An Unplanned Stop

Last night, I planned to join Anita at Melawati who stayed late in Gombak since Idlan had tuition there. It would only finish by 10, and I thought of having dinner with her while she was waiting. I only left after Maghrib prayers but the traffic was still pretty heavy all the way from Bangsar then.

While queuing up along MRR2 not far from Bukit Antarabangsa, the engine suddenly felt sluggish. I thought nothing much of that. But suddenly it stopped. Luckily, the traffic was crawling, and I managed to restart the engine, to find somewhere to stop.

I planned to drive first her towards a petrol station but the ringing stopped again about 2 minutes later.

That was it. I parked at the curb and called for a tow truck - luckily I could call one for free as it was covered by my insurance.

Half an hour later the car was safely parked at my in-law's place in Gombak. I was still able to drive the car up and down the tow truck while it was being sorted out, so hopefully the damaged was not too extensive.

My car was already 14 years old, and there was a light indicating the coolant level being low coming on for the last week. I was planning to have the car serviced later in the week, but I was obviously too late. Or maybe the car caught wind that I test drove another car last weekend? Hopefully it wouldn't turn on me again after this....

So, let's see how the damage going to be like later today...

A Fruitful Afternoon

So, finally I test drove a couple of cars. The first was the GLC 250 and the second, the GLE 400 Coupe. The Coupe was a hit.

Although there were plenty of people there, the event was well organised with plenty of things to see and do while you wait for your turn to drive. The fact that we had a friend who worked for Mercedes helped to smooth things over and waiting was never an issue. We had lunch and sat around while waiting for our turn, and it was certainly worth the wait.

The first drive was pretty basic. The lady who took us around did the necessary sales pitch and within 15 minutes we were done. But when it came to the Coupe, despite being the only Coupe available for the test drive, we were given plenty of time. I had the chance to drive further than the first time as well as trying out the Drive Assist system at the car park. And it worked wonders. Unfortunately it only detected space for side parking for us. No reverse parking this time.

Let me take you for a ride!It's no Formula 1There were a few features which caught my eyes. Yes, it had the blind spot detector. Plus it had a 360° camera system which on display would give a bird's eye view around your vehicle.

The Eco-friendly system also stopped your engine when you were stationary and automatically start it again when you hit the accelerator. The brake locks when you were stationary, so that you would need to engage the handbrake when you stop. Handy if you were going uphill.

Then came the suspension. It tied up to the gear system and you have options of comfort and sports. The suspect ion would increase your height if you select comfort making going on bumps on the broad unnoticeable. You can switch it to sports mode, which would bring the car down - the lower the centre of gravity - for extra stability when taking corners at high speed. The changes were there to be felt.

The Coupe also had an anti-roll system which made taking sharp turns a breeze. And the 333 bhp, 3L V6 twin turbo engine certainly was no slouch. The only problem was it cost more than half a million Ringgit! A slight drawback!

We were back in one piece!More things to see insideIn the end, I must say that Mercedes did good job in organising the event. They took care of you from the moment you park - there were complimentary buggy to shuttle you to and from the car park. There were things for the kids to do to keep them occupied while you do some serious driving and of course there were food and drinks in the decent surrounding of KLPAC. You can't really neat that on a warm Sunday afternoon. A decent way to spend some time off!

Afternoon at KLPAC

One of my friend works for Mercedes-Benz and they were doing a test-drive event on some new models this weekend. They were showcasing three new models - the GLE, the GLC and the GLE Coupe.

It was a family orientated event, complete with plays and rides the kids while the parents do the test-driving. I drove the GLC earlier and was waiting for the Coupe over lunch.

I thought Anita wanted to try that ...Lunch. And it was really nice!Anita and her churrosIt was still empty when we arrived but people were trickling in while we were waiting. Anita as usual went to have a look at the food truck. Lunch were provided of course and the setting around KLPAC was just nice for chilling.

Weather was also pretty nice and warm, threatening to rain earlier. Not much breeze unfortunately.

More in the test-drive later as I was still waiting for our second go.

No Lightroom Gel

With almost everything in life, I believe at love at first sight. No, I wasn't talking about Anita here although truth be told it was like that. I was talking about my photography here.

I always had to try and use a camera before I buy it. And the same goes with my photography work post capture. I had been using Lightroom since version 1 but was never completely happy with it.

When Apple Aperture came into the picture, I gave that a go but in found the first iteration of that software very sluggish and almost unusable. I persevered Lightroom. Grudgingly.

Then came the later versions of Aperture and I never looked back. I loved the white balance control and the skin tones I was getting from it. I couldn't even replicate it consistently in Photoshop. And it was blazingly fast.

Imagine my disappointment when Apple decided to discontinue the development of Aperture and concentrate on a more consumer orientated product instead - Apple Photo. It hasn't have half the control of the old Aperture.

So, I had a choice to make. Shall I relearn and tolerate Lightroom. Or shall I cross my fingers and toes, stick to Aperture and pray that whatever support left that Apple put in on maintaining Aperture would carry me through. Or better still, Apple might change their minds and reinvest in what was otherwise a superb software.

In the meantime, I have decided to stick to Aperture. I had tried my level best in the last couple of weeks to tweak my workflow, but it looked that there was too much hassle for the change. Hopefully I would be able to get a third party RAW converted to my future cameras while I learn to use Lightroom. But that's not going to be any time soon.

Saturday Night and Homework

The boys really don't have much of a choice. Anita and I would be out all day tomorrow, so the boys had to do their homework tonight. Looking forward to free time tomorrow, they duly obliged. But now, they had to finish them. And there were a lot ..... Good night!