigerator, I keep forgetting to throw them out. Anyways I tried them on (wearing socks with individual toes takes some getting used to) and I fell in love. For a person like me whose extremities are always freezing I couldn't have received a more thoughtful gift, thanks Bruce.

28 December 2007

No Country for Old Men

Upon careful examination of my apartment, I have been able to convince myself that Anton Chigurh is not lying in wait for me with a cattle gun. Now why I would think anybody would be waiting on my behind to dispatch me to the great beyond I don't know. I blame the Coen Brothers, my over-active imagination and Javier Bardem. Gosh wasn't he just the model psychopathic killer, all action no talk. And that haircut, and his face ... Tommy Lee Jones was great in the role of the last in a long line of small time sheriffs, confronted with the fact that times are a-changing. Josh Brolin was also quite convincing in his role, giving 'finders keepers' a whole new meaning. I found the Sheriff's deputy to be great eye candy, if a little too slim. The scene between him and Tommy Lee in the diner with Tommy Lee reading the paper was just too funny. I must say the golden globe nod for screenplay is very much deserved, the dialogue in the movie was truly amazing. Overall a really good film, I was immersed in it from the minute it started till the cameras cut to black 2hrs and 2 mins after despite all attempts by the guy sitting like 5 seats away from me with his non-stop commentary to spoil the movie, gosh how I wished I had a cattle gun ...



23 December 2007

Deamgirls

I woke up starving and craving pancakes. 3 eggs, 1 hash brown, 4 rasher of bacon, 2 cups of very sweet green tea and 2 orange crepes later, I am sitting on my couch as helpless as a beached whale, captive audience for 'Dreamgirls' on HBO. It was an okay movie. I did see 'Hello Dolly' just last night so that might be clouding my judgment. A word of advice to Jennifer Hudson, move to New York and find a vehicle on or off Broadway, the Oscar and the Golden Globe would only keep doors open for so long.