Aaron Kwok is back singing

At 41, Aaron is back with a new album. Used to my idol, as you can see from my past performance. Too bad, I'm not as good looking...if not....

The Amazing Passion of Schumacher for Racing

Even his car was on fire, he's still calm, collected and 100% committed. Hard to forget Austria GP 2003 where Michael was comfortably leading the race till his last pit stop when his car caught fire. He still went on to win the race and ultimately the championship in the slightly less spectacular F2003-GA. He made it work.

Happy and Sad Day for Formula 1

It's been 10 years since I've started following Formula 1 in 1996. It's been 10 years since Michael Schumacher switched from Benetton to Ferrari after winning his 2nd Drivers' Championship. No coincidence for sure. Too young to really understand the meaning of the word controversy and sportmanship, I admired Schumacher and Ferrari tremendously and had not stopped doing so. It's so sad that he is retiring but I'm glad that he's retiring at the top of his game, especially if you've seen his final race in Brazil. Even when things were going against him, a failed fuel system in qualifying, a puncture in early part of the race, he still fought back to finish 4th. Would someone who is retiring do that? It's just so amazing!

But F1 is in good hands. Alonso's career path is so Schumacher-like, it's really scary. Also coming off his 2nd World Championship with Renault (who was Bennetton), he's moving to Mclaren (which is in backward slide, just like Ferrari in 96). But can he do the Schumacher there, to build a team around him and pulverise opponents for the next 10 years? Hard to tell but it is highly unlikely...

... cause Ferrari is still strong and I just cant wait for next season to start already. With Kimi Raikkonen (I believe this guy is in almost everyone's list of favourite drivers) joining the ever-improving Felipe Massa, the future boads well for the Scuderia. With Schumacher hopefully staying around in an advisory role, it's gonna be fantastic. And for people who dont have the chance to watch itv, here's a tidbit information which will crack you up: before the start of the race, Pele came down to the grid to gave Schummi a special trophy to commemorate his retirement. Martin Brundle, itv's f1 commentator was as usual going around interviewing people on the grid. When he approached Kimi and asked why was he not at the ceremony, Kimi actually cheekily explained to Brundle that he had to go for a shit!!!!!! (I'm not kidding!) The fella was grinning happily, being honest on international tv:)) Who say the Iceman has no sense of humour:P And we learn a bit more about what F1 drivers do before a race as well;)

Maybe, Ross Brawn, going into sabbatical is training Schumi to be a pit-stop tactician/strategist like he is. Not surprised if he does cause Schumacher can not only drive fast, he is also pretty smart, tactically and mechanically as well, I believe. So, have we seen the last of Schummi? As a racer, maybe. But we just have to wait and see. Really cant wait..I just cant wait!

Selamat Hari Raya

To All my Malaysian friends, Selamat Hari Raya and Berholiday:) Eat more ketupats and rendang for me!



Selamat Hari Raya

Selamat Hari Raya
Kepada saudara serta saudari
Setahun hanya sekali
Merayakan hari yang mulia ini

Di masa bulan Ramdan
Kita berpuasa hingga sebulan
Pabila Syawal menjelma
Hari raya disambut dengan gembira

Miskin kaya memakai baju baru warna-warni
Mengunjungi sanak-saudara kaum famili
Sungguh hebat pemandangan di hari raya ini
Tua muda wajah berseri-seri

Marilah bergembira
Bersama menikmati hari raya
Mintak mak kuih sepotong
Saya mahu makan kerna perut kosong

Maafkanlah jika ada terlanjur perkataan
Diharap supaya jangan disimpan
Kuberdoa selamat panjang umur murah rezeki
Semoga Tuhan akan memberkati

Selamat hari raya
Hari untuk kita bersuka ria
Selamat kami ucapkan
Untuk kita hingga sampai tahun depan

Selamat hari raya

Work Work

It's inevitable isnt it? Yup, the drawback of going back to studies is the notion of assigments and exams:P Thank God I only have 4 subjects but each of them have assignments aready:)
Studying Applied Databases, Distributed Systems, Java Programming and a Research Review course.

Research Review's pretty cool. Based on my area of interest, I get to do a paper on a subject matter, requiring me to go through journals and stuff. I'm specialising in Databases and so my supervisor has given me a topic on Web Services. Should be fun since one of the topic is to review 2 web services offering. Planning to talk about Google Maps and Youtube:P


Thanks to Farul, I will still get my healthy dosage of wholesome American TV programs such as Lost and Desperate Housewives:P So it aint too bad:)

Arthur's Seat

Been in Edinburgh for 2 weeks plus. Thanks to Shawn, I've been up Arthur's Seat twice within that short period:) You can read his adventure here. Hehehe. Of course, me being me, the two times I went up, I chose to do it the hard way:P First time went up was during my 2nd day in Edinburgh. Did it while still recovering from my journey to Edinburgh. Had a good sleep after reaching the top though.

2nd time, went up alone 2nd week into Edinburgh. Did it when it was raining and pretty windy. Also took the wrong way up. Went up through the medium difficulty path. Met some kind fellow trekkers and went up together. Had some whisky and a pint of beer with them after that. Pretty cool.
Holyrod Park (the area where Arthur's Seat is located) has a very nice field where people can just sit down and relax. Gurmit Singh (Phua Chu Kang) would love this place since he mentioned in an interview before that his ultimate contentment would be just sit below a tree in a big field with his wife sleeping at his lap or something of that short.

Pretty lake at Holyrod.

The enjoyable trek up Arthur's Seat:
Trying to be artistic photographer

Even the view along the way is fantastic

Finally reached the top.

The view is worth every effort:) It's a bit foggy but still looked great!
Edinburgh Castle from Arthur's Seat

2nd time around, met Gavin, Noelia and Carol. Carol is a local Scots lady. Gavin works with British Airways in London and Noelia is from Peru.

Me and Gavin struggling to keep up with the ladies:)) Noelia's homeland Peru's landscape is like this. Carol has been climbing Arthur's Seat since ages ago.

Gavin, Carol and me

Gavin, Noelia and Carol. We had whisky and beer to warm us up after the cold wind and rain outside.

Gonna continue go up pretty often:) Nice la. Just hope the weather will allow me to do so:))

Remember Dreams Come True

Leann Rimes - Remember When

Disneyland 50th Anniversary Special

Do you still remember when you dreamed and wished you could go to Disneyland? I seemed to have forgotten that dream.

Ladyman, You The Man!

I'm sure all motoring fans know about Richard Hammond (Hamster)'s horrific crash while attempting to set the land speed record. Naturally, all the Greenpeace and anti-Top Gear wimps have come out bashing the show, saying it's dangerous and environmentally unfriendly. Apparently, Stephen Ladyman, UK's Road Safety Minister has come out defending the series, expressing his regret at the actions of these idiots. Now, that's a cool Transport Minister. Of course, he appeared on Top Gear before and drove the Suzuki Liana in the Star In a Reasonably Priced Car segment. He also drives a red Alfa Romeo:))

On a separate note, I've actually sent the following get-well-soon message to Richard but Top Gear didnt dare to publish it:P

"Hamster,

Please get well soon as Top Gear wouldnt be Top Gear without you. It'll just be 2 old farts trying to act young talking about cars too fast for them. Seriously, you've done a great job and hope you'll be up and running soon."

Dr Ross Anderson

Another post for geeks. Hehehe. Just attended a talk by a guest lecturer, Dr Ross Anderson from Cambridge University. Very cool guy. Why? Cause there's actually an entry on him in wikipedia. Dr Ross is an expert on all things security and as seen from his webpage, he's done some very very cool research. He even puts his whole book online free for download. He came to share on two of his most interesting research areas.


The first one was titled "Programming Satan's Computer". Satan's Computer was a term he coined with Roger Needham in expressing the difficulty in coming out with cryptographic protocols. He shared a lot of his previous experience in helping banks come out with better ATM security systems. He also shared his dislike for Microsoft and their "treacherous computing" idea:P

2nd topic was on Economics of Security. It's basically applying economic reasonings rather than tehcnical ones on why security systems sometimes fail and why do certain people do certain things and caused havocs in computing environments. One interesting topic was on incentives in finding bugs in software. He gave a rather funny example to illustrate this point. Supposed, the National Security Agency (NSA) finds a bug in Windows. Would they inform Microsoft to patch it? If they do, they will protect about 300million Americans. But if they don't, they can spy on 400million Europeans, 1billion Chinese and a couple of Middle-Easterns. So the rationale in security is more often than not, driven by economic and sociology motivations. Hence, his research together with a few economists is to analyze the trend in security systems via an economic perspective.

I have no plans to specialize in security but it's still so interesting. Will be doing mostly databases and data management stuff. That should be fun as well since database research is pretty strong in Edinburgh University. Will also find time attend all these ad-hoc guest lectures. Lots of new and interesting ideas to glean from:)

Publishing Your iCal Calendars on Google Calendar

Found this ingenious method of getting iCal calendars on Google Calendar. Why would someone wanna do that? The geek factor I guess:) In the process I've also accidentally published my calendar on iCalExchange. Here are my personal calendar and my studies calendar. Doubt anyone would wanna know but just in case:)

The Pride and Joy of Malaysian Automotive Industry

Well, well, of all things seen in Edinburgh, this has to be quite memorable. Seeing my country's own national car. Known as Proton Wira in Malaysia, it was "technology-transferred" from Mitsubishi Lancer in 1993. Still in production 13 years later and sold in various guises by Proton locallly. In UK, it's apparently known as Proton Persona and also used by the Dominoes delivery guy near my living place:P

Corruption in EPL

Just saw a very shocking program called Panaroma on BBC. They just did an undercover job to reveal the depth of corruptions amongst the player agents and club managers. Many names (very big ones I imagine) were withheld due to lack of evidence. However, 3 stories were shown as they had video and audio recordings:

1. Bolton's manager Sam Allardyce had taken money directly or via his son, Craig (an agent for players as well) from agents during player tranfers to and from Bolton

2. Liverpool and Chelsea's Youth Academy blatantly tried to tap Middlesbrough's young player Nathan Porrit when he was offered like farmyard sale by his agent, Peter Harrison. If you dont know what tapping means, just search these terms in google: Ashley Cole Chelsea tapping:P

3. Harry Redknapp, manager of Portsmouth tried to tap Blackburn's Andy Todd when he was offered by the same agent again, Peter Harrison. Harry's assistant Kevin Bond also called the undercover journalist to express their (Harry and Kevin) interest in getting their "palms greased" when there's a transfer deal in the future.

Shocking indeed but not surprising since so much money is being passed around in EPL. What a sad day for football

100 Sexiest Cars

Top Gear just came out with a list of the 100 Sexiest Cars. I love it so much I went through the whole list and these are some of my own favourites. Really hard to choose:P The top comment for each car is mine. The photos and car descriptions are all blatantly copied from Top Gear:

The muscular no-nonsense looks just grabs you by the throat

Aston Martin V8 Vantage
You'll be wanting the Series 3 with 430bhp 'X-pack' Works Service V8 then, sir. It's like driving a supercharged tractor, but cool as dry ice.

Weird choice I know but the space-ship shape is rather cute and sexy:

Citroen DS: the car that Citroen still trades on 30 years later...
Enough has been said about the DS over the years that if you don't know about it, then you've been living in a hole. The reason? Well, it was absolutely, without a doubt, one of the sexiest cars ever built.
It looked like a spaceship that had been ram-raided by a luxury speedboat. It contained technology that was so far ahead of its time that William Woollard may have regarded it as witchcraft, and had the canny knack of making every woman driving it look like a French screen actress just back from the Riviera.
How many other cars have self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension that have saved French presidents from assassination? Witness De Gaulle's escape from the baddies in 1962 thanks to the fact that a DS could still drive even when miscreants had shot out the tyres.
In the 1950s this was a car with a hydraulically-assisted shift and clutch. It was a car that combined style and forward-thinking not re-created until Apple got jiggy with personal music players. As with everything, though, there's a DS sexual-chemistry hierarchy. You need, and this is non-negotiable, a 1954 DS Convertible in white. Mmmm.

The first F1 car with aerodynamics parts and nice sponsor colors. Btw, the word "fag" below means cigratte not erm faggots:P

Lotus F1 Type 72: the ads get sexy
The debate goes on: is it who's at the wheel, what a car has achieved or something entirely different that provokes an often inexplicable sense of hormone-fed awe in onlookers? In the Lotus Type 72's case, it isn't so much that it won 20 Grands Prix, three constructors' championships and two drivers' titles, but, that, for a generation, it represented the finest car you could possibly wish to place on a Scalextric track.
And as a symbol of a defiantly un-PC decade - one viewed via a can of Watneys Party Seven and the eye-stinging haze of a splosh of Old Spice - it's also a contender for the finest race car livery of all time, courtesy of a fag sponsor.

Mclaren SLR is just such an amazing car. It has rear spoilers that comes out to help the car brake faster:

Mercedes SLR McLaren
The SLR is sexy because it sounds like a WW2 fighter. Our only caveat is it must be in black.

The Ferrari 599 just looks stunning and it has almost Enzo-like performances as well.

Ferrari 599 GTB
The Ferrari 599 is so unutterably cool because it just gets more and more attractive the longer you spend with it. This isn't an instant addiction car, it's one that hooks you in deeply when you have spent some decent miles in the driver's seat.
You don't fancy it, or lust after it. But you might just fall in love with it. And that, my friends, is outrageously sexy.

The Ford GT just has such presence although Jeremy Clarkson owns one and he's been complaining about it since he got his, which incidentally was 1 year late in delivery:))

Ford GT: rebirthing gene pool
A 5.4-litre supercharged V8 with 550bhp through the rears, retro styling and the coolest use of stripes since the Viper. The GT is sexy. Except for the fact that Jeremy Clarkson owns one. Oh dear...

If one cannot afford a Ferrari, then one should get a Lambo instead (<-- this statement does not make sense)

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder: if ever there was a time to lose your head...
The car that made a Lambo a temptation over the equivalent Ferrari eventually lost its head a couple of years after the Coupe first snarled and spat its way into the collective imagination.
Powered by the same 520bhp, V10 engine, the Gallardo Spyder can mince your hairdo at 190mph with the roof down, but better than that, it comes in the kind of colour pallet that takes it from just impressive to downright outrageous.
There is nothing sexier than a powder-blue Lamborghini drop-head anywhere near a beach.

Very futuristic and yet retro looking concept car. No wonder it's sexy

Alfa 8C Competizione: retro never looked so modern
You can sense shades of inspiration for the stunning 8C in the Tipo 33 next door. A car so beautiful they gave it a cool-as-heck name. The '8C' refers to the early 8-cyl powered cars and the 'Competizione' bit is a homage to the 1950s 6C 2500 Competizione that Fangio used to drive.

I have to agree with the Top Gear writers about this animated porsche. If Porsches are alive, they should be like this, very disconcerting:P

Sally Carrera: it's all in the voice, dear
This is ridiculous. How can a cartoon car make it into the top 10? Well, just listen to Sally the 911 Carrera and you'll see. Voiced by Bonnie Hunt in Pixar's movie Cars, Sally Carrera is the love interest for Lightning McQueen - the story's hero.
Quite apart from the fact that Sally sounds like what you imagine a 911 might in your weirdest fantasy, she also has some rather interesting pinstriping which would suggest intimate tattoos.

I put this C6 in because the description says very very nice things about intelligent people being sexy:P

Citroen C6: smooth and intelligent beats macho grunt
A well-turned ankle or washboard stomach is one thing, but nothing pumps the handle of love's well like brains. Einstein had several mistresses, and many women admitted to being slightly smitten with Robin Cook when he was in office.
He was a thin bloke with a beard, but he was clever, and that sent Peter Snow's sex swingometer straight into the red. And all blokes get a bit hot for Carol Vorderman - not just because she's good-looking, but because she can add up. And this is before we get onto librarians in owlish glasses. The C6 is a brainy car for brainy people, a pleasant antidote to everything sporty and cardiovascular. It's handsome, certainly, but it's the strong silent type.
A ride in a C6 is an intelligent and sensitive form of seduction. It lowers your resistance imperceptibly, like a pre-coital massage. It's a car for anyone who was turned off by the old Bullworker ad. The C6 simply wouldn't kick sand in anyone's face, it would rather disarm you with a timely quotation from Roland Barthes.

Who says 4-door saloons cant be sexy, especially if it's a Maserati

Maserati Quattroporte: Ferrari in an overcoat
Maserati has always maintained a romance about the name despite some shockingly poor cars, but once in a while it manages something really special.
Yes, the Duo-Select paddle operated gearbox might not work in fully automatic mode, but the Quattroporte is simply one of the most evocative four-door saloons anywhere in the world.
A Ferrari-sourced 4.2-litre V8 howls down the screams from the back seats as you make a large Italian four-seater flick through the twisties like one of its more exotic Cavallino cousins. And it seduces your eyes away from your brain. We love it.

One word says it all: Bond.

Aston Martin DB5
Even discounting its 'Bond, James Bond' connotations, the DB5 is a seriously sexy car. It's an Aston for pity's sake. Hell, it's THE Aston, and it's our number one Brit.

No 1 takes a while to understand but you'll get it after a while. We've always associate car sexiness with sleek low-profile sports cars but there are like so so many of those that they've become sort of common. The Fiat Cinqueciento is a rather smart and sexy choice. Of course, LC made a good point about the old Beetle and old Mini being better choice. But unfortunately, those 2 have newer modern versions that look like the old. That's not sexy:P

Fiat Cinqueciento
And, yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. A car that embodies the essence of sexiness; a car that drips desirability from its every curve. Yes, it's Italian. Yes, it's a classic. And yes, we want one. Each.

Churchill House @ Richmond Place

This will be my home for the next 1 year. The names alone bring such a sense of Englishness already:)) Richmond Place is a very quiet residential street with my hostel being a section, the rest are flats and houses.

Dont misunderstand, this isnt Churchill House (I wish) but one of flats opposite Churchill House. Nice brick design and all, very English. If you noticed that in the first picture, you can see some hills. They're missing in 2nd pic due to foggy weather.

Pass through an arch and you come into Churchill House:

The entrance is in the 2nd pic. Rather dull looking I know but it's very comfortable as you will see.

The ground lobby has a foosball table, some sofas, our individual mailboxes and some vending machines selling sweets, chocolates and soft drinks.

Take a lift up to 6th floor and you'll pass by some corridors to get to my room. Very hotelish. Well, the word hostel is like the word hotel but with an "s" in the middle:P

Left corridor of my room

Right corridor of my room. Ya I know, exactly the same


This was my room's original arrangement. After seeing some corridor-mates redecorating their room, I decided to have a go myself. Gave myself a lot more room to practice putting during winter as you can see:


Each room's gets its own en-suite bathroom

The kitchen is shared with about 10 people sharing one. Quite nice. Has sofa, TV, dining table and the usual cooking-ware.

My kitchen apparently has the best window view:)

My microwave meal: 8-minute microwave instant lamb chop with peas, carrots and potatoes. It's £2 only:)