Happy New Year mates!

First of all, a very Happy New Year 2006 to all near and far away.

I had a very mundane new year, really nothing to shout about! Went to the Tg. Lipat beach near Yayasan Sabah and the family (spouse, kids) dipped our legs into the sea at the stroke of midnight. There wasn't much fireworks to be seen and to be honest the air horns of the ships berthed at the port could hardly be heard! Or did the ships blare their air horns but I could not hear them?

Prior to that, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner and tried their Mediteranean pizza set. Hmmm... no big deal to be honest...... It was a wee too spicy for the kids and we had to take away the balance. Normally, any pizza we order is finished off clean! ha...ha....

In the afternoon, I was at Karamunsing Complex with a client for a drink. After the drink I decided to go home. Went to the car and as I drove off, I felt the steering pull to one side. Aha.....should be a puncture........Stopped the car and went down to have a look. After confirming that I indeed had a puncture, I decided to drive another 10 metres away so as not to block traffic and allow the other parked cars to move. By doing that I tore the bloody sidewall of the stupid tyre and there goes RM300 bucks! In hindsight I shouldn't have tried to be so polite. Grrr......

That's not the end of it. I start looking for the tools to remove the spare tyre and start looking at them with question marks in my mind. Now, how the heck do I use these tools. I am more used to the real 4 wheel drive jack used by real off roaders, the HI-LIFT JACK from Canada. In my previous 4x4 I could change a tyre in 1o minutes without any real problems. In the end I had to call for a buddy, 9W6YY to come and help me out. ha...ha.... The standard bottle jack and tyre wrench provided by most manufacturers suck! Give me a cross tyre wrench and a real hi-lift jack! Of course, to use a hi-lift jack you need to reinforce your side steps so that the side steps can take the weight of the vehicle. Furthermore, hi-lift jacks are really heavy and bulky. I fabricated a special holder in my previous Isuzu Bighorn to keep the hi-lift jack ever ready for action.

It's been one month since I went full time in my business and I'm pleased that December 2005 was a good month. Bringing to bear my experience and management, I intend to improve further for 2006.

Till then, cheers mates.