Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tyre air pressure

Check your car tyres air pressure at least once a week. Today I realized that my rear right tyre was slightly inflated. Drove to a petrol kiosk to get it pumped. The settings that I normally pump are FRONT 32psi, REAR 30psi. Using the electronic pumps with the digital meter are more accurate as compared to the manual turn meters (inaccurate and OFTEN spoils!).

Reasons why you should keep them pumped well:
  • Well pumped tyre increases life-span of the tyres
  • Will not have pre-mature wear/tear at the sidewalls
  • Better response on throttle
  • Better handling/control
The higher the psi you inflate, the more compressed the air is and it will make your ride feel bumpy. You can play around with the psi to your preference. For a comfortable ride, you can set 28psi for front and 26 psi for rear. I like mine at 32psi front and 30psi rear. If you drive on highway / long distance, it is advisable to set your tyre pressure at 30psi front and 28psi rear due to a long journey at high speed increasing the air temperature in the tyre thus pressure will rise.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Petrol price down!

So the govt just reduced the petrol price per liter from RM2.70 to RM2.55 (RM0.15 reduction per liter).

Should we be happy over this price reduction?
  • I'm not because the price should never have gone up in the first place
  • The bowl of Pan Mee I eat for breakfast is not going to get cheaper
  • I'd be pissed if this price reduction was to win voters for the upcoming election
  • Chain effect of hike made all cost of living increase, but these costs will not be lower now that we have a 15 sen reduction
Point to ponder:
  1. If petrol gets a further reduction to RM2.00 a liter, will our standard of living adjust with it?

Thursday, August 21, 2008

My fav fruit juice

If you have a blender at home to make fruit juice, you should make these combination of drinks.

Blend 3 stalks of celery, 2 tomato

Blend 3 stalks of celery, 2 green apple

Blend 2 stalks of celery, 1 carrot, 1 tomato

Add some salt if you feel the taste of celery is too strong. Mix around with various veges and fruits for your own preference. Whether its tasty or not, you're still drinking something that is healthy for your body.

Magic the Gathering Nationals 2008

Congratulations to Au Yong for winning 1st at 2008 M:tG nationals. Im sure you will do well in guiding Malaysia to a top finish for Worlds. Also props to Jason Yap in his quest to get a chance to play in Worlds. All the best to you, and may your gravy train of Pro Tours be a long journey.

What happened on Saturday?
  1. I was playing B/G elf and I beat Vincent Gan using Reveillark. He muttered some stuff "...it doesn't take skills to win in Magic"
  2. I did 1-2 for constructed portion, losing to Hwa in 3 games because he dropped a Moat before I could thoughtseize it off thus nothing I could do to handle the Moat.
  3. I lost to Razif in 3 games because he managed to combo off the infinity life gain playing Reveillark and I had no Extirpate at all in my sideboard because I told Mun Yip i won't be needed them (LOL!)
  4. I managed a 2-1 for Lorwyn/Lorwyn/Morning Tide, and I have not seen a single Morning Tide card until Nationals. I stopped Lorwyn right after PT:KL so yeah, drafting was tough!
  5. I drafted a Mono-red elementals deck with the Elemental Lord and some fat elementals + 2 blue cards for gas in mid-late game.
  6. I screwed up my Shadowmore/Shadowmore/Eventide draft because I had no clue what to pick as I never saw those cards before.
  7. I dropped in day 1 after round 7.
I think I did pretty well considering I was inactive in playing magic for almost a year, and had no idea about the metagame and decks until 1 day before Nationals where Mun Yip dropped by to bunk over at my place and lent me his decks. Great fun meeting old friends, but I cant get too serious in the game due to other commitments. I shall be back one day! Perhaps to do better than a 23rd placing in GP:Bangkok!


I will be back next year for Nationals 2009 (to have fun of course!)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Always give 100% at work


The reason why everyone enjoys Fridays and should never work on Saturday and Sundays.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Is a turbo timer needed?

I believe this is most often asked. Let me share my point of view:

Why is it needed?
  • Turbo timer aids you to cooldown your car by a preset timer.
  • Helps you to idle down in order for the oil to flow pass the turbo charger.
  • Idling down prevents oil from getting 'cooked' in the turbo charger.
  • Reduce chances of sludge forming up from high temp.
  • Optional function that comes with it is a good feature.
Why is it NOT needed?
  • You can drive slow and not boost to cooldown your car.
  • Driving at a slow and steady speed allows sufficient air to go through your car.
  • Driving will make the oil pump all round as well.
  • When your car is stationary after a hard drive, its as hot as hell anyway, the longer you idle the hotter it gets!
  • You do not require the unnecessary functions
So conclusion, to get one or not to get?
It can help, especially certain functions are great "think Apexi pen turbo timer which offers O2 reading". If you have the money to spend, go for it, but you can live without a turbo timer for your car as long as you know how to cool down your car before you reach your destination. Just drive slow and not boosting for the last 2km of your journey is sufficient.

Car park tips: Reverse parking.

Ever wondered how those valet car parking guys do it? Parking in tight squeezed places with perfection. Its really simple actually. Take a look at how forklifts maneuver and apply the same driving concept to parking your car.

Benefits of reverse parking:
  • Reverse parking is easier than head first. (Remember, we're suppose to be driving our car as though its a forklift!)
  • You can gauge the remaining space just by looking at your LEFT and RIGHT side view mirror.
  • When you want to exit, driving head first is much easier.
  • Easy for cars that have bad turning radius: Such as van, lorry, pick up truck, 4wd, (EVO's have really awful turning radius!)
Any techniques that can help?
  • Locate your parking lot. Use the pillar / car as your side view mirror object to gauge the spacings.
  • Once you can clearly see the object (pillar for instance), slowly reverse beside it.
  • You will usually need to concentrate in 1 side view mirror, but its also better to keep an eye on the other side just incase.
  • When you are half way into your parking lot, straight your car by moving forwardl
  • Now slowly reverse back straightening your car and position it evenly so that you have ample space for left and right doors to open.
Practice, practice and practice. You will soon find that reverse parking is in fact much easier than entering from the front, and provides you full control.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Car park tips: Avoiding unnecessary damage

Ever wondered how you got those pesky small dents by your car sides? Let me highlight some possibilities for you.

  1. Kids that are excited when they go to a mall. Opens the car doors in a huge swing.
  2. Inconsiderate fat people who requires a huge door space to get out.
  3. Elderly people may be weak, but strong enough to dent your car.
  4. People who pushes their shopping carts and accidentally bumps into you.
  5. List goes on and on and on... you get the picture.
Ways to avoid these 'pimples' on your car.

  • Always look for a parking bay that is next to a pillar. Park closes to the pillar side so you provide ample space for the person parking next to you.
  • A wall behind you guarantees your back/front end of the car will not be damaged by anyone other than the driver themselves.
  • Forget parking bays which have too little space for you to open your door. You are considerate enough not to damage someone else door, but they do not think the same.


Sunday, July 13, 2008

Custom made stickers!

I bought something for my car on Saturday! It's a ZeroToHundred.com sticker with my nick.
This sticker was custom-made, done by Remus from Motorsports Playground in Sunway. He specializes in car stickers, installing communication devices for race cars, selling certain carbon fibre parts and emblems etc.

Check out these stickers! You can custom make anything for your ride!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Evolution 8!

Presenting the Mitsubishi Evolution 8...

The exterior is entirely stock standard, with the exception of the 17 inch OZ racing rims that came with the car.

Some evos have done up with bodykits and they look pretty kick ass. When I park my evo next to them, i feel like they are the real deal and im just a normal sedan family car trying to be macho and all...




This is how the evo looks when its infront of you! hah kidding. The back shot of the evo. It does indeed look very much like a Waja sad to say... One of my colleagues actually didnt know about the evo and whats the hype over it. To them it was just a 4door saloon car and how sporty could it be? The 350z, RX8, Skylines were the sporty cars to them. So as she was muckering about how low my Recaros were, and how low she felt in the car and noisy and all... So I floored my car to let her feel the G's from 1.5bar of boosting and she just zipped up. Heh now that's what I call SPORTS CAR. Looking at them getting shocked was pretty priceless, cos they never thought a 4door saloon could have such acceleration power.. PEW PEW people, this aint a sports car, cos its a RALLY BREED!


GTi evolved to.... the 8!

First car that I had was a Proton Satria GTi. It was a present from my parents. I've always loved cars since high school. I was a crazy GT fan from the Playstation, and back then GT2 was all about skylines, GT3 was all about evos. The more you play these games, the more hooked up you will be to these machines.

Just as how girls have their fashion sense. The Gucci, LV, Prada... Us guys have our own sort of wierd sense. Some guys like to play PC games (World of Warcraft), some guys like to play sports (Futsal), some guys just loves cars (Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi etc)! Sad to say, I fall into all that category for a guy LOL.

The GTi had taught me how to drive. What were the limits of a car, how hard you can push and test a car to a certain extend. I've enjoyed every moment with the GTi, it taught me a lot indeed. >> fast forward <<.. I no longer own the GTi, but something that rather evolved into a bigger, meaner, quicker, and tougher machine. It is no Ferrari, no Lambo, no Lotus, but I bet it gives those a run for their money. Its the Mitsubishi Evolution 8. I've decided to set up this blog in dedication to my new ride. I'll post up my experience driving the car, the things I do with it, to it, with it. I'll try to keep my blog updated frequently so I can review of the times I spent with the car. I wish I had did something like this with the GTi that I had, but back then blogging was not all the hype, and figured why not do it now for my new car. The 8!