Delay to Sipadan Post

Hi all. I'm back from my trip to Sipadan. However, the update I promised is on hold for now because I'm busy picking up a new skill - Photoshop.

So far, here's what I've picked up.
Give me a week or so and I'll tell you all about my wonderful vacation, complete with photographs. Cheers!

Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort

So far I've only accomplished one dive trip this year - Tioman back in May. It's kind of disappointing yet with the way things are going, it couldn't be helped.

At least nothing's coming between me and my next dive trip. On 7th October 2009, we're scheduled to fly to Tawau, Sabah, where we'll be picked up and driven to the small seaside town of Semporna. From there, it's a quick boat ride down south to Kapalai where I'll be spending a good 4 days in paradise!

There's only one resort on Kapalai island - which is technically just a sand bar. Note the satellite image courtesy of google maps.

View Larger Map

That's the resort we'll be based at during our stay. During this time, apart from the diving, Robert & Grace will also be taking the opportunity to capture some pictures in paradise for the pre-wedding photo album. Trust me when I say the pictures are going to turn out gorgeous.


And if you think that's the highlight, think again. Both of them are getting pretty hyped up to trash the dress. We're going to be putting Soon Yean's underwater photography skills to the test. I will of course be down there with them just for the heck of it.

I'll have to stop here for now... but I promise there will be one very long post, if not multiple posts when we come back.

I can't wait. I can't wait!

Off Road

For the lack of inspiration, updates are rare. But here's something worth penning down - yesterday's riding at Bukit Kiara.

I've been talking to Kennie over the last couple of weeks on training for a triathlon. If you've followed my ramblings, you know I'm keen but have been putting it off all this while. Well, Kennie's already started his training and has even completed his first full marathon. Now's he's all hyped up about biking.

As we both only have mountain bikes to begin with, we went along with his idea to take a ride to Bukit Kiara yesterday afternoon. The ride from home to Taman Tun was a good warm up... which left me without enough energy to get myself up the hill. Wound up pushing the bike instead.

Then came the bright idea of going off road. If you didn't know, Kiara hill is full of off road bike trails. What we didn't realize was that it's really easy to get lost if you're not familiar with those part of the woods because it's so FULL of off road bike trails. Naturally, don't expect to find any sign boards in there.

Kennie's ability to ride far exceeds mine and he was well ahead of me going up the hill in the jungle. I lost him within the first 10 minutes of entering the jungle. As I prodded along hoping to catch up to him round the next bend, and the next turn, and the next slope, no sign of him.

To make things worse, I was being swarmed by mosquitoes, much like my last experience in that same jungle some 2 years back when I first got my bike. Again I was lost. And every time I lost balance and fell off the bike, I was just as quick to jump back on to avoid having any mozzies land on my exposed arms and legs. Didn't even get a chance to stop for a drink, let alone pick up the phone to call Kennie. But then again what was I going to do? Pick up the phone to ask for directions??

"Um yea, landmarks... I see trees... mosquitoes... dirt... mud... more trees. So which way should I go again? A left at the next tree... right! Oh which tree would that be again?"

Naturally, the lost got... er... LOST-ER! I was pushing my bike along in the woods for well over an hour trying to find a convenient exit to a tarmac road, but to no avail. I finally chanced upon an opening, at which end I could see a I nice tall condominium. Sadly, I was standing at the top of a cliff which towered 10m over the road below. Wandered around a bit more before finally finding a path which led out to that God-sent road.

Lo and behold, I was in front of Kiaramas Ayuria. No idea where that was. First instinct was to drink water. Then call Kennie. He had no idea where Kiaramas Ayuria either. Worse still, the poor chap was even more lost than me.

Anyway, turns out Kiaramas is in Mont' Kiara / Desa Sri Hartamas area - a good half hour away by road to where I first started out. Sure it would have been nearer to go back through the woods but I knew better.

Finally rode back to the guard house at the bottom of Bukit Kiara where we began. Waited there another half hour before Kennie finally found his way out of the jungle, at the Equestrian Club. Took him a bit to reach me. He showed up all muddy. LOL! Apparently he wanted to wait for me early along the trail, but the mosquitoes just wouldn't have that and chased him all the way.

Well, this experience has taught me to stick to the road. More biking to come!

Underwater Bubble Rings

Check out the video. Awesome stuff. I want to have a go at that the next time I'm in the water!

Ageing

I celebrated my 27th almost a month ago and forgot create a post about it. I cannot begin to stress enough how important it is to blog about one's birthday. I'm secretly hoping that this applies to everyone and not just only me.

During the week of my birthday this year, I started to wonder what I did for my birthday last year. I couldn't remember.

I ask my girlfriend but she ended up relating my surprise birthday-do from 2007 instead. And I thought I had a bad memory.

So I resorted to asking my two closest buddies. One of them went with the 2007 story. S2pit! The other one had the decency to admit that he can't remember.

Alas, even my blog has no post on my birthday in 2008. So here I am, making sure that what I did for my birthday in 2009 is recorded, although a bit late. :)

9 July Lunch - Bought lunch for AccuCap at Decanter in D'sara Heights.

9 July dinner - Birthday dinner with Mom, Dad & Joanne at home. Mom cooked, and Joanne tapau-ed some additional dishes from the nearby restaurant. The was a cake too, and a photo of me without a shirt on.

10 July - Happy hour with Lee & co. Went to this place called "Parking" in Kota Damansara - not so happening. We hopped on to After-5 at Damansara Perdana. Lots of beer! Kenny failed to get Yen's number.

11 July Dinner - Joanne organized a surprise dinner with my dearest group of friends. Steamboat in Sunway. Those present: Mervyn, Joanne, Elizabeth, Yen, Jessie, Robert, Grace, Soon Yean, June, Chee How, Wei Wei, Jason, Tomo, Chow Phang.

11 July After Dinner - 69 Bistro in Damansara Perdana (right next to After-5). Cake cutting.

And yes... I did figure out what I did for 2008 birthday - nothing special. The closest thing to a celebration we had was Jo's house warming in Damansara Perdana. But it wasn't actually to celebrate my birthday. Just a pot-luck get-together.

So my dear friends, let me re-cap by saying - LOG YOUR BIRTHDAYS... even if you did nothing special. Coz with each additional candle on the cake the ability to remember the event fades.

Men's Health Night Run 09

Long story short - I completed my first >10km running event.


It was also my first proper running event because the 5km Fun Run at KL Marathon was botched (read previous post).

Heck, even on a normal day I barely manage to finish a 5km training run. So completing this 11.5km is something I'm quite happy about.

According to Robert who paced with me all the way, we completed the course in 1hr 21mins. That's an average speed of 8.5kmph - not bad at all for my first time. But I'm sure Robert would have done it in about an hour had he gone on his own.Nonetheless, his encouragement and the added pressure of not wanting him to be too slow because of me kept me going. When we saw the "4km To Go" hoarding I was all ready to give up. But it just wouldn't do Robert justice if I did so I pressed on and completed the entire run. Moral of the story - running with a buddy can go a long way.
All in all I didn't really prepare myself that well. Though I have been running short distances regularly for 2 months now, I didn't bother much with the pre-run regime. Didn't pay too much attention to keeping myself properly hydrated and I wasn't well-rested either. I only had 1 meal on the day of the run and I even went out for happy hour the night before, leaving me with diarrhea throughout the day of the run.

Must be good next time. Mizuno Wave Run on 25 Oct 2009.

Of Late

It's been a busy period for me, thus the lack of updates. Here are a few just for the record.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009
It was my first running event. I signed up for the 5km fun run just to try it out. Truth be told I really enjoyed the running as I prepared weeks before the event. So much so that I looked forward to finishing work on time just to go home to do my usual 3.3km round the neighborhood.

The 5km event itself was a disappointment. I was at the back of the group of I don't know how many people at the start of the run. If I had to guess, 5000 maybe? It really sucked that I wanted to run but couldn't because everyone around me just began by walking. Had to slowly weave my way through the hordes of people. This alone is enough reason for me to want to try the 10km. Hopefully people actually run!

What's more, the route wasn't clearly marked and someone in front decided to take a wrong turn, with the whole group following. We wound up back at the start only 3km on. Didn't get to run the full 5km.

Next run - Men's Health Run '09 on 25/Jul. I signed up for the 11.5km just for kicks. Have to start improving my stamina immediately.

Work at Desaru
Reason I've been so tied up with work these past couple of weeks is because I've been heavily involved in one of my company's projects to supply IT hardware for Lotus Group's new resort in Desaru, Johor.

Bulk of the work was in the planning and coordinating of the delivery of goods. The past 3 days was spent on-site setting up their over-spec-ed server and office PC's. It was a lot of waiting around as the office was barely ready for our arrival, but good fun just the same.

MIDE 2009
I was in a big hurry to finish up at Desaru so that I would have my Sunday free to visit the Malaysia International Dive Expo at PWTC. Today's their final day. I had only one intent which was to find good rates for our upcoming dive trip to Sipadan. It's a big crowd of 14 people so I wanted to make sure we got some good rates.

Funny thing is that this time I was surrounded by dive gear left, right and center, all on promotion, but I wasn't at all tempted to purchase anything. I guess I've already spent more than necessary and own all the equipment I really need to enjoy a good dive. The only money spent this round was RM25 for a stainless steel pointer, since I have a fair eye at spotting stuff underwater.

Quick check based on one of my previous post More Diving...
To-do list before next trip:
- Tusa Passage due for service.
- Atomic Aquatics B2 due for annual check.
- Suunto Mosquito 3 bars battery left and quite unstable - buy battery replacement just in case.
- Lubricate wheels and zips for bag.
- Clean & lubricate torchlight o-rings.
- Buy motion sickness pills. CHECKED
- Buy metal rod. CHECKED
- Check new Atomic subframe ARC mask for fogging, bring extra toothpaste if necessary. CHECKED

We've decided to drop plans to dive over Merdeka weekend as we're once again reminded that we don't have bottomless wallets.

Still 3.3

The KL Marathon is right round the corner. 28 June is a mere 9 days away. Can't say my training has been going very well. Even with running 2-3 times a week, I'm still at the point of collapse after a mere 3.3km round the neighbourhood. Wish I started training earlier.

Oh well, no point crying over spilt milk. It's not like I won't be able to finish the 5km. Just that it'll probably take a bit longer than I hoped.

Funny thing... belly is growing. Sighhhh....

Run 20090609

Yesterday's run was a bit better than my last run. Same route, but I managed to complete the entire route at a consistent non-walking pace. And I shaved 3 minutes off the time. On top of that, I didn't come to work this morning with aching leg muscles. The 2 storey climb up the staircase didn't feel any different from any other time I climb the stairs.



Thank you Unkaleong for introducing me to mapmyrun.com. It's a pretty cool site. If you're a fitness junkie you should check it out.

Running Around

I didn't get to run over the weekend. Not sure if it's any consolation, but I did run around a great deal instead.

T'was Teong & Beth's wedding weekend. Friday night dinner at Beth's house; Saturday morning running from the bride's house to the dim sum shop, then to the groom's house, then back to the bride's house, then back to the grooms house, then back home for a quick nap, then down to KL Convex for work-related matters, then a quick dash to Sime Darby Convex for the wedding dinner reception and lots of photos, then to meet Jim on work-related matters, before finally heading home.

Congrats to Mr & Mrs Koh Yew Teong. A lovely couple indeed, and a wedding affair to remember. Highlights were many - including the bride's sister Kimberley's flash animation which was rather cute; And also the father of the groom's most impressive and unique speech.

Mr Koh addressed the crowd with his son and new daughter-in-law's love story, filled with songs which he sang remarkably well. The 4 or 5 songs he sang made his speech not unlike a musical, and it left both bride & groom in tears. What a touching experience it must have been for the both of them.

Sunday was less hectic, but hectic nonetheless. As you can imagine, Saturday's affairs left both Jo & I exhausted and we only got out of bed at 11am on Sunday. I had made prior arrangements for 17 of us to attend U-maiya's weekend lunch buffet at 11.30am. If you're wondering why so many people, the lunch was a get together of some of Jo's closest friends to celebrate her birthday, which is today. Happy Birthday dear!

Lunch was fantastic with U-maiya's food as delicious as ever. RM55.20net per person might sound like a lot to pay for a meal, but I cannot deny the fact that the amount, variety and quality of the food is unbeatable.Even the bride and groom after a hectic wedding day before, managed to join us for lunch. We're all big fans of U-maiya's buffet.

After lunch we headed to D'sara Perdana for a while before heading home. A quick nap later, I was off to D'sara Perdana again for an evening meeting with some business associates to discuss our upcoming plans. Without realizing it, 2.5 hrs past and I was already due to be down at KL Convex again. Not even enough time for dinner. Upon meeting my client down in KL, he said we still have time so I mentioned that I'd run over to Suria KLCC for a quick bite before returning. Moments later, I instead found myself sitting down to eat at the buffet setup for the event's secretariat. Such wonderful hosts these people are.

After my second buffet of the day, it was a 3 hour wait for their big boss to passby during his pre-event walk-around. A 30-second glance from the hall's large doors and then he was off again. Reminds me of a theme park ride, only worse. At least in Disneyland you wait 30 minutes for 30 seconds of fun. Here, it was 3 hours for 30 seconds of nothing.

Oh well, such is work. And now that the weekend is over, what do you know? Back to work. I want my weekend back!

Run 20090604

The route I charted for today's run was recalculated to be 3.3km, approximately. I finished it in 25 minutes. Wasn't able to keep a consistent pace throughout the course. Slowed down to a brisk walk for about 100m when I hit the slight incline half way through.

Oh well, I've decided to stick to this route for now. At least till I can finish it within 20 minutes before rerouting.

Running

Not sure if I've mentioned here before, but I've registered to run in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009 to be held on 28 of June.

No, I'm not doing the full marathon. 42km is a bit too much for someone who only runs 1km on a treadmill at the gym for warm ups. But they're having a 5km fun run at the KL Marathon so I figured why the hell not.

Got started with my first round-the-neighborhood run yesterday. This was the trail I took.
Robert, who's an avid runner, and will be running the full 42km in KL Marathon, advised me to start off and see if I can do a full 20 minute run without stopping. Well, I managed the above route in 20 minutes. Approximately 2.5km covered, so I guess I was pacing myself at a mere 7.5kmph. A little bit disappointing considering I normally run at 11kmph on the treadmill.

Truth be told, I don't remember the last time I ran 2.5km. And my legs were quite sore after last night's run.

Anyway, I've only got under 4 weeks to get myself running 5km. So let's up the ante. Tomorrow's route shall be...
If Google is correct, this route is about 3.5km. Wish me luck!

All Packed

I finally got around to packing up all my dive gear properly and putting it all away - wetsuits & BC hung nicely in the cupboard; everything else packed neatly in the dive bag.

No, I didn't leave everything in a mess this past month. They were mostly all in their place except for a few items, such as my new mask which I left with Dragonet for some serious defogging maintenance. Only just collected it yesterday.

So, as I was saying, everything's all packed away nicely already... at least until the next trip. If all goes well, that would be to Redang over the Merdeka weekend. God forbid it will be crowded, but with everyone running low on finances and annual leave we don't have much choice.

Seems like everyone has already saved up their annual leave for our 5-day trip to Sipadan in October. Can't wait really! As it stands, there are 13 of us who have already bought our airtickets. More are welcome. We're now waiting for some good offers to surface during the upcoming Malaysia International Dive Expo (MIDE) 3-5 July 2009. Hopefully they throw promotions which will bring the price of a 5d4n diving package below RM2k.

Can't wait can't wait!

Wandering

I find myself idling a little lately, and it's not because of a lack of things to do. If I were my own therapist, which I usually am, my diagnosis is that I'm failing to keep myself properly occupied.

The whole problem with having idle time is that my mind starts to wander. I'm somewhat incapable of just shutting down and stoning... I bet most of you are very much the same.

Don't get me wrong, I know some of the most brilliant thoughts ever, sprout when we idle (some people call it meditation, I call it idling). However, when I'm left idling, the thoughts which pop into my head tend to lack positivity these days. That tends to result in a sudden mood swing which leaves me feeling depressed and lacking energy and motivation after.

Chocolates help, for a while. Sex helps, for a while. Working out helps too, for a while. So far I haven't found any lasting remedies to the repeated state of depression. However, I believe if I improve on my routine, I can prevent myself from even going there. As they say - prevention is better than cure.

There are 3 states I tend to find myself in:-

1. Productively occupied
2. Unoccupied
3. Unproductively occupied

While number 2 is bad, I think number 3 is the worst - "No future"! Especially when we're in denial and keep trying to convince ourselves that what we're doing is entirely necessary. Such a sad and sorry state. I'm only judging myself here - do not take offense.

Right now, I just have to focus on handing myself productive tasks, and then completing them one by one to the best of my ability. The rest should fall in place.

New Phone

Today I went to work with my usual Sony Ericsson Z610 in my pocket. I returned home with my Sony Ericsson Z610 plus a brand new Samsung M610.
It's a simple phone without all the fancy nonsense I used to pay so much good money for. However, it does have just about everything I require to use as a secondary phone, housing my new company Digi corporate line. The phone came free from Digi.

Like I said, it ain't much, but it does look pretty neat. Much like my old Samsung SGH-D500, and later on SGH-D600 which is now in the hands of my brother.

I came home this evening proudly with new phone in hand and guess what I find?
My dad's boss gave him a brand new iPhone 16GB. Killjoy doesn't even begin to describe it!

Tioman Underwater Pics

Hey ho! Soon Yean's underwater pictures are now available on Facebook. If you're not able to view them in Facebook, here are a few to tickle your fancy.

That's me holding on to my surface marker during our 3 minutes safety stop.

Terra batfish

Devilfish

Some crab playing hide-n-seek

Salang's resident moray under the jetty

Peeping hermit

Nudibranch orgy

Another nudibranch... nice colors.

Nudibranch with eggs

Another moray

Nemo!

Mr Turtle

Got to admit that Soon Yean's photography is starting to look really good. Very soon we'll be looking at his photos being published in magazines!

More Diving

It's only been a week since we got back from diving. And here we're already almost done planning our next dive trip - Merdeka weekend at Redang. It's going to be super duper crowded at Pasir Panjang, but I think we'll have a blast if there's a beach party to count down to Merdeka.

To-do list before next trip:
- Tusa Passage due for service.
- Atomic Aquatics B2 due for annual check.
- Suunto Mosquito 3 bars battery left and quite unstable - buy battery replacement just in case.
- Lubricate wheels and zips for bag.
- Clean & lubricate torchlight o-rings.
- Buy motion sickness pills.
- Buy metal rod.
- Check new Atomic subframe ARC mask for fogging, bring extra toothpaste if necessary.

And slightly over a month after Merdeka dive, we're off to dive at Mabul, Kapalai & Sipadan! Can't wait can't wait!

Salang @ Tioman - 1-3 May 2009

This trip was a long wait since my last dive in August last year. The trip to Tioman was for 4 Open Water Diver students and 3 Advanced Open Water Diver students to get certified... and also 3 leisure divers to get themselves wet. :) I logged dive# 29-33 over the weekend.

It was quite a bargain as we managed to squeeze 10 people into 2 rooms, each person only paying about RM66 for the 2 nights. There was also the RM70 return ferry transfer from Tanjung Gemuk. Normally ferries to Tioman depart from Mersing. But the holiday rush prompted some operators to have additional ferry services go between Tg Gemuk - Tioman.

We dived with Fisherman Dive Centre, located right next to Salang Indah Resort. Leisure divers paid RM80/dive, assuming we had our own equipment. It was RM90/dive inclusive of full set of rental equipment.

The staff at Fisherman were generally friendly towards us. Affian, their resident divemaster was very accommodating and helpful. But I heard from the students that their instructors were very strict and fierce with them in the water. I guess they take their work quite seriously. No fault there.

Overall, diving was good. The poor visibility on most dives didn't deter us much even though Soon Yean and I lost the group twice on the same dive. I even got lost on my own on one of the dives. Training as well as instinct led me to search underwater for a minute and then surface to see if maybe my buddy or divemaster surfaced to look for me. They didn't. I also couldn't spot their bubble trail so I swam back to the boat where the boatman suggested that instead of wasting the rest of the dive, I should dive near the boat for another 20mins or so.

That was a fair recommendation so I went down again solo, keeping to the shallower reefs and circling the boat. Diving alone is very leisurely. There was no need to rush just to keep up with the group so I could actually just take my time to scour the reef for interesting marine life. It was there which I spotted a small yellow eel swimming between some staghorn coral, a blue spotted ray, and some other stuff we'd usually miss while trying to keep with a large group. I see why some people prefer diving in small groups, or with just their buddy.

I know I promised pictures but I forgot to bring my camera with me to Tioman. Waiting for Soon Yean to touch up the pictures we took underwater, then I'll post some here.

Atomic Aquatics

I just bought myself a brand-spanking-new mask & snorkel from Atomic Aquatics. I'm not exactly sure why though. For kicks I guess... I don't know.

Upon arriving home and going through my gear, I realize that I've actually got quite a number of items from Atomic Aquatics.

When I first started diving, right down to my first pool session, I've been diving with the Red/Black Subframe mask. An awesome mask from every aspect, except that it fogs up quite easily when I neglect to apply antifog.

At the very same time, I also invested in a pair of Atomic Aquatics Splitfins, red in color of course. Very hefty investment, but worth every sen paid because the performace is nothing short of impressive.

When I finally saved up enough to get myself a regulator, reading various reviews around just naturally pointed me to the brand of choice for my regulator. Choosing between their titanium (T2) and brass (B2) versions was difficult but in the end I settled for the more economical one - the B2.

At the same time, the local Atomic Aquatics dealer was throwing a promotion for the regulator, offering a hefty discount on it. If that wasn't already enough of a reason to make the purchase, they even threw in the safe seconds (SS1) unit as part of the package. What a bargain I tell you!

Today, I came home with what I'd like to think of as an upgrade. Their Subframe mask with Anti Reflective Coating (ARC)...

Paired with their SV1 snorkel.

My snorkel is actually clear & black in color, but I couldn't find a picture available online.

Got admit, it didn't come cheap even after a generous discount from my regular dive centre.

All in all, Atomic Aquatics has lined up a very nice range diving equipment. They look good and perform well beyond expectations. Though their pricing is almost always higher, the premium quality you get from these guys just makes it all worth while.

Any Updates?

Just got a comment asking for updates. Didn't realize there are still people coming here. I'm sorry if you've been coming back time and time again hoping that an update will miraculously appear. It was never my intention to disappoint.

Anyway, I'm off to Tioman to dive this weekend. Promise you some updates when I get back. Pictures will be included... cross my heart!

Quacking Ducks

Have you heard the Digi ad on radio lately? There's the sound of duck quacking, followed by 3 echoes of the quack.

If you're familiar with the Internet, you've probably received forwarded emails listing some strange "facts", like...
Pigs cannot look up towards the sky.
It is physically impossible to lick your elbow.

One of the statements I remember distinctly was that a duck's quack does not echo. As this wasn't the first time I was hearing such a claim, I thought it was true.

Getting back to the Digi, if a duck's quack does not echo, that would mean that Digi's advertising was politically incorrect? Right?

Wrong. It seems Digi's advertising arm is as good as ever. Apparently a duck's quack does produce an echo. Read here.

With that settled... back to work.

Unfit

Yesterday was my third and final session of PushMore's foundation course. The three 1hr-session course is aimed at beginners who are unfamiliar with the exercises which make up PushMore's Workout of the Day (WOD).

The first session covered simple body weight exercises which are commonly used for warming up... skipping, squats, pushups, pullups, stretches, situps, etc. Honestly, at my fitness level, their recommended warmup exhausts me already. And that's before I even start the WOD

During the second session, we practiced what we learnt during the first session and then went into more technical stuff, like working with dumbbells and kettlebells.

Yesterday's session we went through again everything we've learnt so far, and did some advanced kettlebell exercises. It was really insightful getting a lesson from Jonathan, who appeared on the front cover of December's issue of Men's Health Malaysia, and regularly contributes articles to the magazine.

All said and done, this experience has thought me one thing - I'm so unfit. The first session left me sore all around the chest, shoulders and back, mainly due to the pushups and pullups. The second session left me with sore thighs, due to the numerous squats & pushpresses we did. The third and final session leaves me with an extremely sore back... kettlebell swings, KB cleans, KB highpulls, KB snatch. I have now confirmed my long time suspicions of having an extremely weak lower back. Even bending over the sink to wash my face this morning was excruciating.

What an experience indeed. I'm so looking forward to continuing at PushMore. Everyone there is so friendly and it's quite a nice environment. The best part of all has got to be the WOD. Something new to look forward to everyday. Awesome!

Will probably begin my membership there when they reopen after the weeklong CNY break. In the mean time, will be doing their recommended warmup regularly. Also lacking terribly on the stamina part. Haih...

Back!

Did you miss me? LOL!

We all get caught up sometimes. But here's me saying I'm going to resume blogging, from time to time.

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

I haven't found the time or the inspiration to recap 2008 yet... but here's what I'm looking forward to in 2009, in no particular order.

1. I want to dive! Tentatively planned for Tioman in mid May and Sipadan from 7-11 Oct. Hopefully one more trip will find its way into 2009 too.

2. Pushmore! I'm just getting myself started at Pushmore. It's a lot of fun... and I seem to get a kick out of going home sore each time. Let's see what 1 year with Pushmore does to me. Will take a before and after photo for comparison at the end of 2009. Possibly some updates on performance from time to time as well.

3. Photography... more and more people I know seem to be going into photography. The interest is catching on. Truth be told, my knowledge on the subject is limited. I only know how to use point and shoot.... which I literally use as point and shoot. I'm determined to do some reading and practice with the point & shoot in manual mode, if it even has one. Maybe later on I'll move into DSLR. I find the Nikon D90 quite attractive. Will post pictures now and then.

4. My love life with Jo is as good as ever. Almost two years already. Though we have our ups and downs like everyone else, we get through it nonetheless. All in all things are good and I'm looking forward to yet another great year with her this 2009.

5. The company's performance was appaling during the 3rd quarter of 2008 and there wasn't much doubt that it was going to be the company's worst year ever. 4th quarter proved us wrong and business just boomed contrary to the economic situation. 2008 has turned into the company's best year ever. So proud of us! Look ahead, I like to think that we're on a roll and that we're heading for even greener pastures.

6. Making some personal changes. I'm in the habit of waking up at the last minute, taking a quick shower, getting dressed and zooming out of the house. I think this year I'm going to make a conscious effort to wake up earlier... say 7am-7.30am on a daily basis. If it's not a Pushmore day, I'll sit down with mom & dad to read the morning paper. I've always admired how they manage to do so morning after morning.

7. Personal finances. If you've known me for long, you'll know that I'm not one who's very good at managing personal finances. Quick to make money, but quicker to spend it. Tough. From what I gather, the lack of a financial goal is what's lacking. So for 2009, I'm committing to putting a financial plan together and working towards it. It'll be a pleasant change to see a 5 digit balance in my savings account by the end of the year.

So that's me officially kicking off 2009's resolutions. Wish me luck. I wish all of you the same. Cheers to 2009!