The waiting game

One for three. Sell off three cars to get one. One sweet ride to be exact. I think I'm 99% sure on the decision. There are always minor niggles on the back of my mind but the decision is final. I won't mention here what I'll be getting, just in case...

However, I'll mention what I won't be getting. Shock of the day is, after all the hoo haa in this blog, I won't be getting the hot rod VW Golf R. Even after being enticed to get it in the exact spec as the blue one I posted here. Why the sudden change of heart? Well, after many years of enduring stiffly sprung cars & mediocre after sales service, I've had enough. Time to enjoy being pampered even if the cost of the new purchase will be expensive. As long as it's still within means then it should spell years of enjoyment. Well you already know the lengthy story about the R. What could have been, the sinking power, horny design & image to boot. Had they allowed me to have a test drive, I might have given in. Your loss.

Next, the seminal Toyota Camry. In high spec 2.5 with free body kit & 3.5% pa. Which would've made for affordable stress free motoring & ownership. It makes the best logical sense to get it. It has almost all the bits I need. Comfort, reliability, decent handling, quiet cruising ability, reasonable luxury, decent warranty & piece of mind. Surprisingly it has seat air conditioning through the perforated leather, this was a big plus for me. Not to mention the immediate availability in the color I want & at a price I could repay in a shorter period. Just one small niggle, it is a handsome & smart looking design but all said and done, a Camry cannot escape the stigma of being an old man's car. 

A more palatable preceived image marque would be an Audi A4 Avant. Practical, handsome, well built in the usual Germanic bank vault vein, with a long warranty period. But that piece of mind cannot be complimented with its appearance because TCY the distributor is not renowned for after sales satisfaction. As I'm consolidating vehicles, it's imperative I am afforded this criteria. Even the enticement of a discounted price on the well specced Avant in a delectable dark chestnut brown leather seats doesn't wisp away this major concern. 

I didn't bother considering a BMW, dealer is too snobbish. It may be the best handling cars in the world, but if after sales is going to be a pain... nuff said.

Mercedes Benz, entry level cars are too expensive & has an identity crisis in my opinion. What's up with that large open mouth grille? I guess the design is not commensurate with the rear wheel driven models. C class upwards fares better but the price of admission is prohibitive spec for spec with its direct competitors, especially the sharply dressed E class.

I'm not returning to my beloved workhorse marque, Ford. The eco turbo petrol engine has staggering on paper power & torque figures. Makes a GTI look ordinary. However, it's time for me to move on to a marque that more suits the class I believe I should be situated at. As snobbish as that may sound, coming to the tail end of my working service, it's time for me to pamper myself (and the family too I guess). Enjoy it while you still can, without causing yourself hardship. But I'm not ready for a Camry yet! Maybe after that. He says. 

Ok so what will I be getting? That will be disclosed in all its glory once the actual vehicle is delivered to me. Its not a Peugeot, nor a citeron. Nay to Kia or Hyundai. Gosh not a Honda or a Nissan. Let alone a Mazda or a Volvo. It's narrowing down... Honestly, I can't wait. I wish it could be tomorrow. They say the anticipation will greatly heighten the pleasure, ooo err! In this case, it's agony.

Cars cars & more cars

There goes my intended purchase of a new iPhone 6 plus... After replacing the rims & two new tyres for the pocket rocket, the battery dies on me. Then the service indicator tells me to do an oil service. $538 smackeroos was the damage later.

I did manage to see what an iPhone 6 plus looks like in silver 16GB. Boy was I shocked to see the massive size. I think it didn't help just before that I was fondling with a Note 4. For a slightly larger screen size the Note 4 looked more compact even with its large proportions. You'd think what's the big deal right? Bigger is always better right? No it isn't, all that hoo haa online is substantiated. It's massive man! It definitely will need time to get used to using it one handed and if you use jeans a lot or have small pockets, Good luck with that.  You'd probably can still slide it in but you certainly can't sit comfortably with it inside your pants pocket let alone your back pocket, unless you want to experience "bendgate" for yourself.

Anyway I digress. Back to the second portion of girls, girls, girls... I mean cars, cars, cars! Holiday mood got the brain in neutral. We all enjoy ogling at cars at the show room right? Well, I dislike it, especially the aftertaste or sudden realization that you want to get one. You start salivating over if not the latest & greatest, a spanking offer to offload the current generation to make way for the new model. Ignorance is bliss I tells yah. It's a good thing car makers don't change models as often as smartphones. Otherwise I'll be screwed, changing cars every year. 

Sooo... New impromptu development. Managed to sell off both the pocket rocket & the gyrator. How did I do that?  All in one day even. Now I have no ride. Gyrator has been snapped up by none other than kambomambo tonight after he defied all odds by driving a manual on his bum left leg. I was in awe, nay, in shock as he performed this miracle. It was probably two decades since he last drove a stick shift in the legendary flying red pug. A marvel of a vehicle which literally took flight before meeting its untimely demise. Meanwhile, the dental fillings removing, stiffly sprung pocket rocket will officially be off my hands tomorrow morning. After which will begin the, to buy or not to buy, a single new car to replace the workhorse & the weekend warrior rolled into one.

I told you it was cars, cars & more cars.

Mindie needs new shoes

The recent spell of downpours has me worried about driving Mindie around with rear tyres on its thread wear indicators already. So this Saturday's activity was to get that done & remove the layer of crud from its sexy body too. She's such a dirty dirty femme fatale. I woke up early on the start off my weekend just for you.

Since I was just here at iWax not so long ago to do the same routine for the pocket rocket, why not do the same convenient process all over again and have a satisfying seria kwey teaw while waiting. 

By the time they were done with alignment I only just finished my satisfying brekkie. Now it's waiting for the queue at the carwash. Mine was 5th in line. By the looks of it they are just completing the 2nd car & starting in the 3rd. Whoooppeee! I estimate this will take at least another 1 1/2 hours till my car's done our worse case, it's turn. I can wait, I've waited longer than that but as my digestive system does its business on the seria kwey teaw, I may need to do my business soon too. Erk! I spoke too soon... 

Uuuu... One of the privileges of coming to this place for so long, you gain a good rapport with the staff. Especially my time at the carwash since this place was opened. The'senior' guy just approached me & offered to polish my car at home over Sunday since he noticed I haven't been back to do it in years. I might take up the offer since for obvious reasons it will be cheaper than getting it done at the shop. 

Getting back to Mindie's new shoes, it came to a total of $260 inclusive of 4 wheel alignment. Cheap! Compared with GTI's $500. Mind you, the Goodyears this time are made in Thailand instead of Germany. I'm sure, made in the land of smiles is decent enough for Mindie which normally travels an average top speed of around 100kph only nowadays, to adhere to the max speed regulations. As long as these tyres have good comfort, not noisy & have good wet performance, there shouldn't be any issues. 

Happy Eid ul Adha ya'll

"Freedom! I live to fight another day!"

The poor humble bovine, has now become the source of humor. At least once a year. I believe this poor feller was trying to escape to India. Its dream land. 

Miri Musings

II write this as I stand outside MS Read waiting for the missus. Not ready to wander around by myself yet & something to keep me occupied. One interesting thing to note now is that there is no longer any money changer in Bintang Mega Mall. No reasons given. Everyone here doesn't know why. "Saya tida tau" is the standard answer. Although Miri has developed drastically compared with us infrastructurally. It still lags behind in terms of the service industry (unless you're in a major hotel), and free public internet is super super slow here, even by our standards. Now, we have to go back to the stone ages & stop by the money changer as our first stop upon arrival. This was like 20 years ago, what gives Miri? This must have been recent as last week people were thronging here & no one complained about it when they got back. 

Three hours later... I now sit at a reflexology joint, not to get a massage but to sit & wait for... Yes you've guessed it, the missus. I'm done going round the mall. In fact done going round aimlessly after getting kambomambo's skin care products. You sissy boy! I managed to use your membership card & they even have a freebie pack thrown in.'Nice' lady even tried to convince me to get some product for myself. Unfortunately she wasn't convincing enough or she only rub rub the product on my arm via a cotton pad. That's not gonna cut it.

Now I've convened to Starbucks for the remainder of the day. I'm seated at the corridor entrance because I felt too cold in the main area. The only drawback is my iPong can't latch on the free WiFi long enough to run internet. Tried the iPad mini & still no go. Boo! I did bring an Android device with me which might work, but since I've already started composing on my iPong with no connection to save it online, I might as well continue here for now, since I've got a few things to get off my chest about this trip. Remember I mentioned earlier about the lack of currency exchange? Well, apparently there is an enterprising individual at this shop who is taking advantage of the demand. I'm not sure how much he is getting from this but he's charging a decent rate at 1 ~ 2.52 exchange rate. I didn't take advantage of this service opting to go plastic all the way but as I watched the ensuing throng of people desperate to start spending, I couldn't help but wonder if this is all legal. It is after all a tiny shop selling watches & knick knacks. Where is he getting his money from to cater for all the demand? Apologies for the poor quality of the image as it was taken in the fly on my camera phone. I know, I know, an ipong6 plus with OIS would've produced a better result. 

Here Starbucks has decided, like Mabohai, to give me a new name. Btw the red velvet cake is a little hard & the coffee is so so, our beribi branch is better. It is extremely annoying sitting here right now, on the table opposite of me, the guy is breathing like he's snoring. Maybe he's asleep with his eyes open because he appears to be doing his assignment on a laptop with his lady friend. Then there's the family in front of me with the screaming baby. It doesn't help with my headache right now. The initial loveliness of the streak brunch at Kenny Rogers roasters earlier is but a fleeting memory now. Oops making a move now.

Just arrived back home. Now at Neptune seafood restaurant for dinner. Short trip? No, I've been on shorter trips before just to collect prescription glasses & coffee. Incidentally, I "carpet tripped" & got a new pair of prescription glasses. This old man now has to use multi-focals & they're not cheap if made back home. I wasn't intending to get anything but this offer was too good to refuse. A pair of Red Bull Racing frames with Nikon lenses for the princely sum of RM1.6K (reduced from nearly 2K). Seems pricey till you consider the frames are the latest design & the Nikon lenses are multi-focals. Back home that price is for the lenses alone! This is an unplanned purchase which eats into the ipong6 fund but in my defence, this was my only purchase made other than the cost for brunch & the obligatory coffee. Will have to return in a few weeks time, bodes well with my approved 4 day leave in 2 weeks time.

Amirica!

TGIF! Brain core is shutting down. Mong mode is a go for 100%.

I'm off to Miri tomorrow for a day trip, so I won't be posting anything unless I have oodles of time while sat in Starbucks & have something to write home about. It's been a while since I'm back there. Always more than the 3 month approval period. So I have to keep applying every time I'm there. What an annoyance. At least less of my hard earned gets splashed out over there. Not that there's much of it at the moment. Still saving up for the impending iPong present to myself. Scheduled service of the little red pocket pocket & a pair of new Nangkangs for the black work horse.

Maybe when I return I might even get to see & read about about the E250 AMG debacle in all its gory details. Hint hint. Also maybe even get to hear about Vaperine who seemed to have fallen from the face of the earth since last week. Must be holed up in a cave somewhere, doing good knows what with his extremities. We miss your ramblings bruh! 

Thank you & enjoy your long weekend people. In the case for Kambomambo, no difference there! Probably doesn't even know what day it is today. Funny guy.

10 Things You Didn't Know about...

No judging please, this is useful knowledge for the metrosexual male of the 21st century.

So why are we always horny? Maybe males talk about it more openly than females? We all know how frisky they can be right? Those who are gettin' some that is! :8P Petwaaang!!

New code word, "Sharky" instead of the feline word.

How many can YOU do in an hour? Answers in the comments box please!

Uuuwow!! What a gadget to have! That's like our water boiler at the office, I will never look at it the same way ever again!

 Umbrella? Yoghurt? This is getting too much for me to take.

Speculum defined: a metal or plastic instrument that is used to dilate an orifice or canal in the body to allow inspection. Sounds painful yet arousing at the same time!

Did you know, in our "perambahan" it is also called "sarung keris"? Don't say you never learn anything new from this blog.

DRROOOP...!!

Above quote from the Beastie Boys, applies to the daily decent of the iPhone 6 & 6 Plus prices. Retail prices of the iPhone 6 has come down to more sensible levels after nearly 2 weeks in the unofficial market. Although, 64G & 128GB 6 Plus are still fairly lofty.  

Courtesy mobilesquare.com as of 01 October 2014

I'm sure the price will drop again tomorrow. To quote Mr T, "I pity the fool!", who bought their iPongs at $500 to $1K premium. My birthday is coming up soon, a new iPong 6 Plus would certainly hit the spot, nudge-nudge wink-wink.

On an unrelated note, 8 posts on, Kambomambo & Vaperine have not posted in the blog yet! Comments doesn't count. Come on you mongsters!