Home Of Tong

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.

After a long ‘absence’, I guess I have to write about this, especially as it just happened, and happened so dramatically. Yes, I am going to write about my beloved Liverpool.

You see, Liverpool visits Everton today for the traditional Merseyside Derby, and any Liverpool fans know that this is THE biggest match of the season, bigger than even the Liverpool-ManU match. It gives the victor bragging rights till the next Merseyside Derby come along. This is especially so for those living in Liverpool. Yes, the blue and the red separate the otherwise quiet and peaceful city and if the team you support wins it, you can lift up your head a little higher walking on the street. Such is the passion of football that those who don’t watch will never understand.

I have been a Liverpool fan since I know what a football is, so moments like this just gets my adrenalin rises up. Most people have been critical of the team this last few weeks, even though they have yet to lose a match in the BPL. You sometimes wonder what you must do to keep the critic happy, and than you think deeper and the answer will come out, “NOTHING”. Yes, absolutely nothing, unless you win 5-0 every match, playing superb attractive football everytime, and don’t change a single player every match. No, after a while they may say you are too one dimensional. So I got sick of reading news after news about this so call ‘expert’, who I wonder if they are so good why is no club clamoring for their signature to sign for them as their manager, who picks on every little fault and expect a perfect game everytime.

Everton vs Liverpool games never fails to keep your heart pumping faster and faster and after a good start, Liverpool faded away and allow Everton to come at them. Just before half time, a rare Sami Hyypia own goal allow Everton to take the lead. I could almost see tomorrow’s headline, “Rafa the tinker-man does it again”, and the sub-headline will read, “Liverpool’s season over after defeat at Everton, no thanks to Rafa rotation policy”.

In the second half, Liverpool started strongly again but failed to press home their advantage, and Everton started to gain confidence. I was particularly impress by Lescott who played the left back position, a position he played for England last week. But Superhero Gerrard is at it again as in one of his now familiar surging run, he was taken down in the box by Hibbert, and been the last man, was rightfully send off by the referee. Kuyt converted the resultant penalty and it is now game on. Strangely, when Liverpool seems to be on top and controlling the situation, Rafa decided to take off Gerrard and replaced him with Leiva, a decision greeted with great amazement and disgust by first Gerrard himself, and than the commentator, the fans, and I sure just about everyone.

I could almost picture another headline. “Rafa blew it by taking Gerrard off”, and the sub-headline will probably read, “What the hell is Rafa thinking!?!”. Pardon me for my language here but I truly believe someone will really write that if Liverpool had lost. But Rafa in the end have the last laugh and the man who replaces him had that kick in injury time that Neville had to save with his hand (just in case you don’t know, Neville is NOT their goalkeeper) and Liverpool got their second penalty of the game and Everton got their second player sent off. Kuyt is up again, same player, same direction, same result. Everton 1 – 2 Liverpool. That’s for bragging rights till the next time we meet.

You’ll Never Walk Alone.

It has been almost 2 weeks since I last blog and boy so many things have happened.

2 Fridays again, I got a shock when one of my best friends, Annie, who is getting married asked me to be her emcee for the night. OMG, this is something that I have not done before, and I asked her to look for someone more experience but if she really need, I will definitely help her out. To cut the story short, I finally agreed to be her emcee.

It was a nerve whacking week as I try to go through the script and rehearse at home, with room door closed. Finally, the day of reckoning came and I met my co-emcee on the day itself. We went through the scripts and make some changes we deem appropriate and wait for the time to start. Everything went quite smoothly except during the second march-in when after we finish introducing, the music didn’t come on.

I can see the banquet manager frantically calling the guy in charge of the music via the walkie talkie, “Why no music?”. Later I found out that the couple, who are right outside the door, heard that too. Imagine how they must have felt like!

After another guy ran towards the music control room, did the music finally came on. Thankfully, everything went on well after that and I will finally able to go ‘off-duty’ after the Yum Seng ceremony.

I want to say a big congratulations to Annie and Malcolm and I wish them many many many many many many many wonderful years ahead!!!

I will try to update with some photos, if I do get any from them. Cheers!

It’s August! And many must be wondering why I have not touch on a subject of my passion. Yes, it’s BPL (Barclays Premier League) time!

I have been a Liverpool supporter since I was a young boy, and I have seen their ups and downs over the last 20+ years. From their unbeatable runs in the 80s to their barren run in the 90s, and now a mix of fortunes in the new millennium. The team this year has been one of the best (if not the best) in recent years. Yes, better than when they won the Champions League in 2005, whom I still rate as one of the best Liverpool games ever.

With more than £40mil spent, many said that the pressure is on Rafa (the Liverpool manager) to deliver the league title. But do remember that he did recoup about £20mil for sales of players. Also, this is the first time since been taken over by the Americans that he is able to spend so freely while the other title rivals (namely Chelsea and Man Utd) have spent much (much) more since they were taken over by Russian and American money respectively. I prefer not to talk too much about other teams, so I will want to spend some time talking about my thoughts on some of the new recruits this season and what I have seen so far.

Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, £21.5million)
First up is definitely the capture of the season, and I believe the the record buy for the season. Someone that comes with such a high price tag will no doubt raise quite a few eyebrows. Is he worth it? Will he crack under pressure? But from what I seen so far, he seems to be a excellent acquisition by Rafa and if he continue the form he is showing, his value will no doubt soar.

One will have to look at his goal against Chelsea during his Anfield debut last Sun to see just how goo he is. Receiving a long ball from Steven Gerrard, he has Ben Haim to beat, and as if racing pass him is not enough, going from the left side of goal, he even have time to use his right leg to place a perfect shot pass Cech. In one goal, he showed pace, confidence, intelligent play and accuracy. Ok, some of you might think I am exaggerating, but he is that kind of player that will excite you, and I am certain he will be a fan favourite.

But he will still need some time to settle into the premiership, even though he seems quite settled. The BPL is unlike any other league in the world. It pace is scary, it is very physical, and opponents do not let you have time to dwell on the ball. Which is why many big name foreigners do not quite make it in the BPL. But from what I see of Torres, I think with time, he will fit nicely into the BPL and become the 1st Spanish striker to make it to the big times in Anfield.

Ryan Babel (Ajax, £11.5million)
A young winger from Holland at a tender age of 20, and have already become the youngest scorer for the Netherlands National Team. He earn his first professional contract with Ajax, renown for their youth academy. He made his 1st team debut with Ajax at just 17 years of age and have never looked back since.

I have seen him in a couple of substitution for Liverpool in the BPL this season and from what I see, he is a very good winger with very nice touch. He can also play as a striker and have pretty good finishes. If there is one complain, its just that with his pace and skill, he should try to take on defenders a bit more that he did. But a great prospect that is expected to make an impact in the first team this season rather than next.

Andriy Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen, free)
Voronin who? Many wondered when Rafa first announce his acquisition for the Ukrainian. But he has turn out to be a bargain buy of the season (coming at absolutely zero dollars). He is confident on the ball, and his shot pack a punch. He also have good movement, and his build make him a suitable BPL type player.

He has already show his worth with a couple of goals, one which is the important away goal against Toulouse in the Champions League qualifier.

Yossi Benayoun (West Ham United, £5million)
This is one purchase I am not too sure about. Have yet to see him play (the Champions League qualifier is not telecast), so I will reserve my comment about him. But seeing him played for West Ham last season, I have to admit that it didn’t leave a deep impression in my mind. Perhaps Rafa saw something that I didn’t, afterall, his extensive network of scouts will certainly bring him detail reports of the player.

With other purchases over the last 2 years gaining valuable BPL experience, it will certainly make this years challenge very interesting. But the surprise pack for the season seems to be Man City, making a perfect start for their 1st 3 matches, and yet to concede a goal (the only team to have done that), Eriksson seems to have displayed his eye for talent (in club football) and his knowledge of the game. It is still early days yet but the signs are looking good for them. Perhaps, a challenge for a European place is not too far fetch.

This is going to be another interesting week, with big games you should not miss includes:

Sunderland v Liverpool (you should never miss a Liverpool match)
‘Live’ on Football Channel Ch27 on 25 Aug 2007 (Sat) @ 7.45pm (SGP Time, GMT+8)

Arsenal v Man City
‘Live’ on SuperSports Ch22 on 25 Aug 2007 (Sat) @10.00pm (SGP Time, GMT+8)

Man Utd v Spurs
‘Live’ on Football Channel Ch27 on 26 Aug 2007 (Sun) @11.00pm (SGP Time, GMT+8)

You’ll Never Walk Alone!

I am one of the lucky ones who manage to catch the NDP07@MarinaBay Preview show on yesterday. It was one of the most spectacular NDP show I have seen. With the NDP moving to the waterfront for the first time, we are able to see a display of Air, Land and Sea combining to give the audiences a wonderful experience that you never seen before.

But I have only one complain. The logistic for crowd control needs to be improved (by a fair bit) for the actual day show to give the audiences a total experience. While I know the need to scan everyone for security sake, especially with the threat of terrorism that never goes away, a lot more can be done.

I think there should be an announcement to all ticket holders to come in as early as possible to clear the security checkpoint. There were no mentioned of this anywhere and most was caught unaware. Ticket holders should be advise against bringing in any sharp objects or liquid to speed up the security check. For that matter, to bring as little things as possible.

There should perhaps be some booths in the area for them to catch a bite or to do a little shopping, this will encourage them to ‘enter’ the arena earlier and avoid the big squeeze. More X-Ray machines need to be brought in as the number of machines simply could not cope with the crowd.

Even after clearing the security checkpoint, the problem does not end. As I am allocated the seats on the green section, I have to work to the end to gain entry, which is not a problem. When reaching the area, I see queues form to collect the goodie bags, the problem is there is no official ‘lines’, so people are just queuing not knowing if that is the right queue, and you can see some cutting queues as the line is not define. There is also no problem signs nor people to direct the crowd. With 3 queues (sometimes it becomes 4 or 5 or 2) forming to collect the goodie bags, it is then converge to 1 staircase to get to the seats. This is the puzzling part. With easily 4 staircase available just for the green sector alone, why only allow 1 staircase to be used? This create a huge rush and a big squeeze all over again. Imaging some 5000 people using 1 staircase, which I have to say, is not very big too. And there is absolutely no crowd control as there is 1 poor soul trying to control a crowd of 5000. By the time I am on my seat, I missed almost the entire pre-program, this is despite the fact that I started to queue to enter the arena at around 4+.

The show itself is quite something, if you do not have the tickets to the actual show, make sure you catch it on TV. I promise you it is something you will appreciate. The use of water is especially eye-catching and interesting, something which the previous 2 locations (Kallang and Padang) cannot provide. Watch out also for the special performance put up by the SAF to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The fireworks is just stunning and they promise you lots of it this year. So much that you thought it will never end.

After the show, we did get dismissed by all 4 staircase and it is much faster and smoother. At this point I still wonder why they don’t allow this in the first place. Than, a small situation arrived, the entire road is block up and we are no allow to go out from the way we came it, and have to go all the way to almost the Raffles Link before we can ‘break out’. A small inconvenience but again, instructions or signs or someone to direct the crowd will be helpful as some crowd walk one direction and than another not knowing what happen as there was a sudden halt in front.

Overall I give the show 9.5/10 but the crowd handling a poor 3/10. I hope the experiences will be learned as this is the first time in a new location and the crowd on the actual day will enjoy a much better experience.

Happy Birthday Singapore! (in advance).

Having going on in our last post about how disgusting some folks in China are turning out to be by putting profit ahead of human lifes, I am hit by another news much worst than that. The TV station that reported about the “Black Heart (Evil) Bun” (黑心肉包） actually came up to apologise to the nation that the news report is in fact, fake, and is done by some clever production methods.

This just further proved how desperate someone in China is to try to profit from something without any consideration of others. They have misused the power of the media given to them and played on people’s feelings, all for their own fame and glory.  This makes the reporter (or producer) in question on all his pass works of similar themed news.

Looking at this news ‘leak’, there are 2 schools of thoughts out there. 1 group can’t stop cursing the media for doing such things, the other, wonder if this ‘apology’ is actually a cover up of something that actually happened. I will take my fence on this but will want to look at what it means if the news is indeed fake.

If the news is really fake, it just brings me to wonder how much of the news that I digested each day are true, or part true. The power of the media cannot be underestimated. With so many things happening around the world, unless we take the time to go through every news and cross check with out sources, we usually just believe news that we read or heard, especially if it comes from our national newspaper or TV station. We assume that the reports are true as we trust in the integrity of the reporters, the newscaster, and the producers. But as in the case of the cupboard bun, we know that ASSUME makes and “ASS out of U and ME”.

In every story, there are 2 sides, and if the newspaper take 1 side, and report a part of it, we will be made to believe that is the truth. For example, I was watching this show on TV called “微笑 (smile) Pasta”. It is a fairy tale story about an ordinary woman who mean this superstar and how they got together. In one of the episodes, one media company, in the name of finding the ‘truth’, send out all his man to gather evidence that their relationship is a fake. So the story goes about this man (the superstar) who went to rescue his ex-girlfriend who is surrounded by a group of gangster. He defeated them but the woman (the ex-girlfriend) fell into the water and he went down to rescue her again (the 2nd time). When they are out of the water, the ex-girlfriend is so fill with gladness that she kissed him. This was witness by the man’s girlfriend who just arrived at the scene with the man’s brother. Naturally upset by what she see (not knowing the full story), she began to cry and the man’s brother started to console this. All this is captured by the report on photos and the photos of the kissing scene and the crying scene (on the man’s brother’s shoulder) are threatened to be published. The story could go something like this. Superstar and ex-lover rekindle their love story which current girlfriend weeps in the arms of his brother. This would be a sensational story and the newspaper is sure to have their ratings go up by a few notch. Only problem is, nothing is further from the truth.

So we see how the media can manipulate (sorry if you find this word is too strong) the audiences into believing something that may or may not happen. We need a strong body to regulate and punish those that make up stories just to help them sell their papers. I remember a report by a local tabloid who published a picture of someone who has a pig head (yes, as in P I G, pig) and a human body, and the report claimed that it is a result of a woman have sexual intercourse with a pig. I personally do not think this is true and I am disgusted that they will published something like that without checking the facts.

So the next time you read a piece of news, especially if it is something quite sensational, take it with a pinch of salt.

Ever wonder if the food that you put in your mouth are edible? We use to have no worries and just put into our mouth whatever is presented before us, and even when we travel we want to taste the real local flavour. Food from the streets, back alley, make shift store, to eat what the local eat. Well, my advise is, be careful what you eat.

China, already known for many ‘fake’ food stuff, are at it again. This time, the basic staple food for many Chinese, the meat bun (bao), are not what it seems. The ‘meat’ is actually make up of 60% cupboard (yes, this is not a typo) and 40% of mainly fatty meat. The hard cupboard is actually soften through industrial chemicals and than chop to very find pieces, mixed with the fatty meat, and becomes the ingredients in the meat bun.

Eating it piping hot, you might not taste the difference, according to the seller, but he admit that he and his family don’t eat them. Why is this happening? It is believed that since the fall of communism, many people in China cannot grapple with the sudden freedom and have their mind set on one thing, earning as much money as possible, thus ignoring all things (including their conscience), to reach their goal.

When question on the motive for using cupboard, the answer is simple, for better profits. I hope that the authorities will do more to curb this type of things from happening (even though I know it is hard for them to do so). Meanwhile, be careful what you put into your mouth.

Here is the full report:

Today I heard something from the radio (Class95) that makes me sad and want to laugh at the same time. It talks about a guy who tried to kill his girlfriend by stopping the car on the train track where there are oncoming train. He ran out of the car and tried to run away while leaving the girlfriend strapped inside the car.

And yes, the unthinkable happen, the train hit the car right on. Normally, the end result is only one thing, the death of the passenger in the car, which sadly is the girlfriend. But wait! The train hit the car so hard that the car flew in the air, and lo and behold, the car landed on the runaway boyfriend and killed him instantly.

There’s more! The girl survived the ordeal and is in a stable condition. What a miracle! The killer became ‘killed’ without anyone’s doing but his own.

So yes, I was sad, that the guy actually made the move to want to kill his girlfriend. No matter what happen, murder is NEVER the solution. And what makes me want to laugh (I sorry if you are offended) is the way it ended, I can’t stop picturing the guy trying to run away, look up and saw the car coming right at him and ‘bang!’ he is flattened. I thought such things only come in the form of a movie, but here we are, something that happened in real life.

You can read the full report at the ABC News Website.

What I learn from this?

1. You shall not murder (Exo 20:13 NIV) – I think this is pretty obvious
2. Don’t run near the train track – It can kill
3. Love your wife/girlfriend – Treasure them as they are precious

So the next time you want to start a quarrel with your wife/girlfriend, think about this incident and try to cool it down before you speak to her again, words spoken in the heat of the moment are most hurtful and can have very undesirable results.