Conquest of Time

I like good watches. I always think that watches can show a man's taste. The design that I like is always simple and elegant. For a modern watch, I always fancy a Bell & Ross or an IWC Schaffhausen chrono. For a classical one, I would go for a Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre or Girard-Perregaux. Of course the latter three are the jewel in the crown of watches. I can only see and dream...

Actually I am not really a watch aficionado, my knowledge about watch is only limited to some famous brands and mechanical complication of chronograph and perpetual calendar. Yesterday I had a chance to improve my knowledge about horology.

















The Conquest of Time exhibition was held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 22 -26 Nov 2006. The exhibition featured 23 of the world's most renowned watchmaking houses.





































Not only a large collection of fine timepieces was on display, the exhibition also incorporated guided tours, watch making class, watch talks and watch appraisal. For the rich, this was a good place to add a few more watches to their collections or to have their Patek appraised by professional valuators and watch experts from Christie's auction house.

A watch making class was provided by Jaeger-LeCoultre for watch collectors and enthusiasts to explore and learn about watchmaking. In the class, attendees was guided by a watchmaker from Swiss and got to learn the various technique in watch assembly, first on a computer simulation software, then hands-on. I wanted to attend but the next class was already fully booked with a long waiting list.

















For the public, the Girard Perregaux's atelier was the best place to learn something about watches.






















It offered a guided tour which explained the four distinguished dimensions of complications in watchmaking - Chronograph, Perpetual Calendar, Minute Repeater and Tourbillon. I learned from here that a perpetual calendar watch knows when to add a day in a leap year by having a 48-tooth wheel (each tooth represents a month), with a tooth slightly different from the rest.

Girard Perregaux is famous for its Tourbillon, designed to counter the effects of gravity and other perturbing forces that can affect the accuracy of a chronometer. At the atelier, I also got a chance to polish one side of the Tourbillon bridge. I tell you, it requires a lot of patience and passion.

















This lady's day-to-day work is to polish watch components. It takes her 3 days for to finish polishing a Tourbillon bridge.

Similar to cars, watches are expensive toys for men. Some watches are more expensive than cars. A watch comprises 600 over pieces of component, each of them needs to be made to perfection. It is not hard to imagine why some of these watches are so expensive.

This Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the most expensive watches I saw at the exhibition. Enlarge to see how much it costs...

Silent Mode

Damn! Bad mood because not enough sleep this week due to some external system issues. I am going to put my handphone on silent mode when I sleep... >:(

Team Dinner

Last night we had our another team dinner at La Bodega, Bangsar. Check out the posting at our team blog. : )

Gonbei Japanese Restaurant

Last Friday I joined 6 of my ex-colleagues and went for a big makan makan at Gonbei Japanese Restaurant in Starhill Gallery.





















The restaurant is designed by Yuhkichi Kawai, the man who created Starhill Gallery's Feast Village. It offers an authentic Japanese cuisine which is based on time-honored Japanese customs and traditions.

We were sitting at the counter on which is displayed a fresh selection of seafood on ice, meat and vegetables. Right in the center was the yakikata or grillmaster.

This is quite an up-market restaurant but we didn't bother much because our budget was RM4000...heheh...

Here is the story, 3 years ago my ex company wanted us to write some papers to be filed for patent. 3 years later, 4 of the documents submitted by our department were selected for public disclosure and the one I wrote will be filed for patent. We were given RM4200 in total as a token of encouragement. As I already left the company, my share of RM1650 goes to the department. So our target was to spend all the money.

We ordered some of the expensive dishes, including 2 kinki (rock fish) and 2 plates of omakase tokujo sushi (chef's special assorted nigiri sushi with premium toro, premium uni). The kinki fish was just about palm size and cost RM150, and the 10 pieces sushi cost RM180.

Kink (rock fish) - RM 150

This 10 pieces of sushi cost RM180

We also had wagyu kushiyaki (wagyu skewer), taraba kani tempura (king crab mud tempura), imo sochu and many more. I seldom eat beef but the wagyu kushiyaki was the best beef I have ever had.

Wagyu Kushiyaki (RM 28 per skewer)

Taraba Kani Tempura (RM 85)















Yakitori (RM 5 per skewer)

Imo sochu

Aspara (RM 10)

Ika Ichiiyaboshi (RM 18)

Tebasaki (RM 5 per piece)

Check out the bill for what else we ate. We will spend the remaining money soon...

Scoop

I just watched Scoop. I watched it because of Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen.

I first noticed Scarlett Johansson in 'Lost In Translation' (didn't realise she was the little girl in 'The Horse Whisperer' many years ago) and then 'Girl with aPearl Earring' (I got to know Johannes Vermeer, the famous Dutch painter because of this movie). I like her not only because she is gorgeous but also because she is a very good actress. In Scoop, she wore glasses and loose shirt, not as hot as she was in 'Match Point'. I was wondering if she was pregnant.

As for Woody Allen, I only started to notice his movie after I watched 'The Curse of The Jade Scorpion'. His comedy has its own style with wacky humor, very different from those Hollywood no brainer comedies. It may not make you laugh as hard but you would appreciate his sense of humor. Besides comedy, he is also good in directing drama. His previous movie 'Match Point' was a really good one.

Scoop is about an American journalism student (Johansson) in London scooping a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat (Jackman) as the incident unfurls. It is very British like 'Match Point' with similar style of 'The Curse of The Jade Scorpion'. For those who are a bit tired of Hollywood no brainer comedies, 'Scoop' is something different for you.

World Vision

Today I received a mail with a child photo. She is a 12 year-old girl from Hebei PingQuan, China. I have never seen this child before but somehow there is a special feeling. I feel happy because I hope I will be able to make a difference to her life.

She is a child I sponsor via World Vision Malaysia recently, I just need to contribute RM50 per month.

How much can you do with RM50 a month these days?

RM50 is not even enough to pump a full tank of petrol, may be an OK dinner for 2? How about investing it in long-term development programmes that will give a child, his/her family and community a brighter future? Your contribution will be pooled together to provide clean water, health care, food & agriculture, education and economic development of the community where your sponsored child lives.

Check out the flash demo here.

You will be able to see the progress of your sponsored child and know how your contribution is being used. I think this is a good way to contribute.

A lot of people don't want to let others know when they contribute to charity. But nowadays many have changed their thinking, a lot of celebrities are involved in charity work to create some awareness and to influence others to do the same. I am no celebrity and can't influence many people. But if by sharing this can create some awareness to some who read this blog, I think it is good enough.






















If you sponsor a child after you read this blog, please let me know, I will be very happy. : )

Bad Cop

I have a friend who has his own principles in doing many things and I quite salute him for holding on to his principles. For example he never bribe. He just told me a story.

Below is the conversation between him and a traffic police after he was blocked for speeding.

Friend: 'Encik, apa salah saya?' (Sir, what did I offend?)
Police: 'Speeding'
Friend: 'Ya ke? Berapa kelajuan saya?' (Really? How fast did I go?)
Police: 'Melebihi had kelajuan' (Exceeded the speed limit)
Friend: 'Kalau begini macam mana?' (So how?)
Police: 'Saman 300 ratus' (300 Summon)
Friend: 'Macam tu encik bagi saman lah.' (Like that summon me then)
Police: 'Encik betul ke? Encik tak mau kawan?' (Are you sure sir? Sir you don't want to be friend?)
Friend: 'Kalau I salah, kasih saya saman' (If I am wrong, just summon me)
Police: 'Encik nak saman, tak mau kawan?' (Sir you want summon, don't want to be friend?)
Friend: 'I salah, I patut kena saman' (I am wrong, I should get the summon)
Police: 'Betul ke? (Are you sure?)
Friend: 'Betul...' (Sure...)
Police: 'Err....macam tu...tak apa lah.' (Err...like that...nevermind lah)
Friend: 'Tak apa? Tak boleh, I salah encik patut bagi saman pada saya' (Nevermind? Cannot, I am wrong you must summon me)
Police: 'Tak apa lah, I tau encik orang berbudi bahasa' (Nevermind lah, I know you are a good guy')
Friend: 'Betul ke? Tak perlu saman?' (Are you sure? Not summon?)
Police: 'Tak perlu' (No need)

Like this also can...wanna try next time?

The Departed

I just watched 'The Departed'. May be the original version has indoctinated in my mind, I prefer 'Infernal Affairs' more. The cops also speak too much foul languages, too much until I feel disgusted.






















Which version do you like?

Hectic Week

This blog has been silent for more than a week because I was too busy at work to update it. There was a big issue last week and then our ass were on fire for the following few days. Then there was a UAT and 2-day Zone Meeting followed by a Gala Dinner, it just messed up our already tight duty roster. :(

This is going to continue for quite sometime as Muraly is going to South Africa, Jason, Eric and me will be on vacation in December. Cheng's head will definitely grow bigger and bigger!!!