Notice anything new? Of course you do, silly! The blog has got a new hat err… I mean header! I spent a while scouring the web for something that would suit the identity of this blog – nonsensical, lazy and pointless. But maybe I’m the one and only owner of such a property in BlogLand, indicated by the lack of any suitable images.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. In my case, it was more like ‘When you can’t whack something off the web, get off your lazy arse and make it yourself’. And the result is there to behold – a 5-minute effort that would make Picasso turn in his grave.
Nice, sharp and to-the-point. 
Chelsea 1-1 Burnley
Burnley win on penalties.
Ouch! This was not in the script. Not at all. In cup competitions there are instances of David slaying Goliath every now and then, but when that Goliath happens to be Chelsea FC, the earth is bound to shake a bit more than usual.
Didier Drogba, returning from injury, gave Chelsea the lead after being set up by Lampard. Frank Lampard himself had just come on in place of Belletti, who had gone off injured. Drogba celebrated his goal by tossing wads of cash into the crowd, like a crazy millionaire. Err, actually he just picked up a coin that had been thrown onto the pitch and tossed it back to its rightful owner among the 6000 Burnley supporters. And Didier can expect a call from the FA very soon.
With 20 minutes remaining, Ade Akinyibi equalized for Burnley. Both teams finished the game with 10 men. Franco Di Santo got injured and all 3 Chelsea substitutions had already been used. Burnley’s Steven Caldwell was sent off for picking up a second yelow card. Burnley held on to force a penalty shootout after the score remained at 1-1 after 120 minutes of football.
And what is it with Chelsea and penalties? I don’t remember us having won a penalty shootout in a million years! Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen saved Mikel’s shot in sudden death, sparking massive celebrations among the travelling fans.
So Chelsea suffer their third defeat under Mr.Scolari and are out of the Carling Cup. And something tells me, I might have jinxed this game by mentioning the giant-killing acts of the past season too many times in my preview. Oh well, at least now we can concentrate on the other 3 competitions and try to finish off games before they reach penalties.
It’s that time of the year when teams from the lower leagues are drawn against some of the biggest clubs in Europe, fighting for pride, glory and giant-killing honours. No, it’s not Football Manager time, it’s the Carling Cup!
Chelsea are up against Burnley from the second tier of English football, who will no doubt be looking to do a Barnsley. After all, the giant-killers Barnsley beat Liverpool at Anfield and Chelsea as well, to reach the semi-finals of The FA Cup last year. Maybe Barnsley had Lady Luck tied up in the luggage compartment of their team bus, but that’s no excuse for taking a lower-league opponent lightly.
I’ll expect Mr. Scolari to field a strong team, with a mix of youth and experience. Drogba is likely to start after bidding farewell to the medical staff, who must be having their hands full these days. I hope Ivanovic starts as well; the poor lad hasn’t put a foot wrong and still can’t get a game! And please, oh please, give Di Santo some time on the pitch. Apart from these, I don’t expect wholesale changes to the Chelsea lineup.
As for the result, barring a calamity of gigantic proportions (a fancy phrase for complacency), we should win this one comfortably.
P.S. – Those who can’t watch the game on TV, tune into a stream of your choice from here.
They say that the customer is king, but hardly do we see him being treated as one. Usually the smiles on the faces of dealers and salespersons are programmed to disappear as soon as you purchase a product from them. God help you if that product decides to act up one day.
However, not all consumers take it lying down. Check out this link for Koshy John’s woeful experience with the Hewlett Packard (India) customer care. Also, don’t forget to visit the forum where it all began.
Conclusive proof, that it pays to be aware of your rights as a consumer.
If I were to believe this e-mail, I’ve just won a million US Dollars in cash and a Toyota Highlander. Now I’ve seen a lot of spam in my short life on the Internet, but his one made me wish it really was true 
“TOYOTA INTERNATIONAL LOTTO (HEADQUARTERS)
Customer Service Department Affiliate of Toyota Japan.
#28 Kanashiwa road Tokyo JPWe are pleased to inform you of the announcement made today, You are among the winners of the TOYOTA CAR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from all part of the world as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.
As a result of your visiting various websites we are running the e-business promotions for. You/Your Company email address, attached to ticket number 719-266-1319, with serial number 902-66 drew the lucky numbers 5,12, 30, 11, 17, 43 and Bonus number 12 , Your INSURANCE Number: FLS433/ 453L /G MSA and consequently you won in the Second Category of the TOYOTA FORTUNE LOTTO DRAW.
You have therefore been approved for the payment of the sum of $1,000,000.00USD (One Million United States Dollars) in cash, including a Toyota highlander which is the winning present /amount for the Second category winners. This is from the total prize money of US$2,650,000.00 shared among the international winners in the Second category.CONGRATULATIONS!
Please be informed that your won fund of the sum of $1,000,000.00USD is now with the payee center. Contact our agent and give them your full names so that they will re-insure your winning fund under your full names. Together with the port where your winning car should be shiped to.
To begin your claim, please call our claim agent or send email immediately to:-.
Certificate Agent, Toyota Email LottoMr. Steven Wu
Email: XXXXXXXXX@live.cn
XXXXXXXXX@gmail.com
Tel: XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXNOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, Please quote your
1. Full name:
2. Address/contact number:
3. Country of origin:
4. Sex/marital status:
5. Age:
6. Occupation:
7. Tel/fax:Sincerely,
Mrs Ing Chuny Liu
Hon Cordinator
www.XXXXXXXXX.cn[c4y6ri0epqd]“
In case you’re curious, here’s what a Toyota Highlander looks like:
Maybe someday… 
Anger is not an emotion I normally associate with a Chelsea defeat. Usually it’s bitter disappointment coupled with an unwavering optimism that we’ll bounce back stronger. However, the events that occured on matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League left me fuming. And it was not just because of the defeat or even the match entirely. Allow me to explain.
In India, the rights for Champions League matches are allotted to Ten Sports and Zee Sports. Now these two channels are like the poor cousins of ESPN-Star Sports, and have to survive on whatever little coverage of European football they are allowed to broadcast in the Indian subcontinent. And how grateful I am, that it’s only a ‘little’. The reasons for this are plenty – poor presentation, lousy commentators (barring a few times when Andy Gray & Martin Tyler commentate), ignorant TV pundits. The list goes on. But the biggest gripe is their shameful bias towards Liverpool and Manchester United. On matchdays, 90% of the time they’ll be showing live mgames of these two teams, while other matches are either delayed or shown Live on Zee Sports. Zee Sports being the poorer of the poor cousins, is not available on my Tata Sky DTH service and hardly any cable operator carries this channel.
So here I was, my DTH box connected to the PC, tuned in to Ten Sports, watching the pre-match scenes at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. They had earlier told us that Liverpool vs Atletico is on Zee Sports, so it was only logical to conclude that Ten Sports will be showing Roma vs Chelsea. You can imagine my surprise when the host informed the viewers, with a sheepish grin I may add, that there’s been a mistake and Roma vs Chelsea is on Zee Sports.
That wasn’t in the script!
Thankfully, I’d noticed a few days ago while channel-surfing, that my cable operator was carrying Zee Sports. I swiftly unplugged the DTH box from my PC and attached the cable wire in its place. A few minutes and adjustments later, I was all set for the match.
However, it just wasn’t going to be my day. At half-time, I left my chair to get myself some refreshments, hoping we’d be able to overturn the 1-0 deficit in the second half. When I returned, i was greeted by a black screen.
What the hell happened?? Arrrghhh!!!
As I switched to another channel, I feared the worst and thought that there must have been a power failure at the operator’s premises. That wasn’t the case. Other channels were there, only Zee Sports had gone missing!! Another channel scan yielded the same result. I’d been left stranded with a stupid cable connection that was of no use to me now.
As a last resort, I fired up my browser and went straight to Justin.tv, hoping they’d have a decent stream for the game. Guess what? They did. And what a stream it was. On my 256kbps connection, it was butter-smooth and re-buffered only 7-8 times during 45 minutes. If only the match had ended in our favour as well.
So what are my views about the match?
This 3-1 loss is the worst defeat Chelsea have suffered under Scolari so far. That said, I still think we’ll top the group and make it comfortably into the last-16 of the Champions League. I just hope the next time it’s a European night, I don’t have to go through this kind of ordeal again. 
I’ve been on a holiday. Not the one involving the sun, sand and sardines but a holiday of a different kind. And during this time, the blog has been neglected… again.
You see, I’m not a born writer nor do I have a penchant for churning out paragraphs after paragraphs. The blog, as it stands, is as good as dead. Content is the key to online publishing and that is exactly what I can’t seem to come up with these days. Ideas that pop up in my mind are shelved for one reason or another. Some ideas are considered to be not good enough, some seem to be out-dated and some are plain daft.
Maybe I need to steer my mind into a completely different direction, change the entire structure of thinking, add new categories to write on. Let’s see what I can come up with.