Advice on buying watches below $500

As some of my close friends and family members are aware, I am a big fan of watches - mechanical or battery powered, analog or digital, it does not matter. A lot of people also come to me for advice on buying watches and most are interested in good quality affordable watches. And of course I depend on the various watch blogs and forums out there, besides advice from some knowledgeable friends who are also watch fanatics. Some of the sites I frequent includes the famous A blog to watch, Hodinkee and the Watchuseek forums.

Recently I found out about another watch blog called Watchjudge.com. Rob has written a post called 'Best Watch Brands under $500: Affordable Timepieces Made with Actual Craftsmanship'. I found the article to be well written and quite balanced. Some actual good advice. So if you are looking for an affordable watch, I suggest you go through the article before buying one. 

KLIA 2 vs Sydney airport

Just got back from Sydney. I had gone there to attend my youngest sister's wedding. It was a tiring but really fantastic experience and our family is now bigger. It was fantastic that our family was finally together again after decades literally.

Anyway, I was comparing my experience flying in and out of Sydney with that of KLIA 2 (I flew with Air Asia X) and I realised that Malaysian Airports delivered a much more satisfying experience.

Getting through customs and immigration was a breeze, not just because I have a Malaysian IC but queues were much less and the process was quite efficient. Maybe it was because I was flying in the evening when there are less flights. In Sydney, they require you to take off your jacket, belt and remove the laptop (if you have one). I am not sure but wonder whether Malaysia has better scanners.

Once I went through immigration controls, there were ample places to sit down comfortably and have an affordable bite. Duty free shopping is much more cheaper in KL as compared to Sydney on most of the items as well. Wifi signals are strong with relatively fast connections. The wifi in Sydney was dismal. I could not even surf the net properly let alone chat via Skype.

And then there is the paperwork. I had to fill in 2 documents when I flew into Sydney and one while flying out. There were none to and from KLIA2.

Overall, a lot of things that Sydney can learn from KLIA 2.

Classics - Love Hurts - Nazareth with Munich Philharmonic Orchestra

One of my old time favs.



Love hurts, love scars, love wounds
And mars, any heart
Not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud
Holds a lot of rain
Love hurts......ooh, ooh love hurts

I'm young, I know, but even so
I know a thing or two
And I learned from you
I really learned a lot, really learned a lot
Love is like a flame
It burns you when it's hot
Love hurts......ooh, ooh love hurts

Some fools think of happiness
Blissfulness, togetherness
Some fools fool themselves I guess
They're not foolin' me

[1] I know it isn't true, I know it isn't true
Love is just a lie
Made to make you blue
Love hurts......ooh, ooh love hurts
ooh, ooh love hurts

[lead:]

[repeat 1]

Water quality

Everyone we know here in Malaysia has water filters installed in their houses - normally a big one outside and another one inside. In fact the water quality situation has given rise to a huge industry here in Malaysia with several companies offering a range of water purifiers and filters - I guess the most popular ones are the reverse osmosis machines costing thousands of dollars.

Soon after we got back from the UK and moved into our rented house, we too realised that we needed to install water filters. It was costly but it was absolutely necessary considering the terrible quality of water. 

It was not this bad when we left the country nearly 9 years ago. Moreover, the water supply was privatised and theoretically the service and quality ought to be better. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The quality of water has literally gone down the drain. Not sure what the problem is due to - is it due to old rusted pipes?

Look at the backwash of our external filter just after one week. It looks like black coffee.

The authorities seriously need to do something about this. 

New upcoming movies I am looking forward to

Quite excited with all these fantastic movies coming out soon. At least the trailers are fantastic and I hope they do not disappoint. Just realised that most of them are action movies and are adaptations of popular comics.


Aurora


Ant-Man


Fanstastic Four


Avengers: Age of Ultron


Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice


And of course:

Star Wars: Episode 7 - The Force Awakens

This is the movie I have to watch on the big screen when it comes out.

Just another day

Yes! It is that day of the year again - my birthday. Just plan to have a small family get together.

Nice to see a personalised Google Doodle.

Efneo - 3-speed front bicycle gearbox

While biking regularly to work in the UK, I can't tell you the countless issues I had with my front derailleur. An interesting innovation in the biking World caught my eye a few days back called the Efneo. They call it a "planetary gearbox" where there is one chainring rotating at three different speeds on each gear instead of the traditional derailleur where three chainrings of different sizes rotate at the same speed. It is an equivalent to a 28/40/50T front crankset.

The new gearbox claims to get rid of some of my biking pet peeves. For example, you can reset the gear to 1st while on a standstill and start from first gear. This is often an issue with the traditional gears when you have to come to a sudden standstill while at higher gears - resetting to 1st gear is not possible unless you start riding again. They also claim that the gear shifting is much easier and quicker. It definitely does look smooth in their videos. They also claim to reduce maintenance as well.

There are some limitations: It will not work properly with a fixie bike that has no freewheel in a rear wheel and is not meant for off-roaders.

Check out their Indiegogo campaign which has raised 47% of their $30,000 goal sum.

Also visit the Efneo website for more information.