Field Day?

Finally, the wait is almost over.

We can almost step into our new house very proudly, and with the keys..

Now to think about, yes, the kitchen cabinet. And then the grills and metalwork.

Then, the rest.

Yes, kitchen cabinets are THAT IMPORTANT... with a capital T and I.

Aspiring

I do feel jealous sometimes.

My office mates have their own laptops, and are blissfully surfing the Wi-Fi airwaves available just about anywhere.

I feel so left out.

In fact I am so jealous I am thinking of my Citibank credit card, and whether I should swipe it at the Acer branch opposite my Air Kelantan site for the brand new Acer Aspire One netbook.

Lucky I did not bring THAT credit card. It's all lust... hedonism... heck...

Lifeblood Of Evil

My colleague just told me about what happened in America.

It seems inevitable that something disastrous is about to happen.

The Lehman Brothers predicament suddenly made me realized, something must be done to my Citibank balance.

Coincidentally UOB did offer a balance transfer a week ago. Might do just that sometimes this week.

News To Me

Today, did a few errands I ought to continue from last night's auto-insurance shopping.

One of it was renewing my road-tax sticker.

I arrived just in time to Carrefour Wangsa Maju's Post Office. In a few minutes, it opened, with me getting the queue number 35.

So I will not wait. I'd rather not. Off I go loitering. Actually I meant to say going for a survey.

Handphone.

It's the nearest visible thing to the Post Office. Most of the stalls are just opened as well.

After asking three shops, I got what I regard as a low price for this basic handphone I have in mind since early this year, the Nokia 1200, at 110RM. Others I saw displayed the higher prices of 119, 129, and one even showed 147!

The 1200 seems enough for a person who only look for the practical side of things. Although I admit I do dream of the Communicator series every once in a while.

Looking at it, yes. But buying it, not yet.

Renewing the road-tax sticker this year means getting some extra. So in anticipation that things might not be what it seems later on, I renewed somewhat early. Mine expires late this month, though.

Straightaway after renewing and getting the rebate money, I went to the handphone shop first. So the first thing I did with the 625RM, is buying the handphone.

In fact, this is my first new purchase after four years since my last new buy of the Nokia 3120 (which I gave to my brother-in-law) way back in April 2004!

What else I did? Walking downhill from Carrefour, I felt like entering into Proton Parts Shoppe conveniently situated nearby my company, just having a look. There, I got me some massive while otherwise painful advice regarding some question about Proton that has been lingering since long ago. Among it, was about:

• Link Arm (aka Dog Bone)
• Camber Screw (the myth)
• Timing Belt
• Alignment (blues)

I don't feel like writing about this yet. I will set aside a day for that, hopefully.

Tiring it is, walking 500 meters to Carrefour, but it pays handsomely.

Small Time Indeed...

I have devised a small plan to pay up my ever increasing credit card bills.

And it will involve a duration of 5 months.

I hope I will get my small-time financial freedom just before Raya Fitrah commences.

I HOPE!

800 Optimistic Kilometers

2pm.

The party's over. Obviously, I will have to head back home now.

I felt I just had to drive slowly this time.

It takes great patience to drive like this. 70kph all the way, with the occasional 60kph, and the even rarer 80kph.

I don't know whether the cars at the back was as patient as me. I don't quite care though. They can overtake the slow me anytime.

And why? I know you would ask.

It's the glorious feeling when you save fuel is why.

I have done 750km on an Iswara 1.3 with full tank of petrol. And around 700km with my wife's Wira.

I targeted 800km with the current driving behavior.

If I achieve that, I will target 850km next. On a full tank of petrol, calculated at around 40 to 45 liters consumption.

Next year will be nightmare coming true. I must prepare myself.

I look forward...

... to the day I get to drive again.

I miss the sights, I miss the timeliness, I miss the freedom.

I miss the loud row the carburettor makes when the 'VTEC' kicks in.

And I miss the wind messing with my hair.

But now, priorities are priorities.

News Item

Monday, 8.34pm. Danau Point, Precinct 16.

Payday. Finally.

What a relief.

End of news.

Now for some shopping. As a lone ranger.

I think I'm liking this.

I know my love is anxious for some trolley action, but I think home is where she should be now.

And I'm sort of getting the hang of it too.

No problem.

Tat taa..

Against The Wave

Some people hated The Star for having all the excessive advertisements in it.

On the contrary, I am loving The Star for just the same reason.

It seems so worth the money I paid. What's 1.20rm for so much advert, compared to Motortrader which has lesser cars advertised.

You have adverts on mobile phones, cameras, jumble sales, even pictures of pretty girls showing their "aftermath slim bodies" too.

What more could you ask?

And with the major price hike on lots of things, you must make sure your money gets well spent.

But still, I only buy it when instinct tells me to.

Hmmm...

Investment Considerations

If I won One Million Ringgit, I would invest in :-

• A fixed-deposit account. Budget = 200k
• A 1-acre residential land in Selangor. Budget = 250k
• A 6-bedroom bungalow on that residential land. Budget = 150k
• A fuel-efficient mid-sized saloon car. Budget = 100k
• A 100 horsepower Mini. Budget = 20k
• A high-specification PC. Budget = 9k
• A jazz-inspired drum set. Budget = 3k
• An electric bass. Budget = 3k

Total = 735k
Balance = 265k


If I won 500 Thousand Ringgit, I would invest in :-

• A fixed-deposit account. Budget = 100k
• A 6000 square-foot residential land in Selangor. Budget = 80k
• A 4-bedroom bungalow on that residential land. Budget = 100k
• A fuel-efficient mid-sized saloon car. Budget = 70k
• A 80 horsepower Mini. Budget = 10k
• A medium-specification PC. Budget = 6k
• An medium-sized rock drum set. Budget = 2k
• An electric bass. Budget = 1k

Total = 369k
Balance = 131k


If I won 250 Thousand Ringgit, I would invest in :-

• A Tabung Haji account. Budget = 50k
• A 4-bedroom terrace house in Selangor. Budget = 100k
• A fuel-efficient small sized saloon car. Budget = 45k
• A 45 horsepower Mini. Budget = 7k
• A small PC. Budget = 2k
• A simple-sized drum set. Budget = 2k

Total = 206k
Balance = 44k


If I won 100 Thousand Ringgit, I would invest in :-

• A Tabung Haji account. Budget = 25k
• A second-hand fuel-efficient small sized car. Budget = 20k
• A second-hand 150cc to 250cc motorbike. Budget = 8k
• A repairment spree for car and motorbike. Budget = 10k
• A motorbike license package. Budget = 0.5k
• A small PC. Budget = 1k
• A used simple-sized drum set. Budget = 1.5k

Total = 66k
Balance = 34k


If I won 10 Thousand Ringgit, I would invest in :-

• A savings bank account. Budget = 6k
• A used small PC. Budget = 1k
• A used simple-sized drum set. Budget = 1k

Total = 8k
Balance = 2k


If I won 1 Thousand Ringgit, I would invest in :-

• A seasoned bare PC. Budget = 0.5k
• A beat-up simple-sized drum set. Budget = 0.5k

Total = 1k
Balance = 0k

In conclusion, I cannot get away from my PC and my drum set!


PS: What else to do with all the balances, anyone?

Changing My Lifestyle

I really miss driving my Mini over long distance. It feels inadequate living without doing some endurance driving. But I guess life has to go on.

Anyway I have changed my style of life.

I stopped driving long distance and unnecessary short distances.

I ate 1 dollar breakfast for lunch, and brought my own breakfast material to work.

I use public transport all the time, especially for sightseeing and Friday prayers.

I seldom do shopping for myself anymore.

I saved all my claims instead of spending them.

I read free newspaper all the time, and reads past papers.

I stopped watching cinematic and satellite movies.

I prefer eating halfs rather than full lunches on some fine days.

I give extra thoughts when eating out.

I think of wholesale wet market all the time.

I spend as less time as possible to idle our car engine, and I dread thinking of starting my Mini.

I'd rather walk to Alamanda and the community center.

I treat the public transportation as my third home, after my true home, and office, and treat
shopping stopovers such as KL Sentral as a true window shopping haven.

I make full use of my 5-hour plus total travel time to find solace by doing some light reading, doing some sleeping, listening to my type of music, doing some thinking, and doing photography on anything I deem panoramic, sexy or beautiful.

Give A Child Coins...

... and everything becomes a piggy bank!

Muzaffar knows the fact that coins are not meant for the mouth. And so does other "tidbits" found around the house. Circular marbles, bits of papers, dry leaves, etc included.

Anyways, he likes to play with coins, and he have a milkbottle-shaped piggy bank at his disposal. So he can usually be seen inserting the coins one by one into the slot.

But sometimes, he strays away from doing that, and inserting the coins elsewhere instead. The book rack, the refrigerator, the sink, and under the carpet, even under the sofa cushion.

I think he wants to play find-the-missing-coins with us.

By the way, we finally bought him a single-bed today. Hopefully he had a good night's sleep on it, from tonight onwards.

Caught In A Mosh

I intend to attend the demonstration to protest the petrol price increment at KLCC today.

I felt like using my trusty FZ5 to capture the crowd. Even better, the police presence as well.

Let's hope nothing ugly happens there.

By the way, I am doing just fine with public transportation. Nothing untoward happens yet in the morning (read: being late for work), and I even managed to arrive home on time (read: managed to do my dusk prayer).

I guess I feel more relaxed now that I do not worry about pressing the stiffly clutch, or filling up the expensive petrol, or others anymore.

HMS Resolution

This is my resolution for the Gregorian New Year. I might add one or two more come Hijri New Year, who knows?

To finally have some form of saving in my bank account.
To finally have a clean and uncluttered office partition.
To delve in photography.
To take good care and provide better education to Muzaffar.

PS: 5 days too late to resolute.

Tips On Fuel Economy

anybody out there with car and wants to improve on their fuel economy, here's a tip, for manual tranny cars.

For manual cars, you need a light foot, knows when to change gears, and make your car light and always maintain the engine periodically.

Light foot means to be easy on the throttle. To apply this, try to reach, say, from 0kmh to 20kmh in first gear, in 3 or 4 seconds. For second gear, try to reach 20kmh to 40kmh in maybe, 5 to 7 seconds.

With my Proton Wira 1.3, which is quite underpowered, I can easily reach 14.5km for every liter of petrol used. That is actually very economical. I have also read some testimonials from other people about their fuel economy, which is close if not better than mine.

For every full tank of petrol filled in, I always take the time to calculate the amount of distance traveled to the amount of fuel filled, just to get my average fuel economy. This is a good practise to do, to check your engine. Any drastic change of figure means your engine may need a check-up

Try to distribute your gears to the matching speed. First gear is between the range of 0 to 20kmh, second gear is for 20 to 40kmh. Add 20 for every subsequent gearshifts. Spend a few seconds in each gear between the gearshift. Don't step on it, unless you are really in urgency.

To make a car lighter, put away anything unnecessary from your car. For example, the engine oil bottle, the groceries, etc. The closer the car to its original weight, the better. The driver itself may need to lose some weight too, as every kilogram of weight saved will save a significant amount of fuel.

Don't compromise on the periodical service of your car. Anytime this is overlooked, it could mean more money wasted, at the expense of a smaller saving.

Thank you and good night!