finally but just only..... it's the LIFT

size 8 wasnt quite right but size 7 is just perfect.......

when i was facing a 10% discount (+ a further 20% off) at the store, i have to bite the bullet to get it..... even though the store was almost closing haha

but it's not exactly the pair i want...... for that, i'd keep my fingers crossed...... if things go smoothly, i'll get another pair....

sunday's update....

allow me to confess..... even though i'd been bugging mr 850-dollar man, i know he does not relent easily......

you cannot force a usually thrifty family-man to turn into a spendthrift overnight right? haha.... moreover, he now has a kid to take care of... so it's only right he saves for a rainy day..... but then in singapore, it rains pretty frequently so that means it's very ok to spend when it rains ...... HAHA .....

to be fair to our friend, he will spend when it's necessary and so it is my duty to let you know that he indeed has played his part as a loyal singaporean to jump-start the economy by shopping during the GSS.....

and here's the list of items he bought on sunday:

2 pillow cases

1 bedsheet set

4 towels

1 leather keyholder/pouch.....

total spending approx $250...... and together with monday's purchases, the total spending has surpassed $300......

yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! impossible is nothing.............!

GRAF 3...

on sunday night, i usually will prepare monday's work clothes..... which includes putting on the badges and other little things..... last sunday was a little different as my trusty disposable pen was retired in favour of the new graf .... with delight, i gently dropped it into the shirt pocket....

i didnt understand why but it was kinda exciting to have a new companion at work ....maybe it's just the feeling of having something new....

so throughout the day i kept looking for opportunities to bring it out........ partly to admire its beauty and design.... and of cos to use it to write .....

it may not be uber expensive but i really like the look of this pen............. the icing on the cake is that it writes well.... very well in fact......

shoes and socks....

mr 850 dollar-man sent me a SMS not too long ago....

he wrote:

2 pairs of shoes and socks for S$55 from bata.....

so i replied:

pls send MMS....

and i thought, that's a good start, well done and keep it UPPPPP!!

huh..... what's new...??

it took many years to bear fruit but it's still so UGLY.......

and it's still stuck to the windscreen....... and thieves can still have the chance to steal your cards .....

YEAH HURRAYYYYYYYYY!!!

brave....

i think malaysia is brave to make the decision to keep their youth squads at home..... why come to singapore??? dun forget singapore is now ONE of the biggest community of H1N1 carriers.... that's a fact....

why bother to come here and run the risk of catching it and then "enjoy" the plight of being quarantined once they reach home.....?

unless your tummy is too full and you have got nothing else better to do, one can visit CDC, CDC2, aloha loyang, PA campsite, republic poly, riverlife church, maju camp, police coast guard, tekong camp and so on so on.....to get a sniff of H1N1....

if not just stay at home.....

embrace...!

well well just get ready to embrace the FLU..... cos there's no escape....

"It's a matter of time"...... the wise man said.....

yeah.... before it catches you off-guard, why not welcome it with open arms......

maybe some guys should offer H1N1 transmission services for those that wish to be quarantined for 7 days..... i think the homeless and hungry might be interested....

for a free stay at selected holiday resorts and also the free meals that come along, why not...... haha.... one even gets tv, internet, magazines and books......

can they request for PS3..... or PSP..... or Wii..........???

mayhem... ahem

oh no oh no....

when school reopens, mayhem returns.......

there's nothing like traffic jams in the morning of a school and work day........ one word: terrible.....

let's hope more school will decide to send their kids home haha........

too soon...

when the weekend comes to a close, the monday blues come creeping in......

as the number of flu cases keep going up, i have a feeling tomorrow's gonna be a real busy day.... yeah busy with all the plans to deal with the flu bug....

well no matter what, i gonna get a good sleep before all that happens....

sleep is VERY important haha..... i love sleeping....

GRAF 2..

no words just pics......

the choice... is GRAF..

after having coffee with CSS yesterday, i went back home, washed up and made my way to bras basah complex: the land of books .....

by then it was close to 4 in the afternoon and i just had to grab something eat ..... my legs were getting soft haha.....must be too hungry as the only substance that filled my stomache till then was coffee and nothing else.....

after a simple meal of dumpling noodles, i browsed at a few bookstores before stopping over at fook hing...... within the complex, they have the best selection of fine writing instruments..... they have mont blanc, dunhill, parker, nakimi, acme, waterman and so on......... and i spend the better half of an hour looking around......

it seemed that my choices were limited bcos of my demands ... haha somehow i made life for myself difficult.....

firstly the ideal pen for me must not come with a cap..... i dun like to handle a pen cap and the extra effort to uncap and recap...... i very much prefer a twist-action pen..........so that more or less ruled out many of the fine pens available.....

next: no fountain pen for me...... number 1 choice is roller ball/gel and followed by ballpoint pen...... the ideal is of cos the ability to interchange the refills......

so i discovered that...... there are NOT so many roller ball pens with NO caps........... now that seriously was a headache.....OUCH!!...... but i wasnt really deterred and continued looking around.......

in the end, i was presented with a few choices......

a very affordable LAMY in aluminium..... less than $50

a colourful ACME roller ball pen...... about S$150.....

during those minutes of writing and signing off, i think both are OK .... but i wasnt KEEN on getting either of them....... the ACME is too colourful and i dun think it looked serious enough for use at work........ and sorry to say that although the LAMY is good for the money, i also wished for something more substantial in price and weight.......... and so i continued to scout and as i looked around, i saw IT......

a GRAF von Faber-Castell Guilloche Chevron in black resin and rhodium-plated metal....

as i held it in my hand, i could feel its perfect balance..... and having the right balance is more important than judging a pen by its weight alone.........as i got to know it better, it seemed to grow more beautiful...... not only was the finishing excellent, its twist mechanism was as smooth as butterrrrrr....... and the awesome appearance didnt disappoint at all.. i felt great using it to write......... it certainly made me wanna write more.... haha.... isnt that cool.....

to square things off...... i pitted the graf against the mont blanc starwalker in resin....... which was a S$295 vs S$500 challenge...... in terms of comfort, smoothness and performance, i prefer the graf...... and the graf is cheaper by a large margin......

and so it was decided.....

stay tuned as pics will follow.....

correction....!! puma

my apologies.... this is actually S$139 instead of S$159..... and there's no discount for ferrari merchanise (i moved closer to read the fineprint on the advertising board...ALAS!!).......

to get things over and done with, i decided to try....... THE LAST PAIR in the store, which happened to be a size 8......

i told myself, if i like it i'd buy it....... remember life is short, why think so much....... right?

ok.. size 8 feels fine but it's just a little loose....i'd want a chance to try size 7 but too bad last pair huh.....

after all the effort, here's the anti-climax....... it's not comfortable......cos i felt something hard and stiff pressing on my arch.........SIGH..... ok lah, i managed to save S$139 anyway............

chitty chatty.....

i must be too tired.... very very tired cos i slept all the way until noon ..... and despite all the hours of rest, i was still tired.......

what finally made me got me out of bed was CSS........ well he was nearby and asked if i was free for coffee...... yeah why not ... since i am always ready for a morning cuppa.... but in this case, it's more like an afternoon cuppa haha.....

as usual we talked about many things.... but there's a slight difference this week.... which is the continuation of the 850-dollar man..... how could we make this guy go shopping..???? if he's not going to spend it on himself, why not spend on his friends?? haha.......

get him to buy things for CSS, LWL and me ............YES! that's the plan......

firstly we must get him to show-hand...... i.e. show his account balance.... and then arm-twist him to buy things for us.......

hehe............ *thumb-up*

making inROADs....

between orchard road and queen's road...... i think the latter sounds a little bit more atas (high-class)...... come on, it's about the fruit vs the queen, right..???

when it comes to names, i never consider AP as being creative and original ...... so using the locations of the boutiques is maybe only a matter of convenience......

for the followers of AP limited editions, they know the stream is endless anyway so this new model is no new surprise....... i reckon stretching the production to 100 pcs is the max they shd go..... for anymore would be considered as dumping (haha)....

in terms of weight, the orchard road is surely the winner as the HK-edition is made of titanium...... but in terms of significance, the queen's road is far too similar to the JBB (malaysian-edition)..... there are always more special limited editions and somehow i feel that THIS would never be ranked as the more important ones.....

feel free to disagree....

no escape...

being it superstar or no-namer, all will die sooner or later......

so might as well enjoy your day......

eat what you like.... and buy what u want...... dun ever think one can wait for a good day to come..... it may or may not come..... so dun be sorry to yourself......

go shopping today..!

tempted but but but.....

this evening while waiting for my friend (aka the 850 dollar man) to turn up, i went for a quick and dirty window-shopping hunt..... and at the puma store, i saw the new lift racer with the prancing horse logo.....

at S$159 with 20% discount (for DBS live fresh amex card holders only), i was a little tempted....... eerrr but in the end, i passed.......

being so light it must be SUPER comfortable...... and furthermore, the soles are flat........ perfect for driving.......

should i buy thissssssssss?????

a waste of time....

i have until the end of the month to go for a medical screening......

and so this morning, a few more days before the deadline, i made my way to changi airport t3 raffles medical clinic .....

although it was supposedly a FULL screening, only a few simple tests were involved.......

record height and weight....1 min

collect urine sample.....5 min

collect blood samples.......5 min

ECG..... 10 min

see doctor..... 10 min

but i was at the clinic for 3.5 hrs................ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and guess what, the rest of the time was spent WAITING...!!

balls to RMG...!!

one big happy family!!

haha after all the threats and insults over the past few weeks and months, the major players have called a truce and ended the war.....

F1 is one big happy family again...!! no more breakaway..... and everyone is happy. at least for now haha

quarantineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

well well looking at the number of new H1N1 cases we have everyday, i think we may run out of places to quarantine infected persons very very soon...........

things may just explode from hundreds into thousands in a few weeks' time.......... what will happen to us all??

looks like we may have a losing battle on our hands........ cos there is no sure way of telling who is sick with H1N1........

is there a cheap and simple way to find out?......

what can you buy for S$850...??

during the weekend, this was THE topic..... what can you buy for S$850...????

my friend who just spent that amount on a acer notebook computer was telling me that's it.... he would not spend another S$850.....

but i told him.... "come on, you need a new suit, a new pair of leather shoes.... and perhaps a belt too"......so that became the challenge.... i.e. to buy a suit, a pair of shoes and a leather belt for the amount....

too bad he didnt take it up........ he said "no more money"........ CSS and i did not believe him haha........ and so we wanted to go to the ATM to check the account balance......

please show ussssssss.... ok??

soul to soul.....

with money anyone can build a world-class race track...... just like what turkey did with istanbul park........ a brilliant and beautiful design that includes the most fearsome series of corners in formula 1.......

but money cannot buy the passion and soul.......... silverstone may be old and aged but oh COME ON, the place was SOLD OUT..!! ..... while istanbul park wasnt even half full....

silverstone is JUST AWESOME...!!..... the first few corners are absolute madness when taken at FULL THROTTLE......!! no lifting off at all........ it's just crazy..... i think our road cars will FLY off the track if we try to do that........ cos road cars can never come close to the aerodynamic and mechanical grip f1 cars have

yeah...... baby! will it be the last at silverstone..???? i hope not..... even though donington park is also another rich-wth-tradition race track.....

so many orchard road..???

there are only 100 pieces of AP ROO orchard road in the whole wide world...... hey but what and where the heck is orchard road..???

pretty simple, it's the name of THE very famous road here in singapore which is choked full of shopping malls ...... and the AP boutique is located at nowhere else but orchard road of cos....

ok let's not get carried away with the name and now back to the important issue.... since there are only 100 pieces manufactured for the boutique, you'd expected them to be scarce and hard to find..... remember what the ADs and boutique staff told you? "very difficult to get" they said.....

however, in recent weeks and months, i noticed that quite a few have sprouted out in used-goods dealers in singapore...... and many pieces are listed as Brand New In Box (BNIB), which means that the watches are in a almost-brand-new and unused condition.....i think the owners bought the watches most likely with the intention for flipping............ outside of singapore, there are a few pieces being offered in international watch forums ....

it's a pity really..... cos those that had wanted to get one at list price never had a chance......

92..... RON

a little surpriseeeeee....!

after using the pivot 3 throttle controller on SP7 for the past few weeks, i am pleasantly surprised to find that my fuel mileage did not suffer at all...... in fact it improved to 10.90 km/l for the last tank!....... not bad at all huh?

well i know it better than to claim a hollow victory cos the peak hour traffic during the school vacations is not as heavy as a normal working and schooling day...... the next few weeks will prove to be more representative and realistic..... but then using SP7 is so much fun that i wouldnt think of switching it off....

since i was able to tabulate the mileage, it means that today IS top-up day....... to shave a few dollars off the bill, i wanna switch to octane 92 from now on....... and YIPPIEE.!! i managed to save 4 dollars immediately.......

the thing to do now is to monitor the car's performance over the next few days..... will there be power losses with less octane..?? will fuel mileage improve or increase?

let's find out....

heating up....

with the heat-wave continuing here in singapore both day and night, i hardly have the mood to get out of the house..... if not for my friend who came by this afternoon, i'd stayed at home and slept my day away haha.....

at first we couldnt decide where to go..... but we usually let the driver go the job......so how about looking for food in one of the biggest cluster of buildings in the east ..... being fully airconditioned, the airport is a good getaway in the sweltering heat......

but the parking charges is abit ridiculous..... i.e. even more expensive thatn downtown charges..... to make the airport an attractive F&B venue, they should seriously relook at the parking charges...... come on, the airport is not takashimaya...... so wake up LAH!

my bike and i at cameron

for the fun of it i was browsing photos stored in the hard drive.... and i thought some of which are quite memorable..... like this one....

only my bike and i at cameron highlands....... the rest were still making their way up and since there was a junction, i had to stop and wait.....

i wasnt sure what is in blue valley but the name is pretty cool haha....... even though blue valley sounds kinda out of place sandwiched between simpang pulai and gua musang..

i remember i was pretty glad to see the yellow sign...... but what i didnt know was there was still quite a long way to go before we reach the hostel...

anyway cameron highlands nowadays is a heavily populated and polluted place....... not cool at all....... but the ride up and there was simply terrific.... :)

up the GUNS...

since manning road blocks is fast becoming an occupational hazard, i think they should have GPMG (general purpose machine gun) mounted at these danger-spots to shoot any drivers that think of running away.....

haha

who cares about you when things go awry

if your private banker, either directly or indirectly, "helped" you to lose 1 billion dollars..... you surely have a right to be upset ....

the only consolation is not many ppl have 1 billion dollars to lose in the first place..... but i guess many are interested to see the outcome of the case...... how liable are banks and their private bankers when investments go bad......how liable are they for the advice they give...... how liable are they for the information they give....... and what defines "misrepresentation".... and so on....

the street rule is... banks are your friends when you are in rolling good times..... and they could flip instantly like a "roti-prata" when you run into bad times......

so beware....

sue and sue....

someone said so what if FIA is going to sue ferrari and the rest for breach of contracts.......

there's an easy way out ......just participate next year with lousy cars and back-up drivers .... haha..... it's the cheapest way to get out of the shit......

meanwhile they can bring the money over to a NEW championship......

so settles it...... what's there to sue....

let force india and williams fight for the world championship...... so is that worth billions of dollars?

tasks completed....

i just came back not too long ago and am still very glad that i managed to complete what i set out to do.......

not only was the fender fixed, that sicko dent that irked me was also settled as well....... by the good ppl at lye designs (AMK Autopoint Level 4) who happened to offer dent-removal services...... so it was a one-stone-kill-two-bird kinda job........ all was done within 45 mins...... good job and thank you....

after that i went over to parkway parade city chain to replace the watch battery......... which is another quickie ....

and across the walkway is a shop that retails watches, pens and accessories...... so i went in to take a look...... they have dunhill, mont blanc and also cartier pens...! i didnt forget to browse the more affordable alternatives like parker, lamy and sheaffer .... haha but i didnt buy anything in the end.......

it was a productive friday.......

yeah balls to FIA....

YES! finally some have had enough to decide to form a breakaway series...... but since F1, formula1 are registered trademarks then this new series shall have a NEW branding.... i just wonder what will it be....?

williams and force india have signed up and submitted their unconditional entries before this development so what will happen to their engine suppliers? no more mercedes-benz engines for force india since mclaren-mercedes are saying sayonara to formula1.....??

let's see what happens........ it should be interesting and i think this is just a poker game....... who will blink first...?? who will call the bluff? max mosley? bernie the man? or the teams?

no matter what, this budget cap for 2010 is too extreme a move ......... too much to ask for and too fast within a short span of time....... no wonder the FOTA teams are united this time.....

genting..!

this was taken in genting highlands a few years ago..........

kinda missed the days of riding and going for long trips....... every time i went up genting, the feeling was never quite the same haha........

each and every trip was fun and it's still one of the most enjoyable place to go riding or driving....... especially the karak highway and not forgetting the way up and down.......

new tasks...

2 things i need to do tomorrow....

one, get a replacement battery for my quartz chronograph.....

two... get a mechanic to roll up the fenders for the car...... i just hate it when the tyres scrap the rear fender.....

let's hope i can wake up early to get things done haha.....

every second counts.....

due to some last minute events, i had to leave a little later yesterday evening...... and i had exactly ten minutes to beat the 1800 hrs ERP gantry.....

as usual, there were many obstacles and challenges along the way.... i.e. road hoggers, driver with anti-social behaviour etc...... well no choice but i did my best to make my way forward....... if i could switch lanes to overtake a road hogger, i did.......

so finally as i caught sight of the gantry, i took a glance at the clock..... 17:59 !! ...... but i was stuck behind this vios in lane 2......... OUCH! but come on come on, i said to myself.....

since i was sandwiched left and right, i could do nothing ........ but seeing that there was less than 100 metres to go i thought i had a chance....... now instead of accelerating or at the least maintaining the crusing speed, damn this lady driver in a vios decided to slow down........ for reasons only she knew!!!..... just cannot take it that she took her own sweet time even as the clock counted down..... damn..!

in the end, one second.... YES! ONE SECOND...!!! one second before i reached the gantry..... which was approximately 10 metres..... the LIGHTS CAME ON...!!!

damn the vios..... who made me pay ERP even though i could have made it........ DAMN..!

tough and tougher...

every morning the most difficult task is to drag myself out of bed......

to make sure i can wake up on time, i have the clock-radio ready..... as well as handphone alarm, snooze-alarm and another quartz alarm..... all on stand-by.... haha.... being late for work is no joke so i have no choice.....

if given a chance, i'd wanna just laze in bed until the sun comes out............

well well.... in a few hours' time gonna go to work again.............. AHHH....

everyday is getting tougher......

go hand in hand.....

so this week we had another round of price increase for petrol.....

and to add to the insult, COE prices continue to rise..... the momentum keeps on going and going.......

maybe i need to switch to octane 92 petrol this coming top-up..... so that i can save a few dollars haha......

since the economy is SUPPOSED to be suffering .... why are so many ppl still buying cars..???

TAG the right direction......

i saw these last week during my visit to an AD........ and they didnt catch my attention at all ..... these pictures taken by Kong certainly did though....

maybe it's the lighting.... or it could be the close-ups.....

no matter what, i consider these better-looking tags............. even if you never like cyclops on a watch crystal, the rest of the touches are still a right step ahead....

unlike most that are just taking up space in the display shelves, this range has a match-winning look...... especially the larger numerals which are set on a ribbed bezel, a cool touch when one realises that rubber, a relatively low-cost material, was used to create contrast and detail....

powering the watch is a ETA-clone, renamed as calibre 5 by tag........... you can certainly expect a work-house performance from this commoner from the stable of ETA.....

all pictures copyright of VL Kong

more and more avmox 2 chronographs..????

WHATTTTTT???

another version of the JLC amvox 2 chronograph....?? they are not going to stop, are they?

after the original amvox 2, amvox 2 black titanium, amvox 2 dbs, amvox 2 dbs steel and now the amvox 2 racing............... ohhhhh and the list gets longer.....

i really hope they stop messing with it............. and i am no fan of an unlimited run of limited edition watches.......

too close AHH!

well well.....

the first prize for saturday's 4D draw was .... 6317....

OUCH.!

no compromise 2 - federal ss 595

after using it for more than 3000 km, this should be a timely update on the performance for the federal ss 595 UHP tyres......

only last week when i was sending my friend to work early one morning, he said "why is your engine so noisy?"....... so i told him nah nah, that's not the engine he was hearing, IT'S THE TYRES..!! and he was astonished to find out that the 4 pieces of rubber were the culprit..... so you like a quiet ride then stay away from the ss 595..... cos it will drive you nuts...... especially on the highway where it will just ROAR away, haha....

in life, there's always a trade-off.......... if you lust for grip and performance, then throw away all notions of comfort and low-noise..... however, if you want good performance at a ridiculous price (especially for budget conscious ppl) then you ought to try the ss 595..... i have read comments that the evo 595 is far quieter on the move but i cant give you an answer cos i have yet to try that...... next time maybe....

one really needs to try hard to unsettle the ss 595 .... and right now, its limit is beyond the car's........ the suspension system usually gives in far earlier than the tyres....... an aftermarket coilover suspension would be a good complement for the ss 595...... only then can the driver push the limits further....... just to see which will give up first........ i.e. the suspension, the tyres, the car or most importantly, the driver.... haha..... in most cases, i think the driver will find his limits sooner than the rest.......

inflated to 34 psi, the ss 595 is a thoroughly competent tyres for the driver who demands grip, feedback and consistent performance both wet and dry....... i am sure there are better tyres than this but i think these are surely far more expensive than the made-in-taiwan federal ss 595..... at below S$200 each for 225/45-18, they are the definitely high up in the VFM stakes.....

i do hope they last more than 30,000 km....... so i am keeping my fingers crossed......

mix and match AP style...

although this is a completely new model, it does seem vaguely familiar........

remember the AP ROO orchard road (limited to 100 pcs)????? cast in the grey metal of tantalum, the orchard road too has a rubber coated bezel........ now this new gstaad classic comes in another grey metal, the featherweight titanium..... and also has a rubber coated bezel..... now i find both are too close to comfort in terms of look .....

well if you know about royal oak offshore, then this is stale news..... cos mixing and matching is a tried and tested ploy when it comes to the ROO...... i.e. usually very successful.....

anyway for this year, the ROO to go for is the bubble bee..........

get a pen?

nowadays i have to pen my signature very frequently........ in fact many times a day.......

i think that over the past few months, i have signed on more occasions than..... hmmm... all my last five years combined ... haha..... so you can more or less appreciate how much more often i have to do it now...

to make the experience more pleasing, i was thinking of getting a fine writing instrument...... maybe i am just itching to buy something again....... and this was a good opportunity to get an excuse to shop..... considering that i have used only el cheapo disposable ball-point pens all these years, to get a nicer pen shouldnt be counted as extravagent.......?? hehe....

the usual suspects are of cos mont blanc...... dunhill..... waterman..... and what else...? louis vuitton may not come to mind but i do like their offerings pretty much......

let's see how it goes..... maybe i'll get a more affordable piece....

tougher that normal struts..??

is the more the merrier when it comes to strut bars? nowadays, 3-point and 4-point tie-down bars are getting very common...... so are 2-point bars obsolete? nah dun worry, having one is always better than none...... and strut bars work effectively to stiffen the chassis ...

some ppl swear by a 1-piece welded strut bar against the more common bolt-together alternatives....... i do happen to think that a 1-piece bar is stronger but only if the welds are done well......

i keep telling my friend to install one in his MPV..... but he never listens to me.... SOB SOB......

the GV and rolex

can anyone remember the hype and excitment when the milgauss was launched a couple of years ago..???

can anyone remember how much the first few pieces was sold for in singapore...??? as far as i can remember, figures back then was about S$20,000 .........

recently i saw a GV being sold at S$10,500 at an AD........ although this is about S$1,500 more than the list price, the selling prices are far more reasonable then before.....

can anyone get one at list price? i think it could be done........

lucky me...

i so wanted to visit the PC show..... even though i had nothing in mind, i thought maybe it's a good chance to grab a simple camera to use in the car..... 

and i was very near suntec city this afternoon..... to be exact i was at raffles city but on second thoughts, the entire area must be crawling with ppl......

in the end, i decided to avoid it..... and i was proven right when i saw the evening news ..... IT was NOTHING but MADNESS.... haha.....

too clear.....

if you didnt know, the 9 pm blockbuster being broadcast on weekdays over channel 8 was shot in HD.....

and HD means much greater clarity and resolution for the viewers..... isnt that a good thing? of cos it is.....

but for the mediacorp artistes, that can only be BAD ASS............. cos now we can see that constance song's complexion isnt really THAT fantastic....... and THOSE wrinkles that AH JIE is having..... she's really aged in recent years...... so when she's next to LIM MEI JIAO, they look more like sisters......

no good no good haha.......

thick and thin

over coffee, the topic was about THICK and THIN........

so as we found out, the Toast was THICK ... but the Otah was THIN..... even though the item was OTAH THICK TOAST....... and my friend said, it's not THICK OTAH TOAST......

maybe they should rename it as THIN OTAH ON THICK TOAST........

sometimes ...

i dun usually agree with what mahathir says.... but then sometimes, he could be right.... and he said:

“It is not healthy to only have one party in the country. If there’s no opposition, then there is no mirror to see whether our face is pretty or not,”

and he could be right......

it's a matter of timing...

in life, we all need to make choices.... 

many a time, our choices are dictated by many factors.... and one of those is a matter of timing...... how so you may ask....

well, recently a colleague wants to buy a new rolex submariner 16610lv..... the iconic green bezel diving watch...... and guess what, my favourite store is out of stock.....

i remember a few months ago, supply was not only plentiful but it also was offered with a never-heard-of discount....

but now? not only no stock and perhaps even no discount.....

so much about choosing the right moment...... 

last week's addition.... pivot 3 drive....

i've been hearing good comments about this little gadget....... one that does nothing to the vehicle's power output except to sharpen or to mute its throttle response..... 

this is akin to a quarter-turn throttle for race bikes.... where a little goes a longggggg way

being the impatient kind, i was trying to get my hands on one..... albeit at the right price.... cos when it was first launched, the market price was more than S$500??? recently i've seen prices hovering around S$420 (with installation) and S$398 (cash and carry).....

before this, there are other similar products out in the market.... but those were mainly non-adjustable...... 

one advantage of the pivot 3 drive is that drivers can choose the throttle response they desire.... i.e. economy, normal or sport ......why though? well well if your mother were to drive the car during the weekends, u certainly wouldnt want her to be using the SP7 setting right? 

so over the weekend, i took the chance to try it out...... i think although the price isnt really that cheap, it does make driving more fun in a certain way..... especially getting wheelspins when trying to move off the line.....

NICE... number...

ah..... shot this at the junction outside mandarin gardens..........

what a nice number to have...... *cheers*.....

YAWN... errr BRAWN..!???

haha..... YAWN..!!! and it sounds just like BRAWN..!!!

cos it's the B & B show again ....

B & B as in BRAWN and BUTTON......... YAWNNNNNNN!!....

more strength..!

perhaps you have run out of ideas or accessories for the car.... but dun fret, cusco is here to save you from retail-depression........

most ppl would not hesitate to install a strut bar for the front tower...... from what i see, the rear tower bar is a less popular option... maybe it's more expensive or most ppl think that the front is more crucial for a front-wheel driven car.... 

no matter what's your choice, the cucso rear tower with its signature blue colour is definitely a delicious accessory to behold..... one may even be tempted to open the boot more often to admire the new purchase.... haha

after stiffening the rear tower, pls do not neglect the lower braces.... you wouldnt wanna have a weak link the system do you...?

the last item is reserved for the ultimate in overkill, TIE EVERYTHING THATS LOOSE TOGETHERRRRRRRRRR...!!

i seriously wonder how it helps in the handling......... and not to forget at what price haha.... 

job cuts....

if this goes on, very soon nelson piquet will be out of a job at renault....... one cannot keep throwing the car away and hope to get away with it.....

flavio the boss was not very patient with jarno trulli and giancarlo fisichella when they were with renault .... so he is being unusually tolerant of NP...... way beyond being patient i would say....

but unless something unusual happens in the later half of the season, nothing can save his job....

and when is adrian sutil going to get his chance to drive a competitive car...??? come on, this guy deserves a better car..... so GIVE the man a TIGER hehe....

lazy to groom

being the lazy bum, i decided to call in the mobile grooming service to clean and polish the car....

at first i'd thought of doing it alone but the idea of going through the ordeal for a couple of hours and ending up with sore fingers is abit too much..... so why not pay ppl to do the job.....

well S$50 is quite reasonable...... something that i could still stomach.....

let's see if the outcome is good..... i'll let you know huh... 

gradual take....

yeah... this is about one of the more challenging roads in singapore i.e. the KJE to BKE (towards PIE) interchange.... and i would say this is a very gradual and definitely almost legal attempt ...

try it and see how u feel haha...

just resign....

get real.... the FLU is almost everywhere in the world....

so just get ready for the full-blown affair sooner or later here...... where even all the hospital beds will not be enough???

there seemed to be no easy way to stop it.... and USA is now officially the biggest exporter of FLU haha..............

so much for free trade...... cos they give you FREE FLU...!

MOCCA!

hey.... the advertisement for MOCCA is just plain irritating..!

CLICK CLICK....... enough is enough lah.....

barking up the wrong tree

from what i can understand from the press release, this is one piece of Haute Horlogerie and state of the art timepiece....... which features a minute repeater with a dazzling shutter/blade display and design on the dial....

too bad it doesnt really look impressive ...... perhaps the photo was badly taken, somehow the diamonds look more like aluminium foil wrappers....

OOPSS..... what a pity.....

nonsense....

it was reported in the papers that a few concerned parties are looking into the feasibility of having a no-fault system for motor insurance in singapore....

so why should we subscribe to such a system? what are the merits.....? is there any in the first place? i am not very sure about this..... but it certainly hurts the drivers who were not at fault cos under this system, you have to pay for damages caused by other guilty parties...... no matter what happens, YOU PAY (YOU BLEED).....

some even suggested that accident reports should be made under oath ..... oh come on, dun be innocent...... does one seriously believe that everyone will be truthful under oath??? it is quite obvious when ppl appear in court, they may not even be telling the whole truth..... so how can this help? humans will simply lie to get things their way, no doubt about it...... especially when they wanna save their own skin......

what we need in the interim are accredited survey specialists............. independent, professional and accredited ppl who assess damages......  and ensure that no repairs/works shall commence without the approval of these specialists....... only then can we control the costs of parts and repairs............ 

as for the medical claims, it's up to the medical fraternity to do something about it.....

told you so....

told you already.......... dun go to the USA......

unfortunately some ppl did not bother with the warning..... and ended up giving many here so much trouble and problem....

instead of having fun, they brought the FLU back....

good gracious me..!

damn...!

a switch to passion fruit....

hehe starting from 1st june 09, i decided to switch to passion fruit...... after months of using the orange or satsuma scented shower gel, the darker fruit is also a VERY good choice...

smells wonderful....!

damn whoever

damn ....!

when i cleaning the bird poo-poo off the car, i saw the always-hated mini-dent...... so obvious when the sunshine is reflecting off the painted surface....

from that position, the possible culprit is ....... whoever that opened a car door with so much venom...... damn...

well well, it's a vicious cycle that i'd written about months ago.......

driving an old car is kinda ok when one cant be bothered about scratches and dents.....

vacations...!

yeah! i love school vacations...!!

not because i have anything to do with it directly ....

but all it meant was LESS CARS on the roads.....

everything is SO much smoother............

what a reprieve.....