Do you know who is your neighbour???

Ask yourselves, do you what's the name of your neighbour?
Well to be honest, when I was living in my previous resident at Dama Indah, we came to know a very nice neighbour, his name is Dr. Bahanordin Jaafar and his wife Rosana. They were renting the house on my left side. They were a lovely couple and would chat with us and they converse English very well. They were with us for almost 4 years when the landlord wanted the house back after his tour of duties at Bosnia. Yes, he was in the Army. It was a sad departure for Dr Bahanordin and Rosana but they do come back from time to time to chat with us and both of them would contact my wife should they require any air tickets when they travel overseas to attend any course of conferences.

When the landlord shifted in, it was a totally difference story. I know his name was Yusof, I don't know his wife's name but they have a son. He does not converse in English which make conversation harder. His wife has a weird character and does not talk to us, maybe it's because she's a Muslim and his husband forbid her to speak to other man, but she does not even speak to my wife. So, I do not know them well at all.

The neighbour on my right side was a bachelor who comes back home drunk almost every night and would sleep in his car while the engine was still running. Luckily, nothing happened to him. His name is Tan and has his own business. After sometimes, he managed to meet up with a widow who has a son and own her own company selling computer peripherals . After some time, Tan went to stay with his new girlfriend and the house was left vacant and was used as a store for goods of the girlfriend's company.

Honestly having stayed at Damai Indah for fourteen (14) years I admit that I do not know my neighbour well and did not take any action to go about knowing them other than some feedback from gossips gathered from my wife from other friendlier neighbours.

What's all fuss about Daniel Lee???

Driving to work this morning, there was this issue on Daniel being the Malaysian Idol. Some callers said that Nita is the better singer. Daniel was voted by the younger generation (hey, am I the younger generation, I think I am). Girls like Daniel more than Nita.

Don't these people understand, this is Malaysian Idol not a singing contest. The power is in the PEOPLE who vote and in the end it's the Telco that wins. The COO of 8TV mentioned that the number of votes (SMS and fixed lines) received has increased by 20% to 6.5 million. On the final alone, Daniel got 1.2 million votes. Takes 1.2 million times 0.50 sen per SMS, the telco is getting a whopping RM600,000-00. Not to mention the American Idol, the number of votes outnumbered that of Malaysia by more than 3 times, look how much AT&T earns!!!

I wonder whether the IDOL get a cut from the amount.

Yeah!!! It's DANIEL

All my votes were worth it.

Daniel Lee is the Malaysian Idol!!!

Voting for Malaysian Idol

Guess what? Till now I have submitted almost 30 votes for Daniel to be the next Malaysian Idol. Each vote cost 50 sens per SMS. But never mind, all the votes were sent via my son's phone (yes, my sons does have a phone). The Celcom line has accumulated credit of more than RM120-00 with no calls made. I have to top up RM30 each month to keep the line "alive" so how a better way to get some benefit out of the accumulated credit was to sent the votes for DANIEL!!!

The next posting will discuss whether my votes were worth it.

A Great Motor Racing Weekend

This weekend will see three big motor sports events:
* MotoGP at Sepang
* Formula 1 at Interlagos Brazil, and
* the inaugural A1 Grand Prix at Brand Hatch

The MotoGP at Sepang may see Valentino Rossi clinching his 5 successsive MotoGp title which he nearly got it at the reent Japanese MotoGP at Motegi. Bad luck hit him and the deciding motoment will come to Sepang this weekend. Next we may see Fernando Alonso is staged to become the youngest Formula One World Champion in the history of the sport and could well wrap up the title from rival Kimi Raikkonen this Sunday in Brazil. Here is how Alonso can ensure he is Champion in Brazil:

Alonso finishes on the podium, whatever the result of Raikkonen
Alonso 4th or 5th and Raikkonen does not win
Alonso 6th or 7th and Raikkonen does not finish better than 3rd
Alonso 8th and Raikkonen does not finish better than 4th
Alonso out of the points and Raikkonen does not finish better than 5th.

In all other cases, the title would not be decided in Brazil, but would be taken on to the Japanese Grand Prix on October 9th.

The A1 Grand Prix is a new series where the race cars are like Formula 1 but all drivers are racing for the glory of their own country. There are 25 countries taking part this weekend at the innaugral race at Brands Hatch. As for Malaysia, the A1 car will be driven by our only Alex Yoong.

Final night - Malaysian Idol

Tonight is the finale of Malaysian Idol. I am watching the show while I am writing this posting. Will annouce the winner tomorrow. GOOD LUCK DANIEL!!!

Malaysian Idol

Tomorrow will be the final of the search for the 2nd Malaysian Idol. The final will be the between Daniel Lee and Nita. My vote... well both contenders have their strong and weak points.

Daniel sings well but as the judges commented, he could not sing the lyrics properly. The lyrics in English seemed to be lumped up all together. Maybe it's his style of singing which he thinks that the lyrics should be sang that way. Overall, he is cute (that should come from a girl's comment actually) and have the style.

Nita sings well too since she is a professional singer at the clubs. I wondered how she entered this career as a club singer, maybe it has something to do with her family. In the dairy shows, there was no mention on his father, just her mother and grandfather. As the judges commented, she has the package.

In my opinion, Daniel will be receiving more votes for the finals. I believe there are many girls out there just waiting to send in their votes via their handphones to give him the votes.

Just wait for the result show, I think my prediction should be correct.

KM444 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan

I was curious where KM444 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan was, the place that I was caught speeding. Well today I need to bring my mother-in-law back from Bidor. So as I was driving on the highway from Jalan Duta, I started to check on the highway milestone to get to KM444.

KM444 turned out to the turnoff to Rawang if you are heading North. As I was approaching the area, I adhere to the speed limit not to be caught again with another ticket. Driving slowing under the overhead bridge, I noticed the camera place on top of the bridge. The camera is a cylindrical type camera, very well camouflaged with the other structure which are holding the overhead advertisement.

So beware and slow down just before you go under the overhead bridge for the turn off to Rawang. As the mileage is numbered 444, meaning "DIE DIE DIE" in Cantonese.

The Accord's First traffic Summons

Guess what? After the fun and thrills of driving the Accord back to my mother-in-law kampong which I posted under "Day Trip To Bidor" on 11 September 2005, I ended asking whether I would get a speeding summons?

True enough, I check at http://www.myeg.com.my, I got a traffic summon for speeding. Wow, that's great and efficient! But the joke does not end here.

The details of the summons indicated as follows:

Summons issued by: GOMBAK (SELAYANG)
Summons No: 1-ZZ537362
Date/Time: 11/09/2005 10:16am
Description: 1. SPEEDING
Maximum Compound (RM): 300.00
Reduced Compound (RM) : 150.00
Promotion Compound (RM): 70.00

What... . Promotional Compound ???? RM70.00??? Wow that's great, they even now have offers for traffic summons.

Last word of advice - SLOW DOWN AT KM 444 of Lebuhraya Utara Selatan - IT IS THE PLACE WHERE MY TRAFFIC SUMMONS WAS ISSUED. MANY OTHER PEOPLE ALSO MENTION THE SAME TIME

DALAI LAMA PERSONALITY TEST

Just 4 questions and the answers will surprise you. Do not cheat by looking up the answers. The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is opened.

You have to follow the instructions very closely. Do not cheat.

MAKE A WISH BEFORE BEGINNING THE TEST!!

There are only four questions and if you see them all before finishing, you will not have honest results.

Go down slowly and do each exercise as you scroll down.
Don't look ahead. Get pencil and paper to write your answers as you go along. You will need it at the end. This is an honest questionnaire which will tell you a lot about your true self.

Put the following 5 animals in the order of your preference.

a. Cow b. Tiger c. Sheep d. Horse e. Pig

Write one word that describes each one of the following:

Dog Cat Rat Coffee Sea

Think of someone (who also knows you and is important to you) that you can relate them to the following colours (do not repeat your answer twice. Name just one person for each colour.)

Yellow Orange Red White Green

Finally, write down your favourite number and your favourite day of the week.


Finished? Please be sure that your answers are what you REALLY WANT.

Look at the interpretations below: (but first before continuing, repeat your wish.)

This will define your priorities in your life.
Cow Signifies CAREER Sheep Signifies LOVE Pig Signifies MONEY
Tiger Signifies PRIDE Horse Signifies FAMILY

Your description of dog implies YOUR OWN PERSONALITY.
Your description of cat implies the personality of your partner.
Your description of rat implies the personality of your enemies.
Your description of coffee is how you interpret SEX.
Your description of the Sea implies your own life.

Yellow: Someone you will never forget
Orange: Someone you consider your true friend
Red: Someone that you really love
White: Your twin soul
Green: Someone that you will remember for the rest of your life

The Rest of Queen's Albums

Here is the list of all the albums recorded by Queen before the demise of Freddie Mercury:

News of The World (1977)
"News of The World" was released in 1977. The album cover depicted a giant intelligent robot dead bodies of all the members of Queen as if they were dead. Actually, the album cover was a painting by American sci-fi artist Kelly Freas. Containing such hit songs as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" and "Spread Your Wings" the album went four times platinum in the United States alone. It is considered one of Queen's strongest albums.

Jazz (1978)
Jazz is a 1978 album by British rock band Queen. It was the band's seventh studio album, and consisted of a mix of very different styles of music, from disco-funk ("Fun It") to vaudeville ("Dreamer's Ball") to good old rock and roll ("Dead On Time"). Curiously, it contains nothing recognizable as jazz, except perhaps the music-hall swing of "Dreamer's Ball." The album's eclecticism was alternately praised and criticised; it was at the time victim to a viciously scathing Rolling Stone review which included the line, "Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band." Nevertheless, the album made it to #6 on the American Billboard 200.

The band had intended to sell the album with a poster depicting the all-female nude bicycle race staged to promote "Fat Bottomed Girls," but in the USA it was only available through mail-order so as not to upset retailers.

Amongst other attributions in the liner notes, in reference to the crash of thunder heard at the end of the song "Dead On Time," one may find the line "Thunderbolt courtesy of God."

The album artwork was created by Roger Taylor, who previously saw a similar design painted on the Berlin Wall.

Live Killers (1979)
Live Killers is a double vinyl and compact disc live album by British rock band Queen. It was recorded live during the Jazz world tour and released on June 26, 1979.
The album hit #16 on the US Billboard Pop Albums charts and was certified Double
Platinum in the US.

The Game (1980)
Released June 30, 1980, The Game was the first Queen album to reach the #1 position in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Though the album had simpler song arrangements than previous Queen albums, The Game launched Queen into global megastars. Notable songs on the album include the bass driven "Another One Bites The Dust" and the rockabilly "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", both of which reached number 1 in the United States. The Game was the first Queen album to use synthesizers, and the album's popularity inspired the band members to continue using them heavily for the rest of the band's career, with somewhat mixed results.

The album's working title was "Play The Game", but Taylor voiced concern about its possible overtones of conformity, so it was changed to simply, "The Game".

"Dragon Attack", though credited to Brian May as composer, was actually the result of an impromptu jam by all four members. May found the really outstanding bits and edited them together. He then layered on heavy guitar arrangements to make it sound more complete and had the band add some additional harmonies through out.

"Save Me" was widely acclaimed as a fan-favourite and was released as a single in early 1980, before the album itself in June. It is arguably the most accomplished song of the album, and one of Brian's most touching ballads.

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was written by Freddie Mercury while lounging in the bath. He recorded the acoustic guitar himself in the studio before the band arrived and played the tape back for them. May said Mercury's playing was perfect and only added a Telecaster guitar solo to middle on the advice of producer Mack, rather than mimicking the Telecaster sound from his famous Red Special guitar. Mercury would go on to play rhythm guitar on all Queen's live versions, the only time he would sport an instrument other than the piano or tambourine.

Flash Gordon - The Sountrack (1980)
Flash Gordon is a 1980 album. It is the soundtrack album to the science fiction movie Flash Gordon.

All but two of the tracks on the album ("Flash's Theme" and "The Hero") are instrumentals. The album makes extensive use of synthesizers; prior to Queen's previous recording, The Game, the band had been keen to point out that "no synthesizers were used on this album".

"Flash's Theme" was the only single to be released from the album, under the title "Flash". It reached number 10 in the UK charts and number 42 in the US. The track is notable for its pounding, repetitive bassline and the camp humour of the snippets of dialogue from the movie that it contains.

Hot Space (1982)
Hot Space was released in 1982. The album was a notable shift from Queen's earlier work, featuring heavy disco and dance influences. This made it unpopular with many old-time fans who preferred the straight rock style they had come to associate with Queen, though the album did fit in with the Queen tradition of incorporating many influences into their music. The album cover may have been the inspiration for Blur's Best Of.

The Works (1984)
The Works Queen originally released in 1984.

After a two year break, Queen returned to the studio. Much had changed in the music world since their previous album "Hot Space", which was something of a commercial failure and a poorly received album by many fans. In the two years following, Mercury, May and Taylor indugled in solo projects, taking the chance to stretch in individual directions.

The album's title comes from a comment Roger Taylor made as recording began for the new album, "Let's give them the works!" And the band did just that, with a fusion of synth and hard rock, hailing back to the early days of their career. All of Queen's trademarks are present, from rich arrangements, powerhouse vocals and catchy guitar riffs, and the band pull no punches.

"Keep Passing The Open Windows" was written originally for a proposed film of the novel "The Hotel New Hampshire". Queen were to write songs for film, but the project fell through. This song was already completed and band liked it so much, they included it on the album. When the film was eventually made, Queen had already moved on and this song was not used.

A Kind of Magic (1986)
A Kind of Magic is a 1986 album. It was the band's twelfth studio album, and was the soundtrack for the film Highlander, the first in a series directed by Russell Mulcahy. Though the album hit #46 in the America, it rocketed to #1 in the United Kingdom, remaining in the charts for sixty-three weeks and spawning 3 hit singles. It eventually went Gold in the US in 2002.

Live Magic (1986)
Live Magic is a vinyl and compact disc live album. It was recorded live during the A Kind of Magic world tour and released on December 1, 1986. However, it wasn't released in the United States until August of 1996. It received strong criticism by several critics and fans, due to the
massive editing of nearly all of the song included. Most of the performances were recorded at Knebworth Park (the band's last ever concert with its classic line-up).

The Miracle (1989)
The Miracle is a 1989 album by British rock band Queen. It was the band's twelfth studio album, recorded as the band recovered from guitarist Brian May's marital problems, vocalist Freddie Mercury's not-yet-public AIDS diagnosis, and subsequent near-breakup. The album peaked at 24th on the American Billboard 200 chart.

Innuendo (1991)
Innuendo is a 1991 album. It was the band's thirteenth studio album and the last to be released while lead singer Freddie Mercury was still alive. The album was praised by some critics and fans as one of Queen's strongest albums of their later career. It reached number one on the UK album charts and number 30 in the United States.

The album was recorded when Freddie Mercury was in the final stages of a battle with AIDS. Much of the material on the album deals with the band's coming to terms with his imminent death. The morbid theme is also reflected in the music, which can be heavy and arresting ("Innuendo" and "Headlong") but also bleak and dark ("The Show Must Go On" and "Don't Try So Hard") and very often both ("Bijou").

Innuendo was released as a single in January 1991, and as an album the following month. It was a top 10 hit in almost every country it charted in.

Made in Heaven (1995)
Made in Heaven which was released in November 1995 was Queen's last proper album. After Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, the remaining members Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor worked with Mercury's pre-recorded vocals to create the final Queen album.

It's a Beautiful Day is a great opening with lush synthesizers and great guitars to set the mood. The title track was actually a solo song by Freddie Mercury from the mid 80's. "Let Me Live", a gospel-influenced track, started life as a jam with Rod Stewart in the 80's. This one has the least Freddie input as Brian and Roger sing all of it, save the first verse and chorus, with the help of backing singers. The next, the bluesy "Mother Love", was the last song Mercury recorded before his death; its coda featured snatches of Mercury live, and a sample of him singing "Going Back" and a final sound of a baby crying. "My Life Has Been Saved" started life in 1989 as a b-side, and the remaining members reworked it into a pop song. Another Freddie solo track gets the Queen treatment in "I Was Born To Love You".

Roger Taylor's "Heaven For Everyone", written with his band The Cross and released in 1987 with Freddie's vocals. A song calling for peace and understanding and the complete opposite of the next song: Brian's "Too Much Love Will Kill You." "You Don't Fool Me" features a classic guitar solo by Brian May while "A Winter's Tale" is a poignant look at winter in Switzerland where Queen recorded. A reprise of "It's A Beautiful Day", a heavy rocker featuring May's eastern-tinged guitar and shades of the band's early hit "Seven Seas of Rhye," closes the album.

A Day At The Races

Released 1976, the title of the album was a reference to the band's immediately preceding album, A Night at the Opera. was "A Day At The Races". The album cover has the same Queen emblem but the background is black in colour. The song that I like in this albums are:

Tie Your Mother Down

A rather unusual title for a song. It was written by Brian May, which features one of rock music's most recognizable guitar riffs. May started writing the song in Tenerife, while he was working for his PhD as an astronomer. He composed the riff on a Spanish guitar, and woke up early one morning and played it while singing "tie your mother down," a line he considered a joke.

Somebody to Love

This song was written by Freedie. Like its predecessor album's major hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody", this song has a complex layering of vocal tracks, this time based on a gospel choir arrangement. It was first single off of the album A Day at the Races. It is a rock ballad, on which band members Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor mulitracked their voices to create the impression of a 100-voice gospel choir. The lyrics, especially combined with the gospel influence, create a song about faith, desperation and soul-searching; the singer questions both the lack of love experienced in their life and the role and existence of God. Staying true to their guitar-driven style, it was also filled with intricate harmony parts and a solo by group guitarist Brian May, and it went to number 11 on the U.S. singles chart and number 2 on the U.K. charts.

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy

A bouncy song to keep your happy.

Teo Torriatte (Let us Cling Together)

Written by Brian May, the song lyrics is in English and has Japanese translated verses so that you can sing along with it. This song is dedicated to Queen's fan in Japan. They were mopped when they arrived in all Japanese cities when they were performing their concerts (gigs) there.

There are 10 songs in this album but my favorite songs are above.

My favourite and greatest rock group - QUEEN

I first came to listen and know about this rock group known as Queen when I was fourteen.. way back in 1975. The first album that I listened to was "A Night At The Opera" with the famous hit song "Bohemien Rhapsody". I was impressed by the album cover when the title was "A Night.." and the album was white in colour (Their next album "A Day At The Races" was black in colour). From then on, it was "love at first heard" for me for this rock band. The unique vocal and piano playing of Freddie Mercury. The great lead guitar played by Brian May. The pumping sound of bass guitar by John Deacon and the strong drum sound by Roger Taylor has me following all their albums which are released annually before the death of Freddie Mercury on 23 November 1991.

I will be posting my view of each of the albums released by Queen and the songs that I enjoyed from each album. Today with start out with the album that started it all...

A Night The Opera (1975)

Bohemian Rhapsody

The title's "Bohemian" refers to the "easy come, easy go" "poor boy" character singing the song (a follower of bohemianism - "living a wandering or vagabond life"). A musical rhapsody is a "composition irregular in form and suggestive of improvisation", which applies to the song itself and not something in the song, so a literal interpretation is that the song title means "A rhapsody about a bohemian".

The lyrics set the stage with the theme "No escape from reality", then tell the story of "a poor boy" who is "easy come, easy go" and shoots a man dead. He tells his mama "I don't want to die. I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all." The court responds to his pleas with "We will not let you go". The killer's reply, "Any way the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me," is a refrain from start to end. Believing that things don't matter do not prevent them from mattering. There is indeed, "No escape from reality".
Source: Wikipedia.org

Love of My Life

It was originally written on the piano by Freddie Mercury, and guitarist Brian May plays the harp on this track.

The previous track on the album, "The Prophet's Song", flows seamlessly into this track, although the two were never played together in concert.

When played live, the track was played by May on the acoustic guitar and Mercury would encourage the audience to sing along. This song was such a concert favorite that often times Mercury would stop singing and let the audience take over completely, something which encouraged the band to write future songs such as "We Will Rock You" and "Radio Ga-Ga" specifically with audience participation in mind.
Source: Wikipedia.org

Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)

This song was written by Brian May. His guitar playing was very obviously loud.

Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon

This song make you feel bouncy like walking through a park.

You're my best friend

The second single that came out of this album. A great song to sing to your best friend.

'39

It is a skiffle (folk) song written and sung by guitarist Brian May.

It is a science-fiction song about one of a score of (that is a group of 20) volunteers who leave a dying Earth in search of new world to settle, and who then return to report success 100 years later, with only a year passing for the volunteers thanks to time dilation.

Brian May described the song as follows: It’s a science fiction story. It’s the story about someone who goes away and leaves his family and because of the time dilation effect, when you go away, the people on earth have aged a lot more than he has when he comes home. He’s aged a year and they’ve aged 100 years so, instead of coming back to his wife, he comes back to his daughter and he can see his wife in his daughter, a strange story. I think, also, I had in mind a story of Herman Hesse which I think is called ‘The River’. A man leaves his hometown and has lots of travels and then comes back and observes his hometown from the other side of the river. He sees it in a different light having been away and experienced all those different things. He sees it in a very illuminating way, cause I felt a little bit like that about my home at the time as well having been away and seen this vastly different world of rock music. Totally different from the way I was brought up and I had those feelings about home.
Source: Wikipedia.org

To me this sounds like song which was sang by a soldier going to World War Two.

I'm In Love With My Car

It was written by drummer Roger Taylor, who was fond of fast automobiles and wrote the song for their roadie John Harris who had a TR4.

Although Roger recorded the rhythm guitar in the demo, Brian May replaced it in the definitive version, joined by John Deacon on bass, Roger Taylor on drums and Freddie Mercury on piano. All the vocals were by Roger Taylor, who demonstrated he was brilliant singing high or low parts. At the ending he actually taped the exhaust of his Alpha Romeo.
Source: Wikipedia.org

More enhancements

Added the following items to my blog:

1. A nice looking clock showing Malaysian time which I got from Clocklink.com.
2. Added another counter to my blog from StarCounter. This counters offers a graphical statistics of the loaded pages and number of visitors - unique and returning. It also can send an email to you on a weekly basis giving statistical information. One thing I like about this counter is that it can only be access by me and does not pop out any "Viagra" advertisement.

No relation with the above:

Sad news... the RM10.0 million jackpot for Big Sweep has been won!!!

1st Prize Magnum - 0955 (11 September 2005)

Once again, my car registration number came close to Magnum's draw today. The 1st prize for today's draw was 0955. The last draw on 28 August 2005, the 1st prize number was 9959. But what the heck! I did not invest in the number today but I am sure that the people at my mother-in-law's kampong would have invested heavily and are now banging for missing the 1st prize number.

Day trip to Bidor

Took a drive today to send mother-in-law back to her Kampong house in Bidor. At the same time I would like to experience how the Accord would fair when driving outstation.

The trip to Bidor took me 1 hours and 40 minutes...why? After passing Tanjong Malim, cars over the side of the road was flashing their headlights, so I have to adhere to the speed limit. This time around I cannot escape a ticket like I did when I am in the city (see my previous posting). The first part of the journey from KL, I was hitting at about 140 to 150 km/hr. What surprises me is the tachnometer showed that the engine is revving only at 3,000 rpm with lots more to offer. There were times where was hitting at 80 km/hrs and the engine was revving under 2,000 rpm.

I was heading back to KL at 2.00 p.m., the weather was hot (thanks to V-Kool tinting, the sun ray that come through the wind screen did not cause any burning feeling) and there was nothing much to do there. My son was bored since his cousin was not around to play with him. Coming out of the Bidor toll station, I clicked my stopwatch on and with my right leg hard on the accelerator, I floored (well almost, there is still ample space to go before I hit the floor) the pedal. All along the way I was hitting 140 to 160 km/hrs. What a feeling!!

Cars that were on the right side of the road have to keep to their left when they saw my "Bat Mobile" (that's what my son calls the Accord) coming on to their back... FAST!!! I told my wife that now I know how a driver feels like when their car is tearing down the right side of the road and chasing off all the slower cars to the left side of the road.

I reached Rawang in a record time which I have not experience before.... 1 hour which normally I would need 1 1/2 hours. That's 1/2 an hour faster!!

Man I am enjoying he drive home... but now I have to check the Rilek internet site to see whether I have any speeding ticket(s)!!!

Enhancements to my blog

I have turn my blog into a multi lingual one. From the left side navigation, you can get to see my blog in the following languages:

• Chinese
• Japanese
• Korean
• French
• Spanish
  

Hope that you can play around with it if you understand the language. But for me I just want to my blog would look like in other languages.

Thanks to SooHk's blog where I got the codes for the translation. Also thank Google for translating my blog.

First 1,000 Kilometers

Managed to hit the first 1,000 km on the Accord. Sent it in to Wegro service centre. Just a quick inspection by the centre. Next service will be at 5,000 km which is expected to hit in November.

Disasters here and there

It seems that just before the year ends, there are many disaster that strike the world here and there. Who can forget September 11 when the Twin Towers collapsed. August 31, Princess Diana died in an accident in Paris. December 26, the big tsunami that struck so many countries in our region.

Now Katrina struck the New Orleans area. Many lives and properties were loss. Then hurricane Nadi in Japan. The haze that recently struck the West Coast of Malaysia is not as serious as compared with the other two disasters.

The oil price has risen. The Government lowered the road tax for passenger vehicles up to 1,500c.c., hey what about my 1,998 c.c.? I found out today that the road tax for school bus is just RM2-00 while a school van with friendly diesel engine, the road tax is 50% discount that is RM1. The RM1 can't even pay for the cost of the road tax sticker!!.

Ferrari has lost the constructor championship. Michael Schumacher will not be Formula 1 world champion this year. Sorry I got carried away... don't blame me I am a Ferrari fan.

I don't want to guess what disaster will come next.

Have we even ponder how lucky we are to live in Malaysia? No four seasons were you would need a big wardrobe just to house all the different cloths for differ season. No earthquake, even though minor tremors have been felt (I have not experience it before). No hurricane, typhoon or tornado, just lovely breeze through out the year.

Aren't you happy that you are living in Malaysia? Well I can say I am proud to be a Malaysian.

Honda Civic 2006

The new Honda Civic 2006. Looking very slick for both the Couple and Sedan models. Don't know whether it will reach our shores... if it does it might be here late 2006 or 2007. Here are some pictures of it.

Black Couple - My favorite

Scuderia Ferrari

Ferrari is an Italian manufacturer of racing cars and high-performance sports cars formed by Enzo Ferrari in 1929. At first, Scuderia Ferrari sponsored drivers and manufactured racecars; the company went into independent car production in 1946, eventually became Ferrari S.p.A., and is now controlled by the Fiat group. The company is based in Maranello, near Modena, Italy.

Enzo Ferrari's true passion, despite his extensive road car business, was always auto racing. His Scuderia started as an independent sponsor for drivers in various cars, but soon became the Alfa Romeo in-house racing team. After Ferrari's departure from Alfa, he began to design and produce cars of his own; the Ferrari team first appeared on the European grand prix scene after the end of World War II.

The Scuderia joined the Formula One World Championship in the first year of its existence, 1950. Jose-Froilan Gonzalez gave the team its first victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix. Alberto Ascari gave Ferrari its first World Championship a year later. Ferrari is the oldest team left in the championship, not to mention the most successful: the team holds nearly every Formula One record. As of 2004, the team's records include fourteen World Drivers Championship titles (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), fourteen World Constructors Championship titles (1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), 179 grand prix victories, 3445 and a half points, 544 podium finishes, 174 pole positions, 11,182 laps led, and 180 fastest laps in 1622 grands prix contested.

Famous drivers include Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.

Source: Wikipedia.Org

Comparison between a Honda Accord and Honda City

Since I booked my new car, there were debates on Japanese and Korean cars. To add in the fun, Monica decided to compare her Honda City against my Accord. Points by points were matched... in the end...., the only thing that the City won (Won?... isn't it the Korean Currency) over the Accord is that the Accord comes with a 5-Speed Automatic Gear while the City has 7 gears!!!! She added that the City have a choice to go Manual or Automatic. BIG DEAL!!!

The new Honda City ZX just launched in Thailand

Mercedes Benz CLS Class

One of the nice car that was newly launched in the city is the Mercedes Benz CLS Class. Looks very futuristic. Too bad I have got my new Accord or else this one car I can consider!!! FAT HOPES!!! Day Dreaming!!!
For your information this car comes from Germany, not Korea!!
Here are some photos I have stolen from Motor Trader site.



If you are interested, can can follow the following link to read more:
http://www.motortrader.com.my/NUS/articles/0/article_290/page_m.asp

AQUARIA... Finally!!!

A challenge that I gave my son Darren is that he must wake up at 7.00 a.m. so that I can take him to Aquaria. He has persistently been pestering me to bring him there! We were unsuccessul reaching theaquarium during the Merdeka holiday. Why... of the places he wants to go is that newly opened aquarium at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). I guess new places have to be visited.

Today he managed to surprise me by coming down the stairs from his room at 7.30 a.m. Actually I heard his alarm clock was ringing away for a long long long time before he came down. He admitted that the alarm was ringing for the past half and hour but he just cannot get up. Only by his will and determination of going to Aquaria got him out of the bed.

OK, he managed to live up to my challenge, that's step one. Next he has to brush his teeth.. Imagine, he is 9 nine years and he is still afraid to go to him own room to brush his teeth on his own. He said that he is afraid of cockroaches.. but that's not the truth. His balls have not grown big enough yet!! Ha! Ha! Haaaaaa!

After his finished brushing his teeth, we took off for breakfast at Nelly Curry House. We had roti telor and one half boiled egg each.

We reached KLCC at about 9.30 a.m. and there was already a short queue lining up to buy tickets. Most of them came with their kids, so did I.

Just 5 minute before 10.00 a.m. they started to sell the tickets and admit people to the aquarium. Below are some of the photos we took at the aquarium.

The big snake head fish. About 2 meters long

My little "snake"One of the non-ferocious shark. All teeth and nothing else. Note the "escort" fish below the shark.

A very old looking sea creature, looks like a pre-historical creature... called Nautilus..ehh something.

The journey inside the aquarium was quite short considering we paid RM50-00 to get inside. RM28 for my adult ticket with MyKad (None Mykad holders have to pay RM38 don't know why!!) and Darren's ticket cost me RM22-00. We spent slightly over an hour inside the aquarium.

I was rather disappointed with the sharks, all of them did not look ferocious and they were all just swimming about like they were having a holiday. Each shark has an escort fish to accompany them. Don't know what the "escort" fish does, I guess the "escort" will help to clean up the shark and at the same time avoid themselves from being attack or eaten by other fish.

Overall, for the money paid for the tickets, it worth it even though the journey inside the aquarium was short. The company invested quite a big sum of money to put up the aquarium. Would I go there again? Well not for now or unless they have something new in their exhibition.

Well when will you visit Aquaria???