my happy ending???

Longhorns and Rockets

2009-01-07T11:25:00.002+08:00

The Longhorns missed their chance to play in this year's National Championship game Presented by Fedex by losing to Texas Tech on the very final second. It was a real heartbreak as I was hoping that Texas can win it all this year. However, they made up for the snub by winning the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State though only by 3 points. Well a win is still a win no matter how you look at it. Now let's hope we can get a high enough rank next year and hopefully the defensive unit would be way better next year.

Now about the Houston Rockets, what's up with them. They started strong and was at 1 time the 2nd best team in the West. With all the injuries that they're facing, it was really an impressive feat. However, things have been going downhill since them. They're sinking faster than T Mac can dunk a ball and has been losing to sub .500 teams. They're playing like they've never met before and it's a shame for a team that's starring 3 star players to play like that.

I'm losing faith on the Rockets for this season and maybe the next 1 too. Until they get their attitude straight, don't think I'll even be following their game anymore...

Upgrading Yellow Tiger

2009-01-07T11:17:00.002+08:00

I've been continuously upgrading my Yellow Tiger since I bought it in November. Here's the list of parts that have been upgraded:

1. Stem - Kalloy to used Jamis stem

2. Seatpost - Kalloy to used Scott seatpost

3. Shifter - Shimano Revo Shift 6 Speed to SRAM X7 9 Speed

4. Rear Dearailleur - Shimano TY 18 6 Speed to SRAM X7 9 Speed

5. Cassette - No brand 6 Speed to Shimano 9 Speed

6. Chain - No brand to Shimano HG compatible 9 Speed chain

7. Hubs - No brand hubs to Shimano 9 Speed rear hub and Scott components front hub (both disc compatible)

8. Rear Rim and Tire - No brand to Mavic X138 V Brake compatible rim with Kenda tire

The list ends there for the time being but I can foresee more upgrade coming soon. My wish list would be as follows:

1. Front rim and tire - Mavic X138 and Kenda tire

2. Seat - Selle Royal

3. Front derailleur - Shimano Deore/LX or SRAM X7

4. Crankset - Truvativ Stylo

5. Fork - RockShox Tora

When would I be upgrading to these components? Only time would tell (and not to mention how gafiL would react to me spending tons of money of my bike hehehe)...

My Yellow Tiger

2008-12-02T10:35:00.005+08:00

WOW!, I've been really lazy to update my blog. I would blame that on Facebook and the people who influenced me start Facebook'ing in the 1st place :).

Anyway, I've restarted an old hobby/interest of mine. Way before I started playing volleyball, basketball, golf, going diving and many more hobbies/interest that I currently have, I was an avid cyclist. When I was 11, I was accepted into my state's cycling program after I finished 3rd in the annual cycling event that was held to identify up and coming talents in bicycle racing. But that did not last long as I went to boarding school 2 years later and had to leave everything behind.

Frankly speaking, up to 21 years old I owned only 1 bicycle. And it was stolen after a week or so :( back when I was 9 years old. Afterwards I shared my brother's bicycles and when I was training I was lucky to be loaned 1. I remembered that it was a Colnago, though I'm quite sure it's a replica. Fast forward to my college years, I bought a bicycle to make it easy for me to go to classes and have a quick stroll around town. Bought it from Walmart and it was damn heavy not to mention pooly built. Following the Lance Amstrong craze as he was from Austin and can be seen around town sometimes, I decided that I wanted a road bike and I actually built 1 (will post the pictures once I can get a hold of them). However, due to the lack of experience, I actually bought a frame that was too big for me and decided to sell if off before returning to Malaysia.

Now, 3 years later, I found out that some of my diving friends are also avid cyclists. Since I won't be diving again anytime soon due to various factors (too many that won't even explain them here) I guess, why not pickup cycling again. Some consulatations and countless hours searching online, 1 fateful Sunday afternoon I came back home with this

It's a T-Blaze and yes it's a Proton so I now drive and ride a Proton. I named it "The Yellow Tiger" as the color scheme that it came with is actually named Yellow Tiger. Question is Why Proton? Well the main reason would be that since they're going out of the bicycle business, they're unloading all their bicycles for cheap. I didn't do myself much of a favor by getting the T-Blaze as it's just a few hundred bucks cheaper than the higher spec T-Bolt but I prefer hard tail bikes. Also since it's cheaper, by any chance should I decide cycling is no longer for me, I would be able to unload it or just keep it and would not lose too much money.

It came with a very low end group set and cheap parts, the frame itself is the only consolation. Right now I'm just planning to do some recreational cycling so the low end groupset and components should do it for now, but if i ever got serious, I think everything need to be changed. Anyway for the time being I'm just replacing some parts to make the bike fit me better since obviously I can't do anything (well except for maybe to lose some weight) to fit the bike.

I'll post more pictures of the up an coming upgrades to the bikes and any rides that I would be doing (if i ever do any that is) so stay tuned!

Omar

2008-11-14T20:55:00.003+08:00

"A CLEANER, who climbed into the enclosure of three Sumatran white tigers on Thursday was set upon and mauled to death. An Australian couple, who did not want to be named, said that they heard a splash and saw the worker making his way across the 10 metre-wide moat at 12.15pm."

"Waving a broom and pail, he approached the big cats, each weighing over 100 kg.The largest tiger lunged at him and he fell and quickly recoiled in a foetal position while trying to cover her head with the pail. The horrified Australians and other visitors at the enclosure thought it was part of a show until one of the tigers bit Mr Nordin's back and started dragging him to the tigers' den."

-from www.straitstimes.com

Pic from our previous Spore trip...

Backplate and Wing BCD for SALE (OMS wing with Oxyceq SS plate)

2008-10-28T15:36:00.004+08:00

Yup, I'm putting my BCD up for sale. It's not that I'm going out of diving, it's just that I'm thinking about buying something else that would fit my diving needs better. Details as follows:

- OMS 32lbs wing

- Oxycheq Stainless Steel backplate with hograthian harness

- Plastic Cam buckle

- Should fit anybody 6 ft 220 lbs and below (hogarthian harness can be adjusted to fit your body)

Price: ~Rm1500 (negotiable)

Freebies: Deepoutdoors pocket

Pictures:

2 Trips in 2 Weekends

2008-10-21T01:01:00.003+08:00

The last time I went for 2 dive trips in 2 weekends was last year when I went to Redang to complete my AOW course. This year I have not been diving much and I really thought that the Sipadan trip last March would be my only trip.

After the Redang trip last weekend, I was already cleaning up my dive gears and ready to store them away for next year's trip (wishful thinking :)) but I somehow got coaxed into going to Tioman. The trip was just a short 2 day trip but it's really worth it as the viz at Tiger Reef was stunning and I had a wonderful time around Labas with all the swim throughs. I think I'll just do a 1 post for both my Redang and Tioman trip later but unfortunately for me this time, I got no underwater camera thanks to a broken latch!

Stay tuned...

Making Laksa Mee the Traditional Way

2008-10-17T14:34:00.006+08:00

(I wrote this last week but didn't manage to post it as somebody persuaded me to go to Tioman)

I got the chance to see this Makcik making Laksa Mee the traditional way when I was visiting gafiL's grandma back during Hari Raya.

She told me that the brass Laksa Mee maker was inherited from her grand parents and thus it's really old! It's really heavy and take considerible effort to spin around.

She took just RM2 "upah" for each kg of Laksa Mee that she makes, you need to give her all the flour and other ingredients, and for me that's way cheap considering all the hassle that she has to go through.

My Saturday

2008-10-11T16:22:00.013+08:00

I'm going underwater again

2008-10-09T09:16:00.002+08:00

Yes! finally after almost 7 months being dry, I'll be going underwater again tomorrow. Unfortunately don't have my camera this time as the casing is broken. Will update on the trip when I got back.....

Happy Birthday Honey

2008-09-26T23:12:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow's Honey's b'day. Though we won't be able to celebrate it tomorrow since she's already back home :P ..maybe Sunday :)

The Archies - Sugar Sugar
Uploaded by valentin73

The Archies (Sugar, Sugar) Lyrics

Sugar,

Oh, Honey Honey.

You are my candy girl,

and you got me wanting you.

Honey,

Oh, Sugar, Sugar.

You are my candy girl

and you got me wanting you.

I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you.

(I just can't believe it's true).

I just can't believe the wonder of this feeling too.

(I just can't believe it's true).

Sugar,

Oh, Honey Honey.

You are my candy girl,

and you got me wanting you.

Honey,

Oh, Sugar, Sugar.

You are my candy girl

and you got me wanting you.

When I kissed you girl,

I knew how sweet a kiss could be.

(I know how sweet a kiss can be)

Like the summer sunshine

pour your sweetness over me.

(Pour your sweetness over me).

Oh pour little sugar on me honey (sugar)

Pour little sugar on me baby (honey honey)

When you make love so sweet (Yeah Yeah Yeah.)

Pour little sugar on me (oh yeah)

Pour little sugar on me honey

Pour little sugar on me baby

I'm gonna make love so sweet (hey hey hey)

Pour little sugar on me honey.

Ah sugar.

Oh honey, honey.

You are my candy, girl,

and you got me wanting you.

Oh honey (honey, honey, sugar, sugar)

Sugar, sugar

You are my candy girl.

For Him

2008-09-20T15:37:00.011+08:00

next :

1. re-arrange our living area. accident may happen when the tv is less than 1 m from the sofa.
2. get new 40" tv perhaps. tv skrg kecik sgt maa....
3. buy mario kart / dinner dash. start collecting top wii games.
4. take wii back to terengganu during raya. mesti MIL mengamuk :P
5. aim for wii fit. especially after all the rendangs, ketupat, nasi dagang, nasi minyak this raya.

reason to let him buy the game : don`t even ask. you know him better than me.

gafiL got a new one

2008-09-15T22:07:00.003+08:00

not it's not mine heh :)....gafiL got another niece last month...

i just don't understand

2008-09-15T10:05:00.006+08:00

WOW!...it's been ages since i last updated my blog. well frankly speaking i've been lazy of late and same goes to gafiL. she kept on pushing me to update the blog with something that she wanted to write but she's too lazy to do it herself (sorry honey heh)

anyway it's been more than 3 years now since i moved to KL and to continue with the trend of moving every Ramadhan, i've moved again, now from Cheras to the City Center (previously i moved from Damansara to Cheras). the reasons why i moved again are listed below:

1. want to live closer to work
2. contract expired
3. my new home not ready yet
4. STUPID MANAGEMENT!

well here i would like to highlight the 4th point. it was also 1 of the main reason why i moved from damansara to cheras initially. well lets just forget about old stories and focus on the current 1. i'll let the notice below explains part of the story

i've been living in cheras for the past 1 year and was living happily. that was until about 2 months ago when the management of the apartment was supposedly handed over to the residents/owner by the developer.

anyway without any meetings or whatever, suddenly the announced all sorts of new rules that was making life miserable. they even hired somebody who definitely has no management experience to handle the management office. having no experience is 1 thing, having no MANNERS is another matter altogether. oh well since this is Ramadhan, i don't think i would want to go into details about that.

so lets focus on the notice in the picture that i posted above. if my memory serves me right, when we live in a apartment, we do pay a certain sum of money monthly that's called MAINTENANCE FEE. and the purpose of the maintenance fee is to pay for the operational aspect of the premise and that includes cleaning up the premise, cleaning clogged drains etc. up to now i still can't comprehend the logic they use to punish all the residents in the block that drains got clogged. it's just like living in the dorm at high school where if the dorm is dirty, everybody need to clean it up.

well i guess that's what happened when you hire somebody who have a high school mentality to run a management office at a used to be well run apartment. lucky me i'm out of there......

notes :

a) Hempuk meja depan pompuan sebab tak bagi lorry masuk after 6pm.
b) Jerit2 marah his workers (bukan dia jd boss pun) at 9 am Saturday morning.. bising gile!
c) membebel pasal kerja dia padahal dtg nak bayar bil air jek... 1/2jam nak dgr dia meroyan
d) visitors parking = jd parking dia (ni plg marahhh....)
e) cat pili bomba to red colour, n depan pili buat parking berbayar (rm 30/month).
f) hire 2 "geriatric" guards utk take care of the apartment

Sorry dear, "Mr Satan" in me yg suruh tulis tu.

Durian with Mus

2008-07-17T23:01:00.005+08:00

This was suppose to be posted late last month but I've been very lazy so I'm just posting it now.

Anyway Mus (a fellow Longhorn) came all the way down from Houston and was in town for a week last month for his "Balik Kampung" and South East Asian tour. I was competing in KKP 08 when he arrived and I was surprised to found out that nobody took him around as everybody was either away or busy for the 2 weeks he was in Malaysia.

So I took the initiative and took him around town (which is kind of ironic since he's actually from KL) and he told me that he wanted some to visit Pasar Malam and wanted some Durian since all those frozen Durian that can be found in Oriental Shops around Houston tastes like paper. So I took him near my place and we bought some Durians that are selling for RM 10 for 3. I have no idea whether that's cheap or expensive, seriously heh....

Anyway people say pictures tell a thousand words so I'll let pictures below do the the of the story

Let's eat some Durian

1 done, 2 more to go!

Houston guys enjoying his Durian

The aftermath! Pay close attention to the tummy area :)

Thanks to gafiL for the pictures as I was busy eating Durian and was so bloated afterwards hehehe....

hari yang gelap

2008-07-09T12:52:00.004+08:00

Let the game begins

2008-06-24T10:06:00.005+08:00

The game started this morning. Hope he did well.
Expro Team KKP 2008.

note : No official pictures yet. kalo menang i belanja diving kat bali hehe..

OK guys, I'm officially back home now after a grueling 2 weeks. Anyway, unfortunately, we lost in the Finals sob sob sob :(

Here's the summary. for the 2008 KKP games, we have 2 groups comprising 7 teams. EXPRO was put into group B with 4 teams while last year's winner, Oil Business was in group A with 3 teams. We cruise through the 1st 2 games but unfortunately lost a heart breaking game by 1 point against Maritime.

So losing 1 game in group stages, we went up against Oil Business (the champ of group A) in the semis and managed to notch up a 3 point win. A finals repeat against Maritime took an unexpected turn when PetChem beat them by 28 points.

So it was us against PetChem in the finals and just before our game started, Martime beat Oil Business by a huge margin in the 3-4 placing match. Anyway, we kept the game close until the 3rd quarter when suddenly everybody starts bricking shots and therefore we lost.

I'm just a small part in the game being mainly a bench warmer so to be fair, I can't say much or be blamed to much heh :). So now it's time to try to coax gafiL into still giving me the Bali diving trip even though I lost. Hopefully that would work out well hehehehehehe

p/s: I'll try to post some pictures soon :)

Yeah

2008-06-21T21:38:00.008+08:00

I can’t stop smiling. God knows how much I need to come out from that place. I`m not saying that place was too bad. I just need my Monday back.

well, it’s fine to have najibest at home for 2 or 3 hours a day now. Basketball vs me. I`m fine. Totally fine.

The Recent Fuel Price Hike and its Effect on My Life

2008-06-09T10:54:00.003+08:00

Reality bites. Realizing that my Gen 2 was almost out of fuel today, I went to fill up at my neighborhood Shell station. I fill about 20 Liters of fuel and it costs me RM55! Filling up a full tank would now cost me around RM100 assuming that the fuel price won't go up anytime soon. TV Smith has a good one on the recent fuel price hike which you can see here.

I still remember that when I started using my car, a full tank was only around RM60 and now it's up by almost 40%. Now being used to filling up at market price back during my student days, I definitely understand the effect of the recent global fuel price crisis on the price of fuel over here. But what I don't understand is, what happened to all the money saved during the low oil price days?

The cheapest gasoline price I ever encountered was USD 0.78/US gallon in Florida back in winter 2001 which translate to around RM0.78/Liter using the previous USD 1 = 3.80 currency exchange that was still in effect that time and 1 US gallon = 3.78 liters. At that time, we were selling petrol for around RM1.30/Liter which is about the same price as the gas price I found in Texas. To make it even more perplexing would be the fact that the gasoline price in the States already included all the taxes that makes their roads free and their public transportation cheap.

OK now, enough politics as looking at the Malaysian political culture, transparency is at the bottom of the list and lets examine the fuel price hike effect on my life. Using the old fuel price, I spent close to 15% of my monthly salary just for transportation charges (fuel, parking, tolls and car maintenance). With the current hike, it's likely to break 20% and that does not include the expected food and services price increase. So in summary I'm getting poorer by the day as any salary increment that I get would be greatly offset by the fuel price hike.

I've put off diving for close to 3 months now since my Sipadan trip in March and looking at the current situation, I think it'll be put off even longer now. Now, I'm just hoping that I would be able to squeeze 1 dive trip before the end of the year and the only way to get as many dives as possible in a trip would be by going for an LOB trip (Kaleebso anyone?). Any unnecessary traveling also have to be put off for a while pending budget review.

So now, how to survive in this challenging time? 1st and foremost, I would need to reduce the usage of my car. However, since busses and LRTs are not an option unless I'm willing to go out to work at 6.30am to travel less than 9km to work, I would still need to use my car. Lucky me gafiL is moving back to KL for work so at least we can now car pool and she gets free parking, so at least now we can utilize only 1 car and thus saves on fuel and maintenance cost. 2nd, I would need to travel more as company traveling claims can be of substantial amount :). 3rd, I guess it's time to eat less and outside of KLCC. It's good for health, and cost less. A nasi lemak ayam in KLCC used to cost RM5.50, can't imagine what's the price after the hike. 4th, keep and eye on AirAsia and MAS free tickets promotion. "Balik Kampung" trip costs RM500-600 with the old fuel price. With AirAsia and MAS free tickets, I can get return tickets for only RM100/person and that's just 30% more than a bus ticket but saves traveling time by 80%.

Some long term solution would be to move somewhere closer to an LRT line (which is unlikely as I'm moving to my own place later this year), get a motorcycle (which gafiL strongly oppose) but seems to be a good option now, fit my car with NGV or buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. However, the last 2 options I think would have to wait as our government seems to change their mind constantly and like to implement new measures in a flash that might effect the feasibility of the options.

So there you go, some thoughts about the recent fuel price hike. Lucky me I'm no soccer nuts and I dont' have Astro to watch the NBA finals, so at least I'll be saving electricity bills from all those late night TVs :)

Turn Left Turn Right

2008-06-02T20:15:00.007+08:00

They're both convinced
that a sudden passion joined them.
Such certainty is more beautiful,
but uncertainty is more beautiful still.

Since they'd never met before, they're sure
that there'd been nothing between them.
But what's the word from the streets, staircases, hallways--
perhaps they've passed by each other a million times?

I want to ask them
if they don't remember--
a moment face to face
in some revolving door?
perhaps a "sorry" muttered in a crowd?
a curt "wrong number"caught in the receiver?--
but I know the answer.
No, they don't remember.

They'd be amazed to hear
that chance has been toying with them
now for years.

Not quite ready yet
to become their destiny,
it pushed them close, drove them apart,
it barred their path,
stifling a laugh,
and then leaped aside.

There were signs and signals,
even if they couldn't read them yet.
Perhaps three years ago
or just last Tuesday
a certain leaf fluttered
from one shoulder to another?
Something was dropped and then picked up.
Who knows, maybe the ball that vanished
into childhood's thicket?

There were doorknobs and doorbells
where one touch had covered another beforehand.
Suitcases checked and standing side by side.
One night. perhaps, the same dream,
grown hazy by morning.

Every beginning
is only a sequel, after all,
and the book of events
is always open halfway through.

Love at First Sight by Wislawa Szymborska - Poland 1923

Singapore Revisit

2008-05-24T12:50:00.007+08:00

.....

2008-05-15T00:03:00.003+08:00

Since I do actually have an SLR now, I guess I'll be posting pointless photos in my blog. I'm just too lazy to setup fotopages account.

As with the pictures of cats in the previous post, this picture is from my recent balik kampung trip...

Pics of The Day

2008-05-11T11:32:00.001+08:00

Things I Would Like to Do

2008-04-29T19:27:00.002+08:00

I don't think I would be diving anytime soon due to many commitment that I need to attend to for the next few months (there goes my target to get my 100th dive this year).

So I need to figure out what to do with my spare time and also where to waste my money :). I've already wasted a big sum of money getting my 1st ever dSLR to keep me occcupied. Anybody wanna go for photo outing?

Basketball should also do it as I currently trying to get into the EXPRO team and a friend of mine asked me today if I would like to play for his team in a basketball league that's going to start sometimes in June.

Other than that I guess it'll be work for me. Although the deadline is the end of the year but I'm already behind schedule and need to pick things up fast.

Also some great shows are coming up in the next few months that I think I would like to go and they are:

1. Beauty and The Beast The Musical @ KL Convention Center
2. Air Supply Tour @ Genting
3. High School Musical On Ice @ Bukit Jalil - I think I'm going to take my nieces for this one

I really wish they would stage Phantom of The Opera here (even though I had watch it before back in school) though I don't think it would be happening anytime soon.

Traveling is also something that I would love to do but hey, I've been out of the water since my Sipadan trip so I guess the next time I travel it would be for a diving trip :) .....

Anybody has any idea on what else can I do?

Love will save the day

2008-04-23T21:36:00.005+08:00

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be ashamed to cry

You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day
Herald what your mother said
Readin' the books your father read
Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
Some may have more cash than you
Others take a different view

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day
Don't ask no questions, it goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning
You can't stop it, if you try to
This time it's danger staring you in the face

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears

You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm

You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

Des`ree - You Gotta Be

We did it!

2008-04-21T00:03:00.004+08:00

Back in 2006, I played basketball for EXPRO in the East Coast Regional Games for my OPU where we got trashed by Oil Business by 30 points. I was attending a course the very same year that prevented me from playing for the KKP games held in KL where we also lost to Oil Business.

But on Saturday we finally got out taste of victory! We managed to beat an almost full strength (the exact same team that beat us by 30 points back in 06) Oil Business team in the KSRP mini games held at TTFC.

The road to victory wasn't easy though. Our team was first to play that morning with everybody still sleepy having to wake up early on Saturday morning and won the 1st game against another team also from KL by a miracle 3 point shot at the buzzer to avoid going into overtime (no the shot was not by me, I can't shoot 3s heh).

A really shaky start during the 1st half of the 2nd game saw us behind by double digits at the start of the 2nd half. We bucked up and held the EXPRO team from Kerteh (which I used to play for) to 7 points in the 2nd half but luck was not on our side as we lost by 1 point. I hold myself responsible for the loss as I kept on missing free throws and with 4.5 seconds left on the clock, I managed to grab a missed free throw by the opposing team but threw the ball too far that my team mates got no chance to catch it and try to take a shot for a win.

Despite losing the game, we was seeded no 1 in our group as the Kerteh EXPRO team lost their last game and was out of the running for the semi final games. We were up against the PGB team and managed to come out with a 4 point win and everybody was clearly tired at that point. Anyway the win set us up for a final game with Oil Business and me and Hussen were really pumped up for the game.

Everybody was on top of their game during the final and we were never behind during the 1st half. I took myself out of the game for a breather for the 2nd half as my body's aching all over but went back in just 2 minutes after. Just can't keep myself out of a game against a team I've been waiting to play for 2 years. Things got really close and heated up I would say; elbows were flying, shouts were exchanged and few technical fouls were called. They managed to equalized the game 3 minutes before the whistle but we managed to hold on. Despite a late technical foul when we were leading by just 4 points (they got 3 free throws, made 2 of 3, and also the possession) we kept it cool, got a steal, scored a basket and held on for the win!

Can't remember the last time victory tasted this sweet. Anyway, got home around 6.45pm that day (somebody was suppose to come by and take some pictures but she couldn't make it, so blame her for having no pictures to show heh) and just lie on the couch all night my body aching all over......

Anyway now I'm really looking forward for this year's KKP games and if this is how we play, mind you that we were missing some core players due to various reasons, things are looking great. Now I need to rest.....my feet's still hurting....

My New Baby !!!!!

2008-04-17T21:55:00.006+08:00

My new office

2008-04-13T09:40:00.005+08:00

My new place.
Finally ada bilik sendiri.
Most important it comes with covered parking lot too..
Dear all , we re moving to Grand Season KL this week.

Panggilan pulau

2008-04-10T19:29:00.007+08:00

Redang pics taken last 2004. Tak kenal pun ikan2 tu.
Saja nak tease my dear hubby :)

Sipadan Part 4

2008-04-07T15:53:00.002+08:00

More for you viewing pleasure...

Morey Eel

Nudi

Nudi Couple

Even more Nudi

And the highlight of the trip, Flamboyant Cuttlefish

Sipadan Part 3

2008-04-02T18:42:00.001+08:00

The journey continues again. Now the underwater part :)

Banded Pipe Fish

Frog Fish

Crocodile Fish

Err....

Ghost Pipe Fish

More coming soon..

Sipadan Part 2

2008-03-31T10:36:00.003+08:00

OK, now the journey continues :)

Everybody's busy sorting out seats on the boat

Hey, got rainbow

Finally we got to Mabul. Can't wait to get wet!

Everybody's busy pretending to listen to the briefing while they're actually thinking "can we go dive now..."

Ikan busy handing out keys

Next would be underwater pictures, in the next post that is....

Sipadan Part 1

2008-03-30T13:18:00.005+08:00

I know it's a week late but I've been really occupied with work since I took a whole week off during my Sipadan trip. So here goes my Sipadan Picture Trip Report :)

My trip started at 11pm March 17th. After some logistics arrangement I took the 1st bus out of KL Sentral to LCCT at around 3.15am.

This is part of the luggage that took us about 1.5 hrs to check in. Check in was a chaos as we had to 1st declare our extra luggage as sports equipment (to enjoy the RM30/15kg additional allowance) then check in the normal luggage, then bring the extra luggage to another check in counter to get in checked in, then to another counter to pay for it. 3 counters just to check in our extra luggage? I wonder why can't we just do everything at the check in counter.

I slept all the way in the plane and also all the way from Tawau airport to Semporna so no pictures there. Anyway, we reached Semporna near noon and checked in at Lee's Resthouse as our boat out to Mabul island is only the next morning.

Semporna town

Lee's Resthouse

Another look at the variety of diving gear waiting to be loaded in the van to the jetty

More pictures coming up soon in part 2 :)

I'm Back!

2008-03-24T15:14:00.003+08:00

I'm back and feeling tired and sleepy. I only got home around 2.30am this morning and still having the so called "Post Diving Syndrome". Mocha has been asking for pictures (sorry for you camera bro) and I'll try to upload them tonight should I finish unpacking and cleaning my diving gears. I'm sure they're smelling quite nice now at home as some are not so dry when I packed them and it was raining when we touched down at LCCT yesterday.

Anyway, overall it was a good trip. Sipadan was not as I expected due to unfavorable weather condition and bad timing. But I did have fun at the other dive sites namely Si Amil, Kapalai and around Mabul island. It was a long 1 week journey and now I think I'm hooked. I'm already looking at the calendar to see if I can slot in another trip this year (yes honey, I'm thinking about going back there but this time I'll take you along heh :) ) should I be able to come up with the money needed that is.

Pictures coming soon.....stay tuned

3 months to go..

2008-03-18T23:34:00.003+08:00

3 months to go and i know i have to be strong.
being here is not easy.

The Day is Tomorrow...

2008-03-17T11:45:00.002+08:00

I've been keeping my diving equipment dry ever since I came back from the Kaleebso LOB trip last December. Yup, not a single dive since then, not even in the pool, although a miscommunication made me miss one of the pool session that I was planning to attend. So tomorrow I'll officially start my 2008 diving season diving in Sipadan until Sunday. It's my first time to Sipadan and I'm hoping for the best there. After all those stories and pictures, it's my time to personally experience it.

I don't know how many dives would I be doing there, but I'll try to slot in as much as possible. I do by all means plan to break the 100 dives barrier this year (so far I have no luck breaking 100 in golf so maybe I'll try it in diving) and I'm planning to do the bulk of the dives earlier in the year this year.

I'll definitely be posting lots of pictures for this trip that I'll be taking 2 cameras with me for trip (thanks to gafiL for lending me her camera) so that I can capture every single step of the journey. So stay tuned for reports soon.... :)

I've been Tagged by Ardy & Bakawali

2008-03-14T12:13:00.003+08:00

The Linking Tag Rules

1. List out five favourite links - the links can be of business sites, affiliate links or whatever that suits the blogger.

2. Tag five more people to share their links, so hopefully, at the end of the tag, we would be able to share good links with each other.

3. The links MUST be clean. No X-rated sites.

4. List out only FIVE links.

5. You MUST tell the FIVE people you chose.

6. Provide the link back to the person who tagged you.

7. Obviously, it should be an active link.

Well then, my five links would be:

1. ESPN.com - My official sports website except during summer
2. Gizmodo - The gadget/tech site I love most. Thanks to Ass-rif for introducing it to me way back then
3. Google News - I just love the way they put news from many different sources in 1 site. And not to mention that they update it frequently too
4. MalaysianUnderWater.com (MUW) - Without them, my diving gear would just be gathering dust
5. Wikipedia - I'm always hungry for information, history and facts, this site provide them all

Now let see, who should I tag?

1. Judd
2. Ass-rif
3. Nurhi
4. Maya
5. Don't have a no 5. All the people I know had been tagged :)

Keep On Winning and Climbing Rockets!

2008-03-06T12:18:00.004+08:00

Yup, the streak officially reached 16 games today. A new record for the Houston Rockets and they've been winning 4 straight without Yao. Anyway tomorrow they're playing Dallas (without Dirk that is who's serving a 1 game suspension) and the Hornets is coming by the weekend.

The Rockets had already beaten the Hornets before but not the Mavs but I hope the streak would continue. Anyway, the way they're playing right now, I have no regrets even if the streak ended. I know what the Rockets can do now and they'll just be stronger next season. Go Rockets!

Catchy Phrase, Crappy Service

2008-03-03T17:09:00.002+08:00

After breakfast, I decided to deposit some money into the bank with the Yellow Tiger Logo for car installment payments etc. Yes I can do inter-bank transfer but why wait 3 days for the transfer to complete when the bank is just on the way back from breakfast. As soon as I reached the bank, I noticed a long line (mind you it's only about 9am+ and the bank had just opened) and found out that only 1 out of 3 cash deposit machine is working. After around 15 minutes of waiting, it was my turn and I noticed the greeting message on the machine. It reads:

"Stop the queue! Use XXXbank Cash Deposit Machine"

Frankly speaking, this is not the 1st time I encountered the same -Cash Deposit Machine out of service- problem. For a bank located at KLCC where thousands of people work, I do think that they should have keep their machines in working order all the time. So far, there's rarely an occasion where all the cash deposit machines are working at the same time. What's the point of having multiple machines when like 70% if the time, only 1 machine works.

I guess maybe so many people are using the machines that it get full quickly. But hey, if you know that's the case, why on earth do you have only 3 machines? I know the other bank nearby have like 5+1 machines and most of the time all are in working order.

I think if they're going to keep it this way, they would be better of with a greeting message like this one:

"Stay in the queue! Use the XXXbank cash deposit machine and don't bother coming to the counter as we'll charge you 50 cent"

Anybody else having the same experience?

Roses for Prof Dr Rosnani Hashim

2008-03-02T10:49:00.029+08:00

Prof Dr Rosnani Hashim is my great mentor, the person who encourage me to be strong and stronger since day 1. She`s leaving us now, but all her kindness, support and love will be remembered until forever.

Pharmacy Dept, FSKB, UKM KL (old pic, sorry)

Lunch at KL Tower

MSc in Clinical Pharmacy 2006/2007

NajiBEST with Prof PT Thomas
(Longhorns 2005 vs. Longhorns 1993)

NajiBEST and GafiL - Pharmacy Nite 2008

When Visiting Alien meets Resident Americans

2008-02-22T20:46:00.004+08:00

gafiL insisted to buy, made me really missed my old days in Texas...

busy

2008-02-18T20:03:00.002+08:00

Dr Pepper

2008-02-15T23:48:00.003+08:00

Some say it tastes like cough syrup, some say it tastes like cockroach poison, some say only cowboys drink it (well I would not blame them considering Dr Pepper did have Reba McEntire and Le Ann Rimes on its commercials) and some people can't even stand the smell and taste. But it is by all means, the BEST SODA EVER MADE in this world. This is the soda that people in the southwest drinks. We don't care about no coke, we just drink Dr Pepper.

Finally today I found it at the Supermarket section at Isetan. It's been more than 2 years since my last Dr Pepper and even at RM2.80 per can, it's worth every penny (can I use penny here or should I say cent? heh). Anyway is it just me or is it true that somehow our made in Malaysia soda is a lot sweeter than the soda made in the States?

Longhorn Gnome?

2008-02-15T23:15:00.006+08:00

I stumbled into this at KLCC.... well not really. Eddy came down from Chicago (escaping the snow and attending a wedding) and would be in town for the week so we went for a Longhorns lunch at Sundanese. Surprisingly the food there is not that bad after all (I'm still wondering why it's a bit empty at lunch time). Anyway Eddy was carrying this fella in his bag all around KL taking pictures of it with the various landmarks. With the pointy hat, I should have left it on Ticub's chair so that it'll shove up his.....(sorry Ticub, just can't help it), well I'll leave that for you to fill in the blank :)

It's That Time of The Year

2008-02-10T23:37:00.000+08:00

Yup, it's here again. It's Performance Review time and I'm wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy behind schedule and I need to finish everything in 1 week....Mission Impossible it is then....

Rockets on a Roll???

2008-02-05T17:01:00.000+08:00

The Rockets has been on a roll lately. They have been winning 8 of their last 9 games. However, I would have to say I'm not particularly impressed with the team performance as only 3 are against winning team -Spurs, Warriors and Trailblazers- and they lost to the Jazz albeit that was without Yao Ming. The rest of the wins are against weaker teams and the Rockets doesn't seem to be able to blow out any of these teams.

T-Mac's return has definitely given the Rockets a boost in scoring and the Rookies namely Luis Scola and Carl Landry have been exceptional of late helping the Rockets to win games. However, I'm a bit worried lately that Yao Ming's scoring average has drastically gone down with the presence of T-Mac. The game against Golden State was the last that Yao scored 20 points of more. In today's game against the Timerwolves, Yao only managed 16 points to go with 5 rebounds and no block shots. Is Yao having some sort of off nights or is it that he's not taking as many shots? On some nights, Rafer Alston is taking more shots than Yao and for me that doesn't sound right. I mean the guy's averaging only 12 points a game and shoots only around 35% of his field goals. Compare to Yao at almost 50%, it's a no brainer to give the ball a lot more to Yao.

Or is it because T-Mac somehow with his current fitness has been taking all the shots? I'm really wondering and with the game against the Cavs coming right up, it would be interesting to see how well T-Mac match up with Lebron (obviously Lebron's going to give T-Mac a hard time) and how the ball distribution is going to be. Hopefully we can see Yao shooting much more as Ilgauskaus is definitely no match for Yao.....

NY Giants 17 - NE Patriots 14

2008-02-04T11:29:00.000+08:00

A surprise result indeed that the Giants managed to beat the almost perfect Pats in the Superbowl. There goes the Pats perfect regular season record down the drain. But the Giants did make some headlines heading to the Superbowl by beating the Cowboys (who had their best season ever in many years) and the Packers (poor Brett Farve).

It would definitely be interesting to see how well the Giants are next season as so far, only the Pats have been a consistent winner in the past 5 seasons or so. But oh well, I'm actually looking forward even more to see how well the Longhorns would do in next season's College Football :)

The Dilbert Principle

2008-01-27T21:40:00.000+08:00

Best management book I've read so far (well it's not like I've read that many). It really relates to the situation I'm having at my workplace. Highly recommended as long as you're not a manager or planner or anything in that line :)

Tagged by Ardy

2008-01-16T21:47:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged by Ardy

The Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of this post and list their names.
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

List eight (8) random facts about myself:

1. I didn't know how to swim when I 1st took up Scuba Diving (and I was not even that comfortable in the water back then)

2. I'm Right Handed but Left Legged :)

3. I was born, grew up, lived and went to school in Terengganu until I was 17

4. Just like Ardy who tagged me, I don't mind eating other people's left overs. Hey, left overs are still food and I really don't like to waste all those food. And although it might sound gross, I do pickup food that falls on the table and eat them with the same reason as previously stated

5. I'm married to the person that I've known for 1/2 of my life and that turns out to be around 13 YEARS! (no I'm not saying we've been together that long, it's just that I've known her for that long)

6. I'm not good at sports that requires me to use my leg as the main tool (ie: football and sepak takraw, yes I'm a Kaki Bangku)

7. I love spending money on things that I don't really need and most of the time ended up selling them for cheap

8. I used to wear size 34 pants...(and that was only like 3 years ago) how I wish I can fit in those again

Now, I would like to tag the followings:
Ass-rif
Judd
Everybody else have been tagged...what to do maa...

Putrajaya & Cyberjaya - The "supposedly" Smart City

2008-01-16T16:22:00.000+08:00

Putrajaya and Cyberjaya are both billed as "Smart City" whatever that means. But seriously I don't really understand what so smart about both of them maybe somebody can highlight me on that.

Anyway, I've been to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya a couple of times and everytime, I ended up being lost. I mean these cities are supposed to be well planned and with modern layout and all. But unfortunately, I really found the signboards to be lacking and confusing. Heck everytime I tried to get to Alamanda I would get lost. I mean there're like 2 sign boards directing me to Alamanda then suddenly they all disappeared and I would get confused and ended making a u-turn like 100x before I can reach Alamanda.

OK, now to the main reason why I'm posting this. Recently I was driving to PD and in order to avoid paying any toll, I decided to use the newly opened KL-Putrajaya highway. I followed the route used by the SkyBus from KL Sentral to LCCT and once I reached Sepang I drove through the back road to PD. After the successful drive to PD using the highway without paying any tolls, I decided to use the same way back to KL.

So here is where the adventure begins. As I reached Putrajaya, I tried to look at signs leading me to the KL-Putrajaya highway but I found none and decide just to take the KL-Seremban highway back home. So I just drove along following any sign boards that's leading to KL and guess what? It led me to a ramp that leads to nowhere and still under construction. It was at night and there's not even a single road light along the ramp. I was lucky that the car in front of me must have also made a mistake turning into the ramp and decided to turn back to the main road. I followed the car but as we reached the entry to the ramp, a few other cars were entering it and god I was lucky that none of them were driving fast, if not they might have hit me.

So here I would like to pose a question? Where's the smartness in this Smart City? Putrajaya is supposed to be the administrative capital of Malaysia and the don't even have proper road signs and how come an intersection that's still under construction have no barrier preventing vehicles from entering it? Accidents could have happened by this blatant display of carelessness.

Just yesterday if I'm not mistaken, I read in The Star that people are complaining that they can't seem to find the entrance to the KL-Putrajaya highway from Putrajaya. What good is a highway if people can't use it because they can't find the entrace? I guess this is the problem that arises when you have too many highways leading to the same place but none are properly labeled....

Finally.....

2008-01-09T16:13:00.000+08:00

A new member in our family, and he's a boy :) ...finally. As of yesterday I'm uncle to 3 nieces and my dad has always wish to have a grandson.

So his wish was fulfilled today as my sister gave birth to a healthy 3.3kg boy at 1.30pm :)... I'm really excited and I guess I would need to travel down south tomorrow and most probably take this Friday off as I would need to be my mom's unofficial driver... I'll post some pictures as soon as I'm allowed to heh...

I'm Back

2008-01-09T10:38:00.000+08:00

It's 2008 and this is my 1st post after about a week into the new year. So what have I been doing lately? The answer would be Work, Work, Work, balik kampung, Work and Work again. Somewhere in between I've been tagged twice by SD. The tag is in Malay so here goes:

Bilakah saat-saat anda merasa boring dan bosan?

Bila membuat kerja/sesuatu yang berulang-ulang tanpa apa-apa yang baru untuk dibuat

Bagaimanakah anda menghilangkan perasaan boring dan bosan tersebut?

Buat sesuatu yang baru atau keluar makan angin

Pernah anda merasa hendak memukul seseorang?

Tentulah pernah

Jika ya, bagaimanakah caranya anda hendak memukul orang tersebut?

Tendang perutnya, siku mukanya dan lain-lain lagi

Pernahkah anda mengamuk dan membaling barang-barang di sekeliling anda?

Tidak. Kalau saya membaling barang-barang di sekeliling saya dan barang itu rosak, saya terpaksa membeli barang baru, semua itu menggunakan duit dan saya ini kedekut orangnya

Pernahkah anda mencintai seseorang? (termasuk sesame jantina dan berlainan jantina)

Tentulah pernah

Siapakah orang yang malang itu?

Jika kamu lihat blog ini kamu akan tahu

Berapa ramai orang yang pernah anda cintai?

Kalau saya jawab disini ada orang akan marah :)

Pernahkah hati anda dilukai?

Pernah dan lebih daripada sekali

Apakah cara anda untuk mengubati luka di hati itu?

Saya bukan doktor, jadi saya tidak tahu macam mana hendak mengubat luka di hati

Antara tortoise, eagle, tiger, elephant, kuda, yang mana satu pilihan anda?

Saya akan jadi elephant sebab elephant besar dan kuat jadi boleh buli orang yang lebih kecil

Berapa ramai orang yang pernah menyukai anda? (termasuk sesame jantina dan berlainan jantina)

Ada orang sukakan saya kah?

Pernahkah anda meniduri orang lain selain daripada isteri/suami anda sekarang? (juga selain daripada mak bapak, atuk nenek, pakcik makcik, adik-beradik, anak-beranak dan sedara-mare) – anda boleh tinggalkan soalan ini sekiranya anda rasa pernah berbuat demikian dan berasa segan untuk menjawabnya hehehe…

Jawapan untuk soalan itu adalah sulit dan persendirian

Anda hidup untuk makan atau makan untuk hidup?

Kalau saya tidak makan saya akan mati

Apakah falsampah hidup anda?

Saya tidak belajar sastera semasa di sekolah, saya jugak tidak mempunyai ijazah doktor falsafah jadi saya tiada falsampah dalam hidup

Adakah anda berasa menyampah dengan tag ini?

Saya rasa sangat menyampah membuat tag ini tetapi kerana saya sedang boring dan bosan, jadi saya membuat tag ini

Jadi apakah yang akan anda lakukan sekarang?

Saya akan membuang masa sehingga waktu makan tengahari dan terus membuang masa menunggu pukul 5 petang untuk pulang ke rumah

Hope

2007-12-31T23:21:00.000+08:00

What is hope, ask a bee in cold winter days,
she hangs around the pruned rose bushes,
with the hope that someday the spring will come,
and the flowers will bloom again in the garden.

What is hope, ask the blue bird pair in early spring,
they work diligently to bring every twig and grass,
to build their nest in the corner nook of my house,
I see the hope in the eyes of this lovely pair,
They are dreaming of a happy home for their family.

What is hope, ask a lonesome soul,
When the uncertainties linger around in mind,
hope is the only refuge to calm our fears,
When the loneliness sends one in depression,
the hope of a companionship overshadows the despair.

What is hope, ask a human being,
our life is a sand castle of hope on a sandy beach,
with the lingering fear of drowning in occasional high tide,
our destiny, our future, and our own survival,
hangs around the magical hope,
the hope that is the eternal inspiration.

Longhorns @ TGIF

2007-12-31T13:59:00.001+08:00

It's been quite a while since us Longhorns gather outside KLCC (well to be fair, all of us do work at the same place), the last time being the "Buka Puasa" session @ Hussen's place, so yesterday we decided for a change

In conjunction with Nurhi coming back from Veitnam for the holidays, we decided to have lunch somewhere not around KLCC and the place chosen was TGI Fridays at OU. Turn out was OK as most attended except for Yus and Bapak. We were suppose to meet at 12pm there but I only left the apartment around 11.55am as I waited for gafiL to finish up some work that she need to submit this week. Around 12.05pm, I got an SMS from Nizar saying that he's already there (well he live closest to OU anyway these days since I moved out of Mutiara Damansara) and a few minutes later I got SMS from Nurhi saying that she's already there too. I told them both to meet with each other and wait for me at Parkson

Around 12.15pm Hussen called but I told gafiL to answer and around 12.25pm as I reached TTDI, Nizar SMS'ed me again saying that they're all there and gonna go to TGI without waiting for me. Traffic was fine outside OU and I thought that finding a parking would be a breeze. Unfortunately I was so wrong and it took me almost 20 minutes trying to get a parking spot. I finally reached TGIF around 1pm and they already finished the 1st part of their 3 course meal by the time I got there

I ordered the Chicken Mozzarella Quesadillas but the serving size was too small and I wished I had ordered the 1lbs burger instead. But anyhow, it's still good food and got my thumbs up. In comparison to Chili's, all of us do felt that the food at Chili's are a bit better so maybe next time we'll eat at Chili's :). I tried to temp Nizar and Hussen into trying some Carl's Jr burger but both are too full already by the time we finished eating

We ate and chatted until around 3pm and then everybody went their own ways. Nizar and I had plan initially to play bowling but I can't do much with a sprained ankle and sore wrist from last saturday's fall. gafiL helped me buy an ankle support sleeve, and it costs me RM40!, and then we went home

So that's it for our final Longhorns eating out day for 2007 as nobody's working today except for me and Nizar (should've taken a leave today as the road would be rather busy with the closure for the new year's party and all). I'm currently making plans for 2008 Longhorns holiday and I'm hoping it would be a blast just like this year's Redang trip and hopefully more would join this year so that it would be just like the old days...

Happy New Year guys and hopefully 2008 would be a better year for all :)

Singapore on Foot cont'd Part 2

2007-12-29T17:19:00.000+08:00

Singapore on Foot cont'd Part 1

2007-12-29T17:12:00.000+08:00

Shopping and Eating Out Day

2007-12-27T21:03:00.000+08:00

I was feeling a bit lazy yesterday. The initial plan was to meet up with Hussen, shoot some hoops at his place and then clean up the apartment with gafiL which is long overdue. However, I was feeling a bit tired from the X-mas basketball session and the round trip journey afterwards visiting my sister in Port Dickson and woke up a bit late.

So I decided then to take advantage of the X-mas sale that's going on around town. The day started with accompanying gafiL to her office to run some errands and then we decided to have a late breakfast at Piri-Piri Cafe near the place we used to stay in Mutiara Damansara. Afterwards, around noon, we headed to OU for some shopping. I'm the rational one so as usual gafiL's the one who's doing bulk of the shopping. As we were walking around OU we stumbled into this

It's been a while since I last had Car's Jr burger and I'm not even aware that they have outlets here. So I decided to drag gafiL for some "real" burgers and ordered the Double Western combo set. The set costs me RM24 but heck, it's huge and that's the most important thing for me heh :)

The meal was truly satisfying and I wish I can have more but at RM24/set, I'll save it for another day.

The shopping continues (well it's more like "gafiL then continues shopping") and later I decided to take up Hazyr's recommendation and get the Alien vs Predator limited edition donuts at Big Apple.

The donuts were yummy and they definitely got my thumbs up but I'm still reserving my two thumbs up for Krispe Kreme donuts (I really wish they would open their outlets here). By the time I'm finished, it's almost 6.30pm and I'm still empty handed, can't seem to find anything that I like at OU.

Rather than going home, we decided to continue shopping at Jusco in Taman Maluri and I finally got a new pair of running shoes for myself. It was hard work trying to find a size 13 shoe on sale but luck was on my side and they have a pair of Brooks running shoes going for 50% off which I snapped up right away. Had dinner @ McDonald's and then we called it a day.

So there you go, a full day of shopping and eating out at fast food outlets and all I got was a new pair of shoes and some extra fat in the belly :)

Singapore On Foot

2007-12-24T16:36:00.000+08:00

I'm off from work until year end. Initially the plan was to go back home for the holidays, but due to the flood (just an excuse really :)) and the fact that a certain someone can't take leave on Mondays, we decided to scrap going back home. After an exhaustive ticket search on AirAsia, we just can't find any cheap tickets to go anywhere....so that led us to 1 destination that won't require us to fly = Singapore :) ....

The plan was simple, take the night train to Singapore, spend the day traveling around, take a nap, spend the next day traveling around some more and take the night bus back to KL. Also we decided to rely solely on the MRT and walking in order to save money (well mainly so that I have enough in my pocket to cover my 2008 diving heh). Here are some pictures during the start of the journey....

traveller's bag comparison

traveller's ticket

traveller's shoe comparison

traveller's hand comparison

I'll be posting some pictures and review later...stay tuned :)

Magic 97, Rockets 92

2007-12-20T16:37:00.000+08:00

I'm starting to lose faith on the Rockets. This is the 2nd straight lost (they lost to the Mavs again last Sunday) after winning in Detroit against the Pistons. And guess what? T-Mac's out with an injury again. Without T-Mac I don't see how the Rockets can survive their upcoming games. Yes Yao is getting tougher but you can't win games with just 1 player who can consistently score 20 or more points a game.

Bonzi Wells have stepped up a couple of times this year but then again, he's not consistent so far. The same goes for Luis Scola, he's been good in stretches but has yet to show consistency so far. Chuck Hayes is a good defender but definitely not an offensive threat to anyone. And what's wrong with those guards? Last year i was really hoping that they would dump Rafer Alston but this year it seems to be that he's the only 1 who's really helping the Rockets to win games. Steve Francis got to start a few games but he's not been producing offensively (hopefully he'll shut up for the rest of the year after so much grumbling about being left on the bench and about he's suppose to start etc earlier this year). And what's with Mike James? where's those shots that you got when you're with the Wolves?

I think it's time for me just to forget about the Rockets going anywhere this year. I don't think they'll even make it to the play-off this year. I guess it's just better for them to finish the season, hope that they'll get a good draft pick position and get good player from the draft. And hopefully they're not going to pull another draft day trade blunder like when they traded Rudy Gay (who is now scoring almost 20ppg and grabbing 5.5 rpg and definitely could have been the definite 3rd scoring option after T-Mac and Yao) for Shane Battier who's looking really bad this year.

The only thing I could say now would be, "Go Go Rockets, you guys need a lot of luck this season"....

To Do list 2008

2007-12-18T23:57:00.000+08:00

it's almost the end of 2007 and i'll be taking a leave from work until year end. i guess it's time for me to really plan what i want to do in 2008. 2007 has been really chaotic with lots of unplanned activities (mostly in the form of diving trips :)) and i hope that in 2008, i can be a bit more organized (well partly so that i can easily apply for annual leaves).

i've gotten my 2008 calendar and loving it. i've counted so far that there's plenty of public holidays that fall either on thursday, friday or monday...well 12 to be exact, and only 5 of these would require me to take at most a 1 day AL to enjoy a minimum 3 day weekend. discounting the Hari Raya holiday, that's a massive 11 opportunities for me to go for a holiday/trips/whatever...man it's not even 2008 and i'm already loving it :)

anyway, here's my current plan/wishlist for 2008 not in any particular order:

1. complete my current project @ work <- fact of life and cannot get away
2. go diving in Sipadan
3. go diving in Tioman (yes i've never been to tioman)
4. go diving in Tenggol
5. go diving in Kapas (never been there also, what a shame, it's just 1/2hr away from home)
6. go far far away from Malaysia for a long holiday
7. visit SEA countries
8. i'm already running out of ideas...

as you can see, most of them revolves around diving..but then again, i was hoping to diversify next year and not just focus on diving as i always like doing something new..

so what i need now are ideas...would you guys care to suggest? :)

basketball

2007-12-16T02:14:00.000+08:00

in my life i've only played basketball competitively in 2 ocassions

1. the mid-west games back in 2004 (despite only 2 Longhorns in the team we still call it Longhorns)
2. the east coast region inter company games 2006 playing for EXPRO

back in school, i never got the chance to play competitive basketball as nobody seems interested in playing basketball and the fact that i live and went to school in a state where basketball is almost non-existent didn't help either...so back then i had to resort to playing volleyball as actually i don't know how to play soccer...

anyway, fast forward to today..i've only started to play basketball again late last month (the 1st time since june 06) with Judd organizing a weekly basketball game (normally on Sunday and everybody's welcome to join)in Setiawangsa..currently around 20kg overweight, i can barely jump and run and no longer can i play long minutes..the game with Ardy and co. today really exposed my extremely unfit condition and i don't feel good about it..

i guess it's time for me to really focus on getting my fitness back (I'll take Ardy's advise about starting to run again) and get back in shape hopefully in time for next year's inter-company games, that is if i'm still needed at that time :) wish me luck...

shan curry

2007-12-12T23:53:00.000+08:00

the magic box that help me through 4 years of college...enough said :)

what's with them Rockets

2007-12-12T14:11:00.000+08:00

i really don't know what to say about the Rockets anymore.. when they brought in T-Mac, the Rockets was touted to have the best inside out combination comparable to Kobe and Shaq during their heydays with the Lakers..all the Rockets need to do was to find enough talent to surround their 2 best players to win games..

now it's been almost 4 years.. and still they can't win a 1st round playoff game..Van Gundy is out of the picture now and they were hoping that Rick Adelman, new GM Darel Morey and the resigning of Mike James, Luis Scola and Steve Francis would help the Rockets become a real contender for the 2007/2008 season... they looked really loaded on paper...unfortunately this is how they stand after 22 games

an 11-11 record and they lost to both the 76'ers and Raptors

i mean come on.. a team loaded with 2 All Stars, 1 former All Stars should not be that bad.. so what do u guys think about the new look Rockets? are they a real contender or just a pretender?

ultimate frisbee anyone?

2007-12-12T00:06:00.000+08:00

can't seem to remember where i put my frisbee.. i used to have 2 of 'em (although both are freebies heh) and had fun playing 'em.. anyhow, i wonder why people are not into frisbee over her.. it's an easy game to play..just get urself a frisbee, gather some friends, go to a park or something and start throwing.. simple enough.. i used to play it in the small green area in front of my department back in my college days..

oh i just realized, we don't have parks here other than housing parks :)

Kaleebso "Sea Horse" LOB Trip Dec 2007

2007-12-11T00:09:00.000+08:00

i just got back from a diving trip on board the Kaleebso in Pulau Sembilan during the weekend. it was my 1st LOB trip and to summarize it in 1 word... F U N .. this has so far been my best diving trip ever since i started diving in 04.. will be uploading the pictures into my flickr page and also some reviews here ASAP (and that means as soon as i can get a hang of blogging again heh)

oh btw, Pulau Sembilan is pretty much sea horse country.. and someone actually came up with the brilliant idea of playing UNO underwater.. which we actually did :)

feels like posting again

2007-12-10T23:55:00.000+08:00

i started this blog back in 2004 but i haven't been posting much.. heck i even deleted most of the old postings except for one....i guess now it's time for me to post again...so watch this space to be filled up soon :)

2004-10-17T01:59:00.000+08:00

Another View of Kampung Nail from "my" house

2004-10-17T01:57:00.000+08:00

Kampung Nail @ Kuala Besut (Reorientation Session)