Category: Sports

Categories
Sports

[140] Of Ajax frustrate Arsenal in Highbury stalemate

Reuters: Ajax frustrate Arsenal in Highbury stalemateAP: Ajax earns 1-1 Group B draw at Arsenal

UEFA.com: Ajax Hold Their Own

ESPN Soccernet.com: Ajax hold Gunners

Yahoo.com: Ajax hold Arsenal to Highbury draw

Ajax.nl: Ajax houdt bij Arsenal knap stand

Arsenal.com: Wiltord scores early but Ajax fight back and snatch a draw

Soccerage.com: Arsenal Held At Highbury By Vibrant Ajax

I need to say just one thing. Ajax could have beaten Arsenal. Just like how Ajax could have won against Valencia.

Now, Group B will be the most observed group. With Arsenal, Ajax and Valencia sharing the group’s throne with five points, every single game will be important to all group members minus Roma. Group B, the Group of Death.

Categories
Sports

[139] Of Ajax and hating Manchester United

Adam is thinking of going to Amsterdam and he is inviting me to join in the wagon.

I don’t know what made me say yes. My initial plan for the summer was going down Route 66, enjoying the scenic highway while following the Solar Car Race closely. A journey crossing the desert to the Pacific would be fun but seeing Amsterdam with my own eyes would be splendid indeed. I guess the real reason I sort of agreed with Adam is that I want to see Ajax’s home ground, the Amsterdam Arena. So, Solar Car or Ajax Amsterdam? Let’s just see what will happen in the next few weeks.

By the way, Ajax won against Groningen with two goals, scored by Andy Van De Meyde and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ajax really needs the three points since PSV is five points ahead of the crowd. Damn those farmers.

At the same time, Arsenal won against ehem, as Lada had written in his site, Manchester-F**king-United – two against zilch, nothing, zero. The Gunners sent the Devil back to hell. I guess we now can savor a world free of Devil. I guess now we can savor the knowledge that stinky Sir Alex Ferguson won’t be seeing the Devil’s hand on the FA Cup. I guess the Gunners has exorcised the FA Cup Tournament from Evil.

Although the Devil had been nailed to the ground, the action is yet to come. This week, Highbury will welcome AFC Ajax Amsterdam for a Champion League game. This is one of the games, one of the few which I am having trouble choosing side. I’ve been an Ajacied since 1995 and I am proud to say that Ajax is at least rebuilding its past glory. Arsenal on the other hand is my favorite in the English Premier League and has been pounding the Devils and the Reds. In fact, the Gunner got the Red Devil, two birds, and cuckoo! The Gunners is currently sitting the on the English throne. Arsene Wenger even said that Arsenal now is what Manchester United was back in the late 90s; The Master of the English.

I hope the result will bring good to both teams. I want Ajax to win so that both Arsenal and Ajax could qualify for the second round. Or better, hope that they will draw with each other while Roma beat the crap out of Valencia. Then, Valencia will be having a huge trouble.

Roma, Roma, they are a joke. The only thing that comes up to my mind is why are they in the Champion League? Tsk, tsk, tsk…

The reasons why I hate the team from Old Trafford:

10 – Old Trafford. Old Tarapot.
9 – Their fans know only David Beckham. And Victory is ugly.
8 – They are the Devil. Jihad against the Devil!!!
7 – Alex Ferguson. Seeing him is like seeing Bruce Arena during the 2002 World Cup.
6 – Barthez. You call him a goalie?
5 – They almost never train their own players. Stop stealing players.
4 – They are too rich. Down with the capitalist.
3 – Jaap Stam and Nistelrooy. Both from PSV Eindhoven.
2 – They cheated on Bayern Munich during the European Cup Final. I swear that they bribed the referee. I mean, cmon, the stoppage time was like a FULL extra time.
1 – They are Manchester-F**king-United. (I guess there is no use of censoring it.)

My favorite teams:
Holland – Ajax (Since 1995)
Belgium – Club Brugge (No reason)
England – Arsenal (They are kicking the Devil’s ass)
Scotland – Rangers (Hey, Celtic or Rangers, I have no choice)
Spain – Barcelona (virtually, Ajax of the West)
France – Auxerre (cool pronunciation)
Germany – Kaiserslautern (remember when they stormed the German’s crown when they first got promoted? That was awesome)
Malaysia – Anything BUT Selangor.

Categories
Environment Solar car Sports

[132] Of Ohio trip and solar cell testing

Guess what?
I’m going to Ohio this weekend for solar modules testing at ****** *****’s facilities. I am looking forward for the trip. There are going to be four of us – me, Mirai, Jeremy and Ivan. Anastasia might come too. Basically, we are going to test all the solar modules and make sure that they are working properly.

After more than six months being with the team, I am starting to really enjoy it.

Currently, I am responsible for the solar car solar module, one of the most important aspects of the car. I am glad to say that my knowledge in solar power as increase not merely in theory but also in practical sense.

The Solar Car Team means a lot to me and becoming more personal. Instead of just a project to win the ACS and WSC, I am constantly making new friends outside of my division. There are lots of friends over there that I do feel comfortable chatting with. (Of course, this does not include Mirai calling me in the middle of the night asking me to come to the work session. On that, I could only thank God for not having a hand phone. If I had a mobile phone, I will find myself doing Solar Car 24/7.) I do believe however the interest in Solar Car is making it difficult to me to run a student life. It seems that I am a real engineer instead of just a student.

Besides that, being in the Solar Car reaffirms my belief in green power. Knowing how a vehicle can run almost forever just with the power of the Sun is electrifying. Plus, without harmful emission.

Nevertheless, the thing that I appreciate most by being with the Team is the fact that I’m actually doing something for the Green movement instead of just talking.

Wait, the best thing is still the fact that I am going to Ohio for free.

Woohoo! I am going to Ohio this weekend. Go Solar Team!

p/s – By the way, the field hockey team is going to Michigan State in Lansing for a game against the Spartan. Boy, if only I had regularly attended the practice, I might had been included in the team. The last I played hockey with them was before the snow falls, some time in November. It was fun and trust me, although only the girls play this game, they are tough. I even had to struggle to keep possession of the ball when I played with them. To strengthen my point, there was even this Australian guy who had to sweat his heart out just to get pass through the girls.

Categories
Environment Politics & government Sports

[127] Of overrating, drilling and Alaska

Currently, two unexpected teams are running up high in Big Ten basketball Conference, attaining the first and the second rung at the Big Ten Conference respectively. Iowa and Michigan are proving that rating is nothing without performance. Currently, both are not rated. Even the highly rated Illinois is trying to find some firm ground to step on.

thought we suck but I guess the others suck more but frankly, I think Michigan is a pretender but we’ll see sooner or later whether I’m right or wrong. I don’t know about Iowa though but for Illinois, like what USC said to Notre Dame, ‘OVERRATED!’

Now, lets move on to a more serious matter.

The Republicans are trying to pursue permission from the Senate to drill Alaska all out.

Alaska is the last frontier state. Wilderness roams free here and there with minimum Human interference. The only city that I know exists in Alaska is Anchorage and the size is pathetically small relative to some other continental cities.

Being the last frontier means a backwater state without much development. Nevertheless, what makes Alaska in the spotlight is its oil and gas reserve. According to statistics, there is about 6 to 13 billion barrels worth of crude oil. Of course that figure looks big, especially for Bush. Unfortunately, comparatively, that figure is nothing and would only provide the US energy worth only for a very short term. For comparison, the UK has 15 billions barrel of crude oil. Imagine, 15 billion barrels for so small an area. Now, imagine, the possibility of 6 billion barrels worth of crude oil scattered all over Alaska – it’s simply defined-stupidity to dig up an area with the size of Alaska for such a small supply. Check this out if you don’t trust me on the figures.

For the Greens and to whole lots of other people minus Bush and his allies, it doesn’t make any sense to dig up the whole Alaskan soil just for an oil supply worth perhaps not even a decade. In addition, there are a lot more in Texas after years of digging. Why does Bush need to dig more?

One could that the world is currently facing oil supply shortage. The current situation in Venezuela and Iraq doesn’t help in engaging the problem. But again, the problems in Venezuela and Iraq are caused by the US itself.

In my opinion, just let the OPEC nations increase their production rate. There is no need to kill Alaska just for the sake of oil.

Bush, you suck, period.

p/s – below is one of the best posts I’ve ever read in a forum. It’s short but it makes sense. The post concerns the first Israeli in space.

Human idiots
by: claudiagiraffe (F/Orlando) 01/19/03 08:09 am
Msg: 2763 of 2776
7 recommendations

Why do these new astronauts insist on taking earthly problems into space? Space should be the new frontier, not just one more place to use for someone’s personal agenda.
That he’s an Israeli shouldn’t even be news. All that should matter is that he’s an astronaut.
At least he’s focused enough on his job that he forgot about his attention-getting little show for now. Too bad he didn’t get up there and realize what a fool he’s being and see that some things are bigger than what humans do on earth.

Categories
Sports

[109] Of Ajax 2 – 1 Roma

Hear ye, hear ye!

Ajax has beaten Roma with a convincing two to one score line. It may look closed but never judge a book by its cover.

Ajax dominated the game early on and asserted its dominance by an early goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the amazing Swede player. However, it could be argued that it was luck by nature but Litmanen’s goal was certainly a world-class goal. To prove how Ajax dominated the game, it is only necessary to mention that Roma sent shiver to Ajacied’s spine in only two occasions; the first thunder was in the first half, the 20th minute to be precise by the Brazilian Captain Cafu and the second one was a goal by Gabriel Bastituta in the final minutes.

Ajax was expected to fight an uphill task with six key Ajax’s players succumbed to injury and suspension. Five of them were Ajax’s impressive goalie, Didulica, defenders Chivu and Galasek, forward Van der Vaart and Sikora. However, Ajax, like in the previous game, refused to listen to the odd and came out of the game as a winner.

Following the win, Ajax now sits on top of Group B of the Champions’ League with Arsenal. Both teams have four points to their credit. Not far behind is Valencia with two points and last is Roma, with no point at all.

The next CL game is going to be in February 2003 against Arsenal. Well, May de magish van der meer always emerge victorious.

Fair use.

Jari Litmanen after scoring Ajax’s second against AS Roma. Photo taken from uefa.com