California Fitness @ Mid Valley

Managed to get hold of this 1-month guest membership at California Fitness gym, Mid Valley. The trial membership is good till June 1, courtesy of my secondary school mate who recently joined the gym.

Having been a member of Fitness First for few months (I later transferred my membership to my sis, sensible thing to do since I'm in S'ban), I thought I'd write up a general comparison between these two gym biggies.

There are currently only 2 California Fitness gyms in Malaysia, both located in the Klang Valley - one at Mid Valley and the other at Menara Standard Chartered, Jalan Sultan Ismail. The third branch is opening soon at Sunway Pyramid.

Let's start with California's plus points: It's got a swimming pool, a jacuzzi pool, and a small basketball court. That's it really... (oh yeah they provide towel service too!)

The pool.

The jacuzzi pool.

The basketball court.

The rest of the gym is pretty standard, classy. Quite similar with Fitness First.

Treadmills.

Kickboxing ring.

Weight machines.

More machines...

Free weights.

I have my gripes though:

I personally think the free-weight section could be better. The selection of dumbbell weights for example, I think they have exactly two pairs for each weight (eg. 2 pairs for 20lbs, 2 pairs for 120lbs, 2 pairs for 200lbs). They should provide more dumbbells in the practical weight range. Come on, how many dicks can carry 200lbs on one hand?

For a gym of such reputation, the free-weight area should be larger to cater for the big number of members. Or at least arrange those benches in an unencumbered manner! Close proximity with gym goers make me feel like I'm in a gay-club! I liked the way Fitness First separate the machine area and the free-weight area.

Fitness First provide a lounge area where members chill out after their workout with free-flowing 100Plus (and other carbonated soft drinks), a selection of tea (green tea, oolong, etc.) and coffee, not to mention warm drinking water in addition to the water coolers littered around the gym. Looking for a watering hole in California Fitness? "Sorry sir, if you're so well off that you can afford to join the prestigious California Fitness, you might as well buy from us from the vending machines provided! Or else, help yourself with the free water in the swimming pool. Thank you!"

I can't help but notice there are loads of posers, fakers, jokers, as well as homo people around. I'm gifted, the moment I detect these faces, I could quickly categorise these people into the appropriate category. These people are those who enrol into a gym with motives other than working out. A better way to put it is that they use the gym to socialise, as a place to meet people of opposite/same sex, and the gym to them is an alternative from gaybars, pubs, etc. Not that there are none of these people in Fitness First, they are substantially fewer in number.

Now practical issues: gyms provide LOCKERS for their members to LOCK up their belongings in a safe manner. Needless to say, for a locker to be lockable, the locker must have a key hole on the outside, a hinged lock on the inside, and of course a key! California Fitness has a policy of forcing all new members to buy small padlocks if they wish to use their so-called-lockers. Therefore they can save costs by only making pigeon holes with flaps, sans the conventional locks. The size of the pigeon holes are pathetic, and weirdly shaped too. Guys with huge gym bags sure have problems stuffing them into that sh*t-hole!

On second thought, making gym members bring their own padlocks can be beneficial, security-wise, as members can always sneak out from the gym and duplicate locker keys and prey on the next member who uses the same locker. But the management would argue that it's member's padlock fault if something got stolen!

If you're looking for solid doors to safeguard your rectal tissue while in shower, you're in for despair. Each shower cubicles are covered by a thin piece of curtain which is a flappy plastic piece of sheet. Once you're in the cubicle, you find there's no hooks for you to hang your towel and underwear. To hook them, you gotta flip open the plastic curtain, and hook it outside the cubicle. I find this practise unhealthy, as it may harbour morbid jealousy from other members in the shower area and this may spark the incidences of penetration and perforation. I know it's a free country, we're in Boleh-land where whatever also Boleh as long as you pay up, but at least provide a few solid doors for guys who are well endowed and do not wish to show off, like yours truly.

So is it a practical gym to join? My answer is a very NO. For starters, the revised parking rate in Mid Valley means you would need to pay up to RM6.00 per gym session. Have you driven to Mid Valley on weekends? If you haven't, try do so this weekend. How many branches did they have again? Oh, three (including the yet to open Pyramid branch)! But I heard there are ELEVEN Fitness First gyms (if you join the Passport membership, you could go to all the Fitness First gyms around the world), and some provide free parking (like the Fitness First Menara Axis)!

I would join California Fitness if I:
(1) Drop out of med school and decided to sell handphone in Mid Valley.
(2) Work in University Hospital or UMMC as a male nurse (nearby mah, a lot free time oso).
(3) Decided to go homo.
(4) Own the going-to-be-launched upscale condominium in Mid Valley City.
(5) Own the Boulevard Hotel.
(6) If Fitness First go bankcrupt and California Fitness take over all its branches.

Having said that, I have an extra free one-month pass to California Fitness. Who wanna join me go swimming in Mid Valley?

Celebrity Fitness, the 3rd gym biggie in Malaysia. Hope this 14-day pass is still valid when I redeem it in August. Then I can complete my quest of having visited the three gym biggies in Klang Valley. But more gyms are sprouting like weeds in KL - True Fitness, Real Fitness, Pure Fitness, Serious Fitness... how to choose??


Related posts:
• Fitness First Membership
• Fitness First @ Leisure Mall, Cheras
• Fitness First @ Menara Maxis, KLCC
• Fitness First @ Menara Axis, PJ
• UAV Gym

@ Little Penang Kafe

Having my bowl of Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee, post shopping spree!
2015hrs @ Mid Valley via W880i.

Choy Kee Food Stall

Choy Kee Food Stall has the best salted-egg crab in the whole Seremban. So before we go catch Spiderman 3, we decided to crab it out before the 2.5hrs movie.

Needless to say, we ordered their salted-egg crab. Thank God Rachel enjoys salted-egg crabs as much as I do! As per our usual practise with crab-eating, we would order 2 crabs (or 1kg, depending on mood). Rachel would clear off all the huge claws (she's lazy to eat the leg part), and I would devour the fleshy crab leggies and body. And the crab brain too! We had great time licking the fattening salted-egg gravy off the crab shells.

We decided to order their specialty fried sang meen (again!), and we totally enjoyed it! Choy Kee's sang meen totally rocks, unlike the bland and unpalatable one we had in Seremban Seafood Village recently.

We also had their specialty tofu. Not sure of its name, but it's essentially stuffed tofu which are fried and sprinkled with their special black sauce. Dip them in the provided chilli sauce. Marvelous!

I'm not the only one who's addicted to their crab. Daniel too, fetishes over Choy Kee's salted-egg crab! Read his blog entry here. There are others who went goo-goo gaa-gaa over Choy Kee's crab too! So when you pass by this "seafood stretch" in Seremban, be sure to stop by for their salted-egg crab. I heard their baked crab is great too! Here's what you'd see if you drive from Terminal 1 towards Seremban's wet market:

The crabs were 1.2kg and cost RM45.60 (RM40/kg). Sang meen was RM8.00 while tofu cost RM5.00. Fully very satisfied, we headed to the cinema for Spidey3...

Spiderman 3, what can I say? It's definitely not as sensational as the Salted-Egg Crab we had for dinner Spiderman 1 and 2. The high caloric & cholesterol crab nearly dozed me off, and the draggy third installation Spidey show was partly to be blamed. Liked the Black Spidey! Venom was cool too. Sandman a bit retarded, I think he should die rather than Parker's best friend Harry. It'd be nice to see Spidey teaming up with Green Goblin's son to fight villains in Spidey4, but that's not gonna happen! Sigh... craaabbbbss!

More Tambun, New Book!

Look at the moon! It's the typical setting for horror movies where werewolves howl eeriely at it. I snapped it with my W880i. Clear eh? Took me a few tries to get it right. I've set up the moblog settings; in fact the photo you see on the left was published using my W880i while walking around Chinatown in KL. So I will blog via my mobile intermittently, away from desk! How cool.

Got back to my room in Seremban and saw these planted on my door. Familiar sight, yes? It's biskut tambun! And this time there are two boxes! With some simple mind calculation... that adds up to SEPULUH BIJIK BISKUT TAMBUN YANG SEDAP LAGI DELICIOUS!
Oh yeah...

Su Lin must have passed her final exams, and now being a uni grad she can spend more! Coz' job offer will start to pour in, and more money will land into her account, and soon we will have more biskut tambun! Oh yeah...

Now how would I devour the biskut tambun? I would kill them softly while reading my latest book which I bought from MPH Mid Valley this afternoon:

Book title: THE LIFE OF A DOCTOR - A CAREER GUIDE FOR STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND YOUNG DOCTORS.

Hopefully with the contents of this book, and with the enjoyment of chewing biskut tambun, my dark unknown road ahead would be better lit. Of course, biskut tambun alone could've achieved the same feat... :)

Where are Seremban folks heading tonite?

The question is easy... "Where are the whole Seremban population concentrated at tonight?" If you're an alert driver in Seremban, you would have noticed banners by the roadside around town announcing something great that's gonna happen today, and nope it's not the premiere of Spiderman 3!

It's the grand opening of Tesco Seremban! It's so happening it causes traffic standstill.

People are dying to get there as though it's a valley of gold, platinum, and diamonds, they ditch their cars by the roadside. The scene was chaotic, small children were left crying alone. Aunties and uncles were shouting at each others coz everyone were annoyed at everybody.

And no I wasn't part of it! I was just passing by on my Orange Beast, on my way back from Jusco trying to buy tickets for SpideyMan3 premiere for tomorrow. I've no idea why TGV Jusco don't allow us kiasu ppl to buy the tickets for tomorrow's viewing. Why Seremban so special meh?

All photos seen in this post are taken with W880i, with night-mode on. Not bad lah, can tahan lah...

Unboxing W880i

Say Hi to the latest addition to my gadgetry armament... the cachectic and malnourished gracile and slender Sony Ericsson W880i!

Yea yea I know I bitched about the infamous "auto-off" function I read from review sites, but reliable sources confirmed that they have no such experience with their W880i. After an hour of hands-on experience with a myriad of makes and models from the market's latest phone lineup Friday, my mind's fixed on this svelte beauty.

The specs are unbelievable which include: 3G (Maxis has no 3G in Seremban, that sucks!), a 2.0 mega-pixel back-facing camera plus one front-facing video-calling camera, good speakers in relative to the willowy thickness thinness, 1Gb M2 memory stick, and a boatload of good softwares. The camera isn't the best but gets the job done, and if I need better pics there's always my Sony T30 (why must everything be "It's A Sony"? I have 5 Sony-ses, which include a Sony Clie PDA, Sony MP3 player, Sony Digital Camera, Sony car audio's headunit, and the latest lean & mean W880i. Must be the JapTech that makes it all wantable!).

Don't be perturbed by the meagre buttons - they are quite usable although my fingers are by no mean sissy in size. You can take my words for it! But that said, you wouldn't want to compose long SMSes and E-mails on it the whole day. 'Nuff sed.

One thing that's apparent with the OS is its SPEEEEED! This nifty gadget is loaded with an afterburner, and if you compare it to Nokia's N-series, it's as though the latter came installed with reverse thrusters.

Nice OS features include a built-in RSS reader, good web browser, a pretty good selection of themes, and of course Sony's Walkman software. Call quality was good, and earpiece volume was good too.

Call me suaku or jakun, but I was a hyperactive excited monkey when I see my blog loading on a HANDPHONE via 3G! Repeat after me, "On-A-Handphone!". Canggihnya... now how do I moblog?

It won't do if you don't accessorise such a snazzy piece of art with a high-tech looking piece of bluetooth! Anyway, it comes free with the phone courtesy of my cousin who introduced the phone seller from Sg. Wang Plaza! Would like one that's black in colour though (I'm not complaining ok).

All in all, not a bad experience! Never been so happy with a mobile phone since my great late Nokia 8210. Oh, I never want to see a 3G phone that's more than double this size ever again! Simi Razr, simi N-series, simi Samsung Slim Edition, limpek boh-chap, all so ulu and obiang. Limpek's W880i sibeh solid. Limpek's gonna make le sibeh paiseh with your tualiap mobile nehhh!

Nokia N76

Was quite impressed with the slim Sony Ericsson W880i a while ago, and hell was I relieved I didn't buy it on impulse! Turned out it lacks the features as it lacks the bulk! And worse, reviewers had it that it has an "auto-off function" which turns the phone off up to 5 times a day! How smart! The auto-off function can also be executed by slightly tapping the back of the phone at strategic locations. How impressive! Then, news about the upcoming Nokia N76 caught my attention.

I've not seen a N-series from Nokia so sexily and nicely built! I'm craving for another phone, yet again, and this time it's a black Nokia N76! The Nokia website said it's going to be released in the 1st quater of 2007, but we're already in 2nd quarter of the year and no sign of it in market yet! Be mesmerised by the pictures and a promo video that follows... Motorazr V3 cannot even come close... :)

Post Gynae Long Case Exam

My patient is a 54 year-old widow of parity 1, who presented with cyclical menorrhagia of 2 years duration with mild symptoms of anaemia. I wouldn't say it's a postmenopausal bleeding despite her age (mean age of menopause for Malaysian women is 50.7 years), as her menses were regular cycles of 40 days with duration of 7 days for the past 2 years. She's recently diagnosed to be hypertensive and on medication.

Dr. S: Are you ready?
Me: (Give it to me baybehh...) Err, yes...
Dr. S: Say you are the one who saw this patient for the first time, how would you investigate her?
Me: FBC to assess anaemia, PT/APTT to see if there's any coagulation defects, blood grouping and crossmatch in case she needs transfusion. Thyroid function test for hypothyroidism as she appeared sluggish. Then, a transabdominal or transvaginal ultrasound to look for uterine and pelvic mass. Followed by cervical smear, Pipelle sampling, and hysteroscopy for direct visualisation and directed biopsy.
Dr. S: What can be done during ultrasound examination to improve ultrasonographic view?
Me: ... ... ...
Dr. S: Distend the uterus with normal saline la. Do you think a renal profile is justified in her case?
Me: No?... err Yes, actually... given her age she may have diabetes...
Dr. S: Yes! And don't forget she has hypertension too! Now, they are going to insert a Mirena into her. What's Mirena?
Me: It's a levonorgestrel intrauterine system used to treat menorrhagia and dysmenorrhoea, and is also used as contraception. It releases the hormone levonorgestrel locally in the uterus in small doses for up to 5 years, making menstruation lighter, shorter, and less painful (lucky I curi the Mirena booklet from the clinic!).
Dr. S: Other than Mirena, how would you manage the patient, medically?
Me: I would prescribe her haematinics for her anaemia. Then, mefenamic acid and tranexamic acid to reduce her menstruation. Also, hormonal preparations such as Danazol, Gestrinone, GnRH analogues, and combined oral contraceptive pills (COCs). (Was basically regurgitating facts from textbook)
Dr. S: Do you think she needs COCs at her age?
Me: Oops, sorry, no COC for her.
Dr. S: And due to her age, we don't normally prescribe Danazol, Gestrinone, and GnRH analogues. What other management options would you give her?
Me: Surgical options, and these are divided into fertility sparing and non-fertility sparing procedures...
Dr. S: Why do you want to preserve fertility in this patient?
Me: Oh yeah, 54 year-old, suppose to be menopause edy... (sh!t... again!). Then the surgical option would be more radical, such as vaginal hysterectomy, transabdominal hysterectomy, and laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy.
Dr. S: Riiiiggght... ok tell me the physical findings.
Me: On general inspection, she's overweight with BMI of 25. She has pallor of the conjunctivae but no jaundice, clubbing, oedema, or cyanosis. Blood pressure 160/90, pulse 60, respiratory rate 16 breaths per min, afebrile. Her lungs are clear. On heart exam, apex beat is not deviated, dual rythmn heard and no murmur detected. On abdomen exam, it's soft, non-tender, no organomegaly, no uterine enlargement and no mass palpable. If given enough time, I would proceed to pelvic examination.
Dr. S: What would you look for in pelvic exam?
Me: Starting with inspection of external genitalia, I'd look for any bleeding or discharge. On speculum exam, I'd look for any ulceration or exophytic growth on the cervix, and if there's any active bleeding. I'd do a bimanual palpation to assess mobility of pelvic organs, feel if the uterus is retroverted, if there's any adnexal pathology and palpate for pelvic masses.
Dr. S: Do you expect to find anything in this patient?
Me: Not likely.
Dr. S: What's your provisional diagnosis?
Me: Given her history, I would like to entertain the diagnosis of benign growth of the endometrium, such as endometrial polyps.
Dr. S: You're not wrong, but do you think she would be given Mirena if it's a polyp?
Me: No,... no Mirena if it's polyp.
Dr. S: What's your differential diagnosis?
Me: Malignancy, such as endometrial carcinoma.
Dr. S: Yes, don't forget about malignancy. Why do you think her cycles are getting prolonged?
Me: ... err... hormonal imbalance... the ovaries are failing...
Dr. S: What do you call that?... failing ovaries and cycles getting longer?
Me: ... anovulatory cycles?
Dr. S: Yea lah, why you so scared to say that? So what's your diagnosis for this lady now?
Me: (heh heh, actually I tembak oni...) Dysfunctional uterine bleeding!
Dr. S: (polyphonic ring tone blasting loudly) Ok la, thanks.
Me: (yeahh... balik tidorrr... Oh no... Dato' S. is still in the ward...)

Biskut Tambun Cappuccino

When I opened my room door 10 minutes ago, I caught a glimpse of an unidentified foreign object planted to it! At first glance it looked like a compact rectangular-shaped grenade with a piece of death note taped to it. I suddenly remembered Daniel's girlfriend, Su Lin, is in the house... are they trying to murder the only witness to their secret mushy blogpost which they had deleted?!?!

Upon closer inspection, the note has a drawing of a rooster with bilateral, grossly enlarged upper limb haematoma, which might have resulted from severe inhumane torture (shudders)! The note is addressed to "KAI", meaning chicken in Chinese.

The grenade box is littered with multiple Chinese characters. I don't read Chinese! Made in China grenades?...

Wait a minute... 100% VEGETABLE OIL??? I then turn the grenade sideways, and read: CAPPUCCINO TAMBUN BISCUIT. Sigh of relieve...

It's a gift from the couple next door (Daniel & Su Lin, that is!) Biskut tambun (known as tau sar pneah or mungbean cookie) from Penang! One of my favourite cookies/biscuits! Ahh therapeutic...

Su Lin used to buy huge boxes of biskut tambun for each of us, each box containing at least 20 bijik of biskut tambun. After so long, the supply is dwindling...

As I stare at the note attached, I can't help thinking they would have wanted to write something that look like...

Looks like I have to break my promise to Kok Fang. He requested that I reproduce the comic strip that depicts Daniel and Su Lin's courtship and post it to our teamblog. How can I resist the bribe of biskut tambun from Penang? Heh heh heh... thanks Penguin!

The biskut tambun is from Sheng Hiang - click on the image above to link to their website.