Lightning Trip to Johore And Singapore

Hmm last weekend...I went on a lightning trip down to JB. We travelled by road in my Bosses Benz a CLS 350 and damn was it fast... We left Sepang at about 11:30 and arrived somewhere around 13:45 at the hotel Lobby in JB. Average speed was about 190Km/h...(no kidding) and even at that speed it was smooth with no vibrations.

Well enough about the car, lets talk about JB. Coming to JB reminds of the good old days when I use to come here and hang over at my best friends house...A lot has changed since the last 10 years...new highways, Iskandar city among the most recent is the new JB Central Station built over the existing Railyway Station, even JB City Square is undergoing renovations.

Thankfully even after 10 years, one place hasn't changed much and that is...Holiday Plaza. Holiday Plaza is like the small version of SG wang. Here is where you can get Watches, Electronics, gaming and even the *ehem-ehem DVD's which have now evolved to Bluray Discs. Prices are damn good. My colleague grabbed a bunch of movies, and I got me some BD's and.... also walked out with a very nice timepiece for my self....hehe (as if I didn't have enough watches already). I'll do another write up on the watch later...

Coming out of the Plaza with our loot we headed back to the Grand Paragon Hotel (nice place). The evenings were spent hanging out with some acquaintances of my boss, having dinner (thai seafood) hanging out until the wee hours at the hotel club (at the highest floor of the hotel). The club was OK with live bands, pool tables and a nice view of JB.

Tomorrow was the meeting with CAE(a flight simulator developer) reps at Raffles Marina in Singapore.

All in all, it was a nice to go on these trips for meetings, it gives me a chance to meet up with some influential people of the aviation industry from other regions (namely Indonesia & Singapore) and learn a few things (tricks of the trade) related to the aviation.

Anyways at the end of it all it feels great to come home to a loving family after a tiring trip.

An affair with watches...my swatch watch craze...

As a child of the 80s (Gen-X) The Swatch craze came to Malaysia at the right time for me as I was in my teens and Digital watches were thought as watches for kids (time to grow up and read analogue watch dials haha). Swatches were (and still is) the "IN" thing back then with its funky design and other features like "alarm", "music" "one-button chrono" etc...

Having said that, I kind of ignored the earlier swatches as the plastic design did not inspire confidence and thus My very first swatch was a swatch scuba which had a 200m water resist value.

My very first Swatch Scuba Loomi 1995-1997

Soon after the Swatch "Irony" series made its debut and I was sold. I had to get one. I got one with a "Loomi" kinda like indiglo night light feature.

Swatch Irony Loomi 1998-1999

The night light didn't last very long and after sending it back to Swatch (at Lot 10) they replaced it with another model loomi too (I didnt mind coz I got a newer watch)

The next swatch that I had was a swatch irony blue chess which originally had a rubber strap but changed it to a bangle aluminium type. The watch is sold (but i still kept the strap)

Swatch irony "Blue Chess"

I tend to love chrono watches (the ones with stop watch) as I actually use them for timing my lecture durations and timing my bike rides. Hence the purchase of a swatch Irony Chrono. The Irony chrono series have a bigger diameter than the normal irony so its more "manly". Now if you are thinking of getting a swatch irony chrono be careful as Swatch has a few models which are actually mostly plastic body side for an aluminium bezel.

Swatch Irony Chrono "Casually Inspired"

Last and my most current swatch would be the swatch Irony "Body & Soul". This a Swatch Irony Automatic series. Its a "skeleton" design so you can see all the gears and cranks and see how it moves. This is actually my very first automatic watch and being an automatic it needs no batteries. Yayy!!! (now I really appreciate the watchmaker). As an automatic watch, the swatch is of fine swiss quality, 21 jewels, has a manual wind feature, 40 hour power reserve and even a power reserve indicator (from looking at the coil of the mainspring). Classy and elegant, shame that the diameter is a bit small.

Swatch Irony Automatic "Body & Soul"

Some of these swatch watches are either lost or sold but I have never stopped being a fan of swatches. I have made it a point to own at least one swatch watch as I find that they are nicely built, fresh design and last quite awhile. Heck Swatch Ironys made "unibody" design watches even before steve jobs used them of his Macbooks. I also love the fact that swatch straps are user replacable and interchangable

Ever had a relationship with a swatch? Do you know what the "nickname" of your swatch is?

CLICK HERE to find your swatch.

Quarantined...

Only just a few weeks ago I was hit hard by one of my worst enemy..... Mr. Gout and this time he really hit me hard. His last attack was about 2 years ago (I have been watching my diet since). This time it hit my ankle so as a person I couldn't put any pressure or weight on it thus making me utterly unable to walk. Even lying down was not easy as I had to find that one minute position that didn't spell H.U.R.T.

Now one week has passed and just as I am recovering from Mr. Gout. My son, my daughter and now finally me has contracted the HFM disease. Now wait a minute, isn't Hand Foot and Mouth usually found on infants and kids??? Aren't you a little old to be getting it? Well thats true, but according to my history and well protected childhood :P It seems that I have never contracted it when I was small so here I am today... a Dad in his 30's with the HFM virus throwing a party in his body.

So just to share, what does HFM do to your body? ( if you're a dad in your 30's). Before you actually get any form of conformation of getting HFM you would get a mild fever that will last about 1 day or 2 mights (its just your body sounding the alarm that somethings is wrong). next you'll start to get spots or rashes on top of your hands. Finally when you know for sure that its HFM, you'll feel that your mouth will feel like you have just woken up( but throughout the whole day), mouth ulsers and blisters on your feet and palm of your hands.

It starts with the rash like bumps...

As my darling wifey read up, apparently I have it worse than my kids since they got it from 'the source' and I got it from them.

....and then blisters on your feet.

Now getting 2 sorts of illness within 2 weeks, I just can't help thinking and feel worried. among the things that are going through my mind right now is...

* Some how I have to boost my imune system
* I have to drink lots of plain water ( I guess I grew up not drinking anything without 'flavor' haha)
* I am a little worried about my credibility as being sick and unwell for 2 weeks with 2 different cases, well the probrability is not high but I guess no one wants to be sick.
* I have considered to come to classes and give lectures despite having HFM. (was thinking of wearing a mask and gloves haha) But I dont think I would want to pass this virus to any of my students at the college.

so here I am at home, me, my son, and my daughter... Quarantined