Home Of Tong

Ok, this post came a little late again, Denver is 8 on 9 June 2008 and we had a little family gathering/celebration on the 8 June 2008, which is a Sunday. Where is an easy place to post the picture, facebook is one of them. So here you go, enjoy the day’s event on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26604&l=4035c&id=655884894

I read in after I registered my Digg account and find it very interesting. After reading it, I realize that I too have become an email addict and I probably need help to get out of it. Then again, maybe I do not want to get help, maybe I love to be an addict. The feelings of seeing emails arriving in my emails just seems so good! When I think further, I realize that it’s not just email, I love to open the letterbox and hope to see tons of letters. On the occasions where there are not a single letter, I actually feel disappointed! So maybe I am just a mail (whether in physical or electronic form) addict.

Reading on to the articles, there are indeed some very good suggestion on how you can get your life back. If you find yourself checking for emails every 5-10mins, you should start reading this article. It ended off with some nice email organization tips, all of which I already practice.

read more | digg story

2008 is an exciting year for sports fans. With the Beijing Olympics to look forward to, and of course the F1 race coming to our Lion City. You can find out more about the F1 race in Singapore here. Besides that, this years F1 will be more exciting than last year as we have Iceman Kimi defending his title with his new look Ferrari, Whiner Alonso back to Renault where he won his 2 Championship titles, and of course, the not so rookie anymore Hamilton, who will most definitely be the lead drive for McLaren this year.

Before the F1 happening in Singapore, there is the Formula Drift event that promises excitement level as high as the F1. With cars doing stunts you never see before. Drift, slide, collide as they say it. This is the first time this event is happening in Asia, and we in Singapore have the chance to see it.

The Barclay Premier League is increasing looking like a 3-way race (vs only 2 last season), even though when I say this I really hope it will be a 4-way race (as you know, my beloved Liverpool looks to be out of it). Man Utd and Arsernal look the best bet unless Chelsea’s sugar daddy starts to whip out his cheque book during the Jan transfer window and do some serious buying.

The Champions League looks like having another exciting ending with all the major clubs going through. Will it be an English club this time round? Or will the Italian’s prove to be the major stumbling block again? How about the Spaniard? Will they finally wake up from their slumber? Or is there a chance for someone else to sneak the crown?

So, let’s look forward to another exciting year of wonderful sporting events.

With oil price hitting US$100 a barrel before easing slightly, I wonder if there will be another round of petrol price increase soon. It has become more and more unbearable to drive a car, as petrol price has gone up by at least 20% in the last 1 year. So if you are pumping 98 octane petrol and driving a car with a 50 litre tank, you will be paying some S$20 more per tank. So if you pump and average of 4 tanks a month, you will be paying close to S$1000 more per year.

This may be lose change for some people, but for the majority, this is a significant amount. And for those who travel more, the amount obviously goes higher. I reckon I will be paying in the region of S$1500-S$1600 more every year as a result of the increase, and this is if there are no more increase, which seems impossible. According to ‘analyst’, oil price could hit US$120 before it comes down. By the end of the year, there could be possibility of it dropping to US$80 per barrel. Even if it is so, is there a chance for petrol price to come down? I personally feel the chance is very low. They will probably tell you operation cost has gone up more than the petrol cost, and the increase in petrol price just help to offset part of the operational cost increase.

So what is the alternative? Take public transport? But for those who are used to driving, this is an extremely difficult step to take. Change to a smaller CC car? If you are single, it will probably be easier to do that compare to if you have a family, for practical reason. Change to a more fuel efficient car? If you have taken full 10 year loan (with full amount) during the time where 10year loan was first allowed, many will be caught in a situation where their outstanding loan is more than their current car value, thus they will either choose to take cash rebate to ‘top up’ the difference, or to come out with their own hard earned cash, or to do over-trade. Any of this method puts additional financial strain on the car owner, especially if you take the cash rebate or do the over-trade. So consider carefully if this is the right choice for you.

The last method (that I can think off) is to convert your car to use CNG. Currently this does not seems like a good choice as the only CNG station is in Jurong island. But with the expected opening of a station in Jalan Buroh and Mandai in 1st quarter 2008 and another 2 stations by end of the year. Conversion cost is anywhere from S$2000 to maybe S$4000, you will have to email to the company doing the conversion with your vehicle make to see how much it cost to convert your vehicle. Typical ROI (return of investment) is around 2 years, but depending on how much you travel, it could be longer or shorter. Some owners reportedly say converting to CNG helps them save as much as 50% of their fuel cost. So taking my earlier example, there is a potential savings of more than S$2000 in the first year alone. A conservative figure of S$1000 savings per year should be easily achieved. The downside is, again, depending on car make, you might need to sacrifice boot space for the CNG tank.

Contrary to what many might believe, CNG is less flammable than petrol and the tank is usually stronger, thus leakage is less possible. So CNG on the whole is a safer fuel than petrol or gasoline. So the myth that putting a CNG tank in your boot is like putting a bomb in your car holds no water.

So will I consider converting to CNG? Well, once the Mandai station is up, I may give it a serious thought. With the amount of petrol going into my tank every year, I foresee myself getting my ROI in less than 2 years easily. So it makes perfect sense. Oh, just in case you are wondering if your CNG tank goes empty and the CNG station is nowhere in sight, the petrol will actually kick in to continue to supply fuel to your engine.

So, what will be your choice? Think about it and see if you need to do anything to ease the current petrol ‘crisis’.

Kimi who? Some of you might ask. But if you really have no clue about him you have just missed the Formula 1 race of the season.

You see, yesterday, or rather, early this morning (at midnight actually), drama unfolded in the last F1 race of the season at Sao Paolo, Brazil. Not since 1986 has there been a 3 way fight for the Driver’s Championship going into the last race. The standing before the race goes like this:

• Lewis Hamilton, McClaren, 107pts
• Fernando Alonso, McClaren, 103pts
• Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 100pts

Hamilton is expected by many to take the Championship during the last race but crashed out. Still, many expect him to still win the Championship as long as he can get a podium finish, something which he had consistently did during the course of the season. Alonso can only win the Championship if he wins the last race and hope Hamilton falls out of the top 3. For Raikkonen, or Kimi as I like to call him, the race is a lot tougher. He will need Alonso to finish 3rd or lower, and Hamilton to finish out of the top 6, and he himself needs to win this last race for any chance to win the Championship. Nobody really gave him a chance to win as all eyes are focused on the 2 McClarens

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But nobody expected the Ferrari to change the script. Massa at pole and Hamilton 2nd, followed by Kimi and Alonso on 3rd and 4th respectively. The stage seems set for Hamilton to win, but Ferrari had other ideas. The 5 red lights go off signaling the start of the race, at turn 1, Massa went in front of Hamilton, blocking him and allowing Kimi to move pass Hamilton, Kimi almost went pass Massa at the same time but Massa kept cool and fight hard to maintain the lead. Ferarri 1-2. Hamilton immediately tried to fight back to go pass Kimi, but only to give Alonso the chance to overtake him into 3rd position. A panicky Hamilton (that’s how I envision it) tries to win back 3rd position from Alonso but overdid it and went off course, joining back out of the top 8. So it’s Massa-Kimi-Alonso taking the lead and Hamilton at a distant behind.

Nothing is going to stop Hamilton from challenging though and he fought back to be in the top 8 only to be let down by a gear box problem, dropping him out of the top 8 again. In the end, his 3 stops strategy failed to work in his favour, while the Ferrari, especially Kimi, have an absolutely perfect race. Kimi overtaking Massa after the 2nd pit stop and lead all the way to the chequered flag, with the McClaren simply unable to keep pace. Alonso finished some 57s behind, and Hamilton, a lap behind at 7th.

So, a perfect race with a perfect result help Kimi and Ferrari achieved the almost impossible as Ferrari clinched both the Driver and Constructor Championship for the F1 2007 season. Next season will be another excellent season to watch as Kimi tries to defends his title against Hamilton who would have absorbed this season’s experience, and Alonso will be gunning for the Championship too, most likely with a new team (or old team), and I reckon it will probably be Renault. Massa will be no pushover too after winning 3 races this season, and only some unfortunate mechanical problem causes him to be out of the Championship race this season. Also, with a possible night race in Singapore and some new tracks added to the calender, next season promises to be quite spectacular.