Reboot

I need to return to my roots and use this blog more frequently as a place to reflect, review, recharge, renew and sometimes, react (though I actually have another place to just for that purpose!).


The only problem is I am not much of a writer.  Yes, I mused about stuff all the time but I am usually too lazy to put them down into words.  Oh well... lets see how long this latest effort will last, shall we? :)

Drinking water.

Don't know if this is true...

Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body:
2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs.
1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion.
1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure.
1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack.

If its true, great! If not, well... at least I'm hydrated! :)

There's been some discussion on the Net about putting together a team that would defeat Barcelona. Here's my contribution to the cause:

Forwards:
Rooney Ronaldo Aguero
Midfield:
Modric Wilshere
De Jong
Defenders:
Coentrao Jones Silva Maicon
Goalkeeper:
Neuer

What if I have 161 million pounds in the bank?

What will you do if you have 161 million pounds? I really dunno man...

Barcelona 2011 = Football Masters

Its been 2 weeks since Man Utd lost to Barca in the CL finals. It still hurts but I have to admit, Josep Guardiola did an amazing job putting together a squad like that.

Some of the interesting things he did...

1. using a withdrawn striker like Messi pull midfielders and leaving central defenders with nothing to mark.
2. using 2 strikers (Villa and Pedro) as wide men to receive Messi's passes. Confusing both opposing full backs and central defenders and allowing its own full backs space to run up and down the sidelines.
3. finally, and this is a genius... using a defensive midfielder (Mascherano) as a defender. Having Pique as a lone central defender is no problem as Man Utd had deployed a lone striker and having 2 defensive midfielders (Busquets and Mascherano) in front of and beside the main defender allows maximum protection to the keeper.

Brilliant! Now if we can find a way to negate all that...

Missing dog

Lately I've seen so many Lost Pet posters springing up near my neighborhood and all over Penang. This got me thinking and I've come to a conclusion that the only way people can stop losing their dogs is to choose the right breed to keep as a pet. If you choose a poodle or a schnauzer or any other pure bred small dog, its gonna go missing if left unattended. "So what is your solution then?", I hear you ask... and here is my answer:

GET A MONGREL, and a FEMALE one at that.


If you treat them with the same kinda love and care (and yes, spaying them is part of caring for them) as you would a pure bred, you will have a loving dog who not only is loyal but have had all the bad genes bred out of it already. Try the yellow fur variety. They are so ubiquitous yet so cute and loving, and no one wants too kidnap them. They have absolutely no financial value to others. Give them a try... adopt a mongrel instead.

Really...

Getting there

2 more matches, 1 more final... you think we can do it?

Cross our fingers... hope the players are not complacent!

EDC

EDC stands for "Every-Day Carry. generally referring to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. "

This is my ideal EDC in bag:

1. Benchmade Mini-Griptilian 556 folding knife
2. Leatherman Charge TTi multifunction tool with Bit-Kit (with sheaths)
   
3. Gerber pocket sharpener
   
4. Fenix PD31 flashlight
   
5. First aid kit
6. Emergency Space Blanket
   
7. 60m dental floss
8. Wet-wipes
9. Energy bar
   
10. USB card reader
    
11. Peanut stainless-steel lighter
12. iPod Nano 16gb MP3 player
    
13. Pentax W90 rugged camera
14. Zebra Sharbo X multi-pen
15. Moleskine XS notebook
    

This is my ideal EDC in pockets:

1. Casio PRG-130T multifunction watch/Seiko SKZ249K1 200m diver's watch
   
2. Samsung Galaxy S2 16gb smartphone
3. S-Biner #3 and keychain with house-keys, eGear Pico LED mini-flashlight, Sandisk 16gb flash drive & Gerber Shard tool
   
4. S-Biner #3 and car keys with ResQMe emergency tool
5. Fenix LD10 flashlight
6. Victorinox Moneyclip
7. Wallet
8. Coin pouch
   
9. Victorinox Climber or Huntsman SAK
10. Lamy 4pen multi-pen
    
11. Clorets mint tablets
    

Counting chicks

Why is everyone saying Man Utd have one hand on their 19th title when they still have so many big, big matches to play? Just look the fixtures below:

Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Uefa Champions League Man Utd v Chelsea, (agg 1-0), QFL1, L2, 19:45
Saturday, 16 April 2011
The FA Cup Man City v Man Utd, SF, 17:15
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Barclays Premier League Newcastle v Man Utd, 19:45
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Barclays Premier League Man Utd v Everton, 12:45
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Barclays Premier League Arsenal v Man Utd, 14:05
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Barclays Premier League Man Utd v Chelsea, 16:10
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Barclays Premier League Blackburn v Man Utd, 12:45
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Barclays Premier League Man Utd v Blackpool, 16:00

That's just way over-optimistic. Calm down guys...

Attendance

I just noticed that Germany's Bundesliga clubs consistently scores high for highest average attendance in a match. How come their clubs don't seem to be rated as highly as Spain, Italy or England??? Hrm...

Fabio oh Fabio!

How in the world did Fabio Capello turn from a world-class manager to a world-class loser so quickly?! Never have I seen someone become so inept so quickly before.

Chasm

1 night and the emptiness is felt.
2 more nights, can I stand the void?

Frus and alone

Its hard to ignore it when everyone seems to turn on you. All I have
is a cold gone bad. Why do all of you have to avoid me like so?

Epiphany

I just had an epiphany of sorts this afternoon: "That life is just not worth getting upset over... can do do... cannot do, leave it in God's hands... all things will some how work themselves out" and maybe its starting to work???

I don't want to jinx things though... So should I let the world know?

My nose is running away...

Cold, cold go away...
Let my nose clear up today... :(

My kinda watch! :)

I've just found out about Sony Ericsson's upcoming accessory product called LiveView. Its got to be the coolest gadget out there and as a lover of watches, I think this concept will take watches into a new dimension... merging another important equipment in our lives, our timepieces, with another, our phones. The amount of possibilities and functions you can add is limitless. I can't wait to see what developers can do with this concept! :)

I HATE APPLE!

As bad as Microsoft is, no other IT company makes life a living HELL more than Apple (the company, not the fruit... which I love). Its so hard to transfer songs from my comp to my iPod Shuffle! I thought I could use one of those iPod alternatives... but after I tried a few, all I got was I need to use iTunes to sync my music! I don't want to use iTunes to sync cos its so un-user-friendly. After a few tries, I gave up.

So now I am back at square-1 trying to install iTunes and restoring the stupid device's default setting and looks like I have to use iTunes again.

:(

Listening Ear

Radio stations I like to listen to:

1. BBC Radio 4 (News, Current Affairs, Arts & Culture)
   
2. BBC Radio 5 Live (News, Chat & Sports)
   
3. BBC Radio 7 (Comedy & Drama)
   
4. BBC World Service (World News & Current Affairs)
   
5. Classic FM (Classical)
   
6. RTHK Radio 4 (Classical)
   
7. RTHK Radio 5 (HK Opera)
   
8. Shonan Beach FM (Easy Listening, Jazz & Classical)
9. WNYC (News & Culture)

Updating...

For those of you who have been to my blog previously, you would notice that I've "renovated" my blog slightly to make it look fresher. I like it... and I hope you do too. I'll try to keep it updated as time permits.

I realise this is a good place for me to rant and rave about general stuff and it also keeps my written English from becoming rusty. Good eh? :)

Oklah... stay tuned and here's to a more updated 2011 :)

Bad Tune

Tune hotel just forfeited my credits in my account without informing me. This really sucks. The credit was also the result of me booking a room for my in-laws in KL without realising that Tune hotel require the person booking to be present for the stay as well. When I asked them why Airasia can book, Tune cannot... they say they are different companies with different policies...

Says a lot about the whole setup doesn't it... :P

I HATE TUNE HOTELS! >:(

Wishes do come true... kinda :)

I was reading my older postings and I found this wish-list that I wrote about 8 months ago... and I realised that I have actually fulfilled some of my own wishes! Not by much though... :/

So lets go through the list again...

Things that I want(ed):
1. High-end Desktop PC. - DONE. Not as high spec as I wanted but enough for now.
2. Watches - an Orient dress watch and the New Casio Protrek multi-function watch. - NOPE
3. Mobile phone - either a HTC or Nokia. - NOPE
3. Victorinox knives and tools. - DONE. Kinda...
4. Leatherman knives and tools. - DONE. I think this is more or less a YES. :)
5. LED TV and Home Theatre System. - DONE. Kinda... got a TV, not LED but good enough. No home system though.
6. Bicycle. - NOPE
7. Cheap and nice 2nd hand motorcycle. - NOPE
8. Landrover Defender! - NOPE

4 out of 8 (kinda) ain't too bad actually... :) Thank You Lord for your blessings and thanks wifey for letting me get them! :)

Dream...

Found my dream phone - the Samsung Galaxy S2!
It contains all the features and functions that I need or want in a phone! :)