see what i saw

Venue: Hungarian GP 2007 – Qualifying Session

It is pretty sour to have missed The highlight of qualifying session of the year, or maybe - in history, already!

This year behind pit-land tabloids in McLaren’s motorhome is really something. Before Fernanso VS Hilmiton, I remember Montoya and R.Schumacher were not best-friends all together while, but, but, still, they were not like this current Enemy-For-Ever-Will-Be pair. At least they had not caused their Big Boss too much headache, like saying this to the press

“ I am feeling pretty tired and hurt after all that has happened. I have felt a lot of stress…”

I say, to build a Kingdom, we can have only One King. When there are two, the kingdom collapses. Same thing goes to the lion lair. Mr Dennis, it was very insightful of you to spotted the supreme rookie, but not very wise to put the two hunks in the same lair ^.^

Both of them should be blame?

Haha, I think more sparks in the McLaren Mercedes MotorHome to come. Nice, nice, to watch.

Last, but not least, whatever happens? I-am definitely gotten my feet grounded at Mr. Alonso’ side, MY Fernando IS ALWAYS RIGHT! Always.

DO you know: I remember Fernando won his first win in this Hungarian GP in 2004

Nurburgring GP, 2007

Incident: Alonso pitted for a bit too long in the last bit of qualifying session (Huh, I don’t understand, I thought Fernando re-acted only based on the lollipop-man’s “Break/Ready” lollipop sign, not meh?)

Result: Alonso was penalized under a newly created F1 regulation, rules out of no-where, de-position 5 place from pole, alamak.

Yesterday was Ferrari, today is McLaren’s turn — to unveil their hopeful brand new Vodafone McLaren Mercedes! A name speaks for himself, gorgeous baby.

MP4-22 Vodafone McLaren Mecerdes

I love the vodafone red which spot on the McLaren black. Seriously cun.

However, their pilot’s outfit has nothing to shout about la hehe. See…

Fernando and his new team-mate Lewis Himilton

Gone were the days, we see this German with an Italian heart they claimed in his Ferrari suite.

small guy tycoon — Todt blocked behind Micheal ^.^

Quoting Mr. Alonso, ‘…he left with all the records under his belt, it was great pressure racing with him, and a great privilege too’.

Oppsy! All the records–except one, ‘youngest world champion’ which was out-raced by el-chico-que-quiero-casarce! Hehe.

But err, Michael seems to carry a brand new position in the prancing horse team, ‘ferrari assistant’, according to Jean Todt really!

And now what? (see below…)

Kimi and his fire engine red outfit. RED.

The ltalian team is in the process of transforming Kimi into a Ferrari-Flying-Fin. We saw kimi in his official Ferrari pilot outfit yesterday, which seems bit strange, really ^.^ but we’ll all get used to it before we know it hehe. And today they unveiled the brand new Ferrari–F2007, looking sleek and smooth. As for the competitiveness-wise, wait till March this year, let’s judge in-Bahrain. A Ferrari without Micheal definitely marks a brand formula one new era.

By the way, our Datuk Michelle Yeoh’s boyfriend, Mr. Jean Todt has been promoted from the team principal to the Ferrari BOSS man! (or something equivalent, hehe but seriously so). We can no longer see him in his fire engine red outfit too! But he’ll linger around the circuits as often as ever anyway.

And Ross Brown, Ferrari team principal had left too. Heya if you noticed he was the one who always eat banana at the circuit between races one la hehehe.

Ferni’s visit at McLaren

Mr. Fernando had joined Ron Dennis’ team for one reason—that is to turn those F1-blue-sky-days into grey. Check-out his new hair-do! Which I say ‘is a no-no’ Ferni!’ ahaha! I prefer his bull-dog look with the long hair la! But looking as firm as ever. He still kills me la ahahahah. Can’t wait to see him in majestic black. Hmm sure very cun one! Ahahahahahaha…….

Just as I was about the start my next reading of Coelho’s – the Pilgrimage, I can’t wait to make a note on its prologue. Just as I remember how much I like his preface for his bestseller title – the Alchemist, which was about ‘the grieving of the lake over the death of the vainest man on earth named Narcissus’.

As for the Pilgrimage, this – is about a man, who had failed over the unexpected final trial tested by his master on ‘self-importance’, at the traditional ceremony of acknowledgement over his success.

He failed owing to his pride, the pride hidden inside him (without his own knowledge). The pride that assured him, he deserved the recognition for his achievement.

This is in some way related to the ‘personal history’ which I mentioned in my previous blog. ^^

When one carries his ‘personal history’ with him, he carries pride in him (he may not realize it). And ‘pride’ does evil. Pride caused one to stumble and fell at supreme moment. Pride – the self-believing of better or, greater among the simple people and forgetting he needs the simple people to make him better or greater—leads to greed, avidity.

Pride brings a greater person back to a simple people. In order to be a greater person, one needs to be seeking it among simple people.

Great people needs to struggle all-over to recapture what was about to be given to him so generously, because of pride.

All in all, to be GREAT, he needs to know he is simple.

Also means, he needs to let-go personal history, also means he needed to be Reborn each day.

I shall continue with my reading… ^^

It’s never easy to digest anything that’s from Paolo Coelho. Yet, it never failed to bring me new insights. I had just finished reading Coelho’s the Zahir. I had this book with me many months ago, but had too many (now, I thought are) silly excuses and delayed the reading. Anyway I read it at the right moment when I needed it. The key note that I got from Coelho in the Zahir, is about ‘reborn’, letting go of your personal history in order to be ‘reborn’ everyday. By personal history, it means no matter what we had achieved in life thus far – discipline teacher’s pet prefect in high school, the most celebrated student in college, awarded the most influential person in world # 1 bestseller magazine, earning millions etc. We shall not live life carrying those ‘status’ we ‘achieved’ all the time. If we do, it will become a burden, or making us into a self-centered ass! That would bring damage than mere encouragements. REBORN each day–here it means to let-go our status, more often than not, it means our SUCCESS. Always bare in mind that we are no exceptional (no better, nor less than perfect) in a crowd, it helps us to loosen up. A less forceful heart (mediocrity) enables us to think more profoundly. Moreover, every real life encounter is unique, never the same. We need to tackle each of them differently, and we may not be the best candidate in all occurrence. Therefore, mediocrity is the best approach to all. In that way, we would do more rightsss then wrongsss! When we are NOBODY, people praise us when we do slightly ‘better’, when we are SOMEBODY, we are being penalized when we did less impressive. I think — REBORN applies to mistake too. Mistakes — help us to grow (only when we realized it was a mistake). Mistakes—are not easy to realize. If you think there are easy, that means you had not done any big ones, yet. [Should be glad, you decide] The bigger mistakes, the nastier the lessons would be. As a SOMEBODY, you can’t avoid ‘hitting-yourself-into-hard-walls’ [directly translated from Chinese ;p] in the process to become wise. Otherwise, be a NOBODY to save yourself from the wall-hitting. Of course, you may get something else out of the Zahir, quoted Coelho, ‘If a book doesn’t self-explanatory, then the book isn’t worth reading’. ^^

This is defenitely one soothing picture to look at. Try this therapy while tengah-tension at work, at no cost! ;p

*Note: This pix was taken in San Marino Grand Prix ahead of the qualifying session in 2005. He later won the race. [This pix is copy-righted by miss heidi ya, no grabbing please, hehe.]

KARZ

I have been into the car industry for nine months now. I am no professional yet (not even close), but I think I would not have left out in car-related conversations now.

Good Car / Bad Car?

First off, “Continental vs Oriental”.

I think,continental cars versus oriental cars is like, ‘classic versus contemporary’.

Let’s put it this way, imagine you see a ten-year-old BMW 3-series and a ten-year-old Honda Accord side by side in front of you now. What would your eyes tell you?

I bet, the former ones is ‘old and stylish’, and the later, ‘old and obsolete’.

                                 

1996 BMW 3-series        

                            

1995 Honda Accord

The continental - When the car designers and the car architects create new cars, they keep the original flavor into the new ones as much as it possibly can, and yet one is chic’er than the previous. Look at the interior of two different generations of BMW, they are almost similar, but only voguish to fit into the modern-day.

As for the oriental, they go for the contemporary most ‘in’ approach, ‘what is the trend now?’, ‘which is hot now?’, etc. The shape can be totally different from the predecessor; it depends on what is the contemporary favourite—rounder/sharper contour, mini/giant, buttons/turner tuner, shapes and sizes, patterns and design of the features (both interior and exterior) may have a total changed. And you know…trendy stuff is easier to get olds in time, very soon.

“CKD vs CBU”

CKD = Completely Knock-Down (aka locally assembled)

CBU = Completely Built-Up (fully imported. * Be ware, there are CBU made-in-Germany, CBU made-in-Thailand, etc ;p)

This is easy. Hmm, have you noticed that– Pringles – the American brand chips is now product made-in-Malaysia? Could you taste the difference? Well, they are baked out of the same recipe!!! Or, you could DIY mom’s recipe of nasi goreng kampung!

What makes one buys an expensive car?

Porsche Cayenne

He may be buying its brand. But he’s buying more than just that:

Better handling

Easier to drive

Excellent gripping on the ground

Superior braking system

Thrilling sound of the car

Bigger power, and

The FEATURES: Sunroof, vacuum doors, sunblind, rain sensor, zenon-headlight, power-seats with lumbar support, DVD, Multifunction-display, anti-dazzle-mirror, etc.

The interior of Volkswagen Touareg

                                                                                                     

                                                                                      

These are values in the car that people are buying now… they want comfy, cozy, and as pleasant as a vehicle could offer.

At the slope of 45 degree, can other cars do this? (Don’t try blindly ;p)

What are the specifications to look at when buying a car?

After the love at first sight, next has to be the personality lah!! As for cars, it means the specifications.

The displacement (how many cc ar?). 

If the model that you are looking at comes in a few different displacements; per say the BMW 5-series consists of 520i, 525i, 530i, 540i, and 545i. Try not to go for the lowest cc of its class. The entry model may (usually) face problems of underpower (for its’ size&weight of the car). Besides, the smaller cc model might consume more fuel than the other, due to the lack of power.

The cylinders:

4 cylinders, 6 in-line cylinders, V6, V8, V10, V12? For your information the Formula 1 cars are using V8 engine this season.

The horsepower. 

The bigger the horsepower, the better? Of course lah! Do you know the most expensive sport cars in the world now is Bugatti Veyron? And it also has the biggest horsepower on cars ever, 1001 bhp babe!!! Does that make it the fastest? You bet! (To compared, a BMW 525i has 218 bhp).

Bugatti Veyron: It costs over 800 thousand pounds.

**a BMW X5 (4.8is) costs only 50 over thousands pounds. (You do the math)

The torque. 

Torque is crucial for heavy vehicles like buses and trucks which they need the extra torque to get the vehicle move from static. While the street cars are getting lighter then ever these days. (Lighter cars enhance speeding, and improve braking)

The transmission.

Now, latest Mercedes S-class has come with 7-speed automatic transmission, so does the BMW M5. Therefore, the 6-speed is entering the past-it generations soon. However, most of ‘us’ are still using 5-speed automatic transmission ;p

BMW M5 – 7-speed Steptronic                                                             

Mercedes Benz S350

The acceleration of the automatic transmission is usually slower then the manual. However, with the enhancement of the better technologies these days, Porsche has proven that, the statement is no longer a fact. The acceleration (0-100km/h) for the latest 911 Turbo (Porsche 997) automatic transmission (3.7 s) is faster than its manual transmission (3.9s) by 0.2 seconds.

997 Porsche  911 Turbo: Officially launched in KL, July 2006; Asking for 1.5M

The safety and technology. This is one important factor that buyers are looking at when shopping for cars these days: Airbags, crash sensor, park distance control with visual (displaying at the multifunction display), adaptive headlights (automatically adjust the light to match the direction of travel), xDrive (for the all wheel drive), Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS).

These are crapsss on KRAZ, crapped by ong soo hua ;p

while she’s day dreaming of a X3, or maybe a M5 now ^.^

During the race in Sepang this year, I met this guy with a killer-smile, seriously killer’s material! =D Okie, that’s not the point. The point is he has got an exceptional reason to like the Red Bull F1 team.

When I asked him why, the reply was Red Bull has got nice car, "Star Wars, cool!" *I Laugh out loud* And with that killer’s smile on his cheecky face and a awefully cute reason to like a F1 team. He did fascinate me.

During the race at

Monaco

last weekend, we saw the Red Bull F1 promotes the ‘Superman Returns’. That killer’s smile was the first thing came to my mind. Red Bull had their first podium finish at the most spectacular grand prix in the world, very well done! =D And here’s to the Red Bull and the killer’s smile (haha)!

It does not matter if you like something for whatever (silly or could not be less ordinary) reasons, just as long as you know the reason you like it, and you like it for yourself (which is supremely significant), then, it’s all cool, very cool indeed.

The miserable part will be when you are lost where you do not even know what you like. Then came the saddest part where - you like what others like!

So, what do you like?

As a greenhorn at work, I seek agreement before I make final work-related decisions or choices. Part of the reason is to show respect, or maybe I was playing it safe. I would have got someone to back me up if things turn otherwise. A few days back, said my manager, “Heidi, if you think that’s OK, then go ahead! Works are created, not instructed.”

That reminds me of something that happened two years ago. I was working part-time as a promoter at one international exhibition. After getting my working pass and got to know my booth position, my agent said to me, “Now go and make yourself useful”.

I went to the booth. No one was there, yet. Posters were already up on the walls, nicely placed—Global Review something, blah, blah, blah. Chairs, corner tables, desk and a few big boxes was still in a mess. I sat down, in wait for my temporary ‘boss’ to arrive (aka in wait for orders lah). While I was about to start day-dreaming, the remark of the job agent dawn on me—I should make myself ‘useful’.

I began to clean the chairs and desks with tissue papers, arranged them in the best likely spot in the small booth. Next, I checked out the box, magazines—I found. In that case, I knew I was going to promote for a publishing company for the next four days. I took the magazines out from the box and displayed them in the most interesting and appealing approach that I could possibly thought of (at which I turned to MPH bookstore for inspiration). 

The expression that I got from the boss when he arrived is still crystal clear in my mind. He was definitely pleased with what I had done.

It was not difficult to impress others when we initiate what is best. Being more initiatives at work could not be wrong.

Quoting Mr. Alonso recently before the race at Barcelona, press asked whether he felt under pressure to race at home soil in front of 130, 000 fans. The replay was, ‘…when you always do your maximum and to the limits, there would be no pressure, pressure exists only when you have not done your best!’

And he won the race.

This could not be more than any other usual Sunday morning. But, it happened in a way that I wished I could have had it video taped.

It was me, with a plateful of pastry and chips, a cup of warmed water, and a book that I have not finished reading like for ages. What a peaceful Sunday morning.

I was having my breakfast at the same-old coffee house. Ahh nice, it has been so long, so long that I almost forgotten how pleasant it could be. People: husband and wife, parents and kids, boyfriends and girlfriends, friends and friends, business associates, some were like me-unaccompanied; they came and went, some stayed for as long as I was there. There were discussions going on, chatting, and laughter. It couldn’t be more ordinary, and I couldn’t be more indifferent.

I was at a round table, next to a see-through glass partition. I was sipping, munching, reading, sipping munching and reading which did not have to be in a particular order.

And right across me over the glass, there was a smile; a smile that sparkled and beamed right into my face and touched my heart; a smile so warmed and so sweet that I wished it could stay a bit longer, much longer, or I wouldn’t mind –forever! Or if the world would just stop right there! =D

If smile could send me to paradise, I was there this morning.