First sea trial on the GDS demands that I balance the somewhat good with the impossibly bad. Plus, it won't even be ready for my birthday. I blame Kyle's mom. Still, read it for the detail, enjoy it for the picture.   more »

Actually, it works out even better. The payment plan has been stretched to 18 months. A small improvement.

So, okay, the counter-offer came in. It involves a 15-month string of payments (starting with a 15% down payment) which, if I remember how to use Excel properly (not assured), and using a very conservative discount rate of 1.69% (the current SIBOR) I get a net present value of SGD69,500 which equates (at today's interbank rate) to EUR32,500. Let's see how that compares to published prices for the same year and model from brokers on the web...

1994 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 33
Location - Price (Euros)

Singapore - 32,500 (the candidate)
Greece - 64,800
Greece - 64,700
Greece - 52,900
St. Maarten - 69,000
Marseilles - 65,000
Cherbourg - 48,750

To be honest, without the vendor take-back I would be looking at an external financing option of more than 5%, which makes this even more attractive. On the down side, I need to scrub her bottom and put on a fresh coat of anti-fouling, things I do with every new woman in my life. The cost for this is probably around SGD3,000. On balance, I think it may be worth it. Stay tuned for the surveyor's report.

Found something to keep my mind off that damned boat.

1994 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 33 SZ 17829Z. Called Citibank to come to Raffles Marina with a dumptruck full of my money and just start pouring ... stand by for further tragedy.

Like anyone with an email account, I get ten of these a day. This one wins the prize for it's ...   more »

Here is an excerpt from an official company press release dated 23 December 2005 - "And then there is the Raptor's super cruise capability that lets it fly at supersonic speed without using fuel-guzzling afterburners as required by other fighters. ''That saves us a lot of gas and opens up a whole host of things when you start talking about dropping bombs,'' Krumm said. ``You can imagine if you are 60,000 feet doing mach 1.9 (about 1,400 mph) and these bombs are flying out of your airplane, the swath of hell you can produce going through a country saying 'I'll take that target, and that target.''

What can I say, I love my job! Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!