Some shoots taken with my new D70s

Here are some shots from my new Nikon D70s. These photos have been reduced in size by 50%. The actual size is about 1.5MB each which would be too difficult to be upload to the blog.

The picture of me resting on my bed. This shot was done by my son

A close up of a flower

A close up of the fortune bamboo plant which was purchased from IKEA


The cuckoo clock which we bought from Germany during my European tour

My goldfish swimming happily in my tank

X-files - The Truth is Out There

I have been a keen follower of the X-files series where it starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. However when David Duchovny call it quit, I did not follow the series till the end. Luckily for us now, we can get popular TV series in DVD boxes.

I have earlier mentioned that I got hold of the series 24 DVD box set for season 4 (I am anxiously waiting for the arrival of Season 5).

I managed to get hold of the full 9 seasons of X-files series in one single box. The box cost me RM210-00 from Sg Wang. Inside there are 14 double sided DVDs. Each DVD can be played on both side. One side consist of 2 "disc" of about 4 show each. Overall I will need a long long time before I could find all the 9 seasons of X-files. at least I would not miss out on any episodes at all. I can afford to watch the series at my own pace.

The Many faces of Darren Chan

The many faces of my son, Darren. all pictures taken under continuous mode using the new Nikon D70s by his sister, Esther.

An expensive March

The month of March is when I spend much money. If you have notice, I have bought a phone for my daughter, a camera for myself and one more item for my wife.
Well, her birthday is in March, March 27 to be exact (my daughter's is on 21 March).
I have bought her a present. Guess what I bought??
It's girl's best friend.. not the dog but precious stones.
Looks like I will have to rob the bank to sustain this spending habit of mind!!

My latest toy

After much consideration and holding back my urge.. I finally committed myself to get a digital SLR. It was a tough choice between the Nikon D50 and D70s. Why is is so tough? well it's the cost between the two models, the D70s cost RM1,000 more than the D50 but the features of the D70s is much more than the D50.

I was at the shop at Sungai Wang today to get the camera. I was there with my son. At the shop, we took the two models out and made comparison between the D50 and the D70s. The shop assistant also recommended the Canon 350, but I am not a Cannon person and further more, the size of the camera is smaller which I think a SLR should be of larger in size when compared to other compact digital camera. Furthermore, holding a bigger SLR let you have the satisfaction that we are of a different league or breed from those who are using the compact cameras.
My son was not much of a help when I asked him which one of one of the two models should I go for.

Finally, I made up my mind, it's the D70s, what the heck RM1,000 more but I can have much more feature to play with without having regretting not having them when the need the feature.

I bought the camera together with a UV filter which also acts as the lens protector and a Nikon camera bag to house all the accessories when I on the move.

Now after the decision and been made and the camera in my hands, it's time to learn the features and ready for more photo shootings.

Happy Birthday Carrie

It seem not too long ago, my first child Carrie Chan Yan Yi was born. Today she's already 18 years old. Ya man I have a 18 year old daughter.. I think many of you would be envious of me of having a grown up daughter. Well she almost all grown up but there still a long way for her to carry on on her studies and career. As for me,I will just reminisce to the days when she was born and how I held her in my arms... it bring a tear of joy to me to see her as she is today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE
form your loving PAPA!!

More photos here

Renault Formula 1 car at Sungai Wang

Caught a glimpse of the Renault Formula 1 which won last year's Formula 1 Championship at Sungai Wang today. It was part of the show brought in by Renault with other cars like the Grand Scenic and the weird looking Kangoo.
All photos were taken using my Nokia 3230... the only camera that I carry around!!

Stevie Wonder nite on American Idol

All the 12 finalist for American Idol were required to render a Stevie Wonder song. Singing his songs are quite a challenge. All of the contestants belted out with their strongest performance but there are a few obvious weaker ones.

On results night, the shocker came, the lowest votes were accorded to:

1. Ace Young
2. Lisa Tucker (what a surprise considering that she's one of many people's favorite)
3. Melissa McGhee


In the end it was goodbye to Melissa.

A reward for my daughter

Yeah, the SPM results are out. People scoring 15 A1, wow, these are sadist and monsters!!

Well my daughter also have the face the reality, she went to school to get her results and quickly SMS me of her results. Well, her results are satisfactory and better than mine! I replied and asked her what she wanted for the rewards and also her birthday present (on 21 March). She replied that I would be buying her a car but she asked for a Sony Ericsson W8001 handphone. I agreed and went over to KLCC to get the phone for her. Guess what, all the 3 stores that I went did have sock of that phone, that phone must be selling like hot cakes. I placed an order with the Hello Station where they said that they can get a unit for me in the evening.

They lived up to their promise and I hope over again to collect the phone.. guess the price... RM1.8K!!! What to do, promised her already and cannot go back on my words. To Pauline... eat your heart out, my daughter's phone is better than yours!!!

First hand look at the new Honda Civic

I finally have the chance to see the new 8th Generation Civic at the showroom. I promised my "sales advisor" that I will be at the showroom on Saturday after 10.00 a.m. after sending my daughter to work at leisure Mall, I was at the showroom with my son. Many people there, admiring at the new car.

The show room have two units of the new Civic, the metallic blue 1.8 version and the new colour bronze silver (metallic grey) 2.0 version. Wow, it was a beauty from the outside.

From the price list, the 1.8 version cost RM117.8 OTR while the 2.0 version is RM131.8 OTR. So Honda is giving the Toyota and Nissan boys (No fight for the boys at Proton) a run for their money should a person consider the Altis or the Sentra. I would like to discuss much on this or else I would have a bunch of hate mails shooting at me!!
The dash board is the most attractive part of the car. The 2.0 version is the better version (why not, it cost RM14K more), when compared to the 1.8 version. Differences between the two versions are:

• Additional controls at the steering wheel for cruise control and entertainment centre control (for sound volume and change of radio channels)
• Pedal gear shift just like a formula 1 car where you can shift gears up and down.
• A 6 in dash CD changer (single disc only for the 1.8 version)

However, my son did not like the car.. why because he enjoys the Accord much more than any other cars!!

Anyone interest to get the new Civic, I don't mind being the introducer to my "sales advisor", she's an ANGEL!.

Great fireworks picture

Just want to share some very nice photos of fireworks that I found:

Week 3 of American Idol

Well the week really flies, it felt like just a moment ago that I have blog on the second week's casualties of American Idol. Today another 4 contestant got voted out again leaving the final 12 contestants of 6 boys and 6 girls.

This week the one that got to say goodbye were:












Gedeon McKinney, the ever smiling man. Actually I think he has some disorder of his teeth and lips where he cannot get them to close off. But luckily his teeth looks white and he seemed to be smiling all the while. Last night he sang "When A Man Loves A Women" , the judges felt that the song was too old for him to sing.











Will Makar, he sang terribly last night. I was not surprise that he was voted out.












Kinnik Sky, the judges seems to be always comparing her with the younger contestant like Paris and Lisa. She did not sing well. I wonder how she got the surname "SKY".











Alya Brown, the tallest girl of the group. She is a good singer but I think she did so well. I was a bit surprise that she did not get much vote. I would have thought that Melissa McGhee would be one that we will be saying goodbye.

In week three, my favourite singers are Lisa Tucker, Paris Bennett, Chris Daugthry, Elliot Yamin and the powerful Mandisa (her surname was not made known)

Let the race begin!! It's Formula 1 time again

Yes, the Formula 1 season for 2006 will start at Bahrain this Saturday. As of every year there are changes to the rules and regulations which was to make " the cars safer and slower". The most obvious would be the engine of the cars will be V8 instead of the V10, Horsepower will surely be reduced, but I am waiting to see what is the impact of the lap time that will achieve by the cars.

The qualify method is also changed, I would not elaborate much because I do not understand it is run. Let's just see how the qualifying is done this Saturday and I will have a better picture.

As usual, my loyalty stays with Ferrari and Michael Schumacher to win races. I will be also watching close the Honda team (since I am also driving a Honda). Ruben and Jenson will pose strong challenges to other teams.

The new team BMW Sauber does Malaysian proud by having Petronas as one of its sponsor. If you have watch the TV, BMW and Petronas has carried two advertisement which I find very amusing. The first ad is about a Malay boy who is playing with a replica of the BMW Formula 1 car while his father was reading the papers. The father was annoyed when the boy made the sound of a Formula 1 which disturb his concentration. When his father advised him to be quiet down, the boy answered back in German speaking the facts of a Formula 1 car. The father looks puzzled. On the other ad, it was the reversed of the first. A German boy was playing with a replica BMW Formula 1 car in the snow. His father came out of the house and told him to quite down, guess what the boy spoke in Malay on facts on Formula 1 car!! Wow, what a way to promote the tie up of two big companies BMW (German) and Petronas (Malaysian).

Incidentally, the Malaysian organisers for the Sepang Race has been busy to promote the race to get more people to the circuit. RM50 for 3 days at Sepang!! Wow, that's a great way to spend 3 days in the sun (or rain) at Sepang watching the greatest show on earth. Yesterday, my colleague told me that his daughter's was give free tickets to attend the race at Sepang. The tickets were not only given to her but also to the whole class (maybe the whole) school. My guess is that the organisers would like to fill up all the places on the hill side of the Sepang circuit. Empty hills are a sore eye to the organiser when the race is broadcast live all over the world.

Sad to day I will not be at Sepang. I rather be relaxing at home watching it at the comfort of my sofa, sipping a can of Coke and able to see the race from every angle of the Sepang circuit!!!

30 sen increase in fuel price burnt a hole in my pocket

It was a real shocker when the Government announced an increase of 30 sen to the petrol price. I got to know the news over the radio while driving to work on 1 March. I though I heard it wrong but the big headlines in the paper confirmed it.

Normally a full tank petrol cost me RM80-00 , this time around the price of RM100-00 for a full tank... an additional of RM20-00 per full tank. Guess that I will not be traveling so much if it is not necessary on Saturdays and Sunday.

The sudden increase in fuel price will definitely see the spiral rise in food and transportation prices. But where's the salary increase??? But what the heck life still need to go on... 30 sen or RM1-00 increase we will still have pay as long as we need to drive our cars unless you can get yourself an oil well in your backyard!!!

2nd week of casualties at American Idol

his time around 2 boys and 2 girls got go get out of ther ace of becoming an American Idol. Well after the performance and judges comments on the girls and boys, the contestants that were eliminated were not surprise at all:

Heather Cox who sang Hero. Good performance but the song does not suit her.











Brenna Gethers, finally the hated girl has been eliminated.











David Radford, guess those oldies songs could not rope in any good votes. My guess is that the voters are youngster who have much time sending their votes while the phone while their were not watching or did not bother to vote.











Jose "Sway" Panala, sad to see him go but his own voice is not there.











What I like during the elimination show, Simon managed to guess the actual person that would be voted out. However, I was shocked that Kevin Covais is the bottom three that receive the lowest votes. Elliot Yamin sounds real good, the girls Lisa and Paris are going stronger.

Waiting for next week's performance to see who will be going back home.