The bother with cracked windscreen

My car’s windscreen was hit by a projectile, perhaps a stone, as I was driving along a highway not too long ago. I was not following too near to the car in front of me, but we were travelling in excess of 120km per hour. At the same time, there were some grass cutting activities on the roadside. All of a sudden, I heard that ‘click’ sound that seemed to come from the windscreen and I noticed a spot appeared towards the bottom right-hand corner of the windscreen. As soon as I arrived at my destination, I checked the windscreen and sure enough, there was a chipped spot of the windscreen.

Then yesterday, I sent the car for a carwash. Perhaps they must have rubbed too hard on the screen, or perhaps the cold-hot condition made it worse, I noticed a line of crack had propagated from the chipped spot. Somehow, as I was driving, the line got longer and I could actually heard some sound, which I was sure, came as the crack developed longer. Made a quick phone call to the car’s agent and managed to arrange for a replacement.

I got my windscreen covered under the car insurance. I am planning to get the whole charges (cost of the windscreen and the labour cost) reimbursed by the insurance company. However, that would mean I would lose my No Claim Bonus (NCB) when I want to re-new my car insurance. I would not want to pay almost BND1000 for the windscreen, even if I wanted to save my NCB and save probably BND300 for my next insurance coverage.

The bother with eczema…..

I am currently having another bout of eczema, which flared up after being put under control in the past month.

I first started having problems with eczema about two and a half months ago. I never had any problems with eczema ever before, so it came as a surprise when the skin doctor told me that I had eczema. Apparently, it could happen to just about anyone, even if you never had it before. It could be hereditary too; if someone in your family had it before, there was a good chance you might have it. Eczema could be also be triggered by the things that you eat or the place in which you work or live. Anyway, I was given some anti-histamine tablet and some steroid cream to contain the eczema outbreak. After a few visits, it did not seem to go away, but rather it looked the doctor was trying to control the outbreak from spreading further.

I do not know if this is related; last Friday I joined the company’s fun run outing at Bukit Shahbandar and I, and most other people, was bitten a lot by sandflies. As a result, my legs were covered by sandfly bites and they got itchy over the weekend. Then on Sunday, it got slightly worse. I met up with a friend who had a similar problem but got it under control after visiting a private clinic. She encouraged me to visit the clinic, which was exactly what I did this morning. I got some steroid pills, which provides higher dosage than the steroid cream. I also got this apparently ‘secret’ cream concocted by the physician at the clinic.

Now, I am trying to see if this treatment regime works. At the same time, I am switching my shower gel to something more potent, which cost me an arm and a leg. And it looks like that I will be covered with lotions as I was told that my skin is extra dry and I need to keep it constantly moisturised!

Question....

The World of Feng Shui shop at the Mata-Mata area has apparently shut its doors.

I wonder if it was because the feng shui was not right?

Confession Part 2.....

I am going to make a shopaholic's confession ....

I once bought a pair of Georgio Armani jeans which cost me GBP100, which I ended up wearing once or twice .... And I don't even know where it is now......

So what's your shopaholic's confession?

Confessions...

Went to watch the movie adaptation of Confessions of a Shopaholic, a book of similar title by Sophie Kinsella. It is a real chick flick, so if you wanna go and watch it, make sure you have some female companions to keep your masculinity in check! But it was a good, nice piece of movie, something to end a tiring week with. 

Check out the movie here. I'd give it 3, out of 5, stars.

New Kits.....

These pictures are leaked pictures of the supposedly new kits for Manchester United next season. The sponsorship of AIG is ending soon too, so the AIG logo is not there and apparently, the designer was toying with different 'reported' potential sponsors.

The one below is apparently the design for the new home kit, a throwback of the retro design of the Manchester United older kits. As extracted from here, it says .... "As is usually the case, Manchester Utd have had a raft of supposed designs leaked, with various sponsors splashed over the front. They all seem to agree there’ll be a V-shaped design somewhere on the shirt, though. Our favourite is the minimalist retro home shirt with collar, a mash-up of FA Cup Final strips worn from 1909 through to the early ‘70s."

However, little could be said for the supposed new design of the away kit. As extracted from here, it says ... "In stark contrast to the simple home design is this thing, which appears to be a mash-up between United’s 1992/3 shirt and 16th century peasant chic".
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The website also offered these ratings, "Our rating: A for the retro one, B for the modern twist, and D for the horrible ‘80s New Romantic throwback".

I am not too sure if I like any of these new designs. Too retro, too old, and too bland. They don't seem to represent the current, and perhaps future, of Manchester United; a future of greater greatness, dominance and power!

Apparently, Liverpool and Arsenal are also changing their away kits next season.

And this is the supposedly new design of Chelsea's home kit.

Zoom! and its modem

I subscribed to B-Mobile's Zoom! mobile broadband service when it was first launched last year. At that time, subscribers would get the 3.5G modem, capable of downloading up to 3.6Mbps. DST then launched its Go! mobile broadband service, using modems that could download at a speed of up to 7.2Mbps and this started a mobile broadband war between these two telcos. After that, B-Mobile started to give away modem that was capable of downloading up to 7.2Mbps to new subscribers. In the many roadshows after that, I made inquiries about this 7.2Mbps-capable modems and was told that they would be exchanged for the 3.6Mbps modems. I was quite pleased with that and hoped that it would be done sooner rather than later.

A year on, nothing happened. Last Saturday, I went to B-Mobile's Big Bang Carnival and asked about the 7.2Mbps modem. I was not too pleased when I was told that there was never a plan to exchange the 3.6Mbps ones to 7.2Mbps ones. The 7.2Mbps modems would only be offered to new subscribers. I argued that I was told the opposite during the roadshows but it seemed that it was not ever going to happen. If I were to get the 7.2Mbps, I would have to fork out B$300 for the modem. I was disappointed as I would have thought B-Mobile would not treat their customers differently. And to think that we were among the first ones to subscribe to it meant nothing to them. In fact, being the earlier subscribers meant you lot out on many things. You are stuck with the 'slower' modem. And you didn't have any choice with the bundled laptop. We got the Dell Vostro laptops and the late subscribers were able to choose from a number of other laptops, including Macbook.

And, my 3.5G modem now does not work, as the USB connection came loose. I've passed the one-year warranty period and if I were to get a new one, I'd have to spend B$300! At the moment, I am using my niece's Jet phone from B-mobile.

Does any one of you live along Jalan Jerudong and subscribe to B-Mobile's Zoom! or DST's Go! service? If you do, please let me know your experience with either. A friend of mine who lives along Jalan Jerudong is planning to subscribe to a mobile broadband service and wanted to know how these two fare in the area.

Did you know that.....

.... daylight Savings Time began as a joke by Benjamin Franklin, who proposed waking people earlier on bright summer mornings so they might work more during the day and thus save candles. It was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1917 — and then spread around the world.

.... Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola’s chief executive, refuses to travel or sign documents on any Friday the 13th. He avoids hotel rooms located on the 13th floor. Recent Coke press releases avoid the dreaded number, saying “along with Coca-Cola, the company’s portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands.”

.... Britons were concerned when U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the return of a bust of Winston Churchill borrowed by President Bush and displayed in the Oval Office. President Obama also devoted 35 pages of his memoir, Dreams from My Father, to his grandfather's claims of torture during British colonial rule in Kenya.

.... chicken feet cost two cents in the United States, but 55 cents in China. Tyson, the food company, makes a good profit shipping feet from the United States to China. In the process, it also subsidizes Americans and their penchant for chicken breast.

.... the word “bankrupt” originally comes from Italy, deriving from banca rotta, or broken bench. When a medieval moneylender could not pay his debts, his bench was broken in two, sometimes over his head.

Halal or Haram?

During one of the sessions in the current sitting of the Legislative Council (LegCo), a question was asked on the halal-haram issue of meat being sold in the shops and markets. In his reply, the Minister of Religious Affairs said that the import of raw and unprocessed meat (beef, chicken or lamb) are closely controlled, but processed meat (canned or in other packages) are not currently actively monitored and being processed. He even advised Muslims to exercise caution when buying meat products as their 'halalness' could not be verified. He even mentioned that many shopkeepers, especially non-Muslims (no offence intended), do not really understand the whole halal-haram issue.

I understand what the Honourable Minister meant. Just go to any shop and take note of the items being listed under the 'Not for consumption of Muslims'. Then go to another shop and check where the items that you have seen in the first shop are now located. In probably 7 out of 10 shops, these items are not segregated under the 'Not for consumption of Muslims'. And it does not matter who owns the shops, be it a Muslim owner or not, you are bound to observe this point. At one point I remember that the control over the so-called dubious meat products were strict and they were separated. However, it seems that now there is no control at all. It is even worrying when this happens in a Muslim-owned shop. It is ok to make profits, but please look after the interest of your Muslim shoppers too. And to the shoppers, please be more careful as whatever you eat will 'become a part of you'.

The BPL Run-in

With Liverpool’s win over Aston Villa last night, Manchester United’s lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League is now cut down to one point, albeit having played one game less. The high-scoring last two games for Liverpool has practically wiped off the goal differences gap between the two teams. Now, the race to the finish line is going to be much tougher than expected and more slip-ups from the Champions could hand the Championship to Liverpool.

The remaining games for the top three side are:

Manchester United	Liverpool	Chelsea
Aston Villa	Fulham	Newcastle United
Sunderland	Blackburn Rovers	Bolton Wanderers
Portsmouth	Arsenal	West Ham
Tottenham Hotspurs	Hull City	Fulham
Middlesbrough	Newcastle United	Arsenal
Manchester City	West Ham	Blackburn Rovers
Wigan Athletics	West Bromwich	Sunderland
Arsenal	Tottenham Hotspurs	Everton
Hull City

Italics denote away games.

Another unnecessary loss

After enduring a week of gloating from Liverpool fans, it is another disappointing and miserable week for us, the followers of the Red Devils, as Manchester United lost to Fulham at Craven Cottage. Fulham scored two goals, one from a penalty as veteran Paul Scholes deliberately used his hands to block a shot and then sent off and the other from Zoltan Gera as the time was running out. To make things even worse, Rooney got himself sent off after getting two unnecessary yellow cards. Paul Scholes had a straight red card and may be suspended for a minimum of 2 games, while Rooney may be suspended for one game. Again, I felt Sir Alex Ferguson had a tactical mistake as his midfield was not effective and the attack was almost toothless as Berba was initially the only striker.

Luckily, Chelsea lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspurs, which denied the Blues the chance to cut Manchester United's lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League. However, Liverpool may do that if they win later against Aston Villa, though Aston Villa is also seeking a strong finish this season.

It looked as though Manchester United did press the self-destruct button last week. SAF really has to make sure that the confidence back to the squad or else they would surrender the Premier League trophy to Liverpool.

A whole bunch of us......

I like this picture. It was taken a few evenings ago when we went out to celebrate a brother-in-law's birthday. I didn't bring a tripod with me so I had to improvise and put the camera on a table. Set it on a timer and got this picture.

Yeah Darren, thanks for the dinner! And happy belated birthday.

The Path to Rome...

The draw for the Quarter Finals of the Champions League took place today. In the draw, Manchester United was drawn against Porto (of Portugal). The last time these two met, a Jose Murinho led the Porto team to victory over Manchester United and eventually won the European Cup. Manchester United fans would take comfort in knowing that Manchester United beat Inter Milan in the last round and who else would it be at the helm of the Italian team if it wasn't Jose Murinho? The first leg will be played at Old Trafford.

The other quarterfinals would pit Liverpool against Chelsea for the fifth year running, Arsenal against Villareal and Bayern Munich against Barcelona. The most-watering game would be the Bayern Munich-Barcelona match.

The semi-final draw was also made. The winner of Manchester United-Porto game will meet the winner of Arsenal-Villareal game, and the winner of Liverpool-Chelsea game will meet the winner of the Bayern Munich-Barcelona game.

The quarter-final games will take place on 7/8 April (first leg) and 14/15 April (second leg); the semi-finals games will be played on 28/29 April (first leg) and 5/6 May (second leg). The final will take place at the Roma Stadium in Rome, Italy on 27 May 2009.

And oh, Manchester United will play Fulham this evening in the Barclays Premier League. Let see how they respond to that embarrassing loss last week....

Ori vs Covered

Lately, a cover version of Careless Whispers by the rock band Seether has taken over the airwaves here in Brunei. Its popularity seems to have grown and almost every dj in almost every radio station plays this song in his/her show.

I am not a big fan of covered songs. I always prefer the songs as sung by the original singers. Careless Whispers by George Michael (now by Seether), Mamma Mia by Abba (once covered by BNB), Dancing Queen by Abba (once covered by Kylie Minogue), How Deep is Your Love by Bee Gees (once covered by Take That) and the list goes on. Even though the singers of the covered version put some twists in the arrangement, melody or the way they sing the songs, the original versions are always the best.

So here's the wonderful original version of Careless Whispers by George Michael....

Being burgled

I just heard a news that a friend's house had been broken into. To make things worse, the burglary occurred while she was at home. She lost her Macbook, some cash and probably one of her car keys.

It is also very upsetting to go through this. I had my own experience too. When I was in UK doing A-levels, I was staying in a hostel, right in the city centre. The hostel belonged to the school which I was attending and it was attached to a hotel next door. There was some security, where you would have to use a card to go through the main door or buzz in to the hotel reception. Anyway, a day not long after I got back from Brunei, I got home after school only to discover that the contents of my luggage were all over the floor. It took a while to discover that my room had been broken into as I discovered later that my mobile phone, a radio/cd player set and some smaller items were missing. I was really upset and stayed away from my room for a few weeks, only to return to sleep in the evenings. I made a report to the police, but obviously nothing was discovered and I heard nothing about it after that.

My family also had a similar experience. It was somehow bizarre; the whole family was at home and even some of the items take were placed by the side of some people or placed on the bedside table. The burglars managed through a window which they forced open. We also found that the burglars had also eaten in the kitchen and a pair of slippers were found near the front door. We were told that these were the signs that the burglars probably used some 'witchcraft' to make us unaware of the burglary (in Malay, it would be called 'pukau'). Again, the police was called in and nothing was heard after that.

I found this website, where you might find some tips to prevent the occurrence of burglary at home.

It is better to be safe than sorry.

To this friend of mine, I am sorry to hear about your house. And it is very upsetting to know that your privacy and your abode have been invaded. I do hope that your lost items are recovered.

Relax!

Just something to relax about...... Some of my colleagues and I have been feeling a bit too stressed out lately, so relax and take it easy!

We will bounce back!

There is no denying that it was a bad loss. It was an embarrassing loss. It was a confidence-shattering loss. But coming on from a great win over one of the best teams in Europe in the mid-week in the Champions League, Liverpool was full on confidence and felt that they could take on anyone. 

Taking on anyone they did. And it could not be any better opposition. Liverpool inflicted Manchester United's worst loss this season, by scoring four past the usually unflappable and consistent Manchester United's defence. Manchester United drew the first blood when Ronaldo converted a penalty after Tevez was brought down by the Liverpool keeper. But what happened after that was somthing you might not expect at the Theatre of Dreams. Manchester United conceeded four great goals; one from Torres, a penalty from Gerrard, a well-taken freekick from Auelio which Ronaldo would be proud of and a great chip from Dossena which reduced van der Sar to a spectator's role. And Manchester United's day could not get any worse as the usually dependable and almost-perfect Vidic was deservedly red-carded as he brought down Gerrard who was almost through to score. And I think Sir Alex Ferguson might have got it all tactically wrong; he should have substituted the trio earlier. It would take some times for them to warm up and by the time they did, the time was up. Liverpool was the better team and they were hitting the right notes and deservedly won the game last night.

Yes, the win revives Liverpool's title bid. It will bring back the confidence back to the Kop. But, I do not think Manchester United has pressed the self-destruct button here. Of course, people's mind will cast back to the 97-98 season when Manchester United squandered its lead at the top of the season, but this season's team is much better than that season's team. Manchester United will bounce back and Fulham, the host of Manchester United's next Barclays Premier League game next weekend, should be quite scared (I hope!). It would be interesting to see how Liverpool would follow up from this game; their next game will be against Aston Villa, which are looking for a strong finish this season and a spot in the Champions League. And in this evening's game, Chelsea will take on Manchester City and if they win, they will leapfrog over Liverpool.

At least, Manchester United is still four points ahead and has one game in hand. If this game is won, the seven-point lead will be restored. With the season only has nine games remaining, it remains anyone's season, but the lead will bring the confidence to Old Trafford and it is now a matter of winning all remaining games now. Manchester United's remaining away games are against Fulham, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Hull City and Wigan Athletics, and home games are against Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspurs, Manchester City and Arsenal.

Yes, go on and celebrate as if you won the World Cup. Yes, go on and rub it in. And yes, go on milk it. Gerrard apparently issued a warcry, asking the other teams to beat Manchester United so that Liverpool can win the title this season but hey, do it yourself! And when the season ends, let see if people still remember this game......

As seen on…..

…… Page 6 of today’s Borneo Bulletin……

BLNG's lab named Best Performer

Brunei LNG's Laboratory Services was named Best Performer in the Shell Gas Correlation Scheme for the fourth consecutive year, according to a press release.

The Laboratory Services remains the only laboratory to have won the coveted award consecutively since the scheme's inception in 2003.

These achievements are a testament of the consistently high-quality and excellent services provided by the Laboratory Services.

Over 15 laboratories worldwide take part in the scheme annually, including all Shell-advised LNG plant laboratories and gas plants.

Shell Global Solutions first commissioned the Shell Gas Correlation Scheme in January 2003, with cooperation from Scott Specialty Gases NL and Netherlands Meetinstituut (Measurement Institute of Netherlands).

Scott Specialty Gases NL is responsible for the preparation of gas mixtures and organises the transport of gas cylinders to the participants, while Netherlands Meetinstituut carries out homogeneity testing and establishes reference values as well as data treatment and reporting.

The main objective of the scheme is to evaluate the performance of participating laboratories in measuring the compositions of different mixtures of gas.

Brunei LNG's Laboratory Services has been accredited to the ISO/IEC-17025:2005 from the Singapore Accreditation Council's Singapore Laboratory Accreditation Scheme since 2002 in the fields of chemical, biological and environmental testing.

It also participates and performs well in other correlation and proficiency programmes for oil, refinery products and water samples.

Besides providing laboratory services internally, Brunei LNG's Laboratory Services also provides analysis and certification of finished fuel products, such as Jet A-1, motor gasoline and diesel from Brunei Refinery, as well as sample analysis from third-party customers such as Block B Joint Venture.

As part of the Brunei LNG plant rejuvenation project, a new laboratory will be constructed that will meet the latest HSE standard and improve working environment.

… I am really proud that the team keeps and sustains the achievement. Getting named as the best performer once is a good achievement, but winning it for four times in a row is really something.

Read it from here and here, but the Malay version may take some times to digest!

Help Wanted

Does anyone know how to fix a broken hard disk? I dropped my external hard disk a few days and it doesn't seem to be working anymore. The light on the hard disk enclosure is blinking yellow and red all the time and I know it is not a good sign. There are many downloaded TV programs stored in the hard disk, but I am more worried about losing this folder containing 200+ pictures when my family and I was holidaying last year. I could find the TV programs again, but the pictures are almost irreplaceable. I've been meaning to move them to my hard disk at home, but I kept on putting it off. I should teach me a lesson not to put off things when I could do it right away.

If you know how to retrieve contents of a broken hard disk, please let me know.

Into the Quarters....

What a relief! I have to admit that I was not too confident of Manchester United's chance of going past Inter Milan in the knock-out stage of the Champions League, especially failing to score any goals at San Siro two weeks ago. With a lot chances gone unconverted, I thought that Manchester United might have to settle with the domestic trophies this season.

Alas, Manchester United beat Inter 2-0 at home last evening with headed goals from Vidic and Ronaldo in the early minutes of each half. Even when Manchester United leading 1-0 at half-time, there was this lingering feeling that they might concede a goal and lost to the away goals rule. As described by Sir Alex Ferguson, there were times when Manchester United looked as if they were playing suicide football. With stray passes and flicks, possessions were lost quite easily. A single mistake could have cost dearly, but thanks to the Footballer of the Year, the match was almost settled early in the second half.

The English Barclays Premier League remains a league to be reckoned with and the league with the most teams in the Quarter Finals. The quartet of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea joined Barcelona, Villareal, Porto and Bayern Munich in the last eight. The draw for the Quarter-finals will take place on 20 March and I hope none of the English teams meet each other.

The biggest game in this weekend's round of Barclays Premier League matches is the Manchester United against Liverpool match at Old Trafford on Saturday, 14 March. It would be interesting to see how these teams react to reaching the Quarter-finals of the Champions League.

To watch(men) or not to watch(men)....

When I first heard of Watchmen (the movie, not the comic), I was looking forward to go and watch it. When it finally got released here last weekend, I actually wanted to watch it, but none of my friends wanted to watch it. The reviews and critics have been quite mixed and none of them actually managed to convince my friends to go and watch it. Many friends said on Facebook that they were quite disappointed with the movie.

From what I gathered from two of my colleagues at work, they said the movie was good. It would help a bit if you watched the motion comic or read the actual comic, but you would not miss much either if you did not. Apparently, the first half hour might bore you as it had a lot of dialogue. But overall, they would encourage you to watch it.

So, in case you need to be convinced to watch it, here's the theaterical trailer of Watchmen.

Manchester United vs Everton

Manchester United has been drawn to be paired up against Everton in the FA Cup Semi-final at the Wembley Stadium. The match is scheduled to be played either on 17 or 18 April. The other semi-final match will be Chelsea against Arsenal or Hull City. The Final will be surely be contested by two Barclays Premiership teams.

The last time Manchester United and Everton met in the FA Cup Semi-final was in the Final in 1995, where Manchester United lost 1-0. Since then, Manchester United has won the FA Cup three times, i.e. in 1996, 1999 and 2004.

Locally, Brunei DPMM FC won its third game in the S-League. They beat Woodlands Wellingotns 2-1; the winning goal was scored from the penalty spot. Brunei DPM FC even missed one penalty kick earlier in the game. Now, Brunei DPMM FC has won two matches and drawn one. They now lie on the third place, with seven points. Brunei DPMM FC's next game will be against geylang United on Thursday.

Maulidur Rasul....

Selamat Menyambut Maulud Nabi Muhammad SAW

And hope you're enjoying the long weekend...

To the Wembley.... (well just one game away!)

Manchester United is just one game away from appearing at the marvellous Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup final. Manchester United beat Fulham 4-0 in the Quarter-final match at Craven Cottage. Two goals from Carlos Tevez and one each from Rooney and Park Ji Sung. Manchester United opponents in  the semi-final will be decided later.

Manchester United will playing two crucial games next, the first will come on Tuesday against Inter Milan in the Champions League. Having drawn the game away in San Siro, it is a must-win game for Manchester United. Next weekend's Barclays Premier League game will be against third-placed Liverpool. If Manchester United wins this game, the title is almost in their hand and Liverpool's challenge is almost ended. 

Happy Birthday!

Here's wishing a Happy Belated Birthday to one of my colleagues and a good friend at work. She is a big fan of Twilight and many things Korean.

Happy Birthday Arlinnn.......!

Mid-week Football Round-up

So Manchester United won its game against Newcastle United last night and restored the lead over second-placed Chelsea to sevn points, with a game in hand. Sweet!

Manchester United conceded an early goal, ending van der Sar's record of 1,311 minutes of league football without conceding a goal. This is such an incredible record, considering the quality of the English Premier League and the age of the Dutchman. Rooney scored an equaliser on the 20th minute and Berbatov scored the winning goal later in the second half.

Now, the Barclays Premier League stands as follows:

Manchester United's next league game will be against Liverpool at Old Trafford on 14 March. This may be one of the biggest game of the season, with Manchester United trying to avenge their defeat at Anfield early this season. Manchester United's next match is a FA Cup Quarter Final game against Fulham at the Craven Cottage on Saturday, 7 March.

Also, DPMM Brunei FC won its second game in the Singapore's S-League with a 2-1 win over Super Red of Korea, who came in second in last season's campaign. Not a bad start for a newcomer to the S-League!

Bulgemeister: Available and ready to talk :)

I do not understand how some people would sign in into their favourite messenger service, making themselves visible and available, and then leave a message, asking people not to disturb them and they are to be left alone.

If you do not want to talk as you are busy doing some work or you just don't feel like talking to anyone, please sign off. Or use the functionality of the messenger service, such as away, busy or appear offline. Just be nice or you will end up offending your friends....

Manchester United's Weekend

It's Monday and what else can I blog about other than football!?

Anyway, it's a good weekend to be a Manchester United fan.

Firstly, Manchester United won its second silverware of the season after winning the Carling Cup Finals against Tottenham Hotspurs. In an otherwise sleep-inducing match, Manchester United stuck with the reserves to play an almost full-strength Spurs team. It was quite difficult to see where a goal could come in and it proved to be the point as the game had to be decided on penalty kicks which Manchester United won comfortably. Ben Foster was voted the Man of the Match, which he deserved after making a string of good saves in the two hours of normal play and making a penalty save late on.

Secondly, the only team which was believed to have enough credentials to challenge Manchester United to the summit of the Barclays Premier League failed to take advantage of reducing the gap between them and Manchester United. Liverpool lost their game to Middlesbrough. It was made worse as Chelsea won their game and leapfrogged Liverpool into the second place. The gap between Manchester United and the nearest title rivals remain seven point, with Manchester United having played one game less. Many football pundits believe that the title is now Manchester United to lose, as the title challenges from Chelsea and Liverpool are seen to be over.

Now two pieces of silverware done, three more to go!

Manchester United's next Barclays Premier League game will be an away game at Newcastle United on Wednesday, 4 March.

Just another rant!

As I haven't been feeling too well for the past few days, I decided to pay a visit to the KB Hospital. Since it was Friday evening, everyone was supposed to go to the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.

When I arrived just before 8.00pm, there were already many people waiting. It felt as if it was actually a day clinic. I registered and waited for 15 minutes for triage. After that, I could see that I was 15 numbers away from seeing the doctor. But that fifteen actually meant  one and a half hour wait to actually see the doctor, who in the end I saw for less than 3 minutes.

I could not understand why there couldn't be more doctors on hand to help out? The doctor was telling me that lately there had been a surge in the number of patients coming in, so couldn't they prepare for this unusually high number of patients? If there are real emergencies coming in, the clinic would be suspended as the doctor would have to attend to the emergencies and this extends your stay at the clinic. I have heard a few patients coming in at 4pm only to leave the hospital at 9pm.