Favorite pasttime...

This week has not started well enough. The previous week, I some workout in (at least 5 in total) but as of today I have not been able to get my fat arse to the gym, either on the erg or the stationary bike or weight bench, even to the courts (basketball, not the judiciary manage to put inones).

Hmm, so what happen yesterday? Let see, started my work with two meetings back to back, 830am to 1030, and then 1130am til 1pm. No trip to the gym during lunch hour, as I take yesterday as a rest day as Sunday had been a two workout session day. Felt good (with the rest and all) and had home made sandwich for lunch and dinner...

Today, looking forward to work out in the gym during lunch hour but forgot that I'm supposed to be somewhere else by lunch hour for a discussion and programming workshop and needs to leave the office by noon. Oops, how could I forget about that? And just as I was leaving, one of my colleague is having a pizza party... Alamak! Food and eating... the Malaysian favorite past time :(I manage to limit myself to just one slice of pizza and rushed off for my workshop. Good workshop and discussion and it renewed my interest in programming. Back in the office by 430pm and my colleagues had actually set aside a few slices of pizza for me. I LOVE them (my colleagues, not necessarily the pizza..). Hmm, finish my work and thought about basketball but...

In the end today, I stayed back in the office, did some more research AND not going to the basketball courts. Two days in a row of not working out. Maybe tomorrow then. NO! Definitely tomorrow... must work out! Must! MUST!

Lunch hour tomorrow, Nick is giving all of us a treat. At the 'grilled fish' place. Grilled fish place behind the palace. Another lunch hour workout is going down the drain... again.

p/s Btw, the pizza my colleagues left aside for me, is going
to be my breakfast tomorrow. Am not eating them today. At all.

Think Tank...

Lex II: Mutationem motus proportionalem esse vi motrici impressae, et fieri secundum lineam rectam qua vis illa imprimitur.

In the line of our work (for me and my colleagues), it is expected of us to do research to understand the inner workings of the human body, to enable them to achieve citius, altius and fortius...

One of my friends asked me, what do I do actually. I told her that...
"My work? I'm just some low level worker. Its not that complicated just a matter of applying the concept of physics (F=ma etc) in relation to the human movement, to enhance performance using superior technique or tactic intervention.

So, we need to know our physics, human anatomy and physiology at a good level and some mathematics. Some biomedical, engineering and mechatronics knowledge would help. Thats why I'm currently learning some programming language to enable us to customize our solutions with our equipments, as most of it are custom built to our requirement...

Most of the time we will be doing analysis of the human movement, using either videos, infra red cameras, accelerometer and even aerodynamics and drag testing, force platforms, electromyography, GPS, load cells, lots of mathematical calculation eg inverse dynamics etc, and constantly looking into ways to improve an athlete's performance. We also do material testing eg fabrics, shoe-surface traction etc. We are also interested in reducing the probability of injury with our clinical section..."

Hahaha, to think that I actually slept through Physics classes in school (poor Mr Aw), and now I'm using the concept of Physics for my work, doing calculation with mathematics...

Who'd think that I'd be doing this for life... and loving it.

The Latin words at the top of the post refers to Newton's 2nd law, law of acceleration...

Losing my mind...

Yesterday was littered with incidents of sorts that makes me wonder, "Am I losing my mind?". Not of the psychiatric kind but it seems to me that I had became more and more forgetful of late. This might have something to do with mid-life crises, I guess, hehehe...

Yesterday morning, I was supposed to go kayaking with a friend. As we are to meet up at around 8am, I thought of putting in an hour of so of cycling beforehand. So, there I was, preparing my bike and equipment for the ride. Woke up early enough, grab a light breakfast, put my bike, helmet etc in the car and out of the house by 7am. 15 minutes later, reached the meeting point and proceeded to set up my bike. D#@N! Of all things, I forgot my bike shoes! How am I going to cycle as my bike has clipless pedals on them. For those who are uninitiated...

Clipless pedals (also clip-in or step-in) require a special cycling shoe with a cleat fitted to the sole, which interfaces with a locking mechanism on the pedal. The pedals on your bike really serve only one purpose- as a means to transfer power from you to your bicycle, and be efficient at transferring power from you to your bicycle without pain & fatigue. This is my clipless pedal :)

So, it seems like I HAVE to cycle with my running shoes. Not the most efficient way to do it but it beats running or jogging for 60 minutes. Less impact on my knees is better. My knees has been acting up since I put on the extra kilos. Affected my basketball game as I have been losing my vertical jump, cant rebound anymore. Verdict: Need to lose those kilos... fast!

Back to my morning, luckily for me, my friend send me a text message telling that they'll be a bit late and it gives me another 20 minutes extra of cycling. Not complaining at all. Kayaking session went well, had late breakfast and went back to rest. Did some grocery shopping during lunch time, then some household chores at home and get some rest.

In the afternoon, went for basketball. Had a long warm-up and shoot around. Knees seems to hold up quite well except for some instances during the game which felt like giving way due to sudden changes in direction. Win a few games, lost a few. Finished at around 710pm, took off my Polar transmitter and spend a few minutes talking to my friends. Drive home around 730, dropped by at a convenience store to buy some bread, then I realised... I cant remember where I'd put the HR transmitter.

D#@N! Not again! Do not tell me I left it at the courts? Rushed back there, and searched all over the place. Its already dark, and I used my car headlight to illuminate the courts area. Look for it in the car, in the boot. Look in the car and in the boot, AGAIN. The HR transmitter remains elusive, not seen anywhere. Aargh! This will cost me serious money. Then, resigned to the fact that its nowhere to be found, with a heavy heart I went back home...

Then, as I was preparing to bathe, I finally realised that my HR transmitter had been dislodged from my chest and its actually resting at the waistband of my shorts. No wonder I could not find it anywhere else... because its on me all this while. Silly me...

2006 in retrospect...

When I was listening to the radio this morning, the topic on radio was, "Whats the most memorable thing that had happen to you in 2006?". Hmm... it got me thinking, what was the MOST memorable things that had happen to me last year then?

Travel wise, 2006 has gotten me places. Been to a few nice cities in Europe, China, Australia and nearer to home, Singapore and Indonesia. My work also means I got to travel to Langkawi and all over Malaysia on official capacity and squeeze in an extra day or two of holidays afterwards. Being in those places, abroad especially, has reminded me that there's no place like home...

Money wise, you win some and you lose some. Still need to be more careful with my money and keep a check on my spending. Credit cards are both a boon and a bane, need to be more disciplined. The car, just another year to go. Manage to save a bit of money, but the occasional splurge do hurt at times. At least I'm not living over my means. Hopefully.

Work wise, the year has started me on a familiar place but ended up in an unfamiliar place. Some office politics aside, I has been given a higher responsibility. Thrown into the deep end of it, I'm lucky to have understanding colleagues (all of you) who supported me and helped me into my new position. A bit more work, slightly more responsibility, different kind of headache AND the pay stays the same, unfortunately, but I guess the learning process is invaluable.

Health wise, I have been sending myself deeper and deeper into the abyss of 'fatness'. No use denying it, I'm fat. Last I check, in these past 5 years, I have steadily increased my weight on average of 5kg per year. My weight now is 95kg, up 25kg from 2001 when I weight in at 70kg. I would like to blame it to all the buffet spread at the hotels I went to be it for conferences, work travel, breaking fast or just to hang out with friends. My 2007? To be at least 10kg lighter by August. Why August? Hehehe...

Relationship wise, where to start? Let us start with friends. Someone said, 'Keep your enemy closest'. We cant do much about other people liking us, but we can learn to like and love people. Generally 2006 was a good year, just having problems keeping tab and in touch with old friends as we move on from Uni, workplace, school and explored other parts of our life, getting a job, married etc. One sad incident though happen at the end of the year, someone very dear to me decided to sever all ties due to some incident which I deem unworthy of the consequences. Sigh. I thought "To err is human, to forgive is divine...". Was I wrong.

Love life? Hehehe... no comment.

Man on a mission Part 1

As human, we grow. Initially at a phenomenal rate, then (the rate) slows down and stabilises. A (growth) spurts here or there is not uncommon, but thats how it is. Still remember being a short, round, chubby teen when I was 15, but shot up almost 15cm in a space of a few months after SRP (yes, it was that long ago)...

Over the years, fitness has been a priority of mine. In school, I do not have the silky skills of Maradona, so I opted for basketball, volleyball and tennis instead (actually, I'm a 'kaki bangku'). After school, played six sports in varsity (adding rugby, softball and handball added to the list). When I started working in the banking sector, I worked out most days in a gym and actually ran the sprints in national competition (100, 200 and 4x100m) while continuing to play volleyball and basketball.

When I got the chance to further my study in another varsity (when I was in my late 20s), I was introduced to another sport, quite foreign to the country. Rowing. It was by chance actually, as I was discovered by a national coach at the varsity. With my height and build, I was drafted into the varsity team and upon winning the national title in 1999, was included in the national team in 2000. Lead out to a major regional game in 2001, I was at my leanest (71kg, 6.9% body fat, a VO2Max in excess of 65ml/kg/min)

After that, concentrated on the remainder of my studies and upon graduation, started working. Apparently, lots of hotel functions, local and overseas travel and most importantly, NOT maintaining a healthy lifestyle will take its toll on your body. Over the last 5 years, I have gained almost 25kg. Unfortunately for me, my tall frame hides those extra kilos quite well. At the end of 2006, I weight in at 95kg.

Something needs to be done...

Time flies....

Ugh! Time flies...

Which is which? Time flies when you're having fun OR is it time flies when you haven't got anything done? Hahaha... Started work today, with intentions of doing at least some of the 'important' things today (please refer earlier posting), but in the end got sidetracked and ended up having more things to do than yesterday...

Looks like I would need to come in to the office tomorrow then... Little wonder my girlfriend thinks there are some beautiful girl hiding under my desk, which would explain (to her, at least) my constant attachment to the office. Hmm, if only it was true :)

Til tomorrow then...

2007

Another year has passed... sigh!

It has been a long time since I was updated this blog. Heck, I kinda stumbled into the site while playing around with the password. It seems the password was workable after all... hehehe

What had happen in the past year? Many things apparently (as I dont really live under a big rock or whatever). Let see, may we have a recap of sorts, shall we? In January, normal stuff. Work and have a bit of fun here and there. February? More normal stuff... hmm, seems like its repeating itself :(

Got promoted (but its not as promising as it seems, no increase in perks or salary whatever, just more work) in the first half of the year, got fatter along the way, steadily gaining kilos over the months and the bike has been collecting dust at home. What have the world coming to?

In the meantime, got to deal with my brother's old flame oh-I-cant-believe-he-left-me problem, and some other tricky relationship matters. Luckily all is plain sailing at work (most of it anyway, cept for some purchasing matters) and I have few good men and women to support me along the way.

Some of my earlier plans need to be reworked (apparently God has other ideas) and as a consequence, datelines have to be met earlier than expected, but its all in a days work... So need to plan better and stick to it a bit more steadfastly.

Need to work on these things pronto... in no order of importance (all are IMPORTANT!)

1. Last year's Finance thingy... some 'pelarasan' needed to be made for cash advances, purchasing
   
2. Some Admin planning work for 2007, especially the evaluation system, SKT and staffing
   
3. Restore some kind of order to my filing system, especially after the 'banjir' a couple of weeks ago...
4. On a personal note, more financial management (save more, spend less)
5. Another (very important) personal note, to lose 9.5 kilos by August 2007. No compromise!
   

Hmm.. hope can get all those done by next week especially #1,2 and 3...