Sunday, November 30, 2008

Yeah! I Bought It Also!

I was on leave on 24 November. A check with the calendar, I must confirm the price of my desired toy – Casio Protrek trekking watch – before my runner friends go to Singapore for the Singapore International Marathon on 7 December. What has buying a watch got to do with running a marathon?

I went to the same shop selling watches in Pertama Complex where I have bought two watches before. It is a small shop lot but there are many watches inside. The moment I went in, a guy shop assistant came to attend to me. So I asked for model 110 – straight to the point.

After inspecting the watch, it was time for pricing. After he punched a few numbers in the calculator, he said RM 850. So I told him my friend (PK Chan) bought one in Singapore for SGD 260. And I punched a few numbers (for currency conversion) and that was RM 626. As you can see, it was almost RM 224 in price different.


After keenly negotiating price for a while, I beh ta han liau. I got excited and cannot wait to ask my runner friends to buy in Singapore. In the end, we agreed at RM 720. To justify that I am paying the extra money, I told him that even though it is more expansive in Kuala Lumpur, I would still prefer to buy here because of the warranty issue.
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Casio Protrek 110T (for titanium strap)
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Later, I realized that PK Chan's SGD 260 was for normal (rubberized strap) whereas I am taking the titanium strap, which should be RM 100 more expansive. So the price is almost the same as in Singapore, if not slightly cheaper. Imagine the watch shops in Mines and Sunway Pyramid shopping complex, the price is almost RM 1,000 for the watch with titanium strap.

Functions and feature of this watch: Digital compass, Altimeter (for measuring height), Barometer (for measuring atmospheric pressure to detect impending rain), Thermometer (for measuring coldness), and the standard feature of timekeeping (world time), stopwatch, countdown timer, daily alarms, etc.

The watch is big and round, almost covers my wrist. It looks very sophisticated and yow yeng (got style), and I shared the same excitement with PK Chan when he first bought the watch a few months ago. Some more, inscribe on it is ToughSolar, I see also I feel very tough when wearing it… :-)

The operating manual booklet is 2.5 cm thick. I think I need some time to understand the operation of the various features. At this moment, I do not have the time to read the operating manual yet. So, it is merely for timekeeping use – just like another digital watch.

A lady runner friend told me that the fashion nowadays is to wear things big. I am not sure whether that includes bra also. After understanding the fashion requirement, looks like I have got the right watch - big and complicating one.

Since not many people will see it in the jungle (other than the monkey may be), I better wear it around... err... to show off a bit. I shall wear it to office to impress my lunch kaki and office colleagues.

Anyway, the best story came from PK Chan that he wore it for running to measure the height of Double-Hill, and not his running speed… :-) PK said, “I found the highest point at the first hill was only 140 m (above sea level) whilst it measured 220 m at the 4-leg junction of the Bukit Kiara Jogging trail.” After returning from Annapurna Base Camp, obviously, we are comparing it with the altitude of 4,100
meters, and the next trekking trip to Everst Base Camp (5,500 meters). Click here or Click here for stories and photos of ABC.


Click here to read the previous stories on Casio Protrek Watch.

Written by KC Leong


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Part 4 - A1GP 2008 at Sepang

Dear Readers: If you are looking for the Penang Bridge Marathon reports in this KC&SR blogsite, just click here.
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The following five photos are by courtesy of Shukri who has been there at the Sepang F1 Circuit on 21, 22 and 23 November. He is a strong supporter of motor sports.
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Pay attention to the wheel. What do you see? The red band is actually the glow due to intense heat in the brake system arising from hard breaking when a driver is negotiating sharp corner.
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During braking, high-tech carbon-fibre discs glow red hot at operating temperatures of up to 1,300 degrees Celsius. They can slow a car from 180mph to 50mph in less than two seconds.
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Here is a magnified view to highlight the glow. Notice also that the wheel is blur due to motion, the wording is sharp (in focus). Thanks to Shukri for capturing the details.
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(press Shift key and) Click here to view 73 photos taken by yours truly (KC) at A1GP Sepang F1 Circuit on Sunday 23 November.
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(press Shift key and) click here to view part 3, part 2, part 1.
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Jason Lee and KC - notice the one-in-a-million chance that the sports car zoomed past and it is just behind Jason's head.
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The supporters
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The fans
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The Malaysian flag is actually being drawn on her face and she is sporting to pose for the camera. .

Time for refreshment break
. Personal Versatile Transporter (Pervert... okay, this is not a nice acronym coined by yours truly)
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Shoot them up !!! So the models or umbrella girls are the easy target ...
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Oh No! This car is having mechanical problem
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So the driver got down from the car and push... luckily, this is a very small car
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Composite Acitvities - The yellow flag (signal of danger) and the black-and-white chequered flag (end of race) are raised same time while workers trying to push away the stalled car when another car zoomed past.
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Posted by KC

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A1GP Sepang - Part3

(press Shift key and) Please click here to view 87 photos taken by yours truly (KC) in A1GP Sepang F1 Circuit on Saturday, 22 November 2008.
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Yours truly (KC) posing with a Lotus car bearing a similar initial
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The huge bazooka camera
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Having fun with the models and umbrella girls while the podium for champion was temporary occupied by a ladder. Why place a ladder there? In my opinion, the shape of the ladder resembles the letter "A" - A1GP.

Trouble brewing - This car just could not take the punishing condition ...
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The entire back portion of the grand stand is closed due to low turn-out (on Saturday).
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Another car that could not complete the race
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The Champions are flanked by the models and umbrella girls
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Wrong Size: Over-sized rider on a small-sized bike
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To be continued ...
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Posted by KC
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A1GP Sepang - Part 2

Arriving at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday 23 November, I was surprised to see a long queue of people at the entrance to F1 Circuit in Sepang. With a closer look, these are the spectators who are holding the free tickets sponsored by JobStreet.com. The good news: Jason Lee, Shukri, Mike and I are also holding the same free tickets; the bad news: looks like we have to join the queue and take a while to enter the gate. It is always exciting and inspiring to see the crowd, which was in stark contrast compared to the day before (Saturday).
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How many caps do you require? Sponsored by JobStreet.com, the sponsor is very generous in dishing out the caps and goodies.
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Yours truly (KC) dressed to the occasion in red
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Pretty model from TW Steel Watches
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Pretty models and sports cars - a sure-fire formula
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The adorable clowns are there too entertaining the crowds
. One umbrella girl for escorting one A1GP driver
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At 2pm, we saw the parading of A1GP drivers being chauffer driven in Lotus sports cars. I am sure that would be the slowest ride that the drivers would experience. When each driver alighted from the car, the audience gave a loud applause and warm cheer. The driver was then escorted away by an umbrella girl. When it was our Malaysian hero's turn, the entire audience roared in approval.
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The hope of Malaysian - Fairuz Fauzy
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All Malaysians who were watching that event were having high hope as our driver, Fairuz Fauzy was allocated at 4th position of the starting grid. With a little extra push and with the cheers from the supporting crowds, I am sure the 2nd runner-up postion would be within reach. That means Fairuz would be the first-ever podium finish for Malaysia in Sepang. History would be in the making for Malaysia.
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Support crew of Team Malaysia
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At 3 p.m. sharp, the featured A1GP race started and the roar of the machines was deafening. You have to be there to experience the intensity and the loudness of the machines.

Every time the Malaysian car zoom passed, the audiences clapped and cheered. After the third lap, Fairuz advanced to third position. That was really good news. But after a few laps, we saw Fairuz went for another pit stop. The moment he arrived at the garage, he was waved away.

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We sensed something was wrong. Later, we learned that there was radio interference from another team, who were calling in their driver, resulted in Malaysian team making an unnecessary third pit stop - resulting in a loss of some 40 seconds. He was pushed back to almost last position. Our hope was vanished.
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4 laps to go, 11th position for Team Malaysia.
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To be continued ...
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Posted by KC
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Monday, November 24, 2008

A1GP Sepang

Event: A1 Grand Prix
Date: 21, 22, 23 November 2008
Venue: Sepang F1 Circuit, Malaysia.

Team Malaysia

Team Malaysia is driven by Fairuz Fauzy

The beautiful models in A1GP Sepang Malaysia

On Saturday 22 Novemver, the Sepang F1 Circuit is almost empty for this mega event, which is not very encouraging.
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The macho guys don't need the umbrella (as in the umbrella girls)
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Quite a number of cars are partipating in the Saloon cars competition
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Keenly compete for positions
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The photographers - KC, Lia, Shukri.
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The MotoGP riders of tomorrow
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The sponsor of A1GP (together with PLUS, Jobstreets - a few of the major ones)
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Stay tuned for more photos... by KC
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