Pre post Nuptial agreement

During the Malaysia Merdeka (independence) celebration here in Zurich, I told a friend how sometimes I miss business trips, having not had one for a long time, while when I'd traveled quite regularly in the past, I thought I had a bit too much of it. He shared how he travels quite a lot these days .. and candidly added he also has a deal with the wife 7 days a year he gets to go away on his own alone (so he said). Damn; what a fantastic deal! How come I never thought about such post nuptial agreement? Start to draft it?

The Big Brothers

For the past few days, a couple of black, dark windows Mercedes mini buses and a Mercedes limousine have been on and off parked in the compound where I work. Upon entering the lobby of the main office building, one will not miss an ex-arm army / secret service looking man standing next to the lift for the whole day for the past few days. It tells me only one thing - the big brothers are finally here.

Many have been talking our the clash of two cultures - European vs American or a large multinational vs a huge, gigantic conglomerate. The black Mercedeses and a bodyguard manning lifts gives you a glimpse of the differences in two cultures. It looks a bit of an overkill to most here. But, hey, that's how it is - better start embracing it. At least there is a super, tiny, slim chance you might be one of the futures guys travelling in those chauffeured driven limousines with a bodyguard.

To add a bit more to the story: I was driving to the office from home last night. On the way, a black Mercedes limousine drove fast into a roundabout completely ignoring the fact that it was MY WAY. Damn! I thought that was a bit selfish - and it looked so much like the black car from the office compound. Behind it, a black Mercedes minibus followed. Surprise surprise when I got to the office, the same mini bus arrived.

This is just the beginning of it. For many years it's been fun being the key guys in the HQ, despite all the good and bad. Things will certainly start to change ... hopefully for the better, and I can only see them changing very fast.

Lawak Jenaka

Pak Haji mengawinkan keempat empat anaknya, yaitu Anita, Minah, Mimin dan Mumun. Mereka semua akan berbulan madu ke Bali.
Sebelum mereka pergi, Pak Haji berpesan, "Nak,jgn lupa hantar kabar ya ke Abah tentang kualiti laki masing2. Pakai sms aja & supaya tak nampak sangat guna motto iklan aje yee !!


Hari pertama di bulan madu:
Si Anita kirim SMS ke pak Haji, sms-nya cukup singkat: "KFC"
& Pak haji langsung mencari iklan KFC di gerai KFC terdekat & terbacalah : "SEHINGGA MENJILAT JARI" Pak Haji pun tersenyum2.


Hari ke-2 bulan madu:
Giliran si Mimin yg kirim SMS & sms-nya jg cukup singkat : "STANDARD CHARTERED".
Pak Haji pun langsung mencari iklan Standard Chartered di surat kabar dan terbacalah tulisan : "BESAR, KUAT & PERAMAH".
Pak Haji pun langsung tersenyum lebar.


Hari ke-3:
Giliran si Mumun yg kirim SMS, isi-nya jg cukup pendek : "NESCAFE".
Pak Haji pun langsung mencari iklan NESCAFE di surat kabar dan terbaca motto Nescafe : "NIKMATNYA SAMPAI TITISAN TERAKHIR".
Pak Haji pun kembali tersenyum ceria.
Memasuki hari ke-4,5,6 & 7:
Pak Haji mulai risau kerana si Minah tak ada kabar berita. aduuuh, ada apa dgn si Minah ya.., jangan2 dia kecewa dgn lakinya ...??


... Akhir-nya pd hari ke-8 barulah masuk SMS dari Minah yg isinya jg cukup singkat: "AIR ASIA ".
Pak Haji sangat terkejut krn yang dia tahu AIR ASIA itu syarikat penerbangan terbesar di Asia Tenggara. Langsung Pak Haji cari surat kabar, terbaca-lah motto AIR ASIA :
"7 KALI SEMINGGU - 3 KALI SEHARI - 5 JAM NON STOP".
Pak Haji pun berkata dalam hatinya, =-? patutlah dia tak sempat sms, tiap hari jadual-nya "FuuuLLLL..."

First sahur

It takes a bit of time to adjust to first seeing a selection of heavy food for sahur and second to chew and swallow. Laid down nicely on the long tables are koeteow goreng, ayam berempah, nasi putih, masak kicap ikan, sayur lodeh, rojak (not exactly it, but I forget the right name), variety of cakes and slices of fruits. May be no huge variety for Malaysian standard, but hell that's as good as lunch or dinner.

I could see a few puzzled foreign faces, perhaps just landed at odd hours or having early flight out, looking at the food. Most resorted to slices of breads and/or cakes.

I have to say, the koeteow goreng looked pretty good, and that's what I headed for; and the ayam percik, reminding me of My Kitchen in Zurich.

Schnuppertraining im Kunstturnen 2014

The trial day for Kunsturnen for this year is finally announced. As a matter of fact it's been on the web site for quite some time now, though it is only now that you see it's posted in public, one at my bus stop this morning. Apparently it's a yearly thing that new potential gmynasts or Turnenrinen in German are sought for to join the local team / association.

Schnuppertraining or test training (or rather test session), is are open to girls of around the age of 5 to come and observe a resgular training session and if interested and and eventually selected could join the regular training and compete in numerous competition over the period of spring and start of summer.

In August 2013, I wrote a post about my daughter Lana joining the team with hectic training of 4 to 5 times a week for roughly 4 hours each. She's doing really well and is now recognised as one of the key gymnasts in her group. She joined very late at the age of 7, but fortunately able to pretty much skip two years to be where she is now.

Rigi Tour 2.0

10th of May 2014 marked another milestone in my venture into mountain biking. Together with 4 other colleagues/friends I conquered the top of the Rigi mountain for the second time, 8 months after the first attempt. Reaching the peak wasn't the biggest thing as I knew I would make it one way or another - as I had anyway done it once. But to reach at a much quicker speed, non stop in the last phase and with reserved strength and energy was what counted most. 

With Rigi, the last roughly one third of the journey is the most challenging where you have to climb for about 4-5 km of steepness that could easily make your eyes tell the brain to just give up. I knew as long as my legs didn't hit the wall and my heart rate remained at a good level, all that could fail me was my mental strength - it's all up in the head. I kept telling myself not to look ahead but down until I reached peak and I'm proud to say I did it well. With people along the way giving moral support, it was a great feeling and a huge sense of achievement. This Tour was the ultimate assessment of my fitness level after 12 months of life style change, the same 12 months after my very first mountain biking experience. 

I'm looking forward to Rigi 3.0 :) 

Cannondale Jekyll Carbon 1 (2012)

Talking about high end enduro mountain bike, this is the ultimate machine - Cannondale Jekyll Carbon 1. It's a 2012 model, but it's damn gorgeous. The frame is fully carbon making it really light at 12.3 kg, and to top it all, even the handlebar and the crank arm are also made of carbon - how about that?! The fork is with two mode of 150mm and 120mm making is perfect for any conditions. The rear shock is made specially for the bike and it also comes in special two modes for climb and descend. 

I never thought I would even be riding a top end bike such costing originally around 8000 CHF. I managed to borrow this second hand unit from a local shop for Rigi trip in the weekend - it's gonna be a great tour.