Cricket, Pets, Tickets and Landlords

Apologies for an extended break from the blog! (does it matter though? The most qualified wean-hall-floor-mopper ever, good friend Samir, thinks it does :-)). As usual, the realities of a harsh semester catch up with you pretty soon.

Although my awesome OS project with two hardcore computer-systems guys (Ravi and Ali) has unfortunately captured my rather limited imagination, I have been able to devote some time to other less challenging activities in life.

Like following your national cricket team. The Indian cricket team rolled over the Aussies in the 2nd Test match in such a fashion that it was breathtaking. It had been a long time coming but the Aussies finally got what they had been dishing out to other cricket teams for almost a decade now. And it was pure pleasure! :D. The cricketing world is small (at least in the number of countries that play it). Sadly, even in the country that invented and spread it over all its dominions, England, the game is firmly behind football. Also, staying in Yankee-land it is easy to forget that a more elegant and cerebral bat-&-ball sport exists :). So strangely, Australia with their bouncer sized cricketers always gave me the satisfaction that yes, the game I love so much is indeed not anachronistic and irrelevant. The Aussies like cricket and love it too. Just like me. At the same time I disliked them for their almost total and sometime arrogant dominance in world cricket. That and the fact that Sir Don Bradman was an Aussie :). Lets hope that final 2 Test matches are more competitive!

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Precisely when I was missing my best friend - my pet dog, I came across this:

"A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than he loves himself." ~ Josh Billings

I always wonder that although they are supposed to be the dumb ones unable to tell us how they feel, why is it I who is frequently at a loss of words with them?

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I recently booked air tickets for visiting home this December. As I had a lot of constraints, I first thought of approaching a travel agent. That didn't work as the quotes I was getting were way too high. So, I finally decided to get myself in the mess that is online ticket reservations. I generally go to Orbitz as it is the best of the worst. It took me a frustrating 6 hours to get a reasonably priced ticket on that site. The most irritating part is that these websites on the first search advertise impossibly low fares and just as you decide to take it, they throw an innocuous error - 'Due to traveler demand, this flight is not available.' or 'The flight fare has been increased just now' - Yeah I believe you. Already tired, I found myself ready to accept any fare just to end the agony. The really intriguing part is that these misleading fares are still being shown! If this is not a blatant bait-and-switch strategy, what is! Other sites like Kayak etc. are worse. I do think these guys have to solve this thing (if they think this is a problem that is).

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Another rant. This is against my amazing landlord. Just to give a taste of what my roommate and I have gone through:

• The apartment was not ready even 10 days into the lease, Reason: the landlord was too greedy to let the last tenant's lease end exactly when ours started. In fact, the apartment is still not ready - with things here and there left to be done.
  
• Within a week of entering the place, our apartment was burgled. Not sure what was taken fortunately, but the suitcase locks were broken. I still suspect the workers who had the keys. But our landlord decides to install a new lock and graciously gives a copy of them to these workers. Ohh by the way, these workers are now being searched for by the police for some theft.
  
• We didn't have hot water in the apartment for a good two weeks after that. Reason: the plumbing was faulty and the gas was leaking when it started.
  
• Next, our refrigerator started leaking like a water tap. Reason: it was an old one which should not have been there in the first place. Anyway, he took the ice out and we are patiently waiting for the next leak now.
  
• Next when the cold started, we found out that the heating was not working. Dutifully the landlord mouthed numerous "I'll do it" quotes. But it has not been fixed even now - a month on. Thankfully, after pestering him no end, we managed to get a couple of room heaters which at least make our rooms livable.
  

In spite of all this, the landlord is seemingly insensitive to our problems. And to add insult to injury, he calls us his 'buddies'. So, is it OK if one friend sues the other? :)

Update: The heating in our apartment has started. But as a result, the heating in the landlord's own place (which is just 2 floors below ours) stopped! He is busy dealing with that at present - I hope he doesn't screw up our heating now.