A Picture A Day: Morning Run

Did a short run this morning at the Kelana Jaya Park. It was alright, although the smell from the lake was rather distracting : )

A Picture A Day: Wondermilk

By accident, I wound up at Wondermilk Uptown this evening. As traffic flowed outside, I chilled on my own with some super beef and fries and a cup of cold caramel...

The Amazon Kindle Fire: Do I Need One?

Of course the thing about most stuff today is not really whether you need one, but do you, well, simply want one? In the case of the Kindle Fire, unveiled to the world just a few hours ago, it might meet both criteria for me.

So, OK. I'm really the type who's easily contented and practical. Contrary to popular belief, since I DO work in new media, I DO NOT own a kajillion gadgets and more. I DO have the following: Blackberry, HP lap top, iPad 1, iPhone and an iPod (although yeah, I have owned like four different iPods of different versions before).

See, that's hardly a kajillion gadgets. But I HAVE been tempted to splurge before on various other (android) tablets and phones. Do I really need them? Not quite. I mean, how much more time can you spend on these things? I tweet, listen to music, watch some videos, read some articles and play Need For Speed and FIFA. Cukuplah tu. Plus, all the other stuff I thought of buying have had bad reviews/comments attached to them; e.g.: Blackberry Playbook ("takde apps"), Samsung Galaxy Tab ("get something else")...

But I am convinced that the time has come for me to toy around with another tablet; the Kindle Fire.

Sure, it's wi-fi only and is smaller than the iPad in size and memory, and probably it won't be the MAIN gadget for social networking, but it's the direct connection to Amazon that has had my tongue wagging (and the price!). You know lah, in Malaysia we can't download most stuff from iTunes without the hassle of faking a US address or getting the giftcards, so I'm hoping  the Kindle Fire will be sans all that and more.

I know, I know; it's the same case with the original Kindle and our geographical location, but I do have a plan. Since I'll be going to the UK in December, gonna purchase the hardware there and set up the account as well. Score! (pls don't spoil the party by saying I still need a UK credit card etc, will figure it out lah)

Of course what I'll be looking forward to most is the massive library of movies and TV series. The Prime Instant Videos will indeed my new best friend : )

A Picture A Day: Simply Stunning

If you were out and about during rush hour this evening, you must have seen how gorgeous the sky was...

The Siemens Run 2011: 10km Of Hard Work

Yup, I did it! My first competitive 10km run (10.3km on my runkeeper app) happened yesterday and although it was a tad harder than expected, I'm more than happy that I did it only some six months after I first started running on a regular basis.

Sure, my limbs are rather aching now, but to use a well-worn cliche, no pain no gain maa...

As usual, woke up very early in the morning to psyche myself up and consume some carbs.

Got to Dataran Merdeka at around 6.20am and the place was already buzzing with some 5,000 other runners.

The weather was really good for a run, although it was quite hazy later on in the morning.

Did my warm-up and it was time to rock and roll at 7.30am sharp!

Started from the back as usual, but OK lah, I knew the pacing for the 10km was gonna be slightly slower and different.

Also had a running partner in tuansenangbesar, so we sort of paced each other.

It was an interesting route that took us past Lake Gardens and up the flyover at Hilton KL, then down to Brickfields.

The first drinking station came around the 3km mark and this is a big complaint I have against the organiser. I.e.: there was basically NO water for most of us at the 2nd and 3rd drinking stations!

Come on lah, surely you can estimate the amount of water needed for 5,000 people?! As a result, we had to go through the next 7km without a single drop of water. Boo!

That somewhat affected our pacing (haha, alasan). But OK lah, we really took our time, especially since we had to stop a couple of times to let traffic pass.

The last couple of kms were rather alright as we were also spurred on by cheerleaders, drummers and Bhangra musicians. Really!

We crossed the finish line at 1hr 31mins, and although I just missed out on my target of 90mins, it was cool to finish it at the very least. Puas hati!

Special thanks to tuansenangbesar who was running with an injured shoulder, but most important of all, we had fun (yes, including the dying of thirst bit). Onwards to the next run now!