Nod's Blog

W2–Still Home Alone + Chairs.

2010-11-09T11:48:00.001+08:00

Week 2 and still home alone. Manage to clean out the study room so one more room to go (kids’ room).

Managed to sort out all the great kitchen stuff that Chris left me. Washed them and organized them into proper storage location.

Sat: went out with the guys to Cash and Carry – man it’s massive! It’s located inside the industry area in Canning Vale, just across the road from Halliburton’s office in Perth. It’s basically a massive warehouse of household stuffs. If you buy them in bulk then some items can be really cheap.

Note: You need to own a small business or be RAC member to get in.

Sun: cooked breakfast and lunch. Found out that I don’t have a knife yet to used scissors to cut up the bacon bits hehe. Had to stand to eat on the counter – I have zero chairs.

Went out to see Raymond who is so nice to give me his old TV cabinet. It ended a lot bigger than I got but lucky the Euro’s door can swing wide open. Thanks Raymond!

Here are some of the appliances I bought from Retravision, and got a great money saving tip from Raymond. Bargain and shop around. Always do price match. I got the fridge down from 988>900>789.

Look at the awesome white LEDs!

Got this washing machine got a good deal too! 8KG for 700.

Decided to “Asian out” (as in chicken out) and bought Samsungs instead of local brands No Japanese branded appliance anywhere to be found.

Oh and I had to get a Dyson:

It’s a Dyson DC23. These Dyson are crazy man – they suck suck and suck (in a good way) all the dirt off the carpet. The tank was nearly full from just a room! If you got carpets, go get one. AUD800.

Getting into rhythm now, Sat = shopping, Sun = laundry + clean house.

Engrish: Samsung Edition

2010-11-01T13:07:00.001+08:00

So when me and Sean was trying to install the Samsung washing machine, this piece of instruction came up:

Look closely on the lower left hand corner. Sean was actually confused as he only recognize the Malay word “tikus” but he can’t remember what “papan” was. So he asked me “how come they mixed Thai and Malay in the same sentence?”

Talk about globalization and the level on English worldwide.

Week 1–Home Alone

2010-11-01T12:47:00.001+08:00

That’s Wye home shopping with me.

So I moved into the new place last Saturday. AF and Fiona was nice enough to help me shift in and had a short tour of the (empty) house.

Sleeping alone is creepy. Sleeping alone in a new country is even more creepier. I kept psyching myself that there is no ghost in the house. Or as AF puts it, “Australia where got ghost one.”

You can argue that I have sleep in hotels before, but there are actual human beings next door, or at least a lift down. But this is suburbia at it’s finest – i.e. quiet. And the house being a single storey bungalow does not help either.

Interesting fact about property terms:

House = bungalow
Villa = quad / 6 semi-detached houses
Apartments = condo/mid cost apartment
Units = low cost flat

Only have 3 things in the house now:

1 x Ikea single bed
Samsung 8KG Top Loader Washing Machine
Samsung 511L Fridge

As hermit as it gets.

Skype + IRC?

2010-11-01T12:37:00.001+08:00

Hey guys did you know that you can issue IRC like commands in Skype? OK if you don’t know what’s IRC then you are probably born > 1990.

How awesome is that. Anyone wanna feel how it feels to be kick or kick/banned? hehe.

Extracted From https://support.skype.com/faq/FA10042/What-are-chat-commands-and-roles

/add [Skype Name]
Adds a contact to the chat.

/alertsoff
Disable message alert notifications.

/alertson [text]
Allows you to specify exactly what needs to appear in a chat for the chat to pop up. For example, your name.

/call [Skype Name]
Starts a Skype call.

/clear
Removes the chat history entirely. Cannot be undone.

/clearpassword
Remove the password security.

/find [text]
Finds specific text in a chat.

/get allowlist
Details people with access to the chat.

/get banlist
Details people banned from the chat.

/get creator
Details the person who created the chat.

/get guidelines
See the current chat's guidelines.

/get options
Details active options for current chat.

/get password_hint
Get the password hint.

/get role
Details your role in the chat.

/goadmin
Puts a Creator tag next to the chat creator's name.

/history
Loads the complete chat history into the active chat window.

/htmlhistory
An HTML file of the chat history opens up in a browser window.

/info
Details number of people in chat and maximum number available.

/kick [Skype Name]
Eject chat member.

/kickban [Skype Name]
Ejects chat member and prevents them from rejoining chat.

/leave
Leave current chat – unavailable if you are a chat’s creator.

/me [text]
Your name will appear followed by any text you write.

/set allowlist [[+|-]mask] ..
Members allowed in the chat.

/set banlist [[+|-]mask] ..
Members banned from the chat.

/set guidelines [text]
Set a chat’s guidelines.

/set options [[+|-]flag]
Sets options for this chat, see below for more info.

/set password [text]
Create a password (no spaces allowed).

/set password_hint [text]
Create the chat's password hint text.

/setpassword [password] [password hint]
Create a password and password hint for the chat.

/setrole [Skype Name] MASTER | HELPER | USER | LISTENER
Allows you to set a role to each chat member. A description of roles is given below.

/topic [text]
Changes the chat topic.

/whois [Skype Name]
Provides details about a chat member such as current role.

MacBook + iPhone 3GS + Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) + Bluetooth + Tethering = Issues? Solved!

2010-05-07T22:12:00.003+08:00

So for the longest time my iPhone and MacBook have not played very well when I need to do Bluetooth Tethering.

Long story short, the resolution is to go to System Preferences > Network > delete Bluetooth PAN and create a new Bluetooth PAN.

Don't bother with pairing and unpairing - it's nothing to do with that.

Network Cable DIsconnected...

2010-03-04T13:32:00.001+08:00

Sounds like a very simple problem right? Well, it took me an hour to fix and the solution is so simple but it's never the first thing that comes into mind.

So yesterday I came home and Joey was asking my why Youtube upload keep failing, and upon inspection, the network connection was down. Here are the steps that was taken in sequence.

Check LAN connection on router - connection was intact
Check LAN connection on PC - connection was intact
Unplug LAN cable from PC and plug into my MacBook - MacBook detected LAN working - therefore PC LAN port fried?
Plug cable as peer from PC to MacBook - no problem, APIPA assigned and can ping each other (after turning off firewall at Windows 7)
Both LAN ports on PC and MacBooks seems OK. Router issue? Tried all 4 ports from Linksys WRT54G to PC - no connection - no lights at all and Windows says that Media Disconnected
Tried all 4 ports from Linksys to MacBook - all ports working!
Took out my 8 port 10BaseT hub and connect to Linksys - no problem - lights on
Plug my MacBook into 10BaseT hub - obtained DHCP and able to browse Internet
Plug PC into 10BaseT hub - lights we on but no DHCP IP
Restarted DHCP Client service - no help
Disabled NIC and reenable - no help
Uninstall NIC driver and reinstall - no help
Rebooted PC - numerous time - no help
Changed the NIC card auto-negotiation setting to both 100Mbps and 10Mbps - no help

At this point - you must be wondering that it's a hardware issue - well it's kinda. The solution is ... <drum roll> ...

YANK the power cord from the PSU, wait for a few seconds to make sure all power is discharged - and turn PC back on. Everything works fine now.

Conclusion? I think it's a combination of a few things:

The house had a power trip that evening,
It was never an issue before coz I had a UPS
The UPS died last year
Somehow the NIC card thinks that the Linksys caused the power trip and therefore actively rejects it - until a complete power cycle (from the mains power, that is) is performed

Weird.

Engrish - KCH Edition

2010-02-22T11:32:00.000+08:00

Having lunch nearby my parents place, we came across this...

Hmm. What kind of beans need that much protection? Maybe it was Jack's.

Cruise down further and it dawned upon me.

It is suppose to mean 哈尔滨, a place in China.

ZLD.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Lorong Seladah 8,Kuching,Malaysia

Quick Blurp - Snow Leopard and Lock Screen

2009-10-15T23:26:00.001+08:00

Got this tip from a comment here => http://www.gkoya.com/2006/11/23/locktight-for-mac-os-x-intel/

As of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, there is one more way to accomplish this, without any extra or third party software.

Use Automator to create and save a ‘Start Screen Saver’ service that accepts no input and is available to all applications. You can find the appropriate Automator action under ‘Utilities’. Then you can simply assign this new service a shortcut from the Keyboard Shortcuts preference pane.

If you would prefer to lock the screen rather than use a screen saver, use Automator to run a shell script with the following command:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend

Then set the keyboard shortcut as before. Huzzah!

Perth Trip – Snacks and Breakfast

2009-10-15T16:44:00.001+08:00

Of (unfounded) fear that I would die from not having a chance to eat lunch and no mamak stalls around at night (which is true), I bought tons of snacks on the first day.

Made my own sandwich. The loaf of bread was so big that I could not finish it in time.

The fruit cake from Woolsworth was surprisingly OK.

Here is the horde or food that I bought, which many of them I could not finish in 2 weeks coz I was so stuffed all the time. More on that later.

Did not miss out having to taste ultra fresh Royal Gala apples, my favorite type.

I thought ang moh’s cannot stand spicy food, but hot damn, these Kettle chips were smoking. Took me 3 nights to finish these.

Perth Trip – Hotel Room

2009-10-15T16:31:00.001+08:00

I took too many pictures during my trip to Perth that I got to post these in small batches… Starting with the hotel I stayed, which is “The New Esplanade Hotel”, located on, surprise surprise, The Esplanade Road, which in front of the esplanade. You get the idea.

The rate was going like about AUD110, which is rather cheap. I think they gave quite a fair amount of discount since I stayed there for 14 days straight.

The rooms were pretty decent, with a queen size bed and another single. Had a ViewSonic flat panel and small fridge. Room was clean, but toiletries were minimal. Just towels, no toothbrush.

Here’s the view from the hotel room at daylight.

And at night. The Eye of Perth was on display, but did not bother to try out, as there were many more things to do, and eat. Will show you guys in pictures in coming posts!

2009-08-07T22:14:00.001+08:00

iPhone 3GS Maxis Malaysia Pricing is out!

2009-07-15T09:59:00.001+08:00

http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone3gs/rateplan1.asp

Too bad no price drop for the previous 8GB iPhone 3

One Tiny Painful Step Forward...

2009-07-09T15:35:00.001+08:00

No dates yet, but confirmed this month (d'oh). http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone3gs/index.asp

So Easy Even Isaac Can Do It...

2009-07-02T23:06:00.001+08:00

Singapore Science Center

2009-05-25T12:26:00.001+08:00

Here are some of the vids I took at the SCC:

Rotating Tesla Coil

Tesla Coil super spark

Wireless energy transference

Tesla Coil goes Ka-boom!

SCC has a IMAX theater too, and we watched "Space Station", which was narrated by Tom Cruise, using actual space footage taken from Space Shuttle missions and from the ISS. The theater is not like the one in Berjaya Time Square, because the screen was round, like a football cut in half! Definitely a very difference experience, especially looking down the Earth from ISS.

Singapore Trip/Exchange 14 Ignite

2009-05-25T12:15:00.001+08:00

So I was down at Singapore for about a week to attend the Exchange “14” Ignite, as well as to take some time off to get around and about. Here are some of the slightly more interesting stuffs that I saw during my trip. (56kbps warning!)

First up, for LCie: MOS burger!!! I think I had it for at least twice.

I was so excited that I ordered 2 burgers! Yay! But I was in a rush that I left the 2nd one on the table. Darn.

For Juls, CH and Ivy: Look at the big cannons!

For Justin: Star Trek in DLP was awesome! And with some UOB credit card the tix price would just be SGD6.

For Andy and Corra: Although it was on sale, it was still too expensive (for me) la. SGD240 for slippers? Ended up with Nike @ SGD55.

Singaporeans really like their arts. This was on the MRT station wall @ Chinatown aka Niu Che Shui. Took these while waiting for CK.

For Funj: Here was how the event look like. See? I saw in front row, good student leh. Cham didn’t like it at all though :P

For Funj: Without breaching the NDA, here is one shot of the Dell Latitude 17 inchers that everyone was using with 8GB of RAM. That’s almost 200 units in one room…

For Justin: They had the Maverick in transparent case! Is this authorized version or china ciplak?

For Daniel and LCie: Asahi beer from the tap! Damn smooth! SGD9.90 per pop. Too bad the ramen so so only. Thanks Joseph for insisting to pay for the dinner!

Toilet also got flat panel TV, don’t play play OK. Even my house is still on CRT TV :(

For Justin and Julian: Tons of camara bags, @ top floor Sim Lim Square. Not sure about pricing though. Kata, National Geographic, Tamrec, Lowepro – complete collection!

For LCie and LH: Went to Night Safari with Cham. Thanks LH for the recommendation! It was well worth the SGD22 tix. Came out and lo and behold, a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor! You’d wouldn’t find this in Malaysia… (fresh anyway.)

For Funj: Only wish that I could lug these babies back! SGD160 at South East Asia computer store @ Funan.

For Julian: This is the Intuos that I saw, it was huge! Too bad I am artistically crippled :P

Ah here is the place where I had the Asahi beer on tap. Shokudo. I heard there is a outlet in KL?

For CK and Isaac: I went to the Singapore Science Center, and I think it was well worth the visit. SGD25 and we spend the whole day there. SSC had a huge animatron T-Rex at the entrance. It was huge and very articulate, compared to the Dino and Monster expo at Midvalley…

Look closely. The model is even made to be “anatomically correct”…

All Red Alert fans: SSC has a real tesla coil on demo! Video @ next post.

Me and CK were very lucky as the Da Vinci expo was there and it was suppose to be the only stop in South East Asia. Too bad no pix allowed inside.

McSpicy (Singapore) = Chicken McDeluxe (Malaysia).

One more round of MOS burger before going back! Yakiniku Rice (beef).

For Edwin: I did get to Computex after 3 train line changes and 1 bus ride later…. Thanks for the info anyway :)

For Funj and Cham: Polycom units on sale…but why no stock one leh. Challanger @ VivoCity.

For Joey: The garden is actually on the roof of the building! @ViviCity.

Isaac would had love it there.

Pseudo lake garden on the roof – magnificent!

For LH: ALDO was on sale, 20% off.

For Justin: National Geographic’s signature outlet was at VivoCity – it has a zero Celsius chamber to test out their winter wears… but even a sweater costs SGD250…

For all burger/hotdog lovers: This is the ultimate place to go. Albeit the corny name, the burger I ordered was fantastic! Check next pix!

Ben and Jerry’s again! For SGD3 more on top of the meal.

This is the Super Burger. Aptly named, the meat patty consists of BOTH beef and pork. And I ordered extra bacon and eggs… inside the burger! Yom yom yom!

For all Sarawakians: Kolo mee rocks! @ LG2 VivoCity.

Wireless @ SG

2009-05-11T22:57:00.001+08:00

Bumpy registration process but after finally gone in, pretty good performance for free Internet!

The hotel room one is either SG28/24hrs or SG0.50 per min....

Social Experiment

2009-04-17T10:40:00.001+08:00

I wanted to perform a social experiment on the guys in the office, and this was my evil plan :)

Talked loudly about Street Fighter 4 for XBOX360 to get everyone excited,
Went out and buy the game, knowing that there is only one fresh set of batteries for one controller only,
Got the game back, started playing first thing in the office,
Then made an excuse to pass my controller to someone else.

Guess what happened:

They have not stopped playing, despite there is real work to be done,
And it's 10:30am, right smack in the middle of office hours,
And no one bothered to walk downstairs and buy a fresh set of batteries for the other controller.

And many of you wonder why employers always complain that employees are an ungrateful bunch :)

People Say That "Malaysian Government Hospitals Suck" For A Reason

2009-04-05T00:44:00.001+08:00

I promised to write this entry a few weeks back, but my schedule has been shot out of the sky... Anyway, it's about our experience of having a baby at Selayang Hospital.

Actually, let me pen down all the mistakes they made first:

Did not want to take any action even Joey was overdue. There was nothing we could do about it, as it is hospital "policy" to wait 7 to 10 days overdue. The subsequent result is that baby Tim got too big too fast in the last week of pregnancy. Tim was born at 4.29KG, which according to my doctor friends, the attending doctor will get questioned by his/her boss for not monitoring the weight of the baby closely.
Joey's planned C-section was bumped last minute, due to the reason that "there were too many emergency cases in the surgical theater, therefore the anesthesiologist's schedule is full and our surgery has to be postponed". OK, sure - fair enough. But Joey had been fasting for more than 8 hours *and* without a drip, so upon hearing that news, Joey went ahead and had her meal. 15 mins later, the anesthesiologist walked in and was surprised that Joey was eating. Apparently the intern doctor (or "medical officer", as they are called in Malaysia) that broke us the news earlier was mistaken. Too bad, the surgery has to be postponed to the next day.
They got Joey's blood group wrong. And she almost got a transfusion with a wrong blood type, because she lost more than 1 liter worth of blood during surgery.
The nurses almost gave Tim BCG shot, TWICE. Apparently the nurses in the maternity ward and NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) did not communicate.

There are many more nauces to be told, but that's 4 major ones that I can recall. Stay tuned for more background stories.

HP OfficeJet 5510 - How to skip the dreaded "Print Align Page" screen after ink catridge replacement

2009-04-04T23:18:00.001+08:00

Short answer - press "Setup" button + "OK" button at the same time.

Just want to post it here so I can remind myself the next time I change ink cart.

Welcome Baby Timothy!

2009-03-18T21:07:00.002+08:00

Tim's under observation overnight. He weighed in at 4.29KG, hence the C-sect. Both Joey and Tim is safe :) We are due to check out of hospital on Friday. Thanks for all the congratulations and well wishes! It really means a lot to us~

Crazy Jam

2009-02-20T16:25:00.001+08:00

When the cyclists is in town, this is what happens:

Stuck on one end, dead on the other.

Further down the road, I saw the traffic police blocked the road and no car could pass. The traffic was backed at least 10KM away.

Ah - the wonders of Malaysian planning.

IELTS

2009-02-09T00:11:00.001+08:00

Couple of weeks ago I took me IELTS as part of my requirement for the Australian PR. We were suppose to be there by 8am, and we were frigging late getting out of the house.

It was an interesting experience to drive your pregnant wife from Kepong to KLCC (20KM drive) within 15 mins. I think we were more relaxed when we drove to the hospital for Isaac's delivery.

Anyway, when we got there (on time too), we saw this.

Holy moly. There were about 180 people taking the exam on the same day. Although there were 2 type of exams going on at the same time, i.e. General and Academic, most of the people there were taking the General exam. The former is for migration and later is for oversea university entry requirements .

Anyway, the result just came out and this is what I got.... Zeng1 zeng1 zeng1 zeng3.

I am actually very surprised with the result, as I could not understand how I would have fucked up my Writing section so badly. I wrote very very long, analytical, structured essays which I was very confident on.

Guess I had to buckle up my writing skills. More blogging, perhaps?

p/s For Australian PR purposes, they use the lowest score in any section. Means my final score is 7.0, not 8. That is just borderline passing mark. Hmm. We'll see how.

Bad Husband

2009-02-08T23:52:00.002+08:00

Yes, it was time of the year for me to fuck up again. I forgot my wedding anniversary. Again. Which kinda makes it like every time since we got married.

And to make it worst, she gave me a great present:

Sorry for the crappy pic, but it's a Braun Buffel! My first real manly leather belt. No the pleather stuff that I had been wearing for ages.

I am really sorry dear! I will do better next time!

Very Cool Sun Servers

2009-02-08T23:43:00.002+08:00

OK OK, pun intended with the title.

Anyway, we got these 2 loaner units for a customer PoC that we are doing for Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

This is the first time we have encountered any servers other than Dell, HP and IBM, so we had to take a look inside! Check out the wicked 16 banks of ECC RAMs with their own heat sinks!

And the slot load optical drive!

No wonder these babies won the best 1U rack server of the year award! Visually, it can almost rival the XServe. Almost.

Now all is left for us to harness these powers... is to find me some damn power/KVM cords and power them up!

Golden Apple

2009-01-28T23:35:00.001+08:00

Well well, just after I put up my previous post, I found out that the new PolyBook is the new Golden Apple of the year. I'm a darn fraking genius.

Read all about it here => http://www.lowendmac.com/ed/ms-geek/09msgk/golden-apples.html

New Poly MacBook is Here!

2009-01-28T20:46:00.002+08:00

I think it's the best time ever for Malaysian companies to make the switch to Mac!

Check it out => http://www.apple.com/my/macbook/white/

For RM3,699 it's practically the same thing as my RM6,606 aluminum MacBook, sans the metal of course. The previous MacBook was priced RM200 less, but now you got double the RAM and extra oomph in the graphics department!

Plus, I've been laughing away since the Konflicker debacle started :)

Choco

2009-01-25T15:44:00.001+08:00

Joey and I came across this chocolate centric "coffee" house in 1 Utama, while trying to get Iz some new year clothes.

It's called theobroma Chocolate Lounge.

Joey, as the resident coffee addict, decided to go against convention and ordered their flat white:

Hmm - failed attempt at Coffee art. Although the cup was interesting though:

All their choco drinks has very pussy names, like Snow White, Fair Lady and Ms Coco. I decided to have the latter, with the derivative version of Mocha Frappe.

I've got to say, it's absolutely the best choco Frappe that I ever had! The Belgian dark choco was with the right bitter taste, and I can feel the choco bits melting as I am writting this.

Great stuff - well recommended. Ms. Coco Mocha Frappe for RM12.50, which I think is a fair price compared to the rubbish that Coffee Bean/Starbucks is charging me for.

Googled them and apparently they are Australian based. Here's their web site > http://theobroma.com.au/

Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuit

2009-01-22T17:07:00.001+08:00

Before you feel violated, by expecting a positive food blog entry, turn away now.

I warned you.

So we discovered that there is a new American fast food chain that just opened their virgin branch in Malaysia, we had to try it for lunch. You all know that how much I love American fast food, Wendy’s being my current supa-favorite.

It’s located at TTDI, just across of the KFC. What irony. Some more 3 doors away from KFC, there’s a Ayamas outlet.

Back to the story, was eager to try out their wares, so I splurged and decided to add on their RM5.99 Cajun Fries.

And this is what I got for my 6 Smackeroos :

* My finger there for size comparison.

It’s very little for RM6 la wei! I even purposely asked the manager “Is this all the fries I get for RM6?”, and I got a murmur back as an answer. The fries tastes just like A&W’s curly fries, or McD’s twister fries. Just straight. (not gay?)

TMD. I haven’t even mention how slow the queue was. It took me 20 mins just to wait for 2 group of people in front of my to complete their orders. Come on la, this is not Wendy’s where they build the burgers from ground up. These are just god-damn-pre-fried-chickens, OK!

More disappointment for the rest of the guys:

9 pieces of “succulent” shrimps for RM9.90. They are so tiny that my zits are bigger than them.

Then, this is their version of “mashed potato”:

Notice the garlic in the not-so-brown brown sauce. Where got people use garlic as an ingredient for Mash!? Don’t get me wrong, I love garlic, but not in everything OK!

And even the main attraction, which are the fried chicken and “biscuits” are just plain so so only. The chicken was a bit dry, and the “biscuits” are just very very salty scone. Beats me why they choose to call them “biscuits”.

Now come the worst part, look at all the paper products wasted. Why did they have to put a piece of wax paper on every dish? Not environmentally friendly at all.

Here’s the bill, and proof of how much the fries cost:

WIR? No thank you. Sekali cukup. Unless I hear some more good reviews from other bloggers.

有錢人

2009-01-04T00:56:00.001+08:00

就講一講有錢人和窮人的區別。

窮人不奮鬥就會餓死。有錢人奮鬥是怕別人講他們等分家產，所以就表面意思意思用老子的本錢“自己”做生意當做是奮鬥。

窮人駕爛車是因為買不起好車。有錢人不駕名貴車是怕被打槍或綁票。

窮人得知老婆懷孕時，煩惱的是牛奶錢，怕養不起眾孩子們。有錢人得知老婆懷孕時，煩惱的是怕眾孩子們長大了會槍家產。

別誤會，我不是在批評有錢人，而是開始體會到有錢人也一樣同窮人有煩惱，只是性質不一樣罷了。

感慨。

簡體字

2009-01-03T18:29:00.001+08:00

「隻」簡化變「只」，如果有人說：「我養的豬只會吃青菜。」

是豬也會吃青菜的意思？還是牠是具有佛性的豬，於是只吃青菜？

「幹」、「乾」簡化後都是「干」，如果有天我當了書店員工，

看到一本小說叫《我干妹妹的故事》，干是動詞？還是形容詞？

我怎麼知道要把它擺進情色文學區？還是青春小說區？

「麵」簡化變「面」，如果我不小心英雄救美，美人不好意思開口道謝，

於是她用簡體字寫了紙條：「为了感谢你，我下面给你吃。」

我實在分不出來她是親切還是淫蕩？萬一我會錯意就完了。

From http://jht.pixnet.net/blog/post/9096213

Look At What I Got!

2008-12-30T10:59:00.001+08:00

Just like all the reviews said, Win7 is pretty solid for a Beta 1 build. I really like the new UI changes, because it is moving nearer to the usability of OS X :)

80s

2008-12-28T17:03:00.001+08:00

If you are like me, who watched a lot of broadcast TV when you were young, then you would have probably remembered stuffs like:

The Incredible Hulk (not the movie)
AirWolf
Thunderbirds
Planet of the Apes (again, not the movie)
Time Tunnel

So there was this very (sexually) awkward Sci-Fi movie/TV show that has been on my mind for the longest time, and I could not find it, until today.

And here is the Google Video link of the ENTIRE 1980 movie => http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3536993421073315692&ei=5TpXSYGeEYe0wgPD3-lw&q=brave+new+world

Or if you prefer to watch it here, it's embedded down below.

It is indeed still one of the most morally disturbing movie I have watched when I was young. Maybe still is.

Enjoy! (getting brained fucked, that is.)

F.U.D.

2008-12-28T16:30:00.001+08:00

If you have been to any Microsoft compete seminars, you would have definitely heard of the term F.U.D. (see Wikipedia entry here), which stands for:

Fear - people are scared of things that they do not understand
Uncertainty - plant ideas that the future is "uncertain", or question one's belief in the future
Doubt - plan old negative comments can go a long way

I am very surprised that there are many people around me injecting FUD into me when I talk about migration to Australia. Common FUDs are:

Fear - Have you lived in Australia? Do you know how old is the winter? The summer there is hotter than Malaysia, can your children take it?

Uncertainty - Do you think you can hold a job? Will your job pay enough for your family? What about the economy situation?

Doubt - I don't think you will fit into their society/culture. Can you really leave your parents behind? I have seen many family regret but cannot move back to Malaysia. If you burn all your bridges (put all your savings into it), you will regret for the rest of your life when it does not work out.

Well, I say, thanks for the all the FUD information, it is valuable because I do know that these are things that I need to consider/make preparations for, but this will make me even stronger.

Nokia Part Deux

2008-12-27T09:44:00.001+08:00

So I went back to SS2 to show the guy that it was indeed was a lemon. But as part of routine, the sales guy Alex still wanted to update the firmware. Yes, there was a high version jump (4.x to 5.x), but the wait (almost 1 hour) was in vein, as the problem immediately pop up.

So I told him that a one to one swap is in order, since the phone is new, but he insisted that I should bring back the box for the exchange, because there was a serial number at the side. Sigh.

An hour later, showed up with the box, gave me a new unit, which is still the old 4.x firmware. Played around, and the camera function seems OK. Matter a fact, the sliding function is much more solid than the previous 3 units he showed me. Insisted that he upload the latest firmware (there quite a bit of UI change), which he grudgingly did.

I was curious what software he uses to do the upload, and I asked for a copy. Alex was shell shocked and said that it's only for Nokia "authorized dealers" only. Incidentally, there was this brochure in front of his counter and it was showing the Nokia Software Update.

So I picked it up, and showed it to Alex, and he was scrutinizing it thoroughly. When I asked him whether that was the same software he was using, and he said "NO".

TMD KKN CCB. I took a peek at his screen, and true enough, it's the same software => Nokia Software Update.

So guys, be weary of those cock talking mobile phone salesperson.

『焦急』

2008-12-26T17:26:00.001+08:00

Copied from http://jht.pixnet.net/blog/post/10952003

其實我也沒有太與眾不同，起碼唸初二之前，我覺得大家都一樣。

直到有一天國文老師把我叫到跟前，告訴我：

「蔡同學，請你解釋一下這段話的意思。」

那是我寫的一篇作文，裡頭有一段：

「我跟朋友約好坐八點的火車去看電影，可是時間快到了，他還沒來。

　我像是正要拉肚子的人徘徊在廁所內有某個人的廁所外面般地焦急。」

我跟老師解釋說，我很焦急，就像拉肚子想上廁所，但廁所內有人。

「你會不會覺得用這些字形容『焦急』，太長了些？」老師微笑地說。

我低頭想了一下，改成：

「我像是正要拉肚子的人徘徊於有人的廁所外面般地焦急。」

老師好像呼出一口氣，試著讓自己心情平靜。然後再問：

「你會不會覺得用另一種方式形容『焦急』，會比較好？」

我想想也對。突然想起老師曾教過詩經上的句子：

「關關雎鳩，在河之洲；窈窕淑女，君子好逑。」

於是我又改成：「我拉肚子，想上廁所；廁所有人，於是焦急。」

「啪」的一聲，老師拍了桌子，提高音量問：

「你還是不知道哪裡出錯了嗎？」

『是……是不是忘了押韻呢？』我小心翼翼地回答。

老師倏地站起身，大聲責罵：

「笨蛋！形容焦急該用『熱鍋上的螞蟻』啊！我沒教過嗎？」

『熱鍋上的螞蟻只是焦急而已……』我因為害怕，不禁小聲地說：

『可是……可是我這樣的形容還有心情很幹的意思。』

「竟然還講髒話！去跟國語推行員交五塊錢罰款！」

老師將被他弄歪的桌子扶正，手指外面：

「然後到走廊去罰站！」

Nokia is not Motorola

2008-12-26T01:44:00.001+08:00

So I got Joey a Nokia 6600 slide as a replacement for her aging Motorola SLVR, also known as L7. Not that it broke or anything like that, but she was taking more videos and pictures with it, and the VGA camera is really showing it's age. Not to mentioned the choppy vids that it take (15fraps?).

But we managed to crash the Nokia every time we take a picture. It seems like either the shutter or the zoom function is broken, and whenever we try to engage those functions, it would result in the phone crashing.

I hope that my unit is a lemon unit, and this is not a design fault, as Joey likes the phone, in general. I am going to bring it to the Nokia Care Center and let's see what they have to say.

So I made a case video to prove it. Do let me know what you guys think of it:

Pretentious

2008-12-24T00:41:00.001+08:00

Back to the new Honda City again, and the 2 things that I majorly did not like:

The smaller, yet fatter steering wheel. Almost hinting at a sports wheel, and
The peddle shift/S-mode.

To me, Honda's trying to hard to make City into something that it is not. It's like those people who stick in a hugh ass spoiler on their Wira, insinuating that Wira is a sporty car, which in fact it is not.

Don't get me wrong, as I mentioned before, I do like the City as a family car. But it's just being too pretentious.

Scary Weather

2008-12-23T15:49:00.001+08:00

This is what I saw on my way back from the house.

Another shot from my floor:

These weather phenomenons sure get more apocalyptic year after year.

EOS 5D Mark II Support!

2008-12-22T20:31:00.001+08:00

Wow, that was fast. The Mark II is barely out and Apple already has released the iPhoto and Aperture RAW support!

Honda City Test Drive

2008-12-20T19:33:00.000+08:00

So Corra, Andy, Kevin and I went to the Honda-Mofaz showroom next to LDP to check out the brand new Honda City. Lucky that I called ahead and manage to get a test drive slot booked.

The queue for the test drive was still maddening, as for some lame reason that there was only one car and all the salesperson were jumping their queues. All in all, it took us about an hour before it came our turn.

So Corra started the test drive, from the showroom towards TTDI. Then came my turn, and of course, I had to use the S-mode. So I expected the drive to be similiar to a manual drive, and that sure didn't happen. I put my foot down, and the engine rev-ed up rather slowly. Shifting from 2 to 3 was unsatisfying at all, as I find myself constantly downshifted to get more power, then to lose the torque when I shifted up to 3. Then had to shift down to 2 again.

Maybe it was because the car was loaded to the brim (3 lads and 2 girls), but I am very sure that everytime I pulled on the peddle shift, it takes about 0.5 to 1 second before it kicked in.

So I was driving pretty aggresively from TTDI back to the showroom, and at the very last turn (a left on the flyover), I got really scared. Pretty sure I was going to lose traction and crash. My heart practically jumped out of my skin.

In conclusion, I had my expectation put up too much. I have Honda to blame a bit for that, as cramming in the "S-mode" and peddle shift is suppose to scream "drive me aggresively!". Maybe it's too hyped up, and they should have kept it what it is suppose to be. Which is an unexciting, B segment, small family car. Which translate into safe driving, sufficient boot space, and 2 little children, and no more.

Anyway, I have decided that a B segment car is not for me. I need something bigger, more stable on the highway, a proper family far. D segment is more like it. I guess it's back to my original plan, the Cefiro 3.0 1999.

Switcher

2008-12-20T01:25:00.001+08:00

Many years before I started as the lowly Microsoft ASP programmer, I was a hardcore non-MS user. I actually started with Sinclair ZX Spectrum, learning my ropes around BASICA.

(switch 1) Then came my first MS-DOS machine, a 80286. Then the first "proper" Microsoft Windows, which is Win95 on a Acer Pentium.

(switch 2) Although by the time I was in collage, Windows 95/98 stuck, nothing else from Microsoft did. I used Netscape Navigator (remember those?), mIRC, ICQ and my final year project was on ColdFusion. I was tempted to dabble in Linux as well. So no MS in sight.

(switch 3) Then came my first job, and all I could eat and drink was SQL Server 6.5, IIS 5.0, Visual InterDev 1.0. Then came Windows NT/2000, Active Directory, Exchange 5.5/2000 and I never turned back. Was preaching Microsoft both professionally and personally. Beta tested several apps, and started to use Vista on a day to day basis since Beta 2.

(switch 4) Then came the MacBook. And with it, Leopard. And has been loving it since. Who cares about missing apps (there is always VMWare/Parallels). Who cares about Microsoft's "integrated" experience with WinMob and god forbid, Zune. It's all about the reliability! The sub second wake from sleep, the multi touch pad (which is so good that I ditched my RM299 VX Nano), the simple software update process, and the feeling that it will work everytime, anytime. Priceless.

Maybe I'll switch back if Windows 7 can proof it's worth, but I doubt that it'll win me over that easily. So now, it's me and my Mac for the meantime.

Misunderstood

2008-12-19T22:34:00.001+08:00

I think I am often misunderstood. For example:

Me: I feel really bad about myself when I see kids driving more expensive cars than me.
Other people would think: Why you are so materialistic? Is driving a better car a very important thing in life?
What I really meant: I feel sad that I am not within control of my life. If I can't even reach for something simple, like a car, what about other bigger things in life? Can I provide for my family for the next 20 years? How about my children's university tuition fees?

Me: I want to migrate to a developed country because I see all my friends there are doing so well, even with just holding a job.
Other people would think: So you just want to live a better lifestyle overseas huh? Is bigger house and car what you are chasing for?
Me: I want the best for my family. When I meant best, not cars and houses. Education and medicare systems are more important to me. If my friends can have excess finances to afford luxury items even with just holding a job, that means that a career does mean something there. That is what lifestyle means to me. And that is what scares me in Malaysia, good education and proper health care is very very expensive. If I can't afford a proper car, what of the things that really matters.

Sometimes I think I am better with words than speech.

Bingo！

2008-12-17T00:22:00.001+08:00

不懂你們有沒有這樣的朋友：

明明是有錢的，但是因為很喜歡儲蓄，搞到手頭上的現錢不夠用時，就會天天喊窮。“沒錢換車”，“沒錢買樓”，“沒錢買名牌包包” 就變了口頭禪。

最吊的是，偏偏很喜歡在我們真的窮人前面講醬的東西。

Anyway, 今天和一個朋友講起她時，朋友給了一個很好的比喻。問：你讀書時，有沒有那個同學每逢考試時，常常會說 “死咯死咯。。這次一定會考到很差。”。。。但是成績出來時，偏偏會考100分。

真的很歹死咯。

Of Traffic Summons

2008-12-15T19:55:00.001+08:00

Dear friends,

Please stop giving bribes to traffic polices. Other than the fact that it's illegal, I'll give you several more good reasons why not.

Some police blockades are not authorized - and these cops are acting on their own benefit - in another words, they are out there to make a profit, not to enforce the law,

If you are genuinely got red handed for an offense, please admit that you wrong and pay the price of having lesson learnt - you'd get better at your driving skills,

The feel good factor, knowing that you have help the country to reduce the corruption rate. If we all do the same thing, sooner or later the coppers will give up asking for a bribe,

Of many times you got blocked, most likely you did not had a genuine offense, and you were scared into paying a bribe for something that you did not commit. If everyone stand up to them, they'll stop pulling this dirty trick

Have you ever felt angry as you are pulling away from the road block, having given a bribe? Trust me, that feeling is part embarrassment, part cheated. The solution is simple - stop "paying" bribes.

So the next time you pulled over, be honest and be firm. Apologize and ask for the summon. Play dumb when they ask "macam mana nak tolong?". Do not ever pull a smart comment or else you'd get yourself into even more trouble then need be.

Wanna a good example? Read here.

Consolation Price from Apple

2008-12-13T23:19:00.001+08:00

I was probably the first few person to order a MB from the Apple Online Store Malaysia, so they were nice enough to send me something as a thank you gift.

Although they have over promised on the deliverable date (not their fault, it was the stupid Royal Customs), they did provide an excellent phone experience. The IVR had 2 simple options only (1 for purchase, 2 for support) and a human being (from Singapore) always pick up on the 2nd ring.

Back to the gift, here is what they gave me.

Such a purtee box!

A thank you card with Apple logo on it.

Feels like Christmas comes early!

Ooh! What is this? A micro fabric for me to wipe off the grease from the MB display? (grin)

It's actually a custom t-shirt, made by American Apparel

Here's the back.

Somehow those Apple people are rather telepathic, the got the size exactly correct. Or maybe I got fatter again.

The Great Blogging Software Search (OS X)

2008-12-10T01:40:00.001+08:00

So I had been searching high and low for a proper replacement for Live Writer. Like it or not, Live Writer is one of those rare gems that Microsoft got it right the first time around. It's clean, easy to setup, and supports drag and drop picture uploads. And it supports Live Spaces (d'oh) and Blogger perfectly.

After much research, I am sad to announce that there is no equal in the OS X world. Many bloggers will swear by either ecto or MarsEdit, and some even ScribeFire, but here are some glaring misses compared to LW:

Full support for Live Spaces. That means easy setup and picture upload directly to MSN Storage.
Full preview before post within Editor. Which means that the software should totally apply all the CSS templates and give me a full preview when I am still editing the post inside the editor.
Insert pix first, upload later together with post. Means I can write all my posts offline first, pix included. All the OS X variations forces me to upload the pix before I can continue to edit.

Don't get me wrong, the OS X experience has been great so far, but these are some of the very few shortcomings. Maybe I am missing something, anyone to comment?

Big Three Oh

2008-11-23T14:33:00.003+08:00

I'd decided to make dinner for my closest friends for by big 30th birthday as something different. Well, erm - you got me. I got an ultimate motive one. This is so that instead of buying me an (possibly) expensive dinner, they could use the same money to get me a nice present instead :)

So I decided on the following menu:

Garlic Butter Baked Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Salad - comprised of Nata de Coco, mixed canned fruits, whipped cream and condensed milk

Unfortunately the chicken was a bit dry (baked too long) and I forgot to cube the mashed potato before boiling :P

You guys rock for downing them all without visiting to the toilet too often....nyiak nyiak.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful gift as well! Special thanks to:

Corra for organizing the present!
Special thanks to Princess D for the personal shipping service!
Joey for staying up all night to clean up!
Iz for being playful and lovely throughout!

Oh Yeah, It's tomorrow!

2008-11-23T13:55:00.001+08:00

It's at Jln Ipoh facility liao.

Come to Daddy!

2008-11-17T22:59:00.001+08:00

Abandoned

2008-11-11T12:25:00.001+08:00

For some reason, I am frequently ditched for lunch.

I wonder whether is because:

I talk too much during lunch, therefore annoys the hell out of people,
I am a manager, and I sit alone in my room, therefore I should eat lunch alone? (wtf kind of excuse is that),
I am generally not liked.

It's pretty sad. They don't even bother to pop by and ask. Or IM. Or holler.

And yet when they need my help (work wise) I am always there for them.

Hmm.

Ladder Theory

2008-11-05T01:50:00.001+08:00

Some people thought that I made it up when I told them about the "theory", but it really exists and I can't really take credit for it...

Check it out at The Ladder Theory

Tomorrow, I plan to ...

2008-10-26T18:48:00.001+08:00

... bake me some crispy bacon.

Will let you guys know whether I am successful in attempting to recreate Aussie style bacon.

I don't get why people...

2008-10-26T16:27:00.001+08:00

... buy thousand Ringgit iPods and use the bundled earbuds.

It's audiophile sin. At least get a Crossroads Mylarone Bijou la.

Will post a review after my unit arrives.

I really hate my D630

2008-10-25T23:17:00.001+08:00

Where got laptop computer have wireless working battery life of 1 hour?! Might as well just call it a luggable computer.

Even kinda make me miss my old D630 - at least that had a 9 cell with about 2.5 hrs of work time.

Dream wireless lappies:

MacBook/Pro with FastMac
X200 with 9 cell
Wind with 9 cell (as second lappie)

4 cell sucks. Someone give me fuel cell fast!

I needed to say this. These.

2008-10-24T23:51:00.001+08:00

I needed to get this off my chest for a while already. But before you even bother to continue reading, let me forewarn you that this is going to be a very long winded piece. If you have better things to do, CTRL+F4 please.

One more warning, I will strongly offend a lot of people in this post. For those who have strong connection with God, I urge you to turn away as well.

Done? OK - let's start.

I hate God. I fucking hate God for all the bad things that have happened to me lately. I hate Him for not standing up for me when times are tough. I hate him for probably MAKING times tough for me. And I hate God for my current financial difficulty.

You all know I drive a really old Proton. It's so old that I have decided not take it for the upcoming trip up North, for the fear of killing my friends. I'm so sure that it's going to kill me one day. And for some crazy reason, I feel that one day is inching to me, day by day.

We really cannot afford even a 2nd hand RM40K car, with the new baby coming and the housing loan refinancing and what not. It's really bloody shameful for someone who carries the title of "Manager" to drive an old car like that. Considering all my peers are driving Mercs, BMWs - and the very least, NEW Japanese cars.

Just to kick it in, I made a quick survey and found out that none of the people around me who is around my age, that I know of, drives a Proton Wira anymore. Everyone have upgraded to non local cars, all new. WHY NOT ME! WHY WHY WHY!!! I am so angry. Worked my ass off everyday and have to suffer with this situation.

Here is the most funniest part about all this. All the best stuff I own are subsidized by the company. My Q9h? Last of my flex dollar. The last Dopod 595? Lucky draw. My Creative Zen? Project bonus. The iffy Macbook (or Pro)? 1/2 to be paid by the company (if that's gonna happen at all).

Such a fucking joke. I am so broke that I can't even own anything by my own. Had to leech off the office. Even had to beg, in some cases (MB). My Crumpler backpack? Gift from my wife. HOW COME I AM SUCH A BIG FUCKING LOSER!

Back to hating God - why do You have to bring so much pain into my life. Why do I constantly feel like I need to scratch my skin off my bone, in by inch, EVERY FUCK DAY. Why do I have to, NEED TO, feel bad when everyone stares at dry, cracked, bleeding skill all day long. It's already bad enough that I grew up with all my friends thinking that I am a wierdo but you have to make the pain and embarrassment come back again and again. I only had less than 10 good itch-less years, OKEY?! AND YOU HAD TO TAKE IT AWAY!!!

Why does my son have to fall and have a scar on his skull. WHY PUNISH HIM! Why do You have to make my son lie in a hospital for 4 days, with no food or drink. And why does it have to be 2 weeks away before the cooling off period of his medical card. WHY WHY!

Is it because I bought a Nintendo Wii just one week before and You have to punish me like that? Is that it? YOU WANT REVENGE IS IT! It is so hard to ask for something that I dream off to own as a kid! I DID NOT OWN A GAME CONSOLE UNTIL I AM ALMOST 30 YEARS OLD, OK!!! You happy or not! Other people's 7 year old children are playing PS3 one OK! OKEYYYYYYYYY! WHY NOT PUNISH THEM!

And that is just one example of why I have to work so much more harder for anything in life. Anything that so simple for anyone else to have, seems to take super extra effort for me to materialize. Things that people buy out of whim always seem to be a GABAZILLION miles away from me.

Matter a fact, I am so angry at HIM, that I have stop observing abstinence on Friday anymore. I have never never ever done this in 30 years of my life. Ever. But for the past few Fridays, it has been McDonalds, KFC and Ramli Burger all the way man. I'll show you! GOD DAMN! I WILL EAT WHATEVER FUCKING MEAT I WANT TO - ANY FUCKING TIME!!! BLOW AR!

Punish me all you want - I'll survive. I've had it worst. Just today, I had a Double Cheese Burger, and WHAM! My car broke down in middle of no where, parking in the middle of a parking lot which is abandoned, and it was raining and I twisted my ankle because I stepped into a big hole coz it was so dark that I could not see it. Whatever. I got out of it. I got back home. Punish me all you like, it's not going to make me like You more right now. BUGGER OFF.

That's it. It's not graceful venting, but I had to do it. It's my FUCKING right to do so. If you think I am ungrateful - fuck it. You are probably better off than I am anyway. Don't believe? Tell me what car you drive, what iPod you listen to, what phone you use and how much debt you owe the bank. So sod off.

You want to tell God off about me? Sure, I don't give a god damn rat's ass anymore. Will I still go to church? Lucky You, coz I'm doing it for my wife and kid. DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T HATE YOU. Doesn't mean that I don't resent you all the time.

You know, maybe devil worshiping is not such a bad thing after all. At least the Satan's bible teaches you to believe in yourself. Maybe I am well off better on my own anyway. Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe.

It's Finally Done

2008-10-20T21:07:00.002+08:00

There has been something that has been on my mind ever since she arrived into my life.

The lure is just too strong. I think about it day and night. Hadn't had a proper night sleep since. That thing that I want to do have totally occupied every tiny little available space of my mind.

I talked to my wife Joey and she strongly suggested against it. Matter a fact, she was quite stern and gave me a borderline threat.

I consulted a few close friends, and all of them think that it's a very very bad idea. When I told them how I felt about doing it, they just shook their head in despair.

But I know deep down they wanted to do the same thing as well.

I even took a health exam to make sure I was up to it. I spend sometime with my doctor to discuss the pros and cons, and even he has strong reservation about it. He said that the detrimental health impact might take a while to recover.

I told him that I didn't care. The urge was way too strong to resist. I would most certainly lose my mind if I don't take action soon.

That's when it started to hit me, maybe it's not worth it. At this age, it's probably best not to risk it, said to myself. Self doubt kicked in. Hard.

But's it's too hard to resist. So painful, am so weak. Life isn't fair. I even started to question God why I had to make such choices at this age.

So I decided to succumb into it. Give up. Give in.

All hail... the.... Wendy's 3/4 Pound Burger with Cheese!!!!!

Look at that baby! Look at the soft bun! Look at all 3 pieces of patty! Look at the CHEESE(es)!!!

Come to dada!

Didn't have space for any sides. Just the burger and mineral water to wash it down. Took me a full 15 mins of intense, non-stop chewing! Even the cashier was a bit wide eyed when I put down my order. Even asked me twice to confirm. The kitchen had to build my order from scratch. That's why the patty was very juicy and the cheese was very very moist.

Next to Out of Africa's Blue Cheese burger, this Wendy's is proven to be one of my most favorite in town.

Now, for my next challenge....

NSFW: Nipples

2008-10-19T02:23:00.002+08:00

Warning! Nudity ahead!

Click away if you are at work!

Scroll down if you are ready.

I grew some extra nips on me.

Side view:

Actually these are ECG hickeys. Took my full medical check up this morning. Those damn suction cups always get me bad.

To make it worst, one of the suction cups keep falling off, and the ECG reading had to be reset over and over again.

Then the nurse got her colleague to help, and what she did was put MORE KY on me, and then shift the suction cups up and down, while the sucker (sic) still sucking full force!

Damn shiong man.

I Can't Help Myself!

2008-10-19T02:14:00.001+08:00

It has got to be caused by the trauma of being in science stream in secondary school.

When I saw this toilet cubical "wallpaper", I just want to write some formulas on it.

Saw this on my way back from home.

2008-10-19T02:11:00.001+08:00

Reminder: You can always click on the picture to see the larger version.

Tesco Selayang

2008-10-19T02:10:00.001+08:00

The other day, we went grocery shopping at Tesco Selayang. First time going there, it's very big and very quiet. It's one of those formal Makro hypermarts.

I have to say it's one of those days when you have multiple "Ahhh harr?" and "What the..." moments.

Don't understand why? Check these products out:

No wonder Malaysian police can never hit any gangsters with these.

Er.... really not safe for work ar. I guess it's for some child labor use niah.

Now this is really NSFW.

Sigh - Engrish, Manglish, Chinglish at it's best.

Caught Crab Handed...

2008-10-19T02:00:00.001+08:00

The other day during a farewell party, the office decided to have some Chinese...er... cuisine.

Guess what happened.

LH: No picture please!
LC: Eh... that's not crab meat you see...

Yeah right.... see the spoils just between both of them.

I wonder did they dream of crab that night.

Iz和我

2008-10-19T01:54:00.001+08:00

有天应酬旧同事们晚餐时，我带了Iz一起逛街。Iz很乖得跟我一起逛。我们手拉手跑去Mutiara酒店里的lobby坐坐。

原来我的儿子也和我一样无聊 - 喜欢坐下来细看看走来走去的人。

Malaysian Knight Rider?

2008-10-19T01:47:00.001+08:00

Just some car I noticed next to me waiting for the light.

Maybe it also can transform into a warrior car and have some pew pew action too.

Steve Jobs Made My Wet Dream Come True

2008-10-15T02:11:00.001+08:00

Finally, a respectful MacBook. No more cutting corners. No more compromises. No more 2nd fiddle to the bigger brother MacBook Pro.

http://www.apple.com/macbook/

"The nerve!"

2008-10-13T13:45:00.001+08:00

Someone had the nerve to finish up the water in the cooler, and instead of changing with a new bottle, he/she (more likely she) just dragged a new bottle and left it at the feet of the cooler.

(Meaning to expect the next person who needs a drink to change the bottle.)

TMD.

And don't give me the crap that girls cannot change a bottle - then what for spend so much money to go Yoga or Gym!

Potential

2008-10-07T23:36:00.001+08:00

"He is who he is, mom. You knew that when you jumped into the car with him. If you worried that you made a mistake, then it's not his fault."

"You have to love him for who he is. Not his potential."

--Californication S02E02 15:30

Izilla

2008-09-30T15:28:00.001+08:00

Vid explains all.

Grado Kaki

2008-09-30T15:10:00.001+08:00

Add one more to the list:

Kuching Food

2008-09-30T15:09:00.001+08:00

I might have missed this post during my last trip back to Kuching at May. Had limited chance to go out to eat, but one evening we slipped out and ta pao-ed the following!

First up, satey babi!!!

and accompanying peanut sauce!

Next, tao geh mee! (Bean Sprout Noodles)

Lastly, tomato mee!

And here are the stalls I got them from at Hui Sing Hawker Food Center, Kuching:

Mobile Film Crew

2008-09-30T14:48:00.001+08:00

If you have wondered how the driving scenes are shot in TV, here is the Malaysian way to do it.

I shot this while coming down from Securities Commission. They could have just mounted the camera on the car though.

Disappointing Copy Cat

2008-09-20T23:08:00.001+08:00

So the other day I dropped by to pick up a quick lunch from the Big D. "Hmm! What is that new item I see!" I said.

So I ordered an "Big N' Tasty" combo.

After chowing it down, I have concluded:

"HOW CAN SHE SLAP! HOW CAN SHE SLAP!"

2008-09-10T15:20:00.001+08:00

I can't stop watching the video over and over again.......MUAHAHHAHHAHHHAHH!

KennySia: Indian Game Shows Are Awesome

The part I enjoy most is the smirk on the guys face when he told her to fuck herself off the set. The grin, the confidence, even the arrogance.

And the fact that the bitch got so stunned when she got slapped back. Wa lao - she should have seen it coming lo.

Too bad the guy got his ass whooped big time - and was crying like baby afterwards.

Somewhere I will not go to service my car

2008-09-10T14:54:00.001+08:00

I wonder why this car owner is so proud of his service center:

p/s Kanasai in Hokkien = like shit.

360

2008-09-07T22:14:00.001+08:00

You have heard of webcams that follows the swaying of your face (Logitech Sphere).

You have even heard of webcams that will track you when you walk around the room (Polycom Video Conferencing).

But have you heard of 360 panoramic view webcam? Eat this.

Enter the Microsoft Roundtable!

It has 6 CMOS sensors which shoots up to a prism like mirror to form the panoramic view. It will show EVERYONE in the room ALL THE TIME.

Now how cool is that. Drop by my office or join drop me a line and we can do Live Meeting over the Internet.... ala Roundtable style!

Not to forget, this is the ONLY unit in Malaysia. Even Microsoft Malaysia have to beg us to lend it from us.

Office Mayhem

2008-09-07T21:36:00.001+08:00

The girls at the office decided to give their group manager something..... enticing.

To her husband anyway.

Road Side Toilet

2008-09-05T18:08:00.001+08:00

When you hear Road Side Toilet, the words "wooden hut, hole in ground, toilet seat with stains" is what comes to you mind.

Surprisingly, I have the opportunity to pang jior (pee) in one of the few "automated" toilet in KL city center.

Check it out, got door control ala lift - even comes equipment with alarm button in case you caught your jiao jiao in zipper?

Nice mirror - what is that warning sign ar?

Automated sink, minus the nose/pubic hair.

Even got a nice tray to change the baby's diapers. Erm - some horny couples can probably use it for something else...

So go try it out, best 20 cents I have spent for public amenity. Got air cond some more. But 1 caveat.

The door opens automatically within 15 mins. Don't say I didn't warn you. Can be found at junction across Wisma Sime Darby, KL.

Stain

2008-09-05T17:54:00.001+08:00

Some people leaves lip stick stain.

Monica left some of Bill's stain on her.

LCie left this for me this morning:

Hypocrisy to the max...

2008-08-13T17:35:00.001+08:00

OMFG...

Little Girl Substituted By Cuter Little Girl In Olympic Opening Ceremony

How can this happen :(

Fans vs Mass Market

2008-08-04T15:35:00.001+08:00

Manage to get myself a night off to catch 2 movies - that as fans shall not miss. Back to back some more.

Anyway not going to write movie review, just want to say how I observed the fans and non-fans reacted to both movies.

X-Files

I believe (insert puns here) that this 2nd movie would make the perfect closure for the cult following TV series. As fans, we all know that the sexual tension between Mulder and Scully has always been something present, yet almost taboo like that it was never discussed about. Matter a fact, for hardcore fans, the most memorable moment is when they *almost* kissed at Mulder's apartment hallway, when the kiss was interrupted by a bee sting that almost killed Scully.

Another thing that was never really talked about, but insinuated throughout the series, is that Mulder was William's father.

That's why fans can relate when I said that I had goose bumps when Mulder and Scully's sexuality was so publicly displayed, so casually shown off in the 2nd movie. It was a moment that completed us all X-Files fan. They even openly talked about William.

Which leads me to the point, why I am so not surprised when hearing how the non-fan reacted in the cinema. The girl sitting next to me commented:"Har? Like that finish liao ar." Sounded almost like she was cheated or something. Come on la, the mystery was solved (no spoilers here), the bandits were caught - what else you want la?

Dark Knight

When I was queuing for my movie tix, I overheard "Why I cannot see Batman on the list one? Which one is Batman ar? Still on ar?" which someone was nice enough to tell the girl that Dark Knight is the Batman movie then she said "OOOOoooohh... haiyah, why not just call Batman la."

Beh tar han.

Very obviously she has not read the Dark Knight series.

The other comment that I heard inside the cinema was the confused sound of "Huh?" made at the ending of the movie when Jim Gordon said that he would have to pursue Batman, even after he just saved Gotham from destruction.

Fans would understand this because Batman was never a publicly welcomed figure - not openly anyway. Unlike Superman, who appears in fund raisers, talk to kids, shows up during the day time - generally a public figure. Batman works on the opposite, his most powerful is not the Bat Mobile or the Bat-pod (which was super cool. BTW), but fear. He uses fear to achieve his objectives, hides in shadow, wears dark color.

And he is labeled vigilante at best, not ever a "superhero".

And that is why the authorities will always disapprove of his methods, or his existence for that matter.

Whirlwind Week

2008-07-28T13:07:00.002+08:00

Last week was a mad week for me, with Iz getting hospitalized and the big tender closing (in that particular importance order).

Apparently Iz had a stomach virus infection. Which means,

He has to be put on IV - OUCH!
...for 2 days - OUCH!
And Jo's pregnancy is making her very tired nowadays - DOUBLE OUCH!
And the cooling off period for Iz's new medical card policy has not pass yet - (small) ouch.

I do thank God for looking after my family in times of crisis, and at the same time teaches me some humility and realignment of priorities.

Price Point

2008-07-28T13:03:00.000+08:00

It's interesting to see how the patrol price hike have changed the dynamics quite a bit.

Firstly, eating fast food is not a big deal anymore, because Chap Fan (self service mixed rice) typically cost around RM6 now.

Secondly, taking taxi is cheaper now, (whether you can get one in your area, is another story all together), especially if you cost in the parking fees. This is because their prices are regulated, and they use NGV, which the price was not affected.

So, who's joining me for burgers at lunch, and going there by cab? :)

Announcement!

2008-07-28T13:02:00.000+08:00

If you hadn't known already, Joey is expecting again :) Wishes and prayers are welcomed....

myCar

2008-06-30T01:06:00.001+08:00

A lot of people have asked me why I have not "upgraded" from my 10 year old Proton Wira. Guess that I have to clarify it once and for all:

I owned the car from day 1, and I know all the knicks and knacks of it. Plus I always replace with good parts, so the engine is tip top condition. Matter a fact, it's so well maintained, it's still running the same mileage since day 1, i.e. RM450/tank.
I missed my chance when I could. Many times.

Heh - you all probably dying to know what I meant. I'll talk you though it by chronological order, from when I got my Wira.

Year 1 - already thought of it. Talked to a few friends, and told me it's bad value to sell Proton until at least Year 3, coz it's gonna be the same price. So I waited.
Year 5 - got into this cybercafe business, had too much partying and got into another stupid business. So I waited.
Year 7 - getting to get married. So I waited.
Year 8 - wife pregnant, angel of joy coming. So I waited.
Year 9 - sole bread wiener. So I waited.
Year 10 - economy downturning. So am waiting.

And that's why they all say, "it's the timing, man". So true, so true.

"So when will you change?", you said?

My car seizes to work,
Migrate and buy a kick ass car overseas! (screw Malaysia import duties)

Of coz I hope that it'll be case 2.

BSG S4E10

2008-06-15T02:28:00.001+08:00

I don't like the ending at all. Period. They better have a super duper fantastic come back from the mid-season hiatus.

And soon.

Ubah Gaya Hidup

2008-06-11T00:33:00.001+08:00

In case you haven't already seen this from Patrick Teoh's site @ http://niamah.blogspot.com.

Fate and Luck

2008-06-10T23:57:00.001+08:00

Was talking to a friend the other day who told me that her husband, who once broke up with her, but finally went back to her and got married.

And she told me that the reason why he came crawling back is all because he was going out with this bitch during the "break" (in reference to HIMYM), which got him to realize that my friend was in angel in comparison.

Well, I think I will have a different take on this. I believe that a person will always be together with this other person, no matter what, is because they are soul mates to start with.

And yes, soul mates are like best friends, sometimes you argue with each other and have different opinion on something, but sooner or later you would kiss and make up.

Don't ask me what soul mates are or their characteristics or symptoms, because I just believe that you will instinctively know who he/she is, once you have met them. It's just like that, no explanation required.

I am so lucky to have married my soul mate.

iPhone 3G

2008-06-10T02:42:00.001+08:00

What a yucky name.

There you have it folks - same old factor.

And [C] your wish come true:

Women want Men 2

2008-06-08T03:06:00.001+08:00

"Love is no value without power and position." - Anne Boleyn

Women want Men

2008-06-08T01:53:00.001+08:00

I have a very in depth conversation with someone the other day.

Basically, it revolves around what does a women look for in a men, for marrying purposes. It boils down to either:

Already have money, or
Have the prospect to earn a lot of money.

In this regard, women is divided into two categories:

Those who acknowledge the above fact, or
Those who does not.

And those who does not usually hide behind fantasy ideology called, "LOVE". I am sure quite a bunch of you are going into disgust now, but let me assure you that the above facts came from the horses' mouth. And I have a simple explanation for those who feel how they feel - wait for it.... wait for it.... naive-ness.

It's because you are not old enough to know it. Either you are still in your first relationship, or had the luck (or bad luck) to be in one yet, or because the idea of living with someone for the rest of your life has not crossed your mind yet. Really.

Trust me, it's a yardstick that you had been using to size your man up, from the day one you laid your eyes on him. It's nothing to do with his charmingness, his sincerity, his nicely shaped abs or the size of his junk. It's the money making the potential that you are sizing up first. Let me translate that to you in plain English:

"He is a poor artist but he has passion in his art" <= "He will make lots of money when he can finally sell his paintings"
"He is a honest guy making a honest living as a clerk" <= "Hopefully his boss will think honesty is a great attribute and make him a manager soon - and make lots of money"
"He is struggling with his small business, but he is very working hard" <= "His business will turn around if he works hard enough for now, and eventually will make lots of money"

Need I say more? Don't agree? Let me know why are you attracted to your man. I will in turn tell you the truth. Don't believe? Try me.

Of Gas Price Hike and Bitching

2008-06-06T00:31:00.001+08:00

Early this morning I got into this very interesting conversation with my friend who is currently working and staying in Singapore. I got a bit ticked and the conversation went like this. My fren's name is changed to Dude :)

Dude
Johnathen
yo.. got story to share?

Johnathen
Dude
?

Dude
Johnathen
petrol price lar

Johnathen
Dude
other than the traffic jam at the petrol station?

Johnathen
Dude
nothing la - still cheapest in the region..

Dude
Johnathen
you sure this is wat you think?

Johnathen
Dude
converted to USD - yes.

Dude
Johnathen
you mean your pay?

Dude
Johnathen
or the petrol price?

Johnathen
Dude
petrol la

Dude
Johnathen
i really feel sorry for those in malaysia..

Dude
Johnathen
worry for my family business also

Johnathen
Dude
nothing to feel sorry about la - it's sooner or later. i am surprised that ppl are taken back by "sudden" price increase

Johnathen
Dude
either thosse ppl never read newspaper or dun care

Johnathen
Dude
because crude oil price already doubled over 5 years

Johnathen
Dude
so of coz u have to be prepared for the same thing for gasoline price

Johnathen
Dude
plus government still subsidy what - in a differnt way la

Johnathen
Dude
i am happy because i am driving my old 1.3 wira

Johnathen
Dude
save petrol and get extra rebate :)

Dude
Johnathen
how many tanks of petrol pump a month?

Johnathen
Dude
the most 4

Dude
Johnathen
the rebate only give you free 2 tanks a month

Dude
Johnathen
assuming 40 liter once

Dude
Johnathen
free as in the extra money you need to pay

Johnathen
Dude
wah...very good liao lo

Johnathen
Dude
safe 50% petrol - and petrol price barely went up 30%

Johnathen
Dude
good wat

Dude
Johnathen
free as in that extra rm0.78 you are paying per liter

Dude
Johnathen
not the total price

Johnathen
Dude
ok la - no need to kiam siap. like i said, still cheapest in region

Johnathen
Dude
i am sure singaporean will still drive to JB to pump - if the government still allowed it

Johnathen
Dude
haahahahaha

Dude
Johnathen
you kenot compare..

Dude
Johnathen
singaporean earn SGD

Dude
Johnathen
1SGD = RM 2.35 now

Dude
Johnathen
singapore got fantastic public transport to fall back

Johnathen
Dude
i tell u - i was in Indonesia - and that is worst

Johnathen
Dude
their fuel price is even higher and their pay is a lot lower

Johnathen
Dude
even in china is bad

Johnathen
Dude
the petrol price vs. earning ratio

Dude
Johnathen
like i say, its different..

Dude
Johnathen
malaysia net export all the crude oil

Dude
Johnathen
and those money are malaysian's money

Dude
Johnathen
it should be used to pay back

Johnathen
Dude
those are politics who i dun give a rat's ass la - coz it does not affect me

Johnathen
Dude
what affects me is the ground items

Johnathen
Dude
if the government is so corrupted, there is notihnng i can do

Johnathen
Dude
so i no need to worry about something that i cannot change

Johnathen
Dude
there is already enough worry in real life :

Johnathen
Dude
:)

Dude
Johnathen
we can change things around.. like wat happend in mar

Dude
Johnathen
higher diesel price will mean higher consumer item

Dude
Johnathen
unless you are earning too much now that you dun bother lar...

Dude
Johnathen
hehe

Dude
Johnathen
more things will hit, if this imcompetent government keep going on

Johnathen
Dude
so - u propose i go to the street to protect ar?

Dude
Johnathen
nope

Johnathen
Dude
then?

Dude
Johnathen
since BN is rotten to the root

Dude
Johnathen
why not PKR take over

Dude
Johnathen
since it can't be worse

Dude
Johnathen
there must a someone to start with this, and ppl must aware and follow

Dude
Johnathen
so our part, is to aware and kenot ignore lar

Johnathen
Dude
hahahaha

Johnathen
Dude
u come back be politician la

Johnathen
Dude
i dun fuck care about politics one

Johnathen
Dude
it change- then lucky me. if not - dun bother

Johnathen
Dude
dun like then fuck off

Johnathen
Dude
i mean fuck off from the country

Johnathen
Dude
hahahaa

Johnathen
Dude
it's not really my country anyway

Dude
Johnathen
u must be leading a good life down there

Johnathen
Dude
it's ok la - because i have seen worst from my recent travels..

汽油

2008-05-21T11:44:00.001+08:00

昨天刚从布吉岛度假回来上班，本来兴致仆仆的，哪里知道去油站打油的时候，我用的那个泵他妈的竟然在油缸满了时不会自动跳掉，搞到整个地上都是汽油。Ni nah beh - 好彩老的闪得快，不然一定会被喷到全身都是。搞不好还会变成自焚。

我很毒兰的跑到柜台去找人吊，然后那个死肥佬猪supervisor竟然还敢讲我是不是用手按着那个泵所以才会搞到酱。Nia mah cao ci bai - 老的驾车多过十年都没有发生过酱，竟然那条他妈的死猪想赖我!! 我火上脑就开始很毒兰很毒兰一直在吊他，要他赔钱。吊吊吊吊吊吊吊到他没办法他就讲要POC到底是不是那泵的问题。

长话短说 - 那条鸡白肥猪siaosiaolan给会我十块钱。

看图吧。还有录影tim.

Me and Iz Day

2008-04-23T16:09:00.001+08:00

So 2 Saturdays ago, Jo decided that she needed a proper haircut, so we stopped by Snips at The Curve. So I was left with Iz for around an hour.

So we went carting around for a while, and ended up in Borders - which has an excellent children's book corner.

"Ma, look - one hand niah."

Ice Cream

2008-04-23T16:02:00.001+08:00

Babies are not suppose to have ice cream. I think.

So the other day during Cheng Beng, there was this old dude who was selling ice cream on bicycle. Iz was intrigued by the ring ring sound that the ice cream man was making and motioned Jo to bring him closer to see.

The nice old man gave Iz a free cone. He loves it! See how much he as already chewed through.

(Sorry for the small pic size, accidentally set the wrong resolution)

Safety

2008-04-23T15:38:00.001+08:00

I always insist that Iz is properly strapped down during road trips, regardless of distance.

Yet, this is what I saw yesterday.

Don't see what I mean? Look closer. A mother sits in front, together with 2 children crawling all over her.

Really beh doh.

Ultramouse

2008-04-23T15:31:00.001+08:00

Do you guys remember that when Ultraman is low on power and in distress, the beacon on his chest would blink in red?

Well, so does my mouse =>

"Low batt liao la!"

Class A Idiot

2008-04-14T11:38:00.001+08:00

I feel like an class A idiot (quoting Liz Lemon).

I would never thought that I fall within the category, especially when dealing with computer hardware. This is because:

I have single handedly built many machines from the past, and
I have worked part time as a technician to repair boxes in cybercafe.

I thought I have seen my fair share of weirdness (esp. when dealing with dirt and smog choked equipment) but this case caught me with my pants down.

I have sent in the media PC for a motherboard replacement (another story) and the techie booted it up before passing it back to me. When I reached home, I happily plugged it in, and punched the power switch.

Nothing.

No lights, no sound. I opened up the case, and the LED on the board was lit. I said to myself... wtf.

Tried by passing the power switch by jumping the power jumpers using screwdriver, no love there.

Pissed, I brought the box back to the service center, and told them that it would not boot up at all. The guy who serviced me the day before looked at me with wild, open eyes, and said nothing. He took over the box, plugged in, and while staring at me with that matter-a-fact look, punched the power button.

It came alive. IT'S ALIVE!!! (so much for Frankenstein.)

...

WTF.

...

To cut the story short, I brought it back, plugged into 3 different power outlet - 2 from different rooms and another one via my study's UPS.

It refuses to turn on..... This is probably a good time to freak out.

Either karma is telling me to frak myself, or there is a variable that I have missed.

Hmm.... what that be? What's that missing element? Compassion? Love? Faith? Wait a minute.... it's.... "heat"!

Went to get my Jo's hair dryer... While blow drying the power supply, I kept repeatedly pressing the power button... and out of the blue, the power supply started to turn on! OMG. I am a fraking genius. But wait! Still no display!

More blow drying of the rest of the components. Then it really came alive.

The box is now sitting on top of the cabinet now and chugging along happily. I wonder what's wrong at the first place.

What-if series (Intro)

2008-04-09T16:30:00.001+08:00

Just want to run my imagination wild once a while. So I'll start a What-if series, where a small tiny what-if could have impact in the world.

I missed writing fiction, which I used to do a lot during my schooling days... Hopefully I will be able to drum up something good soon.

Tethered HSDPA

2008-04-09T16:27:00.001+08:00

Test done at Plaza Sentral using tethered Q9h.

First Train Experience

2008-03-24T17:22:00.001+08:00

I would never thought that my first train experience would be at Shanghai. I was required to travel to Nanjing, which is about 300km away, and the customer insisted that train travel was far more convenient than by flight.

"Yeah, right.", I thought.

Before I got more into that, let me explain why I never been on a train before. Simply because, KTM is the worst mode of transport in Malaysia. It is consistently, but randomly late. The Senandung line to Singapore could be as late as 4 hours! I just don't get it, how can the train system be late, as there are no jams... As everyone knows, the journey to Singapore takes an excruciating 12 hours, excluding customs. A premier bus takes about 5 hours tops.

Back to Shanghai, me and my buddy decided to take the cab (instead of the MetroLine) because it was suppose to be a low traffic hour (3pm), and we didn't want to drag our luggage for 15 mins to the nearest MetroLine station. Boy, the cabbie that we hired was on fire, man. We got caught in some crazy bad traffic, and he was fuming. While cursing and swearing, he took some really funky shortcuts, and was weaving in and out of traffic without any regards to other vehicles, even busses!

I was quite terrified, so to speak.

Reached the Shanghai Train Station, got down, and immediately there was a porter offering to handle our luggage for like 10 Kuai. The funky part is that he has this piece of rotten wood on wheels, and tied to a rope. No way I am going to let him handle my luggage. OK, walked up the stairs (yes, the taxi stop is underground) and was greeted by this humongous building.

So, to make a very long story short, in point form (again):

Had to queue to go into the station. A mean looking guy in Gong An uniform will check your ticket. If your train ride is not due within 2 hours, he will chase you away rudely,
Had my luggage X-rayed! For god sake, I didn't know that someone wants to blow up the train!
The hall looks like an airport. Big, tall with a huge signboard to announce the arrival and departure. All in Mandarin. Good luck guai-lohs.
Navigated to one of the 12 waiting halls. It's huge but it's packed to the brim! I estimated the capacity to be around 500 seats. Uh oh. This is going to be rough. Think overloaded India trains with people sleeping on top?
5 mins before departure time, boarding announcement in Mandarin.

Wow! Was I in a shock or what. A nice shock! Our train was a very very long one, and looks very futuristic! Better looking than TGV!

Boarded, put my luggage on top of my seat. I tell you, I was dumb founded. Make me feel like a hillbilly. The difference compared to our KTM is like being on a Fokker Friendship that is being slapped around by turbulence as I am trying to hold my lunch in (KTM) versus a 737 on super cruise mode where I can still can slowly sip my drink in peace (China Railways)!

At one point of time, it was cruising at 240km/h and it felt like Disney on Ice. Sitting arrangement was 3-3 (versus KTM 2-2), and there was ample of space. Heating was available, so were coat hangers, tray and "in-flight" magazine. It was totally like an airplane experience, man.

I am truly sold. It was a really quality ride, on par with Japanese or European bullet trains.

I have to eat my own words, again.