3 hari je lagi!!!

... to Powerman Malaysia. Ish, rasa seram pulak. Bukan apa, risau tak dpt finish jek. bila dah training susah payah, then ni la masa nak tgk semua training tu berbaloi ke tak. biasa la mcm ni, dah training mcm mana pun, still rasa tak confident jugak. so next time kene training lebih lagi ni hehehe

Ni race kit: T-shirt, race number & race booklet

T-shirt tu material tak best sgt. design pun tak cantik sgt. Tapi OK la, masuk race bukan sbb nak T-shirt. nak t-shirt cantik, beli kat kedai la... muahahaha

kat belakang, sponsor ada satu je, Powerbar. dulu ada byk sponsor, maybe sbb keadaan ekonomi skrg, so sponsor tak byk. takpe lah, janji ada jugak race. anyway, thank you malakoff. kalau tak, langsung takde race.

dan jugak, sbb aku ni kiasu, ni supply Powerbar yg aku prepare:

muahahaha byk giler! mcm nak makan seminggu! last time aku makan 7 paket powergel masa race. actually tak perlu sampai 7 paket, tapi biasa lah, towards the end makan powergel ni utk psychology je. lepas makan tu rasa mcm kuat sikit hehehe

for those yg tak tau, powerbar & powergels ni makan utk dptkan tenaga. ye la, kalau dah buat aktiviti sukan yg berat sampai 4-5 jam, tenaga dalam badan pun abis dah. nak refill balik, makan powerbar/gel ni la. makan nasik pun boleh jugak dpt tenaga, tapi susah sikit la nak makan nasik sambil kayuh basikal... hahahaha

anyway, wish me luck. aku target 4:40, hopefully. sakit jugak tu nak dpt target time tu. last time pun dpt finish in 4:40 tapi distance pendek sikit, 10-60-10. this time 11-64-10.

yeah, yakin boleh! malaysia boleh! hehehe sorry semangat terlebih pulak

Bersepah nye

Meja aku




Bersepah sungguh la. Belum tgk laci & locker lagi tu. Pun byk barang. Byk sangat simpan barang, sayang nak buang. One of these days kene datang weekend buang semua benda tak pakai ni. Buat semak je.

6 days to go!!!

to Powerman Malaysia 2008!!! Risau siots.

Hari Sabtu dah pegi ambik race kit. Agak mengecewakan sbb T-shirt tak berapa lawa & material tak best.. Goodies pun takde. Tapi takpe, masuk race bukan sbb T-shirt & goodies.

Ahad pulak kayuh individual time-trial kat Putrajaya, tapi baru 5 minit kayuh tayar pancit pulak. Repair tepi jalan je dah 1/2 jam. Biasa la, time genting mcm ni masa tu la nak jadik cerita. Tapi semangat punya pasal, sambung jugak kayuh. Habis nak dekat tgh hari dah. Dapat jugak 48km. Average 31.5km/h! Perghhh!!! Tu jalan berbukit-bukau tu. Hopefully flat road kat Lumut nanti boleh average lagi laju.

Hotel pun dah book. Blue Bay Resort Lumut. Dok sorang jek. Takpe lah. Sure ada lagi competitor dok kat situ. Geng je lah ngan diorang. Hehehe

Satu malam di 7-11

Pukul 12:00 tgh malam semalam, kat 7-11 depan rumah aku. Pegi beli roti & air.

Cashier: Aik, makan malam² ke?
Aku: A'ah. Lapar pulak.
Cashier: Study lagi ke? Ke dah keje?
Aku: Eh dah keje la. Lama dah (sambil tersenyum sbb dia ingat aku study lagik)
Cashier: Adik keje kat mana?
Aku: (Eh, dia panggil aku adik? Biar benar dia ni heh heh) Bank Negara
Cashier: Abang nak cari keje permanent la, Bank Negara ada kosong tak?
Aku: Ada. Hantar je resume kat Bank Negara.
Cashier: Kalau abang pass kat adik je boleh ke?
Aku: (still menahan gelak) Boleh je. Nanti hari Rabu ye.
Cashier: Ni adik ambik no phone abang
Aku: Ye lah

Yang lawak tu, aku dah mention aku dah keje lama. Dia still panggil aku adik. Cashier tu, aku tgk, max umur 23-24. And dia jugak penah tanya aku kalau aku ada member nak beli kereta Myvi full loan, the sort of questions orang yg baru kerja akan tanya. And masa tu dia panggil aku abang. Maybe sbb dia nampak kereta aku park depan pintu 7-11 tu. Semalam parking jauh sikit.

Sebelum keluar pintu tu, rasa nak je tanya dia umur berapa. Kah kah kah dia sure tak expect aku ni dah 8 tahun keje. So agak² la umur aku berapa. Dah 30 dah dik oii... hehehe

Ni mesti sbb baru potong rambut pendek dia tgk mcm muda semacam hehehe takpe rabu nanti dia bagi resume aku bagitau jek lah kat dia

Yeah right!

In thestar.com.my today: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/29/nation/2387778&sec=nation

An interesting excerp:

"All this while, we have been absorbing higher costs as we haven’t been increasing our food prices even after the price hikes. So I don’t see why we should lower our prices now,” he told The Star yesterday."

Absorbing higher costs? Haven't increased prices? My foot. The hawkers and restaurateurs are the FIRST to INCREASE their prices. Since:

1. Their prices are not officially controlled

2. They never actually calculate the ACTUAL COST of producing the food itself. They use the concept, 'main taram saja'. Cooking oil price increase by 50 sen per kg? Let's increase the price of roti canai by 10 sen each then. As if 1 kg of oil is just enough for just 5 roti canai! Same goes when milk price increased, flour price increased. All resulted in disproportionate price increase by them.

And yet they claim they've been absorbing? Again, my foot!

I'm not complaining about the high price. I think they have the right to sell at whatever price they want, and I in turn, have the right to choose to eat at their outlet or not. But to actually try to mislead people that they've been absorbing higher cost? That's like trying to hide an elephant in a refrigerator. You're just insulting the public's intelligence.

Not your average Sunday 2

Sunday, 26 October 2008. Woke up late, so missed my cycling at Putrajaya. Then out of nothing, just decided to go to Sepang track day, again. My fourth session this year.

This time went with Azam, my PMC friend. The usual thing, park outside first, see if there's many cars or not, only then decided to bring in my car. Cars were a bit more than the previous session in June, but manageable.

First outing was riding shotgun in Azam's Mini Cooper S. He's quite a handy driver. Slip sliding his way through some of the corners, especially T6 and T11. Agressive too, getting scarily close with other cars at T14. Worse still, his car didn't have grab handle on the passenger side... I timed his lap at 3:08, really not bad for a first timer around the full track. I'm sure he had a lot of fun too, well until he had a spin later in the session... hehehe normal lah tu Azam. Pegi track mesti spin punya lah...

Later with Azam on passenger seat, I managed only 2:58. But I had to yield at a few corners for traffic. Later when the track was clear & driving alone, managed to get an almost clean run for a time of 2:53. I'm satisfied for the moment, with what I have. My tyres are costing me a few seconds definitely. They're long lasting and already survived 4 track days, but not enough grip around the sweeping T5 & T11. With better tyres, I'm sure sub 2:50 is within reach. Top speed recorded was 194km/h. Not sure back or front straight. Up 9km/h from last session. Must be because I'm now 10 kilos lighter... hehehe owh, and this time I also removed the spare tyres. Also picked up new skill, trail braking, which I learned in Gran Turismo 4, translated to real-life hehehe

Above pic, our car in the pit. Taken with my new N5610 hehehe Sorry no action shots since we were busy enjoying ourselves on the track. Later at home discovered, my front brake pads and rotors are almost gone now. Only OK for street driving. No more track session with those. Ouch!

But that is nothing compared to this:

Yes, a Scooby caught fire!! Motorsport really is dangerous (and costly!)

Inactive Malaysians

Found this in thestar.com.my today: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/24/nation/2362348&sec=nation

If you ask me, I wholeheartedly agree to it. I have a desk job that requires me to sit on a chair in front of a desk 8 hours of the day. At most, the work related physical activity I'm required to do is to walk to the next building to attend meetings. Even that also we normally take the elevator and escalator.

In my office, we have a gym. A complete one with all the nice equipments. Treadmills, cross-trainer, cycling machine, weights, etc... Even two badminton courts, two squash courts two more squash courts converted to become table tennis courts. And it's totally free for all the staff.

But, I would say, less than 20% actually frequent it. It's the same face day-in and day-out. But strangely, during the Open House, with the lavish food served, I see like 90% of the staff being there. And then people keep on complaining of their idle-related illness e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.. etc.. They never take care of themselves in the first place.

So you out there, please take care of yourself. Our modern lifestyle, modern job & modern food is taking a toll on our body. We have to keep that in control. Please don't use the excuse that you don't have time & busy with your family. Or your job. Those are just excuses. If you really love your family, then take care of yourself. If not, it's them that needs to take care of you instead of the other way around. And if you got ill, you cannot efficiently do your job either.

So please, take note of that.