When my bike started to get really stiff on the pedal, I decided it was time to begin learning how to maintain my bicycle. Since I had no clue how to go about degreasing, oiling, and maintaining a bike I turned to The Complete Bike Book: Choosing, Riding, and Maintaining Your Bike, which I got a year before I bought my GT bike! The book has instructional photographs on how to maintain a bike, which made it easier for me to learn on my own. While it is quite a comprehensive guidebook it lacked recommendations on brands of chain lubes, so I posted a question on Facebook asking for some suggestions.

A few people came back with some ideas ranging from Singer oil to WD-40. Eventually I chose to heed the advice of Clement and headed to Spring Trading to get Pedro’s Lube! While I was there, I realized I needed a couple of more tools to make the maintenance process easier. I got a working stand (RM45), track pump (RM25), cleaning brushes (RM54), and Pedro’s lube (RM 32). The bike shop owner recommended that I use WD-40 (RM 14.90) as a degreaser so I stopped by at the supermarket to pick a can up.

I’m pretty proud to say that my first maintenance session was pretty successful. Pedro’s lube is really silky smooth; took the bike out for a 45 min spin and it rode smoothly and beautifully! Now the next step would be to learn how to maintain the other bike parts and change a flat tire. Wish me luck!!!

To get your bike supplies in K.K., you can head to Spring Trading at Kampung Air:-

Spring Trading Co.
No. 5, Ground Floor, Jln Sentosa,
88000 Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah, Malaysia.
Tel: 088-26 2201

Here’s a video update from me to you.

Jacky Cheung's Jazz Album, released on 29th January 2010

Cantonese superstar Jacky Cheung (張學友), one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong’s vibrant entertainment industry has selected to use a song my friend and schoolmate Roger Wang wrote as part of his new jazz album entitled Private Corner (Released: 29 Jan 2010).

Roger composed ‘Love Scale’ for Double Take’s debut album, which was released in 2003 with Mia Palencia taking the vocals for the original English version. Seven years later, the track has been rendered in Cantonese to ‘十二個音’ and is finally having its moment of glory in the international scene.

It just blows my mind to think of the idolatry of Jacky Cheung in school, Roger’s lone madness with the guitar and the hundreds of times we’ve heard wannabes at karaoke bars yelp Jacky’s songs…

The fact that the ‘God of Songs’ is now singing a tune written by Roger is amazing and unbelievable! I bet Roger is pinching himself now; he shares how it happened on his blog. I’m beaming with pride for him. Congratulations Roger… you deserve it!

Check out 十二個音 (Love Scale) here:-

Sometimes it takes a clear sky and a mountain to remind us of why in spite of many inconveniences, we still choose to come back to Sabah. Here’s a photo meme of Mt. Kinabalu from yesterday and today….

Taken from Tanjung Aru

It all started on Facebook when Phyllis woke up to this view from her bedroom.

Mount Kinabalu from Jalan Tuaran

Then I looked out my bedroom window, headed downstairs and took this shot. (I was actually closer than Phyllis to Mt. Kinabalu but my camera was crappier.)

Mt Kinabalu from where Bob is. Yea, with his toy heli.

Bob flew his toy heli in front of his view and took this one. The helicopter almost looks real doesn’t it?

Cornelius took this from Pekan Nabalu from his mobile

Last but not least, here’s a shot of Mt. Kinabalu this morning from Cornelius Chua. Isn’t that just breathtaking? Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos with me.

P/S: If you would like to share your Mt. Kinabalu shot with me, email your picture to me with the time, date and location of where it was taken to jackiemiao.my(at)gmail.com. Remember to let me know how to credit you.

Ladies, say hello to the very gorgeous Jordan. This cutie-next-door turned national hunk is featured on this month’s issue of Female Magazine as number 3 on their 50 Gorgeous People of 2009 spread. Yesterday, I managed to chat with him about his recent feature.

Vote for #3 Jordan

The Phonecall

According to Jordan, when he got the call from the folks at Female he thought they were telemarketers trying to sell him an Astro package. Annoyed with their aggressive solicitation, he hung up on them. It wasn’t until they kept calling back and managed to explain themselves that he realized that they were trying to get him featured on the magazine. He tells me that this happened because one of his friends had grabbed some pictures of him from Facebook and sent it in to the publisher weeks earlier.

“At first, I didn’t want to do the photo shoot, but then I thought what the heck… it’s only a weekend in K.L,” said the spotlight-shy Jordan.

However, when he got to Kuala Lumpur, doubts about it being a good idea started to creep in, but his friend Cheryl managed to strong arm him into having a bit of fun with the shoot.

What Do Women Want?

Can he be any cuter?

During the interview with Female, the former British policeman was asked who he would like to trade places with. He had recounted the story to me saying that he would love to do what Mel Gibson did in the movie What Women Want, where he gets to go inside the mind of women and understand how they think.

“Women baffle me sometimes,” he added.

Every year, hundreds of Malaysia’s eye-candy unsuspectingly gets flogged to Female as potential features by their friends. Fifty of the best looking candidates are then selected and featured to readers to feast their eyes on, and vote for the title of “most gorgeous.” This year, the prizes are said to be worth RM 10,000.

Why You Should Vote for Jordan

Although he’s gorgeously confident as a person, Jordan claims he’s an introvert and is pretty shy when it comes to women. That makes him an interesting subject to observe moving forward because therein lies a bit of mystery for Malaysian women to peel and unravel. With brains, brawn and a personality to boot, I’ll be voting for Jordan as my favorite gorgeous person.

Besides, don’t you girls want to see Jordan’s pecs? If you can’t imagine what a shirtless Jordan spread across a print magazine might look like, here are some motivational shots for you.

Yes, a hottie and single at it!

If you want to get to know him better, vote for Jordan as your favorite gorgeous man.

Here’s how to vote for Jordan:-

1. Buy a copy of the November 2009 issue of Female Magazine (Malaysia Edition).

2. Go to this page featured below:-

Vote for Jordan #3

2. Follow the instructions on this page and cast your vote for #3 Jordan.

Hopefully your votes will get Jordan into the follow-up issue as Malaysia’s Most Gorgeous Guy of the year!

P/S: Feel free to leave fan messages for him on my blog.