Elmen’s Blog

The reinforced steel bars and bottom piping are in place. We were using the better and thicker Y series steel bars and not the BRC Grade R9 that was originally planned. This should provide stronger surface all over.

The floor is done with Grade 35 pre-mix concrete from Lafarge Cement.

Notice that the soil at the far end is coming down due to heavy rain these few days. A brick wall was installed at two places to prevent further soil erosion before the wall is mold is built.

More to follow…

Since the digging is done by only 3 workers by hand, it took almost 2 weeks just to dig out the earth. The daily downpour in the afternoon did not help the process.

The footing of the house is now exposed. An architect friend of mine has warned me about the proximity of the pond to the house and advised me against the idea of building my pond there. But since space is very limited in my house, I have no choice but to take the risk - a brave move for the love of Nishigikoi maybe. A few contractors actually assured me that it is not a problem so long that we do not ‘disturb’ the house foundational footing.

Next step is floor piping and fabricating the pond floor. More update to follow…

I have decided to build my dream koi pond and with the help of a koi friend who happen to be a pond builder, I started the project no too long ago. It was originally planned for 24feet x 9feet x 5feet however it has been extended to 26feet for the same price. After a few rounds of discussion and refinement, here is the final design of the pond.

 
Pond design

On top of the filter chambers on the left is going to be a L-shape sun deck made of cengal wood. Then there is also steps protruded from the wall at the bottom of the design to act as the connecting bridge between both sides of the pond. Then there is a feature wall covering the bakki showers at the other end.

Due to space constraints, this pond is powered by a 5-chamber up-down filteration system supported by a mini bakki shower. The first chamber will act the settlement and will contain some brushes, the second and third will house the bio rings for biological filteration. The pump chamber will house oyster shells to buffer PH and two Tsurumi pumps. One pump will feed 3 mid-level water returns under the bakki shower and one pump will solely feed the bakki shower. An extra pipe has been planned for high-level water return in case it is needed. Hence, the water movement is not in circular fashion but rather uni-direction from left to right. I intend to use Crystal Bio media to fill the bakki shower trays if budget allows.

The location of the pond.

The state of the digging work at the end of first week.

More updates will follow…

A friend and I went to SPKC to join in the fun of koi auction. SPKC is one of the reknown koi dealer in Malaysia and has put up appproximately 32 pieces of high-quality koi for auction from Maruyama. It was both an on-site and off-site (online) auction although there was technical glitches resulting the online folks not able to login their bid.  Below are some of the koi auctioned.

Sold RM6000.

Sold RM6000

Some photos of the auction in action.

It was good fun in the end but I didn’t win the koi I was eyeing for.

It’s a sight of relief to see the Big Phil will be landing on Stamford Bridge. I have been monitoring the general views of football neutrals and generally, everybody believe that is a good step in the right direction. Although, he has impressive record and doing well with the Portuguese team currently he has no record in European club football. However, football language is global and this should not be a problem. I’d love to see him keeping Clarke in his coaching team to help out in the communications with the players. Surely, he will bring in some skilful Brazilian players in the likes of Robinhno but Ronaldinho is a no-no please.

A snapshot from Wiki about Scolari’s personality.

“Scolari is famous for his temper and for his histrionic “performance” by the field while the match is going on, reacting strongly to both the best and the worst moments of his team. A good example of his fierce temper was a September 12, 2007 qualifying match for Euro 2008 against Serbia when, at the end of the game, and after the referee had blown the whistle for a 1-1 draw, Scolari, after being slapped in the hand by the Serbian player Ivica Dragutinovic, grazed him in the face with a left hook ^[4][5]. His character, however, is often seen as a good point, instead of a drawback, because he tries to keep the players (and himself) free of external pressures: he usually demands a lot more freedom than most coaches are allowed and is bent on exerting a somewhat discretionary power.”

Interesting to see how he will work with Roman after the clash of ego between him and Jose. Hopefully, Roman will let him do what he is good at - playing sleek and attacking football. Samba is coming to the bridge!

When Ronaldo misses his penalty, for a couple of minutes I thought we have a good chance. Up step the ever dependable skipper John Terry to take the final and winning-to-be penalty but he hit the post after Van de Sar has gone in the other direction. To be honest, this result doesn’t really surprise me given Chelsea’s previous penalties jinx against the like of Liverpool last year. Everybody associated to the club is of course devastated but nobody should be blamed really.

If there is one thing Grant could do differently, I thought he could have brought the positive substitutions in much earlier before the end of normal time. He could have gambled a little bit by pushing Essien back to the middle at the expense of Makelele and use 3 a the back and bring on Sheva instead of Belletti. Using Essien as the right back is a total waste, we missed his power and drive in the middle.

Despite all, Chelsea has a commendable season but as I pointed out earlier - an empty handed season. Credits to Grant over the performance of the team in the last few weeks especially against Liverpool in the semi and ManU in the league run-in. But I still think he should be moved upstairs and a new manager to come in. Guus Hiddink is my favorite manager if I get to choose.

I chose not to say a word about Chelsea and Avram Grant before this game as I read that most of the neutrals believe the manager do not deserve all the sticks he received. For once, I felt a little bit for the man because at this stage last year Chelsea was out of running for the title but this man’s team is still in it although it’s not in their hands. On the hindsight he deserves a little more respect.

Chelsea didn’t disappoint us today. I thought the first half performance was out-of-the-world, they made ManUtd look like Derby to say the least. Chelsea dominated possession, chances and area all over the pitch. I have not seen such a performance from Chelsea for a very long time. For once, they redeemed themselves by playing with beliefs and purpose if they have been putting in this kind of performance week in, week out I think the title might have been Chelsea’s weeks ago.

Another point worth mentioning - Ballack finally repay all the money and faith the club has put in him. Even Shevchenko’s clearance of the goal-bound header from  Fletcher suddenly justifies the 30mil pound spent to bring him here. But all this count for nothing if ManUtd doesn’t drop a point in the final two games. Sadly, this performance comes too late in the league challenge but the omen is good for the Champion League. I think Liverpool will be scared to death seeing this performance from the team they are about to face.

Having said all this, I still think Man Utd will be the champion and deservedly so for the wonderful consistent performance  they put in. Loosing it at the final two games would be damn harsh on them but they do look shaky at the back and this doesn’t help with the loss of Vidic today and possibly the next few games. Rooney is also suffering some kind of groin problem. So they are under pressure right now.

For this game - it’s bravo Grant and he uses his substitution well. He planned to bring in Belletti so that Essien can go back to central midfield to chase the winning goal but then he changed his mind to bring Makelele after the penalty goal to tighten the defense. Then he brought on Shevchenko for Kalou, not that he made any difference upfront but he cleared the ball off the line at the very end.

Keep this spirit going Grant.

Type: Ginrin Ochiba
Breeder: Yamasan
Size: About 50cm
Gender: Female
Price: RM500

Type: Ginrin Showa
Breeder: Sakai
Size: About 30cm
Gender: Unknown
Price: RM100 (below cost)

Type: Showa
Breeder: Sakai
Size: About 40cm
Gender: Unknown
Price: RM250 (below cost)