blackaltis - 412

My Toyota uses: Shell cylinder oil, Shell fuel (sometimes ExxonMobil), runs on 16" Bridgestone MY-01 Sports Tourer, has the broquet fuel charger fitted, Cool n Lite tinting, Hella horn n has a front strut bar fitted!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Daddy & Esther bonding time

Usually when I get a favourable parking lot when I come back from campus prior to collecting Esther from her day care, I tend not to want to drive out and will walk there and back instead. Either I push the stroller or I will just walk there. For the past two days, I have been walking to her day care and we will then catch the feeder bus home. She loves the bus ride and this is a perfect time for us to bond. I will ask her what she did in school and this encourages her to want to speak in either english or mother tongue. Though the bus ride home is rather short, it is something very exciting for a 3 yr old. It is also a good way to conserve fuel as well! Oh did I mention why I do not wish to drive out? That is because I managed to park at the lower decks of which the lot will be taken once I drive out!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

F1 season opening...

Fernando Alonso drove a superbly judged race to emulate Nigel Mansell and Kimi Raikkonen, as he sped to victory on his debut for Ferrari in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Alonso chased Sebastian Vettel’s fleet Red Bull fruitlessly in the early stages, when both were running the super-soft Bridgestone tyres, but had an advantage after they had respectively switched to the harder compound on Laps 17 and 16.

Alonso then began to hunt down the German, whose lap times got slower and slower until the moment of truth arrived on Lap 34. That was when exhaust problems hit the Red Bull and the Ferrari dived past in the penultimate corner, to grab a lead it never lost. Felipe Massa had also closed in driving the second Ferrari and passed Vettel as they braked for Turn One at the start of Lap 35. Crucially, however, Alonso put in some fearsomely quick laps to break his team mate’s challenge, after that there was nobody left to put him under pressure.

As Massa consolidated second place, conserving fuel as a temperature problem in the cockpit obliged him to ease back, it was nevertheless a great day for the Scuderia. Vettel came under increasing pressure from Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, which was a lot more competitive on the harder rubber. Eventually the 2008 world champion moved on to the final podium slot on the 38th lap after overtaking on the main straight.

Vettel almost fell prey to Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes GP, but hung on for fourth ahead of the Silver Arrow. Almost four seconds further back, Michael Schumacher’s return yielded a hard-fought sixth place, pressured all the way by 2009 champion Jenson Button in the other McLaren and Red Bull’s Mark Webber. Over the last 30 laps they were never more than metres apart.

A great drive rewarded Vitantonio Liuzzi with ninth for Force €ndia, while Rubens Barrichello was in 10th place for Williams, taking the final point.

There was drama from the start when Webber’s Red Bull spouted clouds of oil as the field braked for Turn One, and both Renault’s Robert Kubica and Force €ndia’s Adrian Sutil spun. They eventually finished 11th and 12th, with Jaime Alguersuari 13th for Toro Rosso. Nico Hulkenberg’s debut was marked by a wild spin early on, and the need to claw back to 14th in the second Williams.

Lotus won the race for the new teams, with Heikki Kovalainen placing 15th after a commendably reliable run. Sebastien Buemi was 16th for Toro Rosso though he stopped three laps from the end, and Jarno Trulli’s ailing Lotus was 17th, also three laps down.

There were more retirements than usual, with neither BMW Sauber making the flag, Bruno Senna’s HRT eating its engine, the Virgins of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi falling prey to mechanical problems (after the German had waged a great fight with Kovalainen), Vitaly Petrov’s strong early run in sight of points coming to nothing with a suspected suspension problem which was detected when he made his tyre stop on the 13th lap, and Karun Chandhok crashed his HRT on the second lap.

The result gives Ferrari the perfect start to the world championship with 43 points, ahead of McLaren on 21, Mercedes GP on 18 and Red Bull on 16. Alonso leads the title chase with 25 points from Massa on 18, Hamilton on 15, Vettel on 12, Rosberg on 10 and Schumacher on 8. And the general verdict is that the ban of refuelling, while creating a slow-burn effect initially, made the racing much more exciting.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Did better than expected

When I saw my score for AAM342 quiz 2 I must confess that I am quite thankful because I thought it will be the same as the 1st one of which I just scraped through. Though it was a wee bit better, considering my confidence and difficulty in this module, I had better be thankful and work towards trying to improve my score in the subsequent tests.
AAM343 quiz was tougher than the previous 2 years. In fact, I realised that my 1st question which was quite a easy one had some errors in it. Wonder how will I score when he returns it to us next week.
Overall, I am not hoping to pass with flying colours but if i can get a score that gets me a pass with merit I am glad.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

WaveHouse at Sentosa

It is a place where you can get to surf yet remain in Sg. No need to travel to faraway destinations and incur all the travel and accomodation expenses. For a novice like me, I sure enjoyed it despite ending the day with some knocks, scratches, 'blue-black' marks and a very mild sprain on my rigth shoulder, it was worth the while. Not to mention getting roasted in the sun despite applying lots of tanning lotion. Perhaps sunblock is better. Vain pot me who wanted to get a nice tan!!!
We realised that every wednesday is a full-day one-for-one for all rides and also F&B. Since the more difficult wave barrel was out of service, we had a great time at the Double Flowrider. The surf board is more difficult to grasp but after numerous fails, I finally managed to stay afloat for about 20sec? Had much better luck with the body board as that was easier to manage especially the part where you do your own launch from the top.
The water jet is really powerful. Once you are in the water, it throws you to the top rather swiftly. That is why the trainers will inform you of the position to adopt when you fall. Most important is to protect your head. Met two new friends who were in the same timing as Ling, Aida and myself. Turned out that they came a week ago to try it out so we exchanged some pointers.
What is my verdict compared to the cable ski which cost virtually the same? Wavehouse anytime!




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