New (work) toy

Posted on August 28, 2008

Coming as a shock, I’ve found out in the last couple of days that I have to do back-to-back trips. Talk about late notice. The first (which is at 6AM tomorrow morning) is to Melbourne for a couple of meetings, before I fly back to Sydney on Sunday. Then on Monday morning, I’ll be setting off to Korea for a week for a product launch. While this sounds exciting, it has also meant that there’s a big question mark over the five articles I’m meant to have finished in the next couple of days.

With our decade-old IBM laptop gone AWOL, I’ve had to reach into my pockets and buy one. Although I’ve had my eye on acquiring one for a while now, the fact that the catalyst for the purchase was to complete work certainly stings a little.

After a lot of debate in the office, I headed off to four nearby stores to check out what’s available. I’m a bit out of the loop when it comes to mobile technology, and to see row after row of indistinguishable laptops was both disheartening and confusing. I left empty handed. What the hell was I meant to buy? With prices ranging from $400 all the way to $5000, its a minefield for someone (like me) who didn’t have a particular model in mind.

That said, since I first saw it in Japan at the beginning of the year, I had fallen in love with the top of the range Vaio, which came complete with carbon chassis and the best tactile keyboard I’ve ever seen on a laptop. I’m confident it would allow me type 10WPM faster than any other laptop, but the sheer cost of it was hard to justify, especially as it won’t pack the new Centrino 2 Core 2 Duo for a few more months.

After dragging Kula along with me, we began a more thorough search of what to buy. It took several hours and visits to two different stores before we agreed that there were three laptops that fulfilled my requirements of high performance, compact size and light weight. These were versions from Toshiba, HP and Sony.

The Toshiba had an interesting piano black keyboard, which was actually quite grippy, meaning its good for typing when you’re lying down. Unfortunately it had a rather tacky black and chrome exterior, and it felt rather plasticky to touch. It did pack a hell of a lot of performance though. The cheapest of the lot was the HP, however the surround around the keyboard was a bright silver, which would create glare under lights and would no doubt be annoying after a while.

That left the Sony Vaio SR (VGN-SR16GN). Although considerably more expensive than the other two (some 25% dearer), its one of the first Vaios to have Centrino 2 and is the lightest (although still a bit on the heavy side for my liking) of the bunch. Although its keyboard is of a different design (and not as sumptuous to use) as my preferred Vaio, it was nearly half the price.

Surprisingly, I bumped into a mate who happened to work in the computing section at the store, and he helped out a lot with the pricing (discounts rock). I picked up the laptop in black and also received an additional 1GB ram and a carry case (which I won’t be using as I already have a notebook bag). Grabbed a Sony Bluetooth mouse and a cable-lock as well, which will be handy when I have to leave it a hotel.

Here’s some specs: 1.92kg, Intel Centrino 2 Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz, 3GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, 128Mb ATI video, 13.3-inch screen.

First thing I did was to install Adobe CS3. Without that and Word, a computer is useless to me!

Stupid stacker

Posted on August 26, 2008

Paranoid is one word to describe me when it comes to cars. And so when it came time to move a couple years ago, I found the perfect apartment. While its pretty much a shoe-box in size, it had a car stacker, which meant that I simply park in a bay, swipe my chip and the car disappears underground and is automatically shelved. It is water-tight security-wise, and it was perfect for housing my Z. No need to worry about it getting keyed or dinged - unless of course someone could scale down in the thirty metre hole underneath the car park.

Skip forward to today and its proving to be a royal pain in the ass. If someone forgets to swipe their chip after they’ve parked, the whole system is halted, meaning no one can get their car out. And that means you can come down to find a queue of people waiting, meaning it’ll be a good ten minutes before you can get your ride out.

Just as I was about to leave my apartment to go to work today, I received an SMS from the concierge saying that it had, once again, broken down. My bosses probably think I’m using my car stacker as a weekly excuse to sleep in a couple more hours!

Ugly food tastes the best

Posted on August 25, 2008

What I love about Australia is that it is truly a multicultural country. Being a food addict, this allows me to try a variety of awesome authentic foods depending on what mood I’m in. Japanese, Chinese, French, Mexican, you name it, and there will be great eateries representing in Sydney.

Back in the day when all of the old Cabin boys were still around (most have now moved back to Indonesia to run family businesses), I was introduced to Indonesian food. As I like things on the spicy side, I fell in love. As we hung out day in and day out in the Eastern Suburbs (well-known for its high population of Indonesians), they’d take me to all their favourite restaurants, most of which I would never have eaten at due to their ghastly looking decor.

Another thing about Indonesian food is that it has to be one of the ugliest to look at. Here’s one of my favourites from a restaurant called Shalom: grilled chicken in a spicy Balinese sauce. I’ve made it my weekly winter ritual to eat this dish. Although it looks rather disgusting, it fucking rules.

As I’ve been to Indonesia over a dozen times for work, I find it mildly ironic that the Indonesian food is better here in Australia than it is there. This is primarily because of two things: 1) the hygiene is a hell of a lot better here (eat hawker food in Indo and I guarantee you’ll be squirting for a month) and 2) our chickens actually have meat (compared to the anorexic birds we ate in Jakarta). So those of you in Sydney who are wishing to try out Indonesian food, I highly recommend cheap eateries like Shalom (Broadway and Kingsford) and my all-time favourite, Java (Randwick).

The great debate

Posted on August 25, 2008

When it comes to fashion, there’s always the ongoing debate that hangs like a cloud over designer labels. Are they worth it, or are they merely a gimmick aimed at sucking people into paying top dollar for an ordinary garment?

Occasionally I can be a bit of a brand whore but, to be honest, it isn’t because of trends, fads or what’s in vogue. I’m the type of person that when I find something I like and fulfils what I demand in terms of quality, I’ll pay whatever the asking price. And I’ll stick with that brand because it has my trust.

Finishing touches play a big part in the designer game, and for the discerning buyer it is these that separate a great product from an ordinary one. They might be subtle – perhaps a bias cut that creates a tapered fit – that most people wouldn’t care about, but for those who are into fashion its justification for the higher prices. I really dig attention to detail with jeans: BAPE jeans have their ‘A Bathing Ape’ tagline woven into the denim edges (visible only when turned inside out), while G-Star’s cuts – regardless of whether they are of a loose or slim design – seem to fit my body shape perfectly.

While exclusivity plays an important role in the high-end luxury brands market (often products are extraordinarily priced so that they are deliberately within reach of only the wealthy), good brand names offer quality. Louis Vuitton is a great example. I own a few LV things, and although I’ve punished them for years on end, they are still in wonderful shape. Although I agree that there are diminishing returns when you compare the quality against the price (others, for example, will argue that you can buy ten bags for the price of one designer bag), you can trust the product won’t fall apart at the seams.

However, there are some brands that I don’t think so highly of. One is Gucci. Perhaps I’ve had bad luck, but most of the Gucci things I’ve bought have fallen apart. Whether they be sunglasses or a wallet, Gucci products don’t seem able to withstand my day to day use (and I do take care of my stuff). So while some will forever shake their heads at those rocking brand names, I’ll still be sticking to the mantra of you get what you pay for – at least most of the time.

Shock defeat

Posted on August 24, 2008

Stayed up til 5AM this morning (even though I had to wake up at 10AM) to watch the Arsenal Vs Fulham game on cable. Unfortunately the Gunners suffered a shock 1-0 defeat, and the team really suffered from the absence of Cesc Fabregas (injury). The inherent problems came in the midfield where manager Arsene Wenger put Eboue (originally a right back but occasionally deployed last season as a right midfielder) in Fabregas’ usual spot as a central midfielder. In my opinion this was the crux of the problem; perhaps new signing Samir Nasri (who does have creative flair) should have been given the central position, with Eboue in right midfield and Walcott on left midfield. Although it is unconventional to put a right-footed player on the left wing, Arsenal’s done it before - to great success - with one Marc Overmars.

It sucks big time when you stay up til the early morning to see your team lose like this. Hopefully tonight F1’s Kimi Raikkonen is on a heavy fuel load and can pull off some magic at the Valencia street circuit. Looks like an awesome track, and I can envisage some carnage. Else this weekend’s sport has been a write-off for me.

Bringing it back to the old school

Posted on August 22, 2008

Beneath my desk at ASM resides quite a mess of boxes. Mostly its junk, however amongst it are some goodies that I’ve forgotten about over time. One such goodie that I totally forgot I had purchased a couple years ago was this: an old school Mugen steering wheel (made by MOMO) that they stopped making quite some time ago.

Believe it or not, it’s brand new, still accompanied by the instructions, foam wrapper and box. I actually picked it up from a friend’s store in Japan called Crystal Auto, where it was collecting dust along with a variety of other steering wheels. Isn’t it funny how in Japan these things aren’t worth anything, yet in the U.S. or Australia they’re worth a mint due to the whole O.G. craze.

A Gunners fan

Posted on August 21, 2008

Soccer, or football as it should be known, has been the sport for me, right alongside Formula 1. I’m a big fan of the English Premier League, and my allegiances are with London’s Arsenal club. The new season’s just kicked off and I was greatly relieved Arsenal won their first match considering the torrid end to last season’s campaign.

What’s interesting is the approach of Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger, to the new season. With the departure of Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto during the off season, there’s a gaping hole left in the midfield. And while Wenger has bolstered the team with Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey, there are still doubts whether they can fill such big shoes. There’s a heap of creativity now - Nasri, Wilshere and of course Fabregas - but where are the work horses such as Hleb and Flamini (both of whom would cover well over 14km per match)?

Arsenal today shocked everyone by signing Mikael Silvestre from Manchester United. Considering Silvestre normally plays at left-back (which is currently occupied by the talented Gael Clichy), I’m not really sure how he’ll fit in. I have a gut feeling Arsene may weave some of his magic and slot him into the midfield, perhaps in the holding midfield role alongside Fabregas. It’s a controversial signing, and hopefully it proves fruitful!

One 9sec GT-R coming right up

Posted on August 20, 2008

Australia has a few advantages over the U.S., and one of them is the fact that GT-Rs are plentiful here. Although only 100 GT-Rs were officially brought in by Nissan Australia (the R32), they’ve been a big hit on the grey import market. One well-known GT-R fanatic is Din - who competed in our Street Car of the Year competition with his notorious DINZLR R32 GT-R - and this is his latest creation.

Currently its being built over at IS Motor Racing, and this one’s going to be a dedicated drag car. It brings back a flood of memories as when the Auto Salon Industrie Racing S15 drift car was a shell it was in the exact same position in the workshop, bare on and jack-stands. Heck, it was even a similar hue of silver. Can’t wait to see it completed.

Big Pot

Posted on August 19, 2008

Alexandria, the Sydney suburb where ASM’s HQ resides, is pretty much a mirror image of your typical industrial area. Which means the food in the area is absolutely crap. The arty cafes of Danks St are the closest (still a good ten minute drive away), while Crown St in Surry Hills is even further.

(above photo Mark Pakula)
Saving us from eating hamburgers and chips from the local store on the corner is a Thai restaurant called Big Pot which opened up recently. The place is tiny in size, but the food is stellar and surpasses many of the more well-known Thai restaurants in Sydney. Unfortunately we’ve eaten there so many times that we’re now sick of it, so the hunt for a virgin eatery begins once again…

Finally arrived

Posted on August 18, 2008

Finally my Fatlace tees arrived. Been hanging for them as I ordered over a month ago. Not sure what the hold up was, but I’m just glad they turned up and weren’t lost in the mail.

The two tees I picked up were an Illest in charcoal and a Cursive design in white on white.

Designed by Mark Arcenal, there’s some nice touches such as on the tags. Willy’s heading over to San Fran at the end of this week, so I might get him to swing by Fatlace to pick me up some more.

Hitting the snows

Posted on August 18, 2008

Perisher is a good six hour drive from Sydney, but news of the awesome snow coverage we’ve had this winter made it too good to resist. I haven’t been to the snow since I was in Year 7, so it was great that we could spend the weekend down there.

When it comes to travel, I always bring my DAKINE bag. Its been my companion all over the world, and even though its endured years of being thrown about by airport baggage handlers, its still just as sturdy as ever. The inner compartments are all the right sizes to fit anything you can throw at it.

With ten people going on the trip, finding the right accomodation was quite difficult as it was right in the meat of peak season. We ended staying at an awesome property called Edzelle, in East Jindabyne. Located about 40mins from the snow, it was fairly expensive considering its proximity ($2600 for two nights), however the facilities more than made up for it. After the debacle of the Melbourne hotel I stayed at last weekend, I admit didn’t have high hopes.

There were countless rooms and hallways - so many that it was easily to get lost - with two dining areas, two fire places, four bedrooms, two wet bars, and a gaming room complete with pool table, fusball table, and 50-inch plasma with surround sound, DVD player and cable TV. There was even a tennis court, but our focus was on hitting the slopes…

Weather-wise we were a bit disappointed that the blue skies were sporadic, but luckily it only snowed lightly. On the first day it was -1 degrees Celsius, and on the second day -4.

(above photo Valentina Schulte)
Snowboarding was hella fun. We stacked it heaps of times, but by the end of the day we all got the hang of it. The first time off the chair-lift was a bit interesting, as we fell like dominoes. Apparently I was the cause, but I’m denying that fact!

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