A bit about my running shoes. I bought it (well, my wife bought it for me actually) about three years ago. The design is undoubtedly horrible, but the cushioning was extremely excellent. It took the load of almost 100kgs, thumping and jumping and running and yet, the cushion stayed like new. It even has a Nike+ mount, where you can attach a transmitter (sold separately) and connect the wireless receiver to your iPod and it will track your running distance, average calorie burn and many more (Sadly, I had a Classic 160GB iPod. It only works with iPod Nano 3rd gen above, iPod Touch and iPhone). I must say that this pair of Nike Air Pegasus 10+ Bowerman Series (10+ is obsolete, so the link will take you to 26+, similar though) were one of my best buy, ever. Served me well, never disappoint me in any possible way. I sprained my ankle once on that shoes, but that was not because of the shoes itself. The stupid pothole should take that credit.

But now, my best running buddy is completely destroyed.

Thank you, babe.

Now, as my department’s Biggest Loser contest starts today, I obviously need a new pair of running shoes. Nike Lunarelite+ and Asics Gel Kayano 16 were the pairs in my mind, as they offer best cushioning without compromising stability. But these pairs are hard to find in Kemaman, so I opted for similar option, Mizuno Wave Elixir 4. I was skeptical with Mizuno’s comfort and performance, but when I tried it on, it was far from bad. In fact, the “hugging” feeling on my foot was far better than the previous Nike I had. Of course, it’s cushion isn’t as good as the previous, but should be good enough. It costs RM419.00, but after a 20% + 10% discount (I got an additional discount as a World Of Sports member), it actually costs lesser than the Air Pegasus I bought three years ago at RM399.00.

Hope this won’t disappoint me, at least for the first 2 years. It’s an award winner in runnersworld.com, one of the biggest runners community online. Should be good, I guess. Haven’t really tested it yet, but will do, soon. I’ll update on that.

Notice Imran’s hand. You’ll get yours, soon.

]]> http://beautifulmindlife.com/run-forrest-run.html/feed 2 http://beautifulmindlife.com/teambuilding-bgrc-day-1.html http://beautifulmindlife.com/teambuilding-bgrc-day-1.html#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:13:55 +0000 Mind http://beautifulmindlife.com/?p=702 A team will never be a team, until you’re involved in a teambuilding activity. At least, that’s what I always believe in.

My department managed to arrange a teambuilding activity and got it approved happily by the boss, thanks to the brilliant proposal which was made by the team ourselves. It was crazy, as we were short in time, and everything had to be done at the very last minute. But still, it was a great success, which made us believe even more that a teamwork will surely produce the results.

We started on Friday, having left from Kemaman at about 10oo hours and reached the magnificent Bukit Gambang Resort City around 1100 hours. Straight away, the instructors (Active Academy people) started the program with ice-breaking session. We were not ice at that time as we’re already getting along well with each other, but we had fun.

It’s still in my mind. “Tan & Hisham menang hadiah dari Proton. 4 tayar Dunlop, 10 minyak pelincir, 5 pasang speaker, 2 lampu hiasan dan wang tunai RM28888.00″. Haha.

After the quick ice-breaking session, we had lunch, which was pretty good. Then, we checked into our rooms, had a good rest and part of us went for Friday prayer. Surprisingly, there were suddenly many ‘musaffirs’. =)

The room was ok, though I still think that at almost RM400 (apartment for 4), it’s actually quite pricey. Oh well, shouldn’t be too demanding, should I? It’s completely free after all. Kompeni tanggung…

That weird looking uncooked mushrooms. I do not know whether it was for serving or not.

At about 3 o’clock in the evening, we were asked by the instructors to get ourselves back into the classroom. We were divided into 3 pre-created teams of 7, and had assignments of creating our own flag, team name as well as a war cry. I was in the third team, and we did a pretty good job in fulfilling the tasks, but I had to give credit to Team 2, with a brilliantly, unexpected war cry. Hilarious, guys!

Team 2 (top left), preparing their ritual war cry, based on the funny “Brrrrrrrr…” ads by Coca-cola. Perfect 10!

That wrapped up our classroom session. We had tea break, and proceeded to the Active Academy yard, for jungle trekking. We enjoyed ourselves so much with the trekking, abseiling, obstacles challenges and flying fox, though none of these activities have ever been my favorite.

Seriously, guys, it was energy consuming!

Ever seen a flying turtle? Here’s your chance! =D

None of these were easy enough for us, especially for Team 1.

And with the flying fox, we ended our day. Exhausted, but fun. Sweaty,but with smiles. No boss, no employee, just a group of friends having good times together. Can’t get any better than that, can we?

At night, we had poolside BBQ  dinner. I really thought that we gonna burn chicken and meat and fishes ’til they turned completely black, but to my surprise, there was already a cook to take care of that. A slight fun part was missing, but it was still ok. We had great dinner, and started our wet activities at about 2100 hours. Have you ever heard of a game called ‘Banana & Potato Polo’? Bet you haven’t, and will never at all. An impressively vulgar game that shouldn’t be played if you’re in a group with females around. The instructor asked for team leaders to do this, so I had no option but to go on with it, and felt stupid right after finishing it. Hahaha. Enjoy the pictures!

Notice the boss’ plate (bottom right). Bape ekor ayam tumbang tu, bang?

I just realized that you can actually see this one particular guy who likes to show more skin than the rest. Our own DEIC. Hahahahaha…..

This is the nasty game I was talking about! Dare not to explain further on how to play this, or this blog will be rated for adults. =) Enough with the images of bananas between the legs.

To be continued…

]]> http://beautifulmindlife.com/teambuilding-bgrc-day-1.html/feed 0 http://beautifulmindlife.com/i-need-a-new-phone.html http://beautifulmindlife.com/i-need-a-new-phone.html#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:47:57 +0000 Mind http://beautifulmindlife.com/?p=699 For a stupid reason, I lost my Blackberry Storm.

In the middle of personal financial crisis, this is the last thing I’d expect to happen.

Now I’m in a grave need of a new phone. Surely, a Blackberry. Possibly, the new Bold II. Unfortunately, I’m broke.

Arghhhhhhhh!

Rezeki kau la hari ni, abang nyamuk. I know that it’s a male, because female feeds on blood.

The past few days have been hell for me. I had terrible headache (still, until today), bloated tummy, filled with God-knows-where-it-came-from air, weakening muscular system, and everything in between.

Unfortunately, medical leave is not an option, as I’m in the middle of a very important training, which I can’t afford to miss. Yesterday was an unsuccessful training day for me, as I slept 2/3 of the 8 office hours under my desk. Luckily, there’s nothing important as that Scottish guy who came for the training was still trying to figure out all the connections for the read-out system.

Today is much better. But it came at a very costly price. Last night was the worst ever. I threw up three times, with the last was the horrible one. Felt like there was a flying kick from Van Damme landed right on my belly. It was terrible, but I was glad it happened.

Now, not hundred per cent fit, but feels much better. So, so much better.

Thanks to the whole big bowl of vomit. Tapi perut still berangin.

Now, friends, let’s develop our technologies. Use wires. Use signals. Use voltages, alternating or direct, your choice. Use binary, so that all you have to set is a YES and NO command, in digital.

That will surely allow me to use that six hours for something else. Too bad, I always hate electrical and electronics during school days, because it was boring. You see wires, resistors, capacitors, batteries, IC, PLC blah..blah.., but you can’t actually see anything moving. Those voltages and currents and frequencies, are not visible to human eyes.

Now I genuinely regret that.

Few weeks ago, our old friends from primary school (yes, darling. I met my wife the first time when we were in Standard 3. Amazing, huh?) had organized to have a bowling session during this year’s CNY. Although there were so few of us turned up despite a ‘busy’ thread in Facebook, we had fun. Some of us didn’t manage to show up due to personal reasons. No blames, though. I understand that as we grow up, it gets harder and harder to commit to something not so important, like silly-willy bowling we had, few days ago.

Truthfully, the bowling is just a game. What matters is that we finally got the chance to meet each other, after so many years, and had good laughs on those who bowled more in the drain than on the lane. We had good chat of what’s-up-now and how’s-life-going-on. We shared ghost stories at the legendary ‘Iman kuetiaw kerang’, awkwardly at midnight.

Even our beloved Standard 6 class teacher showed up, despite being busy with late night tuition class. And yes, he was one of them, whom I describe as ‘bowled more in the drain than on the lane’.

It was a good night. It got better, as I won both games with an average score of 150. Not bad at all, haha.

Looking forward for our next battle, guys!

Some of us. Tauke rusa muka tension tak dapat kejar markah aku. Haha.

No comment. Hahahahahahahahahahaha…..

Plus a few others that left earlier, these were the faces who came that night. Seriously, we can do better than this. Next reunion, anyone?

PS: Cikgu Anuar kecik ke aku yang besar?

Aish comel betul budak ni.

Dan masih, tak terbanding jauhnyanya cinta ini. Hanya untukmu, wahai senyum ceriaku.

Sleepy, sleepy me. Kelas Bahasa Melayu kat koleq yang diajar oleh Penolong Kanan HEM pun aku belasah tido, apatah lagi training ni.

Anyway, we also had CPR training today, the only practical we did, for about half an hour. It was an excellent projection by the trainer. Now I know exactly what to do if a water accident happen.

Learning aid. Dummies, of course.

CPR. DRABC is the key!

Spooky, isn’t it?

This too. Spooooooookyyyyyyyy!!!!