Rantyards.

You know the lanyards with company logos printed on them? The ones like AirAsia and Firefly sell in-flight? They're stupid.

They're big, colorful, and have logos printed all over, which is ridiculous since you pay for them. You know what do you pay for? Nope, not practicality and effectiveness in preventing losing your name cards.

You pay for advertising. Now that's why they are stupid. The companies make you pay a good amount of money for a fancy, colorful, oversized lanyards and you feel cool and 'hip' wearing them. But your gaining stops there. The profits from sale, the company get (in huge margins too, I believe). Then the company gets free advertising from mobile billboards (that is you).

So why the hell do we pay for this kind of lanyards then? The companies should be giving them for free to us, in fact, they should pay us on a monthly basis for advertising.

Don't give me that crap that this is a practice among big companies too, like GE and Airbus, and given their established global images, they don't even need advertising anymore. It's purely trying to sell stuff for a dollar's profit. First, I don't think advertising is limited to only SMEs or startup companies, I believe even big companies need advertising to promote themselves, gives people a sense of familiarity with their brands which is a part of public relations I think. Second, sometimes big companies don't sell lanyards, instead some opportunists just use their logos to sell you one of those unlicensed merchandises. But still, the companies gain free advertising from use of their logos.

You know what else grinds my gears? Daytime running lights, but that's for another time.

DIYing

Due to its simplicity and easiness, I decided to change the engine oil of my motorcycle myself. I have tried to do it a few months back but the mechanic who did the previous change tightened the bolt a bit too much. The spanner I used was bent trying to turn the bolt but it wouldn't budge a bit! In the end I had to go the workshop to get it done.

This time I tried to do it myself again and luckily it was not too tight. Not much effort was given. The bolt just spun out, just the way it should.

Using the spanner I bought at Tesco. It was cheap, but I didn't think it would bend before my arm could break. Or maybe I am too strong. ha ha

Quite rusty, not unusual for an 8-year old motorcycle.

I'm a fan of recycling. Keep Earth green. Seriously.

Then I checked the used oil for any debris. In jet engines, there's a component called MCD (Metal chip detector) fitted in the lubrication line to catch any metal residue that can be from deteriorating parts, which may portend a failure. That principle was at work here, only that I had to rely on visual inspection.
The used oil was then poured into the new oil bottle. It can't be disposed like any other trash, there's an environmental regulation for that. That's OK since it can be used for several purposes too, like lubricating the motorcycle chain.

That's it. Next time I want to try to change the filters myself. A good way to practice engineering at home besides the workplace.

The next DIY I did was installing a cyclometer for my bicycle. As you may have noticed now, I'm quite a guy who fancies himself as a true rider. Commuting? Motorcycle. Exercising? Bicycle. I am looking for a unicycle for home use so that I can ride straight away after waking up in the morning. If not for the company rules restricting me from riding at the workplace I may use the unicycle at work too. ha ha taking the joke a bit too far.

Has anyone done that, tho? Riding from bedroom to toilet to living and dining rooms? That may not be too hard as long as the house is a single storey house unless one decides to ride all the time, including when he's defecating. Now that's something I would love to see someone mad enough does.

Anyways, I chose CatEye Velo 7 because, well that's the only choice I've got. I've read everywhere and CatEye is like the monopolist of cyclometers. It just got down to which model to buy but that's also a no-brainer, since my budget is strictly kept low due to my novelty to the sport (my bike is a cheap Lerun after all, which is the reason why I haven't got off-road yet despite the bike being categorised as an MTB).

 

The package. I forgot to take a pic pre-installation. RM79 was the actual price but the shop discounted it to RM55. It's a bike shop in Trengganu not far from my home. 

All the insides taken out and spread on the floor. The manual was easy but I still had to watch a couple YouTube vids and read a few advices on Yahoo Answers. Setting the tyre size was a bit tricky.

A tool-free installation. Quick-ties only.

Set. I just used nail clippers to cut the unused lengths of the quick-ties.

It's quite satisfying to DIY. I always like to do things myself but I usually don't have the tools and not ready to invest due to other commitments, namely good foods.

So close yet no cigar

Oh man, we were so close to the title.

Liverpool even beat Man City the other day. We were the only team that had advantage over City, a full 3 points. Then entered Chelsea. I wasn't optimistic to be honest about the game, I didn't even feel like watching it so I slept early.

A draw would be fine,we could bank on that and continue with wins over the last 2 games. Still, it slipped. We were even forced to draw with Crystal Palace.

Liverpool were not supposed to finish in the top 3, everyone was saying the target was a Champions League spot, and the players overachieved. So much so finishing second is so disappointing.

As a fan though, I would have exploded if Liverpool did win the title. I never know how it feels to win the EPL, and it may be an even harder dream to achieve next season. Our biggest consolation is of course finishing above Man Utd. Those arrogant knobs are still buzzing about how Liverpool missing the title while they themselves are out of Europe.

Although honestly, I think they will be back next season, they didn't screw around after falling down, quickly looking for the best manager to guide them back on to the track.

Whatever happens, always and forever, YNWA.

Between two legs

I've always been interested in cycling. As a young boy, bicycle was my main mode of transport between home, school, friends' houses, and playing spots. Mind we didn't enjoy or make full use of playgrounds back then. Those are for little girls. Real boys ride, run and sometimes swim.

I recall one day, we were riding adventurously to the beach, or at least that was the plan. Somehow we chose to go down a trekkish path instead of cycling on the clear road straight to the beach. We steered into the jungle behind KUSTEM (now UMT), fatiguely paddled through the sand for at least a km I think until we met a swamp separating us from the path across. Instead of turning back and defied the adventurous nature in us, we decided to cross the swamp.

What we were too young to understand was the 'swamp' was actually a waste pool. The water was dark grey, smelled pungent, and I think was as dense as a cup of kopi kaw-kaw you can order at the mamak's. Luckily it was only knee-deep. Stepping into it, I could feel the sludgy soil as we were bare footed. When walking on soft soil, flip flops may get stuck as we step deep into earth. I lost a few pair of slippers when walking along the muddy river bank at my mother's hometown. 

We managed to get through the swamp but the smell stuck. We reached the beach, enjoyed the view, washed our legs, again and again, before we realised it was late noon and we haven't had out lunch, dispersed to ride home.

The smell stuck for a few days. I also found my legs to start itching, which was clearly the effect of the sunny dip in the pool of waste. Few weeks later I got the trophy to show myself as a true kampung boy, in the form of scars of various sizes on my legs.

Anyways back to the topic, the first proper bike I got was a purple GTH. It was clearly a knock-off of BMX. I really loved that bike, rode it every evening. Then my father replaced it with a bicycle given by the ADUN's office as a part of its community service. The GTH was given to my cousin, which irked me since it was in a good condition and the fact that I gave away something good for something of less quality. The bicycle given by the ADUN was of a brand I can't remember, yellow, and uglier. It was like a girl's bike.

My next bicycle was a grey Montana. It was the first big bicycle I had. Father bought me that out of a sudden at RM280. It was also the first bicycle that I had that was fitted with a gearing system. That was the bicycle that I used to commute between places. By that time I was already old enough to ride on my own to places more than 2km (ha ha) away from home. Indeed, the farthest place I cycled to was Padang Nanas, which was about 7 km from home.

The Montana was never given maintenance. When I started secondary school, the bike was not used often anymore since my father drove me to and from school. I also received another bicycle from the ADUN, this time as a gift for my UPSR results. It was a Montona. Although it was an imitation of Montana, it was pretty decent. It rode good. No gears so it was easier to ride. When I got into boarding school, both bicycles were abandoned. The Montana was then given, again to my cousin.

The Montona, though is less fortunate. It is completely abandoned and is already reduced to scrap metal, laid behind our house, just outside of my bedroom. It is a sad sight, I must admit. Rust all over the body, save the alloy rims. I just don't know what to do with it. My father may soon throw it away, like he always does to old things. However, I still have an emotional attachment to it. It was a gift to recognise my success. I wouldn't throw it away myself but if I come home one day and see it's gone, I won't be sad. 

Whatever it is, my fondness to cycling hasn't faded.

This afternoon, I took delivery of my Lerun Evo 20. I bought it at the warehouse sale few weeks back but they could only do the free delivery today. 

Tested it just now. Since it's been long since I last rode a bike I couldn't really say much about the handling except that it just feels alright. An apparent resentment tho is the saddle. It's too small and too hard. A replacement due soon.

Since my part time work is over, it may be good to have a hobby, especially one that can help me exercise and cut down my waist size.