Review 2 - Madrid, Spain

Some say Madrid is BORING. Hmm.. I can't do any assumption before visiting the place. What I am going to do here is to show you 'part' of Madrid where I had managed to visit.

Before going into the pictures taken, Let me tell you a little history of the Spanish capital.

Madrid is well-known because of its bull-fighting. But for some of us, "Did you go to Santiago Bernebeu?" A roadside auntie and Ah Pek say, "Eh, Madrid ah. Got see Beckham there ah? He play football there one leh. Lah-ul also leh!! (Raul too)."

Yeah yeah, Real Madrid. The Galaticos. Anyways, bull-fighting is well-knowned there. World famous bull fighters come from Mexico, Portugal and locally too, fight in the famous arena, the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.

Too bad we can't see any bull on that day. We missed the bull fight by one day! Argh!

The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. Picture from Wikipedia.


The bull ring.


In Las Ventas.


The Royal Box. The seat is only vacated by the Royal family e.g. the King of Spain.


In the middle of the ring.


Hiding from the sun?


The bulls are coming!


Look at the marks on the 'wooden' wall.


A glimpse of Las Ventas outside. *Ignore both of them*

Madrid wasn't as perfect as we thought. Next, Barcelona!

Review 1 - Rome, Italy

We started of with Rome. The Vatican City. Wondering if you have not brought your passport along to Vatican, and oh SH*T!! It is another COUNTRY in ITALY! Wait a minute! It cannot be. But where the hell are the Border Officers (Immigration)? A little history of the Vatican City. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world by both area and population. The ruler is the Pope. Yeah! The Pope is the King, Prime Minister, President and bla bla.. whatever you want to call him.

That's one of the building in St. Peter's Square. And I am not the Pope!


You would not want to believe that the Swiss Guards there are well photographed.


Inside the building.


You can roughly see what the Pope sees during masses.


Here we are in the St. Peter's Square.


Amazing, isn't it?

So from the Square, we are off to else where, err... I am not sure where to but I am clearly aware we are going away from the Square.

Time off before heading 'somewhere'


In front of the 'National' Museum.


The Pantheon.


Pinocchio?


His nose ain't growing any longer.


The carpenter's workshop.


The Trevi Fountain.

The wishing fountain, where you can make one that one day, it would probably come true.

Quoted from Wikipedia.

"A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of Three Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain."

Wishing for.... *toss the coin*

The next day, we hiked our way to the famous Colosseum.

The sneak peak.


Here we are!


The interior.


More of it.


The other half.


Amazing view.


Oops.. The wrong way!


Outside of the Colosseum.


The ruins of the Roman Empire.


Part of the ruins.


Away from the Colosseum. Smile there, Gavin.

To sum all up about Rome, I would give 2 thumbs up!

Finally, it's done for now!

Grueling months of assignments, projects, and exams! It's finally done and dusted for the moment! Can't be bothered to talk about the last one but to enjoy the moment of temporary freedom.

Take a breather!

What to do now?!

Rome, Madrid and Barcelona coming up this Thursday till the following Friday.

That's all I can say for the moment. Plans will just flow as it goes.

and TENNIS!!!

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 - FULL UPDATES

Live from Appleinsider.com:

1) Revised MacBook Pro for 15inch: faster processor with 8GB RAM, replacement with SD slot, price starting from $1699

2) Revised price for 17inch MacBook Pro: starting from $2499

3) Updated 13 inch MacBook: additional SD card slot, price down $300 thus STARTS at $1199, 8GB RAM, backlit keyboard

4) Snow Leopard released; existing user can upgrade at $29, available in September 09

5) new QuickTime X: better features

6) new iPhone 3G S - S is for Speed, same design, 3MP camera, PRICE $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB

7) Price slash for iPhone 3G to $99 for 8GB

The Great Roger Federer!

Yes! FINALLY!!

Well done, Federer! Finally, he has achieved a career grand slam of 14, equaling Pete Sampras' record. From his first title, the 2003 Wimbledon Open to the now 14th grand slam, the 2009 French Open (which is his first one). Congratulation on the winning and hail the great!

Next stop, the Wimbledon!

Roland Garros Final

Roland Garros 2009 a.k.a The French Open is drawing close this Sunday with the Men's Singles Final. The final will be 2nd seeded Roger Federer and Robin Sordeling who knocked out a host of top seeds in the tournament, namely Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Fernando Gonzalez. Kudos to this Swedish player who is seeded out of the top 20 and he would be playing the great FedEx.

Federer started the match not too well. The lanky del Potro serves his way out with multiple of Aces. It took Federer about 2 hours plus to break the Argentine. Then, the final spot came calling in his 4th set, by trashing him 6-1. In his final set, Federer lost his break advantage but regain it back after he broke del Potro's serve right after. At the end, Federer's stamina champion his opponent as del Potro looked exhausted. Well done to Federer!

Captions from Federer's semi-final match yesterday.

Try again next year, it's mine NOW!!

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

From http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

I can see the finishing line...

at 11.45am today, I walked out of The Academy and YES! It's almost the end of my engineering education which span for 3 years long. I am glad that I have been through thick and thin and survive with what I can say it was very satisfying! I am very fortunate to have helpful and kind friends who are willing to help. I might have fallen into the right path at the right time. I am glad and there's no complaints! There's ups and downs which I believe that could help me throughout my journey here so far.

There's one more to go and it will not be taken for granted. Tools and Techniques for Enterprise which is the final paper on the coming Tuesday. I am willing to work hard even I know essay would be a predicament which I could face in the future. This is the first step towards greater challenge!

Apart from myself on my coming-to-an-end undergraduate journey, Roger Federer had came through even more difficult challenges before today. In his last 16 match in the French Open, he overcame a 2-0 deficit to come back 3-2 winning his final 3 sets to secure a place in the quarter-final.

Monfils hails the Champion!

His quarter-final opponent, frenchman Gael Monfils who is the local favourite made Federer work hard for his win. At the end, Federer was the victor. The result, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4. now Roger Federer will face Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. Looking forward for the match between FedEx a.ka. Federer and lanky Argentinian, del Potro.

The shot!


Getting over to the ball!