The pro's racket.. Wilson Pro Staff 6.0

My first racket was an aluminium Dunlop with an oversized head that my dad bought for me when I was 16 yrs old. I dont remember what happened to it only that he borrowed it for a game in Jakarta and it never came back. That was some time ago...

Later, I got myself a Dunlop Max 200g in the vein of Johnny Mac and Steffi Graf. It was was a beautiful racket, full of touch and verve.. however, the head always felt too small, the frame was boxy and boy was it a heavy racket at 13oz or more. I used the 200g throughout my college days and midway (I cant remember exactly when though), I bought a Pro Staff 6.0 to replace it.


My introduction to the Pro Staff 6.0, or PS 6.0 was during my army days while on the tennis team. I remember we were at NUS courts one day and some guy had a PS 6.0 and I tried it out knowing that great players like Edberg, Evert and Courier had used it. A guy called Sampras had not quite broken through yet. Well, my first impression of the racket wasnt good. It felt like a board and my arm hurt afterwards.

No idea why I bought the Pro Staff then a few years later. I bought a pair of PS 6.1s with a 95 sq inch head b4 that and good as those rackets were, I never felt comfortable with them. I sold them on Auction and bought a single PS 6.0 to try out. What a revelation. I must have been too used to the 200g's flex beforehand but the PS 6.0 felt perfect after the 6.1s.

The headsize of the PS 6.0 is really small at 85sq inches. Also, the frame is really thin and manoeuvrable. You cant find a racket like this anymore. I added some lead tape at 9 and 3 oclock and it felt even better on groundstrokes. There was a definite lack of power before I did that. Of course, the weight of the racket did go up to nearly 13 oz again.... but I hardly feel it. I am so used to heavy rackets, whenever I am tempted to get a new racket to replace the PS 6.0 e.g. like the Babolat Aeros or a Wilson K-factor, I give up the idea bcos these rackets feel like plastic toy rackets. I refuse to use the K-factor 90sq incher bcos that is the "Federer" racket and I just dont feel gay enough to use it. :p

Update in Sep 2012 -

I am not sure whether you guys know this but Tennis Warehouse has reissued  the PS85 for a while at http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Wilson_Pro_Staff_60_85/descpageRCWILSON-W6085.html. I grabbed two so my personal PS85 stash is at 6 now.

All time classic songs (occasionally updated)

I always love songs with a great intro.. here's a list some of fav and truly classic songs:

Alphaville - forever young, big in japan, sounds like a melody (1984)
Barry Manilow - mandy
Beach Boys - god only knows
Bee Gees - too many to list e.g. i started a joke, you win again, immortality (not the celine dion version!)
Billy Idol - eyes without a face, sweet sixteen
Bonnie Tyler - total eclipse of the heart (1983)Brenda Russell - piano in the dark, get here (1988)Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music - avalon, slave to love (gotta love those trademark pukka sticks!)
Chemical Brothers - hey boy hey girl
Cowboy Junkies - sweet jane
Cutting Crew - i just died in your arms (1985)
Cyndi Lauper - true colors
Dire Straits - money for nothing, romeo & juliet
Duran Duran - rio
Dave Matthews Band - one sweet world
Eurythmics - again, too many to list e.g. sweet dreams (1983), there must be an angel (1985), angel (1989), no more i love yous
Everything But The Girl or E.B.T.G. - all tracks from "acoustic" (1992)Fire Inc - tonight is what it means to be young, nowhere fast (1984 - from streets of fire, great movie starring diane lane and michael pare)
John Lennon - woman, imagine
Joni Mitchell - both sides now (2000)
Michael Jackson - billie jean
No Doubt - don't speak
Queen - bohemian rhapsody, under pressure
Paul Oakenfold - starry eyed surprise
Prince - when doves cry, purple rain (great great guitar intro..)
Roxette - it must have been love (1990 - from pretty woman)
Richard Marx - endless summer nights (1988)
Simple Minds - don't you forget about me (1985)
Spandau Ballet - through the barricadesSuzanna Vega - luka (1987 - gotta love luca.. my dear nephew)
The Beach Boys - god only knows
The Cardigans - my favorite game
The Eagles - hotel california (only for that guitar/percussion solo opening..)
The Pretenders - i'll stand by you (1994)The Verve - bitter sweet symphony (1997)
Tracy Chapman - fast car, baby can i hold you tonight (1988)

here's a plug for Yahoo's Launchcast, one of my favorite music services which allows you to personalize the songs that you want to hear by rating the music. give it a try!

Photo Organizing Strategy

I've been struggling with this for some time now on my old PC, but with the new one here, I am doing a migration of all our family photos and boy is it ever tough. The problem is, like a lot of people, I have files all over the place in several different hard drives and there are duplicates. I also have several backups and those arent helping. I have problems deleting backups!

My plan now is to create a single master photo repository in my new 320gb hard drive and create a single sync backup on my 200gb USB drive. Now how am I going to organize them and have a good strategy to ensure I can find a photo after a few years. Some of my current thoughts...

a) For events that happened e.g. a party or a vacation,

d:\photos\year\yearmonth_subject (e.g. d:\photos\2007\200701_harrysbirthday)

b) For miscellaneous snaps,

d:\photos\year\subject (e.g. d:\photos\2007\auctionshots)

c) For subjects that I want to track over time,

d:\photos\subject (e.g. d:\photos\harry)

Obviously, for some of these folders, a good naming strategy for the filename needs to be in place - to make the file name unique within the taxonomy. I am going to look for a good batch renaming software. Will keep you guys posted..