Nostradamus springs to a massive comeback

(sic).. LOL...

Now that Schumacher is confirmed to race as Massa's replacement, here's a list of things to look forward to and a list of predictions (pinch of salt).

I look forward to -

1. Seeing Schumacher and Kimi face off. Kimi was at his best when fighting Schumacher. I hope this will motivate him.
2. Hearing Schumacher pit to car during the race. Ferrari never allowed this while he was actively racing. This time, it will great if we get to hear what he has to say.
3. Seeing Monza and SPA. Will not miss any of the remaining races, but these will be special.

There are plenty of comparisions cropping up between Lance Amstrong's comeback and Schumacher temp'ing for Massa. Here's my thoughts.

1. Amstrong spent a year in preparation for this year's tour. Schumacher has 3 weeks.
2. Amstrong was mentally prepared when he made the decision and he made it for himself. Schumacher's decision seems to be on the spur of the moment.

Predictions

1. Schumacher will outqualify Kimi in Valencia
2. Renault will lose their appeal to race in Valencia. The reason given by FIA - we have a 7 year WDC. Who cares if a 2 time spanish champ cannot race?
3. He will win atleast 1 race this year.....
4. So will Kimi..
5. If he wins more that 2 races, he will sign up full time for 2010.
6. Renault and Toyota will follow BMW out next season, and so we will have Ferrari, McLaren racing three cars....The 3 drivers for 2010 ferrari will be Schumacher, Alonso and Kimi.
7. Schumacher will lapped.... at Spa.... in pouring rain..... by Adrian Sutil
8. DC will replace Nelson Piquet at Renault.
9. Ferrari will finish 3rd or higher in the constructors this year.
10. 2 guys of Indian Origin will come to blows over Schumacher's gamesmanship at the Singapore GP..

An argument

Recollecting that discussion I had with my 22 month old darling.

Dew - Give me Minnie (soft fluffy doll and Dew's favorite toy)

Me - No, Minnie is mine. 

Dew rushes over, snatches Minnie away and gives it a huge hug.

Me - Ok, then Dew is mine.

Dew - No, Dew is Mom's. 

Me - Noooooo, Dew is Dad's. (In a whinging tone)

Dew - Noooooo, Dew is Mom's. .... Mom's baby is Dew.

Me - Then what is Dad's?

Dew - Toys are Dad's. (In an authoritative, school principal type tone)

Me - Which ones?

Dew - Only the Lego blocks. (In a strict, and almost dismissive tone)

Now, re-read the whole post in Kannada and you will have the exact conversation that I had with the precious one. 

LOL. That made my day. 

What a relief

The family is back after their trip to London. Man! The young one has learnt a lot of new words in 10 days. In the afternoon she and I went down to get some stuff from the car. She quickly climbed into the passenger side and said - "Lets go for a round".

So, I took her to the supermarket nearby and told her we will get some sugar as we were out. We picked it up and went back towards home. As I turned into the driveway, she said, "Lets go for a little longer round". I told her that the drive was over and its now time to head home. 

Once we got home, she ran to Eva and proudly said, "We have got some Sugar". 

She's growing up really fast.

Is it worth it?

Tweeting? Absolutely... Having spent the last few months mainly on twitter and spending very little time on my blog, here's what I have realized.

Twitter is good for

1. Searching for info. Ask a question and it might get answered by a person in the know quite quickly. Not the same as IRC but still worthwhile. 
2. Keeping upto date. This is the most useful thing. People post tons of links everyday and usually to a blog post. Today's news and "in" thing that is just made for twitter.
3. Tracking subjects of your interest. You can search for #hashtags and with some client even follow them. That way, you get the latest info on new blog posts, interesting tidbits etc.. I typically follow techie stuff like #ruby, #perl, #emacs, #eclipse and most importantly #f1.
4. Following what celebs do. Not all are interesting and even the interesting ones don't always share interesting things but there are always snippets of interest. For the Indian male, there is Gul Panang and Priyanka Chopra on twitter.

Twitter sucks at

1. Creating real content. Very useful at sharing a blog post url but pretty limited at creating real big info.
2. Talking about yourself. Its just boring to find out that someone just woke up.
3. Archiving info. You can find that blog post from 2 years ago (and possibly even cringe), but nothing beyond a few thousand tweets on twitter.

On the whole, get on twitter if you haven't. Yes, there is a point to it and No, its not going to replace blogs and real content.

A quick poll

Family members who have seen London

1. Wife - Yes
2. Daughter - Yes (at age 20 months)
3. Brother and his family - Yes (In fact, even lived there for a while)
4. Dad/Mom - Yes
5. Paternal Grandparents -Yes
6. Maternal Grandparents - Yes

Family members who have NOT seen London

1. Me - No

How weird is that? I must be the black sheep of the family. Shortsighted indeed.