2012 Saint Andrew's Class of 1978 Reunion at Joan Bowen Restaurant St Andrew's School.

In 2012, some 40 odd old boys gathered at St Andrew's School Joan Bowen Cafe to meet, reminisce and share all the good old times we had in our youth, some 40 years  plus ago. We were young, dumb, broke, full of idealism, energy, rebelliousness, and just foolhardy youth. Some 34 years later, we are middle aged fathers, one or two grandfathers, and remember the ones who had gone before us to the Lord.

I was honored to be asked to play the school song and also did some Bee Gees tunes with Paul Ezekiel. We never really get old in our minds. Just the body which is going through the natural aging process. We, the children of the past, the middle aged of today and one day the elderly of tomorrow, need to make our indelidible mark on this world, always in a positive way. 

As in the school song, time is running fast away, life is now today today, Up and On !!! 

1974 League Cup Final ; Man City 1 Wolves 2

The entire match is here. Unbelievable they still have access to this memorable final. I guess it was around this period I decided to make an emotional decision to support Wolves for better or for worse. The time was when I was in Primary 6 (1974), and possibly just being fascinated about football and the Division 1 games which were showed on Channel 5's "Star Soccer" channel. 

Some of the names come back to me from my submerged memories (ROM) of the last 40 years and some images from "Shoot!" magazine from 1975 - 1978 spring to mind. The players who played in this key League Cup Final, must be in their late '60s or early '70s if they are still alive. Bill McGarry was the manager then and the 2 goalscorers, Kenny Hibbit, John Richards ,captain Mike Bailey and the goalie Gary Pierce all played an integral part in this memorable game. Other players to note Frank Munro, McCall, Derek Parkin, Alan Sunderland, Derek Dougan, Wagstaffe (?), Palmer (?), Powell all took the game by the scruff of the neck and while it was gritty at times, it reflected how a game must be played and won, true grit, passion, fighting spirit, quality and stamina. 

Man City were the clear favourites had Dennis Law, Colin Bell, Stan Lee, Rodney Marsh, Towers and Colin McRae in their team. All household names.

The games of those days were played completely using UK players, Welsh, Scotsmen, Irish and the English, almost predominatly white, while todays games shows totally different hues from all corners of the World. The level of the game has improved tremendously today, but England's football quality and level of competence is far from being considered 'world class' having won nothing since 1966 ; a long 52 barren years. 

I probably started to subconciously 'follow'  Wolves around the '74, '75 era when it was fashionable to 'follow' a football team. My brother John 'followed' Leeds United and I, Wolves. 

I was about 12 years of age, and then, in 1974, we just had colour TV introduced to households in Singapore. Back then we were considered 3rd world, so not many houses had TVs let alone colour TVs. The first match most of us watched must have been the World Cup Final between Germany and Holland in 1974.

For the most part of the 40 odd years, Wolves fortunes just went from bad to worse. Their fortunes went downhill after the 1980 League Cup final, they almost went bankrupt, rescued by Sir Derek Dougan and then Sir Jack Hayward, the club had plumbed the depths of dispair. I was embarrased to be their fan, and those were indeed bleak times.

Now, 44 years later, they are right at the top,with Chinese money, a shrewd management team and a brilliant coach in Nuno, I believe their time has finally come to show the world what they can achieve in the BPL as well as in Europe in the coming years.

The future has never looked brighter for the Wolverhampton Wanderers in my humble opinion.

His team did all the 'talking' on the pitch at Old Trafford. The genius behind the team. Nuno.

My E 230 - still the most striking looking car in a long while ; SKL 8281 R

I drove the E 230 from beginning 2012 till end 2017, a full 5 years. I must say that I am really enamoured by the look and the power of such a car. If there is an opportunity for me to own this model again, I would jump at the chance ! 

The specs said it was a 7GTronic 2008 version, and with 207 bHp it felt good behind the wheel with superb road handling, suspension and had the 'presence' of a regal looking car.

The Avant Garde version which I owned had walnut coloured skirting along the doors and grey leather seats to match the outlook. 

           A look back at the car I drove for 5 years. It was indeed a pleasure to drive this   
                                                                 beauty. 

Another reassuring win for Wolves ; Wolves 1 Burnley 0

                         The players celebrating Raul Jiminez's fine strike at the 61st minute 


The Wolves were very impressive from start to finish, however their fire power at the front needs some more clinical finishing. They could have easily made it 3 - 0 with close calls from Willy Boly, a sitter missed from Leo Bonatini when he was given a free shot at goal as well as Raul Jiminez missing another almost certain goal with the goalkeeper out of position.

That said, Jiminez secured the 3 points when it mattered and with a sublime strike out of reach of the very impressive Joe Hart who is England's reseve goalkeeper. Kudos go to the Man of the Match Matt Doherty who was relentless and tireless in an ever dominant midfield who outplayed Burnley in every aspect in this department. 

Rui Patricio kept a second successive clean sheet, this testament to Wolves fine defensive back 3 of Boly, Conner Coady and Ryan Bennett who look to be set for an England call up very soon. This makes it 3 wins on the trot, 1 from the Carabao Cup (Sheff Wed away 2-0), and 2 in the Premier League (away at West Ham and Home to Burnley)

Now, they need to seal the deals when it matters.    

Next week they play Man United. I'm looking at a major upset for the Reds with the Wolves again gunning for max points based on their flowing skilful play in all departments. 

Prediction : Man U 0 Wolves 2

Farewell my Captain - Jerry Schlaghek ; we had great times together !

Cincinnati Native Dr. Jerry Schlaghek 

      It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my friend and one time mentor from the school of hard knocks, Jerry Schlaghek. Jerry passed away yesterday 8th Sept due to a stroke and never recovered according to his son Ben. :(

     I knew Jerry through work when we were attempting to sell technological improvements to many a manufacturing company in Singapore in the late 90s till 2000. Though the times were hard then, we had a ball of a time and many stories or pronouncements by Jerry were and still resonate with me now. Here are a few and I quote 2 

1. Cancer is big business.

2. I have a cure for AIDS 

    A humble and brilliant man, Jerry was in one word, a maverick. 

    His run ins with the big corporations and frustrations with the US bureaucracy led him and his company to Asia. I handled Jerry's products for about a year and a half 2008 till 2000, until I decided that the core business of our environmental chambers had recovered to the extent that I needed to focus back to the mainstream livelihood, that of selling environmental test solutions that our paths diverged.

    The last night when we had a magnificent dinner with our host Mr. Hong and his business associates including Jerry will remain with me forever. It was indeed an unforgettable evening.

    I recall distinctly one presentation we had with Seagate, whereby I did the initial show and tell of our week's results using then advanced technology to find out the cold  and extreme hot spots. These would give the production manager an early indication of the immediate failure which in circuit tester would catch, but more importantly the latent failure which would take weeks or months to happen. 

    This would be the selling edge for this technology especially for the prospect of predicting field failures before they happen and sending these latent failures back to rework before they hit the customers and when that happens, the field recall would be totally disastrous.

   As the presentation went on, the Senior Director was not impressed by my 'show and tell'. I did the best I could with as much information I could garner from the data. She asked just one question : "So what ?" and my presentation went down the tubes.I would have been red faced if I was not dark skinned ! 

   Everyone in the room was stunned, all the 10 staff there,and our team of 5 were also shell shocked. Out of the blue came the calm and reassuring voice of Jerry detailing and more importantly explaining all the intricacies and highlighting the strengths and of course the limitations of the then advanced technology.

  He gave a magnus opus of the first principles of the technology as well as where the solution would lie. By getting more and more products tested there would be a stable test bed of data from which the absolute failures would be screened out and the latent failures could be red marked and sent for rework. That process would be the next phase where the vendor and the customer needed to work together to settle the framework to determine which 'passed' and which was 'marginal pass require rework'.

  The meeting ended well, with us continuing to persue the end goal. A first in Asia order for their revolutionary product.

 

We did not succeed, but his fervor and joie d vrie was infectious. 

Rest well my Captain. We had fun while it lasted.   

      

Thoughts during Hard Run 28th April 2018 Saturday 10.20 am

2013 SC Marathon with 10 m to Go ! (throwback photo)

These random thoughts went through my mind during a tough run on Saturday 28th April, I wanted to record them down for posterity to remind myself and my readers the number of emotions and thoughts flash through my mind. 

The net takeaway is that : "Running makes me feel alive !"

Another Year Another Marathon ! 

So here Goes :

Body pushed to the Limit

Sun's Incessant Rays on my skin  (in caps for effect)

White Shades Cover my Eyes and Brows

Headwind Pushing my body 

Press On ! I say ti my 55 year old frame, 

On the return leg I will have tailwind ! 

Each km the pace is incessant

6:54,6:35,6:45 the numbers run through my head

Average pace : 6: 36 / km

Fastest pace : 5 : 25 / km

HR goes up from 72 to 161 to 171 

Cadence of 83 ; maximum 88

I feel I am 25 again as I rush pass 

The strollers,the casual runners, the prams

Kids on tricycles, elderly on a jaunt.

Time stands still..God gives me the third eye :)

Everything is crystal clear.

I reach the 4km mark.

Pumped out of air.

I stop and gaze at the azure blue sea.

I walk to the nearby toilet for a pee break

See some guys on a corrective work order

Donning black polos and their silver tongs

One guy gives me a wan smile.

Still Smiling at 42 km 

The return leg is On !

I push again like there is no tomorrow 

My heart goes beating like crazy

Average heart rate of 172 and max of 180.

109% above my supposed max.

I am feeling superhuman !

Calories burnt 410 kcal

I am running on empty

Did not eat breakfast just water and off I went

Average pace 6 : 58 per km on the back 4

Max 6: 08 / km 

I am tiring

Press On ! says my mind

ECP is pretty flat but my guess of a tailwind was a pipedream

Nothing, except hot air greets my lungs on my return

I am speeding from tree cover to tree cover

The heat is blistering now

Average Lap is 6 :57.8 per km

Best Lap is 6 : 41. 8 per km

The numbers are flashing like lights in front my my eyes

I tear off my running vest

I am short of breath

Hookahkay ! I am onto overdrive and running on plain adrenalin

Every laboured breath, every ache of my body, every bead of sweat

Sends me this message every time 

                                                "Today I am so alive !!!!"

                                                          Carpe Diem !!!