Preview : Man Utd vs Everton @ Old Trafford

ESPN (ASTRO CH 812 @ 1.25 am, Sunday Morning)
After 2 boring weeks of no-BPL action and not willing to wake up 3 or 4 oclock in the morning to watch a game only decided by a handball (i always knew Henry was a no good fella, he was a Gooner anyways), the BPL is back.

After suffering a harsh defeat to Chelsea before the international break, United will get a chance to bounce back against the blue side of Merseyside, Everton. United will head into this game knowing that Everton have only won once in 28 premier league games which was in the 2005/2006 season when Duncan Ferguson (this guy is now fat and a beer drinker, that's how long its been).

United Team News

SAF's touchline ban will only start on 28 Nov and will be on the patrolling the touchline as usual. United seek to reduce Chelsea's 5 point lead after this game.

Johnny Evans will partner Vidic in the absence of Ferdinand who is out until the New Year. Owen Hargreaves will might be on the bench as he seek to recover from his injury nightmare.

Possible Starting 11: Van der Sar, Evra, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Valencia, Rooney & Berbatov

Player to watch: Wayne Rooney

After starting the season in a blaze, Wazza have only hit the net once in 9 games for club and country. He will be hoping to get back on the goal trail against his boyhood team. United can score his 1st hat trick of the season in this game.

Rooney says, "Utd are No 1, you scousers"

Everton Team News

Russian international Diniyar Bilyatedinov will be out as he is serving the 2nd match of his 3 match ban. Tim Cahill is a slight doubt who is currently suffering a groin strain. The match also comes to early for midfield trio Osman, Phil Neville and Pienaar who will miss the match.

Possible Starting 11: Howard, Baines, Yobo, Distin, Neil, Chill, Feillani, Rodwell, Heitinga, Gosling & Saha.

Player to watch: Louis Saha

Former United hitman has score 7 in 8 starts for the Toffees and will be wanting to put one over his ex employers. But I personally think he wont as he is made of glass and will get injured when tying up his boots in the locker room before the game. No worries for United.

Bo's Prediction: United Win. 3 - 1.      

Glory Glory Man Utd!!!

Bo Is Getting Fluffier By The Day

I stood in front of the mirror this morning with all my crowning glory self and realised something that I really did not want to admit. I am getting fluffier by the day! Damn man! Its getting so ridiculous to see me turning into a blimp.

I hope my "fluffy"ness doesnt get to a point where I resemble this guy;

Gabriel Iglesias is very proud of his "fluffy"ness. All the power to him, man. He is a damn hillarious fluffy latino.

But for me with my futsal and tennis, the extra weight would not help. My pregnant wife also maybe is contributing to my added weight as she is "wanting" to eat stuff but usually cannot finish it off. So, I will be the "cleaning crew" or Majlis Bandaraya to finish off the food as she does not want it to go to waste. Yeah, lame excuse but thats the reality of things.

If anyone out there can give some suggestions on how to curb my new found "fluffy" ness, I am all ears.

Bo is in the Papers

Yup. Thats me!

Sitting on the right beside my boss CFO En. Jalluddin & CEO Jason Lo with the other Tune Talk family members.

This appeared in The Edge, Monday 16th November 2009 edition.

Yeah! Tune Talk. Now We're Talking

www.tunetalk.com

Shyet-Li's Kopitiam @ Jaya 33 Section 13 Petaling Jaya

 

Shyet-Li's Kopitiam that I went is situated at Ground Floor, Jaya 33, Section 13 Petaling Jaya (opposite the demolished Jaya Supermarket @ Sect 14 PJ). I knew later that they have the main branch in Great Eastern Mall, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

It's a chinese styled kopitiam and its menu consist mostly of Asian delicacies. The food is halal, so no worries for Muslim patrons. You can have breakfast, lunch, hi tea and dinner or even just drop by for a casual drink. It is suitable anytime.

There is ample parking space at Jaya 33, so finding parking space would be a breeze. Then, you can take a lift to Shyet-Li's Kopitiam (ground floor).

The kopitiam's decor is styled according to the old coffee shops, which to me the best ones were in Ipoh.There would be an old bicycle at the door and framed pictures hanging on the walls. But you dont eat decorations, paintings or even bicycles when you go to these places. Service, prices and most important of all, the food is what you look out for. But the cosy decore and ambience sets your mood.

Once you're seated, a staff will immediately attend to and will take down your order and they are most helpful in explaining the available options on the menu to you. The prices are reasonable and the menu describes each dish from the starters to desserts in detail. So you would know what you would be ordering and can also make requests.

I had the Nasi Goreng Kampung with Satay. The satay wasn't put on sticks but presented as satay bits. The rice and satay were rightly proportioned with some fish chips (keropok ikan) on the side. To wash it down, I had some Cham Ice. The cham was just nice, not too sweet and yet tasty. The Nasi Goreng was priced at RM 12.50 and the iced cham at RM 3.80, which I  think is reasonable when you are left satisified at the end of your meal.

Nasi Goreng Kampung with Satay

Nasron (my collegue at Tune Talk) had Uncle Dory's Catch. It was fragrant rice with garlic fish which I think looked really nice and it tasted even better. Nas also had the Cham Ice. The price for the Uncle Dory's Catch was RM16.90.

 

Uncle Dory's Catch

Other tasty dishes that are available are

Roasted Chicken with Mixed Veggies

Gado-Gado

Nasi Ayam Special with Roasted Chicken

Hot Kopi 'O'

(The pictures were taken with my E71. Please excuse the quality of the pictures)

Adrianna Tan....of popagandhi.com

I had an interesting lunch meeting today with a fellow blogger  who also travels and is an avid ice cream lover. She is Adrianna Tan, the owner/author for popagandhi.com, a 24 year old lass from Singapore who has been travelling independently since she was 18 years old. She holds a bachelors degree from Management University of Singapore in Political Science.

Adrianna (left) having a chat with Nasron

I initially did not want to go as I thought it was just another boring talk where the talker would be telling about her experience and giving advices on blogging and whatsoever. I still went there tor the sake of accompanying a collegue to the luncheon that was set up Tune Hotels at  Shyet Li's Kopitiam in Jaya 33 PJ. Boy, was I grateful I went as the stories on her travels and experiences along the way was an eye opener and re-ignited my dream to travel at least within Asia. On top of that, I had a free lunch. Thanks to Margaret and Tune  Hotels for picking up the bill.

She is currently in Malaysia with a few projects of her own. Her latest and personal favourite project is introducing a new brand of local gourmet ice-cream in Malaysia where she is currently testing the market and creating new flavours that are more connected to the local tastebuds. I would really like to see whether she can squeeze in Lychee Sourbet into her list of flavours. That would be really cool. Pun intended.

I would like to wish her all the success on her future travels and projects. Also would really love to sit down some day and exchange some ideas and stories. If that can't happen, then maybe being offered a place on the ice-cream tasting panel would be a great consolation prize ;)

Tune Talk Futsal Team

It was called the Match of The Titans. The Golden Oldies Versus The Young Upstarts.

The match came about after the Upstarts team asked for a futsal match with the Golden Oldies. Never backing out of a challenge, the Golden Oldies accepted the challenge and set Monday, 5:30 pm as the date and time of the match of gigantic propotions. The venue was Sportcity Section 13 PJ.

The day of reckoning arrived. The buzz througout the Tune Talk office was only on the match and also whether the area where Annie and Nas sat was Perv-ville, where all the pervs of the office stay. It was decided, yes, it is indeed Perv-ville and Edmond is the Mayor of Perv-ville.

Back to the match. Everyone got ready and were raring to go. The first 5 of the Golden Oldies were Alfie, Dennis, Edmond, Lee and Bo. The match was back and forth. Each team cancelling out each other. Becoming an interesting match. Along the way, a few of the Golden Oldies fell off to the side, badly. Their wind knocked out of them. The Young Upstarts meanwhile were fresh like daisies.

The final 5 from the Golden Oldies that were left were Bo, Edmond, SK, Alfie and Lee. Gallantly putting everything into winning the match but with only 5 minutes remaining with the score tied at 7-7, the Young Upstarts scored the decisive goal to win the match and make it 8-7.

A rematch is almost on the cards as the Golden Oldies will be there. and ready to do some ass kicking (literally). The question is, are the Young Upstarts ready?

P/s: Special note to all the players that poured their hearts and guts in ensuring we did not get trashed:

Adie, Alfie, Arie, Khairil, Edmond, SK, Lee, Nas, Jason Ramesh, Bo & Dennis.

Alexxis Midvalley Garden......28th Birthday of Bo is a Nerd

The Shah Alam clan & friends gathered at Alexxis Midvalley Gardens to celebrate "November Babies Birthday". The celebrated ones were Amru, Lisa, Wafi and myself. The usual suspects were there; Shahrul + Surini, Zul + Mazlina, Amru+Siti, Fariz+Lisa, Soraya+Razlan+the girls, Wafi, Jazdee  and finally me and wifey, Azhani. Special mention to Zul+Mazlina & Shahrul+Surini for organizing a great celebration. Thanks guys. Can really feel the love and feel very much appreciated.

It was our first time at Alexxis and the place is comfy and out of the way. Its situated on the 1st Floor of Midvalley Gardens, near the Robinson's department store entrance (North Tower of The Gardens). The food was excellent and service was quick. However, the order taking could do with some improvement where the servers just put the food on the table without knowing which meal is for which person. Best example was when Wafi's pizza came and without knowing, the pizza was meant for Soraya instead of Wafi. By the time Wafi wolfed down the pizza (with the help of Zul, Jazdee and myself), the mistakes was then only realised.

Wafi's Pizza (or was it Soraya's??) 

Back to the celebration, I had the Sirloin Steak Grilled Sandwich and Azhani had the Nasi Kerabu Alexxis Special. Both dishes were tasty.

 Grilled Sirloin Steak Sandwich

 Alexxis Nasi Kerabu Fried Rice

We then exchanged birthday gifts. Shahrul gave me a Del Piero Juventus jersey. It was great and awesome as it came from Italy (that was what Shahrul said). 

 Shahrul+Surini's Gift

Amru+Siti gave a big bouquet of flowers as my birthday gift  (go figure) which Azhani really liked (me too!)

Amru+Siti's Gift

Fariz+Lisa gave a birthday card with a sweet message in it.

Fariz+Lisa's Gift
 

Then came the chocolate cheese birthday cake; which is  the way I like my cheese cake to be. Chocolatey. Nice.

Yummy Chocolate Cheese Cake

All in all it was a great get together and fun seeing the guys (outside the futsal court of course). Next event will be NATS Family Day at Janda Baik. Just can't wait.

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street !!!

 

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street!!! Yup. On 9th November, which also happens to be my birthday, marks four decades of Sesame Street entertaining and educating children all across the world. I was first introduced to this great instituiton when ibu was studying for her MBA in the USA. Those were the days when tv were safe and would be a reliable baby sitter.

I still remember Kimi and I spending the whole hour in front of the television, being entertained by a group of characters called "muppets" consisting of a big yellow bird (Big Bird), a green gouchy one that lives in a trash can (Oscar), a blue muppet monster that loves cookies ( Cookie Monster) and the list goes on.

I learned a lot from Sesame Street. How to count (Count Von Count), how to "follow the arrow" (the song sometimes play in my head whenever I exit shopping malls..hehe) and how to be kind and generous.

Here are some of my favourite muppets which were my teachers and friends:

Name: Big Bird

Description: 8-foot 2-inch yellow bird

Likes: Singing, roller skates and making people feel better

Dislikes: Making mistakes

Favourite Toy: Radar, his teddy bear

Name: Elmo

Description: Friendly, cheerful red monster

Likes: Playing, learning and looking at books.

Pet: Dorothy, pet goldfish.

Name: Cookie Monster

Description: Blue, shaggy and loves cookies.

Favourites: Loves to eat crunchy fruits, vegetables and of course cookies

Name: Ernie (left)

Description: Bert's best buddy

Likes: Baths with Rubber Ducky & annoy Bert.

Favourite Toy: Rubber Ducky

Name: Bert

Description: Ernie's long suffering sidekick.

Dislikes: Being the butt of Ernie's jokes.

But my favourite muppet is:

Name: Oscar the Grouch

Description: Green, scruffy and lives in a trash can.

Likes: Collecting junk, arguing and rainy days.

Favourite Expression: "SCRAM"

Oscar is cool and tells it how it is. That's why he is my favourite. What is yours?

Elizabeth Lambert: The Most Hated Female College Soccer Player

I came across this news on ESPN about this female college soccer player from the University of New Mexico (The Lobos). She got in a whole lot of trouble after this video was shown of her pulling BYU player's ponytail, elbowing her in the back and also kicking out against the opponent. As a result of this, the NCAA (the National Collegiate Athletic Association) have banned her indefinitely. You can read it here.
She is the most hated female college player and heck, she even has a few, yup a FEW Facebook sites put up for her. Starting for those "Elizabeth Lambert for President" to "Elizabeth Lambert is a Bitch".

I'll leave you guys to the video footage that brought her instant fame and also shame. I hope our NATS Futsal session does not become this violant.

Jangan Pandang Rendah Pada Brand BATA

Brand BATA sudah lama bertapak di Malaysia (atau dahulunya Tanah Malaya) & sudah sebati di hati masyarakat kita sebagai jenama kasut kaki yang di percayai. Masih lagi teringat semasa zaman kanak-kanak, parents bawak pergi beli kasut raya atau kasut sekolah atau selipar di kedai BATA. Seronok tak hingat time tu.Happy times.

Aku nak bercerita sebelum Hari Raya Eidulfiitri yang lalu, aku telah membeli sepasang sandal BATA yang amat selesa dan sesuai untuk di buat berjalan2 semasa menziarah.Harganya hanya RM29.90. Tadi semasa aku baru nak pergi on my "Mengidam Run" (wife aku yang pregnant lah..bukan aku yg mengidam..ishh) aku mencari sandal utk di pakai. Cari punya cari....TAKDE!!! Sah kena curik. Sebak Sedih muncul dan hampir titiskan air mata. Kasut ayah & isteri saya yang lebih mahal masih ada. Sandal aku juga yang di rembat? Pelik.

Kepada yang terambil atau "buat2" terambil sandal aku tu, pulangkanlah sandal aku tu. balik. Parents korang tak ajar ke tak baik mencuri barang orang? Aku janji tak buat apa2 kat korang. Cuma pulangkan balik selipar sandal aku tu. Aku janji.

Jika ada yang terjumpa, rupa sandal tu ada camnie.

Sementara itu, terpaksalah aku menggunakan selipar jepun dan menggunakan langkah-langkah lebih drastik utk pastikan benda ni tak berulang.

My 28th Birthday Gift

Rooney's old Nike T90 Laser are my new Nike T90 Laser. They were my 28th birthday present from my lovely and understanding wife (buy me more stuff and I'll attach more superlatives to you sayang ;P).

I chose them over Cesc Fabregas' CTR360 (which she really insisted me to have, eventhough they are more expensive) as the T90 Laser has a bigger sweet spot for precision and accuracy.

I am hoping these pair of bright yellow work of art to serve me well as excellent they served United's Wayne Rooney.

SMART ForFour for Sale

I am helping out a friend to sell his wife's SMART FORFOUR 1.5. The pictures are as above.
The details are as below:

Price: RM 55 555	Reg. year: 2005
Mileage: 45 000 - 49 999	Make: Mercedes Benz
Model: Others	Transmission: Both
Engine Capacity: 1500 cc
Accessories: Solar Film, CD Player, Airbag driver, Airbag passenger, ABS Brakes, Sport rims, Alarm, Central lock, Adjustable steering

Other Notable mentions:
Paddle Shift,
MP3 Player
Color: Blue Black
Accident free

Loan can be arranged.
Interested pls call : Bo 019-259 1379 or 010-505 0000

The best team won...and it was not Chelsea

Chelsea..........1 Man Utd........0

Injustice was done yesterday at Stamford Bridge when Manchester United bowed to a header from John Tery. It was again a refereeing blunder, a horrendous mistake from Mr Martin Atkinson, the ref of the match.

The foul awarded for the free kick that resulted to the Chelsea winner was wrongly awarded. Darren Fletcher clearly won the ball.... CLEANLY!!!. Fletch did NOT touch Ashley Cole.

The referee's (Mr Martin Atkinson) position for the free kick was also poor. He had a Chelsea player namely oe Cole in front of him and could not see Drogba pulling Wes Brown down when Wes could have cleared the ball before it reached Terry's head.

I personally was embarassed and couldnt contain myself with the poor showing in our loss to Liverpool at Anfield two weeks ago but in yesterday's defeat to Chelsea, United can take a whole lot of positives from this match. This attacking prowess of the United of old was done without Ferdinand, Vidic, Park ji Sung & Berbatov. Without Berbatov in the line-up, somehow the ball and chain had been taken off from each of United's player's ankles. It was not a conventional 4-4-2 but a rather an effective 4-2-3-1 with Rooney playing the lone striker. The order of the day from this United side was pace, speed, pace and did I mentioned more pace.
Throughout the pitch United were better. Antonio Valencia is now starting to justify his rather large price tag, attacked Ashley Cole with pace. Evra rang rings around Ivanovic and turned him inside out. Wes Brown & Johnny Evans reduced in-form Drogba to an old's lady blouse, big & ragged. Carrick, Giggsy, Anderson & Fergie's big game player Fletcher made Chelsea's diamond midfield almost non-existent.

All over the pitch the best players were wearing United's red.

However, in the end Chelsea are now 5 points in front of the reigning champions but with the display shown by the Red Devils in this unjustified defeat will surely rejuvenate the champions' season.

Glory Glory Man Utd!!!

My 28th Birthday with the NATS Family

Smooshy but tasty!
Thanks guys, NATS Family for the birthday song & celebration last night and special thank you to , Shahrul, Zul, Faizal & Wafi for the yummy (but not good looking) birthday cake.

Free Game Voucher from Frenzy Futsal

Thanks to Jini for getting me the FREE GAME voucher from Futsal Frenzy. Next week kita main 1 jam free..wooohhooo...

Long Live NATS!!!

Rocky roads ahead....

This tricky, dangerous, up, down and winding road started 3 months ago. It started off quite alright, things were moving slowly and I do really mean SLOWLY but lately the waters have been a little bit choppy. The horses are just running wild and wrecking havoc to whichever path it goes through.

Trying my best to hold my nerves in check but sometimes they get the best of me. The journey is still more than half way. I hope things would get better and I can learn to become a better man, person and husband out of it.

At the end of this journey insya'Allah I will be on another journey without any rest in between and also with a new title attached to me. This journey will bring me a new passanger that would totally be dependent on me for the whole of *his/her's* existence. I pray to Allah for all the patience, strength and wisdom for this journey and the next one that I know will be never ending.