My new baby

Since I drive so much, and my old car was getting old (mileage approaching 130k), I figured it might be a good idea to buy a new car. Financially I cannot really justify the purchase of a new car, but for my safety sake, and to make my 4.5 hour trip to Michigan more comfortable, I decided to went ahead with the decision.

As it would be my biggest purchase yet, it took me a while to decide what car to buy. Initially I wanted a Honda Civic coupe because it looks super cool, and I don’t mind driving a two door car as firstly, I drive alone most of the times anyways and secondly, a smaller car means a smaller carbon footprint (and less money spent on gas)?

 

Honda Civic coupe 2010

Then I decided that it would be too expensive to get a Honda if I were to load it with all the goodies I want. I did some searching and found out about Mazda 3, did some more digging and quite like it. Plus, it is cheaper than a Honda Civic, and it comes with more bells and whistles.

                 

                   Mazda 3 2011

I was pretty set about getting a Mazda 3, until I came across the US news affordable small cars rankings. Surprisingly, the first in the list was not a Japanese car. Honda Civic coupe and Mazda 3 were both in the top ten, but the first in the list was the Ford Fiesta 2011.

Ford Fiesta? It was the first time I heard of the model, and I was skeptical about the association of Ford with good quality. So I did some more research and found out that it is a model reintroduced to the North America market in summer 2010 after the popularity of the model in Europe. The more I researched, the more I liked the car. And also, the price tag was even lower than a Mazda 3!!! Being a cheap person that demands more for less money, I naturally fell in love with the car. Oh and did I mention it boast 40 mpg on highway?

However, it was the SYNC system available in the car that really caught my eye. With SYNC, you can connect any Bluetooth phone to the car and have hands free conversation on the road. Also, with SYNC you can give voice commands to do things like selecting audio tracks, playing songs by certain artists, and much more. The video below pretty much summarizes what the system is capable of doing:

 

And also there is this hilarious (and somewhat sarcastic) review of Ford Fiesta by Top Gear, a famous UK auto TV show. I figured I might need to be prepared to be chased by baddies in a shopping mall (or maybe a Normandy landing):

 

So I ended up being a Ford Fiesta 2011 owner…

 

I like the headlights a lot…very futuristic (and hiao)

 

Unconventional design

Yup it’s a manual…

So far the car looks and drives great. I still can’t take my eyes off the car and can’t help smiling whenever I see this baby. Let’s hope it will be as durable as a Toyota. Which is what I used to have. LOL…

Filling in the blanks

So, it’s been a while lol. This blog is so dead that it is alienating even its most ardent fans, to name a few, KY, me and myself. Why didn’t I update my blog more often? I think the reason is that because I was free. Now that my fall exam is approaching, I think I will start updating it more and more often…

I wanted so much to start blogging about something else, but let me go back to where I left off. July 4th as every American know is a holiday, but sadly for me I had to work on July 4th, due to the fact that it was when the quarter end valuation work begins. So Pei Ying drove down to Carmel to visit me. And she rented a beetle!

Py beaming with her VW beetle…

In the past she has been getting some pretty unique cars. Like this one (a Hyundai Genesis coupe?):

So anyways I worked half day one Sunday, and in the afternoon we went to Greenwood (like Birch Run) to do some shopping. On our way back we stopped at Indianapolis to catch Toy Story III before we went to the Monument Circle to wait for the July 4th fireworks. IMO the performance was really mediocre, and was nothing compared to those extravaganzas in Asia. But at least it wasn’t raining this year…

Dinner from Au Bon Pain

The crowd (above), and the fireworks (below):

Home sweet home

Went home in May. In the span of the 2 weeks back, I did nothing much except enjoying home as much as possible. It was too hot to go out anyways :D Since I’ve already posted most of my photos on Facebook, I will just show some of the pictures I’ve taken at home here.

Let’s start with some priceless artworks in my house:

“Eilean Donan Castle”, oil, 2000

 

Untitled, oil, 2003

“Jardin d'Eden”, oil, 2010

…ok just kidding. That’s the yard of my house. There used to be two mango trees in the yard, now gone. The one left standing is a Rambutan tree.

Some green Rambutans…

…and red ones!!! That good looking bunch actually ended up in my stomach…

Papaya tree. Not my favorite fruit.

Tomatoes. They were really much smaller than how they look like here…

Other small things around my house…

 

Lastly, at home there’s always newspaper to look forward to in the morning…

It’s spring (commencement) again…

First of all, let me congratulate Chelsea for taking the Premier League title. No, I’m still a Liverpool fan; I just want to congratulate the deserving champions here :)

So it’s been a while since I last updated my blog. Nothing much had happened in between, just the usual routine. And boy time really does fly when you are doing routines. When someone asked about my age recently, I had to think a while before I said I’m 25. It sounds so…old, and for a second there I found it hard to believe that I was 25 already. I bet other people would feel the same too after reading my previous post.

Ok end of rambling and beginning of usual posting. So I attended the University of Michigan spring commencement, again. It still took place in the Big House, and Mary Sue Coleman still ended her speech in the same words, but one thing is special this time – President Obama was the speaker!!! And boy he was such a mega celebrity. The audience was visibly larger, and when he entered the venue, everybody cheered and applauded like they were attending a rock concert. Truly amazing star power.

His speech started ok, with some funny bits, but soon getting too long and political IMO. Once he ended his speech, people started  leaving the stadium as if Michigan is 3-33 down in a football game at half time. I resisted my urge to do the same I stuck around until the end of the ceremony before leaving for lunch.

I am not sure if I will be attending spring commencement again next year, but for now, let me say this: congrats class 2010!!!

Wei Chieh, trying to act cute as usual.

 

U of M!

Check out the crowd…

President Obama giving his speech

 

On big screen

UM Alumni

Ulquiorra Cifer…

…kicks ass!!! Officially my favorite Bleach character now.

Espada no. 4. Looks like L, anyone?

Ice hockey game in Joe Louis Arena

To me ice hockey has been an unpopular game that the media doesn’t even bother to show or talk about (maybe I didn’t watch enough TV or read enough news), so yeah, I watched most ice hockey when I was following a Japanese drama called “Pride”. Also, I was rather amused by the saying “We went to a fight and an ice hockey game broke out”. I finally had a chance to check the validity of that statement on a chilly January night.

It was a game between Michigan and Michigan State in the Joe Louis Arena. Claimed to be the fiercest rivalry (in ???), the game lived up to expectation and proved to be an extremely thrilling one, but sadly and luckily there was no fight. We were up 3-0 early in the game, but somehow managed to trail 3-4 for quite some time before finally winning the game at 5-4. All in all, a great game, and a great experience…

Freakishly big moon which we saw on our way to Detroit downtown

Joe Louis Arena

Players who couldn’t wait to get into some action…

Wolverines!!!

Final score…we won 5-4!!! gg…