FIFA WorldCup 2014 - Prediction Time

Yes, its prediction time!!! The fact that I was 85% correct to Paul the Octopus 100%, during the FIFA 2010 Worldcup, has kept me most excited to put forward my FIFA WC 2014 predictions.

The Group stage of the FIFA Worldcup 2014 is done and dusted, and no team has been more impressive than the Dutch. With intent to win, they have outplayed their opponents and have been most talked about team entering the Group 16. Inflicting a 5-1 goal defeat on the reigning champions in the revenge match was just the start. The team with the dubious record of reaching most WorldCup finals without ever winning it, is all set to change that. Dutch coach, Van Gaal, the to-be manager of ManU, has been brilliant in marshaling his team in both attack and defense. Under him the Dutch have been playing as a team in Brazil, with some individual brilliances from Roben, the master dribbler, and Robin, the Dutch captain. Between the two, they have scored most goals among the Top-5 (3 goals each). 

Though I love to see Messi lift the Worldcup this time, my calculations say that Netherlands are going home with coveted Cup that they have dreamed forever now. Yes, Dutch it is on which I put all my money to lift the Brazil Edition of the WorldCup.

Below are my predictions for the Group of 16 -

Brazil vs Chile -- Brazil (1-0)
Colombia vs Uruguay -- Colombia (1-1)Win on penalties
Netherlands vs Mexico -- Netherlands (2-1)
CostaRica vs Greece -- CostaRica (1-0)
France vs Nigeria -- France (1-0)
Germany vs Algeria -- Germany (2-0)
Argentina vs Switzerland -- Argentina (2-1)
Belgium vs USA -- USA (2-1)

Quarter finals -
Brazil vs Colombia -- Brazil (2-0)
Netherlands vs CostaRica -- Netherlands (1-0)
France vs Germany -- France (3-2)
Argentina vs USA -- Argentina (1-0)

Semi-final 1 - Brazil vs France -- Netherlands (2-0)
Semi-final 2 - Netherlands vs Argentina -- Argentina (1-0)

Finals - Netherlands vs France -- Netherlands (2-1)

It's a Carnival - FIFA World Cup, Brazil 2014

32 Nations...

64 Matches...

More than a Million dreams...

One Cup.. A beautiful game.

FIFA 2014 Match Schedule

Wiki about FIFA 2014

Well, it doesn't come without its share of controversies...

New Apple iPads already smuggled into China!

Apple has yet to launch the new iPad in China, but at least 200,000 new iPad units have reportedly been brought into China from the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Read full article here.

Man who inspired Team India in 2011 WC

Mike Horn 
(Courtesy Wikipedia)

Article in Cricinfo.com

Champions of the World - India - Winners of 2011 Cricket World Cup

Courtesy: Crickpo

If you have a dream, don't waste your energies explaining why. - Paulo Coelho

Hotfix for Tibco AMX BPM

Finally, we are able to install the Tibco AMX BPM v1.0.1 on our Windows Server (still facing issues with the Linux installtion though). The issues faced since almost a month due to proxy, version mismatch, db access issues are now resolved. 

Given the fact that all of the Tibco BPM releases till date have had the repution of being quite messy and not-so-smooth installtion procedure, Tibco could have done a better job with AMX BPM (which is completely a home grown product, unlike Staffware or iProcess which were acquired and enhanced). 

Apart from resolving the above said issues, Tibco Support will also provide a Hotfix - for both AMX BPM  (v1.0.1) and Business Studio. Phew!! now that we are into the water.. we need to swim along.. The product is quite new and needs to be explored to a great extent. I know im staring at many nightouts :(

Still trying to work around-

1. Service Mediation

2. Dabs version for BS 3.4 (latest dabs version available is v1.2)

3. Deployment to new AMX Node

4. Launching and ruuning new applications

.....

Wish me luck! Shall keep you guys posted.... :)

3 X 7 things about myself...

Here I am.. writing about myself. Long back i had written my 7 X 7 and felt like doing it again :D.. and also it is a great way to know about the new freinds i made on bloggers :) .. and the result is this blog. Just tweaked the regular 7 X 7 things about myself to 3 X 7 things about myself.. to keep it short and enjoyable.

I have tagged some of my friends in this blog (scroll down to see if you are in that list), if you are not on the list and wud love to write about urself.. pls go ahead and get tagged... dont forget to publish you blog to me and ur freinds though... wud love to read it! :)

3 places i would pack my travel bag for

1. Swiss alps, my dream destination

2. Eiffel Tower, Paris

3. Gods own country - Kerala (missed visiting twice)

3 On-Screen charectors i love to watch

1. Joker (Heath Ledger) in Dark Knight

2. Amir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai

3. Big B in Namak Halal (cant forget the Pag Ghunguroo song)

 .. and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in Friends :)) 

3 moods that describes me the best

1. Lazy (during office days)

2. Anxious, thoughtful (when idle)

3. Overjoy, Excited.. (during weekends) 

3 things i always think of doing on a weekend... but never did.. :)

1. Clean my room (so much lying around not sure wher n wen to start)

2. Go for haircut (its been ages!!!)

3. Continue reading Jeffrey Archer (i dont rem wher i stopped anymr) 

3 things from my childhood that i cant forget

1. Play play and play.. :)

2. Last day at my school (HJKP)

3. Visit to my aunts place (in mysore) for every summer vacation.

3 things i wud never say no to

1. Bowling (quite a craze... hv bowled in Blore, Mysore, Pune, Hyd, Toronto, Melbourne...)

2. Long drive in my car... anywher, anytime...

3. Sweet corn (pepper masala or chat masala flvor) 

3 things i cant live without

1. Laptop, internet etc.. anything that hooks me online..

2. Playing wid Chinni (the one n only .. cute, little ravishing darling of mine.. my niece.. Mrudula)

3. Music, movies and masti.. 3M!

Yes, you have been Tagged!!! :))

Tagging my blogger friends Arindam, Sabrina, Jazmine, Vijay, Mehreen, Alankrita, Renella, Vijaya, Jyotsna, Ravali, Pragyan and Mayaa to continue this chain. Looking forward to see you all write 3 X 7 things on ur blogs... Come on folks, would love to know more about you!!

Happy Friendship day!!! :)

Just some rulezz to follow...

- Tag as many u want!! (well.. thts not a rule...)

- Link their pages in your tag post

- Post a message / leave a comment screaming that they r tagged

- Mention the person who tagged you in your tag post, and link their blog.

- Write 3 X 7 things about yourself :)

How to type the new rupee symbol on your keyboard?

Dont wait for the Unicode to approve the Indian Rupee symbol, and include it into the Unicode list of charecters. Start using it right away on your keyboard. Here is how..

1. Download the font style "Rupee_Fordian.ttf" from Fordian Blog.
2. Go to Control panel > Fonts (folder).
3. Right click inside the folder to select "Install Font" option
4. Select Rupee Fordian from the location where you downloaded, Click Install.
5. Once complete, Click on Start > Run, then type "Notepad", and click enter.
6. In notepad, change the font to "Rupee Fordian"
7. Type ` key (the one above Tab).. and there you go :)

Isnt it amazing.. feels so very proud!!!  :))

Paulo Coelho on Twitter - "Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you"