Anything Goes!

The Lamp Shade

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:55:00 +0000

I'm feeling a little sorry for Pebbles right now. We just took her to the vets and she's now sporting a nice little 'lamp shade' over her head. She's not at all used to it and is far from happy with having to have it around her cute little head that she practically doesn't want to move at all. She's just sitting there in one place so afraid to move.

As much as I hate to see her with that neck cone, I have no choice but to make sure she has it on for at least a week. A few days ago, she was gnawing at this little spot on her left side and kept on biting, scratching and licking it until it became a wound, which has now spread to two more spots.

She's done this before, biting and scratching at a certain spot and we had to take her to the vet once before but that wasn't as serious as this one. She kept on biting it and licking it and it just wasn't getting a chance to heal naturally.

This morning after going through some webhosting sites for some info on websites, the wife and me decided to take her to the vets and it's a good thing we did cos the diagnosis is, she's down with ring worms and because she was biting that open wound, it's spread to two more sections around the wound. The vet says the ring worm is nothing serious and she just needs some medication and stuff but cos she's licking and biting her present wound, it'll just spread further which is why she's got her own personal 'lamp shade' attached to her.

She's not too happy about it and she'll letting her displeasure show by giving the wife and me the eye ... LOL! She's really not used to it and when she's not used to anything, she won't budge much. I'm ending up carrying her around the house. I'm just going to leave her and she'll eventually have to move if she's hungry or thirsty or needs to use the toilet.

I don't know how she contracted the ring worms cos she's always inside the house. We hardly let her go outside for fear of her contracting stuff like this so it's really a big question mark on how she got this. One probably cause is she got it at the groomers or maybe from the back of the kitchen area, cos that's the only side where she likes to sneak out and stray cats hang out there.

Anyways, at least she's now on medication and we'll have to shave her totally clean once the wound dries up in a day or so to cater to the ring worm healing process, which should take about 3 weeks or so, according to the vet. I'm more concerned about getting her wounds healed cos then we can take out her 'lamp shade' which I'm sure is totally uncomfortable. But it's for her own good, I suppose.

Maybe in a day or so she'll get used to it and will be back to her naught mischievous self instead of sitting here at my feet moping away. I'm definitely going to be feeding her by hand the next couple of days cos I need to spike her food with the anti-biotics tablets that she has to take. Hope she'll recover fast though.

The cost of her consultation and medication is not exactly cheap though. We took her to Healing Rooms, just a few minutes drive away from our place. Her regular vet in Puchong was still closed for the CNY holidays and I didn't want to wait for it to open next week. The vet was pretty thorough and very professional about her work though it didn't come cheap. My medication when I was sick was soooooo much cheaper than hers. I suppose being a vet these days must be a pretty lucrative business.

Now that all that is done, I can go back to looking for website hosting companies to host our company's website. So far I've narrowed it down to either of these two sites, Webhosting Hub or Go Daddy. Hopefully I'll be able to decide which one to go to by the end of today. I can be pretty fickle minded at times :D

All Day Snoozing

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:29:00 +0000

The Chinese New Year (CNY) is just around the corner and the town is going to be a nice quite place the next couple of days or at least I hope so.

Judging from what I heard on the radio and from Facebook updates and tweets out there, the exodus of people going back to their hometowns for the long CNY break has been pretty bad with traffic snarls all around the exits heading out of town.

Which is why I decided to stay home all day today. In fact, I've been sleeping practically the entire day. No, I've not become a lazy bum but I've been busy with a last minute work project that had me working in the bowels of the KLCC LRT station from midnight to 5.00am in the morning for the past two days helping out with installation work for a new ad campaign for a certain ice-cream brand in the country.

It's been a very tiring, not to mention sleep deprived two days and I used the entire day today to get back whatever sleep was lost. I was practically in bed from early morning till this evening, waking up just in time to clock in some mileage for an evening run before the rain came down. Now, I'm back to being sleepy and it'll probably be an early night for me.

I'm totally not used to working in the wee hours of the morning and it was kinda tough for me to adapt the past two days. The amount of work that was required for the campaign was not only laborious, it was utterly tedious. Trying to stay coherent that early in the morning took a huge effort. I'm just glad we managed to get things done and now I'm looking forward for some rest, well not really rest cos I'll probably be using the long CNY break to put in more runs ... hehehe ...

I'm hoping the place is going to be quiet but I'm bracing myself for a series of firecrackers being let off at midnight tomorrow. The firecrackers, though it's banned will always find a way to make an appearance. Speaks volumes for the level of enforcement in this country, ya? :P

I wonder if I'll get any 'ang pow' this year? Maybe one dressed up in a redenvelopes giant gummy bear costume? LOL! But all said and done, have fun during the coming CNY holidays but please remember to be safe on the roads.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all my blog buddies and fellow Malaysians who are celebrating the occassion.

Hot, Down And Out

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:26:00 +0000

I've been out of the blogging loop for quite a while these days. The only times I actually post something are just after a race I've gone to and you're all probably bored to death about reading my running exploits already. I know I would be if I were in your shoes. Come on, you can be honest with me ... LOL!

Nothing much has been happening since the new year. The only thing of note is the fact that I'm swamped with work which is really surprising actually since every year before the Chinese New Year holidays we're practically sitting in the office all day and staring at the four walls. This year somehow it's been pretty different. I don't have time to even sit at my desk, let alone stare at the wall.

Too many rush jobs that need to be settled such as this Alpinestars Ridge Boots flyer, before the holidays start next week and with the current heat wave and my flu spell that I'm going through right now is just making things all the more difficult to cope hence the lack of time to blog.

I need a nice long break to just get away from all these stress for a bit. I would go out and run to try and clear the stress but I'm still suffering from a bout of the flu and the weather is just too crazily hot to run. Maybe when I recover that might be an option but not just yet. The heat is really excruciatingly hot the past week or two, 7.30pm in the evening looks like it's still 4.30pm with the blistering sun!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find some tissues and clear this blocked nose.

The Smart, The Stupid And The Rich

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:33:00 +0000

This has to be the world's smartest little dog. There she was snuggled comfortably under the warm comforts of the comforter while I get up at an insane time of 4am to get ready to torture myself running 12K for a race in KL on a beautiful Sunday morning.

She's probably happy that we're out so she can have the whole bed to herself. Sometimes I think that dog purposely snuggles up under the comforter to show me just how stupid I can be to wake up at ungodly hours on a Sunday!

At least I came home with something after the race, a race that was simply awesome, running under a canopy of greens amidst the dwellings of the rich and famous in Bukit Tunku, a location known for people with vast amounts of money.

Lost In Translation

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:26:00 +0000

This is copied exactly from the Ministry of Defense website (which has since been removed) on dress code procedures. I'm speechless, not to mention laughing my head off. Remember, this is from the Ministry of Defense, the very people who are sworn to protect this country in times of war or whatever threats. But after reading this, I'm not so sure anymore.

I copy pasted it and removed the pics but the text is exactly as it was on the website. Please do read and see the standards of the people in our ministries!

We're probably the laughing stock of the entire planet. But wait, then again, maybe this is a defensive strategy by the Ministry of Defense people, to make our enemies die from laughter ... Hahaha!

You know, you guys in the government can swindle and cheat the public of their money and yet you can't even hire a god forsaken translator who would charge you a measly RM500-RM1,000 to do a respectable job!

Goodbye Old, Hello New.

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Here's wishing everyone a Happy 2012 and may all your dreams and whatnots come true ... sounds cheesy, I know, but heck, I'm a cute doggy and that's what cute doggies say ... BOL!

Oh and remember, party all you want but go easy on the spirits, especially if you're driving!

PS. Hope the fireworks are kind to me. I'm terrified of fireworks. Have mercy on us cute little adorable doggies!

A Look Back ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:06:00 +0000

There's only 9 hours or so left of the year 2011 and all I can say about the year is that it sure zoomed by real fast. It felt like it was only yesterday that I was ushering in the year and here I am once again ushering in an even newer year in a few hours time.

If you ask me to recall some of the things I did this year, I'd be hard pressed trying to recall them. The year in general has been, I won't say great, but a decent one. Career wise, though it could be better but I've few complains. Whatever shortcomings can always be worked out.

It's been two years or so that I've been in this business partnership and while it has it ups and downs, we're at least looking and heading in the right direction for next year with clearer objectives and (hopefully) a better and more successful business plan. But overall, though the risks are there, it's so much more satisfying and rewarding running your own business. So here's to a better business year next year for me :D

On the personal front, things are going pretty well. I'm happy with life and I've learned to control my silly temper so much better thanks to the patient understanding of the wife who had to suffer through many of my oftentimes irrational tantrums. As cheesy as this may sound, I have to be the luckiest bloke on this side of the universe to have her :D

Health wise, I can only say that I'm in much better health than I've ever been in ages, thanks to my reignited passion for running. I can't recall a time, even in my childhood that I felt as good about my health and myself as I do now. The fact that the wife shares this passion for running is an added bonus. I'm looking forward to bringing this good health into the new year and be even more fitter than I am today.

Friendship wise, that has been a bit (well, maybe a lot) lacking on my part. I've only two best buddies in this world and I'm guilty of not keeping in touch as often as I'd like to with them. It's always been, I'll call them or meet up with them next week and before I know it, it's already year end and I still haven't found the time to meet up. That's on my list of resolutions, to make the time to meet up more, after all, they're the only two friends I'm utterly comfortable to be with.

What are my wishes and resolutions for 2012? Gee, I seriously don't know. I don't really believe in making any cos then I'd be hard pressed to keep them ... LOL! But I wish the best for everyone on this planet and for the people of this country. One thing I desperately wish though if for a change in government. It's time for this country to crawl out of the doldrums and the only way to do that is with the present bunch of self serving idiots to vacate the government. I'm hoping that wish of mine comes true during the coming general election. I cannot stress this enough, vote wisely people :D

With that said and done, what's your plan for today, the eve of New Year? Me, I'm going to call it an early night, then wake up at 3.30am tomorrow morning and get ready for a 25k race at 5.30am. I can't think of a more exciting (or insane, depends on how you look at it) way to usher in the New Year :D

Happy 2012, folks!

Good Tidings To You ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Here's wishing all my blog buddies a blessed Christmas and a beautiful New Year. Have fun, party wisely and most importantly be safe :)

These Are The Voyagers ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:06:00 +0000

Christmas is just a couple of days away. I haven't done anything about it yet and here I am sitting and downloading episode after episode of the Star Trek Voyage series and watching them one after another, nonstop all week so much so that I'm beginning to think that I actually belong on a Starship. That would be awesome though.

The wife thinks I'm losing it and seriously cannot see what is so interesting with Star Trek ... LOL! Every time I watch the downloaded episodes, she keeps asking me,

'Don't they do anything on that show except talk, talk and more talk?'

It's not just talk honey, they're discussing how to create a white noise machine to close a temporal anomaly field that is being generated by an unknown lifeform that will destroy the entire universe. So, of course they have to talk, talk and keep talking ... LOL!

I've always loved Star Trek. Ever since I was a kid, I've had this fascination with the series. I can't even begin to count the amount of Star Trek novels that I have which I've read over and over and over and over again. I think I practically have every Star Trek novel that is sold is this country and am perpetually looking for more but alas, even the darn bookshops here don't have any for sale that I don't already own.

So, what does a Star Trek fanatic do? Well, he downloads episode after episode of more Star Trek stuff and watches them one after the other. I've downloaded so many episodes already that my laptop is running out of storage space. This doesn't include the hundreds of Star Trek e-novels and audio books that I've already downloaded in the past. I really need to burn them into DVD's real soon seeing as how I have a whole load more of Star Trek episodes to download and I really mean a whole load more!

I wonder if the wife will agree to me changing my name to James Kirk ... hahaha!

That Time Of Year ...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Christmas is coming really, really, really soon and I haven't even done a thing about it. The tree is not up, the shopping hasn't been done, the music production software for all those yuletide songs haven't been found yet ... gosh, there is just so much to do with so little time.

I wasn't really planning to put up the Xmas tree this year cos a close uncle just passed away last month and out of respect, I decided against a tree. But then, it wouldn't be fair to the kids if I kept the house empty and besides, not that I'm inconsiderate or anything but I'm sure he would want everyone to celebrate and not mourn anyway or at least that's what I tell myself ... LOL!

The thing is, I don't just want to put up any old Christmas tree. I have a theme in mind but that particular theme is going to be hell to do cos I would need to make every single customized tree decor myself by hand and right now I just don't see how I'm going to find the time to do it. Worse still, time is really running out to get things done.

The last time I made a custom Christmas themed tree decor, it took me ages trying to carve a snowscape scene out of nothing. Back then, I had a little more time on my hands. The wife has volunteered to help me make the ornaments but first I got to start designing them and then printing them and then fabricating the base and then and then and then ... you get the picture, right? A lot of work is involved.

I'll give myself till this weekend to at least start the designing process and get things moving from there. Hopefully I'll get the tree up before Christmas :P Maybe I should just stick with whatever decorations I have but that will be no fun at all. We'll just have to wait and see.

While I love the month of December, I also dislike it to a certain extent cos lots of money is going to fly away. There's presents to be bought, Christmas clothes for the boys to be purchased and then there's also all that new school uniform and accessories that need to be ready for the new school year. That's going to put a huge dent on my finances this month.

Oh well, I can't really complain, it is after all the month of giving and receiving and I'm hoping that big fat jolly fellow with the white beard is going to drop a huge sack of a few million dollar notes my way ... LOL!

The Home Run

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:01:00 +0000

My racing for the year is finally completed with the MPSJ 10K a few hours ago. This was the final race for the year and I must say that I'm pretty happy with the run.

I've been looking forward to this race for two reasons. One is because it's so darn near to my house and two is because I wanted to redeem myself for last year's horrible timing. Well, I'm happy to say that I managed to redeem myself by taking 22 minutes off my timing last year by coming in with a time of 50:40 and getting a 14th place finish in my category which earned me one of the very few limited finisher medal :D To say that I'm happy is putting things mildly.

Seeing as how the race was so close by, we woke up later than usual and took a brisk 10 minute jog to the race start location. We didn't have to battle with everyone looking for parking and all that. Besides, I enjoyed that short run together with the wife :D

Speaking of the wife, she's getting to be a regular speed demon these days. She did exceptionally well by taking off a huge 4 minutes off her Nike 10K time last week. I really don't know what to say, soon, she'll be outrunning me. In fact, her mileage this week alone was more than mine :P

There were fewer people this time round, probably due to the many other races being run today as well which broke the crowd up. But the crowd that was there were all enthusiastic with some decked in funny tee shirts eager for race start.

I'm not going to write much about the race. I train on this route quite a bit so I had the advantage of knowing the route like the back of my hand which helped a great deal. I decided way before the race start that I use the 'pedal to the metal' strategy seeing as how it was an easy route with one or two short inclines. The strategy worked well and I'm very pleased with my final race for the year.

Now to take a short well needed break and then start preparations to face the new year's day Newton 25K challenge. That's going to be a bitch!
.

We Run KL

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:29:00 +0000

That shoe looking device you see up there is my Nike 10K We Run KL 'finisher medal'. Most races, you get medals but Nike gives you a shoe like USB device. Well, at least it was way better than last year's toy memento. Pebbles, my regular medal model simply refused to pose with it ... LOL!

While the race was very nicely organized, save for that annoying teens syndrome (you can read all about it in my Happy Feet blog) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a pretty easy route and the run took us through a scenic city route. How often does one get to run around the city anyway. Half the time, I'm stuck in jams along this route so it was nice actually being able to run faster than I can drive on a normal day in town :D

You can be sure of some pretty interesting stuff in most events organized by Nike. They don't really believe in doing things moderately so the moment we reached the race location, we could hear the upbeat music and the event emcee blaring away cheerfully on the speakers. It puts you in a pumped up mood.

Runners making their way to the event location ...

The location was awashed with a sea of red color running tees, the official 'must wear' top provided by Nike. This is the only run that I actually don't get to wear my own running attire cos the bib numbers are printed on the tees, hence the must wear advise.

They entire early morning atmosphere was loud and cheery and Joe Flizzow and Mizz Nina would be performing after the race ends a little later. Both the wife and me enjoyed watching the performance by Mizz Nina after our run before we headed for home. After all, it's not always we get to watch free performances :D

Mizz Nina in action ...

As mentioned above, the run was pretty enjoyable for me. Decided to go with a race strategy of keeping the heart rate in a comfortable zone rather than worry about pace. I thought it worked pretty well with me crossing the finish line in a time of 53:20, not too shabby for an easy 10K run. I just love it when a run comes together :D

Some of the runners checking out the Nike booths after the run ...

The wife did an awesome job with her run, shaving off a huge 6 minutes off her previous 10K run, making this a personal best. She's really amazing with her tenacity in trying to get better with each and every run. She gives her all and has come a long way for someone who hated running :D I'm really, really, really proud of her and am glad that she shares the same passion for running that I do. She's so into running that after the race, she came to me and said, she wished this was a half marathon ... LOL! After three back to back half marathons the past month, she's reveling in conquering 21K's.

I'm hoping Nike would consider increasing the event distance next year to something a little further than 10K. A half marathon distance would be awesome but I'd settle for a 15K even. I guess the logistics to handle a half marathon might just be a too much, especially in KL but one can dream, can't one?

With the end of that event, there's only one final race left for the year for the two of us which is the MPSJ 10K run next weekend. It's something I'm looking forward to since it's just a stone's throw away from where we live. I do my training on the race route quite a bit so I know each and every pothole along the route which will give me a chance do a speed run for this race.

After that final race, my marathon training programme seriously kicks into full swing and will start off with a 25K race on New Years day for the Newton run. Yes, I'm mad enough to be participating for a 25K race on the first day of year. Oh and the wife is also insane enough to join me ... LOL!

Here's wishing all my Muslim friends a blessed Maal Hijrah. Looking forward to tomorrow's public holiday to do more running!

Here, Take This 100 Bucks And Be Grateful!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:06:00 +0000

On Thursday, the wife and me went over to the younger fellows school to collect his UPSR results as well as get the RM100 the government so happily wants to bribe me with. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful and a 100 bucks is a 100 bucks but the manner in which the money was given and the intent for it is what I take offense to.

First of all, after stealing and squandering all our tax money for your own benefits, you decide to give back RM100 to all school going kids on the pretext of helping ease their burden. You've really got to be kidding me. A 100 bucks to ease our burden? Really? A 100 bucks! Good gosh, jolly well and all that. Now I should be so happy about your concern and vote for you in the coming elections, right? That was your intent anyway.

The only reason the wife and me went to collect that measly 100 bucks was because it was OUR money to begin with! I wasn't going to let you squander any more of my money on Berkin handbags or 10 million condo's for cows to live in or something along those lines.

So there we were, along with loads of other parents who had this equally disgusted look on all our faces. There was the usual glamour seeking politician insisting on giving his righteous speech about how the government are so concerned about the plight of the people and thus are giving away a 100 bucks, really, a whole 100 bucks to help ease the burden of school going parents.

In other words,

'aiyaaa, we give you this 100 bucks, you better be grateful and vote for us in the coming elections, ok?'

That was my whole perception of this RM100 bucks a student nonsense. And to use an excuse such as a caring government wanting to ease the burden of the people. Seriously, what do these rich, thieving higher ups that rule this country know about having to ease the burden? What with the fancy and luxurious lifestyle they lead, jetting off on jets to some overseas destination for holidays or buying 10 million condos to stay in (or was that for the cows to stay in, I really can't tell the difference).

Do they even know how what it's like to have to make every cent count? Do they even know how much roadside assistance costs these days? Do they even know how hard I have to slog day in and day out just to make sure I get enough to feed the family? All they know is to raise the price of everything and then insist that we're still the cheapest in Asia or some crap like that ... siggghhh ...

I seriously felt like walking up the stage that Thursday and slapping that idiot who was giving his speech left, right and centre. Why do we even need the big hoohah to give away 100 bucks, I really don't know. The poor wife had to wait nearly two hours cos I had to head back to work.

Well, just so you know Mr. Big shots in the government, I'm still not going to vote for you and that includes everyone I know. Trust me, the only way you're going to remain in power in the coming election is to cheat like you always do. In fact, I have no doubt you'll do everything in your power to 'make' sure you win.

On an entirely different note altogether, I'm totally envious of all my running pals who are right now in Penang and will be getting ready for the Penang Bridge International Marathon in about 5 hours or so. Damn, I seriously wish I was there right now. I can only imagine the awesomeness it must feel to run on that bridge. Oh well, there's always next year which I will make sure I won't miss. Good lucks guys and gals. As my favourite shoe brand maker would say, Run Happy!

On an even entirely different note, the younger fellow did exceptionally well in the UPSR exams that the wife and me are totally bewildered. He doesn't study, he doesn't go for tuition, he plays all the time and to get the results he did is short of phenomenal! Congrats to him, now we've got to grant his every wish ... LOL!

Happy weekend, folks!

That Sickly Feeling

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 12:32:00 +0000

The weather is just plain silly these days. One minute it's blazing hot and the next it's pouring cats and dogs! It's bad enough that it puts paid to my evening run sessions but it's now also making me feel sickly.

I can feel the coming on of a sore throat and my joints ache which is a clear indication of fever and flu! Arggghhh, I hate falling sick. When I'm sick, I'm really sick and it takes me quite a while to recover. I've been like that since young. Wifey says I'm a pampered city boy ... hahaha!

I really don't want to fall sick (who does), not when I have so much activities planned for the next week! It's a good thing that tomorrow is a public holiday and I can get some rest to try and hope this sickly feeling will just go away, well at least after I get back from my early morning run, that is. Yes, I'm still going to run and see if I can drive away the impending sickness by sweating it out.

I narrowly avoided getting sick a few weeks back when wifey got the flu. Normally when either one of us gets sick, the other would soon follow which is simply natural cos we share the same room and bed. But this time I managed to avoid catching her flu and I was glad. But somehow this time I think I'll be going through the entire flu and fever process and what a time to get it when I have a race next weekend ... siggghhh ...

Oh well, some things just can't be helped I guess. I'd better quickly crun through this briefcases for men article I've been reading and pop a couple of pills and then head straight to bed. The wife and me are going to need to get up pretty early tomorrow for our run. Yes, runners are a nutty lot, while most people would relish sleeping in on holiday, we're insane enough to wake up at 4-5am just to run!

Sometimes I think we need to get our heads checked ... LOL!

Long Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 02:54:00 +0000

There's a nice long weekend coming up and I'm really looking forward to it. Monday is a public holiday here and I'm planning to do some nice long runs and maximise the three day break. That is if that stabbing pain in my shin I developed yesterday while running subsides by tonight. I can't risk making it worse what with another 21K race weekend coming up next Sunday.

The race is called the CICM Responsible Care Run and it's somewhere in Shah Alam. I have absolutely no idea where it is and what the route looks like and am going to have to look it up on Google map seeing as how the race kit collection starts from tomorrow. I'm actually regretting signing up for this run. It was done on a whim.

We were out shopping, in IOI Mall, I think and saw the race sign up forms in the New Balance concept shop and immediately signed up. Back then, I was signing up for races like as if it was free. The other day, wifey calculated how much we spent so far on races this year and my eyes nearly popped out.

Running races can be expensive. Sometimes the cost of signing up isn't really justifiable at all. Imagine having to pay a minimum of RM50 for 10K race? I know they give goodie bags, running tees and stuff but seriously, I could do without those items if they could reduced the cost a little. Not that I will wear the tees they give during the run anyway.

You might say that it's only RM50, but bear in mind, for both the wife and me, that would be RM100, a sizable chuck of money for a 10K race. Lets not even talk about how much some of those 21K races cost. Which is why, next year, we're going to be picky with the races we take part in. We'll only be participating in anything above 15K, save for one or two 10K races that we simply must do. At least it'll be more justifiable to pay that much and run further.

Besides, the boys have an important year in Sunday school next year and most, if not all of these races are on Sunday mornings. This year alone, they skipped quite a number of classes for us to indulge in our passion, which is simply being selfish. I'll have to really plan the races well next year so that they don't miss too much classes or at least try to get back in time for their classes.

It's a nice rainy (or at least it was) Friday morning and it would be a great day to stay at home and snooze all day like some pampered little doggies I know but alas, I have a busy day ahead of me with loads of installations to install a custom-made POS system for a new client somewhere in Rawang of all places!

Lucky pampered dog that gets to snooze all day with her buddies ...

Blank

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:10:00 +0000

I'm blogging so much lesser and lesser these days. I've got tons of stuff on my mind to write and complain about but everytime I sit in front of my laptop, the mind becomes a total blank. I want to tell you about the dental supplies project I'm about to do, I want to tell you about the idiots I'm surrounded with at work everyday, I want to tell you about the running shoe buying fetish I seem to have developed but everytime I try to write them all down, nothing but rubbish turns comes that doesn't even see the light of day.

Time or rather lack of time is also another factor. I'm stuck with so much work and then there is my running passion to indulge in that by the time everything is done, there really isn't enough time for me to sit and blog much these days. 24 hours in a day just isn't enough to do everything you want to these days.

When I do find the time to blog like today, I'm a total blank. I can't even seem to compose proper sentences or think of something more interesting that this gibberish I'm writing right now. I'm also distracted by the beautiful weather out there that is simply crying out for me to put on my running shoes and run the evening away. But then, it's my compulsory rest day and I really need the break.

There was a time about a year ago, when I would have something to blog about everyday. I would be able to write post after post and for those of you who has been reading my blog from way back, you'd also know that I could be extremely long winded with my posts. Now, trying to write three short paragraphs seem to be an insurmountable task. Maybe a nice long break from blogging might help clear this 'writers block' I'm facing, not that I could write for nuts, mind you.

Anyways, all that aside, the year seems to be heading to a close pretty soon. It's already November and I can hear them Christmas bells already :D In fact, I've seen a Christmas tree being put up only yesterday. Christmas is always my favourite time of year, if only we had snow over here, it would make it even better :D But snow or no snow, I'm looking forward to Christmas.

I'm also looking forward to the new year cos this year I'm planning to do something totally different to usher in the new year. I'm going to take part in the Newton 25K run slated for the 1st of January 2012. I can't think of a better way to usher in the new year than taking part in a race with the wife :D I haven't registered for it yet, I'm planning to do it soon and I hope there's still slots available for it when I do register.

I heard that the route for this event is pretty challenging with hills upon hills that will be a mental as well as physical challenge to complete. Like I said, what better way to start the new year than torturing yourself on a totally challenging 25K race route ... LOL!

The Auditor-General

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:16:00 +0000

A few postings ago after that Blue Global Media thingy I told you guys about, I said that I didn't want to complain or bitch too much but heck, don't blame me for this bitch post, blame our own 'beloved' government agencies and their amusing and silly antics.

After glancing through the top affiliate networks today, I was reading the Auditor-Generals reports and was shaking my head in disbelief, well I shouldn't really cos it was to be expect with the corrupt thieves we have running all and I mean all the government agencies in this country.

First, let me start by saying that I should close down my printing company and start up a binoculars selling business cos the incredibly smart people in the marine department actually pays RM56,350 for a pair of binoculars that only cost RM1,940! Good god, imagine how rich I could be if I was in business with these morons in the marine department. Then again, maybe they aren't really morons cos I'd bet my last dollar that someone in there got a huge kickback from the sale.

Then comes revelation number two with the National Sport Council and the National Sports Institute pay RM6 million to purchase 23 horse for some show with 18 of the horse not being qualified to take part. So what happens to the money? Can they get a refund? I'll bet some idiot ... opps, let me rephrase that, some clever guy probably pocketed some good money for approving the purchase of unqualified horses.

Next on my list goes to that ministry run by that seriously suspect woman Ng Yen Yen which does direct negotiations with ad agencies bypassing the open tender process. Aiyaaa, this one so clear cut la, we all know kickbacks were given.

And trust me on this cos back when I was working in the advertising industry, the agency I worked with has attended tender briefings with the Tourism Board and some of the agencies there are on first name basis with these ministry people. The rest of us are actually just wasting our time trying to pitch cos we all know which agencies are going to get it no matter how good or how cheap our proposals are. So I'm not at all surprised by the shenanigans going on in the Malaysian Tourism Boards.

That woman Ng Yen Yen will try to tell you otherwise and that everyone else is a bunch of liars but we all know who the real liar is. I mean, they actually paid RM45 ringgit for 1000pcs of printed canvas bags when I know for a fact that even with a hefty mark up, it wouldn't cost more than RM12.00 and I know what I'm talking about cos my company can print canvas bags too!

What's saddening is the fact that this goes on every year and someone should be severely punished for this but the culprits all get away and are laughing all the away to their secret bank account somewhere ... siggghhh ... These people should all be hauled up and made to justify their corruption at our expense yet, in about a few weeks time, this will all be forgotten cos the idiots in the government will just quietly push this in some far corner.

It's blatant corruption in the open and yet we can't do anything cos the present government are the very people who are doing this. Please, let's vote them out once and for all. I mean, do you really want to let these people keep screwing us every single day? Do you really want to keep on letting them think we're a bunch of stupid people for condoning this? Let's stand up and make our votes count in the next GE.

I'm going to vote for the opposition, they're no saints either but how bad can they be? They're definitely a much better choice than the present crop of nincompoops. Besides, like I keep saying in my posts, it's only five years, if the oppositions screws up, vote them out in the next GE. We have the power to do this so let's not waste it.

Ok, now back to something more interesting and not so depressing like this article on Payday affiliate program that has caught my eye.

Getting Even

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:41:00 +0000

A few days ago, I wrote about being pissed at that little 'diva-ish' dog of mine. She was snubbing the new food I bought (which was thrown away in the composter) for her and insisted on being given her old food which she eventually got, cos that dog knows how to order me around.

Well, yesterday I took my revenge ... muahahaha! The wife and me took Pebbles for a walk in the evening. As usual, this dog will lead you every which way and never seems to want to follow the route wifey and me had planned for her.

So there we were struggling with trying to get her to follow us when I decided to suddenly grab her leash and make her run along with me. I don't really run all that slow and it was such a funny sight to see that little fluff ball trying to keep up with me with those oh so short legs of hers ... hahaha!

By the time I got home (which was actually not too far away) she was panting and giving me the eye. Serves her right for bullying me 25 hours a day! She was so tired later that she skipped dinner and decided to head into her little bed in the hall and just slept away while waiting for the wife and me to finish watching TV.

She was really tired to even want to skip her dinner, which consisted of her usual chicken crumble dish. Normally, when we watch TV, she'll be running around playing with her toy or jumping on our laps but not last night. Last night, all she wanted to do was sleep.

Yes, I get even with dogs too ... hahaha! But fret not, we're friends again today with her being my official shadow following me around everywhere I go :D

Will You Stop Wasting Food!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:20:00 +0000

I'm absolutely pissed with that fluff ball. She's being a stubborn little thing and is refusing to eat her dinner! She just looks at it, sniffs it a little, snubs it and walks off with this look of disdain on her face ... arrrggghhh!

It's not like it's some cheap leftover food or something. It's bloody expensive pet food, the likes of chicken with wild mushrooms, chicken or beef with vegetables and I microwave it to make it nice and warm for her and even offer to hand feed her and she's being so darn difficult by not eating.

She's a pampered little fluff ball that's picky with her food and will only eat a particular brand of dog food for dinner and even then, it has to be the two flavors that she likes. Buy her any other flavor and she'll refuse to eat it.

Recently we ran out of her usual dinner food and we had to resort to buying a different brand cos the usual place we get her food from which offers the best Friends and Family deals ran out of stock of her favourite kind. I was too lazy to drive to a different shop to get it and decided to get her something different. And by different, it doesn't mean that she hasn't eaten this brand before. She used to love this brand but now she's just being stubborn by refusing to eat it.

She's just got an earful from me just now. Not that's she's all that bothered mind you. she just sat there and looked at me with this perplexed look on her face. And her dinner is still there in her doggy bowl idling away ... siggghhh ... She's not that concerned cos she knows I'll give in and treat her to a snack later so she's holding out for that! That dog knows me so well.

The perplexed look she gives me when I'm grumbling at her ...

But I'm still pissed at her though. I think if anyone heard me grumbling at her would probably be laughing their heads off cos they'd be tickled pink to find out I'm scolding a dog and not a person ... hahaha!

An Invigorating Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:06:00 +0000

For once, though my thighs and calves ache like crazy, I'm feeling invigorated for a Monday :D The past week was a hectic one which ended nicely at the weekend with wifey and me running the Putrajaya Night Marathon.

I'm not going to bore you much with the details for the run cos you can always read about it in my Happy Feet blog. Wifey texted me a few minutes ago to say the official results were out and I was pretty ecstatic to find out I managed to come in at position number 45 out of 220 runners (in the men's junior veteran category. Yes, yes, I'm a junior veteran these days ... siggghhh ...). Not bad for an old fogey who developed cramps in the last 6K of the run though ... hehehe ...

But seriously though, I'm damn happy at the results as it wasn't one of my better runs, though I did set a personal best of sub 2 hours for my 21K. If only that darned cramping incident didn't happen, I could have done even better but heck, no use crying over spilled milk, right? There's always the next half marathon at the end of this month to atone for this race :D

I'm already excited at the prospect of the next race in two weeks time, which is the PJ Half Marathon, a personal favourite cos it was 'the' running event that got me into running more than 22 years ago. It's been off the running calendar for some years now and is making its reappearance this year and there was no way I was going to miss it.

I do wish my best buddy Sean, the culprit who got me hooked on running all those years ago was joining me in the run for old times sake but unfortunately he has other prior engagements. But heck, this year I have the wife joining me for it so I'll start a new tradition of running it every year with her :D Maybe after the race I can order some tulips for her as a finishing gift cos I have no idea if there is a finisher medal or not. There must be some way of ordering tulips online the easy way after the race though. I'll have to look that up.

The Hot Head

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:18:00 +0000

Wifey came up to me yesterday and said,

'You have to learn to control your stress and temper or one day you're going to collapse from a stroke or something'

The thing is, she's absolutely right. Then again, she always is :D Of late, I get irritable easily and have this really, really short fuse. I was never like this. God knows, if you ask the wife a few years ago, she would say that I was the most patient guy she knew.

These days the slightest things gets my blood boiling. I get totally irritated at the slightest incompetence I see out there, whether it directly involves me or not. Let's not even talk about the times I loose my temper at work. I know this loss of control is bad for me. It just raises my stress level up 200 fold.

It's become so bad that even reading about some of the nonsense people write in their FB accounts, twitter, blogs and whatnots can set me off! Yes, that's how bad it is. Thank god, wifey is there to talk some sense into me and calm me down when I get into that stressed out mode.

So today, I decided to take a deep long breath and take things easy without letting anything set me off or raise my stress level and so far, though it's damn hard to do with the incompetence I'm faced with, I have not lost my temper or become stressed out at all, not even once!

Normally by now, if I was a character in the Sims, my stress level bar would be in the extreme red zone and on the verge of pulling whatever little hair I have out ... hahaha! I'm just hoping the second half of the day will stay that way.

I really don't know what set off this 'short fuse' attitude of mine. I used to be the kind of guy who doesn't give two hoots about anything. Nothing bugs me. But not these days. I'm great at telling the wife when she's in a foul mood to 'cool it, take it easy, chill (she utterly HATES that word ... hahaha!), things will be fine, etc, etc ...' but I don't take my own advise. I guess things need to change or something is going to break and that would be me.

I don't want to end up in hospital (touch wood) or anything. Maybe I should pack my running gear in the car and when I feel stressed or about to blow my top, I should just put on my shoes and run cos right now, that's one of the best stress busters out there. Nothing like a good, hard, fast run to bust the stress!

With that said and done, I need to make one final rants (please bear with me ... LOL!) before I embark on being a more 'cooler headed' Nick.

This rant goes out to all you 'Facebookers' who have been complaining on the Nike Running Malaysia - we Run KL 10K posting. The response for this event has been totally so overwhelming that the registration quota of 10,000 people was snapped up in 5 days. There's a lot of people out there who are cursing Nike for this. They're bitching about how sad they are that they can't run, how disappointed they are to miss out, how stupid Nike's organization is, Nike sucks, Nike has bad management, etc, etc, etc ...

Heck, I'm not a huge Nike fan (give me Brooks anytime!) but come on, for them to be able to achieve their target in 5 days is NOT being a stupid organization or even having bad management. In fact, I thought it was excellent management to be able to get all the slots signed up in 5 days.

Besides, it's really on a first come, first serve basis. Obviously others were faster than you and this is not the end of the world. There are a host of other races you can take part, the Terry Fox run, the Desa Park City 10K which I'm giving my bib number away for free (if anyone wants it) cos it clashes with the Nike run. So, to all you moaners out there. Stop bitching and criticizing Nike and move on with life!

There, I've finished my rant for the day ... hahaha!

Two In A Row

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:10:00 +0000

I'm all excited today cos tomorrow is the Adidas King of the Road (KOTR) 16.8K road race. The KOTR is a race that is held across Southeast Asia making its regional debut in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines that will end with the KOTR Southeast Asia Championship that will be held in the Philippines.

This is my first time participating in the event and to be honest, I'm pretty excited about it for three reasons. One, the race location is just two or three stones throw away from where I live. Two, I'm looking forward to running on the New Pantai Expressway and three, I'll be running in a new pair of race shoes from Brooks that I purchased today.

The race is being flagged off right outside the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall, one of my favourite malls. The flag off is around 6.45am and I'm looking forward to running on a stretch of road I drive on almost daily. While it might seem like a fairly easy run route, in true fact it's the opposite.

The highway is elevated and there is this slow but steady and kinda long incline that I'm really not looking forward to. Even driving that stretch in my car is pretty daunting, let alone running up it, though if you ask the wife, she'll just say 'bring it on!' ... hahaha ... that girl simply loves hill, crazy woman I tell ya!

It's been two straight weeks in a row that we've been taking part in races. Thankfully, there is a week's break next week before taking on the Putrajaya Night Marathon on the 15th of November. It's going to be a crazy month for races right up till the end of November and to be honest, I'm relishing every single moment of it!

I've still yet to decide on what to wear for tomorrows race, it's never an easy choice (especially for me) on what to wear for race day. Though the race vest that was given by Adidas is pretty cool looking and comes in my favourite lime green color, I have this policy of not wearing the event kit for races. Don't ask me why, it's a runners taboo thing ... hahaha!

But while I don't really know what I'll be wearing tomorrow, I know for a fact that the shoe of my choice is going to be my new Brooks Pure Connect. I simply am in love with the shoe. And while the shoe has all the properties that I'm looking for in a pair of minimalist racers, the color did play an important part in my decision to buy the shoe :D


Brooks Pure Connect ...

Siemens 10K Run 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:47:00 +0000

The racing season is back again for me and my running crazy wife :D We just completed our first of a series of races for the next two months. The Siemens 10K run was held this morning and I must say that it was a beautiful race. The weather was excellent, the atmosphere was electric and the run was invigorating.

A big congrats goes out to the wife for completing the race in her personal best 10K time and now she's looking forward to taking on next week's 16.8K Adidas King of The Road. That girl has gone crazily mad over running ... LOL!

Though the race distance is something I do every other day for my training runs, I still had the jitters at the starting line waiting for the race to start. The last minute announcement of a change of route to avoid a clash with another race nearby didn't help calm the jitters one bit! I hate running routes that I'm not prepared for but there was no use complaining about it.

The race itself, though a little exhausting cos of the many inclines along the route was pretty fun :D All that training I do almost everyday came to fruition with me setting a good pace from start to finish completing the run in 52.29 in position 57 and getting a hard earned medal to boot :D

If he thinks I'm going to give him this medal back, he's sadly mistaken ... muahahaha!

I'm already looking forward to the next race but right now though, I need to go grab a much deserved nap from having to wake up at 4.30am in the morning to prepare for the race.

Cancer Filters

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 06:09:00 +0000

A few days back, after looking for some batteries for cell phones, the wife and I decided to the other having a quick and cheap lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant ... well not really cheap cos the price of food at these Chinese restaurants have shot up quite a bit, and happen to notice this guy a few tables away.

He was there by himself, had a teapot of Chinese tea on the table, was reading the newspaper and was happily puffing away, which is the norm in these restaurants. I'm not and never have been (and never will be) a smoker and I find it totally inconsiderate of people to smoke in public, let alone at an eating place.

But never mind, that's a story for another day. So, there was this guy, happily puffing away. I then noticed that he had attached his cigarette to one of those cigarette filter devises. Now, I find that to be the most ridiculous thing to do. If you're going to smoke and kill yourself (not forgetting the attempted murder of the innocent people around you who have to inhale your smoke), why even bother to put a filter to it?

Isn't it a little redundant, not to mention silly? Do you think simply attaching a filter to try and filter out the harmful effects of cigarettes is really going to work? I've got news for you smokers. No amount of filtering is going to help save your lungs and your life if you're still going to insist on lighting up that cancer stick.

The only way to make cigarette smoking safe is to NOT smoke! Period! There are no two ways or fancy shortcuts about it. So, please don't delude yourself that you're helping to save your lungs with that silly piece of filter cos you're still going to eventually die a horrible death from smoking!

A Day Off Work

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Phillips) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 04:24:00 +0000

The past week has been a hectic one for me. I've been so busy with personal and work stuff that I've not had enough time for myself and my running. I can't even remember when the last time I actually ran ... siggghhh ...

Anyways, managed to get all my stuff done and completed by late last night and I'm on a nice one day break from work at home. The rest is much needed to rejuvenate from the past weeks hectic schedule. It'll also give me enough time to rest and for a much needed run session this evening. The weather is pretty cool and rainy (at least it was raining a little while ago) and if it stays this way, it'll be a bliss to run.

I've got a whole set of races coming up starting from the end of this week and will see me and the wife running a string of races with a two week break in between right up till end of November. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I enjoy these races :D

Ok,That's all from me for now. Not going to spend my time online and waste my rest day so right after looking into this rzr parts catalog, I'm off to do something productive, like take a nap ... LOL!