One Liners

We noticed that Marsha is tall now. She can now reach the medicine box in the fridge. We noticed this when she said "eee, ubat pink tak shedaapppp".

I just realized that I look very gay in my Skype profile pic. That explains the IMs from strangers.

I'm updating these one-liners coz I got calls for not updating my blog. There, it's updated now.

Satisfying 60,000 Fans

Last Tuesday's match between Arsenal and Slavia Prague will definitely go down in my book as a 'very special' match. Though Arsenal demolished the travelling opponent by 7 goal margin, all 60,000 fans, both Arsenal and Prague, in the stadium, went back home in a special magical disbelief and emotional state of mind - they all know that they've just witnessed the best football match of the year, or for many more years to come.

Well, don't just take my word for it, read on...
http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/2007/10/24/awesome-arsenal-restore-faith-in-beautiful-game/

Space, Gravity, Mars & Malaysian Astronouts

As we are enjoying our self-greed to pollute Earth and bring it to its death, a simple solution for life’s continuity is simply to pack-up and head for Earth 2.0. And with Mars being the perfect match to earth’s geology, a hijra’ must be planned. But it’s a long journey, about 200 years of travel, hyperspace or not. And naturally, the list of ‘things to do’ needs to be prepared.

First of, can we live for 200yrs without Gravity?

Gravity is THE most important thing on earth. Water, fire, earth and wind mean nothing without gravity. Our muscles, brain development and 5 senses are all developed in existence with gravity.

Astronauts lost huge masses of muscle when in G zero. By the 4th year in G0, the bones get so brittle; it’ll break into pieces as soon it hit gravity. So, list of ‘things to do’ #1 – emulate gravity in the mother ship.

Now, can we give birth without gravity? They tried with quail eggs. It didn’t hatch in space. So, for a journey where we’d expect our children’s children to make it to Mars, this is not looking good. Then they tried with mice too. Took the pregnant ones into space for few weeks, bring it back to earth for delivery – and guess what – the little newbie mice’s brain could not recognize orientation. So, even if we could find a way to deliver babies in G0, we gotta fix this, mainly to avoid our offsprings from failing the Martian’s sobriety test. So, that’s “things to do” #2.

Hmm, the list goes on and on; like the space suits, cosmic radiation, psychological effects, human conflicts and etc… but just the 2 items above already causing the brainiacs in MIT headaches.

Anyway, hip-hip hurrah for our Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar. Note to your grandchildren: Next stop; Mars.

http://www.angkasawan.com.my/blog/

Darth Federer

The Roddick-Federer game was just mind-boggling. There was Roddick; obviously on juiced-up steroids, serving at Mach 5 and putting his best performance ever. And there was ice-cold Federer; dressed all black aka Darth Federer, soaking the pressure with ease and simple changed gear to close the game. I remember telling myself at that moment; “this is just unreal”. And finally, I found an article (URL below) that unfolds the flabbergastation: Federer is not human.

Read it here (http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld)

Four current top 10 players -- Fernando Gonzalez, James Blake, Tommy Robredo and Nikolay Davydenko (Federer's semifinal opponent) -- are a combined 0-34 against Federer.

Wednesday, Roddick tried landing 71% of his first serves for the match and a remarkable 81% in the second set. He tried committing zero double faults and just 24 unforced errors over three sets. He tried holding serve and avoiding even a single break point through the first two sets. He tried taking good, calculated chances at the net and hitting as crisp and authoritative a backhand as we've seen from him. He even tried wearing black.

Hail, maybe this "Federer" started out as an idea in the mind of some Sega Genesis game designer, but the algorythms just got out of hand and he leaped across the Great Divide like some character out of a Philip K. Dick novel.

Beyond that, do you ever notice that this so-called "Roger Federer" has perfect hair that never seems to get mussed or out-of-place - the dude looks like one of those pictures your local barber has tacked up all around his mirror, hoping you'll be hoodwinked into dropping an extra Jackson on the full "I want to look like I'm in a boy band!" look.

Switch!

It's final. I've switched over. Streamyx is history. And 3G-broadband is here to stay. When I signed up for Maxis Broadband, I was a bit skeptic - is it fast enough? is it reliable? But after 2 weeks, I'm sold. The fact that I could still be connected no matter where I go (with 3G coverage) - now that's priceless. It has been a month now. And I'm loving it. Adios Streamyx.

Kuching, Sarawak

Kucing is Malay for ‘cat’. Asked a Sarawakian on why their capital city was named after an animal, and you’d get the simplest of reply: “coz there’re many cats here”. But fear not, for I can pledge that, in my 3-nights of vacation in Kuching, I did not detect a single cat-poo anywhere. Not even a whiff of it. In fact, Kuching is unbelievably clean that it was even voted as one of cleanest town in M’sia; so the brochure says.

Enjoying the Air Asia 'cheap' ride

Food
Ah, the most important agenda in traveling, or life. For breakfast, Rojak Kucai is the fav of the town. Not nasi lemak, nor roti canai. Kinda looks like Pasembor. But served with fried chicken. And it goes with something that we’re all familiar with – the all-Malaysian teh tarik. Other than this, I can’t find anything more unique about its food in comparison to West Malaysia. Except that, Sarawakians don’t really dig on spicy and hot-chilli food. Seafood - is a must. Try the butter prawns or anything 'sea'. Anyway they do it, it’s gonna be good. We went to a place called Top Spot, located on the 6th floor overlooking the gorgeous view of the town. But, the service was super-slow. I’ll surely return, but I’ll make reservation first.

Waterfront
This internationally acclaimed piece of river-bank is beautiful for night strolling. There are handicraft and food stalls and even sampan-ride to cross the river. Word of caution though, the food is a little expensive. The infamous giant ‘teh tarik’ is RM18. Regular fruit-juice that’s packed with ice instead of fruit-juice is RM6. The food is just so-so. And the service, again, was painfully slow. There’s a River Cruise restaurant-ferry with loud music that operates there. But, as soon as I heard it was playing NKOTB song, I decided to pass the ride.

Trying to 'blend-in'

Marsha really enjoys watching this. Really-really enjoying it...
... that she even found herself a dancing partner!

Cultural Village, Santubong
Located near Gunung Santubong, this mocked-up village is a crash-course on learning about the people of Sarawak. We gawked and gaped and froze half-dead at the RM60 per person entry fee, but once we’re in, it was worth it. But if you’re bringing along the whole family, aunties, uncles and long lost cousins, better check the wallet first. The whole ordeal will be ~4-6hours, so, bring that stroller. Love it.

Flying crocs. Why do we have to piss them off?

Crocodiles and Wild Animals
Yes, wiki-up Sarawak, and Orang-Utan will pop up on the screen. We managed to go to Jong’s Crocodile Farm. And Marsha loved it. Be sure to go there during the feeding time at 11:30am.

Handcrafts and Souvenirs
Stuffs made from wood and beads are a big thing there. Blow-pipes are cool too. Uniquely Sarawak. So are sago, pepper and kek-lapis. So, don’t worry about not being able to buy enough souvenirs.

A sweet pair of ... cats.

People, Roads & Transportation
Unlike West Malaysia, Sarawak consists of multi-ethnic communities, all 28 of it. But the general commonality is that, most of them are fair-skinned. There are many museums around. We hit the ‘Cat Museum’ that was surprisingly fun – for kids. Contrary to the ‘Borneo’ tag-line, Kuching town is surprisingly up-market and beautifully done. A drive at night paints a different picture. The whole town is strategically lit-up to display a wide array of colors and effects. It’s really breathtaking. And best part; the roads around town are amazing. It could even possibly stump KL. But the public busses are still re-living the 60’s. Avoid that. And tourists are aplenty. So, you’re never alone.

Did I mention that Marsha really lovesss the dancing show?

In short, Sarawak was a blast! And that’s just coming from us who were just gyrating Kuching, that’s only a tiny dot in Sarawak’s map. In future, I’d probably not go to Kuching anymore, but really looking forward to check out other parts of Sarawak. Special thanks to Vi for putting us up and driving us around. We’ll never forget it. Great experience!

Cellphone & Multimedia Shouldn’t Mix Too Much

The biggest limitation to making a cell-phone an equivalent to a micro multimedia computer is always the same; the battery life. Use the phone as a phone; you’ll have 3-5 days of stand-by. Use it as an MP3 player; you’ll have 12-20hours of usage. And use it as a video-player, 2hours – max.

I face this issue on one of my travel. Loaded with an MP3 and video-capable phone, complete with ‘offline/flight-mode’ to accompany me during those lonely hours of commuting, I ended-up NOT using it at all, for fear of battery drain-up – which is the LAST thing I need upon reaching the destination. And if I did, I would’ve gone to the phone booth to make calls and look really dumb – mainly coz the numbers that I want to dial is IN the dead phone. I guess, phone manufacturers should state clearly: “The multimedia functions are your license for bragging rights and not to be used like a real multimedia tool.”

So travelers, go get yourself an iPod, a portable DivX player and an internet-browsing-picture-viewing-gaming PDA, and save the phone for making calls. And if you think you need a hand-bag for this, if it makes you happy, by all means ;-)

iPhone

Reality bites. Just as I was reaching over to my iPhone to answer a call, I realized that - I don’t have one. Sigh. The reason to this psychopathic delusional behavior is that, for the past 21hours, I’ve been reading nothing else on the Internet but iPhone’s reviews. I’m such an iPhone expert now, that I’ve even studied the ‘inside’ of it (more info here, at anandtech.com).

It’ll probably be early next year until it docks Malaysia. And I sure do hope that Mr. Jobs comes up with iPhone version 1.1 by then. Coz the one released on 29th June is just a tiny short of some features that I want. So, here’s my list for Stevie.

3G HSDPA (or better) Support
Bluetooth Support for File x'fer, synch. & A2DP
MMS, definitely
Video Recorder
Auto-focus Camera, capable of macro shots
Web-browser with Flash support

Feature wise, Nokia N95 probably is a better “multimedia-phone” than iPhone. But, iPhone’s amazing UI and tasteful package are peerless. Making it luxuriously priceless. Just like an iPod. But, being a hardworking Malaysian, it’s a big spending for a phone. And until it meets my small list of ‘must-haves’, I’m sticking to my N95.

Eh, wait a minute… I don’t have N95.

My Useless Guide to Compact Digital Camera

Digital cameras are getting cheaper by the day. Nowadays, for just RM500, you can get an 8 omigod million eye-ball popping pixel snapper, really. But before you run off and get yourself one, check out my must-haves based on my compact digi cammy eXperience (the capital ‘x’ is used just because it looks cool), because in the end, there’s no substitute for quality.

Image Stabilization
You need this, trust me - unless you’re a micro-surgeon. Hand-shake is inevitable. Especially when you’re holding something light and small.

Wide-angle Lens
My current cammy doesn’t have this. And how I WISH that I have it. 28mm lens make a LOT of difference. 35mm, now that wide-angle is available, is downright cruel and should never have started life.

Fast Start-up
This is the BIG prominent gulf between cheap and expensive camera. A good camera should take ~1.2 to 1.5 second to boot-up. Cheap 8MP camera will take 2 years to do so. And next thing you know, by the time you’re ready to shoot, the subject has grown beard.

Fast Operating Time & Shooting Speed
Another big difference. This is where some cammy makers applaud themselves with their 3rd-Gen Venus engine or Digic ver 2.4 processor in their multi-million ads – when nobody actually cares or understands. But, truth is, cameras must be fast – be it moving on from function to function or snapping hysterically. Try deleting a picture. If it takes 2sec to do so – it’s a crappy camera.

External Controls
The more buttons it has on the outside, the better. 3 most important buttons that you need externally is Delete, Flash and Movie to Still. Ya, the less buttons it has, the better looking it is. But, some practical standpoint, I’d rather have all photographic functions to have dedicated external buttons.

Battery Life
Check the reviews in the Internet (you cheap-skate!) and pay a special attention to this. Buy only if the battery could snap-up ~150 to 200 pictures on a single charge, and that the battery only requires ~30mins to be fully charged.

Well. I’m no pro in this. But hope this helps. It's 2am, and to hell with typos and grammar mistakes. Ka-chow!

Potty-trained

Potty-train is a BIG deal. Marsha started her training when she was 1.5yrs old. And at 2+, she’s graduated. Well, she still needs to take up night classes. But, as parents, we are very happy. Coz now, with ~70bucks of saving a month, we can resume our habit of buying useless stuff like auto mags and hair-clips (ask the missus). Anyway, this would never have happened without the initiative, patience, persistence and perseverance of… Marsha’s nanny, our maid, Kak Hindun. So, if you wanna ask us about potty-training, just call the house and talk to Kak Hindun straight ;-)

We’ll be upstairs; reading mags and testing out hairclips.

Terima kasih, Kak Hindun.

Sceneries of a 20-min-drive

Things that you can see in Boleh-land in a 20-minute drive.

1)Unswimmable rivers
2)At least 5 food stalls by the road side
3)Around 3 law-breaking road users
4)An old rotten bus (at least)
5)An infested abandoned dog
6)If you’re lucky... open-burning
7)If you’re really lucky, you can see the guy who does it
8)And of course… *drum roll*… a toll booth!

Cameron Highlands

There's something sweet about Cameron H'lands. Ya, it's dirty; rubbish and flies everywhere (They blame it on the "natural-based" fertilizers. Yea right, I don't see any flies in the farms. It's the waste management system, just work on it!) and there are just too many cars than the road can handle. But, it has its charm, all 18deg Celcius of it. And couple that with raw food; vegetables, tea and flowers (if you're into eating stuff like that), it's definitely a magnet.

I won't recommend Cameron Highlands to tourist though, as the rubbish alone, not to mention the pukey diesel fumes from buses and Land Rovers, would kill them instantaneously. But for Malaysian (and Singaporeans and Siamese) who suffers day-in day-out at 32deg Celcius, Cameron H'lands is THE place to chill out, without needing much pasetas.

Plan for a 2-night stay. Not less. And definitely not more. And rent an apartment with kitchen facility. That way, you can have a full-vegie diet, with tea of course, for 3 days in a row, with friends of your choice. Eat as many strawberries and sweet corns as you can. And buy bucket loads of flowers. Those stuff are dirt cheap over there. Read a book and just let the hours pass you by. And once you've done the 2-nights, you will never want to go there again, for at least another year or two.

Abolish Penalty Shoot-outs!!!

Penalty shoot-outs are just pitiful. A penalty kick, as we know, is always 90% luck. Which is OK for what it’s intended for; as a form of punishment or fine over a foul. But to be used to determine a match winner is downright unethical. 90mins of pure athletism, endurance, skill control and body-mind karma, not to mention countless hours of trainings and sacrifice, would just go down the drain.

Penalty shoot-outs must be scrapped. Here’s my take: If it’s a draw scoreline, then bring on the extra time. BUT, tell the goalie to take a hike. Yup, an open goal. Play and SCORE till you drop – provided you don’t get red carded for hand ball. Draw scoreline? Not a chance. Ridiculous scoreline? FAT chance, plus all the display of skill, determination, desperateness and quirkiness. That should be interesting. Say NO to Penalty Shoot-outs! Open goal extra time!!! That’s what we want to see!

There must be a reason...

...but I just can't think of one... but, I'm sure there must be a reason...

KL Tourists

Q: Hi there. Where you guys from? Singapore?
A: Err.... Kulim.

Imitating as tourists, we had lots of fun in KL. We stayed in a hotel and took pictures all over, at the lobby, pool, on the LRT, monorail, KLCC – you name it. It was Marsha’s first time on LRT and Monorail, or in any public transportation actually, so it was no wonder that, amidst the glum and tired looking commuters, we were the only bunch saying cheeeeese!

Disney's on Ice's Finding Nemo at Bukit Jalil, where we almost got lost. But it was well worth the drive coz Marsha was soooo HAPPY!!!
She loved the show! Marsha with Kakak Yasmin. Marsha is SO fond of Kakak Yasmin, that sometimes, she dreamt of her.Wow, monorail! An exotic dinner. Love the food but... let's not do this too often... I think I gobbled up 2million of arabian calories here.
Night stroll in KL. Not intentional actually. We had to walk to transit from the LRT to the Monorail. How convenient. But, good experience.
Did I mention that Marsha lovessss Disney's on Ice?

Very sorry to Kak Ida for missing out the sailing outing. Our schedule was too packed. And I’m quite frustrated that we didn’t take any pictures with Gwen and Mr. Bagak at Madam Kwan’s (very good food!). Glad to be part of your anniversary plan.

In short, KL is superbly FUN (as long as you're a tourist)! You’ll never run out of things to do.

El Cheapo El Router

My 3yr old D-Link Wireless Router finally gave up on me and decided to go blinkers. I bought it at a so-called dealer's price of RM290. Money well spent. So, off I go in search for a new w'less router, and to my suprise, even now, in the era of wi-fi everywhere, the cheapest 'branded' router is at RM245. And that's D-Link at PC Depot. Anyway, cut the chase, I finally found a cheaper router. And it's even backed with a lightning-proof lifetime warranty with a one-to-one exchange policy. The installation was easy, and best of all, it's a Belkin! Yup, from the people who brings you lots of iPod accessories, I got myself a "Designed in California, Made in China" Belkin router, for only RM188! Works flawlessly, recommended!

Ban Grey Colored Cars

I met an accident yesterday as I was coming out of a corner. A car in his rightfully path banged me at 50km/h. Sigh. Legally, it was all my fault, I know, but I kept on thinking - how did I NOT see that car coming?? I really thought that the road was clear. So, my conclusion is: as I was in a hurry, I just took quick glances of the road and vroom away. And the fact that it was drizzling and the car that hit me was grey colored, that car was virtually INVISIBLE on an tarmac road. So there it is. All of this COULD be avoided if the car was not an asphalt camouflage.

Ironically, the car that hit me had accident bruises all over and just got out of a workshop a week ago. There. My point is valid. Grey colored car spells "you can't seeee me".

Putrajaya

It's a horsie, Marsha!
The main reason for me getting a car with a sunroof... Very "boulevardish", don't you think?

Imagine this: A housing community without any fences or gates. Wide pedestrian walk. Super clean streets. Lushes of green along the roads. Clean playgrounds at every few blocks. No crazy dogs nor stray cats. Benches along the walkways. Howdy-doo friendly neighborhood.

Nope. It’s not Wisteria Lane.

Though it may sound just like another neighborhood in the US, but actually… believe it or not, this is a housing community in Malaysia. And nope, it’s not another ‘gated” community in Malaysia where dwellers pay a premium price to enjoy the “open” life under an invisible shield where your mom and dad needs to surrender their IDs to the security post at the entrance. Nor it’s another kampong, where in addition to lush greens and no gates to speak of – could very well be infested with menopausal chicken and goats with attitude.

I’m talking about Putrajaya. To actualize a Wisteria Lane wannabe in Malaysia is probably not impossible, but to put it up in such a humongous scale such as Putrajaya is simply awesome. Strange (for Malaysian) it may feel to be living in a house that does not have a fortress-like features like a 6inch thick wall and steel gate surrounding it, Putrajaya succeeded in making the dwellers feel safe, warm and not-naked. Of course, having the whole town swarmed with CCTVs and well guarded by the local police instead of Bangladeshi security guards, do help a little in securing some confidence.

Anyway, I really do encourage people to visit Putrajaya. It’s as astonishing as the Twin Tower is to Swedish. It’s very well-planned (at least we can rest assure that there ARE some people in the Government who are good in planning). Google it up and learn more. It’s incredibly wow. In fact, why not spare a few hundred grand and live there!

Well, best wishes to my big brother and his family on their new home. I'm sure the kids will miss Bangsar. But, nothing beats a kampung... opss, I mean, Putrajaya life. We're just happy to be able to celebrate Azim's birthday. Azim, Raisa and Nadia: thanks for taking Marsha to the playground at 3pm. She is now shiningly tanned :-) I'll see you guys again early April.

Ipoh was great!

We went to Ipoh last weekend for my nephew's wedding. And of course, that gave us a good reason to spend the weekend there and support the "cuti-cuti Malaysia" thingy. And, as usual, hotel stay NEVER fail to boost Marsha's adrenalin. Here she is doing pole dancing :-)

Be All You Can Be!

Are you a "role model" or a "case study"?

Joker of the Month

Believe it or not, this picture was choreographed
by our funny-gal... Miss Marsha. Joker!

Self Reflection

I am, by all means, not perfect... by 53.6 gazillion light-years away, to be exact. But, it's a relief to know that I'm not alone. But ironically, I can't help but noticing that there are some people who actually thought that they ARE perfect. More ironic, some of these people, they are just wayyy OUT of the scale that it's just impossible to plan a salvation. In short, these are the ego-centric people. A common trait for these type of people is that, they don't really practice 'self-reflection'. Instead, they adore criticising others. Other's imperfection glimmers like a diamond to them, and how they love talking about it. But as I try to understand this group of people, I notice that most of them DO NOT have good friends. Yes... they might think that they have, but the sad truth is, no of them are true friends. Which brings us to the fact that, without true friends, you can't perform "self-reflections". There's no one to criticize you. Or to correct your mistakes. Or to give feedbacks or inputs when you ask (or do not ask) for one. Do you notice that when ego-centric talks, nobody will say anything or debate the topic? The reason is mainly because, ego-centrics are emotionally-based and often talk bad of others. People keeping quiet while they talk is just a way to past time until they stop talking or leave.

Anyway, self-reflection is a sure way of improving yourself. We must all know where we stand in this world and keep improving our position. And a quick way of doing this, is to perform daily self-reflection with your best friend. Of course, by default, if you're married, your best friend is your spouse. Talk about annoying things you see, and try to understand why it happens. And of course, ask if you are as annoying as that. Your spouse will give you an honest answer. And you'll improve from there on.

One reason ego-centric drifts further away is that their ego is too big that they do not want to expose their imperfections - especially to their 'supposedly' best friend - their spouse or partner. And, really... that's just fundamentally wrong. Think about it. Anyway, in short, if you do an environmental scan and realizes that you don't have a good friend that can give you an honest answer or finds it difficult to 'open-up' to your partner or spouse, then it's time to check that "ego-meter" and step off the "ego-pedal". Worry not... nobody's perfect... and it's never too late.