Woohoo! Villa thumped Leicester City 5-0 this afternoon - all goals coming in the second half. Darius Vassell and Peter Crouch bagged two each. The win moves Villa up the league into eleventh place, and delighted boss, David O'Leary, who praised the team for its clinical finishing. Leeds are up next on Saturday.
The Caps beat the Hurricanes 5-3 on Thursday night, thanks to some superb penalty killing, and goalie Olaf Kolzig, who made 32 saves. The Caps face the Canucks tonight at home. A win would be a great result, but the Canucks are a good team, and they're currently on a four game winning streak, so it won't be easy.
When it snows in countries like Canada, for example, it really snows. Yet the Canadian folks go about their daily lives as if the snow isn't really there at all. So why is it then, that when we in England get just a tiny bit of snow, it causes total chaos everywhere, and the entire country grinds to a standstill?
The Caps shutdown ex-player, Jaromir Jagr, and the Rangers in a 2-1 victory last night. The Carolina Hurricanes are up next tonight in what I see as a must win game. The Caps, currently stuck in the Southeast Division basement, can close the gap between themselves and Carolina to six points with a win tonight.
Aston Villa signed Nolberto Solano in a £1.5 million move from Newcastle today. Earlier this morning, it was reported that Villa boss, David O'Leary, has been told by Deadly Doug that he has just £4 million to rebuild the squad in the summer. I wonder if today's £1.5 million outlay will be deducted from that or not?
I watched sci-fi thriller The Thirteenth Floor last night. Despite its similarity to a certain other movie, I actually quite enjoyed it, but I'm going to have to either rent it or buy it on DVD, because the plot twisted that many times I absolutely lost it about half way through - which made the ending even more confusing!
Well, I did say that a miracle was required for Villa to reach the final of the Carling Cup after the disastrous defeat in the first leg. Sadly, despite beating Bolton 2-0 last night, Villa lost the semi-final 5-4 on aggregate. Of course, it didn't help having a man sent off in the first half, and top scorer Angel out injured.
Aston Villa boss, David O'Leary, doesn't think a place in the Carling Cup final is out of reach yet. After the 5-2 defeat in the first leg last Wednesday evening, Villa are going to need nothing short of a miracle tonight. And to make matters worse, top goal scorer Juan Pablo Angel is injured, and he won't be playing!
Be on the lookout for W32.Novarg.A@MM - a dangerous new mass-mailing worm that's spreading rapidly across the Internet. Apparently, it's bigger and faster than last August's Sobig.F outbreak. If your machine has been infected by this latest worm, Symantec have created a free tool for you to disinfect it with.
It hurts to see Jagr in a Rangers jersey. But given his decline in scoring since joining the Caps, and his $11 million a year contract - which they just couldn't afford - perhaps Caps owner, Ted Leonsis, writing in his column on the Caps website, is right - maybe the trade does make both hockey and financial sense.
The only thing I'm worried about now are all the other rumours flying around the NHL at the moment that certain other highly paid Caps players are up for grabs. Whilst Ted doesn't say as much in his website column, I get the impression that if an offer comes in for one of those players, the deal will be done pronto.
Anyway, since beating Pittsburgh last Sunday afternoon, the Caps have dropped three straight games. They lost 3-2 at home to Toronto on Wednesday night, 4-1 away at Florida on Friday night, and 4-1 at home to Philadelphia last night. The Caps face the Rangers - and you-know-who - next, on Wednesday night.
I finally finished reading No Second Chance by Harlan Coben a few days ago, and it is without a doubt, his best novel to date. It's better than his two previous standalone novels - Tell No One and Gone For Good - put together. I just couldn't put it down for a second, and was totally gob smacked by the ending.
It's a sad day in Caps land. Star winger, Jaromir Jagr, has been traded to the New York Rangers. At first I thought it was just another rumour, but when I read this article in the Washington Post today, I just knew it was more than that. I'll write more on this tomorrow - I'm too upset to comment any further right now.
Sci-Fi UK showed the last episode of John Doe last night, with the question we all wanted to know the answer to still unanswered: who is John Doe? Sadly, we'll probably never get to see the answer to because Fox cancelled the show! It makes me so mad. How do the people at Fox live with themselves?
Well, I couldn't just leave the question unanswered (things like that really bug me), so I decided to search the web to see if any official answer had been given by either Fox or the shows creators, Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson. It didn't take me long - Google gave me the answer I craved right away.
The official answer, from Fox's Entertainment President, Gail Berman, is in this article. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised when I read it - I wasn't expecting that at all. I saw nothing throughout the 22 episodes that pointed towards that conclusion! Still, at least I can sleep better now I know!
After a close game in New Jersey against the Devils on Saturday afternoon, which the Caps narrowly lost 2-1 in overtime, they rebounded with 4-3 victory against the poor Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday afternoon. That gap between the Caps and Carolina in the Southeast Division is getting smaller with every game now.
Speaking of Carolina, the Carolina Panthers won their first NFC championship yesterday, and made it through to Super Bowl XXXVIII with a 14-3 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. They'll face the New England Patriots (who beat the Indianapolis Colts 24-14 for the AFC championship) on February 1st in Houston.
And finally, thanks to a dodgy free kick, and a penalty that shouldn't have been, Villa lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal yesterday afternoon. Hollywood star Kevin Costner was at the game - I didn't know he was an Arsenal fan! Villa play Bolton next on Wednesday evening in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.
I had to open up my PC's case yesterday evening, as it was the only way to determine the exact model number of my DVD-ROM drive. I did this because a software check proved annoyingly inconclusive, and I needed to be 100% sure of the model number so I could download and apply the correct firmware update.
Why I am I telling you this? Well, upon opening my PC's case, I recoiled in horror - almost everything was covered in an unbelievable amount of dust! So today I bought a can of compressed air to blast away the dust, a dust cover, and a PC toolkit. My PC seems a lot happier now all that dust is gone!
I've just finished upgrading GazNET to the latest version of Movable Type. As usual, you won't notice any difference to the site itself, as the upgrade only tweaks the internal bits. I've also recently got the archive search working properly, so now you can easily do a search for anything I've ever written about here.
Although he signed an MLS contract a while back, Freddy Adu officially became a D.C. United player today when he was taken with the first selection in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's only 14 years old, but trust me, he's going to be a huge star. United are very lucky to have him in their team.
Caps fans witnessed a crazy game at MCI Center on Wednesday night. For over two periods the game against the Calgary Flames looked destined to remain 0-0, but with only six minutes left, the game sprang to life and ended in a 3-3 tie. The Caps would have lost had it not of been for Jagr's fluky goal with 0.8 seconds left!
The two episodes of Millennium on Sci-Fi UK last night were excellent, and well worth staying up for. I especially loved "The Sound of Snow" (now one of my favourite episodes ever), which, in a strange way, made me feel a lot happier about the tragic events that occurred in the final episode of the second season.
After having a great game on Sunday evening - beating the Oilers 1-0, and getting goalie Olaf Kolzig his first shutout of the season - the Caps will be looking to make it three wins in a row against Calgary tonight. Can the Caps make it three in a row? If they play like they did against the Oilers, I see no reason why not.
Woohoo! I've just read on Millennium Desktop, that according to Lance Henriksen Magic, the first season of Millennium is due for a DVD release sometime in the near future! This is fantastic news. Sci-Fi UK are currently showing the third season episodes on Tuesday nights, and repeating them on Sunday nights.
How many people do you know that have passed their driving test first time? Everyone I know had to take it at least twice before passing. Now, let's say a miracle happens, and the DSA tests 100 people in a day. If they purposely fail one in every two, that's 50 x £39 = £1,950 more cash in the DSA coffers. Conspiracy? Hmm...
The recent run of good fortune Villa had been having came to an end on Saturday with a 1-0 loss to Liverpool. Typically, it was an unlucky own goal that lost them the game. At least the Caps got back to winning ways with a 4-1 victory against Carolina on Friday night. The Edmonton Oilers visit MCI Center tonight.
I've just rebooked my driving test at a cost of £39, and whilst I'm somewhat upset at the extortionate cost of it, I'm even more upset about the date of my test - April 7th! That was the earliest date available I could choose from. I'm going to have to keep phoning up to see if I can get a cancellation for an earlier date.
My favourite MLS team, D.C. United, have recently appointed Peter Nowak as their new head coach. Problem is, he doesn't have any coaching experience whatsoever! However, Nowak points out: "There are a lot of coaches with experience but not success." Hmm... I think this is a very risky appointment indeed.
Over this side of the pond, Villa were knocked out of the FA Cup over the weekend, losing 2-1 at home to Manchester United, despite a good performance. Villa were back in action again two days later against Portsmouth, who they beat 2-1 thanks to a fluky last minute goal. Liverpool are up next tomorrow afternoon.
The Caps are in a real mess at the moment. In their last three games they've lost 5-2 to Ottawa, 4-1 to Montreal, and 3-0 to Phoenix. They're winless in seven games (0-6-1), and have the worst record in the league (11-26-4-1). I've given up all hope of them reaching the playoffs now. Carolina are up next tonight.
I think it's a brilliant achievement that NASA have landed a rover on Mars. The images sent back so far are amazing. It's a shame about the Beagle 2 mission, though. At least the ESA can say it landed (if not all in one piece). Oh, and that reminds me, you simply have to see this cartoon - topical and hilarious!
The BPI is suing two Internet music stores - CD WOW! and Play - for selling CDs for almost half their High Street price. What on earth is wrong with that? This is yet another example that proves the music industry doesn't have a clue. The case goes to court next month - I don't need to tell you who I want to win.
I finished reading Lost Light by Michael Connelly a few days ago. I have one word for it: brilliant. I especially loved the way it all worked out in the end. I'm definitely going to be reading more of Michael Connelly's novels. Right now though, I'm working my way through No Second Chance by Harlan Coben.
I'm so annoyed with myself. Everything was going fine; I'd done the manoeuvres successfully, I'd pretty much completed the test route, and I was heading back to the test centre. Then I made two mistakes and it was all over. I'm not giving up, though - I can do it. I'm going book another test as soon as I get paid on Friday.
Well, it's finally here at last. Tomorrow morning I shall be taking my driving test. It's my first time taking it, and I'll admit to feeling a little nervous - but I'm confident I'll pass. All I've got to do is drive safely for 40 minutes - from the test centre, around the test route and back - and I'll have passed. Wish me luck, folks!
I had a mock driving test today, and I only racked up one major fault and seven minor faults, which I was quite pleased with. Of course, I'd have failed the actual test because of the one major fault, but that was just a silly mistake more than anything else. My actual driving test on Tuesday, and I'm confident I'll pass.
I was absolutely disgusted with the World Idol result yesterday - that ugly Norwegian bloke won it! He looked stunned that he'd won, and rightly so in my opinion, because he shouldn't have! I couldn't believe it. The rather fine looking Kelly Clarkson should have won by a mile (she came second, just a few points behind).
The Caps finished the 2003 stretch of their season by getting pasted 7-1 by the Buffalo Sabres on New Years Eve. However, they redeemed themselves, and got 2004 off to a decent start yesterday, with a 2-2 tie against the New Jersey Devils. The Caps are in Ottawa to face the high flying Senators tomorrow.
I uploaded it a little later than planned, and I've still a few other things to sort out, but other than that, GazNET v5.1 is now online! I hope you like the minor changes I've made. Feedback is much appreciated, so feel free to leave a comment using the link below this post, or contact me via e-mail, Messenger, ICQ etc.
Happy New Year!
GazNET 2004 (v5.1) will be making its debut sometime in the next few hours, so if anything breaks during this time, don't worry - it'll most likely be me uploading the new site.
