MU lost in FA Cup semi final

MU's unlikely dream of winning 5 trophies this season finally came to an end when it lost its semi final tie with Everton over penalties after 120 minutes of goalless football two days ago.

Sir Alex gambled by fielding 6 youngsters such as Foster, Rafael, Fabio, Gibson, Macheda and Welbeck. Though they managed to hold a very determined Everton team to a goalless draw, they finally lost in the penalty shoot out.

A penalty kick is basically a gamble in itself. Well known strikers have fumbled in their kicks before but the way Berbatov took his kick was an insult to penalty kickers. He should have been kicked instead.

Maybe it is for the better for MU. Now they can concentrate on retaining the Premier League and European Cup. After all, the FA Cup is the least glamorous of the competitions left. Just to console myself, I guess.

Sir Alex, start looking for clubs interested in Berbatov. Maybe Spurs would want him back.

Writer's Block?

It has been a while since I last made a post. A few friends have been asking why I have been so quiet. I was trying to look for a reason and came up with a list:

1. Have I been busy? Not actually. I've been busier before
2. Was I not well? No. I've been okay. In fact I have had some sleepless nights which I could have put to better use by making meaningful posts
3. Was there nothing news worthy that took place? No. In fact I was involved in a few things worth reporting

I finally ran out of excuses and have to admit that the REAL reason is that I was just plain LAZY and still am.

I hope this post will trigger me into writing again.

By Elections

Three by elections took place today for the state seats of Bukit Selambau in Kedah and Batang Air in Sarawak and also for the parliament seat of Bukit Gantang in Perak. BN won the one in Sarawak while Pakatan Rakyat (PAS in Perak and PKR in Kedah) won the other two. All victories were with increased majorities.

As far as I'm concerned it was not a bad day for the Rakyats. It shows that the spirit of change is still intact. I do not think we can do much in the small (in terms of voters) state seat in Sarawak where money talks effectively. It is an uphill battle for the opposition in Sabah and Sarawak still.

Congratulations to the winners who have won fairly. To those who played dirty may you get your due either in this world or in the hereafter.

Man United won Carling Cup

Manchester United won the Carling or League Cup after beating Spurs 4-1 on penalties. It was not vintage United. The two hour game was scrappy as far as I'm concerned. Both sides created some chances but the best chance to me was when Christiano Ronaldo hit the post with a scorching left foot drive in the final seconds of added time in regulation play. The extra 30 minutes was forgettable.

United has won 3 trophies this season (if the season opener Charity Shield is to be considered a trophy). In addition to the Carling Cup, United won the World Club Championship in Tokyo some months back. Now that the Premier League Championship is United's to lose, dare we dream of an unprecedented six trophies? That would be awesome and Sir Alex can retire peacefully at the end of the season. But first. let's get the 3 points at St. James Park, Newcastle on Wednesday.

Mee Udang Sungai Dua Penang

As mentioned in my previous post, we went north to register Aizat at MRSM Kepala Batas. On the way we stopped for lunch of Mee Udang Sungai Dua. It was good as usual but a bit pricey. The prawns cost us RM80 per kilo. Of course we did not buy a kilo of prawns but we had 3 large prawns each and together with the mee and drinks our bill came to slightly above RM100 for the 6 of us. But I must say the mee was good and the prawns fresh and tasty.

Actually, we wanted to try out Mee Banjir Udang in Kuala Sepetang near Taiping. We saw this place featured in a TV rogram recently and decided to look for it. We found the place just outside the town of Kuala Sepetang but the place was so full of people we decided to skip it and head towards Sungai Dua for its famed Mee Udang instead.

Now that Aizat is in Kepala Batas it looks like we will have our mee udang Sungai Dua more often

Aizat off to MRSM Kepala Batas

On Monday, 9 Feb 2009 the whole family headed north for Aizat's registration at MRSM Kepala Batas that is to take place the next day. We decided to go one day earlier so as not to be in too much of a rush. We put up at one of the hotels in Seberang Jaya. Not a bad place but for my subsequent visits to see my son I would most probably stay at Seri Malaysia Kepala Batas. I have not been to Kepala Batas before but the area is reflective of the fact that its member of Parliament is the current Prime Minister.

MRSM Kepala Batas is only in its third year of operations. As expected the whole complex is still "work in progress". The field is still not fully completed, the tennis courts are not playable yet and a few areas are visibly under construction. However, after the experience of sending my second child to an MRSM for which he was part of the first batch of students, this is a relief.

The registration process was relatively quick but the place was hot making all of us feeling tired. Apparently it had not rained for a month in the area and one can feel the heat. After all the "Taklimats" we went back to town for lunch and also purchase things which we have actually purchased before in KL but Aizat conveniently forgot to bring.

Anyway, we finally left MRSM Kepala Batas at around 5:40pm leaving Aizat to taste his first real experience of living away from home. I'm sure he can cope and this experience will make him a much better person in future. I only hope that Aizat thinks the same way soon because I have a feeling he does NOT think so now.

Good luck my son. We love you and will miss you but I know this is for your own good.

Tahniah BN

Nampaknya berjaya juga BN merampas Perak dari Pakatan Rakyat. PM dengan selambanya menyuruh Pakatan menerima keputusan Sultan sama seperti BN menerima keptusan rakyat dalam pilihanraya lepas. Saya ingat rakyat mahu Pakatan memerintah, jadi bila pulak yang BN menerima keputusan pilihanraya.

Walaupun demikian, saya berpendapat kita tidak perlu tersangat risau. Tentunya apa yang ditakdirkan oleh Allah ada hikmahnya. Betul, kita tidak boleh menerima semuanya tanpa menjelaskan pendirian kita. Tetapi kita perlu lihat jangka panjang. Kalau kita sanggup hidup bawah pentadbiran BN selama 50 tahun apakah kita tidak boleh menunggu 3 atau 4 tahun lagi?

Pakatan telah membuktikan dalam masa 10 bulan, tanpa sebarang pengalaman memerintah dan Pakatan yang dipaksa pada mulanya, mereka telah menjalankan kerja dengan baik. Tidak mungkin BN dapat membuat dengan lebih baik.

Cuba kita lihat pula apa kesilapan yang telah Pakatan buat. Pertama, Anwar merancang dan menghebohkan untuk merampas kuasa dengan cara yang serupa dengan apa yang dibuat oleh BN. Mungkin ada justifikasi seperti penipuan dalam pilihanraya dan sebagainya tetapi ia tetap menidakkan keputusan pilihanraya yang telah dipersetujui bersama. Syukur, ini tidak berlaku. Kalau berlaku, adakah Pakatan mahu rakyat menerima tindakannya sama seperti BN mahu rakyat menerima tindakan mereka sekarang?

Kedua, tindakan BN di Perak akan membuat lebih ramai rakyat yang berfikir untuk menyokong Pakatan. Saya cukup yakin Pakatan akan jadi lebih kuat dimasa akan datang, bukan saja di Perak malah seluruh negara. Yang penting kita mesti menambah bilangan rakyat yang berfikir.

Ketiga, ia akan memberi peluang kepada Pakatan untuk memikirkan betapa pentingnya mereka membuat keputusan dengan mengambil kira komposisi ras dinegara ini.

Cuma satu yang saya agak terkilan. Saya rasa kewibawaan Sultan Perak akan agak terjejas akibat episod ini. Baginda satu-satunya Sultan yang mempunyai imej "berpelajaran" terpaksa membuat keputusan yang boleh dipertikaikan ramai.

Tahniah Pakatan dan Tahniah Rakyat.