what money can do...

yes exactly.... it's all about money..... and we have all witnessed what money can create..... i.e. the most spectacular yas marina circuit .....

oh gosh, the size and scale of the venue is just awesome even when seen on TV..... i cant imagine if one is there personally........ it surely will be a humbling experience

marina bay and yas marina.... both similar in name but what a big difference when it comes to doing things the right way....

surf to the max....

looks like there is an on-going war among the telcos for their mobile internet plans......

this week m1 is offering their 1 gb plan at 9.95 per month ...........but of course one gonna sign a 24 months contract with them......

well this kinda matches what starhub is doing but not to forget, users on starhub get free mobile tweets and always-free MSN on-line as well as demand TV..... not that i wanna watch TV on my phone but who's to complain for something that's FREE

recently i'd changed to M1's 20 mb plan at 5.35.... so should i upgrade to this..??? but i hate to be bound by another contract......

hmmmm, it's just another 5 dollars more .....

cosworth in singapore....

there's a new tuning shop in singapore: spark motorsports.......... which is joint venture between comfortdelgro and LTM.....

i am abit tempted to go take a look but oh it's at senoko... YES SENOKO!!... which is many many miles away from town...... gosh ....TOOOOOOO FAR for just a check-it-out trip.......

anyway i think most of the things are not for me...... the goodies are mainly for evo and wrx/sti.......

ok i should save the fuel for this haha.....

laze in bed...

ah i love saturdays (only when it's a non-working day of course).....

cos i can laze around in bed and wake up only when i am satisfied....

to wake up on time early on weekdays is such a torture.......

knock it off....

i am still having a headache so what i did was to pop another synflex tablet.......

usually dentists will dispense synflex after wisdom tooth extractions...... but since i still have a good supply after my previous surgery, i can put them to good use.......

when it comes to "more" pain, i dun depend on panadol..... panadol works on simple pains only

trading in 2...

ok got it...!!

one 501 for another...... one old for the new......

and managed to get another 5% off the price when i used a citibank credit card....... so on the whole it's still a decent deal.......

trading in...

levi's is giving $50 for old jeans....

and since i have 1 piece of 501 in a not-so-popular colour, maybe i should swap it for a newer pair.....

rather than have it rotting in the closet, getting a S$50 value is not too bad for something that's worthless subjectively

yeah i should do it....

hopefully i can find a carpark lot at my fav carpark...

pluck it...!

ok finally got the tooth out....

but i overslept and had to rush over to the dental clinic.....

so ended up going there with a empty stomach..... not even my usual morning coffee...!!

and now i have to bite on piece of cotton to stop the bleeding..... while doing that i cant eat or drink.!!

so hungry haha.....

day and night....

did you notice that there are taiwanese drama serials in the night......

we already have them in the afternoons and weekend evenings.......... especially on sundays, where we get a solid 3 hrs of melodrama ....

and now mediacorp is not giving us a break .... they wanna whack us even at night haha....

subaru fights back...!!

for years we have to suffer with odd-looking subaru cars, old, present and new.....

but this is going to change....

and if this beast comes to singapore..... WOW.....

then subaru can be back to what it was.....

easy to forget

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/10/28/new-sponsor-for-renault/

i am quite surprised that renault manages to get a new sponsor...

but then maybe it's a good move for TW STEEL, a watchmaker from holland....

at least their brand name will be appearing on international TV....

eerrr i just think their watches are just SO SO...... which looks abit like uboat and abit like tissot....

drilling holes...

i've just booked an appointment with the dentist.....

and guess what, i'd actually put this off for a couple of years haha...... even though i am not particular "afraid" of visiting the dentist.... maybe i just dun enjoy the experience of going through the ritual.....

no choice this time

back in action..... TAOC 2 !!

after powering the system for more than 24 hours, everything has settled in nicely.....

and so on the 2nd night, the improvements are even more obvious....

it's quite unbelievable what a good audio rack and support can do ......

one gotta try to understand what it's all about, i guess.....

seniority.....

when i saw the papers this morning i had a good laugh.....

cos here in singapore, we are not too original most of times......

and so when they wanna put out a new rank, they just add a senior right in front..... yeah and now there's going to be a senior lieutenant-colonel........

for what?? for reasons that i dun find too convincing anyway....

but if they really wanna have one more rank, i'd rather have a senior colonel after LTC and COL..... cos a senior LTC sounds weird .... not here not there or anywhere in between.....

and what acronym will they be adopting for this new rank...?? SLT or SLTC..?? ..... SLT would be more like senior lieutenant .... oopss..... and SLTC is just too long .....

wait till u see the epaulette......

good gracious me.....!!

most significant.....

ok.... it's getting late and i'd just came down from the listening room.......

too bad i'd gotta work tomorrow so i need to go to bed... if not i might carry on till .....errr not sure of the time haha....

so what's so good about the TAOC AS rack......??

well the benefits are many.... but to me, the most significant step forward is the better dynamic contrast ...........

now one can easily discern the minute differences between e.g. very very soft and very soft ....... and that makes the music more realistic and enjoyable.....

other than that i also hear more silence between the notes, more thumping bass, improved details and layering, a much larger soundstage and just better music all around.......

of cos it's not exactly cheap but to me, the improvement brought on by the AS rack is more than what their footers can give you......

goodnite...!

back in action..... TAOC.!!

after some perspiring and a little bit of back-breaking work, i managed to balance everything out.....

and bit by bit, i pieced everything together......

finally music fills the room.... again.....

now i need to take a shower to wash myself clean...... and then i need to squeeze out more time to listen before going to bed....

i am running out of time so pardon this short update......... if not i would wanna share with you how amazing this TAOC rack is giving the music a boost in performance.... but still i must find time to pen down my observations cos u really need to know what this is about if you are in the midst of looking for a rack to support your audio stuff.....

AWESOME...... that's all i can now......

and if anyone thinks that i am getting this free or is getting a big discount off the purchase price, dun worry cos i'd paid for it with my own money ..... and at a discount regular customers get from x-audio.....

no preferential treatment and no conflict of interests haha.....

torn down 2...

taken on sunday afternoon.....

right now it's downright MESSY..!!

i shall continue only after dinner..... haha

stay tuned....

torn down...

at the moment, all system components have been moved aside so that i can re-arrange from scratch .... and of course, no listening can be done until all things are up again....

at the moment, things are getting abit complex as the unevenness of the wooden parquet floor is giving me fits... haha...

maybe i can put a rug over the area to "smoothen" things out....

let's see...

high and low...

errr....

if only liverpool can play with such spirit and gusto week in and week out.....

the problem is they cant......

but sunday was special i guess.......... so they went all out to wanna beat united.....

against sunderland they were miserably poor.....

sigh

doll up your face....

yesterday's dinner was spicy shanghainese dishes..... and although we very much wanted to grab a cool drink after that to wash everything down, we were hijacked to loiter around a miserable play corner ....

since we cant go anywhere else for the moment, we decided to walk over to the body shop...... and i got my friend to try the in-store samples for the eye serum and face protector....

haha even though he's a usual non-believer in the necessity of such things, he agreed it felt good......

shiok or not.....???

cost estimation.....

if i am really interested to run a dual-source system, then the extra expenses will be quite taxing....

and at the moment, here are the sums i am looking at:

sell the LP12 and FR arm for about S$1000 ......

and buy a new origin live aurora II / arm combo for about S$2000.......

total cash outlay = $1000....

sell the LP12 and FR arm for about S$1000....

and buy a new LP12 (with valhalla?) and arm (ittok) combo for about S$1700.....

total cash outlay = $800

keep the LP12...... and sell the FR12 for about S$500.......

buy a new jelco arm for about S$800.....

total cash outlay = S$300.....

keep the LP12...... and sell the FR12 for about S$500.....

buy a new origin live OL1 arm for about SS$500???.........

total estimated outlay = net

other additional items could be

origin live DC motorkit for LP12 .... about S$750??

hercules 2 power supply for LP12.... about S$350.....

or maybe i should just forget about it haha.......

metal knobs....

right now the knobs are doing their best.... and they are also working great to make wonderful music....

but good things dun last forever cos the TAOC rack is still inside my car boot haha...... so i gotta find some precious time to install and get things ready....

GO GO GO.>!!!

a 1 million dollar lexus...???

it was announced at the tokyo motor show and today's papers also covered a little about this estimated-to-cost-over S$1 million lexus super car.....

well i think it doesnt even look like a $500,000 car...... so they should buck up on their designs..... cos if you park this next to a lambo or ferrari, it will definitely look out of place.....

on a budget...

i was thinking if i find it tough to spend close to S$1500 on 1 TAOC rack, then maybe i should cut my budget to buy guizu.... about 1/4 of the price for the japanese cast iron product....

hmmmm, let's see...

and yes today i also managed to clock 2 hrs 30 mins............. not bad at all....

what do u want..???

sometimes i dun quite understand myself......

and right now i have to ask myself, what do i want..???

errr.... i think my current possible wish list is not too long...

car

kw variant 2 coilover suspension $2700... or

tein superstreet coilover suspension $1850......

maybe fujitsubo exhaust system maybe S$1100..??

audio system

TAOC audio rack x 2 about S$3000

a new DAC maybe $2500

some acoustic revive accessories maybe S$1000

a new turntable $3000 (seriously optional)

watch

nothing at the moment ...

cos i have another "almost-impossible" wish list for that haha

so what should i get first..???

clocking the hours....

wheeeewww..... tonight i clock a 4-hour listening session.............. quite amazing huh and i have not done that for a long long time....

looks like the 132 kHz upsampling is really working..... so wait till i get the msb checked for its AES/EBU input....

i must get this off my chest this time.....

and if everything goes ok maybe i'll give up on the turntable hahaha....

up the frequency....

i cant remember why was i using the 96 kHz upsampling on my MSB....was it a better choice back then??...... and i also cannot remember when was the last time i compared between the 96 and 132 kHz..... must have been years ago..??? maybe....

so this evening i opened up the MSB Link 3 to switch the jumper....... to the higher upsampling rate.....

and now everything seems better..... more bass more depth and more impact.... more of everything.....

yeah..!!

so that's a good move..... haha and somemore it's free....

oh btw, i also removed the bicycle tire-tube from below the chopping board below the delta cd transport........ maybe i have become too lazy to wanna pump the tube every few weeks haha.......

and in it's place are 4 ikea metal door knobs....after dropping in the knobs, i thought the sound became too tight and too sharp..... but tonight everything sounds ok..... or even better than before....

hmmmm weird.... and i also didnt realise that MSB is still making the nelson Link 3....

bubble teaaaaaaa...!!

i was having a strong urge to snack...... and so after work, i went to the neighbourhood store to get BUBBLE TEA..!!!

and oh come on it's only S$1.00 ... and with pearls TOO..!!

YUMMY... haha...

discharged.....

this morning slept at close to 3 am....... was catching the brazilian GP on TV.....

woke up at 6 am..... OUCH.!!

after dinner, knocked out....

now? still tired haha....

at least monday is almost over...

fast job... LP12 back in action

well well, being the impatient sort, i went right to work after dinner...... and in no time (errr about 45 mins perhaps..) i got everything working .....

when the music came forth it was well worth the time and effort......... AHHHHHH

so wonderful is the sound....

THUMB-UP!!

for the moment, i'd left everything on the floor........ but i should get a proper support for the LP12..... yes i should....

ok let's stay in touch..... for more updates....

good grief....

thanks to the internet, i am able to get my hands on the operating manual for the fidelity research FR-12 tonearm.....

and bcos of that, only now do i realise that i had not used the arm in the way it was designed for.... especially the part on anti-skating haha.....

isnt that a terrible feeling to know that all this years it was all in vain???

coincidentally for the past few days and weeks, i've been reading alot on the technics SL-1200 turntable..... and it has somehow drawn out my long-in-hibernation interest in playing LPs ....

will i be tempted to start all over again...???

it's an Linn LP12 after all.......... haha

housekeeping....

usually i'll try to go out on a sunday.....

but as i went to bed pretty late, i wasnt quite my usual self when i woke up ..... am feeling the effects of a late night...... YAWN..!!

moreover the terrible afternoon sun also proves to be a major stumbling block........ it's just TOO HOT out there ....

so what else to do...... ??

housekeeping of course..!!

new bomb....

when i saw this i said to myself ..... this is soooo nice.......

but alas so is the price...... S$495......!! even though it's listed for only US$285 on their webpage....

in terms of raw materials, the amount of sterling silver is almost zilch (of course there is a little haha)..... while the rest is just rubber (what kinda of rubber, one may ask)........ i guess since this is a picasso design, there is a cost attached to it after all.....

there are 2 versions: one with a 17 inch cord and the other 19.....

ohhh but oh so nice haha...... and it looked even better when put around the neck.....

at a more affordable level, there are also a few interesting designs..... especially from frank gehry

and the old classical 1837 collection....

strong necks....

have you ever noticed .... ??

what is the most popular accessory ppl have around their necks in recent years and especially months...???

even though it's so big and bulky, more ppl are doing it...!! and oh boy do they have strong necks haha....

maybe they are trying to be part-time f1 drivers (who firm up their neck muscles on a regular basis.....)

if you are thinking of what i am talking about..... eerrrrr YESSS!! the "in" gadget to have around the neck is the DSLR camera....... OUCH!

next time open your eyes as you throng the malls....... you'll be surprised...... by their strong necks haha...

another sale...

OG is having a storewide sale.... and again puma and addidas at 20% off, including liverpool and ferrari merchandise....

i think tomorrow sunday is the last day.....

so act fast ok...

fat and slim....

even though the ps3 slim has yet to officially arrive in singapore, there is already a good number of ppl who wanna sell their ps3 FAT....

so it's a good time for the rest who wanna grab a ps3 at fall-out prices....

dun miss it....

as for me? i think i'd keep mine haha.....

bigger is better?

a side-by-side comparison between the present and the new....

DJ vs DJ II......

36 mm vs 41 mm.......

which one do u like??

===============================

spotted today...

a pam 270 on display outside THG tang plaza.......

surprise surprise...... has the supply caught up with the demand..???

maybe.....

more reading.....

i saw the latest issue out at the news stand....

but i resisted buying cos sometimes i can get a free copy.... so i rather be patient and wait till i get it...

for this month, there's a special on JLC's new range of navy seals diving watches.....

and also a very in-depth and refreshing feature on richard mille (the person) and felipe massa..... which makes very good reading......

thank you..!!

welcome back.....!!

it surely must feel good to be back .....

so it's also my pleasure to say welcome back felipe..!!

and next year will be so tough with fernando alonso right beside him..... but looked at how he handled the pressure of racing alongside kimi raikkonen...... he's now true-blue multiple race winner himself....

notice the watch on his wrist? i wonder if this is the same richard mille rm011 he wore when he crashed at hungaroring.... if yes, isnt that a tough little beast of a watch as well haha....

pic from autoblog

stuffed..!!!

although the little key holder was not fully filled last night, we the people are all fully FILLED..!!!

BLURP..!!!

haha i love warzones..!!

nothing was left at all...... from the satay..... the wantan mee...... the fried oysters..... the frog porridge......... not forgetting the supersweetened grass jelly drink...

dun abuse me plsss part 2....

our friend has decide to show hand so what u see here is a half-stuffed TAU KUA PAO ...... but wait till you see the fully-stuffed version hehe.......

cool motif....

although this is designed for ladies, i think this is cool enough for anyone who's searching for a pendant worthy to start a conversation......

made in black resin, it's also reasonably affordable compared to precious metals...... maybe i should go to tiffany to see, touch and feel before i decide.....

why so....

there are many low-price and very affordable USB DACs in the market....... starting from below $200..??? hey that's really a kiddo price.....

but when it comes to USB to S/PDIF convertor.... it's not looking that good...... entry-level prices

are also higher...... even the newly launched stello u2 is not THAT cheap.....

i wonder why...?? doesnt including a DAC add up to the parts count??... so how come they can make and sell these at such accessible prices... as compared to a convertor....

weird...

anyway i am trying not to spend any money on the system for the moment....... although i have a longgggg wish list of dream components i think i wanna buy.... :P

chai chee minced pork noodles.....

if u frequent east coast road for food or just happen to pass by, you'd know that for a period of time there was this chai chee noodle store and also the hong kong cafe..... before these 2 there was a japanese restaurant but that's another story altogether .....

when first opened for business, they sold the noodles at $4........ then later $3 and finally at $3.50.......

and then the noodle store disappeared .... and my usual supper haunt evaporated into the deep of the night......

a good few weeks ago, someone told me that chai chee noodle store is back........ yeah so they are back at $3.80.....

taste? slightly better than before..... decor is slightly different and crockery is all new...... staff all new as well..... haha

raise your stakes in style....

nice? oh yes IT IS...!!

it may looks like gold but hey dun worry it's just bronze........ now that gold prices are at a all-time high, manufacturing a handphone in gold is just plain foolishness.....

as to how much premium does one have to pay for the armani name remains to be seen...... i hope NOT too much......

cos there is a price to pay for STYLE.....

heavily customised.....

i saw THE CAR this afternoon while on the way to town......

and i cant really tell what car is this......

errr dun the muffler-pipes look toooooo BIG for the diffusor..???

what do u think this is..??? maybe you have seen it..... let us know ok?

5 mins of fame.....

as promised, here's the 5 mins of fame for the scuderia ferrari cap by puma.....

thank you!!

lean on 4 wheels..!

now this is pretty cute......

covers u up like a car but corners just like a bike.....

japanese or german..???

from the first look, i have the impression that this was a bmw.......

but no no, it's a honda......

so why is honda trying to make a bike that looks like a bmw.... ???

looking forward....

ok ok after 4 days of nothing but shit, friday is finally here.....

let's try to make sure i stay away if not i may not be able to hold back...... so try not to provoke me cos he dun even know what he's talking about.... CRAP!

no more wish....

previously when the pam 312 first arrived on our shores, many ppl were asking for it.... and prices hovered a little above list price.....

now there are quite a few sellers willing to let go at below the local list price but how come no one is biting..????

cos the wish to own one is gone..???

maybe.....

brawn vs brains....

so here we see another formula1 and timepiece tie-up........... but as you probably know not every collaboration becomes a success.....

i think this might just become a misfit......

casio and vettel.... update

this evening i was at parkway.....

and while walking past a shop i saw the price for the casio edifice vettel SE.... $350.....

remember to bargain ok..??

i am sure it can go lower......

one-man audio system.....

the name is i-Fi.... and from the name, you'd know it's made for ipod .....

if you do not have space to house a stereo system, you can buy this for US$3995....... and own a superb one-man system.....

from the looks of it, i think it must be very comfortable .... a best place to catch a nap haha....

dun abuse me plsss....

haha ...

that day my friend showed me his wife's LV coin and key pouch........

but it no longer looks like a coin and key pouch......

haha cos it's been loaded with lotsa of stuffing i.e. cards, cash and whatever whatever until it looks like a TAO KUA PAO.....

very soon it will burst at the seams... :P

pls dun abuse "me".....

yawn......!!

oh gosh...

i was so tired that i almost fell off the stool awhile ago... haha

after trying for a few months i think my body clock could not tune in to wake up at 0600 hrs..... it's just too tough and it's making me feeling so tired throughout the day......

when i come home the only thing i can do is to NAP....

that's all.....

a weekend of crashes...???

what a day!! cant remember the last time it happened.......

can anyone remember how many crashes were there at suzuku (f1) and estoril (motogp) this weekend.....???

way too many ...!! and over the estoril, bikes were dropping like bees.... SCARY!!

but that's the real bit about racing....... going ALL THE WAY TO THE LIMIT....!! i like..!!

a piece of f1 action.. by casio

if u r interested to get a f1-inspired timepiece but has always been reluctant to spend the big bucks, this casio is especially made for YOU.....

it is a very nice watch at a silly price.....

so remember to check it out....

october's saturday shopping.....

if you are a shopaholic, you probably know robinson is having a storewide discount ......and while most of the stuff are kinda heavily discounted (especially the house brands....), the real goodies are not....

e.g. puma is subject to 10% plus 10%........ paddock line is 10%.....

fortunately addidas is 20%...... which is why i bought the liverpool t-shirt..... after discount, it came to $36...... and it was the last piece.....

wheww..... cos it took sooo long...

wheewwww....

the qualifying for suzuka seriously took a long long time........

towards the end, i cant even remember the number of incidents that took place....... yellow flags red flags and all......

in those accidents, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been wiped out clean....... OUCH..!!

suzuka is such a treacherous place to be .... :P

those poor mechanics just gotta do work overnight in turbo-mode to fix the cars...... TOUGH TOUGH cos on race days, they double-up as pit crews!! DOUBLE TOUGH TOUGH.....!!

so a plea from the mechanics to drivers, pls try not to crash ok??

more weird stuff...

some ppl cant read and understand english for whatever reasons.....

they expect rules to be bend for them so that they can be free to do whatever they wish.....

well grow up and stop barking like a mad dog....

what if...

what if someone had helped another person to cheat in an examination or competition...???

what if the case came out in the open later...??? would anyone expect the results to stand???

the results should be declared null and void......... it should be as straightforward as that......

perfect collection...???

even if one has TOO MUCH money, the scene is unlikely to happen........

ARE you really going to buy all the current production models from maranello ....?????

maybe one or possibly two...... but ALL??

no no....

perfect weekend....

a great weekend will be able to grab a flight ticket to japan and catch the race at suzuka.....

haha there's still time to go over right now .... YES!! right now haha.......

if only, if only money is not an issue..... and one should GET INTO THE PADDOCK CLUB over there too ...!!

done deal...

oh oh....

time to cancel your starhub sports package as there will be no english premier league and formula 1 broadcasts next year....

damn singtel, they have just made everyone's life more difficult haha.....