A few words before end of 2006

I got this message from a friend

''Wake up! Wake up! Today is d last day of 2006! Dun let d day slip away! Do all d evil things u wan to do! Then start anew in 2007! Hehe! Happy New Year! James (Maxis)''

Thanks James for reminding me some evil things left undone. :) There are couples of word I would like to say before end of 2006.

To my wife: Thanks for being understanding and a lot patient building this family together. I'm really blessed for having you as my wife and I’ve learned a lot from you as about family values. I'm looking forward on next year to build a more fun and joyful relationship together.

To my dad, sisters and brother: As I have my own family now, we've been seldom to see each other. I hope the coming New Year we would able to spend more time together. I miss you all.

To my friends: I hope most of you would understand my situation and that does not mean the end of our gathering. If you guys have any events coming up, please do let me know. I’ll try to squeeze out some time with you guys. ;)

To my current colleague: As you know, I’ll be moving to new company next year. It’s been wonderful working with you guys and thanks for guiding me along the way on my job. It’s been a very fruitful year to me and I hope we would able to work together again in future.

To my blog reader: Thanks for keep coming back for supporting my blog. This is the last post for 2006 and I hope you keep coming back for year 2007. For those who haven't start blogging, why not make one for this New Year? Not just for yourself but for the people who cares about you. ;)

Finally, I would like wish all the best, a prosperous and fruitful 2007 to you. Happy New Year!

Working Panda

There was a quake near Taiwan and it caused entire asia having trouble to surf the internet. most of the website is either slow or unable to reach at all and that's bad news for my company.

My company is fully dependent on internet in order to operate. Developers and QAs depend on internet connection to download the latest update or upload their work. Since the internet was down, consequently not much of productivity can be done from employees.

So, the management came out a 'brilliant' idea. Flexible working, that's how they called it. Working schedule were change from normal '9 to 6' to '12pm to 6am' or '3am to 9am'. taxi fare can be claimed since there are no public transport available on that hour. After some discussion with my team, I end up with the schedule '3am to 9am' as agreed with all my team members.

I woke up at 2 am and I'd book the cab to pick me up at 2:30 am. I reached the company at 2:50 am because the taxi driver drove so fast since there was almost no car on the road. Anyway, when I reached the company, the driver laughed at me after he found out that my working hour was 3 in the morning. I was embarrassed and quickly paid up my fare.

When I reached to my office, I was hoping the internet connection would perform much faster than daytime connection speed. Unfortunately, the speed hasn't change that much even we're work at 3 am in the morning. People in the office raise their voice in disappointment due the 'flexible hours' wasn't help at all. Anyway, we found out a trick to use the external proxy to do our work although it's a bit slow. Nevertheless, an external proxy trick is better than no proxy at all.

Internet connection speed would be much faster at early in the morning. Yeah right.

Nightmare after Christmas

No. It's not the movie that I'm talking about but the experience going home one day using the train service.

So, it wasn't the first time that the Putra LRT station had a technical problem. The train was moving slower and stay longer than usual at each of the station. I ended up as one of the office worker who queue up within a long line of people, eagerly getting back home as soon as possible. Some people was complaining while waiting and some people decided to choose another alternative way to go home. But I decided to stay quite and wait. Unfortunately, it took me 45 minutes in order to get onto the train.

I thought that was end of my nightmare when I get down on Central intersection. Well, the KTM train wasn't turn up so nicely as I thought it would be.

First, the air-cond was off. In my opinion, they can turn off anything but the air-cond. Second, a lot of people took the same train as I did. Third, the windows were tightly shut. When I was in the train, I thought I'm unable to breath due to the crowd and the tightly shut windows. Subsequently, the compartment was getting hotter and hotter. All the people started to feel the air humidity and temperature raising. I bet everybody's mind was thinking how fast the next stop would reach and looking forward the door to open again. At this time, we all would be relieved to get some fresh air gushing in.

While we all was day dreaming, the train moved for 5 minutes and then suddenly stopped in middle of nowhere. Later on, came an announcement that our train has to be halt for the commercial train to pass by. "Oh man!". That's the response came through everybody's mind.

We all waited patiently for 15 minutes and the air became so humid that all the windows were misted. Some people still had the humor to draw a "SOS" message on the windows. :D Fortunately, some people manage to get one of the window opened and this bring a little relief to us. However, that didn't solve the air problem in the compartment and it became harder to breathe. Then we saw 2 trains passed by and our train moved on after that. Some people got down on the first stop due to unable to withstand the air quality.

Anyway, I decided to stay in the train even though my mind was tempted to get down at the first stop; and I was right. After a few stop, then came a staff with special tool which specifically used to open those windows. Then the whole environment started to live up a bit due a lot people was frowning their faces all the while, including me. :D

When I get down on my stop, there was a temptation to kiss on the floor and said "I'm alive".

Company Gift Exchange Event

Group photo of my cost center with their gift.

From Merry Christmas

So, what do I get for Christmas? Photo frame.
Gee. Thanks dude.

P/S : In the photo, don't you find like there are 2 gang. One with black and the other with purple and white? Funny.

Treasure Hunt

It was bright sunny Saturday and we (I and my wife) went for a morning workout in the gym. After that, we stop by Sunway College just to check out some IT courses. We got some heading from the internet and newspaper regarding IT courses that are offered in a very affordable price from Sunway College.

After some enquiries with the staff there, the funny part came when we trying to pay the parking ticket. The parking ticket costs RM2. However, both of us do not any small change and the machine only accepts RM1 and RM2 notes. (By the way, an RM2 note has been obsolete by the government). The total amount of coins we have were merely 1.20 and it's not enough to pay for the ticket.

We tried the college canteen to ask for small changes but they weren't open on Saturday. So, we went back to our car to find any coins just to pay up the amount. Unfortunately, the ash tray is empty. :O

So, the hunt began. We search through both our seats and bags. We're laughing while searching and unbelief that this would happen to us. Luckily, I remember I've drop a few coins in my bag and in the hollow, which just beside my seat. After a shake here and there, finally we make up the total of the amount to pay the parking ticket.

It's not a bad idea to drop few coins here and there in the car because some day, it might save you from some embarrassment.

A group of travelers

I like watching anime but not a fan for it. Don't get me wrong that I'm still a kid who watches sailormoon or dragonball. There are some anime which made for adults and some even made it into the movie.

Well, one of my favorite is Cowboy Bebop and the good news is, the same director has made a new series (Not so new actually because it was made in 2004). It was called Samurai Champloo. I picked it up when I was in a book fair and this series turn out to be quite good. Each of the main characters in the story have their own unique style and thought, which made the whole story very interesting to watch.

Anyway, I'm not going to start a review about it here due to a lot of review has been out there (Try Google). However, the interesting part which I found in this anime and Cowboy Bebop is that, both story start with character on a journey. He/She found a companion along the journey and they all traveling together. A lot of fun and interesting event happened on their way and they all overcome their obstacle together. Finally, the journey came to the end and the group of travelers gone to their separate way.

Somehow, I wonder all this reflect to my life (I believe this affects everybody's life). I went change my high school once and so I end up having 2 groups of high school friends. Nevertheless, everybody has to go their own way. I've change my job once and the same thing happened again.

It always been sad to me when the anime character has to go their separate ways in the end, but I believe that's how life should be and waiting to begin another new journey again.

Malaysia bites back or ...?

Previously I've written a blog regarding a column written by a foreigner, who talks about the politics and economy in Malaysia. It was well written and a lot people (Malaysian and non-Malaysian) talks about it. Eventually, it become a heated debate on what he has written.

Now, there is a respond from "the authorities" regarding his article (By the way, if what he has written wasn't real, who cares? But there was a "respond", which I think they made even more mistake.). The author replies it with even more points to ponder.

So, does any action (either good or bad) will take against it? My bet was None. Does this make people who concern on Malaysia future to think? I don't know, but I'm one of them who choose to think.

Programming can be fun

In my colleague years, I have done my first program using turbo pascal. Then I moved up from there using C programming. Unfortunately, the way of the tutor teaching C programming was too dogmatic and it makes the whole class very boring and dull. Nevertheless, I still pass the subject in a hard way.

Then I went into university and heard something about C++, which is more advance than C and most of my friend said that this language is too hard to learn. (I've learn pointers in C and it took me some time to figure it out.) Anyway, I get a sense of fear when people talks about C++ even though I haven't touch and see the language itself. Well, perhaps it was because the "++" follows behind the "C" word makes it sounds like very advance, tough and only genius knows how to use it.

So, it's been 5 years now and people still using C programming to write their program for commercial use. It's hard for me to believe due to I'm VB fan and I thought people should have advanced to a more high level language (like .Net). Due to this fact, I went to the internet to find something about C programming.

The site provide a lot material and resource regarding this language. I started to find my initial perception on C++ wasn't quite true (perhaps it was Object Oriented Programming language that cause a lot of people to stay away it). After looking through the book review section on that website, I bought myself a book on C++, titled "C++ without fear". How nice. The best thing was, I got the book through a book fair with a very affordable price.

Perhaps it was time for me to pick up a "new" language. Not for academic purpose but for the fun of learning and knowledge. :)

Christmas Tree

KLCC has put up the Christmas tree to welcome the festive season. I believe it's the same tree they used for last year. :P

From KLCC Christma...

Anyway, Merry Christmas...., although it's a bit too early.

Updates on 20/12/2006: I've uploaded 3 more photos

From Merry Christmas

A morning with the KTM

My wife has started working with her new company today and I ended up taking the KTM train & Putra LRT to work. So my nightmare began.

I went out the door 7:00 am in the morning, reach the station around 7:15am, took 7:30am train (Everything sounds fine so far, just 15 mins wait), reach the central station at 8:00 am and then I found something very terrifying. The waiting cue for Putra was like a crowd for a mini concert. The crowd was so big that I ended up cuing at the lower ground area, which is the area before entering the ground floor where the Putra train stops.

10 mins went pass by and the staff finally signaled for us to go up up stair to wait for the train. I thought finally I can wait in the line and take the next coming train. I was happy because I was the fourth in line until I saw the train coming. The train was packed with people like sardine tightly squeeze in tin can. Couple of people came out from it and only 2 people in my line was able to get into the train.

Then 5 mins passed by and came another moving tin canned sardine. This time no one in the train was coming out and no one was able to get into the train either. :(

Finally, after another 5 mins wait, I was able to get into the next train and when I reached my destination, it was already 8:40am. So, I've been spending 1 hour and 40 mins in transportation. :P

I think I better find some alternative way to go to work. Anyone any idea?

One word

One word that I've learned from my current reading "Repacking your bags" which I would like to share.

“Living in the place you belong, with the people you love, while doing the right work on purpose.”

Simple yet profound. :)

Malaysia Boleh or ...?

I received a URL link from my wife this morning ,which she told me this article is an interesting read. Indeed, it is.

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry

It's hard for me to believe in the first place but columnist don't write without any solid fact. (He can be sued by the government) In addition, the author has written couple of books on Asia economy and I believe what he has written in the article is true.

Nevertheless, after reading it, it just makes me an unhappy taxpayer. :(

It got to be Wii

I think some people who had heard about the game console war, especially those gamers. For those who has not heard about, let me explain the 3 contestants.

First contestant is from Microsoft, which is the Xbox 360.
Second contestant is from Sony, which is the Playstation 3.
Last but not least and also my favorite contestant is from Nintendo, which is the Wii.

There are not much revolution from the first two except they are both designed for hard core gamers. However, for Wii, the age of players can range from child to senior. Check out the video below.

Nintendo Wii - Wii Player Video #1
Nintendo Wii - Wii Player Video #2

Eye twitch

I got some eye twitch these couple of days. First, i thought it was some bad/good luck was coming according to some old superstition. But, I'm more to the science guy. Here's what I found about eyelid twitch.

Cause: fatigue, stress, and caffeine.

I think most likely it was cause by caffeine. So, start drinking more coffee and get your eyelid dancing. :D

Beware of SPY

SPY. They are everywhere. If you know who are they, they are no longer SPY anymore (duh!). With the widely used today's technology, which is the internet, they creep into our computer and steal our information. The fact is, there is nothing much to lose except we lose couple of cash (maybe more) and somehow we have no idea why we went bankrupt (identity theft).

The real fun began when i found out that my computer in my office started to act strangely this morning. I have uninstalled a misc software, which i have no idea where it came from and when did i install it, and i suspect that my computer has a spyware or whatever that hijacked my computer and install some software that i have no interest of using them. I did, which most people would do, uninstalled the program, download anti-spyware and clean up my computer. It did found one spyware and i killed it with the tool.

After my lunch, i opened my computer and it appeared again. I was freak out! Since I have used the task manager quite sometime, so I started to scan the processes which are not quite familiar to me. I found some new processes and start checking them on the internet. Guess what i found, client tool that used for monitor workstation. The tool is for preventing workstation from being installed any miscellaneous or pirated software.

OK, to put myself in my company shoe, I do understand why they want to do that. BUT. THIS IS A BIG BUT. We are not informed regarding the software. No memo. No annoucement or whatsoever to inform us the poor (exclude those who are earn more than 5K) and naive workers. What is the difference between those client tool and spyware? None.

However, i found a way to stop their monitoring and it is quite simple. Pull the networking plug. :D

*Updates - 24th Sep 06*
After someday using my workstation, I have more discovery. The misc software wasn't installed by the client tool. Instead, it was installed during my company software new releases. The idea was the same as some of the downloadable software in the internet, which offering Google/Yahoo toolbar that comes with along with the installation package. This means along the installation, you have the option to choose whether you want to install those add on software. Perhaps my company software new releases does not support those option interface yet (plus no annoucement) or perhaps it still under development/testing stages, therefore it leads confusion to me.

Nevertheless, the official spy is still remains. :P

Back to academy

I've been working for 2 companies. So far from I've learn from my education on pursing for my degree, the stuff learned from there and to apply in the real world seems to have a large gap. From my point of view, it seems like only 20 – 30% of knowledge is applied but about the rest of 70 -80%? What is missing here? Are the stuff we have learned in university should taken seriously to only 20-30% where the rest seems to be useless? Anyway, I came to 3 points why it was so.

First, knowledge that not able to learn from books. It's true that the the things we have learned may not cover all up in the real world. I was taught how to use VB to write program but i was never taught how to write program appropriately. Example, you were taught how to use the hammer, but you're not taught how handle the nail until you've learn from hammering your finger. :P

Second, return of investment. The company that hired me want to see result fast. So fast that none of the things learned can be applied except programming skill or testing skill. Application has to come from the hot oven first and the rest talk later. Sounds like a famous quote 'shoot first, talk later'. :D Nevertheless, this leads to more problem such as things was not done as designed, changes was too fast that cause more error to other module or perhaps more negotiation skill is required to negotiate with the customer for more time instead of putting more effort for the whole development cycle. (Why don't the university include the syllabus of negotiation into IT field? :D )

Thirdly, training provided / certificate required. Nowadays, company more or less would like to provide training to us or specific certificate is required, which are not taught in the university, in order to handle the job. The question is, why spend time on syllabus/knowledge that we're most likely not to use, where the company who is going hire us already providing them? Or perhaps we should go for the certificate instead of getting that degree?

Couple of days ago, i picked up the books that i have learn from my university, things was seems so clearer than before. I believe this is because when we was learning, we have no idea how it was suppose to apply into the real world until we faced the real world. When I read it, I found out that there were so much more than just writing program. So much more to learn and re-learn. I feel myself was like cocooned all these years not knowing that things can be improve so much more from the way they are now.

Finally, things taught in school may not be applied to real world but it's good learn them back again. Perhaps picking up one academy book from your old dusty book shelve and you might found some gems lying there waiting to be found again.

Woman has the right to be 'sticky'

Yesterday I was celebrating my birthday with my family in Genki Sushi. We had a really nice dinner and my brother came up with a nice chat topic. He was complaining about her girlfriend for being too sticky. The term sticky here does not tied to anything about chewing gum, but in terms of communication. Example, communication for everyday or every hour or every minute or every minute between both of them, which usually initiate by the female side. For girls, perhaps the word 'sticky' is the easy way for understanding. For me, i think this is one of the communication abuse.

Let me explain the scenario described by my brother. Sms not replied back to girlfriend or wife within 5 mins and the guy will be questioned why would it take so long for us to reply(allow me to use 'us'/'we' at the moment to represent guys / male). Or maybe sarcastic statement will throw at us if the matter was not handled as quickly as possible ('since your reply so slow, perhaps we shouldn't communicate anymore'). Not to mention online messenger where the response time will get even shorter than sms (< 1 mins).

No doubt the technology has become more advance and provide shorter communication distance between people. However, somehow i saw people abused it and quarrel took on due to long response time. (Believe it or not, it's true)

After my brother statement, the girls are agreed to him that it's normal for girls to behave that way. And for the guys, what else would we said beside agreeing with them as well? (perhaps we don't want to get our ear twisted after the dinner) But one statement we can stand with, if we can't hold their sticky behavior in order to avoid quarrel, perhaps quarrel is the way to solve the problem. Quarrel maybe the way to get more understanding between each other.

Finally, I found nokia's statement 'Connecting People' wasn't so delighting anymore. :P

It's my birthday

Yup. It's my birthday today. I just like to say couple words on my blog.

I would like thank to my friends, who said birthday wishes to me. (And for those who has forgotten, you have been forgiven. :P)

I would like to thank to my brother, sisters and father, who are also giving me birthday wishes.

Last but not least, I would like to thank to my wife who is giving me a lot support (not to mention trouble as well :P) and fun in my life journey. Thanks dear. :-*

Experience on Ubuntu

I just found out Ubuntu from some online tech news and I went to their website to find it out. I like to test and use software that comes free and Ubuntu is one of them. So, this is a experience that I would like to share out and maybe people might aware that desktop OS market is not just dominated by 2 big players.

The user: No experience on Linux/Unix shell programing. Love music, video, blogging, software testing, surfing net but not chatting, gaming. Has a PDA, a digital camera and SD memory cards.

The machine: Dell notebook Inspiron 640m with LiveCD environment, Virtual PC 2004 with standard installation.

The test:
-Internet surfing.
Surfing website was really good because the fonts, alignment and image that appeared in firefox looks the similar as in windows environment, which means good. However, don't expect all the internet web pages are supported by it. Some web site which are more preferred to IE is unable to work correctly with it. Internet media support is medium e.g. mov and wmv files are not support for online streaming except the files needs to be downloaded in order to play it. This is same goes to real media. Surprisingly real player has linux version but not for quicktime player. (I shouldn't expect Apple would support their competitor. They have a windows version but why not Linux?) YouTube and google video is working fine due to the flash plugin for firefox with linux version. Unfortunately, shockwave player is not supported, so no shockwave online gaming. Since it's linux, there will be no online ActiveX control experience as well

-Games
Not for the heavy gamers. Forget most of the games that's available on the shelves. However, I believe Half-Life is supported on Linux but I haven’t got the chance to try that yet. Anyway, games that come with installation package are interesting and better than windows xp.

-Office tool
Perhaps that's the most people use their computer for. OpenOffice work like the old version of Microsoft Office and I think it really quite sufficient for normal user. Acrobat reader is supported for those like to download e-book or manual from the internet. Beside that, Gimp one of my favorite tool for editing picture and image. Of course, don’t expect it to be like the famous Photoshop where it can do wonders.

-Sounds
Not supported for mp3 at first except the decoder needs to be downloaded. However, audio ogg format file is supported and I heard that the audio quality is higher than mp3.

-Hardware, memory card support
The plug and play feature wasn't quite stable as i expected. I've experience that when I plug in my memory card in my notebook, the drive appeared as unknown. (I found that out after checking the device manager). Some other time, it works perfectly well. As for my PDA and digital camera, there’s no driver or software support for Linux version. Printer is not tested, however I saw HP printer driver name was shown while shutting down linux. Perhaps HP printer was supported

-Home networking
First attempt to connect an internet ready modem router has failed. It seems like some configuration needed in order to access the internet. However, it works using virtual pc.

-Help files is available, however if you want to get more, you need to go online in order to get it. Beside that, after the installation, there is about 100mb plus update to downloaded. Therefore, high Internet connectivity is recommended for better experience and better support.

Dislike

1. Lack of hardware support. Vendor software or driver are available only for windows and mac.
2. Web experience is not as rich as windows. (shockwave player, activex plugin is not support, online video streaming)
3. Unable to play high end games.

Like

1. It's free.
2. Comes with rich application. e.g. OpenOffice, games, Gimp, Firefox, Giam
3. Better security and safer (One of them is no activex installation)
4. Configuration is much more user friendly compare to old version linux
5. Help file is included for common issue

Conclusion
The gap between window/mac and linux has drawn closer thanks to Ubuntu. Due to much of the high end games was not supported, this means that Ubuntu would much suitable for low end computer or notebook. However, the major drawback was the software support for those hardware devices available in the market. Especially for computer without highend graphic card. I believe Ubuntu is for people who wants productivity but under a tight budget and believe me, they will get more than what they expected.

Disclaimer
This review/experience is solely my personal experience at this moment of time where the review was done and does not guarantee that it will remain as it is by the time you reading this blog or in the near future.

Argument

It's been more than a month now after my marriage and I would like to share my experience as a husband regarding this issue.

Argument. The most common issue and a false believe that I had about it. I think this unavoidable and it happens to every couple. First, my false believe thought if we have less argument before marriage, then our life will be happier after marriage because we're going to have less of it. I was wrong. This was caused by misunderstanding between each other due to different aspect and expectation on certain issue. Example, the husband might express his love by spending more time with his wife while his wife might have other expectation. So, the argument begins.

Beside that, people may need some time to adjust the lifestyle and environment (if you moving to a new place) because people might fall back to their single life/couple life experience. This is also one of the factors where the argument begins. Example, attentions is still more on personal interest like work, hobbies, games instead taking time chatting/listening to the partner.

Furthermore, people make mistake because we are human, Special dates might be forgotten when time pass. Promises might be broken due to some reasons. Misunderstanding of the words/meaning while communicating. Action taken that is misleading for the partner. All of this would cause arguments. It's like dodging the rain where there is no tree around.

Sometimes, harsh word slips out of the mouth unintentionally and emotions are high. (And that's bad for health) We both had talked about this before and my wife wanted to stop the argument from happening again. However, I believe people had to be truthful to their selves and so I told her, let the argument flows. (Yes, I wanted it, although it hurts.) We invite argument instead of avoiding it because there's no point to act like clown/joker trying to twist and turn the mistake (unless some people actually do enjoy doing that). Fortunately, the argument has to end somewhere and that's where the recovery and understanding came in. I found out that, it doesn't matter how the argument start or what damage it caused. What really matters is how to pick up the pieces and put it back again. This required effort from both party and a lot of communication.

When putting back the pieces became so common and natural, thus the understanding comes in naturally without breaking it in the first place. Eventually, arguments become lesser and lesser (Theoretically. I think it can be done practically as well).

For those couples who survived argument and handled it well even thought breaking each other's heart. I believe you may found your long life partner.

Phuket trip 23rd & 24-05-2006

The fourth & the last day

As usual, breakfast at the hotel. (It's free by the way) After couple of shopping and buying souvenir around the shops in phuket, I think we had enough of that. So, this morning we went to the beach again to take more photos. :D The wave was big and dangerous even a red flag was raised by the safeguard. Therefore we were not able to take a swim at the beach. However, we still enjoyed ourselves playing around with the camera and took some nice photos.

Around noon, we went back to our room and start packing little by little. Since we have bought some stuff and we need to organize them before brought it back to Malaysia. After spending around 1 or 2 hours of packing, we decided to go for the swimming pool. Each of us has bought a new swim suit before we came to Phuket and it's about time to make use of it. (*They have 3 swimming pools in the hotel. Each of them is located in different location.)

After spending an hour in the pool with other foreigners, we went back to our room and watch movie borrowed from my sister. The movie title called "The 40 year old virgin" and we had very good laugh in the movie. (*The movie was good. Although it has alot of "Fxxx" words in it. :P) The movie has to be pause in the middle where my sister called to join her for a tea break. After that, we went back the show again. :D

In the evening, we go out again and dine in the hotel Thai restaurant with my sister. The food is really nice and the price is a bit more expensive compared to the Natural restaurant due the environment which is much more romantic and high class. We ordered the papaya salad again as we did at the Natural restaurant and I'm start hook up on it. (I even tried the salad in when I'm back to Malaysia and the taste is average to what I have in Phuket) By the way, if you look at the picture closely, they have this menu with gold metal plate cover which is a bit heavy to lift it. (*Ya, the menu was so heavy. I could hardly lift it up. Haha!) We even took a picture of it with the waitress after the dinner.

We take a tutu ride to the nearby Dino Park for couple of golf session after the dinner. Before entering, we were greeted by the baby elephant at the entrance. In my whole life, I never touch a baby elephant before except toys. :D The baby elephant was feed using cucumbers and we're given a basket of it. (*There was this foreginer who passed me a basket of cucumbers and asked us to feed the baby elephant. And he wanted to take a photo with me too. Unfortunately we didnt manage to do it as it's too fast. Hey, it reminded me of this handsome guy who wanted to take a photo with me while I was in Snowy mountain in Aus :P ) After that, it is about time to test my golf skill as i never play golf before. The environment is interesting because it uses the dinosaur as theme and those hole are placed in a challenging way to reached. The first shot I took flies into the bushes and i have to search it with my gf. My sister took a very nice picture showing our butt. hahahaha. Maybe brutality is not a good way to achieve my target. Anyway, we had a great fun there took a lot of pictures. (*The golf game was really a good exercise for me as i sweat alot. Moreover i slipped down quite a number of times while helping to take photos. Finally i just sat on the floor and helped to take photos. Haha!)

After the golf session, we walked around the nearby shop to see any more souvenir to get. We also took some picture at the tutu ride on the way going back to our hotel. (*It was my first time to sit on the Tutu car. Good experience!)

On the next day, is the day we heading back to Malaysia. We took more photos around the hotel and at the airport and back to Malaysia around 1 in the afternoon. So far, me and my gf was very satisfied with the trip and i really wanted to thank my sister for providing us such a wonderful stay and company at there. I believe we will be back there again in the future because Phuket is a really nice place for vacation and food. (*Ya, Phuket is a good place to rest and relax. I agree with him that we will definitely go back there again for another holiday in the future. :) )

* Added by my gf

Phuket trip 22-05-2006

The third day

As usual, we woke up early in the morning and took our breakfast in the hotel. Well, the breakfast is served in buffet style and they have plenty of choice. I think it might take a while before we getting bored having almost the same breakfast every morning.

Anyway, after the breakfast we went to the town by bus. It is not a bus actually, but a modified lorry with seats behind and travel around phuket to pick up customer every 15 mins. The fare is cost around RM 2.50 per person per trip. (*I always like to take the local bus and explore around the places I visit to. Because I think this is one of the better ways to get into the local culture.)

The first stop after we have arrived, we went to the nearby temple. This temple is actually a Chinese temple where most of the figurines worshiped here are quite familiar in Malaysia. We bought the candles and joss tick (except there is no lotus bud) in a package for praying. They have a lot of goddess there and it's about 11. The interesting part is that, they go by numbers (so you won't miss any one of them) and the joss tick is just enough for all of them (3 joss tick for one god and everybody has fair share :P). My gf was assists by the local personal to guide her through all the pray process; as for me, I just follow thru. (*The local resident there was really friendly. He helped me to carry around my hat and my thingy all around while I was praying. Although I don't speak Thai and he does not speak English or Chinese but I think we're still sharing the same purpose - to pray!)

After the praying was done and took some photo at the temple, we were interrupted by a taxi driver. It is the same person that we saw when we were stepping down from the bus. (This is quite common because the taxi driver usually find their customer by this way) We were a little bit shocked because we thought we're followed. However, after couple of chat, we told him that our next destination is the Robinson Department Store. (This place is well known for shops for souvenirs and shopping.) From the map we got in our hand shows that the departmental store is very far away from the temple and it's not within walking distance. The taxi driver told us that he can take us there for only RM 1 per person. We were hesitate at first, but after couple of thinking and consideration, we took the deal.

After we hop into the car, the first stop the taxi driver took us was not the departmental store but to another temple. I was surprised and a little angry plus uncomfortable because the taxi cab didn't take us to our destination. Anyway, we believe that the driver has no ill purposes (bad intention?) since my sister told us that the crime rate at there is low or none at all. So, we took some photo there and hop back on the taxi again. I think the driver did mention to us about his working schedule or policy, that in order to earn some meal he needs to take us to some of the local store or shop. He has a coupon that needs to be chopped by those store supervisor and when the chop is full, then he can earn a free meal. I wasn't paying much attention at that time and I felt much better after clarified the issue. (*Can you believe that?! Just RM1 and the driver will fetch you to the destination! But of course along the way to the destination, he fetched us to other spots in order to get his coupon stamped. Anyhow, I do respect their spirit to earn a living though it did make us feel uncomfortable with the way!)

So, we were taken to one of the souvenir shop. Nothing much at there except all the local handcrafting item. We didn't bought any there though and the driver said it's okay. After that, we questioned the driver again why the fare is so cheap. He told us that May is the low season of Phuket and hardly had any tourist come here. So, the store keepers offer this package to the drivers to attract more tourist to their shop.

The next stop was a jewelry shop and we spent almost an hour there to see those shiny diamonds. (Believe me, it really shiny) The price is quite reasonable and offer much better price than in Malaysia. Again, we ask the personal there and he told it was the low season where the price will be slightly cheaper to attract customer.

After the visit at the diamond store, we finally went to the Robinson store. It was around 2 PM by then and we spent around 2 hours there to get our souvenirs and stuff. Then around 4 PM, the driver came back just like we wanted and we go for shop visit again. We asked the driver whether he can sent us back to the hotel and we'll give him some money for that. He agreed and bring us to the shop visit on the way to our hotel. We went to the second jewelry shop and again, almost the same thing we saw in the first jewelry shop. Shining diamonds. (*Diamond is a woman's best friend! Haha.. You promised me to get me one in Phuket next time right?! :P) After the jewelry shop, we went to the local food product store to get some snack. Finally, the last souvenir shop before we back to hotel and i told my gf that no more souvenir visit because I had enough of it. :D:D:D

After we reached the hotel and brushed ourselves up, i called my sister and we have a evening tea break at the hotel. Around 6:45, we was pick up by a van and headed to the local famous show, The Phuket Fantasea

We have couples of photo session and my gf bought a nice hat there. The show started at 9 PM and end at 11 PM. The van took us back to our hotel along with other foreigner who seems to like to the show very much and we also very much enjoy the show too. (*I liked the show. It was great! And the show did win the Best Tourism Attraction Award in Thailand. :) )

*Added by my gf

Phuket trip 21-05-2006

The second day of our trip.

After a good night rest, we woke early in the morning and went for breakfast at the hotel cafeteria. Then later around 10 am, we met up with my sister again and planning to go for the temple visit.

After an hour drive from the hotel to our destination, we finally reached there. We bought some joss sticks, candles and a lotus bud. The lotus is a bit weird to me because I never tried that before in Malaysia. (*I like the lotus bud. It looked so beautiful and pretty to me. I guess it's their culture to pray with the lotus bud. However, lotus bud is a symbol of purity for Chinese culture.) After we prayed, we went around the area to take some photos. We went to the near by flea market to get some souvenirs after the photo session. (*I got a good bargain on the local-made handbag. I never knew that i was a good bargainer. :P) It around noon by the time we're leaving the temple and it was started to rain.

Our next destination is the Phuket shopping center called the Central Festival. It claims to be the largest in Phuket. Anyway, we went there to get our lunch. Not a formal lunch actually but a cup of fruit shake. As know by most of the people, Thailand has reputation of having very affordable lingerie. So, after shopping session, i'm the only one who come out empty handed. (*You could have gotten some undie or singlets. :P)

After the shopping session, it was close to 2:30 pm. As promised by sister, she will bring us to the local spa. (I and my gf are not very familiar with that place until we come back to Malaysia and check out their web site). We took the oil massage and it cost us around 100 in Malaysia ringgit. (I believe that's the standard price for most of the spa service.) They have different type of oil to choose and each of them have different scent. After an hour spend in the spa, it was really relax and relief to the mind and body. (*All I can comment on the oil massage is the therapist is really a professional. Somehow, on that day itself, it was drizzling outside. The weather, the environment and the massage - they made a good combination.) We also bought some of their product like the body scrub, lotion and etc. (I just only bought the cookies)

After that, we went to the Patong streets again and have our tea time at the local starbuck cafe. Of course, that was after another round of shopping again. (Gee, maybe it wasn't so nice to travel around with girls) We sent our jeep back to the car renter and he send us back to the hotel. We reached the hotel around 5 PM in the evening and get some rest for the dinner tonight.

Around 7:15 PM, we went out again and this time with one of my sister colleague. He drove his car and we all 4 heading to the town for dinner. I'm like cars and my sister's colleague was driving a Honda City VTEC. It was a really nice car with large room and comfort. It priced very cheap in Thailand as well. I was told that the car cost around RM68K, plus it is the newest version of Honda City . (*I was never good at recognising cars. But what i could see in Phuketalot of Honda City that's. Haha :P) was

Anyway, it took another 45 mins drive to reach there. To my surprise, it was really a funky restaurant. That's not all, a nice restaurant has to back up with really good food and it has it all. Here's the photo where they have aquarium inside the TV. (I didn't take much photo at there because i think i went there for dinning, not for photo shooting.) I recommend to go back there again to anyone who is going for Phuket for travel. The name of that place called Natural Restaurant. (*Yah, really salute their innovative mind. Who would have ever thought of turning the monitor into an aquarium besides the TV?! :P)

After the dinner and couple nice chat at the restaurant, we went back around 9:30PM and rest.

*Added by my GF

Phuket trip 20-05-2006

I went to Phuket before and that was before tsunami happened there. So, this time, why went back there again? There are couples of answer to this question. First it's near, which means the air fare is cheap. Second, my sis is working there so, traveling to places will be easy since she knows there well. Third, after I went to Bali, I found that Phuket has an unknown attraction that makes me want to go there again. (*Another reason I suggested we go there was because I never went there before. :P As what he said, the airfare was cheap. I thought it's a good time to grab the chance as well.)

20th May - Our flight is on 12:45 pm but we reached to the air port around 9:45 am. (I think on the way to air port was a bit too smooth on day even though nobody went to the new LCCT air port before. Well, it's better earlier than sorry) While we were there waiting, we had our breakfast at the local McDonald and took couples of picture there. (*I like 24 hours shop, that's why I took a photo under it. Wonder why I like 24 hours shop, perhaps because I used to be a late sleeper and at least there are 24 hours shops that I can go?!) When the time is around 10:45 am, we check in our luggage and waited there for our plane to come.

Our flight reach here around 12:30pm and we start boarding the plane around 12:45pm. While we're walking towards our flight, we noticed that they have a make over on their plane. (Yes, Manchester United picture was printed on it and I'm not one of their fans) On board, we found that the Boeing A320 was only 2 months old and they have this smoking air coming out from the wall. (Hey! I thought we're riding a non-smoking flight) (*Oh ya, smoking flight or steam flight? Haha)

Anyway, the flight took us around 1 hour to reach Phuket and we had our lunch on board. By the time we touch down, my sis already booked a taxi waiting for us. The taxi again took another hour from the air port to the hotel. By the time we reach the hotel, it was around 1:40 pm (Phuket is one hour slower before Malaysia time). After that, we met up my sis at the hotel lobby and check-in into our room. After putting our luggage at our hotel room, (It was a really nice room) (*I like the bathroom as it has 2 sliding doors. Haha..it's fast to get out from the secondary sliding door than the primary) We went down again to the nearby cafeteria and have an afternoon tea with my sister. After the tea time, my sis went back to work, so we went around the hotel and the beach for some photos. (*The wave was big and scary. I didn't even dare to stand near the sealine. It was also quite windy and foggy. But I still liked the weather and thought it was nice.)

Around 4 in the afternoon, we went back to the hotel to brush up and met up my sister again. My sister rented a white jeep and plan to take us around phuket.Our first stop is at the Nai Harn beach. We spent around 15mins there having our photo session. By the way, the weather in Phuket in May wasn't really good. The wave is big and the sky was cloudy most of the time. So, it seems we have to pass those other island trip. Anyway, after the beach, we went to the Cape Promthep for the sun set. As mentioned, the sun set wasn't quite visible due to the weather but we had a very nice coconut drink there. :D (*I like the way they eat the coconut flesh there. Unique! Cut out part of the coconut shell and use it as a spoon! Really creative! But i guess this is the caveman's way to eat.) After spend around an hour there, we headed to Patong town for dinner.

We reached to the famous patong street where the street went wild in the late night. Unfortunately, we reached there around 8pm so it wasn't crowded yet. We had our dinner at a small restaurant. Here is something i want to emphasise about. Even though the restaurant is small, but the food is taste really good. (After the trip, i went back and try out the thai food in malaysia because i miss them so much, the taste still taste not as good as the small restaurant.) Not mention the price which is quite reasonable even it's located in the town which flooded by the foreigners. (*Agree. thai food there is no doubt much more delicious and also the price - "nice and reasonable". Won't burn out your pocket!)

After meal, we walked around the town to get some souvienir. On our way back to the jeep, we saw a buch of westerners went nuts after they saw a Corrona mascot on the street. Especially the guy in between the mascot's legs! :D (*I like Patong Beach. It gives me an impression like the "lady's street" in HongKong. However, it does have its unique characteristic, like those "tiger" bars and the transsexual ladies (ah kuas). Just got so much to see there. :P Hehe)

it's about 10:00pm when we reached back to our hotel and rest for tomorrow trip. :P (*I didn't realise that we did so many things and went to so many places on that day itself. I didn't think I was that energetic! :P )

* Added by my GF

Breakfast is served

This morning as I come to work as usual, I wanted to try other thing for breakfast. This is because every morning, I bought my breakfast from the same stall and I’m getting bored with it. Today, I wanted to get the tuna sandwich near my workplace which taste much better but a bit more expensive than the stall. However, due to I arrived there very early in the morning, my tuna sandwich still haven't open for business yet.

So, I think maybe I come down from my office later to get it. When I reached my desk, I remember that I have 2 instant noodles inside my drawer. It was a gift from my friend who came back from a trip to Thailand. Then I have an idea of having the instant noodle for breakfast because I’m sort lazy to going down to get the sandwich. So, I took the noodles, went to the pantry and start cooking. Here how it goes:

Below is the ingredient and tool needed to prepare the breakfast.

Tool: Microwave oven, a bowl, water cooler machine, fork and spoon, hand towel

Ingredient: 2 instant noodle from Thailand

Direction: Clean up the bowl, fork and spoon using tap water. Open up the instant noodle packet and put the noodles and flavor powders into the bowl. Pour hot water into it using the water cooler machine until the water lever covers up the noodles. Make sure there is enough room for the water to boil. If the water level is too high, when it boils, it will spill and you will loose some of your soup. :D Then put the whole bowl into the microwave carefully. Set the timer to 2 minute and the temperature to high. While the noodle is cooking, prepare the fork and spoon on the table. Prepare yourself a cup of coffee if you wish too because we have plenty of time. Sit patient and wait for the food to cook. Do not open the oven frequently to check whether it’s cooked because that will hinder the cooking process. Once the oven rings, make sure the rings stops before open (That’s what my father told me to avoid wave still coming out from the oven). Open the microwave over and use the hand towel to carry it out from the microwave oven. This is to make sure your dirty hand didn’t touch the bowl and for hygiene purposes. Then breakfast is served. Repeat the direction above for the second instant noodle if the bowl is too small for 2 noodle.

Caution: Do not eat too fast even though the food taste really good because it might burn your tongue. As for children, do not try this at home.

Love the game

I received a forward mail today regarding a guy died in his office for 5 days and nobody knows. The cause of the death is heart attack and the guys just lie on top on his desk when he dies. The article also mentioned about this guy is the first employee comes to work early in the morning and work until late at night. The person who actually finds out was the cleaning lady where she expected nobody will be back to office on weekend until she saw the guy lying there for 2 days. The main point was the end of the forward mail where it was added by the email author. “There is no point working so hard, because nobody will notice it”

I’m not really agreed with it. My point wasn’t about working hard and someone should get notice with it. It about notice shouldn’t be related to working hard at all. If I want to get noticed by someone, I can just run around the street in naked and no doubt everybody will get noticed.

Working hard is about what the person love to do and get really serious about it. The guy above is actually a proof-reader, which before an article goes out into the street, the article has to be checked to make sure there is no mistake such spelling or content by the proof-reader. From here, I can imagine that his job has to be really serious and plays an important role in his organization. Does the guy had in his mind that working hard will get him noticed? Nobody knows except the guy himself.

But somehow, I found that some people nowadays love recognition, power and money more than the job itself. Example, the email author believes in getting noticed on the job and not about loving the job. Not to mention all those agents along the hallway of LRT station giving out leaflet on how to get higher pay by working at home but no description on what’s the job about. People knows how to get rich by opening businesses but do not have the interest in the business itself. (Maybe that’s where the criminal comes in. The person doesn’t care whether the business is legal)

I believe working hard comes naturally when you really love the game. It’s a game that you can play really well and love doing it again and again. Bill Gates is a multi billionaire and has a fortune to feed him for a lifetime. However, he still appears in public promoting his software. Why? I bet he really loves his game.

Cut and paste credentials

I was reading the new paper this morning and found an interesting article regarding credentials. It was about people who create their own fake certificate to apply jobs in order to get a higher pay.

The author mentioned more on an chinese idiom; regarding people who didn't go for education end up building wealth and network in the first hand instead of spending time in education. However, for those who earned the education end up working with the imposter. So, for those who has wealth, the education can be sorted out by itself.

I believe the article is not a new issue because I have seen it before. However, there are questions to be pondered upon. There are 3 types of scenario here.

1. People who earn the title or the education.
2. People who has experience but fake the education
3. People who has no experience and fake the education.

People with scenario 1 and 2 can be acceptable since the knowledge and skills are there. The question comes in for those people in scenario 3. How would they able to perform when the environment requires their skill and expertise? BS thru their working life? Or maybe the company just want to show to the shareholders they have so called "expertise" working with them? Well, i believe the question remain there. Beside that, if they really can fake their expertise and knowledge thru the rest of their working life, I think it's better for them to go into sales line where their "skill" is much required in that field. :P

Finally, I really like the author final conclusion which is not the certificate but the education journey that makes the difference. :D

Putrajaya one day tour

Mosque, and more mosque-looked-alike building

BBQ gathering

Click on title to go to the album. For more photos from friend, click here

Back to Kuantan - Day 3 & 4

10^th Mar – The third day in Kuantan. In the morning, we went to the so called “Kemaman kopitiam” in Kuantan. I went to the famous kopitiam in Kemaman before and believe me, their coffee is really good. I thought they brought the coffee to Kuantan town because my dad mentioned to me before that this sort of kopitiam was booming in kuantan. To my curiosity, we went there to find out. It looks almost the same as the one in kemaman, the environment feels also the same but the taste is way far, I repeat, way far difference from the one I taste in kemaman. Not to mention the food/coffee price is almost the same or more expensive than the I’ve tasted in KL. (I think most people have this sort of tendency of jumping into the trend bandwagon. However, those “bandwagon jumper” seems to lack of passion or quality in their business and I don’t think their customer come back for more. The first customer starting to do that will be me.) Anyway, life goes on.

To prove to my gf that the coffee in kemaman is far way better than the one we tasted in Kuantan, I decided to take her there. It just only an hour or two drive to reach there and unfortunately, it didn’t open on Friday. (Can you believe that? People in Kemaman off on Friday. Gee.) Since, we’re there, we just move to our next plan which is the Cherating beach. Nothing much you can see there except tree, sand, sea, kite, cap and couple of people there. (Unfortunately, no nude people sun bathing on the beach. Maybe they’re on the other side of the beach.) Anyway, we took couple of pictures there and heading back to Kuantan.

On our way back, we wanted to stop by the Legend hotel to check out the hotel there for photo session. Just before the turning into the hotel, we saw a guy asking for help with his gf, and his car stranded. Then I went down and talk to the guy just to find out one of their tire is punctured. His didn’t have his tool to remove the wheel, so what I did was just lend him my tire iron (used for removing the wheel) and he was grateful that I’ve helped. I have no idea how my gf took the photo, but it’s kinda funny to see that I’m like dancing beside the guy in the photo. After he had changed his tire and return the tool back to me, I continue my journey into hotel. Due to there nothing much in there, we had a quick stay and we moved on to back to Kuantan.

When we arrived at Kuantan, it was just nice for lunch. We went to the Kuantan famous pan mee. Then later, we went back to the condo to get some shower and rest. After that, we went out again to go the park Taman Gelora. It was Small Park for the people to exercise and do some fishing. Although fishing in the lake was prohibited, people just fish on the nearby beach. Again, photo session and walk around in park with my gf.

We leaved Tamam Gelora around 6pm. As promised, we went to Teluk Cempedak beach again just to take even more photos. Just before the sun set, I called my dad for where we’re going to have our dinner. He decided to bring us for “bah kut teh”. Although the place wasn’t I expected to be the famous one in Kuantan, nevertheless it was still has its own specialty. (Dried or “kon lou” “bah kut teh”). After the dinner, we just went back to our condo and prepared to leave on the next morning.

11^th – The last day of our trip. We’ve prepared our stuff and luggage, and leave the condo around 9 in the morning. We went to the cafeteria where it was famous of its curry mee for breakfast. After the breakfast and I have returned the keys to my dad, we went straight back to KL. We arrived in KL around 1 pm and later that day, I got a friend’s wedding dinner to attend. It seems like this vacation is really well spend.