Swordie Bloggie

Today, I went to change my car tyres at Metro Tire in Putatan… It’s at the opposite across the main road from Gardenia bakery… I have been using the same tyres for over two years… and the threads are still in usable condition.

Although the threads are still OK, the tyres’ structure can’t give a nice ride any longer… the tyres are considered ‘expired’… it somehow has lost its elastic properties. So the effectiveness of the tyres to help reduce fuel consumption while travelling smoothly is no longer ‘effective’… the car has to put more power when it moves… I know it’s a bit confusing…

My old tyres were mixtures of two Silverstone and two Dunlop tyres… this time I replace all four tyres with Michelin ENERGY XM1 185/70R14… yea, I’m still using the same original rims that came with the car.

So, what is this ENERGY label on the tyre with tag line ‘Discover comfort mile after mile’ all about?… Well, Michelin created a tyre which can save more fuel than the usual tyres… The tyres helps the car moves effortlessly and smoother which turn into low cost energy saver. I hope these tyres help me reduce my fuel consumption for the next two years… coz the fuel price is not that cheap nowadays…  RON95 subsidised price is RM1.90… while RON97 is RM2.80 for every litre.

Should I go gym tonight?… emm… This year, I changed my gym schedule… usually I go after office trice a week, meaning I go at night… around 7PM… but going after office is not that good coz I already tired in the office, so not much energy for gym 😛 And sometimes I wont be able to make it even once for the whole week… so it a waste of membership… 😛 although it’s not really an exclusive gym like the gym in richmond, but it really a waste when I can’t go for more than a month… or only once in a month.

So this year, I decided to go every Saturday morning… so at least I can go once a week rather than skipping the whole week or month. But tomorrow I need to go fix my car absorbers and tyres… meaning I won’t be able to go gym tomorrow morning… 🙁

So should I go tonight?… emmm… I feel a bit lazy right now… but see how it goes when I reach home after office… if I feel going then I go, if not, I just land myself on the sofa… 😛

It’s always disappointing whenever I see good videos on youtube and I can’t keep it… coz sometimes you wont be able to find it again… sometimes it gets removed or you forgot the location. Previously, it was easy to download streamed video like videos from youtube… but they keep on updating the way they stream videos making it harder to get a copy of it.

So today I want to share something cool… a cool youtube downloader that you should try… it’s cool… it’s easy to use, reliable, fast… and it’s free… go ahead and try it, but don’t abuse it… 😆

OK, the SPL 2012 was over… and I’m badly sun burned… 😛 This season is the best so far… the league has improved since it first started in 2010… and it has improved a lot… not only the smooth running of the event, but the condition of the field also has improved. Overall it was improving each season on each leg… credit goes to KK Paintball Centre.

I’m not going to talk too much about the game yet… I just want to post something to fill my blog… 😛 I’m kinda busy at the moment… In fact, I wanted to take leave immediately after SPL, but I can’t coz there are loads of stuffs to be done in the office… instead I took leave on Thursday and Friday before the Saturday and Sunday SPL games… where everyone were still out of the office after the long Chinese New Year break which span till Tuesday on that week.

Anyways, becoz of the sunburn, my skins were cracking and dry… but it is improving. On Tuesday, while driving to the office in the morning, I felt my forehead was itchy so I scrub it with my fingers and to my horror my forehead is so rough and white stuffs were falling down, it’s like dandruff… in fact my hair felt dry and rough… when I check from the rear view mirror, dam… it looks ugly… so I keep on scrubbing till all the white stuffs no longer visible on my forehead. My mistake was, I did not use sun block during SPL… 😛 It’s healing now, but I think I still need something to make sure my skin don’t peel off again soon… and my hair need a good seaweed shampoo… probably shampoo made from the sea cucumber extracts… 😛

Once again Sabah Paintball League Cup (SPL) will hit another season for the 3rd time. The Sabah Paintball League Cup 2012 3rd season will kick-off this Saturday and it will be held for two days (28 & 29 January 2012) at Likas Sports Complex.

KK Paintball Centre (KKPC) has successfully held the league without fail every year since 2010. Each season will have 3 legs and from these 3 legs the overall champion will be decided. Last year Team Hoodlums brought home the SPL 2011 Cup.

Other than SPL, KKPC also has two other events to be held this year. The Nexus War Game 2012 (NWG 2012) and the Sabah Tactical Cup 2012 (STC 2012). The NWG has been held since 2010 while the STC is the new even and to be held for the first time this year.

We hope the weather will be favourable this Saturday and Sunday so that the 18 teams competing in the SPL2012 will have a great game. There will be two teams from Brunei while Sarawak, Melaka and Labuan will have one team each. For the first time, there will be an all ladies team… the Barbarinas. And the youngest player for this season is a 13 years old lad.

The youngest player for this season.

To promote the Sabah Tactical Cup 2012, a demo game by Team Revolucion will be held during SPL 2012.

The tactical game field for scenario or jungle settings.

And to those who hate the sun or do not have time during the day to play paintball, KKPC also conduct Night Paintball.

SPL 2012 field was setup on 24th January… here are some photos during the setup… it’s gonna be very exciting… don’t forget to drop by at Stadium Likas this Saturday and Sunday to watch this exciting and adrenaline pumping game… 😀

OK, we are in 2012… 2011 is over and turned into history… last year, the global economy was very challenging… causing a few countries to the brink of collapsing… some manage to recover, not much but enough to avoid riot. Some change government after fierce rioting.

Some financial analyst forecast 2012 will be more challenging… some said the economy will be so so… not much recovery but ok ok. Fortune teller and astrologer said 2012 will brings lots of hopes and happiness to all the zodiac.

Well, although some believes 2012 is the final year for mankind… life must go on… for hope and to go on with life, I will believe the astrologer… if last year economy was bad… food prices shoot up like rocket, lets hope foods will be more affordable this year. If last year it’s hard to own a roof… lets hope this year the price of houses goes down while the economy recover so that those houses for rent will have a new owner this year.

So what is my plan for this year?… I hope I can stop buying gadgets so that I can save more money this year. But the gadgets around like the AR Drone really tempting… and the coming Canon G13 or G14 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 gonna spoil my plan… 😛 Oh man… I hope not… I better renovate my house instead… I have not taken care of it for so long… 😛

It’s amazing when you lose something and stop looking for it… gave up hoping of finding it again… never ever… but suddenly it appears after years later… like sixteen years later… and it is more amazing coz the way you found it back…  😛

Well, this is what happened to Lena Paahlsson of Sweden… she lost her white gold wedding ring 16 years ago in December 1995 and it reappears again in October 2011… If getting back what you lost 16 years ago is almost impossible, what make it more amazing is that the way she found it… she found it on a carrot she grows in her garden… 😛

Sixteen years ago, she took off her ring and put it on the kitchen counter to do some baking with her daughter for Christmas. When she realize it gone missing, the family tried to search for it everywhere in the kitchen… they even open-up their farm house floorboards but still can’t find it… she gave up… 🙁

That was until recently in October this year when she was picking the last carrots in her garden… suddenly she saw a glimmering metal ring around the carrot… and realize the ring is her wedding ring she lost 16 years ago… it’s hard to believe but the family believes the ring must have fallen among the potato peels which was fed to the sheep or turned into compose. So, if it was eaten by the sheep, the sheep must have pooped it in the garden… or if it was mixed into compose, then it must have been thrown into to the garden as fertilizer… that are two explanations the family can give. But if they have Metal Detectors at that time, they could have found it earlier… 😛

Anyway, the ring no longer fits Mrs Paahlsson anymore… she plans to enlarge it so that she can wear it again… another amazing lost and found story… 😀

On Thursday, 29th December, our office held a dinner for our senior officer retirees who retired this year… there are six of them. Actually there are more retirees but these six are only representing the senior officers. So out of these six, guess how many attended?… Only two coz there rest are not available for the night… probably they are having functions coz of year end… or probably they are out of the country having vacation… but definitely not stuck in housing for seniors coz these retirees are ex-senior officers so surely they have their own house and probably doing a good business after their retirement.

Anyways, the dinner was held at the Cruise Lounge… and a few people do not know this place… one even came by taxi from his hotel… so when I receive the invitation, I have to ask where is this place just to make sure… well I’ve been here before a couple of times sometimes ago… but I don’t remember the name. It’s at Tanjung Aru next to the Sunny Supermarket… it is visible from the main road but you have to drive further in coz the front of it are their sporting fields and their building are way behind.

When I arrived around 6.40pm… the invitation was 6.10pm… I saw three of my colleagues chit chatting at the parking… and it turn out only four have arrived so far, and me the fifth. I thought the place they going to held it is the same place I had my breakfast before… but when I asked my colleagues if we going to have the dinner at The Cruise Cafelounge by pointing at it, they said no, it’s at the back… huh?…I did not know there is another place… the place is called The Cruise Lounge… the place is quite small, but OK… no wonder they only invited officers. And I did not stay long coz I feel old if I stay too long with the retirees… 😆 😛

The fastest train I ever ride is the KLIA Express or Express Rail Link (ERL) from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to KL Central Station. It travels up to 160 km/h, but since the 28 minutes journey is quite smooth, you won’t feel the speed, except when it go through under bridge which is something like tunnel… that’s the time you will feel the ‘vacuum’ and when it pass with another train from opposite direction, it will shake for a while… air turbulence.

And the fastest machine I ever ride is the Boeing777… which can travel up to 900 km/h. But when you are inside the plane, you won’t feel anything except when the plane drop altitude suddenly or when it tried to avoid air pocket or air turbulence or probably thick clouds.

Back to train, in October there was big news in Sabah where a train hit an oil tanker… it caused a massive traffic jam in front of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA). The train could be travelling around 60 or 70 km/h and luckily there was no casualties… only some injuries like broken legs… some passengers jump out from the train.

And in China, on 23rd December 2011, a new bullet train was showcased to the world… the super-rapid test train is capable of travelling at 500 km/h… yes that is five zero zero km per hour… it’s fast… China made their big ambition to build the largest super train network a decade ago into reality. But with this super speed machine where there will be hundreds of it in the near future, it’s hard to imagine how China will do their simulation or collision estimation and avoidance so that train collision like the recent collision in July can be avoided. In the July collision, two of its high-speed train collided… 😛

Recently Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) or National Registration Department (NRD) launched a new generation of the national identification card better known as MyKad. The first generation of MyKad was introduced in September 2001.

According to JPN, the new generation MyKad will be tougher coz it is made of stronger polycarbonate… let’s hope it is tough coz the current MyKad really bad… not tough enough… there are many complains about it… in fact other types of cards such as credit cards, ATM cards, reward cards and membership cards are much more tougher. These cards don’t get faded, torn or break like the MyKad.

The it was first introduce in 2001, MyKad is not just identification card but supposedly able to take over the functions of driving license or ATM Card, but becoz of its problematic nature, no one are interested integrating their driving license or ATM card with MyKad… coz the chip on the card is unreadable sometimes and it gets rusted too.

JPN said, the new generation of MyKad’s chip will be tougher and more reliable and it has 80kb compared to the old 64kb storage. The card has been tested by SIRIM and some international standard agencies. The new MyKad also has laser engraved photo of the owner and some security and invisible features… 😛

The public can start replacing their old MyKad starting middle of January 2012 depending on their location… as for me, KK’s JPN will only start replacing the old MyKad in the middle of February 2012… let’s hope the new MyKad will be able to solve the illegal immigrants problem over here… else it’s just a waste of money… 😛