What  is there to do at 3.30 in the afternoon.

Near a shopping mall..

In a clock tower.

How’s about a display of public buggery.

This Australian couple was spotted by shocked shoppers on Friday in a clock tower opposite the Broadway Shopping Centre in Sydney.[Mirror]

Adam is that you mate?

Tim O'Reilly, Ray Ozzie

Tim O’Reilly created a bit of a stir last night in the tech world by writing a thoughtful essay entitled “The War for the Web.” He’ll be expanding on his thoughts in his keynote address today at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. From the essay, here’s the core argument:

“[W]e’ve grown used to a world with one dominant search engine, one dominant online encyclopedia, one dominant online retailer, one dominant auction site, one dominant online classified site, and we’ve been readying ourselves for one dominant social network. But what happens when a company with one of these natural monopolies uses it to gain dominance in other, adjacent areas? I’ve been watching with a mixture of admiration and alarm as Google has taken their dominance in search and used it to take control of other, adjacent data-driven applications.

It could be that everyone will figure out how to play nicely with each other, and we’ll see a continuation of the interoperable web model we’ve enjoyed for the past two decades. But I’m betting that things are going to get ugly. We’re heading into a war for control of the web. And in the end, it’s more than that, it’s a war against the web as an interoperable platform. [emphasis added] Instead, we’re facing the prospect of Facebook as the platform, Apple as the platform, Google as the platform, Amazon as the platform, where big companies slug it out until one is king of the hill.

… P.S. One prediction: Microsoft will emerge as a champion of the open web platform, supporting interoperable web services from many independent players, much as IBM emerged as the leading enterprise backer of Linux.

The coda there, with the Microsoft prediction, is what fascinated me – so much so that I mentioned it on Twitter. Tim immmediately responded, “Thanks. I should write a followup explaining the logic that got me to the PS.”  While we wait for that, though, here’s my prediction – with a bit of inside knowledge – today Microsoft begins to live up to Tim’s expectations with several announcements at our Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2009 in Los Angeles.

If you want to see the future of Microsoft, and the future of the web and computing as we see it, watch live as Ray Ozzie lays it out in his keynote address, streamed live today at 11:30 eastern time, 8:30 am Pacific, over at http://microsoftpdc.com/.

Oh – and if your Latin is rusty, my title above comes from the phrase ”Si vis pacem, para bellum” – the classic doctrine of maintaining peace & deterring war by being better armed and prepared. It is generally attributed to Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a fourth-century AD Roman military scholar whom I consider the Sun Tzu of the West. I’ve known many fans of his philosophy in the Pentagon.

Now it may turn out that, whether they know it or not, Microsoft techies are building new ways to avoid a war on the open web. As Sun Tzu wrote,  ”To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue an enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” Watch our PDC this week to see examples of what I consider the modern technological acme of skill.

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Rich and I getting ready to feed breakfast

Each week the Morning Show “Rich and Mary’s Morning Mess”  on 101.3 Champ the two personalities, Rich and Mary,  do their football picks for the week in a competition and the loser has to do something odd.  Recently when Mary has lost she has had to go to a busy intersection for a period of time wearing Red Sox pjs (she is a Yankees fan) and go trick or treating through a neighborhood wearing a bo-peep outfit in the middle of the day.  Rich who seems to lose more times has had to go to a bar wearing a Yankees outfit and even go on a date with a transvestite.  Well, Rich lost again and the station was looking for ideas of things for Rich to do.  I called in on Tuesday with the recommendation that Rich come help me clean out the goat barn.  On Wed. I found out that Rich and Mary’s Morning Mess would be coming to Vivian Acres to broadcast their morning show so Rich could help me around the farm on my morning chores.  This was fantastic news as I was planing to clean the barn anyway before winter set in.

They arrived at Vivian Acres before 6am and quickly set up their equipment to broadcast.  The idea was that Mary who won the bet was to stay inside in my kitchen where it was warm and Rich was to go outside where it was not so warm (27 degrees) and help me with my work on the farm.  They brought along a friend of theirs “Mike the Mechanic” to make sure Rich accomplished  his tasks.

Mary enoying the fruits of victory

So while the three of us ventured outside to provide the goats with their breakfast, Mary was sitting pretty keeping my cats company.  I am not sure if Rich has been around a lot of goats, but he was very brave, even when I left him inside the pen alone while Mike and I  searched for my camera.  I think the Goats thought that Rich had their breakfast and began to swarm him.  He kept telling them that he had nothing for them but since goats don’t understand they continued to show how friendly they can be as they swarmed him.  As i have said, goats are very food driven and they certainly knew that it was breakfast time.  He seemed very relieved when we showed back up but I am sure he made some friends along the way.  He especially seemed to take a liking to Courtney Love.  Go figure.

Me feeding, Rich being swarmed

Well, there was the usual swarm at breakfast as I put out different bowls for each goat but they seem to want what is in everyone else’s bowl.  I am only thankful that Rich didn’t get knocked over during the process.  Mike thought it was pretty funny but then Mike is a strange guy.

After breakfast was over, it was time to put Rich to work.  The barn had not been cleaned for a while so after giving Rich a pair of nice gloves and a pitchfork and under the complete command of Mary from in the house, Rich was made familiar with the not so glamorous side of goat farming.   He really “Dug in”  with a lot of complaining i might add and went to work.  I think his new friend Courtney was somewhat offended by his references to the smell.  As those of us who raise goats know the smell is minimal, but like I said, Rich does not know goats.

Rich making himself useful

Rich really digging in

We finished our cleaning chores early and Rich was itching to find out more about goat farming.  There is always something to do at Vivian Acres and Mary was not going to let Rich off easy.  Hoof trimming was next on the agenda.

Rich learing the fine art of hoof trimming

Rich did not do so good at this.  Well like I said it is kind of an art.  What he did learn was about goat hypnosis.  After grabbing Billy Joe and putting him on his butt, he was amazed at how the goats can go to sleep so fast so you can handle them.

Later, he even held Ozzie who is a bit under the weather, for a shot.

Rich and Mary were both very good sports about coming to Vivian Acres.  As always I enjoy visitors and I enjoy help even more. Both Rich and Mary were really a blast.  Even Mike, although he was more of a spectator than anything else.  Although he did try to interview Momma and even got a kiss from her.    I really enjoyed having them all here.  They were a blast and the fact that I was able to provide Rich with some meaningful employment was a bonus.  Vivian Acres would certainly welcome them back whenever they can come around.  I know that Courtney would be  happy if Rich was to visit again.

Mary still enjoying her victory

Mike the Mechanic interviews Momma

Red Wings 2 – San Jose 1  Final/SO

Great game tonight by the Wings.  Being there in person for Budd Lynch night was spectacular.  The ceremony was nice, especially with Lidstrom leading Budd out to center ice.  The whole night continued to show what a class act the Illitch’s are as owners.  As for the game, the crowd was up and down overall, but really gave it all in the 3rd and OT/SO.  I was very glad to get my hands on a free center-ice ticket (Thanks Sully!)  What a game to be at! A spectacular, low-scoring, good hitting hockey game.

Three-Bar Review:

1. Right Post – How about Ozzie tonight?  He’s only given up 2 goals in the last 3 games (this being despite my two wildly offensive based predicted final scores).  I couldn’t be happier that I’ve been way off on my predictions.  Ozzie has stepped up and in general is playing great positionally.  He got caught on the one goal tonight having moved too far to the side attempting to slide over.  One mistake, and not even “glaring.”  If he can play like that 8 out 10 starts I feel much better about the rest of the season.  Finally, the crowd really gave him some great support in OT and after the shoot-out saves.  He deserved it and it was wonderful to hear everyone get behind the wizard.
2. Left Post – The Speed Kills line (Draper/Eaves/Helm) was once again spectacular. They were forechecking like crazy, creating multiple scoring chances.  Helm has really stepped up his game, his shot and attempt at the wide-open rebound in OT was a great effort.  Draper looks rejuvenated and is playing very well.  Finally Paddy Eaves.  What can I say, when Fils comes back from injury I’ll be hard pressed not to want Leino/Abdelkader to be out of the line-up rather than Eaves.  He played very well again, creating scoring chances and doing just fine on the PK.  I want to see more of what he has to offer.  Until they change the pace they have set for themselves, I hope Babcock doesn’t even consider breaking up Speed Kills.
3. Crossbar – Man, Ville Leino.  He had some scoring chances, and he got some nice reviews by Babs and the media.  I didn’t quite see it.  I just don’t from him right now.  I have always been behind this guy.  I thought he would pot 20-25 goals this year and be a solid potential 2nd line contributor.  What I saw tonight was a few good scoring chances that he just didn’t put quite enough on.  I also saw a complete lack of defensive effort.  He needs to learn the system, play two-way hockey, and in general look like he wants to play an NHL caliber game.  I hope this happens sooner rather than later, or else I’m all for letting our stable of players play over this guy.  Win me back over Ville.  Prove me wrong.  Please.
4. Empty Net Goal/Final Shot of the Night – Zetterberg and Datsyuk were as graceful as ever.  Top notch night by Z and Datsyuk was also working his magic.  When these two are on, it is worth the price of admission. (I know my ticket was free…but seriously…Detroit fans need to get out and enjoy these two while they are in their prime still.)  It looked like our best players were our best players, and that is what coach wants right…

Finally on to everyone’s favorite!

Your Random Fight of the Night:

In honor of the upcoming game against the Maple Leafs.  I give you a fight featuring everyone’s favorite Leaf goon.  Mr. Tie Domi

February 22, 1996.  Stu Grimson vs. Tie Domi (Fight!)

Okay, that was tough.  It was so hard to choose which caption when so many of them were so good!  Sadly, I had to eliminate the last 3 entries because they came in after the deadline.  But you are right, shrewspeaks, Ozzie is looking darn sexy in those boots. 

For the official contenders, Music Maven has a point about Puss in those boots, not pups.  Shrew was also right on with the look on Ozzie’s face with, “You do realize this means war. “  And I definitely see the similarities with Snuffleupagus!!  Or maybe he is a dog-nosed platypus. 

But, there’s only one book so I could only make one choice.  Drumroll please!  And the winner is…

“Oy, my dogs are barkin’!”

It’s short and cute and to the point and connects to the photo in the sort of punny way I like!  Congratulations, Caryl!   I’ll be contacting you by email to get your mailing address.  Thanks everyone for playing!

Do you know who Ozzy Osbourne is?

Are you a fan?
Hopefully you know more about him than the MTV reality show about his family life called “The Osbournes“!

In the 1970’s, Ozzy was the lead vocalist of the epic heavy metal band from England, “Black Sabbath“.

His drug and alcohol problems caused him to get kicked out of the band that he helped found.
After that he was ready to give up on rock ‘n roll…but the daughter of Black Sabbath’s manager became the manager of his solo career and she eventually became his wife.

With her help, Ozzy Osbourne became more popular as a solo artist than when he was with Sabbath.

Ozzy’s antics in his younger days are infamous though.

For example, when his manager / soon-to-be wife was trying to get Ozzy a record contract for his solo career (which was no small feat due to his well-known addiction problems), she suggested that he show up to the meeting with the record executives with some white doves as a sign of peace.
But he showed up drunk…and bit the head of one of the doves clean off!

It made quite the impression!
He got the record deal but was forbidden from stepping foot in the record company’s office again!

Another time, during a concert, a fan threw a live bat onto the stage…and Ozzy bit that animal’s head off too! (He had to get rabies shots after that).

At one time in the 1980s, Ozzy urinated on “The Alamo” in the U.S. state of Texas.
“The Alamo”, it seems, is a state treasure and for that the Governor Of Texas (who was future U.S. President George W. Bush) banned Ozzy from stepping foot on Texas soil for ten years!

Ironically, during Bush’s presidency Ozzy was invited to a White House dinner and President Bush gave a glowing speech to Ozzy in which he said, among other things,  that his mother (Barbara Bush) listens to Ozzy’s music.
Somehow I can’t imagine Mrs. Bush enjoying Ozzy Osbourne’s music!

Anyways, Ozzy Osbourne, “The Godfather Of Metal”, will be releasing a new album next year.

And next month, his autobiography, titled “I Am Ozzy” will be in bookstores.

The cover of Ozzy Osbourne's autobiograhy

I want to read it!

And due in theaters in 2010 is a documentary about Ozzy’s life (produced by his son, Jack Osbourne), titled “Wreckage Of My Past (The Story Of Ozzy Osbourne)“.

Bootzy (on voice): that’s a big bitch!


[20:30] Firestorm777 Benelli: ya’ll aint crazy ya’ll r warpped

Damn right.

The trade that sent outfielder Brian Anderson to the Boston Red Sox for a versatile Mark Kotsay has become a blessing for manager Ozzie Guillen. Guillen has loved having the veteran player so much, that he has even lobbied to have General Manager Kenny Williams sign Kotsay to an extension this offseason.

“We’re going to have a veteran player next year,” Guillen said on whitesox.com. “I don’t know who it’s going to be. But I don’t mind having this kid back.”

With a team full of young players Kotsay has become more than just a positive addition on the field, but also has taken to helping the White Sox rookies adjust to life in the Major Leagues. Though hitting two homeruns against his former team hasn’t hurt the idea of having Kotsay play for the White Sox either. Yet a possible contract extension for Mark Kotsay would only bring up more questions regarding the teams already loaded outfield.

What would the White Sox end up doing with free agent to be Jermaine Dye or the speedy Scott Podsednik? Would the Sox want to utilize Kotsay’s ability to play first base while still having an all-star at the position in Paul Konerko?

These questions are valid points as Ozzie Guillen discusses the idea of having Mark Kotsay being an everyday player. With Kotsay getting older and already having a history of dealing with injuries while with the Red Sox, would that really be the way to go? It is known by many in baseball that the idea of an older player starting every game is more likely to sustain some sort of injury during the course of the season.

Would Kotsay even want to be an everyday player with the risk of sustaining an injury due to all the extra playing time?

“I think it gives me more of an opportunity, for sure,” Kotsay said in an interview with whitesox.com. “When I played every day, I didn’t really expect to end my career with a first baseman’s glove on. But if you want to continue in a uniform, the older you get, the more injury-prone, injury history you have. You kind of make adjustments and just adapt to the roles that are there for you.”

Apparently Mark Kotsay and Ozzie Guillen have some things that need to be discussed, but somehow the two may be able to work things out by the time the 2010 season starts. The question still remains the same, what’s he going to play?

Author: Pier-Squish-Woman

That little grey bastard!
Ok, so this year was not the best weather for certain flowers, like, maybe Cosmos? So how come I seem to have one fantastic Cosmo (happy ring variety) plant in my front yard that is lookin’ bitchin’, while all the same Cosmos in the back are twisted and lying down begging for mercy on the ground. Turns out my little pewter love-sponge Oz has been lying on top of them all goddamn Summer when I wasn’t looking. I suppose the fernish foliage makes a nice fluffy bed. He has also been chewing them, and using them as batting practice. I need to fix that next year.

Good Cosmos. Happy Ring, and they are!

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Bad Cosmos. Not-so-Happy-Rings.

I put the zzzzz in Zinnias
My Zinnias as a whole, sucked this year.Why, O Lord, Why Me? I have my suspicions about what happened to them; I carefully planted them putting the small dwarf varieties in front, then the mid-height ones in the middle, followed by the tall ones in the back against the fence. We had all that rain in June that most likely washed them all together, so they just got all mixed up; small ones in back, tall ones in front. Medium ones to the left. Whatever.  Here are a few of the good ones.

Swizzle cherry and ivory Zinnia; small but still showy.

The tall ones were better. I got these red spider ones that just layed down and curled around all over the place like they were dead-ass ground over. Not pretty.

Anne, are you jel?
On a good note, the free plant that Anne gave me two years ago looks fantastic, and the bees love it! I have no idea what kind of bush it is, but it’s a great addition to my yard. Thanks, Anne!

It takes all summer before these little light blue flowers open up, but it is soooooo worth it!

And the decay begins!
Most things still look pretty good, but the signs of Fall are fast approaching.

Purple coneflowers; hmmm… not so purple anymore. But I still love their faded pinky complexion!

The little sunflowers are still clinging to life. So sad.

The showiest flower among them all
Kim, posing as Miss America. She totally wins because she is better than 10 of those stupid white bitches put together, damn it! Happy Birthday; August 25, Babes!

Até onde sei, nunca foi filmado um Aereo Kick flip…….
Continuo procurando e mais uma vez só chega perto…

Moments ago, Mark Buehrle just put the finishing touches on a perfect game, the first by a White Sox pitcher since 1922, leading Chicago over the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0.  It was the perfect game in Major League Baseball since 2004, when Randy Johnson threw one with Arizona, and the first by an American League pitcher since David Cone’s 1999.  Buehrle, who threw a no-hitter in 2007, may be one of the most underrated pitchers in the game, a pitcher that works efficiently, and quickly (this game lasted just over two hours).  This was a fantastic Rays lineup that he completely shut down, except for one batter in the top of the ninth.

Leading off the ninth, Gabe Kapler crushed a Buehrle offering to deep left-center.  Dewayne Wise, who went into center field as a defensive replacement, scaled the wall, moving at full speed into it, to make the catch.  The impact with the wall jarred the ball out of his glove, but he caught it with his bare hand.  One of the best catches of the season, and maybe the best defensive play in perfect game history.  Buehrle then pulled the strings on a change-up to Michel Hernandez and got Jason Bartlett to ground out to short to finish it off.

Wise, Chicago’s fourth outfielder, is hitting .196 with one home run on the season.  Just Monday, he was the cause of controversy, as Ozzie Guillen kept Wise on the MLB roster and sent down outfielder Brian Anderson when Carlos Quentin was activated from the disabled list.  Anderson was only hitting .238 with two homers himself, but it didn’t stop many from calling Guillen racist for keeping the minority player and sending down the caucasian player.

While Anderson is a decent defensive centerfielder in his own right, Wise has a little more speed.  It took all of Wise’s speed to get to that ball, so Guillen’s roster decision may have been the savior for Buehrle.  Are those Chicagoians complaning about Guillen now?

If you can, watch SportsCenter or find the highlights online later, because Dewayne Wise’s catch was the real deal.

EDIT: There’s a video on YouTube, found thanks to Mark McGuire over at the Times Union.

So, as we were loathe to announce before, we had a death in the family that was really quite heartbreaking.  Our 17 year-old dog, Ozzie had to be put to sleep early in the morning of the 16th due to complications from age.  It was a heart wrenching decision, but after events that transpired during the night and early morning, our family made the conscious decision that Ozzie deserved to be at peace and in the condition he was in, that wasn’t going to happen.  His age had caught up with him and life just didn’t seem worth living anymore.

My father woke me at about 6:30 in the morning, very upset but asking me to help him get Ozzie cleaned up.  We gave him a bath and as dad cleaned himself up, I blew dry Ozzie’s fur until it shone.  Ozzie, for one reason or another, really enjoyed having his fur blown-dry, I don’t know if it’s because it reminded him of laying outside on a warm, breezy day or it just felt good to have warm air blown on him in general.  I was happy to provide him a few more minutes of any kind of joy and sat with him until dad had gotten himself ready.  By then my mom had gotten up for work and we all sat with Ozzie for a while, giving him cookies and stroking his face.  Letting him know, that even though the last few months have been hard on us, we loved him very much.  It seemed like forever before dad was able to call the vet to let them know we needed to have him put to sleep, which I know I wouldn’t have been able to handle telling them, as I was already overwhelmed with the thought of losing Ozzie forever.

Unfortunately, I was too cowardly to go with my parents to the vet to say goodbye, so I said my goodbyes to Ozzie when they were getting ready to go.  I kissed his nose and stroked his ears and let him know how much he meant to me.  And for the first time in months, he looked at me with eyes that didn’t seem to be clouded in old age and confusion.  He gave me a look I haven’t gotten from him in such a long time.  I don’t know if that made it more difficult or I was already so overwhelmed by it all that it didn’t matter.  In any case, it was nice to see the real him for the first time in a long time.

It’s been so long since Ozzie joined our family that I don’t really remember the day, but I do remember he was an adorable puppy (That might be enough to get me to look for the photos to prove it).  The pet store clerk knew for sure that his mother was a purebred Austrailian Shepard who had the papers to prove it, but apparently had a one night stand with something else.  We think maybe a Pit Bull, which would explain his intensity in protecting us.  In general though, he was a mellow dog that loved his family and really loved babies.  He was the best guard dog you could have asked for.

Ozzie during his first snow, he was only a few months old.

Ozzie was also very strong when he got older.  I distinctly remember a time when I thought I could walk him by myself… Mom often told me to wait for her to take him on walks, but I thought I was a big girl and could do it myself– Surprise, no I couldn’t.  That day my luck ran out and my nose was never the same for months.  In fact, I was coined (by my idiotic elementary gym teacher) Rudolph because I had a large red scab on the end of my nose for a very long time.  That was my fault, not Ozzie’s, but it’s definitely a memory I’ll have forever.  As you can see it didn’t really affect our relationship– or anyone’s relationship with him:

Best buddies

Ozzie and his family, when he was an only.

It wasn’t until I found these photos that I realized how much he had changed over the years.  The last few in particular when his muzzle began to gray and the things he used to love didn’t interest him anymore.  Tennis balls and bones and cookies, capture the treasure and running with Yuri.  None of these things had made him excited in such a long time and I realized how easily I had forgotten.  Seeing these photos reminded me of his exuberance and how much I miss that.

At the park

Something Ozzie loved well into his twilight years was sunbathing.  I know, sounds like a little old woman, but it’s true.  If the door was open during the summer and it was sunny, you could bet hard money he was sitting in the sunlight taking it in.  Every other dog I’ve met has always looked for shade during sunny days, but he loved it.  If he was outside, he was sitting in the only pool of sunlight our big tree let through:

See what I mean?

I loved his big nose

Ozzie gave his all in taking care of us, even in defending us against his evil arch-nemesis:

The Squirrel

Dramatization: Not actual Squirrel

Not just any squirrel– THE Squirrel.  Many a day when we were outside, the squirrel, angry with humanity for some reason, would throw bits of its nest at anything that was moving.  The dogs, people, anything.  It was would chitter madly and wait for Ozzie to dare challenge its rule. Which he did.  Often.

And The Squirrel, never came down from the tree to pick up the glove Ozzie threw down for him. Victory comes to those who are awesome.

Victory can also come when the humans aren’t home, as Ozzie found several times through the garbage, a box of fudge we had brought home from my grandmother (we discovered he didn’t like peanut butter fudge that day) or the 4 boxes of Peanut Brittle and 2.5 boxes of chocolate daisy mints from Girl Scout days… How he didn’t die of some sort of chocolate induced overdose, I will never know, but he was a sly one.  I only wish I could find the photo of him stuck, head first in a Purina cookie box– he was smart enough to eat through the bottom to try and find a way out but was sadly foiled by the size of his head.

In his whole life, I don’t think Ozzie ever stopped being a great dog.  I regret that in his last few months, my frustrations with his frailties got the best of me every once in a while.  Being woken in the wee hours of the morning for seemingly no reason and a sudden forgetfulness of the last use of the backyard and general issues frustrated me often.  At the very least it has taught me that I have to keep that in check when Yuri and Faith become frail as well.  I loved him dearly and I can only hope that he is in a better place, young and beautiful again, chasing The Squirrel and finding the very best Ol’ Roys.

Much love, Ozzie.  Rest now and we’ll see you again.

Jaina & Faith

Faith and I, with heavy-hearts, must announce the passing of one our dearest family members, Ozzie.  As seen in our last post, Ozzie is one of Faith’s brothers and has been a member of our family for 17 years.  I have been privileged enough to see all 17 of those years and Faith has been around for 10 of them.  No where could you find a better dog and I am not saying that simply because he was mine.

Faith and I will be back to write more, but the day has taken its toll and only seems to be getting worse.  She and I would like to take a moment to snuggle and reminisce about the days Ozzie was willing to do anything to catch “The Squirrel” in our big tree out back or play “Capture the Treasure” with the innocence of a child.  He was a dear to all of us and most especially to our family (Ozzie touched several lives not including our own) and will never be missed.  Until I can try to muddle my way through a post without starting to blubber, I’ll leave it at that, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to convey just how much he meant to our family.

Until then, we miss you sweet boy!  You were brilliant

Rest Sweet Boy

Bark, Buhbark, Barkity, Bark…

Translation: Hi, where are my cookies?

If it isn’t obvious, this blog revolves entirely around a 10-year-old, 65 lb, atrociously mannered mutt named Faith.

“And squeakies, Mom!  Do NOT forget my squeakies!!!!”

Oh, and she loves squeaky toys.

(It seems we have a back seat blogger here.)

“I’m still sitting here you know.”

I can’t say that I’m very out of the ordinary, writing about a pet, there are plenty of pet owners that also think the world would be a better place if introduced to their special fuzzy pals (or feathered ones as seen in one of my favorite blogs: http://www.mrflapper.com/blog/)

In any case, I doubt anyone will really benefit from reading Faith’s blog…

“That’s what you think!”

But, perhaps her daily encounters and child-like (emphasis on child-like) nature will bring a smile to your face, like it does mine.

So let me introduce you to the star of this blog.

“Finally.”

This is Faith.

Faith is… Well, Faith is a lot of things.  Breed-wise, no one really knows  (A genetic catastrophe I’m sure) but by the light of day, she looks more on the side of a Yellow Lab (With ears too small for her head, spots on her paws that don’t make sense and a serious hatred for water).  I guess its up to you, dear reader, to decide what you think she is and if it ever strikes me to shell out the cash, I might get some testing done to see what the Wolf-Woman is really made of.

“I’d say perfection.”

I’d say… Well, I better not.  Kids might read this.

But I digress.

“That’ll happen a lot.”

Faith also has the extraordinary ability to talk.  Usually this phenomenon only occurs when she and several other people are in the room to translate, but yes, she talks.

Anyway, her story is actually a lot cooler than her attitude right now.  About ten years ago (I was actually in middle school, can you believe it?)– My mom and I were heading out to pick up some dinner, my dad having to work late.  I think, though I feel sick for it, we were heading to Long John Silver’s, but that’s beside the point.  Our destination lead us down a dark, poorly lit back road, one that lead passed (at the time) an open area for anything to gallop through.

Including Faith.

Mom and I were cruising along, talking and doing the mother-daughter thing, when all of a sudden, this flash of white-yellow comes out of nowhere and right in front of our Van.  Despite her speed, it was obvious it was a dog and although there was no telltale thud to indicate we had hit her, my mom was afraid we had.  Seeing as she and our big softies and had a zoo of animals at home, it’s not hard to figure out that hitting a dog would be heartbreaking.  So, mom cautiously opened the door and stepped out into the summer heat, the light of our headlights barely scratching the surface of the evening dark.

“Puppy?” My mom asked quietly, for about a millisecond it was still and then all of sudden I was face to face with dog I’d never met.

Typically, I’m not afraid of animals, I love just about all of them and if I had a bigger house, a lot of money and a hired hand to feed them all, I would probably have a collection of animals that would make the Arc look like a petting zoo.  However, when you’re like, 11 and there’s this rather hungry looking, very smelly, very muddy dog that wasn’t in your car previously, suddenly standing well within your “bubble”, you really reconsider your idea that all fuzzy things are nice.  For all I know, she wanted to eat my face off.  So as I lunged for the door, my mom leans into the car and yells:

“Puppy!  SIT!”

I swear to you, I’ve never seen a dog’s butt hit the ground so fast in my life.  As soon as she heard mom’s no nonsense command, her behind discovered the now muddy, gray carpet of the van in a jiffy.  Looking at her for a moment, I realized just how on her own she had been.  Now that I knew she was not, in fact, going to tear my face off, I saw that she was severely emaciated, ribs sticking out all across her sides, heaving from the run she had just taken, her fur was caked with days, if not weeks worth of mud.  And yet, just looking at her, you could see she wasn’t a vicious dog.  She was just very tired of running.  After further inspection, we found she had an old green collar (also caked in mud) around her neck, that was missing any identification, but did discover a length of nylon rope, still attached to the leash ring… It appeared to have been chewed through, which I can only imagine meant she was tired of wherever she was before.

I’m a genius, I know.

Well, seeing as we’re softies, mom and I didn’t have the heart to kick her out of the van and go on without her.  So, despite stinking to high heaven and dripping mud every which way, we carried on with our quest, with an extra passenger.  By this time we had to change venues and bought some KFC– Which was fine, until the dog realized we were actually bringing food within inches of her very hungry nose.  She was inhaling so hard, I thought for sure a chicken wing was going to come punching through the container.  We also discovered that night, that the dog liked Pepsi; seeing as the one cup that passed her face had just little bit spilled on the lid…  That didn’t last a second as she slurped it right off.

Mom was sure to hand that one to me, like I was EVEN going to drink it after that.

By the time we got home, we had found out that she could sit, stay and shake.  When we got home, we also discovered she doesn’t share.  Having put down food for our two dogs and herself, we found that, because of her extended stay in the wild, she had forgotten that although no one was taking it away and she could eat it at a leisurely pace, she wanted to make sure she got it all in one sitting.  So, she slurped hers down and then made a break for everyone elses’… Which funny, because at the time we had two fairly dominate males and neither one of them was OK with sharing their food with a stranger.

Mom ended up scrubbing her clean for what seemed like hours.  Several refillings of the tub later and the newcomer finally looked like a dog again.  Though, mom also spent quite a bit of time trying to scrub spots off her feet that didn’t seem to be budging– Took a minute to realize they were permanent– Add that to the list of possible breeds.  When she was finally clean and no longer reeked of months of gross, mom let her run around in the house, getting to know our two boys (Yuri and Ozzie) and letting her play with their toys.  Before The Great Bath incident, mom had called my dad at work, beginning her story with “Now don’t get mad…” Seeing as dad had made it clear we were not in need of any more fuzzy friends.  When mom finally finished explaning dad wasn’t that thrilled with the thought of another dog staying at the house, even if it was for a short while.  His tune changed when he got home early in the morning and mom and the newbie were waiting up for him.

The dog, apparently never having seen a tug toy before was gleefully rolling around, playing with the toy, the thing shoved so far back in her mouth she could barely breathe (or so I’ve heard, I was in bed at this point).  She heard the car door slam and knew that someone was there, but of course, didn’t know that he belonged.  Whipping up to stare at the door, she waited for whatever it was.  When my dad popped through the door, the dog was so torn between protecting the house and her toy, she couldn’t decide between barking or continuing with the toy.

So she did both.

“Boofk.” Escaped her full lips and dad, who as I’ve said wasn’t thrilled about her staying with us said, to which my mom swears to this day he said:

“I think I’m in love.”

The next day my parents called the animal shelter to report her being found.  There weren’t any reports matching her description and since she was already so skinny and muddy, it was likely that even if there had been one, it had since been forgotten.  That’s when we found out that after 5 days, if no one had come to claim her and we decided she was welcome, she was legally ours.  Seeing as there are so many dogs being housed in shelters anyway and the fact that I couldn’t bear to think she’d be euthanized, my parents gave her the go ahead to stay if an owner wasn’t found.

Almost 11 years later.  She’s still here.  And what a joy.

“You better believe it.”

Shh, I’m telling your story right now.  In any case, since five days obviously came and went, we knew we couldn’t continue to call her puppy. After a vet check-up that gave her a surprisingly clean bill of health, we discovered she was probably around a year old when she hitched a ride, so in reality, she wasn’t really a puppy.  So we tried to think of cool names, stupid names, old names and significant names.  And so we came up with

Leapa Faith.

Because if she hadn’t of thrown herself in front of our van and leaped into our lives, she probably would have died somewhere along the road, with no one to love her,

“And no squeakies… That would have been terrible!”

And no squeakies, you’re absolutely right, Faith.

Now she has a family that loves her:

My girl! I luvz her!

Afenced backyard to play in, plenty of Kibble–

“And Ol’ Roys!  I LOVE Ol’ Roys!”

If I were a dog, Faith, I’m sure I’d love them too.

Two big brothers:

My stupid brother, Yuri

The better brother, Ozzie

An overflowing box full of squeaky toys:

MY SQUEAKY!!!

So, now you know how Faith came to be and why, maybe her story will be significant to you.  I know taking care of a dog can be difficult, but sometimes the rewards are worth it.  Faith can be a pain (especially when she gets into the garbage),

“I have NEVER done such a thing… That was always Yuri.  Every time… Even if he wasn’t in the house…”

but she can also be a God-send in tough times.  I know for a fact if she hadn’t of been around when I moved into my first apartment and schleped through two years at a terrible university, I wouldn’t have made it. So I sincerely suggest, if you think about getting a dog, don’t go straight for the designer dogs (What in hell is a PuggaDoodle?) but check out your local animal shelter.  I’d say the majority of the time, mutts can look just as good as a purebred and they certainly appreciate life a lot more, especially if they’ve had it tough all their life.  Think about it.

Until tomorrow or whenever we figure out what to write next!

~Jaina & Faith

This loss really frustrated me. Ozzie shot the Sox in the foot too many times with his decisions today . I’m not going to pretend to be a baseball genius, but everything played out exactly as I expected it too. Trust me, I took no pride in being right, it was actually frustrating as hell! But yes, for a while I’ve been mad about the same decisions that took place in the game today:

-The decision to start Clayton Richard: I don’t know what Clayton Richard has shown that tells the Sox he deserves more starts. Aaron Poreda was called up, give the kid a shot and use him! Why else is Poreda up? Too often the Sox misuse their prospects and make their jobs much harder than they should be. We take Poreda away from his regular starts and use him here and there. We bring up Beckham and say ‘here kid, and learn a new position while you’re at it’. We platoon guys when they should be starting (who remembers Anderson vs. Mackowiak?). Anyways, enough painful memories, and back to, well painful memories…Clayton Richard. There was the short period after the Peavy trade where Richard had some trade value, but you just knew he had no where to go but down, and the plummet continues. I mean, who didn’t see this coming?

- Following up Richard with Carrasco: Carrasco has decent stats this year, but I don’t know what tells Ozzie that Carrasco could be the stopper or that he should be used in some sort of long-man role. I could see a team using Carrasco when they concede a blowout or are running thin and really need to give other relievers some rest, but Ozzie seems to think much more highly of him. Of course, Carrasco then goes on to give up more runs. Needing that bullpen guy to stop the bleeding is very important when a team tries to come back and the Sox failed to do it twice today.

(Poreda is finally brought in, does his job, and is then pulled…)

- Octavio Dotel: I have a love-hate relationship with Octavio Dotel. I think Ozzie Guillen is just in love with him. He loves to use him, and seems to like to do it in any situation possible. The one situation I hate to see is when Guillen brings Dotel into the game in the 6th. Ozzie has loved to do this in 09 and I absolutely hate it. This means that the bullpen will now have to handle 4 innings of outs, meaning that it’s likely that either all of Dotel, Thornton, Linebrink, and Jenks will be used, or that one of those guys will go more than one inning. Now, using simple odds, how likely is it going to be that so many bullpen guys are all going to be ‘on’ on a given night? And how comfortable are you when any of those guys goes more than one inning? Would it kill to have a guy like Poreda go one more inning?

Anyways, Dotel comes in and promptly gives up a run, which again hurts the comeback momentum. It was only the top of the 6th, but the momentum effect was clear and I already felt like the Sox were done, which is a sad statement against the Indians’ bullpen.

So, the Sox go on to lose 10-8. My gripes  sound like second-guessing if you don’t know me, but if you do know me, you’ll know that I’ve been harping on these points for weeks (take my word for it ). So tonight you’ve learned that I hate:
-using Dotel early or ‘handing it over to the bullpen’ in the 6th
-using Carrasco in a meaningful role
-continuing to count on Richard when you have a guy like Poreda
-and now a new one, using pinch hitters against closers (This was done today with Wise. Again, not the first time Ozzie has done this in 09. Guys don’t see a pitch all day and then they’re asked to hit off a closer? Not to mention it’s fricken Dewayne Wise…)

I don’t hate Ozzie Guillen. No manager will be perfect and no one would be able to please every fan, but I have to continue to question the way Ozzie handles the pitching staff and rotation. I really believe he blew it today and this was a win the Sox should’ve had against a bad team. The one positive is that the offense did try to come back and did score 8 runs. The bad news is that it was done against a bad pitcher and it didn’t continue against a bad bullpen.

Aca va un recuerdo de Ozzie, el personaje que casi fue el novio de Naomi, y desaparecio asi porque si ¿Ozzie no va mas al West Beverly? ¿Que les pasa a los Guionistas?

We went to Australia in May 2009!

Anne was already29 weeks pregnant, but we checked with Air Asia and the Australian immigration. As long as the airline lets you on (with a letter from the gynaecologist), Australia will let you in.

Photos, videos and captions below the fold. Captions follow photos.

We left Malaysia on May 1st & arrived at Coolangatta Airport on May 2nd. Jeffrey pakpak (Scott’s dad’s older brother) who drives the AirAsia bus came to fetch us.

After dropping off our luggage at Jeffrey pak pak’s house, we went over to a nearby shopping complex to have breakfast. We went happened to bump into one of Jeffrey pakpak’s friends from  Singapore and he joined us for brekkie. Scott had roast beef & Anne had scrambled eggs, sausage & bacon. The food was very yummy! The hot chocolate was better than any hot chocolate Anne has ever had in Malaysia.

We had a photo taken with the car that we would be using so that we would not forget which car we were driving. Jeffrey pakpak’s car is a huge Mercedes 4WD with GPS. (We really relied tons on the GPS while driving alone in Ozzie!)

Jeffrey pakpak’s house & bus. Like most Aussies, he had the house custom built from scratch, not like Malaysia where most houses are designed by the contractors. It’s a really nice place, with an all-wood upper floor.

We drove to Mount Tambourine & enjoyed the fresh air, scenery & slow pace of life. It’s kinda like what Cameron Highlands is to Malaysians.

Lots of yummy treats around!

And a lady who posed for a photo with the family dog out for a walk.

We found a German cuckoo clock shop. The clocks were carved by very skilled craftsmen.

There were music boxes too – actually, just the mechanism inside music boxes. You turn the handle to rotate the metal drum (cylinder), which has raised dots that push metal planks 0f different lengths to play a tune. We bought one with the tune of  “My Favourite Things” from The Sound of Music.

Anne enjoying her Shepherd’s pie. The food was sooooooo good!

Scott loved his lemon meringue muffin… Not quite a pie, but still, so hard to find in Malaysia!

Yummyness video:

We found these mats & aprons amusing.

We bought 3 different fudges too. The lady at the counter warned Scott that one particular fudge he chose has alcohol in it. To which Scott replied, “YEAH!” They were really sweet.

Lots of different cheeses at the cheese factory. We couldn’t get any because they don’t last when not refrigerated.

What is a sports car doing in a cheese factory?

Lorikeets. Scott captured these while we waited for our glow worm cave tour at the Cedar Creek Winery. The owners gave us free tea & coffee because they were sorry we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next tour. Talk about service!

While waiting, we tasted their wines, as well as walked around the area & found out that the owner used to shoot ducks but has been pardoned since 2006 due to his rearing of ducks. See the duck pond above.

Just outside the glow worm cave. This is a man-made cave where glow worms are reared. It was built to conserve the real glow worm caves which were fast being destroyed by too many tourists visiting them. Meaning, the ‘tree’ behind us is totally fake. The glow worms were kind of sparse, though. And no photos allowed.

After our glow worm tour, we checked into Courtyard Marriott. It was really fancy, graciously paid for by Jeffrey pakpak. It is a beautiful hotel right in the centre of Surfer’s Paradise. We could view the city life from our balcony.

After washing up, we drove to the Australian Outback Spectacular show. We booked our tickets online, which gave us an AUD20 discount each. We were given cowboy hats & were assigned to the yellow team. Before the real show began, there was a preshow & lots of outback Aussie deco to look at.

We were served a 3 course meal, starting with a plate of Mixed Bushman’s Queensland salad served with tangy mango dressing. Followed by a Bonza BBQ eye fillet steak, with rich gravy, seasoned with Kakadu plum sauce and served with garden vegetables & damper (the Bushman’s bread). Dessert was traditional baked Pavlova with a Queensland berry sauce & country cream. It was the best meal Anne had during our trip, and Scott thought the Pavlova was like ‘better-than-meringue’ meringue. Beer, wine & lemonade were free flow during the show. Billy tea was served at the end.

Here are scans of the booklet of the show (cost AUS 10)”

A boab tree outside the Australian Outback Spectacular arena.

Surfer’s Paradise doesn’t sleep at night. They were still partying a bit even at 4 am or so.

Gold Coast at 6am. We woke up just for the sunrise, and our room was on the top floor! Our room balcony didn’t face directly east, but it stuck out enough to look around the corner to see the sunrise.

Gold Coast sunrise. A long video of the slow sunrise is below too.

The 5 minute long sunrise video:

After that, we walked the Surfer’s Paradise’s beach.

The wind was really strong! You can see it and hear it in the videos below.

See the amazing sky.

And decorated beach.

We got naughty & visited this shop. =)

As we left though, a family with little kids stopped by too…

Then we drove to Brisbane. A few wrong turns brought us to this road to see the Story Bridge upfront, something we didn’t plan.

We walked around a Sunday market while waiting for Moses & Su at the Eagle Street Pier. Moses & Su are a couple whom we knew from Johor Bahru Baptist Church, and had migrated to Australia the year before.

Two different bands playing, a modern funky one on shore and an old fashioned jazz one on the riverboat:

Moses & Su were our tour guides around Brisbane city. We walked past churches, unique buildings & sculptures.

The Aussies just celebrated Anzac Day & flowers were still at the memorial. You can’t see it, but the shorter pillar in the middle was lit with a flame.

Sporty police car.

An old church in the midst of modern buildings.

At the art gallery. Little post it notes combined together like a quilt. Scott had lots of sarcastic remarks about modern art in this gallery.

A huge pipe organ at the city hall. Yes, it’s really a working pipe organ and not just a wall deco!

Huge lumberjack tools.

A balloon sculptor.

Lunch at a high class hawker centre.

Scott trying to roll a metal ball. They wouldn’t budge, as they are fixed to the ground at the bottom. But they can still spin on the spot.  See the video below.

Creative advertising.

We visited the Queensland Museum.

Moses & Supiya. Moses grew up in Sabah & studied in the US where he met Thai girl, Su. They got married, but eventually moved to Aussie due to problems with Malaysia’s immigration authorities. It’s really Malaysia’s loss.

At the art gallery. Scott demonstrates life imitating art. “This is art? The ‘put finger down throat to puke’ symbolism is so fitting.”

The Brisbane flyer. Scott felt that Brisbane was so much like Singapore… From the city design to the artsy things scattered around the streets to even the pedestrian crossing lights. He thinks he remembers Lee Kuan Yew writing in The Singapore Story (LKY’s memoirs) about sending Singaporean city planners to Brisbane to get inspiration.

Taken while on the City Cat ferry. See below for videos of the ride on the river. Notice anything unusual in the middle of each video?

Cool way to book a taxi.

That night, we had dinner at Grace ee ee’s place (Grace ee ee is Anne’s mum’s cousin). We had aromatic cushcush (wheat made into small grains like rice), barbequed prawns & chicken. All very yummy. We also showed off our 1 year old wedding photos. Notice the African giraffes in this photo? Uncle David just came back from Africa. He was there on a Gideon’s project.

It was extremely cold on Mount Coot-tha.

Thank God for this outdoor heater for the restaurant patrons. It’s a metal grille with real fire blasting out of it! See the video below.

This was at where we parked our car. We were horrified to find out the weekday parking rate. We parked on a Sunday. So it was AUD10 flat.

That night, we stayed at Grace ee ee’s house & drove to Steve Irwin’s place the next morning. (No, not heaven… It’s the zoo he founded, Australia Zoo.)

Lots of reptiles. Some were just running about, like in the video below:

Crocodile wrangling. Actually, more like taunting or disturbing – the handlers hit the water with a bucket to get its attention. Somewhat interesting, but the croc was less than cooperative in putting on a good show. See the video:

Anne was not impressed by the fake Eucalyptus trees.

A cassowary. Fresh cut fruits were in its bowl.

Tasmanian devil and its enclosure. Looks quite innocent here!

This one rested with the mouth open.

What is the orthodontist’s diagnosis?

Oooo…giant turtles!

Komodo dragon.

Super cute otters! See them play in the video:

And listen to a kid mistake Scott for someone else in this one:

Scott was very excited over these kookaburras. He was hoping to catch one on video or at least see one call throughout the Australia trip, and was very blessed to catch the following trio:

It seems that just as we arrived at that area, a wild kookaburra had flown overhead, causing the local ones to challenge the intruder and sing a victory song when he left.

Farm animal petting zoo. No cats for Scott.

The kids loved his place; this lady handler gets a ‘kiss’ from a piglet near the end of this video:

See how far a kangaroo can leap.

Most of the kangaroos were sedate. Probably eat too much and exercise too little. Scott says it feels more like dog fur, and they twitch their ears like a cat does when you disturb their ear:

Birds in their enclosures. Not that the white one can’t fly away, but we think the zoo feeds them to keep them coming back.

Don’t like your baby? You can exchange him. Just make your way to the baby change room. =)

Ladies and gentlemen… Boys and girls… It’s the Tiger That Does Nothing! Behold as he does… Nothing!

Posing with sleepy koalas. Scott pet one on the lower back like the handler said, it felt like a soft teddy bear.

Sleepy stoned lazy thing:

Rolling around like a lazy cat.

Eeyer… He pooped.

Python’s vertebrae, with a piglet skeleton for comparison.

Real-life size of one of the biggest crocodiles rumoured to have been seen.

We also visited the Buderim Ginger factory. We missed the factory tour but got ourselves tickets for the train ride.

The only food left was ice-cream. We had this for lunch. Yummy. Almost all the flavors had ginger in them, and this is ginger-cinnamon. Sooooo good!

Anyone wants to try Aussie croc eggs? Heheh. We were tempted to get a box from the “Macadamia factory”. Hint hint.

After that, we returned to Jeffrey pakpak’s house. There was a traffic jam from Sunshine Coast to Brisbane. We missed seeing NgeeHing pakpak (Scott’s dad’s even oldest brother) but we managed to have dinner with Jeffrey pakpak and his wife Jenny leongleong.

Our final shot in Australia. We left at about 8.30am on May 5th.

Bye Oz! We’ll miss you.

I promised an update about a week ago, and as usual, failed to deliver. I have all sorts of excuses, but I won’t get into that. Instead, a mini update and a picture of Jayda and myself sitting on the moon.

There have been major changes at the club. Yes, again. We are less one owner now, but things are slowly returning to normal. The new building is amazing and has gotten a lot of positive reactions. We’re advertising more on SL events and seeing a lot of new faces. The midnight mania has been a huge help as well. Fawxyn has donated a few items for that, and not only has it helped increase traffic, I’m seeing people from the mm groups come back to hang out. I don’t know how it’s affecting her sales, but I hope it’s helping. We lost some staff as a result of the latest closing/reopening, but we’re not hurting. In fact, I think this put us in a stronger position. We brought on Ozzie as an owner. At his request, his role in the club has not changed much. This wasn’t something I expected. There was a point when we were concerned because people weren’t showing up for his shifts, but he has been very supportive of us. Lost two DJs, but one I had wanted off schedule anyway and the other has returned. Lost three hosts, but have since hired some awesome people. One of our managers is still MIA. Not sure how much longer I’ll be able to tolerate that.

Don’t have much else to say right now. Pulled a double shift DJing last night, which didn’t bother me because it was the first time I’ve had an opportunity to stream in a while. I had scheduled myself when we reopened, but my internet betrayed me and I ended up giving my shifts away. With all shifts filled, I’m back on backup. I suppose that’s not so bad.

I attended Ray Ozzie’s talk about ‘The Potential of Cloud Computing’ on June 4th of this 2009 year. It was quite interesting what Microsoft is trying to do. Although I am sure you are aware of most of these here are few bulletin point that I found interesting.

Ozzie argues that cloud services, such as Microsoft’s Azure platform, will be less profitable for the company. That should not be problem as everything is moving to the cloud. The real margins will be in selling to the mobile market (although there PC market is here to stay).

Everyone sees a major jump in sales of notebooks. Microsoft sees future as ‘family buying 6 notebooks for Christmas and all the apps are being downloaded from the cloud – as needed and per subscription for the same. Real time consumption of services is a must for anyone. The applications must be cached and it should be as straightforward as caching JScript in the browser. On the same note, Ozzie argues that there is no reason why experiences in the browser should be limited to the browser. Every application delivered will and should work on any device and it should have a piece that works on PC, Phone, etc – albeit in a different capacity.

There was a question about private vs. public cloud. Ozzie does not really see what is the debate all about? Both are clouds and it is really up to IT how it will deploy and secure them. Something that I found extremely interesting was the fact that Ozzie sees the whole OS’es wrapped into the cloud. Because Azure is built on top of .NET there is really no reason why some or most of the components of Windows ‘x’ cannot be ‘cloud enabled’.

There will be a major paradigm shift on how are we going to manage cloud. This will affect both the flow and how do you really build UI’s that are used to manage it. There is definitely a need to consolidate management!

We are definitely moving away from 3rd generation of datacenters into 4th. 4th generation is not yet well defined, but essentially there will be a lot of consolidation in this market. Every state/country will have one – at least that is the vision. The primary target for ‘cloud makers’ will be these datacenters and companies that build them.

Microsoft sees VMWare and Amazon as the major competitors for Azure.

Steven Levy, Senior Writer, Wired Magazine (left) in a conversation with Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect, Microsoft at the Churchill Club in Palo Alto

I thought I’ll put here the videos that we shot of Ray Ozzie’s conversation at the Churchill Club last night in Palo Alto, Calif.

Some parts of the interview are still missing as of this writing but ultimately all the conversation will be posted here.

Google Web is anti-Web

On Netbooks

Windows Mobile is still Microsoft’s bet on mobile

On how a future operating systems would look like

Microsoft Office will 100% Cloud-based

The concept of 3 screens and the cloud

Making the Cloud more Secure

Microsoft ThinkWeek is gone for good

Life at Microsoft after Bill Gates

Describing PLATO

Ray Ozzie has decades of experience in developing collaboration systems and has a critical view of Google's attempt in this space

Microsoft stepped up its rhetoric against Google.

This time it’s Microsoft’s Chief Software Architecture Ray Ozzie to criticize Google’s collaboration service Wave launched last week, describing it as “anti-web,” and too complex.

Speaking tonight at the Churchill Club, Ozzie started by saying that “I have nothing but the most high degree of sincere respect of people who took this [Wave] on, because I love it when people think big [...] And what I’ve seen of it, it’s nice.” End of praise.

“I think It’s kind of anti-Web. It violates one principle that I hold so true right now, which is complexity is the enemy in the ethos of the Web [...] And fundamental to the Web are decomposing things to be simple enough. We don’t need open source [...] But what is key to the ethos of the Web are open data formats and open protocols, ” adds Ozzie.

Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect then went on to say that Groove (Ozzie’s former startup and collaboration tool) and Google’s Wave are basically the same thing; also pointing to Microsoft Live Mesh which derives from lessons learn developing Groove and provides a more simpler implementation of the collaboration tool.

Ozzie admitted that Live Mesh is not going to do all the things that Google Wave or Groove do.

“But I think the complexity [of Google Wave] is an issue, and they had no choice because the problem they took on, the way they defined it, is an inherently complex problem,” said Ozzie.

Here’s a video excerpt of Ozzie’s comments on Google’s Wave: