Foreign Talent and National Pride

I was having dinner with this other Honky the other day (who married a Spore girl); anyway, he was abit frustrated with the educational system here cos his kids never ever returned home with homework. "All they do is play sports in school". Hmm, what's wrong with that picture. I love my sports and if I was a kid again, that dosent sound too bad. Wait...think I'm going off track here. Bottomline: I love my Sports and do follow the cricket and Ashes recently and am looking forward to the Rugby World Cup.
So what do you do when its the Arafura Games and its the final Gold/Silver Hockey playoff match between Australia and Singapore? Well, I gotta say, I'd still barrack for my Singapore Team!!
Where do you draw the line on foreign talent? The world seems a smaller place these days and its increasing common to see athletes of different 'nationality' representin your own country; well cos they have been granted citizenship/PR. So its really heartwarming to see our Singapore Team made up of a Singh, Chinese and Malays playing against the Australians. It brings back memories of watching the Malaysian Cup and the reason of why we watch the Olympics/Major Games. To watch athletes from different countries competing, not watch a Chinese Table Tennis import playing against another player from China.
Well done to our Singapore Hockey boys even though they came in second.

Home Courture

Here where I shop for my kitchen stuff. Not sure about the Eastern States but we dun get a lot of veriety up here and its often more expensive. By ordering on-line and factoring in postage, its still cheaper. So check it out..

www.homecourture.com.au

Quality

Once I started paying my mortgages, I realise my disposable income has just greatly skrunk. You start to think about reining in your lifestyle. Thinking twice about going out or to the movies etc. But I dun do much of that anyway. I do however believe in paying abit more for 'quality' products (within my capabilities). I enjoy a lot of things and I guess thats where the reining in, comes in. I love my bikes, as you would know by now, nothing short of full carbon fibre, my set of Global knifes, tennis rackets and the polar 625X sitting at home in Singapore.
The other things I would splurge on is food and kitchen stuff and one of the first babies I got was the Weber BabyQ. Its small and compact. I can also bring it out camping if I wanted to; just swap to a smaller gas bottle. If I wanted a steak and roast veg for dinner, I just stick the veg in, take a shower; come out later just to sear the steak and its done.


Here are my ex-colleagues from Singapore and Mike at my place for a simple Aussie BBQ.
P.S. Sleeping on the floor isnt really that bad!

Go 2 and 5

Eating plenty of fruit and vegies not only contributes to good health, but also protects against a number of diseases and helps maintain a healthy weight.
Well, that's the national campaign backed by Dietitians to encourage Adults to get their 2 serves of fruits and 5 serves of vegetables each day. So what do you get when Dietitians working from different parts of the TopEnd get together? You get a pubcrawl; and the theme: Go 2&5, only thing is, its not fruit and veg. You get a sticker for every standard drink and by the end of the night there should be a minimum of 7 on your tag. Frankly, by the end of it, I think most of us well and truly fulfilled that requirement.


The pubcrawl also coincided with the Opening of the Arafura Games held every 2 years here in Darwin. Was elated when I got a call from an old colleague who was travelling with the Singapore Team here. Andrew's been around the council for a long time and is one of the Head Sports Trainer. I'd go to him or the rehab lab for any of my aches and pains. Anyway, we caught up on old times over dinner at my place and I got him to tag along for a few drinks as well.


Anthea who is based in Darwin but flys out to remote areas (and also my housemate); Louise from the hospital and myself.



Last but not least; our organisers, Angela, Craig and also Anthea

Flying

When I was working here previously (2 years back), I did a fair amount of travelling to remote areas in Australia; most of it involved flying. You get used to it after a while.
My current job scope is mainly within Darwin however a small percentage of work still required me to go outbush. When I was waiting at the lounge before boarding the plane, it felt a bit weird and I think I was kindof nervous. It seem to bring back memories of my first flight. Guess you never get used to the flying.
Btw, I'm not talking about a Boeing 747. Some say its safer to be travelling on a plane than in a car but I'm not so sure about the facts here cos if you're lucky, you get a twin propeller.


You feel kindof nervous when:
- The counter staff weighs your luggage first before weighing you to make sure the plane is not overloaded.
- As you get on the plane, the pilot ask the heavier people to sit near the rear so the plane 'balances' better.
- The pilot tells you the 'good' news that this plane does not have aircon so its a lot lighter than the other planes.
- The only form of airflow (before takeoff) involves the pilots door/window being opened as it taxis down the runway.
- You look at the analog instruments and think your car interior and gadgets look better than that.
- As you approach your destination you get the deja vu feeling of landing on loose gravel again.


And here comes my 4WD transport which btw is also an ambulance.

Young David Vs Old Goliath

Here's part 2 of Boys and their toys. Meet my friend Mike and his bike: The Trek Madonne 5.2/5.5 (a bike made famous by Lance Armstrong who rode it during the Tour De France). Now sense would prevail that a mountain bike no matter how fast would NEVER IN THIS LIFETIME BEAT a racer. But what if we threw in the age factor? See Mike is a little over 60 which is more than twice my age. And I know for a fact that busy Mike working 2 jobs only goes riding once a week on a Saturday, so you could say that he's not as fit as me who swims/plays tennis almost 5 times a week, goes riding on a Saturday and soccer on Sunday. So the challenge was thrown down...


The distance: ~36km to East Arm Wharf (return). The terrain: mostly flat roads.


Here's the 2 of us after our ride. And the verdict: The Racer wins. And by the way, I've always lost but I'm not too far behind. Lagging about 2-3km roughly. But its a totally different story when the ride takes us to Channel Island (~90km return). Its not about winning or losing anymore, its about survival (at least for me that is; on a mountain bike)! Getting home in one piece. Am totally wasted after that.

Boys Toys

Singapore: Consumerism at its best. That's assuming if you've got the $$ to spend. Going shopping be it downtown or in the heartlands is perhaps a pastime of many Singaporeans. But the second hand market is what amazes me. Just look at the local EBay and Yahoo auctions to see what a population close to 5 million on a small tiny dot on the map has to offer. Sometimes, the best offers comes from specialty sites like bluefinz for windsurf equipment, togoparts for bike stuff and tfn (tennis frinds network) for tennis games and rackets.
Of the few assets I have; here's one of them. A bike built for xc racing, carbon frame, chris king hubs, v-brakes on a 517 and a SID fork. Most of the parts were acquired over time. And the best part is, you dun have to pay extra taxes for 'goods' bought overseas at the Australian Customs cos its not brand new.
The drawbacks of on-line shopping: I got the frame in Jurong, the derailuers in Punggol and the wheelset in Tampiness. Sometimes I wonder if all that travelling is worth it??