Rain came to save the day

Hopefully the water reserves can be replenished. :D

Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Golden cup of tea

Brewed with patience :)

Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

The Star is at it again

 

Why oh why do you put a hyphen there????!?!?!?1

 

 

Malaysia’s own F1 team

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will have its own team in Formula One next year.

A Lotus-powered racing team, to be called the 1Malaysia F1 team, will take on giants like Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Renault in the premier motorsports event next year.

The team will join Force India-Mercedes as Asia’s representatives in F1, along with old-timers like Toyota.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has accepted Malaysia’s bid to enter the 2010 and future Formula One World Championships, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced yesterday.

F1 foray: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak receiving a model of the Malaysian F1 car at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya.

The 1Malaysia F1 team will be a partnership between the Govern-ment and the private sector, including investors led by Datuk Kamarudin Meranun (AirAsia Deputy CEO), Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes (AirAsia CEO) and SM Nasaruddin SM Nasimuddin (Naza Group CEO).

The Malaysian-owned team will also mark the return of Proton-owned Lotus, the prestigious constructors who left F1 in 1994.

Najib, who made the announcement at the Ministry of Finance yesterday, said the team would be based at the Sepang International Circuit, making it the first to be located outside Europe.

“This is where the cars will be designed, manufactured and tested. It will be ‘Made-in-Malaysia, by Malaysians’ and of course, the pit-stops will be run by Malay-sians,” he said.

“This is a meaningful development and I hope that it will further raise our country’s profile on the world stage.”

The team will have a Malaysian technical and pit crew, totalling some 200 people, to be managed by former Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Najib added that the team hoped to announce its two drivers by Oct 31.

“Currently, six local and international drivers have been shortlisted for evaluation,” he said.

“Our F1 team will also have technical experts from outside Malaysia to ensure that we are ready to compete on the world’s most prestigious racing stage.”

Malaysia hosted its first F1 race in 1999 at the Sepang F1 Circuit and Alex Yoong was the first Malaysian to race in the championships in 2001 and 2002 for Minardi.

The Prime Minister had earlier launched the exchange programme between employees from the government and government-linked companies (GLCs) as part of the Government-GLCs Cross-Fertilisation Programme.

He handed letters-of-trust to 47 government and GLC staff taking part in the programme.

Another person who doesn't check their facts

http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoneyblog/2009/07/lance-armstrong-no-role-model.html

Michael K. Ozanian's blogpost on Lance Armstrong. Now I know blogs are supposed to be casual, but when you are clearly reporting the wrong facts, that is just pushing it.

Lance Armstrong No Role Model

I am sick of the media playing Lance Armstrong as some sort of God. I get the wonderful story: The guy made a phenomenal recovery from cancer. He has won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times. With Lance currently in third place half way through this year’s Tour, the Versus Network, which televises the race, is running around telling everyone how the great Lance has given it huge ratings. But there is another part of this story: In an age where most athletes (especially those in the NFL and NBA) are demonized for any misstep, it is amazing how it is never spoken that Lance dumped his wife and kids (who stuck with him during his battle with cancer) for Sheryl Crow and races for the UCI ProTeam Astana, which is based in Kazakhstan, a country ruled by a political tyrant. I’d like to see Versus mention that.

Amazing........ Just read the comments

Video games, what progress

Let's look at the history of video games.

Arguably the first video game you could ever imagine, called "Tennis for Two" is invented back in 1958.

Then there was pong, made to play on the Atari arcade system in 1972.

After nearly 40 years, here is the future of video gaming, this is totally unbelievable, yet it works!!!! Introducing Microsoft Project Natal, shown off during this year's E3.

So what's next for video gaming, you ask. I don't know, but I can't wait for it to come.

Spell check before you publish

A classic error as shown here on Times-online's Frontpage. Probably should have invested in a proper spell checker before they post articles. Errors in the title is especially unforgivable.

Industry Profitable Rankings

I am always quite fascinated by how profitable different industries can be. Fortune 500 publishes a list of the most profitable indsutries in the US every year. Profitability I am refering to is the industry's profits as % of their revenue.

Here is a comparison of the 2009 and 2008 lists.

What fascinates me is the huge increase in profitability in Internet Services and Retailing from 7% in 2007 to 19.4% in 2008. Logically this shouldn't be right since one can imagine competition within this industry has increased substantially. One more thing this list shows is the decrease in overall profitability (start of credit crunch and thus recession?).

What else can you spot from the list?

Rumour has it that.......

....... Michael Owen is going to be a Red Devil. I'm no Man Utd fan but while everybody is yabbing about whether Fergie has gone nuts by signing a player who couldn't even go thru 25 games without any injury, I think this is actually quite a good move.

Plus, you're getting potentially one of the best strikers for FREE. The key word here is potential, when he's good, he is really good, especially when facing tough oppositions. I remember sometime towards the end of last season when reports begin surfacing that Michael would retire. If anybody can reignite Michael and makes him want to play football again, it has to be Fergie, remember Cantona?

Well we'll see next season if this is the right move for Fergie, I have a good feeling it is, especially if he turns out to be their new super-sub, who knows?

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson

At about midnight last night while talking on the phone to yours dearly, she asked me if I was watching the news. I answered no and asked why. She then tol me that there is a news report claiming that MJ is "dead". At first, I thought it was some joke, like the Jeff Goldblum's hoax. And then I saw the article on bbc saying that MJ is "dead".

I traced the article back to TMZ.com who was the first to report it and saw several tweets about htis on my blackberry. It was later confirmed that he did in fact die, and it was a tragic news indeed.

I'm sure that many have bought the tickets to his comeback concert, which was fully sold out within days if not hours. Certainly, people will think that 50 concerts is stretching it a bit too far considering his age but hey, he's a perfectionist.

I'm pretty sure everyone of you has a favourite Michael Jackson song. I grew up loving "Black and White" thinking that Michael Jackson is in fact, a magician with real powers (yes dreaming) and can turn into a tiger. That's thanks to his "Moonwalker" sort of movie I guess, I remember vaguely he could turn into a car.

But my absolute favourite song of his is without a doubt "Man in The Mirror". I believe that he was under tremendous pressure for the past 15 years since he was accused of being a paedophile. Looking at him, you can't really believe that can you? Whatever it is, may peace be with him and with Youtube, he will live on forever, or that's what I would like to think so.

Nerd way of folding clothes

If there were a nerd way of folding clothes, this would be it. Saw this little toy in an episode of "big bang theory" where Sheldon was folding his clothes in a rather neat way.

Introducing the flip-fold, from the US of A. Now they don't really sell it here in UK so I ordered an imitation one off ebay. This actually made folding clothes quite fun. You just align your shirt in it, fold off the bottom extra and it takes another 3 seconds to fold it into a perfect shape. The best thing about it is that all your other clothes are folded to the exact dimension, quite neat eh? Now my cupboard looks much neater.

All hail technology, (or the lack of it).



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Ideas are abundant but......

Structuring them and turning them into a reality is not easy. Finally I came across an idea which I think has a potential but don't know where to start. Alas, I know how it feels like when boss started nuffnang, not to the point of having sleepless nights yet but I have a feeling that won't be far away.

One thing I find hard to do is to stay focus, especially when it's a one-man-show. You compose the music, you fill in the lyrics, you prepare the stage and you sing to the audience. The worst part is you won't know if the audiences like it. It's also especially hard when there's nobody to talk to when you're stuck or have a moment of eureka, saying your thoughts out allow you to put it in a more imaginable structure and that I find is very important. It also allows for response for anything you left out as well as reassure yourself about your goals.

Now can you see why I can foresee sleepness nights sometime soon. Maybe to the point of waking up sweating in the palm of my hand.

Of course it's not all bad, I'm actually kind of excited deep down inside, like a little boy just told by his parents that they were going to disneyland for holiday. For all that, I'm pretty sure this will be one hell of a journey.



P.s. The photo is shot at selfridges celebrating their 100th yr in business. Quite creative way to display those Louis-Vuitton bags don't you think so? Note the ONE gold bag...... Just like business ideas...... Eh?


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Fred Perry

I was shopping at westfield some time back and went into a Fred Perry shop there. Fred Perry is a clothing brand from the early pre-WW2 days taking the name after the tennis player Fred Perry. Needless to say, they still stick to their roots and produce tennis wears.

Now I didn't buy any clothes that day coz I can't simply fork out 50 quids on a shirt which frankly doesn't look like it deserves that amount. It got me thinking, how much does it actually cost to produce this shirt?

Any ideas anyone?

And how does it trickle down the production chain?

How much do cotton farmers get and was it justified?

How much margin ended up with the middleman?

How much would the economy suffer in terms of jobs should middlemen in various industries slowly get pushed out of business? Does it justify cutting their share and push prices lower?

Think dude think.

Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Motivation in life

It's been quite an eventful period for me. Being officially out of job, starting to hunt for a new job, enjoying life as it is, eating whatever I can get my hands on, spending time with family and friends, feeling inspired all of a sudden from crazy ideas........

This is life. As comfortable as it may be, one has to realise that money won't fall from trees, food won't appear on the table on its own, time won't stall even for a second, ideas won't stay fresh forever, inspiration won't come everyday........

So what keeps you motivated?

Is it a car? An R8 like above?

Is it the prospect of a good career?

Is it the blind determination to break barriers?

Is it family? Possibly children or others who depend on you?

Is it for money?

Is it for power?

Is it to benefit the world and make it a better place as a whole?

I'm sure everybody have different answers to this question.

How about sharing some of yours?

Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 52 Atari-Ya? Ya Sashimi Ya

Any sashimi lovers out there in london? Are you fed up with expensive but stale sashimi? Are you a person on a budget but can't stop your craving for sashimi or sushi? If you said yes to ANY of the above, I have an answer for you.

Introducing ATARI-YA!!! (That is if you don't already know it)

Atari-ya is a specialist japanese grocer and fishmonger, owned by a man called Mr. Tai. A lot of japanese restaurants get their fish from Mr. Tai so instead of paying the middleman, why not go straight to the supplier? They have several shops around london but the one I prefer is in west acton on central line just next to the tube station. Here they sell the fish by weight so you will get more bang for your money imho.

Check out what I got for £36: o-toro, chu-toro, mackarel, scallops, sweet prawn and a raw fish mix you eat with rice (we had noodles). There is one small catch, the quality of O-toro varies from time to time, but the ones we had this time was excellent by ANY standards. Think I'm joking? Try it out for yourself. Yours dearly and ying ling definitely look like they enjoyed it.




Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 51 Borough Market

I woke up to a beautiful english saturday morning, sunny and breezey. I liked the weather to be that way, but on a spring/summer day, the wind catches just a little bit too much grass pollen with it. So the downside to it is that it sets my hayfever on full motion. Anyway, we went to borough market for some lunch.

First up, the legendary chorizo, superbly cooked, slightly charred which contributes a smokey flavour to the already tasty meat. It was served with piquant pepper and rockets on a white bun. Mind you, I had to queue up for 20 minutes to get my teeth anywhere near those juicy sausages.

Next up was a german sausage served with saurkraut which was ok. I mean it wasn't something to shout about but it's not too bad either.

We then proceed to our favourite coffee company, the Monmouth coffee company. Two shots of espresso brewed from the carefully selected coffee beans poured over ice cold milk to make the yummiest ice latte you've ever tasted.
I also tasted the weirdest ice cream, hazelnut chilli flavour, and it was awesome. You don't really taste the chilli but after your second lick, you could feel a little heat at the back of throat, which i thought was quite enjoyable.

I then round everything up with one of the nicest oysters I've ever tasted, the colchester native grade 1 oyster. To sum up the taste, the flesh is firm and tasted salty. It's aftertaste is sweet and slightly iron-y and lingers around your mouth for up to an hour after you ate it, absolutely fantastic. I will definitely be back for more oyster some other day......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 50 Funny face shirts

Yours dearly and I went shopping today after satisfying some of her craving for sashimi. As usual, I did my bit of window shopping to spot if there were anything interesting. Yours dearly, on the other hand was a lady on a mission to get some new cute t-shirts.

Here's what we spotted in h&m, cute isn't it? Look at how she's trying to imitate the facial expression on the shirt.


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 49 Visitors from Malaysia

We've got a couple of guests from Malaysia today so I spent most of my time cleaning the house up, or tidying if you like to put it that way. Here's a photo of bayswater because that's the only time I got out of the house.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 48 Green Tea Ice Cream

So the story goes like this. A few days ago, during easter monday, yours dearly had an urge to bake something using the passion fruit we bought a day earlier. Now easter is a funny time of the year, it's one of the rare weekends where u have good friday and bank holiday on monday here in uk. This is usually the time people take time off to bring their family on vacation. It's also a time when retailers have odd opening hours so going grocery shopping on this day means going to small and more expensive shops. You could imagine how hard it was hunting down the ingredients I don't have stocked up at home.

Now, while she made her passion fruit swirl cheesecake, she got a wacky idea on how to use up the extra cream we had. She decided to make green tea ice cream. For those who don't know how ice cream is made here's a rough idea. Beat egg, cream, sugar and flavouring up. Put in a case and into the fridge. Take it out every 30 minutes or so and mix it around to let little ice crystals form for that smooth, fluffy, soft texture of what we call ice cream.

As we were late for our bbq, we decided to leave the ice cream to settle on its own after we mixed it a few times. That was when yours dearly issued her orders:

"NO TOUCHING MY ICE CREAM BEFORE ME"

So I did as she said and not touch it...... UNTIL TODAY, when she finally was in the house to officiate the spooning of the ice cream. Just look at how happy she is...... Sigh.......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 47 Zipping car to Heathrow

Are you one of those people staying in London who wants to drive, can legally drive but don't want to fork out money to buy a car?

Introducing zipcar, one of the many car clubs around. I have been using them for 2 months now and have enjoyed driving so far, a mini cooper, a honda civic hybrid and a honda jazz. Not very glamorous yes, but very convenient when I need to get around London for various purposes. And here comes another purpose to add to the list: sending or picking someone up from airports.

For those who used minicabs to get to airports from central london, a trip from central to heathrow would set you back about £30. With zipcar, our little trip sending siewch off was only £25 including parking at heathrow. It was quite a tricky route we took passing by chelsea with the match against liverpool going on. Chelsea won that thrilling encounter eventually...... to top up the already emotional evening of sending someone off.

So there you have it, looks like I'm gonna be the designated driver whenever someone wants to go to heathrow or back. Don't say I mind at all.

Photo today is of a pre-driving session with yours dearly eager to crave her trigger happy finger. Happy Easter all.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 46 BBQ at Bermondsey

If you've been to UK and stayed here before, you probably understand the type of weather people are used to here. Yes I'm talking about the grey and gloomy and always looks like it's gonna rain type. Well, the morning started off like that and to top it off it's very cold for some weird reason, where's the spring gone? But towards the later part of the day, it suddenly turned bright and SUNNY. Somebody upstairs must be kind to us as we were planning a bbq at yours dearly's that very afternoon.

Prior to the bbq, we had lou sang which was given by a friend during CNY. Fire was started promptly after that and soon the guests started to arrive. The amount of food prepared was staggering and it had just enough alcohol to go with it. It was a real struggle to finish half of what we had. We ended the night with lounging around the living room chatting, it's siewch's last night here in UK so it's kinda emotional as well.

All in all, a really good day. What can I say? I love BBQs.



p.s. I'm missing my lamb though.......


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah