Christmas 2009 Do...

Our bunch of friends initially suggested having a Xmas potluck at our place on eve or the day itself, but as we were out of the country then, we moved it back to the 28th, yesterday night.

It was nothing fancy, everyone brought stuff over, and the motley collection came together as quite a feast. We had honey garlic chicken wings, fried rice, satay, and home-made blueberry muffins. Our contribution was a caesar salad (which was only missing the bacon bits which I couldn't buy in time...) Throw in a couple bottles of liquor and the excellent company, and you've got yourself a terrific night!

The girls were very friendly this time (unlike some cases where they'd remain stuck to me or wifey...) and played with everyone. They also liked the muffins a lot.
I began by feeding them bits of the muffin, but I must have been doing it too slowly for their taste, because Jun Lee ran to the table with the container of muffins and carried the whole thing to me, as if to prompt me that they wanted more...

Girls' 2nd Birthday...

Goodness... I haven't updated for more than 2 months now!

Mostly its because I've been pretty busy both with work and our personal lives...

Such a lot has happened in these last 2 1/2 months, what with the girls' birthday and our vacation in Hong Kong and Macau. Will definitely resolve to sort out all the backdated posts by end of the year!

Updated! With lots of pics... The write-up I'll get around to it later...

Hurray, 2 years old...

Ooh, what a lovely cake...

Birthday hug...

Taste first...

Let's cut the cake...

Jun Lee: Yum yum yum...

Jun Yen: I'll have another piece thank you...

We're so happy we could dance...

This is our birthday waltz...

Balloons! And cake, this is a great birthday...

Let's have a picture with Mommy...

Happy Birthday to Us!!!...

Numbers...

Yesterday night my girls gave me a bit of a surprise. They already know how to count to ten about a few months (how many?) back, but yesterday they started doing so in Malay! Both took turns counting satu to sepuluh!

I found out later that my Mom had taught them that...

They can recite the numbers from 1 to 10 quite fluently by now, but can't really count yet. Next task to teach them...

Wilson KSix.One Review...

Been playing with the Wilson KSix.One 95 (hereinafter referred to as K95) extensively of late, and also managed to get some court time with the Wilson KSix.One Tour 90(hereinafter referred to as K90).

The K95 first... When I first picked it up it struck me that it felt pretty hefty even though it's the Asian version that weighs in at 310g vs the Rest-of-the-world version at 330g. When I first played with it, it was strung with Ashaway Crossfire 17G at 55lbs. Despite the stiff stringbed, it was quite easy to play with and control. It also felt extremely stable on impact. Consequently groundstrokes were pretty good.

However because of the Kevlar mains the racket felt rather muted in feel and arm felt a bit sore after playing with it. Got it restrung with Gamma TNT2 16G at 53lbs, and the whole character of the racket seems to have been transformed. Not all in a good way in my opinion...

Suddenly I was getting lots of feel, and lots of power from the strings. I am the kind of player who takes long loopy strokes though, and such lively string with such a stiff racket meant I had to really dial in quite a bit of spin and shorten my swing. Otherwise, playing my normal way meant a lot of long balls.

Subsequently tried it with Tospin Cyberblue 16 (mains at 53lbs) and the Gamma TNT2 16 (crosses at 55lbs) and it felt good. No pain, yet good control and decent power. I think I'm gonna stick with this. Maybe higher tension for crosses...

Overall a very stable, comfortable, stiff and reasonably maneuverable stick. Wish it was more flexible though. With an RDC rating of 69 it was almost the same as the famously stiff Babolat Pure Drive rackets, and exceeds the 67 of the Aero Pro Drive!

As for the K90, first impressions were very bad, which prompted me to sell it off pretty quickly to SC. I now wish I hadn't...

Again, this is the Asian edition at 320g instead of the ROTW version at 340g.

Basically it reminded me of all the pro player rackets of yore which was thin, low on power, uncomfortable, and not very stable to boot. As SC loved those kind of rackets, and as I thought I could no longer handle sticks like that, off it went...

I know now a lot of it had to do with the strings, which were Luxilon polys on mains and some other poly on crosses, strung at 45lbs. Despite the low tension it was still awful to play with. True to my assessment, SC began spraying almost all his shots long in the following game we played.

Tonight, testing it again after a restring with Ashaway Crossfire at 53/55lbs, it was amazing! I could take great big swings with it and it would go pretty much where I wanted. It felt so good it was like the proverbial extension of my arm. Not as stable as the K95, but still okay considering its skinny cross-section. Also I felt the stringbed was rather lifeless, complete opposite of the TNT2s. But in the long run it was very tiring as it needed full swings to even get the ball over beyond the opposite court's service line.

Tried it with Luxilon Alu Rough on mains and Wilson Sensation on crosses at 55lbs, and was a lot better, gaining much more liveliness without sacrificing too much control. It was quite painful to play with however, highly probable due to the Lux mains. Will try it with a soft poly i.e. Topspin Cyberblue on mains at 52lbs.

I still maintain that this racket would be perfect with some synthetic gut strung at 57lbs...

So there it is, my short takes on the famed KSix.Ones. Will need to continue to try different strings on it in future, thinking of a soft poly/co-poly mated with a synthetic gut. Should work to tame the liveliness of the synthetic gut, yet at the same time softening the stiff feel of the polys...

Tennis...

Have been going through a renaissance of sorts lately. I have always been an avid tennis player, but have pretty much laid down my racket over the last 5 years, and even before that was playing sporadically. It's a bit of a pain to find players considering the popularity (or lack thereof). I can name 3 or 4 groups I can join for badminton, but not one for tennis.

And face it, good though playing with my friend SC, it gets pretty boring after a while, which both of us acknowledge...

So it was quite a boon when we got to know one group who plays regularly on weekend mornings, through an introduction from someone we play badminton with on Saturdays! That coupled with regular access to courts by my joining the club meant I was ready to rejoin the tennis world, woohoo!

Some of my gear needed updating though, particularly my racket bag which had pretty much began falling apart. Wifey bought me a Wilson Super Six bag as a present (thanks wifey!) so that's sorted out. Moving on to rackets I got rid of a few old ones including an Estusa and a Head.

I've been a fan of Wilson stuff over the last few years, playing mostly with a Wilson Pro Staff 6.0 (not the classic one, but the extremely rare Dual Taper Beam version) so I gravitated to the KSix.One 95. Last week I also got the KSix.One Tour 90, so as of last week you could say I was in possesion of both rackets used at the 2009 US Open finals. Sold off the K90 within a few days to SC though as I really couldn't comfortably use rackets like that anymore.

Mandarin Songs...

The gals’ Grandma bought a CD of childrens’ songs in Mandarin a while back. They really like it a lot and always ask to listen to it (saying "ni wawa" meaning clay doll, one of the songs in the CD...) especially during the day when they are in their play room. By now it has become habitual for them to want to listen to it when they take their nap in the afternoon.

Lately, we realise that Jun Lee can sing to a few of the songs, well, not the whole song but quite a few verses. We would sing a few words and she would be able to sing the words of the remaining verses and also the next verse. Today, she sang ‘Shi Sang Ji You Ma Ma Hao’ translated as ‘Mother is good' in English.

Toy Shop...

There is a picture of a toy shop in one of the Peter and Jane books which are among those books the girls look at pretty often. I placed some toys on the shelf in our bedroom for easy access to keep them occupied in the morning while we wash up before bringing them downstairs, which they call the toy shop. I figured that to them, having a lot of toys lined up in one place makes up a toy shop.

We had lunch as usual after the weekly swim at the club at Plaza Damas this time, and strolled around after lunch. I saw ToysRUs and went in there intending to buy shoes. I told them that THIS is toy shop and they were pretty mesmerized with the sheer amount of toys there. I think before this they never even realised there were this manay toys in the whole world... hehe...

When they showed signs of starting to get a bit attached to the toyshop we made a hasty exit for fear of encouraging future toy shop visits...

The Pool Experience...

Took the girls to the pool yesterday at the club. It was their first time in a pool, so before we even took that first dip, had a few considerations...

Firstly, public pools are not ideal, what with the amount and variety of people. Furthermore public pools are usually of the "for serious swimming" variety with no wading pool to speak of, which is what they really need for now anyway, not an Olympic-sized monstrosity.
Secondly, do we need bathing suits for them??? Decided not to for the first few times as it's neither easy nor cheap to get a suitably sized suit for them. So for now, it's a pair of cotton shorts for them to go a dipping...

My membership duly processed (after a bit of prodding the club...) they finally took their first steps into the pool yesterday.

The obligatory shower before entering bothered them a bit, with both proclaiming that it was cold. It wasn't really cold as it was around 10am, but still for them it was colder than the usual tub of lukewarm water.

After they stepped into the wading pool, we progressively brought them from knee deep to chest deep. They were quite scared at first and didn't dare to move, and Jun Yen quietly saying "Keng keng" meaning "afraid" in Cantonese, which she began using some time back, and which I have no idea where she picked it up from.

But after a minute or so, both were quite happy, and after a while we even brought them over to the jacuzzi pool. We put the girls to stand in front of the bubble-jets to let them experience it, and at one point when Jun Yen's buttock was facing a jet, she said to us, "ta piku" meaning "beat backside" in Mandarin. It was hilarious!

Second Holiday...

After our last vacation in the Cameron Highlands, we have not been anywhere out of town, and it was high time that we took a short break. Considering the hazy and hot weather of late, anywhere near the seaside just didn't appeal, much as we wanted to bring the babies to experience the sea.

So somewhere close and cool then... For us Klang Valley people, where else but Genting... (don't get me started on how commercialised its all become though...)

Got 3 rooms at the Awana, and off we went on the 31st. My father-in-law also joined us on this trip as he was in town.

Here I am...

It was not a particularly noteworthy trip (it's Genting after all...) but we did have a pleasant time, which is what a break is about anyway. Rooms were good (got an upgrade to a duplex penthouse) and dinner at Gohtong Jaya was decent. Also got to celebrate Dad's birthday there, so I take it back, it was pretty memorable after all.

As for the girls they were of course happy, visiting a new place, and they were quite taken in by the indoor theme park especially the carousel. Resolve to take them on it the next time...

Also went on the (indoor) gondola ride, with Jun Yen proclaiming "keng keng" (scared scared) at the beginning, but soon settled down to enjoy it.

If you have to ask why there is only one picture here, let me just say that we took probably fewer than 15 shots before the battery on the SLR gave out, which was weird as the indicator still showed 2 bars when we set off.

Babies' Vocabulary...

Their vocabulary has now expanded quite a bit. Jun Yen still remains the one who is more vocal, and Jun Lee the more reluctant one, and she usually won't say it unless she says it right. Jun Yen on the other hand is willing to just say whatever she can, accurate pronunciation or not. The way she calls Pooh Pooh (for Winnie the Pooh) comes out as "Fooh Fooh" which is so cute...

Yup, they pretty much know all the major characters in that cartoon. Pooh Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore and KangaRoo.

They can also say their own names now, though not entirely accurate. Jun Lee comes out as "Juniee" while Jun Yen sounds like "Junien".

Still, they occasionally surprise us by saying something we don't expect them to know. Just yesterday as I was getting dressed for work, I was talking to them and asked, "Where is Papa going?" whereupon they both answered "work"!!!

Babies' Toys...

The girls don't seem to be very interested in toys. And by that I mean the real toys. Instead they seem to like playing with the everyday items. List includes stools, indoor slippers, containers of all sorts...

Jun Lee making Teh Tarik...

Our Bowls and Cups...

They also love printed material of all kinds including books (not just the childrens' books) magazines, pamphlets... and they tend to stuff the latter under the glass top of the table.

Last month, Grandma bought them a set of plastic bowls and spoon (the real kind as used in restaurants) as toys, and so far it's kept them amused as they pretend to eat of of them, and also offering some of the (imaginary) food to us.

What They Call Us...

Sometime in May I wrote that they can pronounce Mommy (sounding like "MaMi") here.

Since then they've progressed onto a whole host of words. By now they recognise people by age and address them accordingly. For babies their age they would call them "baby". For older children they would call them "cheche" or "korkor". Adults pretty much fall into the "aunty" and "uncle" category, and "kongkong" for seniors. While this is fairly accurate they have a tendency to call even people in their 20s "uncle" and "aunty", which I'm sure could be annoying, hehe...

Within the family, paternal grandpa is called "YeYe", my brother is "SokSok", and maternal grandpa is "KongKong". The funny one is when they refer to grandma as "MiMa". They can actually pronounce "Grandma" but I think they just use "MiMa" as it's easier to call.

Mommy's Birthday...

Happy Birthday Mommy!!!...

We had a barbecue on wifey's birthday with family and friends, just a small do. By the time we got to the cake cutting, JL & JY were quite sleepy already... Plus it wasn't me taking the pics, so they were quite bewildered by the photographer.

It was wonderful night, and wifey had a great time. Plus we hadn't had a barbecue for such a long time it felt good to be messing about with the grill... haha!

Thanks to all who came to join us!

Babies at Bedtime...

See me wink...

Che che's ear...

...

...

...

Mommy is here...

The girls are usually put to bed at 8pm, and we'll wake them up at 11pm or so for their last feed and change of diaper.

During that time they're usually quite active and happy as they've had what amounts to a long nap, and had their supper, what's not to be happy about?...
The routine would be:
1. Feed them milk
2. Carry them onto our bed and change diaper
3. Let them wander around on our (comparatively) huge bed
4. Carry them back to the cot

They would do and say a lot while playing on our bed, as it's like a big playpen to them, with the large pillows and all. Here are some of those antics I managed to capture.

Oh yes, since a while back they already know how to point to, and say some parts of their bodies like eye, ear, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, head, foot, tummy, chest, shoulder, chin... anything I missed, wifey?

Mama, Mamama, Mimi...

It used to be confusing when the babies call Mama. This was because we were not sure whether they are addressing their Grandma or Mummy. There was a point when they used to call their Mummy "Mamama" and their Grandma "Mama". After a while, it was back to Mama. About a month back, they started to call their Mummy "Mimi".

Now they mostly call Mummy (yep, the full deal), but still revert to Mama once a while.

Morning At The Park...

Wifey's writing...

Now that they are older, we have started to bring them to the park for their morning walk on weekends. It's good to expose them to the greenery (as well as the lake and the waterfall...), all worlds away from the everyday busy concrete jungle.

The first time Jun Lee was fine and walked by herself quite quickly. Jun Yen refused and had to be carried by her Mummy for a while till her poor Mummy’s arms began to ache. After much persuasion, she did walk a few steps. Both of them enjoyed the experience very much though.

The second time we were there, it was the other way round. Jun Yen was happy and couldn't wait to walk by herself while Jun Lee despite willing to be on the ground, refused to budge from her position at first. But it wasn't long before she began to chase after her little sister.

The third time, we expected both to be happy and walking on their own. However, it was deja vu as Jun Yen refused to walk while Jun Lee was fine. By now we figured it depends on their mood, as both were happily running around later on.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

Look at that...

Mommy, what is Jun Yen looking at???...

See, Yeye and Grandma are here too...

Last Sunday we also did something new. Usually, we only let them walk on the footpath along the lake. This time, their grandparents brought them up to the suspension bridge. They were obviously scared, refused to walk and demanded to be ‘Pau-pau’(being carried). Perfectly understandable as the bridge sways when you walk over it.

We met up with them whilst Grandma was trying to coax them into walking across. I walked across and took Jun Yen who was being carried by her Grandma and put her down on the ground, and held her hand in an attempt to get her to cross the bridged. However, as she saw her father approaching the other side, she called ‘Papa’ and walked towards him and happily walked with her father hand in hand across the bridge.

I then took Jun Lee from her Yeye but she was unhappy and refuse to move when I put her down on the ground. We tried to persuade her and she started walking one small step at a time. It was an achievement for Jun Yen who crossed over and then looked back, called ‘Cheche’ and started to walk back to Jun Lee. It seemed like she was telling Jun Lee that she can do it since she's done it.

Bravo Jun Yen, Jun Lee!

Engines...

Over the years (since I learnt how to drive that is...) these are the cars (if you can guess what they are) and engines that I have owned or had a close acquiantance with...

4G15
4G13
4G92P
4G93P
4G18
M111.960
XU10J4R
1ZZ-FE
1AZ-FE
S4PH
D4F

Future engines which I'd like to own include:
N52B25/B30
M272.E25
1AR
4GR-FSE
K20A
K24Z2
EA113 2.0TFSI
EA111 1.4TSI

Yup, just a bit of geeky, self-indulgent scribbling... :)

Fish Head At Pudu...

I haven't been posting up any food reviews of late, and that's either because the places I've been to recently didn't warrant much mention.

This place, I had to post up a review.

Imagine this, a very very old (possibly pre-war) shop literally a few feet away from the dusty and noisy Jalan Pudu, with no signage of any kind, with 7 or so tables, and where you have to wait for like an hour (usually more) before you get any food. Why then would anyone of a sound mind put themselves through the ordeal?

I have seen the crowd lining up during lunch hour on those rare occasions when I forayed into Pudu, and have always regarded the situation with a mix of curiosity and disdain. Last Saturday I lunched at this place, and came away with the former satisfied and the latter dismissed.

According to my father, this place has always attracted the crowd in droves since 30-40 years ago. I have also apparently eaten there when I was a child, which I suspect could have only been an unpleasant childhood experience. It's apparently acquired a near legendary status as the sam chi mui (3 sisters) fish head stall. True to its name it's run by 3 sisters.

We sat outside along the kaki lima (shaded corridor) on plastic stools waiting to be seated, whilst entertaining ourselves looking at the wares of the next door shop (industrial filters and pumps!) One of the sisters (Crocs-wearing, bob-headed, hair-dyeing) came to take our orders whilst we were seated waiting in a brusque businesslike fashion. Thankfully, we were seated not long after.

Rice arrived in a not-seen-for-very long-time porcelain container, chipped almost all around the lip. And then the piece-de-resistance arrived in a large platter. The Hong Siew Yu Tau or stewed fish head was a whole Soong fish head deep fried and smothered in a luscious gravy. Accompaniments were stir fried sang cheong with kow choi fah, and veges. Excellent!

Went to the back looking for the washroom and surprisingly the whole place was quite clean and organised. No greasy floors, pots and pans and empty bottles strewn about, you get my drift. Saw a single lady (no doubt one of the sisters) furiously cooking on a, get this, wood fired stove! Now, you hardly find these anymore, which undoubtedly added to the flavour. No doubt the single cook also contributed to the legendary waiting times.

Best of all though, lunch sufficiently filling for 5 hungry people cost a mere RM48! Definitely recommended, but you have been warned about the waiting time...

Oh yes, though there was no signboard on the outside, a small one inside the seating area proclaimed it to be Kedai Kopi Hock Seng Hin. Not much help though as you can't see it until you're actually inside.

More Teeth...

Concurrently with Jun Yen's fever last week, we also saw signs of the lower molars! Both sides!

Also she has been like a parrot the past weeks, repeating almost perfectly the words we say. We've really gotta be careful now...

Jun Lee has learnt to lay out the cloth diaper (that we use as a towel of sorts) when she sees her sister being washed. It's really cute... yeah, words can't describe it...

Here's a few random pics I took of them, not in any particular sequence, and some dating a while back...

Let's have tea!

Zzzz...

Where are we going?...

Jun Yen sucking her thumb...

Jun Lee...

The Sniffles...

Almost a month with no updates... yup, it has not been a good two weeks...

Jun Yen and Jun Lee, in that order, got sore throats and the accompanying fever, cold and cough, also in that order. By now Jun Yen has pretty much recovered, but Jun Lee still has a cough.

To make matters worse, I came down with the same vicious brand of flu last Sunday, and was on medical on Monday. Tuesday was pretty much spent catching up on work, through a haze of Clarinase...

It's only today that I was feeling up to posting something.

CNY Lunch at Umai-Ya...

It has become a CNY custom to meet up with our friends for a "Lou Sang" session, but by the 6th day we were all a bit tired of pig's trotters, steamed fish, prawns, roast chicken etc all the traditional CNY goodies... So it was quite welcome when CK suggested Japanese food...

Our plan was to go to Umai-Ya at Uptown, which had been satisfactory on a previous visit, but as it was fully booked that day settled for the original outlet at Damansara Perdana.

First impressions weren't positive, with the whole building all looking a bit run-down. The restaurant itself wasn't bad, and the room we were given was quite nice and cosy.

To cap it all off, the food was okay, nothing spectacular, but certainly streets ahead of the usual Jap buffets and everything was passably fresh. The sole exception being the soft shell crab that our friends describe as "tasting funny", upon which I didn't take any, so thankfully I can't describe what that "funny" was...

Fortunately their impressive service looks to be holding strong still compared to our last visit a few years back.

Aren't we going all Japanese today...

Jun Yen with Mommy...

It was quite a hoot with our friends' babies around too. A lot of time was spent feeding them, and in CK's case, changing his baby (!!!). For us though it was mostly keeping them amused and feeding them tidbits...

7th and 8th Tooth...

Yeah, like I said before, wasn't gonna be long before the other one starts teething again...

We were at 1U last Saturday and while wifey was at a particular Japanese cosmetics counter, I kept our daughters amused. Evidently not easy...

While playing with Jun Yen, saw signs of 2 teeth on the lower jaw, flanking her two existing teeth... Haha, apparently I was the first to spot it, as neither wifey nor their Grandma knew...

Frontera Bar & Grill at Jaya One

It's been quite a while since anything food related came onto this blog. It doesn't mean I haven't been eating out, but definitely less than before the babies came along. Nowadays distance and baby-friendliness become great concerns in dining out.

Yesterday night was an exception as Mom offered to take care of JL & JY while we take a break.

Jaya One being a hitherto relatively unexplored place (I'd only been there once for a quick lunch at Wendy's) and being relatively nearby, it wasn't difficult to decide to check out what else they had to offer.

Brussels Beer Cafe was packed solid last night with some event going on. Looking around the rest of the outlets were fairly empty. But then it was a Thursday night, so maybe these places do most of their business during lunch and weekends.

To cut a long story short, settled on Frontera Bar & Grill as somehow Tex Mex food sounded very appetising yesterday, and also I was eager to try Tex Mex stuff outside of the ubiquitous Chili's/Fridays/Las Carretas types.

The place was quite sparsely decorated, but good enough, with small cacti on the tables and lots of red, green and white! They also had a pinata hanging around, very Mexican methinks...

Ordered the taquitos de pollo, beef enchilada, beef chimichanga, and the Horny (???) Margarita and a beer to wash it down.

Wifey's impression at the end of the dinner sort of captured the overall feel of the food. She mentioned that it all looked rather homemade, both in terms of presentation and taste. In this case I'd say it's more complimentary than otherwise.

Won't go into details (and no pics to boot) but suffice to say that it all tasted good, and portions were adequate. The meat in both the chimichanga and enchilada deserves special mention in that it was tender, flavorful and plentiful. The chimichanga was thankfully not swimming in some sauce, which makes the skin go soggy and unappetising.

The bill came to RM115, which is not exactly cheap, but right in line with other Tex Mex joints. Part of the blame has to go to the margarita which costs RM23, but you do get what you paid for as it's really strong! Don't let the size of the glass fool you...

Chinese New Year 2009... Pictures...

Okay, here they are...

Gong Xi! Gong Xi!

Hmm... I think your's looks nicer than mine...

Yay! Got angpow from Yeye and Grandma...

Angpows and Oranges!...

Mommy with Jun Lee and Jun Yen...

Chinese New Year mood...

Is it for us???...

Yay! Got angpow from Kongkong too...

These are the first pictures posted here courtesy of the Canon system. All were shot with the 450D, the 17-40L and the Nissin Di622. As of now though all bar the 450D are gone, replaced with the trusty Tamron 17-50 (which I also used on the Nikons) and the 430EX.

7th Tooth...

Past few days Jun Lee has been behaving quite cranky, not to mention pooing a lot, and erratically. Typically this would indicate she's teething again, and yesterday we were proven right.

After quite some time with 6 teeth (2 lower, 4 upper), we spotted a new tooth on the bottom left...

No sign yet on Jun Yen, but if past behaviour is anything to go by, it should be soon...

Chinese New Year... Year of the Ox...

Year of the Ox eh... Does that mean we get more grass???...

Okay lah... since it's Year of the Ox, here's a pic of our kerbau friends...

Taken by the side of the road from Teluk Intan to Bidor. Yeah, I know it's a lousy pic, but it was as close as I got before the Singh chased me off for disturbing his kerbaus... And with a 17-40 lens... never had a chance...

Anyway, I was musing earlier today (while stuck at the traffic lights...) how fast CNY seemed to go by this year. It is doubly odd as not only did it feel like it went by faster, but in reality it is probably the longest CNY break I have had for years...

I think the reason is mainly the babies... We are so preoccupied with taking care of them, playing with them, looking out for them, that before you know it a day has gone by. Weekends pass by in similar fashion.

In my bachelor days the CNY hols seemed to loom long ahead, and indeed there was many a day that was largely spent plopped in front of the telly with a container of cookies and a drink at the ready. There was so much time to meet up with friends, even in far off areas, time to play those computer games, and time to go indulge in CNY picture taking at the Thean Hou temple... And even time to drive down to the city and gawk at the near empty roads...

Now, its whoosh... huh, CNY's over???

Mind you, I'm not saying it's unpleasant. Far from it. I get to spend a lot of time and play with my babies. The journey back to wifey's hometown also seems so much better for it.

It's a different kind of happiness...

CNY 2009 Pics...

Coming VERY soon!!!

I've been shooting in RAW again with the Canon, and oddly enough, I found it a lot easier to work with than JPEGs, and have actually been going through them a lot quicker...

Proton Gen2 CPS long term review...

An updated review after 6 months...

It's proven to be a nice car to drive, with no problems at all that required warranty claims.

Just went through the second service (at 5,000kms) and the engine's well run-in by now. It as gotten a wee bit smoother (but that wasn't an issue to begin with) and has gotten more responsive with the extra miles on it.

The clutch take-up point as mentioned earlier ceased to be an issue as the bite has become more progressive, so my initial belief that it was due to the new-ness of the parts was valid.

As for the gearshift, it actually became even tighter over time to the point of being annoying and tiring to shift. But a simple gear oil change (to Castrol's Protector series) seemed to have magically transformed the gearbox into a smooth shifting creature. Excellent!

The throw between the gates of course is not about to change, but it's no deal-breaker.

So all in, a very satisfactory car to own, and to drive.

From my previous post on first impressions... (22/8/08)

Yes, a review of the still-very-rare Proton Gen2 CPS. It's actually my brother's, which he bought on my recommendation. I had wanted to get one for wifey, but she wanted a smaller car, so there...

Bro actually booked this way way back in May, and it's been a constant flurry of calls to chase the poor salesman until we got it in mid-August. Proton seems to be concentrating all their resources into the Saga and Persona, and despite that the overwhelming demand still ensures that you'll wait at least 3-4 months for those models. I've actually test-driven both and can safely say they are really good buys (don't go into the NAP and its effect on pricing of other cars...) Good job!

Anyway, back on topic, I picked up the car for bro as he was not used to a manual transmission, as I drove it back from Hartamas (a distance of about 15kms) these are my thoughts:

1. The clutch take-up point is relatively high, it doesn't bite until almost halfway up, but this is more something to get used to than a real fault. Besides, I think it could be adjusted.
2. Engine is impressively smooth, despite having less than 100kms on the clock. Insulation was on the whole very good too.
3. Low-end torque is decent, so no more complaints about the torque dip that plain-vanilla Campros had. Still not a lot of torque from under 3k rpms, but this is relative as I'm pitting it in my mind against the low-down-torque champs of Toyota and Peugeot. But then certainly nothing to complain about.
4. Gearshift is quite stiff and vague, in particular the gap between 1-3 and 2-4 being particularly close. This really annoyed me as I got caught in the rush-hour jam on Sprint. It should loosen up a bit so let's see if it improves over time.
5. The exhaust makes a lovely burbly sound at idle or low revs. Again this was evident when I was in the traffic jam. Might be endearing to some, and annoying to others, but I think it suits the car's character (and sporty placement) just fine.
6. The centre stack of buttons including the rear demister and foglamps are awful! This is the only real complaint I can level at the interior. Will go into detail for the interior later.

I'll put up a long term review later when I've gotten some miles with the car. I won't go into the specs and all because you can get them off the Proton Edar website.

From The Dark Side... To The Dark Side...

Here's to make clear I do not have a fixation with anything Star Wars...

After 9 years of being a Nikonian, I have finally moved from Nikon (known in certain photographic circles as the Dark Side) to Canon (also known in certain photographic circles as the Dark Side).

Confused? Apparently the term applies interchangeably depending on who you talk to... Reason Canon is known as such is due to their (previous) dominance in the digital photography world. And reason Nikon is known as such is because of the prominence of Canon's white L lenses (which makes Nikon with its predominantly black lenses the Dark side...)

To cut a long story short, I dumped the last vestiges of my Nikon system; the D60, Tamron 17-50mm and SB400 in early January. In place came the Canon 450D, Canon 17-40L lens and a Nissin Di622. It wasn't really a pain as most system changes go, as over the recent years I have been slowly selling off most of my Nikon stuff...

Why??? (amidst ugly looks from my Nikon-toting friends...) I chose to go Nikon in 1999 when I ventured into SLR photography due to their supposed ruggedness and superiority in lenses ie good and affordable. Canon seemed then to be very commercialised and it showed in their plasticky products. Also back then for whatever reason most Canon bodies bar the top ones didn't have spot metering.

Recently, the tables seemed to have turned, and Nikon is increasingly trying to milk consumers for all they're worth. (as evidenced by the D3X pricing fiasco...) Of late, Canon lenses on the whole are also cheaper than Nikon's. Witness the 17-55mm lenses of both camps. Nikon's is a f2.8 and costs the better part of 5 grand. Canon's is similar except for one crucial aspect; it comes with IS (Image Stabilizer) and you can actually get change from 4 grand. To add insult to injury, there are claims that the Nikon's optical quality is not as what its price tag suggests...

So far I've been pleased as punch with the 450D. Pictures are amazing, and I can shoot up to ISO1600 with little noise, which I had great difficulty with the Nikons (be they D60 or D80, apparently the D300 is a different story). The 3" LCD is also a nice touch, unlike the dreary Canon LCDs of yore.

Complaints? Mainly the size of the grip. I have to learn to hold it in a different way from the large-gripped Nikons. After a while I learnt to live with it...

Other minor issues are flash related. In aperture priority mode with external flash attached, it would go to crazy low shutter speeds ie 1/15, unlike Nikon which would default to at least 1/60. It can be set to default to a locked 1/200, but in some lighting conditions this would not let in enough light, and force the flash to fire at maximum, hence harsher shadows etc. Also Canon does not make a cheap tiny convenient flash like the SB400, forcing me to go to Nissin. Didn't want to spend too much on this as I don't really shoot flash that often... But as the Nissin offers really nice features ie tilt and rotate, built in diffuser and bounce card, can't complain aside from the size...

So from this day on, the pics you see on this site are very likely to be the product of the CMOS sensor and the DIGICIII processor...

Feeding Time 2...

Now Jun Yen knows how to lie down on top of her pillow for milk too! Only thing is Jun Lee can tuck her hankerchief under her neck on her own, not always spot on, but it's a start...