I’m back home after a long and hectic week at HQ. Got in on the red-eye this morning, because my cousin is flying in to New York today to spend a week with us. Looking forward to a really fun week.

At the end of what was a very long day (I was on conference calls for about 7 hrs today), I finished the day participating in my annual [tag]fantasy football[/tag] [tag]live draft[/tag]. I love the draft process. My mind for organization and problem solving loves the preparation, anticipation and real-time decision making that goes into it.

This is a league run by my cousin Sid, and draft day is usually good for a few laughs with all of us seemingly unable to coordinate our time and efforts. While this years scheduling didn’t match last years antics, it wasn’t without its woes. But somehow everyone (all 8 team owners) managed to get online for the draft (though I had to draft for Sid in round 1 while he parked his car).

Our league is an 8 team [tag]keeper league[/tag], with 2 keepers allowed. But this year we didn’t do keepers as we had new members. This is the team I ended up with (I had the 7th pick in a snake round draft format):

• QB: Marc Bulger, StL
• RB: Shaun Alexander, Sea
• RB: Joseph Addai, Ind
• WR: Donald Driver, GB
• WR: Andre Johnson, Hou
• RB/WR: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jac
• TE: Todd Heap, Bal
• DP: DeMeco Ryans, Hou
• D/ST: Jaguars
• K: Shayne Graham, Cin
• HC: Ravens Coach
• Bench:
  • Marshawn Lynch, Buf RB
  • Reggie Brown, Phi WR
  • Ladell Betts, Was RB
  • Fred Taylor, Jac RB
  • Santonio Holmes, Pit WR

Here is my draft order by round (figure in brackets is the overall pick number):

1. Shaun Alexander, Sea RB (7)
2. Joseph Addai, Ind RB (10)
3. Marc Bulger, StL QB (23)
4. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jac RB (26)
5. Donald Driver, GB WR (39)
6. Andre Johnson, Hou WR (42)
7. Todd Heap, Bal TE (55)
8. DeMeco Ryans, Hou LB (58)
9. Marshawn Lynch, Buf RB (71)
10. Jaguars D/ST, Jac (74)
11. Reggie Brown, Phi WR (87)
12. Shayne Graham, Cin K (90)
13. Ladell Betts, Was RB (103)
14. Fred Taylor, Jac RB (106)
15. Santonio Holmes, Pit WR (119)
16. Ravens Coach, Bal HC (122)

Of course, right after the draft was over I get news of Donald Driver having a bad injury in the preseason game. WTF!

Think my team looks good?

[tag]Stephen Colbert[/tag] is right: the animals are out to get us.

• Pet camel humps Australian woman to death
• Bears eat man at beer festival

(this next post in my series is loooong overdue)

Cusco is the tourist capital of [tag]Peru[/tag], a must stop on all visits to the land of the Incas. Some of this is because it is situated in the middle of the country, and forms one end of the [tag]Inca trail[/tag] to the magnificent Machu Picchu. But the former capital of the Inca Kingdom is a lovely tourist destination in its own right; in fact, it is too much of a tourist destination. The place is now completely run for tourism, and has many a tourist trap.

The place to spend your time while in the city is around the [tag]Plaza de Armas[/tag], which is the heart of [tag]Cusco[/tag]. This stately plaza is lined with arcades with those ubiquitous wooden balconies, shops, restaurants, bars and the two foremost churches (including the Cathedral in the photograph). Get a hotel close to here, because most of the restaurants and bars you will spend your evening at will be close to the plaza. It is also the central point from which to radiate out into Cusco’s many narrow lanes to explore the town.

There are number of really good eateries in Cusco. Two that we tried and absolutely loved were the [tag]Inka Grill[/tag] (serving upscale Peruvian fare) right on the Plaza, and [tag]Cicciolina[/tag] (serving Italian food that felt lie it was out of Tuscany) that was just off the Plaza. The food at both these places was absolutely amazing.
While in Cusco, be sure to check out the ruins of [tag]Qoricancha[/tag], the ancient Incan Temple of the Sun, on top of which the Spanish built the baroque [tag]Santo Domingo[/tag] church. None of its original glory (it means “golden courtyard” and is said to have been completely covered in gold) remains, but the perfectly preserved walls and some rooms still illustrate the mastery of [tag]stonemasonry[/tag] and architecture that the Incas developed.

Sacsayhuaman

Of course, the greatest of the ruins within easy distance of Cusco (you can walk/climb to it, but it is better to take a cab) is [tag]Sacsayhuaman[/tag]. One of the finest remaining examples of [tag]Inca architecture[/tag], it looks like the remains of a fortress, with all that is left being a set of 3 outstanding walls built in a zigzag formation on three levels. The walls are amazing, built entirely of massive boulders that are set together without the use of mortar or cement. The tallest stones form the corners of the zigzag, with the tallest (pictured here) over 11 ft tall. The largest rock is said to weigh approx. 300 tons. How these were moved, shaped and fit together so perfectly is just amazing (you can’t even get a thin paper or knife into the perfectly aligned spaces between the rocks). And for them to have survived for years despite earthquakes is just incredible.

The rest of the site is interesting, but these walls are what will take your breath away. Be careful that you have acclimatized to the high altitude when you visit this place, as it is even higher up from Cusco, and the climb can combine with the exertion to get to you. We saw a number of folks getting it hard up there.

For more pictures and information, go to our travel journal and click on Peru.

T and I went and watched [tag]The Simpsons Movie[/tag] over the weekend, and it was everything we wanted from the team that has been making us laugh for almost 2 decades now. The first half hour took every opportunity to make fun of the shift to the big screen, cracking inside jokes and taking shots at the tv-to-movie phenomena, FOX and the censors (by showing Barts unmentionables). After that though, it reverted back to being an extended Simpsons episode. Everything, even the trouble that Homer gets into, was bigger than what they do on TV. It was comfortable and familiar, and made me laugh a lot. I could have enjoyed a bit more satire and exploitation of their canvas, but in the end, it was just good, old fashioned Simpsons fun.

[tags]Movies[/tags]

I was just shocked to hear about this one. [tag]Johnson & Johnson[/tag] has filed a lawsuit against the [tag]American Red Cross[/tag] and four of its licensing partners for “unlawful conduct” related to the nonprofit’s use of the Red Cross emblem. Just how stupid can you get? Firstly, I don’t think they own the symbol, which has been used for a very long time to depict anything pertaining to medicine, and secondly, this is a PR disaster for J&J if it ever gets out. And what are they worried about? Some people assuming that J&J supports the Red Cross, or that the Red Cross uses J&J products? Either way I don’t see the problem.

Talk about frivolous lawsuits.

[tags]WTF[/tags]

Interested as I am in [tag]photography[/tag], I found this article very interesting. Europeans were asked to submit photographs that they felt represented and celebrated their country. A psychologist analyzed the final sets, and was able to come up with some interesting conclusions about how people felt about the nations they call home. Click here to go through a slideshow of some of the more representative photographs, and the conclusions drawn about the people (nations) who took them.

The most surprising element of the project was the complete lack of national icons – Big Ben, Eiffel Tower – in favor of more personal, esoteric subjects. Some stereotypes were confirmed (like the Italians being passionate lovers, the French being eccentric), but the theme to emerge was a focus on life, its quality and its simplicity. I think the result is a little skewed, as it reflects the attitude of a specific group of people who enjoy taking photographs, who search for beauty in what they see, and try to capture it with their lens.

Last night before going to bed I heard about the massive earthquake to hit Peru. This morning, I learnt just how massive the earthquake was. The powerful earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, has devastated towns along the Pacific coast of [tag]Peru[/tag]. The death toll is at 337 and rising, the injured are in the thousands, and the damage untold.

Most of the damage was near [tag]Ica[/tag], the town we visited when we flew over the [tag]Nazca lines[/tag] earlier this year. I remember what most of the houses in that industrial town looked like, regular brick and mortar houses that wouldn’t really hold up to a quake of this size. It was heartbreaking to read this excerpt from the New York Times story on the quake:

Mayor Juan Mendoza Uribe of Pisco said that 70 percent of the port city of about 60,000 people, located 135 miles south of Lima, was leveled by the quake.

“So much effort and our city is destroyed,” he said, crying audibly, in comments broadcast on radio station RPP in Lima.

My CEO till the acquisition is from Peru, so naturally I reached out to him, and heard that everyone in his extended family seems to be well, with no bad news.

One of the amazing facts we learnt during our Peru trip was that the ancient [tag]Incan architecture[/tag] of places like [tag]Sacsayhuaman[/tag] and [tag]Ollantaytambo[/tag] had survived centuries of earthquakes, despite being built from massive rocks with no cement, mortar or metal. I hope that those places survive this one again, and I wish there was a way for our modern architects to revive some of those lost skills that were put to such good use for the safety of the people, at a time when the people meant more than the buildings that housed them.

[tags]Peru earthquake[/tags]

[tag]Madden NFL ‘08[/tag] is finally here. Here to satiate me just as the pre-season and my upcoming fantasy draft has me chomping at the bit for something, anything, everything to do with football. And from every account, it is going to be fun. The incredible ads have been running for over a month now, and [tag]ESPN[/tag] talked about it through day yesterday on [tag]ESPN First Take[/tag] and [tag]Sportscenter[/tag], giving brief glimpses, reviews, and even tips. I can’t wait to try out the new features and start a new Giants franchise (I’m guessing Tiki is gonna retired in this version. But I think [tag]Brandon Jacobs[/tag] will be awesome). Oh yeah, and I am so avoiding [tag]Vince Young[/tag] in my fantasy draft this year. Madden ruined my fantasy draft last year by featuring my number 1 keeper, [tag]Shaun Alexander[/tag], on the cover, dooming his season.

Game on! See you in a month.

[tags]XBOX 360, NY Giants[/tags]

Saturday was a gorgeous day, all the better since the days before had been horrid. So I decided that we had to take advantage of the weather, and headed out for a day in the city. The agenda this time – Governor’s Island in New York Bay.

Ever since the island was opened to the public a few years ago, I have been meaning to go there. Getting there was easy, just a short 5 minute ride on a free ferry from the old ferry building in Battery Park (next to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal). I was impressed by the renovation work done on the ferry building. It looks very nice now, retaining its old world look.

Once there, we discovered a part of New York City that felt a world away. Governor’s Island is over 200 years old, and has served as a military base and, most recently, as a base for the US Coast Guard. On it are the remains of a whole township, with old brick buildings and houses. It has the look of an old college campus, a lot like the kinds you find in New England. There is even a beautiful stone chapel, perfectly preserved and looking like something out of a tour book. There are even two fortresses, that have served as military posts, training facilities and even a prison. As you walk about the island looking at the now unoccupied houses, you get the feeling of walking through a ghost town. But on weekends the place is bustling with people having a picnic on the shaded lawns, and folks riding their bikes on the road that circles the island (the accessible part anyway, part of it is still not open to visitors).

One of the interesting things about the island is the unique views it offers of the surrounding areas, from the incredible views of Downtown Manhattan, to the close up look at the docks in Brooklyn, the sight of the BMW bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburgh), the Statue of Liberty and even the emerging skyline of Jersey City. The place is far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, especially for a summer weekend, and is the perfect place to spend a few hours. Keep in mind that the last ferry leaves the island at 5pm, so come earlier in the day. They even have concerts during the weekends. It was a nice little find in the city, and I look forward to the improvements that the Park Service will continue to make to it.