My bad.
Sorry Bri, dear.
Happy birthday to a wonderful person. Be as cheerful as you always are for always.
Bri and I
Bri and I underwater
My Girls
No…
I’m not going to talk about my love life here.
Not that kind of love life anyway, but I do love these girls with my life.
As I was chomping on some Marks and Sparks’ Cranberry & Orange Cookies given to me as part of ‘S’s Christmas present for me, my eldest daughter Hana walked into my room, giggling, then showed me her PMR results.
I looked at her sternly and asked, “You failed some of your subjects?”
“Ayah tengok la dulu,” she laughed.
6A’s 1B and 1C. Not a perfect score but far better than what I had anticipated. I was bracing for the worst.
I hugged her, a bit emotional, and congratulated her for having done well. I know she had tried her level best to score.
Her younger sister Fazira scored 4As and 1B in her UPSR the other day and won herself a nice Sony Ericsson 3G phone.
Now I wonder what to get Hana since she has a lot nicer phone than I have.
Aiyah…having to squeeze my uner-utilised brain again.
Happy Birthday Little Angel
Happy birthday! Hope you’re having fun at work…hehehe!
Ratcha Anachak Thai’s General Election
In two days time, Thais will be going to the polls for the first time since the military coup of September 2006. It would be interesting to see if a Parliament could be formed as I would predict a hung parliament. Despite being in exile, Thaksin Shinawatra still commands the majority of the Isaan region because of his popular poverty eradication programs that was in place when he was the Prime Minister (Nayok Rattamontri). Although his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) have been banned, most of its members will be running under the Phak Phlang Prachachon (People’s Power Party) led by Samak Sundaravej. In November, independent polls find the PPP commanding 39% support from the general voting population, while its seriously strong challenger, Phak Phrachatipat (Democrat Party) led by Abhisit Vejjajiva commands 32%. The rest of the contenders only command 10% or less support respectively.
Other parties that will be contesting include the Phak Pua Pendin (For The Motherland Party) led by Suwit Kunkitti; Phak Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana (Thais United National Development Party) led by former general Chettha Tanajaro; Phak Matchima Thippathai (Neutral Democratic Party) led by Prachai Leophairatana; Phak Pracha Rat (Royal People Party) led by Sanoh Thienthong; and Phak Chart Thai (Thai Nation Party) led by another former general, Banharn Silpa-Archa.
Another interesting aspect would be to see the solution that can be borne from the winners of the general election for the troubled South. I can guarantee that they won’t be supporting a Thaksin proxy party there for sure as they blame Thaksin for aggravating the situation there. Although all parties involved in the forthcoming general elections have mentioned something as a solution for the South, it seems that there is a syncopation in effort.
It would be interesting to be there and watch the drama unfold. Alas, I will be stuck here until after Christmas.
To all aspirants, and especially to the Thais who will be choosing their government: CHOKE DEE.
Okay Divers
Okay divers. Let’s play a game. Here’s some simple mathematics for you since you will not be doing any diving until early next year (except commercial divers):
You are to do a technical dive. Your maximum depth is 100 meters. Your RMV/SAC is 17 liters per minute. Your bottom time is 25 minutes.
Using a PPO2 of 1.4 for travel and 1.6 for decompression:
1) Name me your travel gas and its mix
2) At what point (depth) do you switch to your bottom gas
3) What decompression gases would you use and at what depths?
4) If you are using AL80 tanks in a twin configuration for your travel gas, and in single tank confiuration for your bottom gas, calculate how many tanks will be required to travel, and how many tanks are required to sustain the diver for that 25 minute-bottom time.
Happy Birthday Dr M
Happy birthday, Sir
Happy Birthday, JIMY
Happy birthday, JIMY. Your first as a “Mrs”. All the best when you follow him to India.
Hi Boy (A Monologue With My Proton Saga)
I’m sorry I have been neglecting you lately. The last I drove you before this morning was on the night before I went for my trip. But we both had fun this morning, didn’t we? You had your legs stretched to the max, and you gave that Rexton a run for the money.
You’ve always been a fast car. 15 years old too. Despite your age, you still handle the roads pretty well. You and I have also had lots of fun together – making speed to aircraft crash sites, and remember how fast you went when Mat Yaha’s boys fired at us in Betong while we were making our getaway after that failed negotiation?
You were also my home for a few months back in 1997-98.
Soon, boy, I will make sure you look new, and you WILL feel new.
I will change your suspension, brake servos, brake pads; reinforce the engine mounting, then you will have a brand new engine, from one of your sporty Mitsubishi cousins. You will sport a new speedometer, tachometer – your new speed, I’m sure, will be in excess of 220km/h. Easy.
Then we shall burn rubber again, my good friend. I won’t be diving much between now and February, so I guess you and I will again break personal speed records.
For now, boy, you rest well.
More Over And Underwater Stuff
I slept the whole day. My breakfast tasted bland so I couldn’t finish it. By the time I woke up, I was so hungry I could eat an elephant. Then Adik called me up telling me that he would be meeting Deepblu at Rasta’s. He could pass me my tray and handle for my underwater casing. I took Farhan to the clinic first, he was having a temperature of about 39.1C. Sent him home and off I went…body still aching, temperature still…still drowsy from the cough mixture I took at 4pm.
Just as I got into the jam past the toll house, my phone rang and it was Din asking me if I would be free next week for a job at the Kemaman Supply Base, to do some underwater cutting of metal rods. I said okay so he’s asked me to call back on Tuesday. The job is for a duration of 3 weeks, but I don’t think I can stay that long.
At Rasta’s, Adik had Spaghetti Bolognaise and a burger. I ordered a chicken chop as well as a burger, being famished. I went for the chicken chop first, and the same thing happened like last night’s Wasabi…I couldn’t taste a single thing. Same goes for the burger…juicy with mushrooms…and it tasted like paper.
Just my luck. Anyway, managed to order a connector for the arm for the video light while I was there.
It was drizzling when I drove back, and this song played on the radio:
Lessons In Life – Out Of Their Depth
I was reading this article posted by someone on the divers’ forum about a divemaster who took two inexperienced divers down to a wreck that has a maximum depth of 50 meters. The divers, Gerry and Anne, had 14 and 11 open water dives respectively, making them very green in the world of diving. The divemaster, in his brief, reminded the two not to go deeper than 45 meters, 15 meters deeper than the normal recreational diving depth. Both Gerry and Anne had never gone deeper than 24 meters.
10 minutes into the dive, Gerry found himself alone on the deck of the wreck. Anne was missing. Then he saw the divemaster above him who gave him a thumbs-up signal (in diving, thumbs up means “ascend”). Gerry thought to himself, “Good. He wants me to stay put.” Before he knew it, in an obvious panic, the divemaster had inflated his Buoyancy Compensator Device (BDC) and Gerry found himself in an uncontrolled ascent, going faster as he went higher as the volume of air in his BCD expands.
Gerry was sent to a nearby recompression chamber for treatment of suspected air embolism or Decompression Sickness (DCS). Anne, however, was never found until today.
First and foremost, what was the divemaster thinking taking recreational divers to depths beyond their training limit? Gerry was obviously having severe narcosis as he had misunderstood the “ascend” signal altogether. Never ever inflate your BCD on your way up unless you want a fast ticket to hell.
Recreational divers are limited to 30 meters for obvious reasons. It would be the “safest” depth for divers to go without requiring any decompression stops – meaning only a normal safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes is sufficient (although I would normally perform deep stops to make “off-gassing” of the residual nitrogen bubbles in my bloodstream more efficient). Being in technical diving requires me to be a self-sufficient diver – being able to dive alone: I have to calculate, plan and manage my gas consumption as well as my decompression stops. I would have been trained on narcosis management.
Even then, when in Sipadan, I informed the divemasters that I would be going alone, and deep. So I stayed between 40 to 50 meters, taking photos of the divers above me, and was hoping to bump into a school of Hammerhead Sharks (though none were seen throughout the trip), monitoring my air consumption every 10 minutes, and also my no-decompression limit. I also kept my mind busy to manage my narcosis level. Still, I did not ascend quick enough to avoid going into decompression dive mode, and had to perform deep decompression stops, staying longer above the 12-meter level. Still, during one dive, Kapal Selam followed me without my knowing, down to 40 meters. I had to guide him throughout the decompression process. Luckily it was the last dive of the second day then.
Going back to the stry of Gerry and Anne, although they are new, they are qualified divers and should plan their own dives. Many divers take for granted the requirement to plan their own dives, instead putting total trust on their divemasters. Be a thinking diver and use your common sense. never go beyond the limitations of your training.
Everything is safe to do until you decide to push the envelope.
SeaDemon Says 
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