January 2009 ~ TRISTUPE.COM

Friday, January 30, 2009

CNY Holiday Break Updates

Been busy, here is some updates for you all.

CNY EVE : HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: NADIA STARTED TO CRAWL! (video to be uploaded separately next week)

1. First day CNY - Melaka to the century old temple for some praying and blessing. Whole family was out, first trip for Nadia and Ryan with my parents out of town.

2. Second day CNY - open house and was attended by the usual suspect. Made whole loads of Muffins but wasn't well received due to the other more delicious (and not cooked by the family) food available.

3. Third day CNY - visiting as usual. IQBAL BECOME FATHER AGAIN - BABY Girl NADINE RANIA came to the world! Congrats Iqbal and Lenny!

4. Fourth day CNY - Visited Iqbal and Lenny and Baby Nadine. Dinner later with sis future in law.

5. Fifth Day CNY (ie today) - not sure yet. :P

I've been clocking in everyday for 2 hours in office to clear off emails and attend to work. Not very very holiday eh?

IM is now 28 days more. Preparation? i'm just hoping to finish this year's race in 17hours with the amount of prep i put in.

Tomorrow will be Broga classic with Barath. Sunday a short run with him.

this is like some last minute exam prep la...

New PB : 1 Mile : 7min 11 Seconds

Went out to do my best 1mile last Saturday.

My previous best 1 mile was 7mins 55 seconds. When i clocked it, i knew i could had done it better.

I Ran my heart out (and eyes closed as the sweat was blinding me) on Saturday. Should had chosen a cooler morning (so air has denser oxygen) but took it head on at 11am. Stupid.

No love was lost. I clocked my best ever 1 mile run (that's 1.6km) in 7 Min 11 Seconds.

I then went on to run a slow 4.1KM and call it a day.

Not too bad la eh?

Gong Xi! Gong Xi!

Happy Niu Year and have an Oxpicious New Year.

May all your wish come true in the year of the Ox.

May you and your loved ones enjoy endless health.

May you ride on the Ox for a wealthy year.

From all of us at home.

Photog Service for IronMan Langkawi 2009 - Part II

These are just samples of pics taken over the GE30K by the service provider. :) Here is the link to the Part I

Too bad i pirated the race and thus, did not have any pics in the series.

Here is a pic of Zabil

And here is Abu

and here is AJ, Arif and Yusran

There are still spaces if you wish your pics to be taken. RM450 might sound excessive, but hire one photog yourself and it will be RM3K/day/event.

Leave a comment in the comment box below so SK and Jim could pick it up from there.

Again, let me stress that i am not getting any discount for doing this. Just helping out!

Tea Break Joke.

Got this from a ~~colleauge~~colleague.

A farmer named Lakbir Singh was overseeing his herd in a remote pasture in Bolehland when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young Malay man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the farmer, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

Lakbir looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within mere seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data is stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he
prints out a full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the farmer and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Lakbir.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then Lakbir says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a graduate from Oxford and a Member of Parliament for Umno," says Lakbir.

"Wow! That's correct," exclaims the yuppie with the customary Umno's Wow Factor, "But how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required," answered Lakbir. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, and to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter you are, and you don't know a thing about cows. This is a herd of sheep.

Now give me back my dog."

One of the many reasons why the majority Malays in KT didn't vote for UMNO/BN

Photog Service for IronMan Langkawi 2009

Two friends of mine has recently proposed that they take pics of anyone interested and immortalised the pics into a A4 photobook.

Jim

Having just went through a photo session with Covershot at RM280 for 11 5R pics in a B5 sized hardcover photobook, i would say what Shazly and Jim is offering at RM450 that includes an A4 hardcover of 20 pages a bargain.

Covershot

Yes, that's RM450 for whatever pics they could get of you during IronMan Langkawi 2009, fit into a 20 pages hardcover photobook to immortalised the whole race.

Now, compare that to RM150 for some 4R sized photos (usually a minimum of 4 pieces, max of 7, depending on your luck) taken by the official photographers that are badly composed (with you in the background, and not the subject, so you are potentially sharing the pic with at least 2 other IM, if you know who the other chaps are, then it is ok, if not, what's the point?)

If you are doing IM for the first time.

Or the second time.

Or the 16th time, i guess RM450 is a very very reasonable price to part with to capture the moment.

SK and Jim will have a couple more photog helping out at various point of the race. They will be there the full 17hours of the race. They will even be snapping away way before and way after the race for more dramatic effect.

if any of you IronMan and IronMan hopeful that want to engage their service, please drop a comment in this posting below and i will forward this to the both of them.

Bear in mind, i get nothing in return from this, i will be paying the full prize for this.

My motivation is that last year's IM, i had nothing really great to remember by. I don't even have a finishing pic!

So, learn from my mistake. RM450 is really nothing compared to the whole year preparation you put yourself through to compete in this gruesome 17 hours race!

Hurry, as i was made to understand they will limit this to a certain number so that the shots will be held in utmost quality.

Chao Ah Beng put up a signboard outside his house warning everyone not to park at this spot.

For your info, the flower bed above were constructed by him to further deter neighbours from putting their cars infront of Chao Ah Beng's house.

I waited for him to come back yesterday and he did not do so until past midnight.

I really wonder what man don't need to go to work in the day time, and then dissappear before the wife return from work and comes back after everyone sleep.

He might be a DVD seller. Perhaps even a taikor. Maybe an Ah Long.

If he is one of the above, he surely is one hell of a balless DVD seller/Taikor/Ah Long.

No one put a butterfly sticker than look like a tattoo behind a nice white ESTIMA!

Damn Kaw Ah Beng, and a smelly one at that!

I've been getting some suggestion to get him to come talk to me, short of creating blood bath, i am considering a few options.

Neighbourly Love.

Had some neighbourly dispute last Friday.

My mum in law's car were vandalised and damaged by a neighbour.

Received a call from my wife that a neighbour that stays opposite at the corner house damaged the car's side mirror just becuse we parked on the roadside, infront of his house.

Not only is this neighbour (i will lovingly call him Chao Ah Beng - thin long hair tattoo guy) with 2 young daughters damaged the car and was caught red-handed by my visiting Sister In Law, he had the cheek to walk up right at my SIL's face and shouted profanities at her.

And he was shorter than my 5'5" tall SIL.

I supposed this Chao Ah Beng is well educated as he could afford a Merc CLK, Estima 2004 and a Honda Jazz. He also have a Bar Council emblem on his CLK's number plate. But i can't understand how someone this well educated is so - uncivilised!

To equate him to uneducated ah beng is not doing justice to those uneducated ah beng that i grew up with and that i know and come across.

I rushed home after i received the call to confront this Chao Ah Beng. But unfortunately, he had sped off in his CLK before i could reach home (i think i might had created a PB for 800m).

I rang the doorbell but no one answered the door.

So, i went home, wrote a note and demanded the Chao Ah Beng to call me.

I was furious.

But as expected, for someone like that Chao Ah Beng to bully an old lady and my sister in law, he would not have any balls to call me to talk to me.

Infact, wifey had a word with his wife much later in the evening and apparently, Chao Ah Beng's wife knew about it!

Chao Ah Beng most probably told his wife what happened.

Luckily, the wife is more understanding and are more reasonable.

She apologized, but not without trying to defend her husband.

Do tell me. Is parking on the roadside, outside someone's house, is encroaching someone's property?

Well, Chao Ah Beng's anger was because he almost ran into the car when he was coming home and that my mother in law's car was in the middle of the road in his property. Keep in mind, this Chao Ah Beng rev his car the moment it leaves his front gate and drive fast in residential road. I was once cut off on the road by him near Eastin - and he was only back 2 minutes before me (by the time i reached my house, his front gate just closes). Infact, some neighbours is in agreement with me that he drives fast unnessasarily.

Look, just because it's outside your house, it is not your property, the road is under MBPJ's jurisdiction.

Up until today, this Chao Ah Beng has no guts to call me.

He bumped into me yesterday but went into his house when i stared at him.

Coward.

Those tattoos on his arms must be stick on.

Those hairs must be pampered in saloon.

And those puny arms are not bigger than my wrist.

And if you are reading this, you Chao Ah Beng.

CONFRONT ME. Not hide under your wife's armpit.

Pirated GE 30K Run

Started my run from the opposite direction.

Hartamas - Bukit Aman.

Took the usual Bukit Tunku route and did not know that the run took the runners through the double hills.

Saw majority of the runners near Bank Negara and U turned after i saw what was most probably the last runner out of Lake Garden.

Bumped into Mac, Levin, Doc M, Shazly, Chief Kutu, Jabir, Yusran, Senn and my colleauge Ying!

I did not manage to stop and chat with a numbers of them as i was chasing my own cut off time as well (9am - to go back and help wifey with kids)

I started the run at about 0545, hoping to catch everyone on the run towards Hartamas or bump into them as they U turn near Petronas.

I completed my 22.95km of run in 2:19. Then, i double back along the Hartamas route towards Matrade to accompany a few others and to cheer them on.

I would had covered enough distance and hill work running up and down the road infront of Plaza Damas.

I only managed to take Senn and my colleague's pic.

FYI, Ying, my colleague, is from China and she works in the office in US of A. She is on 3 months work placement in the KL office and this is her longest running distance ever. She has not ran any distance further than 10km previously and she wrongly signed up for 30K. She intended to do 20K only.

Ying

Senn

I had a good workout. Yesterday's run was more than my usual run. I did my intended distance of 20odd km, and put in some leisure run to soak in the GE30K excitement.

To all that clocked good timing and completed the distance, well done!

Are You Ruumz?

I'm not talking about the branching out of anohter well known club in KL but i'm specifically talking about the newest social networking website with a difference.

Welcome RUUMZ.com!!!

It was launched officially yesterday and the crowd at the venue were simply fabulous!

Ruumz at Mist

This website does more than your usual Friendsters and Facebook. It has other capacility like a radio, movies, mobile application and a host of other items not available in Facebook.

And best of all, the content is localised and we don't see things that aren't relevant to us (how many of you want to know if Bush is gay anyway?)

So, join me and the rest in Ruumz.

Just click on the link below and sign up!

Then look for me at : Stupe @ Ruumz

And don't forget to sign up with Advertlets, Malaysia leading Blog-tistment!

Nadia - 7 Months going 8th

My little princess is progressing really well so far.

She could steadily sit unassisted, even move from lying down position to sitting down herself.

She could open and close her hand and fingers when we sing "twinkle twinkle little star" and she would oblige with the occasional clapping of hand when we demostrate to her what it is.

She loves the water as well. Having kicking and splashing the bath water when she is having bath. We brought her to the pool last two weeks for her first ever bikini wearing session (pics to follow soon).

Just two days ago, she learnt that she has a shadow and she couldn't stop playing with the shadow - at 4am in the morning. She was screaming and laughing to her shadow and constantly flaps her hand and bump up and down.

It will be a matter of time before she could crawl (in a few weeks maybe!) and we could see at least one tooth coming out soon too.

Simply adorable. No doubt about that.

She knows her name when we call for her and she always will charm you first thing in the morning when she wakes up with a big warm smile.

Ryan has grown fond of his sister. He will look for her if she is out of sight.

I couldn't ask for me. Really. In times of uncertainties, family is almost the surest things i could count on, and it's worth more than money and material itself.

Hidden Charms In Kluang

I was down at Kluang on Sunday with wifey. I have to take a drive down to Kahang to issue a "Permit To Work" to my engineers at site.

Wifey was there to accompany me as i did not have enough of rest the same morning. Nadia was down with fever and she was cranky. We left at 5am in the morning, leaving the kids with my mum in law which we picked over to help out with.

The work was uneventful, except that it reminded me 2 years ago when i rode into the National Park via Kahang (to Kampung Peta).

After the permit issuing, we drove back to Kluang town as Barath brought me to the original Kluang Station - just that it is not called Kluang Station like they do in KL.

Infact to equate the kopitiam that sits right next to the railway line in Kluang to Kluang Station is an insult to the original establishment.

First thing i noticed at the kopitiam (known as Kluang Rail Coffee) is that sittings are really limited - but that is due to the large crowd!

Original condition

We shared a table with 4 travellers "on transit" at the station. I could see from their sign language that they are really enjoying their meals (they are deaf/mute).

Second thing i noticed is that the coffee/drink maker is a chinese man in his early 40s.

We ordered all the toast available and they all comes with the homemade kaya and a slice of butter. They did not skim on both the ingredient.

Sinful Delights

Proud to say that the eggs used to make these kaya comes from Barath's farm!

I had a sip of the famous coffee and it was an OMG experience.

Never had i tasted coffee so rich and so fragrant that smelling it was as good as drinking it. You know how coffee are, they can smell great, but they taste less than desirable. The coffee from this place is not just your Aik Cheong or your Sin Sing or any of those local coffee mixture.

Pic does not do justice

They do have the usual stuff like Nasi Lemak (wrapped in newspaper - 70sen each), Penyet (local kuih - also 70sen) and mee siam (70sen each too!)

It was worth the money and it is really really an "uplifting" and "shaking" experience. You see, this place is literally next to the railway line. When the train comes-a-calling, the whole platform shakes and rumble. It gives a whole new meaning to authenticity of KLUANG Station - something the chains of kopitiam in klang valley would not be able to come close, or even match.

Me and wifey then bulk purchased some coffee powder and kaya to bring back (and to make).

500grams (RM10) of satisfying stimulants

After that, we left the station for the next compulsory things to do.

Visit Barath's farm.

This is my first experience in a chicken farm that produces eggs. It was kinda exciting.

Unfortunately, i won't be eleborating much on it as i believe Barath would appreciate a certain degree of privacy with regards to how he run his farms.

In that short hour, i've learnt so much about the business and the amount of hardwork he and his brother put in to cut down on cost and to make things more profitable for them.

The literally build and repair the coup and farm themselves! How's that for inspiration?

We were also lucky as he just bought thousands of day old chics and i get to rekindle my childhood memories when my granma used to buy these chics to be fed and later to end up on the dining table.

staying warm

I was also told that you can determine the sex of the chic by just controlling the incubation temperature. That's like playing God!

But of course, for the chicken to rear eggs, they got to be female chicken, ain't it? So, these chics you see above and in the farms are all female.

Talk about estrogen overrun.

Where got heart to serve on table as dinner?

We were also shown the automated feeding system, the automated eggs grading machine, the home build ventilation cum natural air conditoning system and how they prevent the chicken from pecking and breaking the eggs they laid.

We were also told that the chicken typically takes 28hours to produce an egg. So, don't go waste that egg you see, that's bloody 28 hours to produce!

And the best of all, we were shown the "pondan" chicken.

Well, shit happens.

This pondan chicken is actually a chicken that resemble a female chicken, but has larger combs that usual and if you are a chicken expert like Barath, could just feel the distance between the pelvic done to know if the chicken is male or female. In short, this Pondan gets to be pampered and gets to eat for free and don't need to lay any eggs.

He is the most "man" in the whole coup la, so to say.

We were also introduced to two dogs. Both a rott.

Both scary and big.

I'm not gonna mess with a dog where even the owner think twice about patting ok?

We left the farm with 30 A and AA eggs (each). It has been some time since i've seen AA graded eggs. They are huge and obscenely fresh (literally within the hour of laying)

It is no surpise that breakfast yesterday morning was egg sandwiches - i've added in tuna for more protien.

It was a really good experience. Thank You Barath for the site-seeing and great company!

Saturday : 15km Run

Home - TTDI - Bukit Kiara - TTDI - Home.

Been some time since i ran up Kiara Hill. Decided to do it last saturday to see if it will kill me.

It did not and i am very happy to say that i managed the same pace running up Kiara as on flat!

That is having no break in the pace through the whole run, except when i tried to cross at the U turn under construction at LDP. The traffic was unbelievably unfriendly (then again, i have no business trying to cross that 6 lanes anyway).

Here's the run Stats:

Distance : 15.41km
Ave pace : 6:18/km
Time : 1:37:11

It was a slow 15km for me. But it's ok since it involve running up Kiara.

Busy.

Been swarmed with work. Sorry for the sparse updates.

Not been training. No excuse for it. Ironman gonna be less than 50 days time.

Stuck in endless meetings. Executing 2009 plans.

Dad in hospital. Scheduled for operation. Minor : Hernia.

Nadia sitting steadily. Will be crawling soon.

Ryan putting sentences together. Continue to impress with his vocabs.

Wifey pretty adn gorgeous as usual. Maybe even more now.

Post Graduate Education Fair 2009

If you are just like me, having only a degree and looking forward to obtain or planning to do a postgrad degree, the coming Post Graduate Education Fair might just hold the answer and offer some opportunities for course placements.

Last year's Post Graduate Education Fair was a success judging from the crowd of people that attended the fair.

Since it's inception in year 2002, the fair has seen a massive growth in visitors looking for potential placement in some local and overseas universities. The number grew steadily from 36,000 visitors in 2002 to 116,000 visitors in 2008.

The sheer numbers of visitors themselves would says volume about the popularity of the fair and how we Malaysians are looking ways to improve our own academic capabilities.

While some would see postgrad degree as a way to satisfy their hunger for self improvement, many view a postgrad degree as a way to move up in their work and corporate ladder.

It is a fact that people holding a postgrad degree will command better pay compared to people with just a degree. This is of course putting experience and other external factors to be equal.

The fair will not only exposed the visitors with multitude of postgrad studies offered, but will also offer many ways of financing for the program themselves. While some people were fortunate enough to be able to save up for this, a lot of other working adults would find it difficult to finance them.

There is a lot of "degree mills" out there that could churn out postgrad degrees at a fraction of the cost and the last thing you ever wanted is to find out that the hard earned postgrad degree is worth nothing as it is not accrediated or approved by the respective country that you are trying to get employment from. Rest assured that PGEF only admits the institution that has been accrediated and approved and this will offer a good peace of mind.

As for me, it has been a lifelong wish to do a Master degree. I am at the crossroad now and considering either to pursue a technical degree or stick to the fail-proof MBA.

It is a hard choice for me, having a family and with limited resources to pursue this dream. However, i will try to make it to this fair, just to keep my options open.

I believe most of you thinking of going down this path, should visit too, never know, we just might end up as course mates!

So, mark down on your Calender, it's 18th till 19th January at Midvalley Exhibition Centre!

Citibank Shell Credit Cards

Time are tough. A lot of my friends are already telling me they are downsizing their vehicles or starting to drive their smaller less fuel consuming cars.

Despite petrol pricing being revised every 2 weeks (as it is now, RM1.80/liters for Premium and RM2.10 for Ultra Premium V-Power), there is no assurances that the price will stay as such.

With the current economic downturn and moving towards recession (though our leader are still in denial) and some say depression, every little bit helps.

Citibank has recently launched their new line of Credit Cards with affliation with Shell.

What is so special about this card? It's just another any ordinary credit card that you will still need to pay at the end of the month, right? Perhaps you are right, but This Citibank - Shell Credit Card gives you fuel rebates.

It will offer up to 2.5% rebate when fueling up at Shell Stations and 0.75% at other station. For new card member, the rebate goes up to 5% for Shell and 1.5% for other brand of fuel for the first 30 days!

Lets take on average you fuel up once a week with RM80 worth of petrol, that would meant you will be saving at a minimum of 60 sen and up to RM2/visit everytime you fuel up and that would work out to a minimum of RM2.40 and up to RM8 savings per month.

That is like getting a minimum of 1.3liters worth of petrol FOC per month, which on the average should power you enough to drive from Hartamas to 1 Utama for your monthly shopping. Think about the amount you will save if you pump Shell!

If it wasn't enough that Shell with it's "Go further" formula that will help you to save petrol and increase your mileage, Citibank is also offering a set of GPS at a song.

What used to be selling at RM1299 is going for RM399.

I'm a loyal user of GPS and i can tell you no way you can get one unit of big screen GPS at that price. At RM400, you can get the Garmin Forerunner, which is only useful if you decide to RUN/BIKE. It's a wrist unit and i don't think you want to be squinting your eyes looking at your wrist WHILE driving!

With the GPS, you could better plan your journey and this would also translate to better fuel savings too!

On top of all the above, Citibank is also giving a RM50 fuel rebate upon application approval!

So, if the above is enough to entice you, click here to apply : Give Me Citibank Shell Credit Cards

Offer expires 28th February 2009, so be quick!

Sunday Secret Training

Did a mediocore 16.84km run yesterday. Started from home, ran towards TTDI/Dato' Sulaiman - Pencala Link Tunnel - Hartamas - RSC - Eastin - Sect 17 - NKVE - U-turn at DU/DJ flyover - Home.

Ran alone on those lonely highway. As usual, woke up late, wanted to start at 5.30am, but only manged to do so at 6.30am. Been trying to recover/get back into my sleeping rhythm.

With only less than 60 days to IronMan 2009, i've never been so relaxed or lacksadaisical in my approach to this major race in my life.

I call it a secret training because i am trying to find out where my legs are hiding secretly - i lost my running legs, remember?

Yesterday was no difference. First 10km was great, i did a 55 minutes. Infact my pace was so constant the only big dip was because i stopped at the Uptown/SS2 junction to cross the already busy road.

Was i happy with yesterday's run?

I guess i am, as i get to clock some mileage, no matter how shitty/unsatisfactory it seems.

Whatever happened to "fly like a bee and train like a horse"?

*you see, bees aren't built to fly and horses aren't trained to race*

Come what may, IronMan 2009 will definately be a race to the finish - all by myself and all 17 hours of it.

And just this morning, my whole entire left leg, from the thighs to the tip of my toe, were numb. Needles and pins sensation, and i wasn't even sleeping on my left side or has something sitting/bearing down weight on.

It was really freaky when i realised the whole leg did not want to move first thing when i woke up.

Broga Jantan's Profile

As promised, here is the profile of Broga Jantan.

Give yourself a pat on the back.

Here is the route in G-Map.

Happy new year all. The new year ride organised by CK and gang suffered a massive pile up with 4 riders with various injuries and one machine (bike la) injury. All were riding with helmets and all helmets suffered and broken into pieces (as they should on crash).

Do ride safe in 2009. Don't take things for granted and keep a safe distance between you and the front rider if you do want to draft. It will help if you know the front person's ability so you could easily gauge and anticipate what he will do (ie swerve right, swerve left, sudden stop etc etc).

RIDE SAFE and Happy New Year, again!