Last Day of 2008

It's the end of 2008. By all account 2008 was a tumultuous year. A disastrous year for the world . As for me, it was not a very good year. Everybody knows that 2009 will be a watershed year. Many have lost their jobs and income this year. Many more will walk down the same path. There is one American saying: if your neighbor loses his job it's a recession but if you lose your job as well, it's a depression.

In the end many millions of working families will lose their homes, their retirement income and savings, some losing even their families; caused partly by this global financial crisis created by Man; and Man's insatiable addiction to Debt.

I have taken some time off in 2008. I am pursuing my passion and see where that leads me. Life nowadays is a lot less stressful (I qualify by saying that positive stresses are good for you!) and I find I am more often than not, less worried about events and circumstances.

Though at times things seem to be not going as well (shit happens #$@%), on balance it's an acceptable arrangement for me for the time being. Which brings me to another topic:- New Year's Resolutions. I am sure I will have to do some hard thinking in the new year to review my perspectives of life and options that maybe opened to me ..... I feel that the early part of a new year is truly a great time for everybody to take stock of one's life. I welcome it. I think everybody should have some quiet moments of reflection and review. Don't you?

On this last day of the year I count as my great blessing that my family is with me. We are going to meet on the last day of 2008 and celebrate the coming of a new 2009. And hopes of a better year for all in all aspects of your life .....

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !

Where The Hell Is Matt?

Matt Harding is a 32-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play video games. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

The rest as they say, is history. Now Matt is a famous person. His face is instantly recognizable all over the world. His videos are seen by millions of people. Matt has achieved what many have not even begun to imagine. This did not even start out to be a dream of Matt's to begin with.....

I found this to be an extraordinary story of a real life person and I admire Matt's ability to turn a simple dance act into a world event. He is truly original.

The Age Article on Australian Light Plane Accidents

Light plane deaths up more than 50%

• Paul Bibby, The Age
• December 30, 2008

DEATHS from light plane crashes increased by more than half this year after a horror run in which 12 people died in three months, figures from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau show.
The death of a NSW farmer in a crop-duster crash yesterday brought the number of light plane crash deaths to 36 for the year, up from 23 last year. There have been three since October.
The figures show that more than half of the deaths involved planes in the category weighing less than 2250 kilograms, including a significant number of ultralights and other recreational aircraft.
Despite this, there is a push to extend the limited training and maintenance regulations that apply to recreational aircraft to significantly heavier planes.
Recreational Aviation Australia — the organisation that represents Australia's ultralight, glider and gyro pilots — is pushing for a significant increase in the weight limit of aircraft that come under its administration.
The new weight limit of 750 kilograms, up from 544 kilograms, means the RAA would be responsible for administering licence testing, training and maintenance of hundreds of light aircraft currently covered by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, including two-seater aircraft such as the Cessna 150.
Pilot training administered by RAA does not include the two hours of flight instrument training that are compulsory under CASA's regulations.
"Australia has maintained an aviation safety record that is the envy of much of the world and that is in large part because of the quality of our pilot training," said the president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Captain Barry Jackson.
"As commercial pilots, we share uncontrolled air space with these pilots in parts of Australia, and it is not in the interests of safety for training standards to be allowed to drop," he said.
In a submission to CASA, Recreational Aviation Australia said its training syllabus was based on that used by CASA and that, skill-wise, there was no difference between the pilots in either system.
Concerns have also been raised about RAA's simplified maintenance standards that allow aircraft to be maintained by engineers who are not licensed by CASA.
"What you're going to get is owners maintaining their own aircraft because that's what they're allowed to do with gyros built from an IKEA-style flat-pack," a senior source from the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers said.
RAA said it was already responsible for maintaining complex aircraft and that it had no misgivings that it could safely administer aircraft in this new category.
The crop-duster crash happened about noon at a property near Nyngan, police said.
An ambulance spokeswoman said the pilot was dead when paramedics arrived. He was the only person in the plane.
A 51-year-old man with head injuries has been flown to hospital after the light plane in which he was a passenger crashed south-west of Brisbane.
The single-engine Lake Buccaneer seaplane carrying the pilot and a passenger hit trouble shortly after take-off, crashing into a paddock about two kilometres north-east of the Dugandan airstrip near Boonah about 11am yesterday.
The passenger, with suspected head and facial fractures and a broken arm, was flown to Princess Alexandria Hospital in Brisbane.

Beijing Calling

28th night we met up with Kin Fong, Ivy, KC Mak and Wooi Lan @ Century Walk for a cuppa and a Guinness. Kin Fong and Ivy just had dinner with KC Mak and partner earlier in the night. KC nowadays hails from Beijing where he has his practice and business. Their son John was with them also.

It has been at least 25 years since we last met. Many things had gone under the bridge in 25 years. I have had many ex-class mates and friends whom I have not seen in longer years than 25. Each has gone on with their lives and become who we are today. It is a strange feeling looking back those years and wonder what might have been had we kept in touch yet it is a natural feeling of "loss opportunities", and a feeling of running on empty..... The older we are the more we reminiscent the past and the more inadequate we feel of time having slipped away..... And so I look forward to my catching up with some old class mates in Singapore and Ipoh during Feb 2009.

The Three Stooges having a Guinness @ Century Walk

The Group Picture

We talked about our goal of setting up a reunion gathering in 2010 (when we are about to go over the hill) for all Sam Tet Form 5S1 (1978) mates and we got to discussing whether it should be in Ipoh or China. China seems to be an interesting choice as our mates are scattered all over mainly in Malaysia or Singapore. It will mean that some of us may feel more enthusiastic if the reunion is held some place away from base. The reunion can be part of a wider activity of a tour around a few Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Having a reunion in Ipoh is another strong option. It is our birth place and it is probably apt that we return to our roots. Anyway it all depends on responses from these mates as to the eventual venue of the reunion.

A tentative date of 16 Feb 2010 (2nd day of CNY) was tossed up for wider discussion in the ST Class of 1978 Google Group. We will see where this leads us in coming months.....

For those who may require access to the Group here's the link groups.google.com/groups/sam-tet-class-of-1978

Meantime KC told me he had been in Beijing for the last 10 years and may things have changed in the sense of "development" of the city. Since he has photos of the past and the ever changing present and future of the Beijing City I encouraged him to write something about the changing phases of the great city. KC and Wooi Lan leaves for Sydney Tuesday. Take care.

Boxing Day BBQ 2008

STOBA Members And Spouses

Richard Leong Choy invited Sam Tet Old Boys Association (STOBA) members and spouses and his badminton kaki over to his house in Vermont for a BBQ on Boxing Day.

It was a glorious day, not too hot but sunny.

As usual there were lots of food and booze.... Sausages, chicken wings, lamb chops, pork chops, friend bee hoon, fried noodles, curry puffs, water melon, cherries, mangoes, beer, cordial, and everything in between.

There were lots of good company; the normal suites are Vincent (chairman), Richard, Kin Fong, Khai Yip, Kim Kee, and Chee Seng who is holidaying from Jakarta. I must confess I have forgotten at least a dozen other names.

STOBA Australia has been in existence for many decades. I still remember being welcome by STOBA members at the Melbourne airport when I first arrived to study in a high school back in 1979. Its members have kept in touch over the years and have endeavored to have regular social events for its members to meet and reminiscent the past(?!) and to foster relationships. For those of us who have emigrated to Oz I think it is important we have connections with our roots and the people we know of the same culture in order to feel we belong to the community and the familiarity of the past.

I had a freak accident just before picture taking time and cut my little toe on the right foot. Ex-Red Crescent Captain Chee Seng immediately swung into action and took charge of looking after the injury. All was well after I had my GP take a look at the injury and he had the toe wound stitched up.

Evidence Of A Caring Community

Tending To The Needy

The Offended Toe

Got To Use A Clutch For One Day

Following is a picture taken during a "welcome lunch" for Ben Hue at The Sofia Restaurant on Burwood Highway 13 Dec 2008. Ben was visiting Melbourne with his family from Malaysia.

Group Picture Of STOBA Melbourne Members @ The Sofia Restaurant

Christmas Lunch 2008

Kids In Their New Home

Pat decided to have a house warming party cum Christmas Lunch this year. It' was a rather rare occasion and so everybody turned up. The venue provided us an opportunity to connect other than just having a meal in a restaurant. We were of course made very welcome, we enjoyed it. There were lots of food. Too much in fact.

The house is nice, warm, smells new, very spacious, there is a large garden out the back. There is a bit more work to be done for the front lawn; with new paving and new lawn to be put in. Otherwise the house is fantastic and homely. The kids have their own rooms and they relish in their newness and are happy.

The food was typical Malaysian fare:- curry laksa, fried noodle, chicken lever (all time favorite), glutinous rice, battered fish, fries, chips, nuts, cheese platter, olives, water melon, strawberries, pita bread, cakes, coffee and tea.....

Chicken Liver (All Time Favorite)

The kids were having fun; having collected cash and gifts..... Kids love Christmas and so they should.

Gifts were also exchanged between adults.....

Grand Ma And New Grand Daughter

Friends Kin Fong, Ivy and kids were also at the celebration.....

Peace on earth. Goodwill to all man.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Flight To Cowes And Wonthaggi

Saturday 20 December was a glorious day weather wise. A friend Yik came out with me to Moorabbin for a flight to Cowes (Philip Island) and Wonthaggi. I wanted to recap some VOR intercept work and had invited him to come along for his first flight in Australia.

YIK (IVAN YEONG)

ROYAL VIC AERO CLUB FLIGHT LINE

GETTING READY TO DEPART

We took off in our Warrior VH-BZE on Rwy 17R. Having tuned and identified CWS VOR, I dialed in 159 deg Magnetic on the CDI and tracked for Cowes.

LINING UP 17R

IFR EQUIPPED PA28 WITH GARMIN GNS430

Passing overhead the CWS VOR station 20 minutes later I turned our plane on an outbound track of 072 deg Magnetic to the WON station. WON was only 19 NM away and so soon enough I tuned to its station and made an inbound track of072. Having passed overhead WON station I turned us to 308 deg outbound and headed back to YMMB Moorabbin.

Yik had control of the plane for a while when were on cruise. He felt a little dizzy when we flew towards the WON ground station as the wind over the terrain caused slight turbulence. Other than that he enjoyed the flight.

PHILIP ISLAND

THE COWES GROUND STATION IS SITUATED ADJACENT TO THIS GRAN PRIX BIKE TRACK ON PHILIP ISLAND

LANDING

It was a good day. I got my fix.

Christmas Lights 2008

The house on Narracan St, Vermont South won the top prize for the 2008 Melbourne Best Residence Christmas Lights Award.

We went out there one cool evening to enjoy its ambiance and to appreciate the sparkling, themed lighting set around the house. There were throngs of people coming for the same purpose. The atmosphere was really fantastic, especially for the kids. Certainly it brought out some commercialized Christmas flavors such as Santa, reindeer, and presents.

Since that night out we had been there twice to show friends and family members the house.

Jack's Wedding to Mai

My nephew Jack got married on 6 Dec 2008. Proud parents Lee and Irene were obviously very happy that their youngest son is now married. They can now plan for their big trips overseas next year (China is on the horizon) and a closure to their years of planning for their sons' "coming of age". The Chinese have a belief that one is only an adult when one is married. I am sure the parents will also look forward to another grand child in the making, hopefully this comes sooner than later.

Night Before The Wedding (Mot A Stag's Night!)

Son And Dad

The big day was naturally hectic for the bride and groom. They took it well in their strides, though.

There were lots of activities going on..... sending of gifts to the in-laws, paying respects to the elders, tea ceremonies, , taking wedding pictures and the big wedding dinner.

Bearing Gifts

Bride and Groom

The In-Laws (And Out Laws)

Jack's Family & Extended Family
Front Row: Kevin Lam, Grand Ma, Grand Pa, Cheryl Lam, Kim, Kim's son, Ivan
Back Row: David Lam, Pat Lam, SM, Mom - Irene, Bride, Groom, Dad - CY Lee, Sin, Me, Stewart with Son Mathew, Wife Iris

Tea Ceremony
Wedding Dinner (Grand Parents)

All is well towards the end and the newly weds could now look forward to their honeymoon to Sydney. The Wedding dinner was held at Eastern Palace Chinese Restaurant

Laksa King

We had lunch with Darren and Linda @ Laksa King. Darren & family have been patrons of the restaurant for a long time and today we made it a point to buy them lunch as a going away thing before they leave for the holiday.

It would be more appropriate to say the restaurant is a cafe. It's unassuming, maybe can seat 30 customers. The location is not great, being in Flemington. On their recommendation we ordered curry laksa, seafood laksa, salted fish head vermicelli, and of cause, their famous sambal. All dishes turned out to be superb, very authentic Malaysian, and their true flavors and aroma were very apparent to all customers. I would give a 9/10 score. We enjoyed our meal thoroughly and was very glad we vetted our appetite.....

Curry Laksa

Salted Fish Head Vermicelli

Asam Laksa

Sambal

快靓正 Laksa King Restaurant
(03) 9372 6383
Shp3/ 320 Racecourse Rd
Flemington VIC 3031

Coffee At Flinders Lane

Flinders Lane

We went out with friends Darren and Linda to the city to have coffee after our lunch in Flemington's Laksa. We decided to take them to Flinders Lane where cafe's are aplenty. The coffee culture in Melbourne is world famous. One can find only a handful of Starbucks around the country, the rest of them are home grown cafes, well supported by the locals and visitors alike. Gloria Jeans was once owned by the Americans. They came out to Oz to set up the chain and in the end Gloria Jeans Australia bought out their parent company! Don't mug around with the Aussies when it come to the coffee culture.....

Anyway we found a little cafe and ordered our hot latte, flat white, cappuccinos. We also ordered a slice of mud cake and a cheese cake to go with our coffees. Every one enjoyed the atmosphere and time together. It was a good break away from life in the burbs.

Graffiti Art

All in all a fantastic day. In the company of good friends, great Malaysian laksa and salted fish head vermicelli lunch, great cuppas, and a stroll in the city.....

Bourke St Mall

VOR ORIENTATIONS

I now can say that I have got the VOR intercepts down pad. Phew!

I have got all the mystique of how to use a VOR for tracking and navigation out of my system, I think.

Since we use a Garmin GNS430 on our Warriors there are two ways to track using VOR stations. Method 1 is to use VLOC function by homing to the station's frequency. Method 2 is to use the GPS & OBS function of the 430.

The 430 tells us via a message what track to use and so I dial up the OBS the track and follow the CDI to or from the VOR station.

For intercepts to and from a station there are basically 4 scenarios:-

Inbound to Inbound

Dial up the desired new Inbound track on the OBS and turn the aircraft in the direction following the CDI (say to the left) by say 30 deg. And when the CDI tries to center, turn the aircraft progressively following the rate of turn of the CDI to the opposite direction ie to the right to the new track.

Outbound to Outbound

Dial up the desired new Outbound track on the OBS and turn the aircraft in the direction following the CDI (say to the left) and cross the old track by 30 deg.

Inbound to Outbound

Dial up the desired new track on the OBS and turn the aircraft in the opposite sense to the CDI and stop the turn 30 deg before the new Outbound track.

Outbound to Inbound

Dial up the new desired track on the OBS and turn the aircraft in the opposite sense to the CDI and stop the turn 60 deg or so before the new Inbound track.

Tips:

1. Whilst flying the plane keep an eye out to the VOR station if you can see it and have a sense of where and how far you are from the station.

2. It will always be useful if you can visualise where your plane is and is turning to, in the real world ie N-S-E-W sector of a DG.

3. Using the GPS/OBS function is sometimes helpful because the GNS430 will display the track you are tracking to or from in the form of a white line to help the pilot visualise the true scenario of the intercepts.

4. When navigating using the GPS function do not toggle the OBS function on in the 430 because that is only useful for intercepts to a station. If the aerodrome or ground station has no VOR transmitter then toggle the GPS function on and DIAL UP the track you wish to home in to or track away from. This function works like a VLOC and actually shows the track you have dialed up.