If you're reading this, and you've been watching the address bar of your browser carefully, you'll have noticed that this part of my site (the blog) has been moved to my .com domain. In addition to the move, this part of my site is now powered by the excellent Movable Type, and not by Blogger as it was before.
Everything else, apart from the archives (which I've also moved here), is still on my Australian and United Kingdom sites. You can access either site using the worldwide link in the contents column to the left. Finally, you can now comment on any of my ramblings here by using the comments link below each post!
There were mixed fortunes for both my teams this weekend. I thought Villa had got away with yet another hard earned point away from home, until a last minute goal gave Everton all three points and a 2-1 victory. Over the other side of the big pond, D.C. United drew 1-1 with the Colorado Rapids.
I am now the proud owner of this domain name - the .tk extension belongs to Tokelau - a small island consisting of three atolls, some 500 miles from Western Samoa, and inhabited by less then 1500 people! Tokelau is so remote; the only way to get there is by travelling by boat for some 42 hours!
I received some shocking news today. Vishal has purchased something online for the first time ever! I'm still recovering from the shock! He went to the always reliable Amazon and purchased Norton AntiVirus & Personal Firewall 2003 - an excellent choice if I do say so myself!
Whilst I'm on the subject of buying things online, I recently bought Believe, the debut album from 4 Strings. It was a U.S. only release, so I had to order it from Amazon over there. It will take a while to get here, of course, but I don't mind - it's better than paying for an overpriced import copy (and cheaper, too).
After months of offering its excellent anti-spam product for free, Cloudmark have decided to start charging for SpamNet, and whilst I can understand their reasons for doing so, I think it's a very silly move indeed. Only time will tell if the product remains as popular as it was before they started charging for it.
To finish off today's post, and staying on the subject of spam, have you ever wondered where all this spam comes from? Well, this article from BBC News is very interesting indeed, even if it told me what I knew already - e-mail addresses posted on websites or in newsgroups attract the most spam.
Losing 2-1 in triple overtime to a power play goal (and being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs as a result of it) really hurts. It hurts even more that the power play came as a direct result of a silly bench minor penalty. That defeat ends the season for the Caps. Oh well, there's always next year...
In football news, Aston Villa earned an excellent 1-1 draw today away at Newcastle, which should now keep them well away from any relegation trouble. On Saturday night D.C. United played to a 0-0 draw in their first home game of the season against Chicago Fire at RFK Stadium.
After almost a week without receiving a single copy of the W32.Yaha.P@MM virus, not one, not two, not three, but four e-mails infected with the little blighter have arrived in my inbox over the past two days! It's a good job I have the ever reliable Norton AntiVirus on my machine.
Argh! After a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay last night, the Caps are now 3-2 down in the playoff series, and are on the verge of being eliminated! Game Six is tomorrow at MCI Center. The Caps have a bit of a history when it comes to losing 2-0 leads in playoff series; I'm hoping history won't repeat itself again!
In football news, the Villa gained a valuable three points with an excellent 2-1 win at home to Chelsea! West Bromwich Albion were also relegated from the Premier division today - shame it wasn't the other Midlands team, eh? Oh well, at least it gives Villa a chance to get some revenge next season.
As a result of not checking my e-mail yesterday, at this moment in time, I have 210 e-mails to sort through. Oh well, I estimate it's probably 75% spam anyway. Speaking of spam, I'm going to be working on compiling this months Anti-Spam Protection File later on this evening, so it should be ready on time this month!
If you've been following the Stanley Cup playoffs over the past few weeks, you'll no doubt be as shocked as I am that the Mighty Ducks have eliminated the Red Wings in a straight 4-0 series win! Poor Minnesota looks as though they'll be heading out too, unless they can pull back a 3-1 deficit against Colorado.
Staying with the playoffs, Lightning did indeed strike twice, and the Caps lost Game Four 3-1. The series is now tied at two games each. Game Five is tonight, and I'll only be able to catch the first period as I have work early tomorrow morning. At least I'll be able to listen in on Game Six, which is on Sunday.
You can now buy a talking doll based on the highly amusing Iraqi Information Minister! Read all about the talking doll in this BBC News article, and don't forget to check out the website devoted to him, which is now back online after being taken offline because it became too popular!
I hate overtime - especially when the other team scores to win like Tampa did last night. That 4-3 overtime win was the Lightning's first at MCI Center since November 4, 1998. The Caps are leading the series 2-1, and Game Four is tonight at MCI Center again. Lets hope Lightning doesn't strike twice!
I have a dream...
Well, it's more of an ambition than a dream. I like to keep this dream to myself these days because even the slightest mention of it makes people smirk and look at me in a bemused kind of way. They say I'll never do it, or that my chances of doing so are slim, or that I don't have the resolve to follow it through.
Well I'll show them - just you wait and see.
It's Game Three of the first round in the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight, and as I have work early tomorrow morning, I can't listen in! I'm not very happy about this. Still, the Lightning hasn't won at MCI Center since November 4, 1998, and I'm pretty sure they won't be doing so tonight (or tomorrow night) either!
AOL is taking legal action against the spammers flooding its network with junk e-mail. Whilst I applaud their move, they really should take care of the spammers emanating from their own end as well - 12% (5336 to be exact) of the addresses in last months Anti-Spam Protection File were AOL ones.
Woohoo! What did I say the Caps needed on Saturday? I said they needed some magic from Jagr, and some first-rate goaltending from Kolzig - and that's exactly what they got! Jagr got two goals and two assists, and Kolzig made 40 saves as the Caps destroyed Tampa Bay 6-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
An injury plagued D.C. United however, didn't fair too well in their first MLS game of the season. They lost in a 3-2 overtime heartbreaker to the Kansas City Wizards. Back over this side of the pond, my beloved Aston Villa (who are still too close to the relegation zone for my liking) drew 2-2 with West Ham.
It's Game Two today! Can the Caps come away with another win to take a two game lead? I think they can, though Tampa won't want to be two games down coming to MCI Center. It'll be a tougher game than the first, so lets hope for a little magic from Jagr and some more first-rate goaltending from Kolzig!
I received another e-mail infected with the W32.Yaha.P@MM virus today. It's becoming a real nuisance! However, it doesn't appear to be as virulent as its other strain Yaha.K, and both MessageLabs and Symantec classify it as low risk, so I live in hope that it will leave my inbox alone soon.
If you've been following the war in Iraq, you're bound to know about the highly amusing Iraqi Information Minister. Well, would you believe someone has created a website devoted to him and his zany press conferences? The site is temporarily down at the moment, but you can read all about it in this CNN article.
Yeah! The Caps took Game One of the first round against the Lightning with an excellent 3-0 victory! Game Two, also in Tampa, is tomorrow. The next two games after that are in D.C. at MCI Center, so another win for the Caps tomorrow would really put the pressure on Tampa Bay.
Look out for the W32.Yaha.P@MM virus and its variants - I've received three e-mails infected with it this week. And speaking of e-mail, if you've e-mailed me over the past few days and I haven't replied yet, hang in there! You're in a very long queue along with everybody else that has e-mailed me - I'll reply soon.
It's Game One of the first round in the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight! The Caps are in Tampa, hoping to strike (excuse the pun) first against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite being up since 5am this morning, I should manage to keep myself awake to listen in on the game.
In other news, the transition from Blogger to Movable Type is going well now that I've overcome that problem I told you about on Tuesday - I might even have it all done and uploaded by tomorrow afternoon! I'm quite looking forward to only having to update one blog instead of two!
Did he ever think he'd win? It's not quite over yet, but his regime is crumbling all around him, and as I write this, I'm watching live TV pictures from a fallen Baghdad of the Iraqi people getting ready to pull down a statue of Saddam - it's a wonderful sight to see. This is a defining moment in history.
I did hope to get these musings of mine over to my U.S. site yesterday, but I came across some minor annoyances with Movable Type, so things are on hold until I find a way to work around them. I'm very impressed with it, though. It's better than Blogger, that's for sure. Much better.
I got Movable Type up and running over at my U.S. site Sunday evening. I'm still fiddling around with it, so there's still nothing there at the moment. On an unrelated note, Tampa Bay lost their last two games. So had the Caps beaten Ottawa, they'd of won the southeast division. Typical, eh?
The Caps completed their 2002-2003 regular season with a 5-3 home win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at MCI Center last night. Now they must prepare for the first round of the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning - the first game (best of seven) is in Tampa on Thursday night.
Yesterday saw the start of the 2003 MLS season. There was just the one game, between the Columbus Crew and L.A. Galaxy, which ended in a 1-1 draw. D.C. United start their season with an away game against the Kansas City Wizards next Saturday, and are at home to Chicago Fire the following Saturday.
So it wasn't to be. The Caps lost 5-1 to Ottawa, and in doing so, lost the division title, too. Still, at least the Caps have made the playoffs. And can you guess who the Caps will be playing in the first round of the playoffs? Go on. Have a guess. Yes, you guessed it; the Caps will play Tampa Bay.
With Tampa Bay beating Montreal last night, the Caps must beat the Ottawa Senators tonight if they're to stand any chance of winning the division - if they lose, Tampa Bay win the division. And even if the Caps do win tonight, if Tampa Bay beat Philadelphia tomorrow night, they win the division anyway.
Woohoo! The Caps beat the Florida Panthers 3-0 last night, to move just one point behind Tampa Bay in the division. I'm sure every Caps fan will be willing the Canadiens to beat Tampa Bay tonight, or at least hold them to a tie. The Caps' next game is against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
Have you heard about this mystery pneumonia-like virus? It intrigues me. I'm sure it's not, but imagine if it were a man-made virus - developed by a shady government for use in biological warfare - that had by mistake or otherwise, escaped into the wild. Hmmm. I think I've been watching too many X-Files...
Sometime during this week (but most likely the weekend), I will be playing with a new tool called Movable Type. It's a lot like Blogger but better (apparently). I'll be setting it up on my U.S. site to test it out. If I like it, and I have a feeling I will, I'll drop Blogger altogether and go with Movable Type.
There's only three games of the regular season left, and with a playoff spot secured, the Caps will be hoping to win those three games and the southeast division title. They're at home to the Florida Panthers tonight, and will hopefully take all two points to keep the pressure on Tampa Bay.
The Caps lost 4-3 in overtime to Toronto on Saturday night, but Tampa Bay only managed a draw against Florida, and also drew 2-2 with Boston last night, so with a win tonight, the Caps could cut their lead at the top of the division to just one point! It's going to be close in the race for southeast division title...
