My So Called Life

I am now blogging at Wekgna.com

2006-11-21T22:17:00.000+08:00

I no longer update this blog, for my latest blog postings, they can be found at

http://www.wekgna.com/blog

at the same time, do check out my photo blog at

http://www.wekgna.com/pblog

and my Honda City blog at

http://www.wekgna.com/mycity

Back to wekgna.com

2006-11-13T12:19:00.000+08:00

My host is up and I am back blogging over at wekgna.com/blog

http://www.wekgna.com/blog

Back to Blogger

2006-05-10T10:58:00.000+08:00

I am back to blogger, atleast for a short while, till I get my site setup. What happen was that my Host, hivehoasting.net had a HDD failure, and as a result, a year of blog post were lost. Luckily, the adminstrators was able to recover the files back to End of last year (so my photoblog with Movable Type were save), but unfortunately, the entire MySQL DB were wipe out, and I was using Wordpress for my blog, and as a result, entire year of posting gone. And I was stupid of not doing backup. I've wanted to move out of wordpress sometime back, I guess this is no better time...

Bored with Blogger

2005-03-03T15:14:00.000+08:00

I have grown bored of Blogger and have created a new blog under my photoblog domain. My latest postings can be found at http://sweetsour.uni.cc/blog/

Updated:

http://www.wekgna.com/blog/

Tak Lingkup

2005-02-04T13:30:00.000+08:00

The www.uni.cc domain is up and running. Ironically after I setup a new domain for penangblogger.tk this morning, the www.uni.cc service is back up. If only I have waited more, anyway, atleast the viewers have an option to access when one of the domain forward is down.

[Listening to: Just Friends - Gavin DeGraw - Chariot [Bonus CD] Disc 1 (03:25)]

Down or Lingkup

2005-02-04T07:57:00.000+08:00

The penangbloggers.uni.cc site has been down for a week now. This is mainly because of the www.uni.cc free domain service. Somehow, my sweetsour.uni.cc is still functioning however, the penangbloggers.uni.cc is not operational on the other hand. I suspect that the www.uni.cc is down and thus all domain hosted there are not operational. My sweetsour.uni.cc on the other hand is hosted at my web host and thus it was not affected.

Anyway, since penangbloggers.uni.cc are down, and there is no indication if they were down for a brief period of time or they are lingkup totally? I have setup another domain from the dot tk free service. The downside of this host is that they force a pop-up banner everytime anyone access the site. I will check the www.uni.cc service periodically and will update once it is up. In the mean time, penanbloggers can be access through

www.penangbloggers.tk

I have just set it up and thus, it would not be activated for another few more hours.

To Accomplish

2005-01-01T21:57:00.000+08:00

A new year, certainly a whole new set of feat to accomplish. In the past, I have never believed in any New Year Resolution. This year, though I still dont believe in one, I do have a few things that I would like to accomplish. Though some of them may be far fetch, it is still a nice thing to do or have... Here goes...

Walk from Penang - Taiping (and maybe down to KL or M'cca if time permits)
Make RM50K from investment
Revamp my photoblog template
Take a Train from Penang - London
Setup Wireless Digital Media for my home enabling the TV & Sound System to be able to stream Music & Movies from my PC wirelessly.

Everyone Chip In

2004-12-29T08:35:00.001+08:00

This morning, the Radio 4 guys were driving for some money for the Malaysian Tsunami Victims to help them to get back to their daily lives. One of the caller that pledge RM200 made a good point when he talk about the upcoming new year celebration. Every year there are fireworks and huge events to welcome the new year. He was suggesting that the nation grief for our lost and the money to the fireworks are channeled to the victims. I thought that was a wonderful idea, then again, up to this stage, the fireworks would have already been purchased, and I am not sure if the local government who would have paid for the fireworks could do anything about it.

In Penang, the new year is celebrated mainly in the esplanade and Gurney Drive. Since tsunami alert are given till end of the week, will the celebration this year still go on? By the way Siti Nurhaliza is to sing at Gurney Drive on new year eve... I wonder who could make the decision about the celebration?

Prison in our own home

2004-12-28T21:47:00.000+08:00

Grill, the one word that cross every house owner's mind, a deterrent, a fashion and a device that makes our home, a prison. All the houses in my Taman already have Grills installed in them. Every window opportunity that a thief could squeeze thorough are implanted by steel bars. Personally, I despise steel bars, they make the home to look more like a prison. But it is something that everyone can go without. The bars are meant to be a deterrent, and could never stop a persistent robber. However, when a home does not have any bars, it automatically becomes an easy target compared to the neighbors. I was recommended a new window that has steel bars built into the frame and they look pretty stylish, however, these windows cost a bomb to install. I am still at a delima on weather to install or not... I guess it is better to be safe and be sorry.. or in this case.. be broken into...

w.bloggar

2004-12-24T10:23:00.001+08:00

Testing out a tool that I stumple upon, it is called w.bloggar and it is able to connect to multiple blogs with on just one interface. It has a bunch of text formating feature which is great. I am still playing with some of the features... pretty cool... oh, the current version v3.03 does not support MSN Spaces...

[Listening to: Look What You've Done - Jet - Family Style (12/24/2004 10:20:54 AM) (05:29)]

Video for PPS

2004-12-24T08:18:00.000+08:00

Recently, there were a few bloggers who threw some ideas around on making video for PPS, and I was rather intrigue by the idea. I took a few snapshots of the resident Bloggers site and compile them with Photo Story 3. I could not decide on the music to include, so I just put in what I have been listening to for the past month. Anyway, it is a lame attempt, I would like to see what kind of response does this generate.

PPS Promo Video
3Meg .wmv file

Survivor Vanuatu Finale (No Spoiler)

2004-12-13T14:01:00.000+08:00

I remember once Jeff Probst, the host of survivor took the vote from the camp and then take a jet ski across the ocean to the Studio to announce the vote.... This time, the stunt 'tidak kurang dramaticnya'... He took a 'parang' and chop his way through a jungle from night till day to a plane, and then parashute down to a bike and ride to the studio and announce the winner. Everyone were already at the studio and the last two contestant were already waiting. The last two were all clean and neat and surprisingly, gain some weight, much weight actually...

Xinhua - English

2004-12-11T08:01:00.000+08:00

Xinhua - English

I am holding out for this...

My Space, My Words, My Domain ? New Guidelines For Banks

2004-12-10T13:13:00.000+08:00

My Space, My Words, My Domain ? New Guidelines For Banks

I just install the "Blog This" plug in on FireFox and tried it out on this posting. Regarding the new Bank Negara ruling, I believe it may not be a good thing after all. On the surface, it is good cause the banks no longer have the freedom to charge what they want, and so the price of service are regulated. The bad thing is now, other banks who do not charge, may start to consider charging. Why not? The price is regulated and no one can charge more, most likely, everyone will have the same charges. So, in all, the consumer may be in for a raw deal. But then again, this may not happen, the other banks may still decide not to charge anything.

MSN Space

2004-12-09T16:14:00.000+08:00

Microsoft started Beta on a new Blogging tool called Spaces. I notice Microsoft likes to put 's' at the end of a word and make it a name for their product. Windows for instance, and now Spaces. Well, this is beside the point. I have tested out the webhost / client and found many interesting features that are rather impressive. In many ways, it is much better than Blogger, and then again, in many ways, it fall far behind. Nevertheless, I did a mini review at Msn Spaces itself which I setup.

Check it out at http://spaces.msn.com/members/shagalot/

Yea.. the blog address is rather sad... I still love Blogger.com blogspot address....

Oh, by the way, read the review from bottom up...

IceCream at Cafeteria

2004-12-02T07:05:00.000+08:00

I found out yesterday evening that our Office Cafeteria sell iceCream from 2-3pm everyday… mmm… what a wonderful finding.. I am going to try some today…

Email Icon Generator

2004-12-01T08:22:00.000+08:00

I came across Earl Ku's site and was intreague by the little mail icon on the top right. I imediately searched in google and found a site that actually generate little mail icon. They not only genegrate for Gmail, but for other mail services as well, such as AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, Rocketmail, etc.. I generated some dummy mail address below to illustrate how the icon looks like. Pretty Cool...

Mail Icon Generator - by nHacks

Digital Camera

2004-12-01T04:14:00.000+08:00

Everybody wants a Digital Camera, it is top of the US Christmas Wishlist this year, overtaking the favorite DVD player last year. Even my 6^th Form sister in-law tried to coax my wife into getting one for her birthday. Digital Camera is the latest device that changed the world. Developing films was once a way of life, going into the shop and some shops boast 30 minutes services. Digital camera have changed or revolutionized in how everybody live their life, especially in documenting them. The price of a digital camera is not that cheap compared to the old Analog Cameras, but, the freedom to just snap away and decide on the good prints basically put the cost to the back of the consumer’s mind. As time goes by, the price of a digital camera will drop, similar to the computer models, however the latest and greatest camera will remain to have a high margin and highly priced.

I do see a short life of digital photography though. How much Megapixel does the consumer need? Similar to the Gigahertz dilemma that computer manufacturers has. Companies like Intel and AMD are moving away from Gigahertz to features, like Wifi, multi-processor, etc. How will the digital camera evolved beyond today? I would think the Megapixel race will reach a certain mark. The next thing the camera manufacturers could do is making faster cameras with more functions. Today many camera comes with internal memory, that enable several features such as taking multiple shots at a time, and this enable the camera to break free from being dependent on the Flash Card Write Speed.

The digital cameras are still at it’s infant stage, and in time, better cameras that take much clearer photos will fill the market. Yet, there is a limit to that. There are many variables within the consumer cameras, such as zoom, special effects, etc that the manufacturer could enhanced and they do not have to do it all at once. By doing little at a time, it ill keep their business going for years to end.

Lord of the Rings Risk

2004-11-30T10:08:00.000+08:00

I had a go at the LOTR Risk last night with two of my colleagues. Many of my colleagues have bought this game and I was curious on why it is so attractive. Hasbro boast that one can play the game like the original Risk or play the LOTR story. We played the LOTR plot, however, we did not play the entire rules. The game setup is exactly the same as Risk, but the game have additional cards, which are the Mission / Adventure cards. These cards add twist into the game, making it more interesting and less predictable. It can enable you to quickly finish and win or prolong the game. There are many ways to win the game, eliminate all your opponents, have the highest score at the end of the game (when the ring is destroyed at Mt. Doom) or the one of Sauron’s Minion finds the Ring. With the plot similar to the epic, it is easy to lost one’s self into the game. The game only supports 4 players at a time, 2 good and 2 evil, this is 2 less than the regular risk game. I wonder why?? Nevertheless, this is one of the LOTR game that has a plot very similar to the LOTR epic and I highly recommend this game for LOTR fans. Me inclusive.. will probably get on if it is on sale…

Nirvana - With the Lights Out (Box Set)

2004-11-30T08:00:00.000+08:00

The new Nirvana box set was released late last week and I was curious to find out what was in the box set. The set comes with 3 CD of 61 Nirvana songs that have not been released before and one DVD. I am not much of a Nirvana fan, but was intrigue by some of their songs. I felt compel to check out the latest installment from them since Kurt eliminated himself. This release is full of live or demo (at least it sounds like it) recordings that are raw and unedited or enhanced. This is how Nirvana is like, loud, crude and at times, senseless. I believe a fan would love all the 61 songs, but for me, I will stick to the selected few. I would not spend my money on this box set. I would rather buy individual tracks from itunes or elsewhere. “You Know you are Right” was one of the last songs that Kurt wrote and sang and was tainted with some legal issues prior. Critics says that this was Kurt’s best. To me, I love the acoustic guitar moves and the way he sings the song which haunts. The recording was not that clear, and was rather soft. If this song were to be dressed up, it would be much easier to digest.

Energizer was my choice

2004-11-30T06:26:00.000+08:00

I finally decided on Energizer and bought the 15minutes charger that comes with 4 2200mAh batteries for $27 at Target. There was this guy at the Canon Talk forum at dpreview.com that advice against Energizer because the charger, according to him charge the batteries in burst mode, and is bad for the batteries and also cannot charge other types of batteries other than Energizer. I decided to get it to test it out, to find out if what he was saying is really true. To me, I don’t really care if the batteries last forever or just last 500 cycles. Nothing is forever anyway, the more we recognize this fact, the more we can deal with changes.

Anyway, I got the batteries and whola, the batteries were ready in 15 minutes. In addition, there was also a cooling fan built into the charger to cool off the batteries. This is the first time I sees any cooling fan in a battery charger. The fan is making a loud noise, like all fans do, and think this is more good than bad. First it cools down the batteries, which is good for them, and secondly, I can now locate where I charge the batteries. In the past, I have to go looking into corners to find where I charge the batteries. The noise was not too loud and it is softer than the computer fan sound.

By the way, Energizer.com boast that they replies all enquiries within 24 hours, and today is almost a week since I send them my question regarding the charger, and I have yet seen any reply.

DVD Burner & Media

2004-11-25T23:52:00.001+08:00

The question I have been asking myself is, do I need to upgrade to the DVD burner? Do I need the extra space that DVD provides? Today I backup all my photos onto the CD media, and we know that CD media have a data life of approx 5 years, which means, to be safe, I will have to transfer my photos to new CD every 3 years (to be safe). CDs are relatively cheap today however limited to 700mb of space. DVD on the other hand, offers triple the amount in space, but still the same of data life 5 years. Apart from the additional space which would translate to less media, there are nothing much to it. I think I will still stick to my CD-R’s for a while, till my next computer upgrade, maybe 8 years from now.. by then we may have better media..

One Touch Food Order

2004-11-25T23:52:00.000+08:00

I notice these buttons on the hotel phone recently. Will have to try them out before I leave….

Amazing Race 6

2004-11-25T23:48:00.000+08:00

Well, the race has begun again and I have not blog of it yet. The new rule in this round of the race is that each member of the participants can only participate in 6 of the road blocks. This will seriously hold some teams back. Also I have notice from the past two episode, the racer gets to overnight at midpoint before elimination the next day, this gives level the playing field and any gain accumulated earlier previous day is gone. Not sure if the entire race this will continue.

More on Rechargeable Batteries

2004-11-25T04:57:00.000+08:00

As I was prowling through the web, I found this site from Matt Blaze who have done some extensive testing and talked about reliability of batteries. The heat produced during charging destroy the batteries in time and if the charging temp is too high, our batteries will have a short life.

I was thinking, in the long run, does it really matter? Does it matter if the battery were suppose to charge 1000 cycle, and we are only able to charge 900 cycle? By the time, the battery reach say 700 cycle, the market would already have new and much higher capacity batteries, and the batteries price would be cheaper. In addition, by 700 cycle, the capacity of the battery would have drop significantly and where previously one could get say 100 shots off, now can only get say 60 shots.. by then we would be looking for a new battery.

Nothing last forever anyway…

Not a Defect

2004-11-25T01:09:00.000+08:00

I was reading through the camera manual, and was amaze by the heap of disclaimer, warnings or clarification built into it. Above is an example.. I bet Jessica Simpson must have used a canon camera before and call in.

Help Desk: Canon Help, How can we help you?
Jessica: I have this camera, it was fine when I was using it indoors, but when I bring it out, on a sunny day, the screen goes dark… its like a vampire camera…
Help Desk: Miss, this is normal, it is today’s technology limitation man, the camera is not a vampire..
Jessica: Oh great.. I was worried for a moment, the camera might just bite my hand when I wasn’t looking or something…

The search for Rechargeable Batteries

2004-11-24T06:50:00.000+08:00

With the new camera, I need to get new rechargeable batteries. I did some digging and found the highest mAh is 2500mAh and the fastest charger is 15 minutes. I have not decided which to buy yet.

Energizer

Energizer have a few kind of chargers, the 15min charger, the 30min charger, the car charger and the regular chargers. The energizer web site is rather rich in information, especially on how rechargeable batteries work. There are also information on other batteries types and also how to care for your batteries and a whole heap of batteries information. Best battery site I have seen, with nice cartoonist illustration and animation. The Technical Information is available, but it was not detailed enough for my liking, and this is the only drawback that the site has.

Charging Time	Cost
15Min	$3x
30Min	$27
Car Charger (2 hrs)	$26
Regular charger (4-8hrs)	$10

The 15min charger spec has the following statement, and I did not know what it really means, and so I sent a mail to Energizer tech support.

“Charges one to four AA or AAA NiMH size batteries This charger must NOT be used for Alkaline

in 15 minutes. (up to 2200/850 mAh)”

The site says I will get a response within 24hours… will see what they say. I am particularly concern if the charger can charge beyond 2200mAh batteries. Today we already have 2500mAh, and I am sure, pretty soon, we will have 2700 and subsequently 3000mAh batteries. If the charger cannot support those future batteries, then I may not want to get this charger. Also though the cover says this charger charge at 15min, but the spec says 0.25hour.. hymmm.. doggie…

Duracell

Duracell web site was rather disappointing. I wanted to find some technical detail on the charger and the site offer little to extremely limited informations. It only have the type of products that they are selling and some nice animation, but that’s it. Duracell also have the 30min charger and they boast this is the best in the industry, maybe the print may be a little outdated, yet again, I see all other companies like Rayovac and also Energizer claiming the same thing with their 15min charger. I guess in our own mind, we are the best, and so it goes the same to companies… anyway, after a disappointing pursuit, I abandon the Duracell brand and move on.

Rayovac

Rayovac was also as disappointing as Duracell. Their site is similar to Duracell, with little information and worst still, poor in design and without animation. I guess they put little effort in selling their products through the web. After a few look at their 15min chargers, and could not find any technical informations, I abandon this product. There were very little informations on their batteries.

GP on the other side has the best technical informations on their products. They post the full product spec / usage guide online. There are a heap of details that comes with it. Their fastest charger is 30 minutes Powerbank U-Smart and boast a heap of features including capable to take 110V & 240V, car charging function and batteries up to 2500mAh(this is something I don’t understand, is 2500mAh a limiter?), making travel easy. However, this product cost a fortune. It was selling at Singaporean Dollar S$89 a unit and 4 batteries. It is the most expensive I have seen. Not sure how much it is in M’sia, this model is not available in where I am in US.

No Decision Yet

I have currently set my hearts on the Energizer 15min charger. I am waiting for the Tech Support to reply my question regarding 2500mAh batteries and will make my way to the shops during or after Thanksgiving. Maybe I can be convinced to get other brands.

In addition, Imaging Resource has done some Battery Test last year and they have a good battery line up. However the information is more than a year old, and I believe the new 2200mAh and 2500mAh batteries in the market now should have a better performance. By the way, I didn’t know Sanyo got make batteries.. hahaha..

Health Through FingerNails

2004-11-24T03:56:00.000+08:00

I have heard that the health of a certain person can be accessed through the finger nails, if the nails are not growing smoothly, having bumps here and there, and the surface is not shinny and looked healthy, the person is sick internally. Well, if it is true, I am really sick now as my finger nails are currently looking horrific.. plenty of bumps and lines and totally dull in color… maybe I should go see a doctor…

Doctor: “Mana sakit?”

Me: Emmmm, Badan Sakit Doctor, you cakap la, you kan doctor

Doctor: {listern to chest and measure pressure and temperature}

Me: Jadi Macam Mana?

Doctor: Oh… jangan risau… sakit sikit saja… nah, ambil ini ubat, ada apa apa balik jumpa saya…

Penang Bloggers

2004-11-23T08:05:00.000+08:00

I have recently changed the look and feel of Penang Bloggers site, to have a grand title and a side column / bar to house all the Penang Blogger Sites. Wonder if we should have a Blogger meet-up in Penang.. Lucia ??? Peter??? Want to do it again?

10mph Across America

2004-11-17T08:30:00.000+08:00

Some of you may have remembered, about 2 years ago, there was a new transport introduced called SegWay, a two wheel transporter that looked like some futuristic transport tool but with wheels. It was highly publicized as the new alternative short distance transport module but, it did not really caught on as the price was humongous, and it is still expensive with one unit going for $4K or more. Well, in about 100 days ago, Josh Caldwell left his city Seattle and embark on a trans-American adventure on his Segway going at 10mph max. Together with his support team, he crossed state by state and finally today arrives at Boston on the east coast. The entire journey are logged on the web and can be found at www.10mph.com/.

Bush Bumpper Sticker

2004-11-17T06:55:00.000+08:00

I was at a trrific light two days ago and suddenly ths bumpper sticker caught my attention. I manage to take a quick photo before the lights turn green...

Penang - KL AirAsia flight time changes

2004-11-16T07:04:00.000+08:00

It started with 2 flights a day, then it has 3 flights a day, then at one time, there were 4 flights a day, and then back to 2 flights a day when AirAsia expended to Johor and other neighbouring region. The worst thing of the 2 flights a day schedule was that the flights are at odd hours, the second flight is at like 11pm, always inconvienent to travel at this time. Well, that is gone again and the KL-Penang route now have 3 services a day. The same compertative prices still avaliable. I will just fly again, since the flight times are now very convinient...

AK 312

KUL

PEN

07 : 05

07 : 55

2004-12-01

2004-12-31

AK 316

KUL

PEN

20 : 30

21 : 20

2004-12-01

2004-12-31

AK 314

KUL

PEN

13 : 50

14 : 40

2004-12-01

2004-12-31

AK 313	PEN	KUL	08 : 20	09 : 10	2004-12-01	2004-12-31
AK 317	PEN	KUL	21 : 45	22 : 35	2004-12-01	2004-12-31
AK 315	PEN	KUL	15 : 05	15 : 55	2004-12-01	2004-12-31

New Moutain Dew

2004-11-16T06:03:00.000+08:00

Mountain Dew – Code Red (Cherry Flavor)

Mountain Dew is my favourite softdrink of them all, and when I was in US a few years ago, the volume that I have drank is only second to water. And so, when I saw this Diet Mountain Dew Code Red in the vending machine, it is just natural I would buy and try it. This drink comes in a 20oz bottle, which is 1.25pt and 591ml. The color of the drink is light red in colors and even the bubbles are red in color. The first taste was awful, I don’t know what to explain of it, as I can’t comprehend it at all.. it taste like medicine, maybe because medicine has been made with cherry taste, it did not taste like cherry to me and it just taste awful. That’s all I can say about the taste, it is not that sweet as this has a Diet tag. The drink has some level of sourness in the aftertaste. I don’t think I would buy this drink again, I can’t even finish this bottle. It does not appeal to me, the only interesting thing of this drink is the color red. And red is not a reason to buy a drink….I give this drink a bad 1 out of 5.

Picture from Misc etc

Mountain Dew – Pitch black(Black Grape)

Sitting next to Code Red was Pitch Black. This version of Mountain Dew is much better than it’s neighbor Code Red. The Black Grape taste was strong, so much like Rebina with Regular Mountain Dew mixed together. The regular Mountain Dew after taste was strong with this. After a few gulp, the aftertaste screams at the drinker for more. Its nice, and I would buy this again. I give this drink a good 4 out of 5.

Mountain Dew – Live Wire (Orange Flovor)

The next Mountain dew with artificially tainted flavor is Live Wire, bright orange in color and looked like a burning liquid metal. Starting with the taste, the artificial orange taste nothing like the real orange. Yes, it does have a very strong tangerine taste to it, and it is much better than Code Red, the cherry flavor Mountain Dew. It is an enjoyable drink and it does need a couple of cans to get used of the taste, like our Tang's Orange Drink. It is not as appealing as the Pitch Black, but it is something in between Code Red's awfulness and Pitch Black greatness.

Photo from CNN

USD$2.5K up for grabs

2004-11-15T13:49:00.000+08:00

Card Game Enthusiast – Cash Prize to be won, $2500 USD as first prize, and all this happening in Sunway Pyramid on Dec 19^th. There will be a card game based on the Marvel comics called Marvel VS System hosted @ Sunway and registration is open for anyone to join, RM50 is the registration fee. If you have not played the game before, get on it, you still have time to practice… USD$2.5K is up for grabs. The game is easy to pick up , just need a little investment, not more than a couple of hundered , and you will be on your way to win the stash. In previous Magic the Gathering tournaments, people who just happens to be there and have never played the game before could win wonderful prizes.. . So, get your ass moving and start playing the game.

Sunday Morning

2004-11-15T03:51:00.000+08:00

8.57am Sunday morning, a typical slow and cold morning. Wanted to try something new today, I landed myself at the Starbuck @ Barns & Noble at Tanasbourne. As a nation that lives on Coffee, the Starbucks cafe has been popping up at every corner of the street, it has come to a point that Starbuck and other Coffee Café resembles the pubs in UK and Kopi Tiams in Malaysia. Many of the patrons that "sits in" indulge in wifi, writing personal journal, drawing sketches of other patrons, reading, dating and chatting. Its like Live is Good, no matter how bad things are outside, the problems seam to stay outside. People are busy chatting, laughing, living in a world of their own, deep into what they are doing. All this over a cup of coffee. As my Mocha Grande becomes lighter and lighter, I am continuously reminded that time to leave is near. Life is good at Starbucks, but outside it, it’s a dog eat dog world.

Closing Time

2004-11-14T13:16:00.000+08:00

As a closure for today, I manage to get the Encore CD from another Target on the way back from Woodburn. Gavin Degraw at Woodburn was a dollar more expensive than Target, and so I did not get it. Timberland 15% also did not yield anything. The day ended with a nice cold beer from the local brewery called Fat Tire and some hot and spicy wings @ Hooters.

Today's Plan - Audio Blog

2004-11-14T02:29:00.000+08:00

Eminem Encore

2004-11-14T01:54:00.000+08:00

I got to know of Eminem latest album Encore a few days ago while searching for a gift for my friend. The album was set to be release on Nov 12 (yesterday) but on Nov 11, it was already out at Target. There were two version to this cd, a limited edition and a deluxe edition. The limited edition is a box set with photos lyrics and ringtones selling at $28 and the deluxe edition just the songs (with 2 CD) was selling at $14.99.

I wanted to get the CD from Bestbuy as the deluxe edition was selling at $9.98 online, and there is an option from Bestbuy to pickup from any of their local shop after ordering online, without having to pay for shipping. Thinking that the retail price would be the same, I head down to the nearest Bestbuy at Beaverton. I was totally wrong and the CD there was selling at $14.99. Disappointed, I left the shop and decided to go home and purchase online and pick up from the shop later on. On the way back, I stop by Target and found that Target was selling at $9.98 and the limited edition was going for $17.99. (still expensive for me, so sorry mate, will just get you the deluxe edition, also, I don’t think the pictures and lyrics worth doubling the price)

Immediately, I start searching for a copy and found that it was totally sold out. It was only yesterday there was a heap of them, and within a day, without any advertisement, the CD was totally sold out. The nearest Target shop was like 15 miles away and I told myself forget it, the price is good for the week, and maybe they will fill up the rack in a few days time.

Going through the album on Real Rhapsody, a song strike me out of the ordinary, “Like Toy Soldiers”, a mix from the original “Toy Soldiers” by Martika, yea.. remember the 80’s?? (Man, I am starting to talk like his rapping) Anyway, the song starts up with the haunting kids singing the chorus, and then Eminem mouth off with grace giving the 80’s hit a new Rap/HipHop breath.

RHAPSODY Link

The latest installment to Eminem’s successful run at the Billboards was set out to be another hit. Packed with his usual catchy tunes and rhythm, the album will either bring him another award or just make his pocket fat due to his past success. I am not much of a fan of rap nor Eminem, but I do dig Rap music. This CD is a recommend buy for existing fans, but if you are new to Eminem, you will enjoy his previous albums more. Not saying that this album fall shot, it is just that I have not listen enough to have the tunes running on my head.

I have just realized that if you pronouce Eminem backwards, it becomes Menime, Mee-ni-mee, like Austin Powers MiniMe, hehe, could he be the MiniMe of Dr.Dre? Haha..

Jeeves, this is for you… (deluxe edition only ar!)

The Real Rhapsody

2004-11-13T15:24:00.000+08:00

In my latest passion for music, I have been prowling CD shops and CD sections of malls for the best price CD and the latest gig. I came across this cache of online music subscription cards at a corner of Target and one that really caught my attention was Real Rhapsody. For $14.99, the subscriber gets one month of free flow listening to their 800 000 collection of songs and on top of that, the subscriber gets 15 songs to burn directly to the CD. Tempted by this offer, I bought one off the shelf and started the easy process to signup. Initially I thought RealRhapsody will work off Real Player, but after signup, I was prompted to download and install a separate RealRhapsody player. It is actually a simple player, which I believe is web based, and have direct connection to the web. RealRhapsody needs to be connected to the web to operate. There is an option to save the songs to the local drive, so that you do not have to stream the songs all the time, however, again, if the web connection is disconnected, the tool would shutdown. I guess this is their way of controlling subscriptions. The monthly subscription cost is $9.95 and if you want to burn any of the songs to a CD, it cost extra 79c. If you work out the math, with 15 songs, $14.99 was a bargain.

The sound quality is not bad. I have a light weight sony headphones(below, cost $14.99) and this is second to the cheapest headphones from sony ($9.99). Real Audio technology has improved much since it’s beginning, however, the sound is not as near as a good MP3 compression. Again, it could be my headphones. I have not burn any CD’s yet, will check out the burn quality later, currently just cold not get my hands of scrolling the 800 000 songs, it is like I have the entire collection in my computer, just a single click and the song will start streaming immediately.

To my surprise, there are no options to download MP3 format songs. There is only the stream or burn option. Which means, if you want to own any of the songs, you will have to pay the 79c and burn it directly to a CD. I kind of suspected this when I browse the card at Target as the card says, “Choose your 15 Songs to own” and only mention of burning on CD and none of MP3. I have read some review (after I have bought this) that ripping from the CD later will have drop in the sound quality. I will have to try this out.

Other than purchasing music through RealRhapsody, the Real Music Store also offer music at 99c and for this, we can download the song, but again, it did not mention any MP3, that leads me to conclude that the songs downloaded are in Real Audio format. Similar to the ones that we rip from CD though the Real Player. At Real Music Store, there are the weekly Rolling Stones favorites, which the songs cost only 49c to download.

I have also found Walmart offering music download at 88c a song, and the song is in MP3 format.

My laptop is now my iPod, with wifi, I could practically listen to music at any hotspots. My huge lapPod will not be as heap as the funky iPod, but it can view photos, and do some major processing, including viewing movies and even can surf and chat with friends. I wonder if RealRhapsody have handheld versions..??

Consumer Legal Right

2004-11-06T13:31:00.000+08:00

The Malaysian consumer has the legal right to ask for a refund of a goods sold that are defective, etc. However, the process of getting this refund is not easy. Shall the shop keeper refuse to pay the money back or exchange for the defective item, one can go to the Magistrate court, however, the process is tedious. Here are more information…

http://www.gov.my/MyGov/Home/CitizenSpace/BySubject/LegalMatters/Acts/Consumer/

Digital Camera Canon A95 Price?

2004-11-06T01:09:00.000+08:00

Does anyone know what is the publish price of Canon A95 in Malaysia and what are the accessories that comes with it?

Does anyone know the street price for this camera in Malaysia?

How Much is A95?

2004-11-03T06:56:00.000+08:00

Does anyone know, what is the market price for Canon A95 in Malaysia? Or what is the advertised price?

Amazing Race 6

2004-11-03T06:55:00.000+08:00

Yes, the Amazing race is back with Season 6, November 16th, the race around the world begins. The usual mix of characters fill majority of the cast with the usual Grandparents, Parents, Long distance, Models, Father-Daughter, Sisters, Bestfriends, and a new odd couple and this season it is the Wrestling family. Here are the winners for the past 5 Amazing Race, who will take the Million this time? Well, looking at the past race winnings below, it has bee 3 friends and 2 married couple, if I were to make a non-intelligent guess, it would be a Married couple winning this time.

Amazing Race 5 - Chip & Kim (Married Parents)
Amazing Race 4 - Reichen & Chip (Married Couple)
Amazing Race 3 - Flo & Zach (Friends)
Amazing Race 2 - Chris & Alex (Friends)
Amazing Race 1 - Rob & Brennan (Best Friends)

The biggest winner so far has been Phil Keoghan, who has been busy with his new show, NOW (No Opportunity Wasted) on the discovery channel. As usual, Phil will be at the scene and walk the audience through the task of the participants. But it just does not feel right as we all know Phil in Amazing Race and this new show just don’t feel right. Well, that’s just my perspective. The new show is a win win for participants, community and even the audience gets a kick from watching them. The participants would usually have a dream, and it would usually(sometimes not) involve community work, such as building a boxing club for the local kids to stay out of the streets or making a picture to create awareness for the US veteran soldiers who’s country has abandon them. And Phil has a new book that goes by the show title too.....

Another one Bites the Dust

2004-10-28T04:08:00.000+08:00

Remember Michael Hanscom? former employee of Microsoft, who got fired for posting picture of G5 docking at Microsoft office. Well, another person just bite the dust, this time, it is an Air stewardess from Delta airline. She got suspended indefinitely without pay after posting her photo on her blog in a plane with her uniform on.

I think both got to do with company image, it is not that they are criticizing the company or anything, but the company felt that the company's image was somehow tainted and they want to either set an example or they do not want to tolerate such behavior. Truly speaking, no one is immune in a company, everyone is replaceable, it just takes another add in the leading newspaper and whoala, hundreds or thousands will be queuing in the door for a job....

Downtown Frenzie

2004-10-24T14:24:00.000+08:00

Freebie
The new REI over at Tanasbourne had a little publicized grand opening today. The opening time was 10am and they were to give out cash vouchers from $5 to $100 and nice REI water bottle to the first 300 customers that walk through the door. And so, attracted by this freebie, I make my way to the retail at 10am. To my surprise, the little publicized event was rather grand. There was a 30 meter ramp with snow brought in from the nearby Mt. Hood and x-treme snowboarders were enjoying their morning stunt. The queue to REI main door on the other hand was a mile long, zigzagging the narrow street and around the snowboarders. I was not fortunate enough to be the first 300 to get the cash vouchers and nice water bottle, however, they did give a nice carabineer keychain, as a supplement for those who weighted in line on this cold morning. There were some food served too, hot coffee and freshly baked cookies and donuts, but I already had my fill at the hotel and couldn’t care less. 30 minutes in and I decided to flee the scene and make my way to downtown.

Max
The plans for downtown almost didn’t happen as I was queuing at REI, my broken camera started to act up on me again. Out of frustration, I smack the camera on the car’s dashboard a few time to knock some sense into it and whoala, the camera decided to oblige. Driving downtown is rather expensive, and particularly due to the exorbitant parking fees. The city’s solution (and mine too) was Park and Ride with MAX, Portland’s electrical train service operated by Tri-Met. When I left Portland in 2000, Max was only a single line operating from Hillsboro to Gresham. Today, it has 3 lines, with one going to the Airport. Since I was going downtown, and all trains pass downtown, I just hop on the next one that came along. The ride to between 1 – 2 zones was $1.35 one way and the return trip cost is cheaper than the to park an hour downtown. Wanting to just walk the city and take photos, I got off the minute the train reached the heart of the city.

The City
The minute I got off the Max, I knew I had made a mistake in my choice of clothes. The temperature was in the 50’s and I was wearing just a sweatshirt. My neck was widely exposed and my face and chest took very little time to freeze. I manage to take a few shots in the few blocks that I walked and soon after, the cold took the better out of me and I decided to browse thorough the Pioneer Square Mall. This is a rather unique mall, made up from 3 buildings or was it 4, anyway, the buildings are connected underground and through sky bridges. Up to this time, I decided to have my lunch and went to the underground food court area. I was also tired and wanted to sit down and relax from all the walking. The food court is full of fast food franchised, and I wanted something quick and easy and landed with Pizza and Mountain Dew.

Novelty Shops
I pushed on after having my fill and made my way to the max station. I wanted to take some photos of a bicycle park at one of the Max station that I passed earlier and I started my gentle walk there. Not being able to withstand the piercing cold on my face and nose, I stopped by for a Grande Mocha at Starbuck ($3.25). I noticed some Starbucks Card on the counter and wonder what were the terms and conditions. I knew about the cards some time back through starbuck.com, but I did not read through how they works. Anyway, getting my Grande, I continue on my journey and came along this art theater. This month’s attraction was movies from Sweden and they were not very appealing, well, at least to me. Then I came to this Art Shop, it is like an artist paradise with everything that an artist ever needed can be found in this shop. As an engineer, who has high interest in arts, but never knew how, I went to the books section. There were some beginners books and mainly designed for children. Some of the books were very attractive, but they all start at $19.98 and so I decided to get them later, before I return back to Malaysia as this is currently not my priority.

Bubble Bath
Exhausted from the few hours of walking, I arrived at the hotel at 2.30pm and decided to warm up the bath for a relaxing dip. The warm bath not only relaxed me, it made me lazy and I stayed in for the rest of the

Google AdSense - Does it Pay?

2004-10-23T15:34:00.000+08:00

I have been very curious of late, does Google AdSense pay? If it does pay, is it alot? For those who have installed or subscribed to this service, can you share if you have benefited out of it?

Through the Times

2004-10-23T06:41:00.000+08:00

Exchanging contact information between hopeful romantic interest as time goes by:

1920's: Pls pass this letter to your Master/Miss, says that is is from my Master/Miss
1940's: Your area has Telegram?
1970's: What is your phone number?
1990's: What's your email address?
2000: What is your Blog address?

American Sexual Poll

2004-10-22T13:21:00.000+08:00

ABC Primetime Live have a very interesting poll, the goal is to find out how much sex Americans are having. And the result? Check this out.

Will Majalah 3 do a piece like this??

Celsius 41.11

2004-10-19T14:22:00.000+08:00

As you have it, when you have black, you will have white, when you have positive, you will have negative. And so, when we have Fahrenheit 9.11, we will have Celsius 41.11, the temperature the brain boils.

http://www.citizensunited-interactive.org/C41.11/

2004-10-07T20:32:00.000+08:00

Heng Chicken Rice Ball

2004-10-07T20:30:00.000+08:00

My HouseMate Thinking

I m Back

2004-10-07T20:19:00.000+08:00

After quite some time laying low for a while, I am back. Since my last post, quite a few changes have happened. I am now married, my house has OC already, and I am going to US for two months for assignment.

2004-09-03T14:39:00.000+08:00

Coldplay

Gmail Invites

2004-09-03T11:24:00.000+08:00

Dear Penang Bloggers, anyone wants gmail invites can send me a mail to kewlang+gmail.com, I have a few to give away...

2004-09-02T15:35:00.000+08:00

How Did these Guys climbed up the roof?

Amazing Race 6

2004-09-02T08:07:00.000+08:00

As Amazing as the race gets, a surprising annoucement was made last night, a new Amazing race-season 6. Seson 5 is yet to be completed, and Season 6 is starting on Sept 25. Yes, Sept 25. With this new annoucement, I am predicting a new surprise, which is the top 3 from season 5, when they have reached the finish line, will have the opportunity to join the new race for another 1 million dollars.

Will this back to back feature kill the race, Will the viewers be tired of the race?? Well, we will see. The Season 6 casting was in secret, and the production was also very quiet. The Season 6 site has little to no information at all, except on the airing date. With such secrecy, I am sure there are bound to be surprises. Could this be the season where the winners from previous seasons returns? Well Survivor has done it with thier All Stars series last season, even fear factor has "Fear Factor Secon Chance" for those who did not win the first time round. We will know by Sept 25.

Anyway, in last night's race, as usual Colin got #1 and Chip got second, guess this is the scene that we have seen too often. Maybe Chip's stratergy to get Colin's team to self destruct will work. Will see in the next episode where Christie demanded more respect from Colin. I am also interested to see how Brandon and Nicole can survive in India without any money. "Lord help them"...

2004-09-01T19:26:00.000+08:00

From a Distance!

2004-08-30T07:52:00.000+08:00

Paper Face

2004-08-27T19:48:00.000+08:00

Don't Jump!

Malay Interface

2004-08-27T14:29:00.000+08:00

Following the pointer from Hafiz Ismail on the "Windows XP Malay Interface Pack", I downloaded the file and tried it out. The download and installation were all easy and without any glitch, whoala, my 'Start' Menu becomes 'Mula' Menu. First thing I did was went for a tour on my entire system and found that only a certain softwares / menu the interface has changed to Malay, the others, such as office and IM, etc.. all still remain in English.

I also can't help laughing at some of the terms that has been translated. One of which is the 'Run' command, it has been changed to 'Jalan'. This laugh is mainly because the terms that are used a rather alien, and not used to. After thinking further, I am also not sure why I find the terms funny. For example, at IE, 'Home' was changed to 'Rumah', when I first saw it, I laughed, then after thinking further, I think 'Rumah' really represent 'Home' the best, there is no other word, and then suddenly, the word is no more funny, and it is as functional as 'Home' itself.

I suggest everyone to try it out, after all, it is free, and we all lived in Malaysia, why not use windows in Malay...

Oh, by the way, I do find my windows do take some time to pop up after installing the pack.

MAS online Jitters

2004-08-27T13:23:00.000+08:00

I booked a flight from Png - KL on Monday and was quite happy to get flights on this long holiday weekend. Though the flights were not as cheap as AirAsia like one of my friend got it for (RM9.90), I was rather happy cause i do not have to pay full fare for a MAS ticket. So, after booking the ticket on Monday and got the confirmation mail, I was happily doing my things through out the week. By wednesday, I thought I should print out the e-ticket so that I could check in on Friday. I was surprise to see the system was down. Well, since the system was down, I did not think much of it and proceeded with my week and then this morning, I remembered that I have yet to print the e-ticket. So I went to MAS online and to my horror, my booking was no more there. Something must have happen during the down time and cause my booking to be deleted. I then called the 24hr reservation hotline to confirm if my name is still on the flight, and luckly for me, the booking has been confirmed. I asked if I can checkin without a E-Ticket printed out and the operator said I can checkin with my confirmation number.

Will see if this works, as the flight is tonight. I just hope that I dont face additional trouble like what I had the previous time with MAS. Previously I booked a ticket from Png - Langkawi and also, upon booking I was rather happy as the flight fare was reasonable. But upon my arrival at the airport, I faced many problems at the check in counter as what I have printed out was not an e-ticket, what I had was just my itenary and I was not allowed to check in with it. After the clerk went to check with his boss and some system inside the MAS office, the clerk finally gave me the tickets, luckily for me, I went early, and so, with the delay, I was still able to make the flight.

I have never faced with such problems before from AirAsia, I guess this just goes to show that it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

I was not surprise to see that I was not the only one with problems with MAS online... ScreenShots has many mails on different type of problems from getting cheap flights to credit cards...

ScreenShots:
MAS...... Mesti Ada System
MAS...... Mesti Ada System (2)
MAS...... Mesti Ada System (3)

2004-08-27T09:52:00.000+08:00

Bus Kilang

2004-08-27T09:10:00.000+08:00

2004-08-27T08:31:00.000+08:00

From a Distance

Messy Girls

2004-08-26T21:26:00.000+08:00

Girls, they are all the same.. no matter how Cantik or Ayu they are, they are still have messy rooms. Well, basically, I was browsing thorugh this site that was sent by my friend, and this site have man cute girls, and what I notice behind them, especially the photos that was taken from their bedroom, is bra's hanging, messy floor either with books, clothes, papers, god knows what...

You know what... after browsing more pictures, i really don't find much messy rooms.. well, sorry for jumping into conclusions... hehe..

http://www.sggirls.com/?action=photos_display <--Michael, This is for you...

2004-08-26T19:40:00.000+08:00

Digging In

2004-08-26T19:39:00.000+08:00

Birth!

2004-08-25T22:06:00.000+08:00

Courtship

Tits off @ Olympics

2004-08-25T10:36:00.000+08:00

Through out the week, in various sports, I can’t help to notice that some of the contestants are showing off their tits. I am not sure if they knows it or not, but the tits are showing off pretty strong on my 29 inch TV. Women’s Badminton Double for instance, an all China affair, the ladies in Pink has obvious tits perking out, and this was out from RTM2. Italy’s Rhythmic Gymnastic yesterday also showcase 10 pairs of tits from their top gymnast… Am not complaining or anything, but I am sure there are some that would scream and band the Olympics. Those who have missed, it, watch more Olympics… hehe…

2004-08-25T10:10:00.000+08:00

Ali's Special

2004-08-25T08:41:00.000+08:00

Penang Bikers!

2004-08-23T22:35:00.000+08:00

Water Plant!

Host Down!

2004-08-23T21:00:00.000+08:00

This is the first time after more than half a year that my host site is down. Even the admin page is unaccessible. Could it be that the host is down or my site has been taken offline. It has been a year and my subscribtion is up. However, I do not expect it to be taken off just like this without any warning. Anyway, lets see in the next few days and a mail to the tech support would remedy the situation.

2004-08-23T20:51:00.000+08:00

Hock Ann Tong of Malacca

Sperm Bank

2004-08-23T20:44:00.000+08:00

I was at a friends wedding dinner last weekend, where I manage to meet up with some of my school friends. One of which has been working in this sperm bank in KL for about two years. I didn’t even know and infact, none of us at the dinner know about sperm banks in M’sia till this guy told us. His company would pay anyone willing, RM100 for a shot of sperm. Qty can vary, depending on how much one person can produce per session. And there is an additional RM100 bonus if the sperm count is high. We were totally shock and was wondering how come we didn’t know about this earlier on, especially during our student days. According to him, the company has been in KL since 1987, we were all like.. “what the”…

If only we knew last time, we would have made some good deal of money… hehe.. He was telling that there is this 17 years old kid earns RM4000 in a period of 6 months… wow.. This is a lot of money for that age. This is a good side income, for those who are tight of cash… However, the clinic is not as what shown in the movies (Road Trip) or like US, all they give is one tiny bottle and you are asked to go to the toilet. That’s it, there is not material aid of any kind. You are required to either bring your own or use your imagination.

These fertility clinics treats couples starting from RM10K and above, and there is not guarantee to conceive. Bringing a kid into the earth is not cheap for some couples. The collected sperms are screened, and “processed”, a whole deal of biological engineering at work, before being stored and sold to hopeful couples. For the ladies, an egg is worth RM2000, very much more money, however, for the ladies, their eggs are limited, and if one were to sell it, need to think twice. Well, if one were desperate for money, one may think otherwise. Better than go sell “something else” or rob or steal or kill…

Some of my friends were thinking of going to the clinic, their rational was to find out how healthy are their sperms. One quoted that there is 1:4 guys in Malaysia is infertile. And there were 8 people in our table… which means 2 of us are actually shooting blanks. That pretty much motivated everyone to go donate, not so much for the cash.. that was just a bonus.. but more to find out if the sperms were healthy.

2004-08-23T11:32:00.000+08:00

Ground Crew

2004-08-23T11:27:00.000+08:00

Flowers

Enzo Ferrari & Shell

2004-08-23T10:25:00.000+08:00

The guy behind the world famous red car - Ferrari, had a very intersting history. My housemate bought a DVD "The Story of The Man Behind The Legend - Ferrari" by Carlo Carlei and Sergio Castellitto acted as Enzo Ferrari. The story was about the struggle of one man, and his team to make their dreams come true. It is truely an inspiring movie touching the human nature and from here, one can deduce he traits of success. Through out the move, I have notice Shell logo has been with the Ferrari company for a very long time. Later, I found out that Shell has been with Ferrari ever since they started in 1947. Reading more, I have also found out that the current V-Power fuel from Shell is 99% similar to the fuel that Ferrari F-1 race car uses.

No wonder la, the fuel has too much power for my measy proton, infact it has so much power, till I think it is damaging my car. For the few times that I filled my tank with V-Power, I have problems with some tiny gears on my Fuel Injection engine. The plastic gears (yes, there are tiny plastic gears for the fuel injection engine on my wira) broke a few times and they are not cheap, a good RM200 for every replacement. After a few repeated case, I have concluded that the V-Power fuel is too much or my proton to handle.

The Extra-Kilometer on the other hand really works. On the past month, I have made two trips from Penang - Malacca. On the first trip, I filled my car with Shell (green) Extra-Kilometer fuel and when I arrived at M'cca, to my surprise it was only 3/4 tank used, usually it would take the whole tank. On my returning trip, i filled my tank with our very own Petronas Unleaded and as usual, my whole tank was gone when I arrived at Penang. Two weeks ago, I decided to try again the extra-kilometer fuel, and again, it was only 3/4 tank used. Again, on my returning trip, I used Petronas, and when I arrived at Penang, the entire tank was gone. I was really surprise to see such huge difference in terms of Km gained from the shell fuel. When it was first introduced into the market, I did not pay too much attention to it as I thought it was just another marketing gimmick, something to make them stand apart from other companies. Well, I thought wrong, and the fuel indeed gave me the extra milage.

Thought it was Flu

2004-08-10T11:26:00.000+08:00

I was not feeling well starting late last week. I had muscle ache, cough, phlegm, headache, runny and block nose and I felt like I was having flu. I even have to work from home for a few days as I had diarrhea and my head felt like floating in the air. Finally, last night, I went to see the doctor and to my surprise the doctor said that I had an allergy reaction. Hymm, I was like… but all the symptom was like flu.. I was a little skeptical.. but after taking the doctors prescribed allergy medicine, I felt well again this morning, just one dose and I felt better already. Though I have less symptoms today, but I am recovering… wow, allergy also can… I thought I would be out for weeks due to flu…

2004-08-06T21:57:00.000+08:00

Penang kia Product.. and I am proud of it...

2004-08-06T21:55:00.000+08:00

The Zone, wireless broadband avaliable at Starbucks Gurney Tower... the greatest part is that it is Free... going there tomorrow...

Starbucks Prepaid Card

2004-08-06T21:48:00.000+08:00

Starbuck also got Prepaid Cards... can reload online summore... Canggih... !!!

2004-08-04T22:27:00.000+08:00

Phoenity... a proud product of Malaysia

2004-08-03T21:06:00.000+08:00

Penang Night from Shangri-la

Chopstick Labels

2004-08-03T16:58:00.000+08:00

"To the Chinese, food is more than a symbol of life and health; it represents luck and prosperity. A pair of chopsticks connotes the ability to pick up and consume blessings from the rich feast of life. We present these chopsticks to you today as our wish that you receive nothing less than the best in all aspects of your life. Thank you so much for sharing this day with us."

Cards Done

2004-08-03T16:55:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend, the Gift cards that we have ordered are done. There are two sets of gift cards, one, to be tied with the chopsticks to be given out during the wedding dinner are printed on a Gold Card. The printing cost Rm65 for 200 cards. The second set of cards simply says “Thanks you” for attending the wedding dinner are printed in Red with a gold “double happiness” Chinese letter on the front. This card are to be attach to small pouches that we will put chocolates in them. This second set of cards cost RM100 for 300 pieces. Last night was mainly spent on punching holes onto the chopstick cards and we have started to tie the cards to the chopsticks with pink, red and bright orange ribbons. The ribbons cost RM4.90 for 5 yards, and that translates to about 30 chopsticks. I have yet to compute the total cost of this, but I do not expect it to be more than RM500 all together. We got the chopsticks at various prices, mostly at RM6 for 5 pairs and a few at RM6 for 10 pairs.

How Business Are Done?

2004-08-02T11:32:00.000+08:00

Got this in the mail today and thought it would be interesting to share…

Jack, a smart businessman, talks to his son
Jack: I want you to marry a girl of my choice
Son : "I will choose my own bride".
Jack: "But the girl is Bill Gates's daughter."
Son : "Well, in that case..."

Next Jack approaches Bill Gates
Jack: "I have a husband for your daughter."
Bill Gates : "But my daughter is too young to marry."
Jack: "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."
Bill Gates : "Ah, in that case..."

Finally Jack goes to see the president of the World Bank.
Jack: "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."
President : "But I already have more vice-presidents than I need."
Jack: "But this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law."
President : "Ah, in that case....."

This is how business is done!!

2004-08-01T21:27:00.000+08:00

No Fishing

2004-07-25T22:38:00.000+08:00

I might not be able to blog starting tomorrow as I will be in Shangri-La Komtar for a week's course. I was told that this course will stuff the participants with food and food and food and loads and loads of work, where the participants will have to work from 7am to 10pm... It is a management course and it is very intensive... I for one is not really looking forward for it... well.. if I mange to catch some time, I will blog about it..

Chinese Proverb

2004-07-23T10:17:00.000+08:00

"It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness."
...Chinese Proverb

2004-07-22T20:52:00.000+08:00

Roof Decor!

Antz in Car

2004-07-22T16:58:00.000+08:00

I have notice since morning there are a couple of ants loitering over at my car dashboard… I was just curious where they come from and secondly, if my car has any food droppings that attracted them. I could not recall I ate in the car lately. Maybe the antz came from where I park my car, I kinda notice that there are ants at the tree that I park today… must be from there…

More Spidey Action

2004-07-22T07:26:00.000+08:00

More Spidey Action

Spidey Action

2004-07-22T07:25:00.000+08:00

There was a MBF Card promo at Gurney Plaza last weekend and there were loads of prizes to be won. For this particular stunt, 5 people were asked to do some SpiderMan action. The reward was a limited Edition SpiderMan Watch. To win the prize, the participants will have to loose some of their dignity and pride to perform inform of the crowd some of the spiderman action. They have to tumble on the floor, jump, squat, and then stick on the way, and finally strike a spidey pose. One old man Chicken out and there were only 4 participants. No one else dare to replace the old man. All 4 participants won the watches.

Gurney Plaza

2004-07-22T07:21:00.000+08:00

G.Plaza

Urban Legend:Fried Baby Onions

2004-07-21T14:32:00.000+08:00

There is this rumor that the Fried Baby Onions, that goes well with “Chee Chong Fun”, “Koey Teow Th’ng”, and other Chinese & Local hawker food, has been said to have plastic in them. The legend says that the people who make these Fried Baby Onions in bulk add plastic straws into the boiling oil and when the baby onions are fried in them, the plastic will coat the onions and hence form an air tight and crunchy surface. This is the ‘trick’ that they use to keep the Fried Baby Onions crunchy for hours.

This rumor was so widespread that everywhere I go, I can hear people requesting not to include Friend Baby Onions in the hawker food that they order.

True? No data to support this. False? Also no data to support.

And so, it will remain as an Urban Legend.

Chinese Junk vs European Vessels

2004-07-21T08:03:00.000+08:00

An Animation to show the size of the Chinese Treasure Junk vs the European Vessels at its time….

Nampak Macam SuperCarrier Saje…

Chinese Treasure Junk

Radiance

2004-07-20T18:56:00.000+08:00

Notice the Radiance around Mithi's Head.. wonder where it comes from... maybe Mithi has special powers?

2004-07-20T18:55:00.000+08:00

Happy B'day

PhotoFriday - Cool

2004-07-20T13:36:00.000+08:00

This week’s photofriday noteworthy – Cool

My fav is Round Here..

Round Here
soholinda
Sabby
Wood | Stone
caitriona.net
Jeremy Wright

My Entry - Sweet & Sour