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15 January 2012

2012-01-15T22:05:00.003+08:00

Last November the kind people at Nuffnang gave me 4 free TGV movie passes for my birthday. Last month I tried to watch Ghost Protocol at TGV The Mines with my wife. When I tried to redeem my voucher the staff there said that those passes are not applicable for new blockbuster movies like Mission Impossible. He told me to come back in like 2 weeks time when the movie is not so popular anymore. That despite the fact that it was stated on their website that we can actually watch any movie including blockbuster ones although we had to top up an extra 5 bucks each. Apparently the staff there didn't get the memo. Anyway since we came all the way there we decided to buy the damn movie ticket ourselves. So much for free movie passes.

Earlier this afternoon I tried to redeem the remaining 2 movie passes at TGV Sunway Pyramid. As expected the staff at the counter claimed that those passes are not applicable to watch Sherlock Holmes as well. We get to watch other movies though, although the lame and not popular ones like Hell's Gate, Jack & Jill and My Mother Bought Me A Tricycle. Not to disappoint my kid who was ready to cry, I decided to watch Jack & Jill anyway. No surprise the movie was pretty awful but my kid had fun and laughed with everybody else at the stupid jokes.

I understand that many free things today comes with a dozen terms & condition, this one no different. That said TGV Cinemas should just print in big bold letters on their free movie passes that they are applicable only for lame boring movies that nobody wants to watch. Just spare me the bullshit. I can still afford going to the movies if I want to. The latest flick is just two clicks/download away.

4 January 2012

2012-01-04T20:19:00.002+08:00

Today my kids started going to a new nursery, kindergarten and transit house. When we first started sending them to the Tadika Cahayaku Seri Nilam in Taman Pinggiran Putra 2 years ago, we were full of praises for that place. The owner was nice & very understanding, they took really good care of our kids and the fees was really reasonable too. We got a generous discount for sending both our kids there. But last year, the owner sold her business to another person. And this new management, let's just say that they were not really satisfactory. So much so that we decided to send our kids to a new place this year. Honestly, it was so much trouble changing kindies that we'd rather stay at the old place if only they weren't so bad.

8 months old Hana Alisha had no problems with the new nursery because she is still too young to notice anything. Adam Farihin likewise liked the new KAFA school immediately and he only spent a few hours at the transit point so there's no problem there. Mia Ariana on the other hand was rather hesitant of going to the new place. She cried and wailed when we left her at the new kindy today. The first day is the hardest for children her age. Thankfully by the 3rd day she made new friends and had no problem going to the new place every morning again.

Like I said, if I could I'd rather have their Mom stay at home to take care of all three of them. That's just not possible at the moment. Maybe in the future.

1 January 2012

2012-01-01T19:58:00.017+08:00

Six months ago I decided to grow my hair long, again. Most of my life I had only 2 hair style, clean shaven or really long. So this is that time of my life that I let my hair grew long.

Funny though, I usually don't last more than six months. Normally some thing would happen that will make me want to cut my hair spontaneously. The last time I had a really big dandruff problem that I couldn't go another day without scratching my scalp. This time thank God for conditioners.

Hopefully this time I would last more than six months. Being bald is boring now. Happy new year.

24 December 2011

2011-12-24T20:58:00.000+08:00

Yesterday we had a little ceremony at the office. A new presents exchange tradition. Everybody had to buy a present, 40 ringgit minimum in value and we would change them with each other through a lucky draw. There were like 10 of us and for my part I bought a lovely IKEA table lamp for RM45.00. Guess what I got in exchange? A lousy small box of chocolate and a romantic love songs CDs. I mean whoever bought physical CDs anymore nowadays? There's iTunes and there's 4shared. Not very thoughtful whoever that fella is.

Later in the evening we all gathered at Atrium Lounge & Café in Sunway Pyramid for dinner. It was a 80 bucks per head buffet type dinner. The place is located right next door to Sunway Pyramid, sandwiched between the shopping mall and the resort. The ambiance & environment inside is quite nice. The place is filled with people but not too crowded. As always I tried a little bit of everything from baked salmon to Mongolian barbecue. We ate there until 10:00 pm. I tried to join in the conversation but I couldn't make any sense what they were talking about since they're not speaking in English or Malay. Still, I had a nice time there. Who doesn't like free food right?

The next morning I woke up with a really bad stomach ache. My tummy was in constant pain but yet it's not diarrhea because I had no urge to go to the toilet. I'm guessing the raw baked salmon from last night didn't really agree with me. It's definitely food poisoning. We planned to go back to Tanah Merah early this morning but since I was so weak and in pain we didn't go until 10:00 am. My wife did 2/3 of the driving while I slept for most of the journey. At least I tried to. By midday my body was hot all over and in addition to the stomach ache I now have a fever. Just great.

Nevertheless we made it safely to Tanah Merah, thanks to my wife. After this she can already drive from KL to here all by herself already. As of the moment, after an extended visit to the restroom my tummy felt a little better. Still I felt weak and this throbbing headache is killing me. Good night.

22 December 2011

2011-12-23T15:56:00.002+08:00

I have this age-old ritual whereby whenever I bought a new shoe, I will spend a night sleeping in them. No kidding. I've been doing this since my teenage years. It's not like I'm superstitious or something, it's just that I'd like to 'feel' the shoe, walk around with it inside the house for the last time before I go out and cannot do that again.

So yesterday I bought a new pair of boots. As always it's a Blackhammer, the same brand that I've been buying for the last 7 years. It's very tough, comfortable and most importantly affordable (and yeah I'm also loyal). You can find their HQ in Serdang next to the Pasar Malam. As usual with any new shoes I also slept wearing it last night. At least for the first 5 minutes before taking it of.

I'm too old for this kind of nonsense :)

Sent from my iPhone

13 December 2011

2011-12-13T10:10:00.032+08:00

There's a story to tell behind this picture.

Yesterday I sent my USB flash drive to the cleaners. Literally. It was in my jeans' pocket and I totally forgot about it until it came out fresh and clean from the washing machine. That's why I had to put it under the desk lamp overnight. Other than that, I also used the old store in a bag of rice method for another night just to make sure all the moisture is really gone. Today prayed to the Lord and plugged the flash drive into my PC. Guess what? It still works! Perfectly. So next time you accidentally sent your electronics to the cleaners, remember: lights and rice.

That thing I used to prop up the flash drive under the lamp? It's a packet of Yasmin pills. Married couples should know this. It's our preferred method of contraception. This thing is quite expensive too at 50 ringgit a pop. Previously we've been using Marvelon. Well actually my wife does all the hard work. She claimed it makes her fat so the change to Yasmin. Compared to our previous method of birth control, this one is heaven. My sex life has never been better since. Some people prefers IUCD. That's good too. But that method is even more expensive. Some claim it has it's fair share of side effects. Actually every birth control method has some side effects. You'll just have to deal with it. Whatever it is I prefer the previous two compared to coitus interruptus. Personally, I feel one of the main reason guys get married is so that they can let it all out at the right place and the right time. Coitus interruptus is suitable only for porn stars or unmarried couples. I hated it. It doesn't feel right.

That little UMNO notebook you see there is a gift from a friend. I use it to write down all the movies that I have burned to my DVDs. Just because I hate UMNO doesn't mean I have to throw away a perfectly good notebook. That's all. The End.

11 December 2011

2011-12-11T10:26:00.045+08:00

Last month I got 4 free movie tickets from those kind people at Nuffnang for my birthday. Today I finally get to see a movie with my wife at TGV The Mines. Early in the morning we visited my Mom who just came back from Mecca, left Hana with her and went on to watch the hottest movie on the screen today, Ombak Rindu with an all-star assemble such as Aaron Aziz, Maya Karin and Lisa Surihani. The movie was adapted from a Malay novel of the same name which I haven't read (or plan to). Overall it was a good movie really. Filled with tragedy, love and ultimately a happy ending.

That said some people seems to have an issue with the movie. Utusan for example ran a full-length review condemning the movie as useless garbage. Former MTV VJ turned actor/host Wardina also seemed to think that this move would set a bad precedent to Muslims, especially the youth in the country. Aaron Aziz never prays (what do you expect? He's Singaporean) and Maya Karin seemed to enjoy being pimped by her captors. The thing about arguing with these so-called pious people is you can't really win against them. Simply because they're on the right side. God's gift to humankind. If they're so holy, what business do they have showing up on TV every day especially TV3, mother of all slanders and lies?

If it wasn't for the fact that Ombak Rindu did so well and many people were singing praises about the movie, I doubt any people would rise up and launch a crusade against it. It's a movie for goodness' sake. Purely for entertainment. Nobody's perfect on the silver screen let alone in real life. A bunch of hypocrites that's what you are. If you think this movie is bad then stop going to the cinema or stop watching another movie, ever. All of them are shit and worthless anyway. Stay at home or join a tabligh like my brother. If you're so holy and good, be consistent. Not whack a decent & completely harmless movie and then go on a date with your boyfriend. Holy people shouldn't be dating. Be more like PAS. They consistently fight to uphold the tenets of Islam. No matter if it draws the ire of some section of the community. At least they're not hypocrite.

Seriously. Stop going to the movies, ever.

4 December 2011

2011-12-04T21:18:00.037+08:00

It's school holiday again and time to bring my kids to Disneyland!

No? Not even to the beach or any theme park?

I wish.

Thing is it's not that I don't want to. It's just I can't afford such luxuries right now. Not yet at least. So we did the next best thing. Pack them off to stay with their grandparent for a month. At least our parent would be happy. So would the kids, I hope.

When I was little, my parent did the same thing. Almost every school holiday my Dad would fetch us and pack us off to Penang to live with our grandma during the holidays. I guess that was the decent and economical thing to do other than let us waste our school break doing nothing. My grandma, she would be delighted to see us then. She would cook us all kinds of wonderful meals and food, like that authentic Penang fish curry. You can't find that kind of curry anywhere else in Malaysia. Only a real Penangnite can cook a fish curry like that. And I don't usually eat fish mind you. But for her, I'd make an exception. Let's not forget about her legendary 9 inch roti canai. Yes, my grandma makes her own roti canai. Don't need to go to no mamak to have roti canai whenever we were in Penang. Grandma would roll her own dough, spread them around, flip them in the air like a boss and cook them on the round pan thingy just like a real mamak. Where'd she learn to do that? You guess is as good as mine.

Apart from that she would also ask my uncles to bring us sightseeing around Penang. We would visit Bukit Bendera, Padang Kota Lama, Komtar and have a bath at Batu Feringghi among others. But the highlight of our visit must be Penang Fair. We can't wait to visit that fair. It's huge and we could watch concerts by the top artists of the day and play all kind of games. It was the good times.

However as the years go by, my uncles started to have a family of their own and then suddenly we have nobody to take us anywhere anymore. So most of the time we just chill at grandma's big house at Lengkok Pemancar, Gelugor. Since then, our annual visit to Penang was not that fun anymore. My Dad would be too busy working in KL, Selangor, Johore or God knows where and the only time he has was to pick us up from Pasir Mas and drop us in Penang. We'll only see him again about 4 weeks later. Around that time I wish he would stop sending us there to Penang in the first place. The fun and games was all gone and I especially felt like a prisoner in that big place. Don't know what my siblings felt though but I stopped looking forward to such visits soon after that. Worse I started to create all kind of mischief to get their attention. Once I sprayed aerosol all over the second floor and got a handful of scolding from my grandma. Not to mention get into a fight with my cousin Fendi. I was really bored. After my parent got divorced, we rarely go to Penang again, if ever. Maybe once in two years, something like that.

So you see, I'm worried if my kids would somehow feel or experience the same thing. I do hope that's not the case. Mia for example is very friendly and has no problems making new friends. Adam on the other hand is rather like me, shy and very reserved at first. But over time he'll warm up to others. Eventually. That said, I trust their grandparent has something fun and exciting in store for them back home. After all Linda's father just retired from the force earlier this year. He for once has all the time in the world.

If not, at least Adam has his new Playstation console to play with at home. When I was his age, I'm just happy playing with my cheap video game console all day long. That's how I became the champion Street Fighter player in the neighborhood. I hope that rubs off to him somehow.

Disneyland and similar theme parks will come. But not right now. The future maybe.

1 December 2011

2011-12-01T20:53:00.010+08:00

Today my sister in law gave birth to a new baby boy named Muhammad Umar Khalif in Manjung, Perak. It's their first boy in the family after having 2 girls previously and they're mighty glad. The husband is going to slaughter 2 goats in gratitude. Welcome little Umar. As you will soon find out, I'm your coolest uncle ever.

25 November 2011

2011-11-25T20:33:00.010+08:00

A few weeks ago, I received an email invite for this Malam Kecemerlangan (excellence awards night) from the Institute of Education Development (InED), UiTM. It is a night to celebrate long distance students who's got on the dean's list during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th semester which I happen to be. Since it's free and it has been ages since I've been to dinners of any kind, I quickly replied yeah count me in.

So today I had my best shirt and pants on, shoes polished and even my favorite neck tie around my neck for the occasion. Actually I only have one neck tie, that black one that I bought from Tesco last week for 16.90. Thanks to 5 years of boarding school, I still remember how to wear a tie, effortlessly. The event was held at Shah Alam Convention Center we got there as early as 6:30 in the evening. Much to my dismay, most of my guy classmates decided they were too cool for this event and bailed. Well, it's your loss.

The event itself is pretty modest yet glamorous if you see how some of the girls dressed up. The food was so so and the awards-giving ceremony later on didn't feel that special especially when you have 200 other people getting the same accolade as you. Still it feels nice to be recognized by the university after all these while. Although we worked twice as hard and paid twice as much than the full time student, the university had largely ignored us for the past 3 years or so no matter how well we did.

For me, I had a good time. Good food, good company and the chance to dress up once in a while. Check out these photos from the night at my Posterous blog.

24 November 2011

2011-11-24T20:11:00.028+08:00

When I celebrated my 30th birthday, I used to work with something that I love. Information Technology. At least that's what I thought. I still love IT though. But circumstances at my old workplace made me left something I love doing the most towards something that I don't really enjoy but I had to do nevertheless. At the end of the day, or end the month, it's the pay check that matters. On time. Mouth to feed and bills to pay, those kind of things.

Just because I didn't like it now, doesn't mean I won't like it forever. People can change. My job scope could change. Things happen. I call this a transition period. Perhaps once it pays good enough I might just close my eyes on the unpleasant things. Perhaps. But for now I'll just take it in my stride. Take each day as it comes. Be grateful for what you have. For others might not be so fortunate.

Big thanks to my wife who bought me this huge chocolate indulgence cake and the card. Also to my friends online and offline for all the wishes. You guys are awesome. Check out this sweet birthday present from @shhaslinda. I always wanted one of these. It's like she could read my mind or something.

23 November 2011

2011-11-23T12:14:00.042+08:00

Last week my wife lost her iPhone 3G in a little accident at home. Actually it was more of a tragedy and it involves Mia Ariana and a full bladder. Anyway as any regular iPhone users should know, after using the best damn phone in the world for some time, they would exhibit withdrawal symptoms after losing it. That includes lack of sleep, loss of productivity (Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja) and that empty feeling deep down inside. So my wife rather than suffer through all 5 stages of agony, decided to do the wise thing and bought another iPhone (after much prodding and moral support from her husband).

That brings us to this beautiful new, reconditioned iPhoned 3GS phone you see above. Since iPhone 4 is still too expensive for our budget, we had to settle for the next best thing. In Low Yat Plaza there are two types of iPhone 3GS'. Second hand or a reconditioned (recon) unit. There's no such thing as a new iPhone 3GS in the market right now. If they say it's new, it's probably a recon unit. A recon (new) iPhone 3GS phone at Low Yat is only around 1K while a second hand iPhone 4 is about RM1.6K but they're still hard to come by.

To me, this old and underpowered iPhone 3GS still beats the most of the best or newest Android smartphones out there. Although those droids easily outshine the 3GS in hardware specifications, software-wise they're still light years behind. iOS 5, iTunes integration and hundred of thousands quality apps on and off the App Store. Can Android copy that? I don't think so. During my short-lived experiment with Android, I had a tough time finding any decent app for my phone. And even they come from the same publisher, somehow the Android app will look much uglier than their iOS counterpart. And have you tried to root (jailbreak) an Android? I did. About a dozen times actually but failed every time. I consider myself technologically advanced and yet I couldn't liberate my Android even by following all the instructions online to the letter.

Then there's the case of Android fragmentation. Sure there are literally hundreds of Androids to chose from to suit any budget. However some of the cheaper Android phones are so crappy, you better of buying a generic Nokia dumbphone with Symbian. The screen is to small, virtual keyboard is impossible to press and the onboard RAM is a joke. Plus the OS update takes forever to come. Although Google has released the latest version ages ago, they will mean nothing if your phone's manufacturer keep dragging their feet on releasing their on version. You just can't connect to iTunes and download the latest update every 2 months like the iPhone.

Next is lack of iTunes or a central repository for software and multimedia organisation. Sure you can easily transfer movies and download apps for the Android but once you had to do a complete restore, the result would be messy. Unless you have a 3rd party backup app (like Titanium backup) installed, getting your Android phone back to normal would be a pain in the ass. With the iPhone you just plug and sync everytime. Now you can even do it wirelessly with iOS5. I can go on and on about the advantages of iPhones over Android but the bottomline is, Android sucks. So does Windows Phone and Blackberries. End of story.

So if you're planning to get a smartphone soon, there's only one brand of phone to consider. You know what it is. Yes they're still expensive but it's a long term investment which you won't regret.

21 November 2011

2011-11-21T14:29:00.000+08:00

She
May be the face I can't forget
The trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She
May be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day

She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
The smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She
Who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She
May be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I'll remember till the day I die

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the rough in ready years
Me
I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is

She
She, oh she

13 November 2011

2011-11-13T11:58:00.016+08:00

As promised, every semester I would display my exam result here. Wait, did I really said that? I don't think so. Only if the results are good may be. But what the heck. I'm gonna put them up here whatever the result was. If it's really bad, let that be a motivation for me to do better.

So here they are. As you can see, I suck very much last semester. 1 A, 2Bs and 1 C. Although I can give you a couple of excuses you know like change of career, family and stuff, in the end the final result would reflect how much effort you put in at the beginning. Obviously I didn't attempt to do my best here. I didn't allocate enough time to study, I skimp on my assignments and I had this feeling that one or two of my lecturers last semester were dead set on giving us low grades

Anyhow, the conclusion is I am ashamed of this result. Having to do better next time would be needless to say. I don't think I deserve to receive that Dean's List award they're giving out next week.

11 November 2011

2011-11-11T21:52:00.002+08:00

Today is 11/11/11 which is a big deal to some people but totally means nothing to me. They're just numbers for God's sake! Nothing different from any other day of the year. Today also happens to be my 7 year old's Record Book Day. It's a day where parents of school children come to the school to meet the class teacher and find out how well (or not) their kids have done through the semester. So no more bringing home your record book so your parent can whack you good if you didn't do well. Today you can do that right in front of the class.

Anyhow, before the exam I promised Adam an iPod Touch if he gets 1st in class. It's not like I don't believe in his abilities, it's just that Adam didn't do any much studying before his exam. We had to pronounce all kind of threats before he attempts to do any revision. So I was indeed surprised that he managed to get 3rd in class today. The only subject that kept him off of the top spot was Arts which he got 75%. That is only because he didn't came to class the day before and he didn't know he had to bring his water color and manila card for the exam. Else, who knows he might be top in his class today.

3rd in class is definitely ain't that bad. Of course we would get you something. When I got number 1 in school during standard six, my Mom gave me 20 ringgit. Which I duly waste on a toy truck at Toys R Us. Our Adam is not that type of kid that demands this and that from his parent. Still it would be a befitting if we reward him with something nice. I know of parents who never gives anything to the children even if the consistently score top marks in school. To them, being excellent in school is their born duty and responsibility. Why should they be rewarded for that they say. I say WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? WHAT KIND OF SCREWED LOGIC US THAT? Do you want your kids to grow up bitter and resentful? Every kid deserve some reward sometimes even if they got last place in class. It's common courtesy.

23 October 2011

2011-10-23T22:27:00.000+08:00

We have just returned from sending my mom at the Tabung Haji complex in Kelana Jaya tonight. After waiting for like 5 years it's finally her turn to perform the hajj in Mecca. Even then she had to make an appeal to fast-track her departure, else she would have to wait much-much longer.

Like any decent Muslim, it's her very wish that she would want to perform the ritual at least once in her life time. Today it costs her about 12K to do that. In the future it would cost much more because of inflation.

Despite my nonchalant appearance, deep inside I was somewhat sad to see my Mom go (who doesn't?). She won't be back for another 40-odd day or so and it's the longest we'll be without seeing her. I pray that she would be alright and return safely home in December. Take care now Mom.

22 October 2011

2011-10-22T16:34:00.000+08:00

The past 2 days I've gone outstation at the Manjung power plant. I've been to Manjung a dozen times before but this is the first time I've ever been inside the coal power plant for work. Since it's an impromptu visit plus it's not weekend yet, I didn't get to bring my family along. I'm sure my wife and kids would love to visit their aunt and cousins there.

Speaking of work, it's been nearly 3 months now since I started here at this new place. Sometimes I felt so lost and hopeless in this line of work. It's just too foreign for me. It's like learning ABC all over again except that this felt more like rocket science than kindergarten. Once I consider myself the expert in my field, but now I'm like a beginner once again. I won't deny it crossed my mind to look for other more satisfying job, related to IT but then again it's only been 3 months and job-hopping after such a short time won't look good on my resumé. Besides, I think I'm made of stronger stuff. That and the fact that my current employee has been nothing but super nice and accommodating to me so far despite my dismal contribution. I guess I'll hang on for now until new opportunities come along.

Today a colleague of mine, Farid tendered his resignation. According to him, he's planning to further his studies at a college down south. He could either be telling the truth or he just got better offers from other companies but he's too chicken to tell the truth. After 31 years, I'm not so naive as to accept everything somebody tells me at face value. Anyhow, I totally understand if it's because of the latter. He did the same job as this other fellow but the fellow gets paid more just because of his race. That sucks ain't it? So now I'm back being the only Malay guy at this firm. Oooh I felt so special and privileged. I think there's been no less than 5 people who quit working here since I came. One lasted 2 month, another 1 week and the record so far was Shikin who came to work for a day and then changed her mine, LOL! I tell you, this place I'm working at right now is not for the faint-hearted.

19 October 2011

2011-10-19T11:31:00.002+08:00

Self-esteem & confidence he's got aplenty.

18 October 2011

2011-10-18T07:51:00.002+08:00

Catchy

11 October 2011

2011-10-11T15:53:00.000+08:00

After using Android for 2 months I have come to the conclusion that the OS sucks. Maybe it's just my crappy HTC Wildfire, maybe it's standard with all Android phones but I just can't see myself using the OS anymore.

First there's the space issue. Although you can always add an external SD card, up to 32GB in fact, the truth is many apps requires installation on the phone only. Which sucks, big time. Why? Because most Android phones has anything from 512MB to 2GB of internal storage only so naturally they will ran out of space in like 2 days. Imagine if you have 512MB of ROM with the HTC Wildfire for example. 128MB from it is reserved for system files. So the balance, only the measly 384MB is available to install all your favorite apps. No matter if you have 16GB or 64GB memory card. Many Android apps is phone only, meaning you can't run them from the external memory card.

And then there's the jailbreak factor. The entire 2 months of using my Android, I tried like a dozen times to root the phone but to no avail. I think I combed the web pretty thoroughly, following all the instructions to the letter. But nope, in the end always fail. Compared to the iPhone, it took me less than 5 minutes to jailbreak that thing (ipsw file download time not included). What's up with that? And I thought Androids were suppose to be open. Let's not even talk about the apps. Sure many of them are free but most of them are shitty as well. Something that you don't want to install even when they're free. And the interface and design of those Android apps looks like shit compared to iOS. Aesthetically, they don't even come close.

So in the end I threw caution to the wind and bought myself an iPhone again. Yes I had to sell my HTC, digital camera, MiFi device and my left kidney to pay for half of it but I think it's totally worth it. And while I'm at it, why not the iPhone 4 I thought. It captures gorgeous pictures so no need for a digital camera anymore. And with my Celcom Mobile Internet plan, I find the old but trusty MiFi device now redundant.

2 weeks later I have not regretted a bit buying the iPhone again. I have basically used every iPhone model out there from the lowly 2G to the iPhone 4 and I dare-say the iPhone is the best phone money can buy.

Besides, I missed the Instagram app so much.

7 October 2011

2011-10-07T07:34:00.000+08:00

6 October 2011

2011-10-06T12:16:00.000+08:00

So what do we have here?

I love my brand new Targus 4 port usb hub. It's black and it has 4 ports. I like the way the cable snug into the body.

My Android phone is constantly low on space. No matter how much apps you throw away there can't seem to be enough space in there. Despite the fact that my 2GB SD card is barely used. Some Android apps stubbornly wants to reside on the phone only and there's no option for you to move it onto the SD card. Unless you root it first. Which I did try for a dozen times already. And failed every-time. Damn I thought Android is Linux and supposed to be open. I guess not. Come to think of it, it is harder to root an Android than to jailbreak an iPhone. And they called Apple a 'closed' system. The irony. That just adds to my case of buying an iPhone again. The only thing getting between me and that is the monthly instalment. Dare I add another one to my already burgeoning list?

My trusty Casio wristwatch has water in it. Don't know what happen but one day I saw tiny little bubbles of water inside. Maybe she's thirsty.

I have 3 notebooks/journal/diary but precious little written on it. All of them given by my friends.

Now about work.

Wait, what work?

29 September 2011

2011-09-30T15:55:00.000+08:00

Did you know there's a new Internet service for your smartphone provided by Celcom? It's called Mobile Internet and it's open for any Celcom postpaid subscribers. And guess what? I registered myself for one today! Okay this is a big deal because from now on I don't have to carry my old but trusty MiFi device anywhere again. This device is already small but still if you put it in your pocket, you cannot help but notice the weight and the bulge it makes. Not to mention the heat while it's operating.

So Celcom's Mobile Internet is like God-send for Internet junkies like me. I can now tweet and facebook and read my email anywhere, anytime. The package starts from RM28 a month for 384kb of data, 38 ringgit for 1GB and up to 5GB for 88 ringgit a month. Like me, I subscribed to the RM20 Exec plan so in total only pay RM48 a month. Brilliant. It's a win-win situation for everybody. Celcom got their money and I got my mobile Internet. To find out more about Mobile Internet checkout their website here. If you already have a Celcom postpaid line, just go to the nearest Celcom branch to register your Mobile Internet package.

Now, anyone interested to buy my trust D-Link MiFi? You can use it as a WiFi access point anywhere by just inserting your broadband SIM card in it. Contact me if you're interested. Going price starts from RM380, negotiable of course.

28 September 2011

2011-09-28T11:39:00.001+08:00

My reason to wake up and go to work every morning.

27 September 2011

2011-09-27T11:20:00.000+08:00

Accidents do happen. Especially on your pay day. I blame the divider. This left me 170 ringgit poorer.

25 September 2011

2011-09-25T11:03:00.000+08:00

20 September 2011

2011-09-20T13:44:00.000+08:00

6 September 2011

2011-09-06T23:21:00.002+08:00

Especially for @shhaslinda

5 September 2011

2011-09-06T21:30:00.001+08:00

1 September 2011

2011-09-01T23:45:00.000+08:00

Today we went frolicking in Rantau Panjang doing some shopping. The road to Pasir Mas was bumper to bumper but after getting myself that nice yellow Malaysian track top, it's all but worth it.

Today is also my mother in law's 51st birthday. Thanks to Facebook I can get up to date with everybody's birthday especially my family. Linda's mom is the best mother in law that you could ask for. She's been really nice to me, went to great length to help me, my wife and kids and make my stay feel so comfortable. And I'm not saying this just because my wife reads my blog. Happy birthday mother.

31 August 2011

2011-08-31T23:26:00.000+08:00

This Hari Raya I got myself a new job. Although it pays well, I need to work extra hard sometimes to justify the pay that I get. It's not easy jumping headlong into a new field but life isn't always a bed of roses. This Hari Raya I drove home with a brand new car. As much as it felt really good to do so, it would also mean I had to set aside some extra money to pay for it every month not to mention mileage and maintenance.

This Hari Raya I lost 4 kilos from fasting and a total of 15 kilos from my dieting and exercising. It's not easy sometimes maintaining your discipline, holding yourself from all those good food and waking up at 6 a.m almost every day running 5 kilometers around the neighborhood, dogs and all. But just looking at how good you are posing for your Hari Raya album in a size L dress, it's all but worth it. It's amazing what you can achieve when you really sets your mind to it. It's all in your head.

After this Raya things will get even tougher at work and I would have an even harder time resisting all those nice food especially since I can afford them now. Life is never easy. You'll just have to try the best you can.

30 August 2011

2011-08-29T23:11:00.000+08:00

This year my brother Faiz and elder sister Lina didn't come home for Raya since they're spending the holidays with their respective in laws. That said, our Hari Raya this year is still happening and gay with all my uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces coming back home to Pasir Mas. After the customary get together at grandma's place, my siblings and I would have another Raya tradition to conform with - seeing my dad. Usually we would me at a restaurant somewhere between Pasir Mas or Kota Bharu since my dad are not exactly welcomed here in Pasir Mas and we also don't really feel like going to his place meeting our stepmother. It's a long and complicated story, you probably don't want to know.

Anyway, this year my dad cordially invited us siblings to his place in Pasir Pekan regardless of how we and our mother felt towards the person living there. He and the missus were holding an open house or something and they would like us to come there for a change. Actually I have no problem going there, meeting her for the first time. My mom, grandma and sister however didn't feel the same. So in the end we met somewhere by the roadside in Wakaf Bharu since we couldn't find any open restaurant this first Hari Raya and all. It was awkward and I felt sorry it has to go on like this. I wish we could move on and let bygones be bygones. But for some people, the cut runs deep, very-very deep.

29 August 2011

2011-08-28T22:55:00.000+08:00

When I was a kid I used to save up my school allowances or every penny that I could get my hand of every fasting month for one thing and one thing only in my mind. To buy firecrackers. After saving up for the whole month, I will usually have a drawer full of crackers and lit them all up on the Raya eve. I would have so much fun and then the whole house would be filled with thick heavy smoke from the aftermath of my fireworks show. Those were the days.

Today I will think twice even before buying my kids those cheap, harmless sparklers. Now only I realize spending my hard-earned money on firecrackers and stuff is akin to burning them, literally. Now I know why my mother would never-ever bought me any of those firecrackers or sparklers. She just had so many other more important things to think of other then a little bit of fun for me.

28 August 2011

2011-08-28T20:23:00.001+08:00

27 August 2011

2011-08-27T17:54:00.030+08:00

So begun the rush to go home for balik kampung has. Klang valley folks have started to flock the roads and highways to go back to their respective home town since Friday so naturally roads everywhere is reportedly congested with traffic. Me I have totally expected those dreadlocks so we decided to wait a whole day until the mad traffic rush subsides. So we went back on Saturday evening instead.

In which my calculations were proven totally correct because traffic was smooth all the way from MRR2 to Bentong, Gua Musang and finally Tanah Merah. Of course we chose to skip Bentong and took the Sertik-Mempaga route and yet we still arrived in Raub just in time for break of fast. I have always wanted to take my family to eat at this little fast food restaurant in Raub since forever and only today I managed to do so. Marrybrown isn't exactly the hippest or trendiest eating spot around but somehow I have this strange and unexplainable connection with this local franchise. Something about those long lost, sweet memories in UPM's Marrybrown perhaps?

I meant to get home around 12:30 AM just in time for the Liverpool game but we could only plan so much. By 1:00 AM we were still nowhere near Kuala Krai so I decided to stop by somewhere in Laloh to watch the game at an eatery there. Although tired and super sleepy, it was all worth it since Liverpool cruised to a 3-1 victory over Bolton. 2 hours later we finally arrived home safe and sound. Now I remember why I don't like driving at night. It felt so much longer, it's really tiring and sometimes I had a difficult time trying to keep my eyes open. That's it, no more evening trips home.

26 August 2011

2011-08-26T17:08:00.050+08:00

Earlier this afternoon, I went to Lafarge cement plant in Rawang to meet with some contractors there. I was supposed to discuss this plc diagram with them despite the fact I have no previous experience whatsoever with this thing. Actually this didn't surprise me that much because my new boss had this habit of throwing us new staffs straight into the sea and expect everybody to get the job done. It's up to us to learn how to adapt or in my case bluff my way around the job he he.

Lucky for me this discussion didn't last that long because obviously those guys didn't understand much what I was explaining. In the end they decided to stick with the original drawings and do the modifications themselves. Phew. Imagine there I was with my shirt and pants without any safety helmets or jackets at the cement plant. I was like a fish out of water. Had I known sooner I'd prepared myself better. Anyway I got back to the office around 4:30 PM. At my old office, the boss would have let everybody before 3 o'clock on the last day of work before Raya. I guess this new place didn't have such tradition. So I waited impatiently for the last hour to pass by which felt like eternity.

In the end 5:30 finally came and I went not home but straight to Low Yat Plaza. You see, my iPhone was having this problem with the touchscreen. I was thinking of fixing the screen when suddenly it flashed in my mind, why don't I just trade in this phone for something new? I mean it's been having so many problems, one after another and what guarantee do I have that this phone won't go bonkers again in the future? Furthermore between me and Adam we had dropped the phone like 20 times previously. It's a miracle that the thing is still working right now.

So I didn't give it any much thought and spontaneously swapped my phone for an HTC Wildfire Android phone. Of course the shop had to reduce the trade in price a little bit for the broken screen so I end up paying a hundred ringgit extra for the new phone. Although I have been relentlessly expressing my undying devotion for the iPhone, doesn't mean I would never buy a different phone brand ever. I've always had a soft spot for Google's Android so naturally it became my second choice if I had to choose another one. At the end of the day I went home with a new phone and a big grin on my face.

Yes I am already missing my precious iPhone. Although the Wildfire is newer and shinier, no phone could ever replace the phone that changed everything. Of course I fully expect to revert back to the iPhone some time in the future.

25 August 2011

2011-08-25T06:32:00.015+08:00

So I got my first paycheck today. I was a little bit concerned that I might only get this 3 days before the end of the month like everybody else here but thankfully my fears were allayed when I received this crisp & beautiful check with my name written on it this morning. Actually a lot of things that worries me somehow about this new job disappeared when I got this check. It all seems worth it now.

Before today I've planned of doing a lot of things with my first pay. I'm going to treat my wife, my kids and my mom for dinner. Not forgetting some of my closest friends from workplace past. And then I'm going to buy myself some nice new clothes for work (not Hari Raya okay). I badly needed to add more options to my sorry wardrobe collection. The thing is my check should only be cleared on Monday. By that time we would be in Pasir Mas preparing for Raya. Shopping and treating my loved ones will have to wait then. Thank you Allah nevertheless.

24 August 2011

2011-08-24T06:07:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I was supposed to pickup our brand new car in Pandan Indah. Since I had to be in Sungai Buloh with my colleague who didn't manage to finish his work until late at night, I had to take a train to get there. Just my luck, the train ran an hour late so by the time I got to KL Sentral it was already Maghrib. So after stopping by to pray, I quickly board the LRT to Masjid Jamek and then to Pandan Indah.

It's been quite a long time since I last took a train so I struggled a bit to find the right train to the right destination. There were only two trains but there were also 4 different lines that they took. Choosing the right one and waiting on the right platform was rather tricky. Anyway I did made it to Pandan Indah. I thought I would just walk a short while to Pandan Capital but when I got there it was dark and I had no idea where that building was. Lucky for me I called the car salesman and he willingly agreed to pick me up from there. He took me to the showroom and I signed some documents and he explained to me a bit about our new car. Half an hour later I was driving home our brand new Alza. But that's not all, I went to pick up my wife and then she drove the new car to my office so that I can take my Savvy home and then we went out to Seri Kembangan for a test drive. You know so that she would be familiar with the routes to take when she drives the car tomorrow to work.

Working the whole day at the factory and taking 3 trains to Pandan Indah, that was super tiring. We only got home around 12:40 in the morning. The great thing about today though, I drove home with my brand new car. Just seeing my name on the vehicle registration paper just gave me an enormous sense of pride. I couldn't afford to own a car before. My last loan application was rejected in cold blood by the bank. So yeah, today I was quite proud. It felt amazing.

23 August 2011

2011-08-23T10:57:00.001+08:00

After visiting a coal power plant in Port Dickson last week, today I visited another factory in Sungai Buloh for work. Guess I will be going to a lot more factories after this. It's what I do now, selling programmable logic controllers to power plants, factories and similar manufacturers.

But today, today I didn't sell anything. Just following a colleague to do some testing & commissioning. Poor guy didn't know too much about this new product so he was virtually clueless and got hantam cukup-cukup by the client and our boss. That's life man. Maybe next time it'll be my turn. Today I didn't learn anything because everybody was like so busy doing their job. My friend here was too busy attempting to do something. He didn't even go out for a break until 7 in the evening. I know your enthusiastic and shit with your new job but there's more to life than work man.

It's like learning chemistry or accounting, this new job of mine. I knew very little and what's more, there's no one here to teach me anything. They don't have the time to for now, at least. Sure I can learn to do anything if only somebody is there to teach me. Plus I had to start from the bottom up because I'm like totally noob with all this PLC thingy and don't expect me to learn everything by myself.

Give me something to do, give me a plan and give me the resources and support to achieve it. It's all I ask.

Right now I don't feel so good about all this. In the future, who knows.

22 August 2011

2011-08-22T06:00:00.001+08:00

Adam Farihin. Skinny. Not very tough. Somebody give him some more food to eat.

Well, I won't worry too much about him. I was exactly like him when I was his age. And then eventually I discovered food. Glorious food. How good they tasted. As I grow up, eating, too much, my body started to expand exponentially with my age. By the time I'm 12, I turned into this chubby kid who had too much to eat.

So did my elder sister. In fact we the 2 eldest member of our sibling seemed to look bigger than our younger brother and sister. Maybe it's because we conquered the table every dinner time and gobbled up all the good food before anybody else. That's how we became fat. I'd like to change that now. My sister? Maybe there is still hope ha ha!

So I don't worry too much about Adam Farihin's skinny outlook. He has all the time in the world to grow bigger and stronger. Maybe he should start by pumping iron like his dear old Dad.

Today by some divine intervention we all woke up a little bit late for sahur. Hence the tart cookies in the picture. I bought that for RM11.90 from MyMydin. It tasted horrible. Not all cookies are created equal. Remind me not to buy any from them again.

Hmm, it took a template change to make me blog more. I love this new theme by the way.

21 August 2011

2011-08-21T20:55:00.007+08:00

The next Yuna?

I'm pretty sure she would like to be her very own brand of music and style.

Cute.

What's next, cinta Twitter?

20 August 2011

2011-08-20T22:06:00.022+08:00

This particular semester for IM110 has been crazy. The gap between seminars were cut to 2-3 weeks and all of our lecturers seemed to enjoy giving us multiple (really difficult) assignments and tests every other class. Add that to the fact that some of us just switched jobs and we were inundated with work, including me, I don't fancy maintaining the same awesome result that I got last semester. At least that's how I felt like.

That said, I think all of our lecturers this time around were pretty cool. They were quite understanding with our career and other commitments in life so most of them were pretty flexible when dealing with our late submissions for assignment and lack of activity in iClass. In fact some of them were even in our shoes once upon a time ago.

Now that we finished our finish class of the semester (and submitted a dozen assignment and sat for one test every class) we are finally free to concentrate on Hari Raya. At least until our final exams come nearer at the end of September/early October.

19 August 2011

2011-08-19T22:23:00.002+08:00

That tragic feeling when you pressed all the buttons on your precious little phone and they just refused to response.

I'm having that tragic feeling right about now.

Why baby, why?

18 August 2011

2011-08-18T22:26:00.004+08:00

The malt drink that is halal one moment and not the next.

Now it's halal again. I do hope they will make up their mind for certain this time. This is getting ridiculous.

17 August 2011

2011-08-17T22:37:00.013+08:00

So Adam Farihin, 7 years old has been fasting for real this time around. At least on and off. He has no problem whatsoever with fasting during school days but the moment he saw his little sister eating or drinking at home during weekends, his faith just crumbles into a thousand little pieces. Even if it's just one tiny sweets. The temptation is just way to great to overcome.

At 7 years old, don't we all? I remember giving in to that delicious, iced cold grape drink at one o'clock in the afternoon when I was about his age. At 7 years old, I don't expect him to go the entire length. It would already be great if he could do at least half for now.

16 August 2011

2011-08-16T10:41:00.005+08:00

You know your 3 years old daughter has grown up a bit when she started to wear her mom's make up and dress up regularly with her new dresses.

Next thing you know she'll be asking for a mobile phone.

1 August 2011

2011-08-02T06:08:00.008+08:00

1st August 2011 is the 1st day of Ramadan for many Muslims around the world. This year we tried to get our 7 years old Adam to fast for the whole day. He did woke up this morning go straight to shower and had sahur with us. By 2:00 PM he couldn't resist the fried noodle cooked at the nursery so there goes his 1st day of fasting.

1st August 2011 also marks my 1st day at work at my new office in Puchong. Moments before I arrived there I was slightly nervous to say the least. It's not often that I check in to a new office. Although the office didn't open until 9:00 AM, I got there half an hour early thanks to a surprisingly smooth traffic. When the door finally opened, I went straight into training to grasp some basic knowledge of the products and business here. At the end of the day, my 1st day here was not that bad after all. All my new colleagues are warm and friendly. One guy was concerned enough to ask if I have any place to 'semayang' which I did in the meeting room by the way. Being in a new place with me as the sole Malay staff can be quite a challenge. But I will have to adapt. My new boss was also quite understanding as he allows me to go back half an hour early this fasting month. Oh I will probably have to change my look and appearance again. Everybody here goes to work in the company's uniform and so will I once I get them. Seriously, I felt rather awkward in that shirts and pants. Happy fasting everyone.

29 July 2011

2011-07-29T22:27:00.033+08:00

Today will be my last day working here. I felt so sad. Actually I've been feeling low and depressed these past few weeks ever since I tendered my resignation. I dread every new day that dawns because it only meant that my last day here would be coming nearer. Choosing to leave this place is probably one of the hardest decision I have ever made in my life. Before I came here, I was jobless with Adam Farihin and a wife to feed. The boss picked me up from nothing when I had very few to offer and for his faith in me turned me into what I have become today. Despite all the shortcomings, I believe whatever happened to us since early this year didn't happen on purpose. I'm sure he would not put us all in this dire position if he could help it. One half of me said hang on a little bit longer until I finish my studies at least. Another half said here's your chance man, this opportunity won't come along everyday. So I chose to leave. It was not easy but I had to do it.

And like every decent staff here at Microcorp that's about to leave, I had to treat all my colleagues with breakfast during my last day of work here. So I ordered 40 packs of nasi Kak Na and some teh tarik for everyone to eat. Despite the fact that I had to use all the little savings I had left. Despite the fact that I have no idea when this month's pay will come in but I just had to do this. I'd feel dreadful if I didn't. I'm sure it's not much but I did it sincerely from my heart and it's the least I could do.

Goodbye guys. Hope you enjoyed the breakfast. Wish me luck for my new job on Monday. I pray that you guys will go through this rocky patch in one piece. Like Bujal said, who knows someday we shall all be together again under one roof. :)

28 July 2011

2011-07-28T16:16:00.005+08:00

Today my wife resumes her work again after 3 whole months of maternity leave. Like our 2 previous maternity leaves, we need to send the kids to a nursery who will look after them while we go earn a living. And with each new children we had to pay extra to the nursery. So if any one of us doesn't get a pay increase, a new children would mean a little less money to take home every month. Yes I know, every child comes with his or her own rezeki but if you're going to leave all that to fate and don't work harder, that's irresponsible and dumb.

Actually one of our neighbor offered to take care of litte Hana & Mia, for a fee of course. We were excited of the idea of leaving them to someone nearer but when she quoted a monthly fee of 500 bucks plus a month deposit in advance, we said thanks but no, thanks. We didn't mind paying a little bit extra for the convenience but whatever you need the deposit for? It's not like we're gonna run away in the middle of the night or something. We bought this house and we're your neighbor for God's sake. I think she got the wrong advice for her other neighbors. Oh well, your loss.

First day back at the nursery, Mia was rather moody and touchy. Maybe because most of her old friends has left. I'm sure she'll get better over time.

9 July 2011

2011-07-09T22:08:00.002+08:00

Another call for electoral reforms, another rally in the city, another show of police brutality. All we wanted was a free & fair election and they treated the rally goers like some cold-blooded criminals. I dreamed of a day when the authorities treat people with respect & professionalism. Where the police would assist the crowd & control traffic instead of spraying chemical-laced water & firing tear gas canisters at innocent and harmless civilians, you know like in developed countries. Forget about vision 2020, Malaysians would be lucky if we don't go the way of Myanmar. At least the government of Myanmar never pretended to be a democracy. If our election process is so transparent & clean and not rigged, why does the government has to be so scared of meeting those 8 tiny (but significant) electoral demands? It is an open secret that the opposition was never afforded a fair playing field in any elections big or small. That is why we need Bersih, to make the playing field level and let the people chose the best persons to lead the government.

While I didn't personally join the rally, I tried my very best to create & build up awareness of the event for my friends whether in real world or in Facebook or Twitter. That's why I never rejected any request to be friends on Facebook, all 4. If I can enlighten at least a few dozens of them to realize the wrongs of this government and how they have taken us for a ride for the last 5 decades or so, that would be a success of their own. My prayers & salute goes out to all 50,000 odds Malaysian who braved the police, road blocks, rain, tear gas & so many other obstacles to ensure that their voice are heard. You guys will forever be remembered as the real heroes, the ones who dares to act and make a difference. If Bersih 1.0 managed to capture 5 states for the opposition, I can't wait to see how 2.0 would influence the next general election. Judging by the number of crowd on the streets today, I predict the future is bright for all of us.

2 July 2011

2011-07-02T15:14:00.002+08:00

Sungai Congkak in Hulu Langat, Selangor is a great place if you want to plan a picnic with your friends and family. There's plenty of amenities there including public restrooms, camping area and much more.

There is where I bring my family today. We had a really good time bathing in the stream, eating barbecue chickens and playing games with the kids. Highly recommended.

28 June 2011

2011-06-29T00:14:00.000+08:00

Today was supposed to be just another regular day at work where I started the day by sending my son to his school at Taman Desaminium. However Adam Farihin, 7 years old decided that today he would like to jam his thumb at the car's door. After that we spend half the day visiting clinics & the hospital to fix his finger.

At first I thought it was just a little thump at the car door but when Adam couldn't stop wailing, I quickly brought him to see a doctor at my panel clinic nearby. The doctor (who was fashionably late by the way) suggested that Adam probably broke his thumb and advised that we go to a hospital. However since I dont have any insurance coverage anymore, I had to rush home to pick up my wife and kids and go to her panel clinic in Serdang to get her doctor's letter of recommendation before finally going to a hospital in Kajang. Adam was still crying on top of his lung for most of that time.

To cut the story short, Adam had his finger scanned and the x-ray showed no bones were broken from the accident this morning. Lucky for us my wife's company had it all covered. I shudder to think should anything bad happens to me. Maybe I should consider buying my own personal insurance. Right.

26 June 2011

2011-06-26T23:42:00.023+08:00

This weekend we decided to take a short trip up north to Seri Manjung to visit our in laws. Linda's parent was also visiting there so we thought we'd joined them for a little family get together. Apart from that, this also happens to be that time in my life that you just cannot say no to your wife.

Okay I'm just kidding with that last sentence :)

Anyway, as always we took the chance to visit Teluk Batik beach nearby. This was Mia's first encounter with the sea I think. So far I think she likes it a lot. The beach near Teluk Batik can be very steep at some point so you better be careful just in case, especially with children. Never leave them unattended. I had fun. Been wanting to come to the beach for some time now. Today only I got the chance.

Being so close to the sea and surrounded by hills, Manjung is one very hot town. I mean literally. Here air conditioners are more of a necessity than a luxury. That probably explain why I spent most of my time here sleeping in their air-conditioned rooms all day. Well, when you get older, most of your precious little free time is filled with this one favorite past time - sleeping. Or maybe I'm just tired from all the driving.

19 June 2011

2011-06-19T21:02:00.024+08:00

Wait, didn't I just sat for my finals last month? Yep, I did. Lucky for me UiTM decided to carry forward the academic time table and begin the new semester today. This time around my classmate Khairul from Johore crashed at my place for the night before we go to class together the next day.

Yes I did say I looked forward to this new semester but that before my new lecturers decided to swamp us with multiple assignments on the very first class. Not to mention the numerous exercises in our virtual iClass. Oh well. Life is never a walk in the park they say. You got to work, hard for success.

18 June 2011

2011-06-18T15:09:00.002+08:00

This morning we send Adam to school so that he could attend his chess clinic. Yep, of all the sports to pick from at his school, we chose chess because it involves the least sweating and running. Don't get me wrong, I'd like him to be active but not now since he's got his skin condition and intermittent asthma. Who knows maybe he could be good at chess some day.

Later in the afternoon we went to IKEA. Just visiting. Leave the kids at the play area while we went for a stroll. Mia can finally enter Smaland now that she's 3 years old. Before we left, we had some Swedish meatballs, yes that one. Tasted just as good as ever. After that we stopped by Jusco in Equine to buy a new fridge. Our old one is packed to the brim with stuff that we could barely close the door. That's our report for the day.

12 June 2011

2011-06-12T14:59:00.004+08:00

Last Friday I took the day off to go back to Tanah Merah to pick up my family. It just occurred to me that I don't actually have that many day offs to take so I'll have to make the most of every single one of them. Cannot simply take a day off to go vacation, shopping or job interviews or something unimportant like that. Anyway, I started off rather late in the morning meaning to avoid the morning rush. The funny thing was, morning rush decided to wait for me. 9:30 AM and I am still stuck in traffic for most of Ampang.

That said I survived the utterly boring 7 hours drive without any untoward incidents. Saw a lot of Red Warriors supporters making their way to Bukit Jalil. Made me proud for a while to see their spirit. Well we know that didn't end so good for them. Maybe next year. Of course I'm glad to see my 3 precious ones and their mother again after like 45 days apart. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. Being apart from your loved ones for so long almost made me a wreck. Although I look like a tough guy from the outside, inside... well, you know what they say.

Saturday I went back to my real home town in Pasir Mas to see my sister and her newborn which is only one week apart from Hana Alisha. Glad to see them both alright. Early Sunday morning we left Tanah Merah to come back home to Seri Kembangan. Arrived safe and sound early in the afternoon. New member in the family. New chapter in our lives.

29 May 2011

2011-05-29T14:22:00.028+08:00

One of my favorite words in the English vocabulary is SCHOOL HOLIDAY. Less traffic, no jams, no need to wake up early to send kid to school and pick him up later in the evening. Save on budget, save my time as well.

On the down side, my son followed his Grandma to go back home to Pasir Mas yesterday. That means I'll be all alone at home for the next 2 weeks or so, which also means I probably go mental until that 2 weeks end. And did I mention I also don't have Internet at home anymore? Yeah, I sent my broadband modem back home along with Adam so that my wife can use it. My computers, smartphone and the Internet is amongst those essential items I couldn't leave without and now I lost one of them. Will I survive without blogs and Twitter at home? Sure I can. After all I've been without my loved ones for nearly a month now and that sucks even more. Compare that, it's nothing.

Thankfully, I got things to do to keep myself occupied. You know, stuff like cleaning the house, doing the laundry, watching movies, hanging out with friends. So far I'm coping with it okay. Weekends are especially hard for me. There's only so much things you could do at home. Sometimes I felt suffocated just being at home. In the end I got to go out, somewhere, somehow. Be it a public park, children playground or my favourite eatery around the neighborhood. Man, being a single dad is hard.

25 May 2011

2011-05-25T23:15:00.001+08:00

It's that time of the year again when the examination results comes out for UiTM students like me. Actually I didn't look forward much to it or anything. After 2 years it has become kind of a routine. Anyway, the results are out. Came into my inbox via email early in the morning. Thankfully they exceeded my expectation. This semester I got 3.75 GPA which is a vast improvement from the previous one which I got a lowly 3.48, my worst ever. That said, I certainly can do better because my highest ever pointer was 3.84 during my 2nd semester. Well, considering I didn't put much hope on one of the killer subject (which I got a B), this result is quite okay for me, I guess.

So now I'm quite hyped and very motivated to start the new semester which is early next month actually. Some of my classmates did get some good results while a few, not so good. Some will be joining me again next month but a couple of them will be extending their studies or worse quit altogether. I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything but you results reflects how much effort you put into your studies. If you always skip classes, didn't take your assignments seriously and didn't prepare much for the finals do not be so surprised when the results came out. I have heard so many excuses and reasons from some of them but it all comes down to you yourself in the end. You can give a million excuses or you can work you ass out like everybody else. Everybody, each and everyone of the ePJJ students is busy with either their work or family or both but they didn't let that become an excuse to flunk in your studies. You've come this far, it's a real shame if you don't make it to the finish line. If you wanted something badly enough, you will do anything to achieve it.

23 May 2011

2011-05-23T22:39:00.002+08:00

Today is all good news for my brother Faiz. This year he finishes his teaching degree at UPSI and this month he finally finds out where he's going to be posted. Knowing Faiz, he would certainly not settle for any school near or 'normal'. Sure enough he asked for a school for troubled teenagers in Kota Kinabalu and you know what? He got it as well, last week when the results were out.

So at the end of this month, my brother and his wife shall be leaving for Sabah for good. I wonder how he would survive 3 months without pay there but again knowing my brother, he'll breeze through it somehow. Apart from that there's this small but exciting news that Siti Maryam, his wife is now just over a month pregnant. Before you know it, my mother will be the grandma to 7 grandchildren by early next year. Congrats to you bro. You take care now.

13 May 2011

2011-05-13T15:07:00.023+08:00

My little sister Izni safely gave birth to a beautiful baby girl today at Kubang Kerian Hospital in Kota Bharu. That's my Mom's 6th grandchildren in a row now. There's Adam, Zuhairi, Mia, Delina, Hana and now Wan Nur Izzah.

Yes you heard me right, Wan Nur Izzah as in Nurul Izzah, Dato' Seri Anwar's daughter. You see Izzat is a strong opposition supporter just like me. So it's no surprise that they chose that name for her first child. Actually they wanted to name her Wan Nurul Izzah but my Mom didn't really like it. She being the only BN supporter in my family and all. Anyway congrats to you Izni and Izzat. Now let us all go on a diet hor hor.

9 May 2011

2011-05-09T14:16:00.015+08:00

This weekend I took my family back home to Tanah Merah because my wife will spend the next month or so for her confinement period there. On Monday we had a little ceremony in the morning.

So now it's just my boy Adam Farihin and me at home. As always I am terribly missing my family especially this little girl here. June can't come soon enough.

30 April 2011

2011-04-30T00:21:00.000+08:00

The thing about c-sections is, they took longer to recover especially from the operation wound. On the first day Linda couldn't even leave her bed due to the pain from the stitches. Lucky for us her employer covered for everything including the procedure so at least we have one less thing to worry about. Pantai Hospitals have one of the best medical facilities around and apart from here in Cheras, I have also been to their branch in Bangsar which is top class in their services and treatment. That said, if you have to accompany the patient overnight, hospitals are not exactly the place you'd rather be. If you're lucky, they'll provide you with a reclining chair to sleep on at night. Most of us won't be so lucky so we have no other choice but to sleep on the cold hard hospital floor.

The first night, I was ill-prepared for my stay at this hospital. I thought they reclining chair looked comfy enough so I didn't bring any comforters or blanket which was a huge mistake. They chair is so hard and stiff I end up sleeping on the floor. I also forgot how cold it is in hospitals at night so I didn't get much sleep due to the freezing cold, not to mention my poor back.

Tonight though I'm better prepared for my overnight stay here. Brought my thick and warm comforter along, a blanket and also a couple of pillows. So why are we still here 3 days after labour? Our little princess unfortunately had jaundice so we had to stay a little bit longer here at the hospital. Let us pray for her speedy recovery.

28 April 2011

2011-04-28T23:46:00.038+08:00

Today was supposed to be the day goes to our fortnightly check-up at Pantai Cheras Medical Centre. However God had other plans for us. During today's check-up, the doctor said Linda had a little bit too much glucose in her blood and she would have gave her insulin shots if not for the fact Linda is in her final week of her pregnancy. Instead the doctor advised that Linda had her delivery today, this afternoon to be exact since she's afraid that Linda's diabetic condition might be harmful the baby. So we got like 5 minutes to make up our mind, 2 hours to prepare ourselves and get back to the hospital for the induced labour in the afternoon.

We expected it to be a normal delivery but somehow the baby's hand gut stuck in the cervix at the last minute. So they had to do an emergency caesarian instead to get the baby out. That's fine by me but for pregnant mothers, caesarian is they last thing that would want because they pain would be much worse afterwards. Nevertheless, the operation went on smoothly and around 3:30 PM the nurse came out pushing my little baby girl in a trolley. Linda came out half an hour later and Alhamdulillah, everybody was fine and safe.

Say hello to baby H, welcome to the family!

26 April 2011

2011-04-26T00:21:00.025+08:00

Yesterday a friend of mine brought a brand new HTC Desire HD phone. It's got Android, huge 4.3" screen and it's superfast too. Before he bought the phone, he's been asking me should he get an iPhone, so I told him definitely. But today, he bought an Android anyway. So I asked him, have you rooted the phone and installed custom ROM and downloaded free apps? He looked totally clueless and asked me to do it for him.

Now I never owned an Android phone or attempted to root (jailbreak term for Android) an Android phone before. But I decided to help him anyway. At least I tried. I Googled around and found several dozen ways to root so many different kinds of Android phones. And most of them is not easy too mind you. For this awesome HTC Desire HD that my friend just bought, I had to download half a dozen files and custom ROMs and follow 2 dozens very complicated steps involving Unix command prompts some more. Furthermore there's a good chance I might brick (damage) the phone permanently and void the warranty. Jailbreaking an Android device is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Anyway I never succeeded in rooting his phone. It's just too much hassle and risk. Compare that to jailbreaking an iPhone/iPad/iPod, it took me just 5 easy steps and most of them involve clicking next-next-next. So my friend, if you're looking for a a real smartphone, there's simply one and one phone only to choose from. Buy an iPhone and you can jailbreak it easily and you will never have to pay for apps ever again. An Android may be cheaper with many more features but when it comes down to software and user experience the iPhone wins, hands down.

24 April 2011

2011-04-24T16:19:00.018+08:00

Today I sat for my last paper for the semester (sem 4). Instructional Media Application was a killer paper. All theory and very little hints from the lecturer. I hope she would be kind enough to lower the grades for everybody.

On the bright side, this also means the finals are over and I can go on with life as usual yay! No more late night studies and putting everything I like doing on hold! Felt like a huge rock just being lifted over my head. Blogging services will resume as usual and I can go back to, emm whatever I like to do. Class starts again in June so I got like 2 months of holiday. Yeah right.

23 April 2011

2011-04-23T16:11:00.011+08:00

Linda is now officially in her final weeks of pregnancy. Any time now, we will be having our third child. Adam and Mia will have a new sister to bully and fight with. Honestly, I can't hardly wait. Let's get this over with. On average it took us 45 minutes to get to Pantai Medical Cheras during rush hour. I hope the baby choose to come out at night.

Linda's blood glucose level is a little bit on the high side. We've been visiting Poliklinik Penawar in Serdang twice already this month, 4 times a day to check her glucose level which was confirmed high. Need to really cut on sugar intake, everyone. The worst-case scenario is she'll have to do a c-section. Let's hope it won't come to that. See you soon baby H!

2 April 2011

2011-04-02T09:38:00.017+08:00

Today we went to another one of our fortnightly check up at Pantai Medical Center in Cheras. The doctor found Linda gained some extra weight and the baby's head looked a little bit big for his age. She had to come again on Thursday for further testing. Hopefully it's not diabetes.

At 33 weeks and the final month of her pregnancy, sometimes I wish the baby would just come out already. I mean I felt sorry seeing Linda walking around with that huge lump on her tummy. Must be really tiring and uncomfortable. If I could take her place, I would but you know I can't. We've got one name in mind for the baby but it's not final yet. It's not an easy business finding a name for someone especially since she's going to live with it for the rest of her life. More pictures here.

My 5 times class a semester with UiTM was over last week. Now I only need to finish my assignments and do a little bit of studying. Needless to say, after dividing my time between work, study and family, I have no time left for other things like this blog. Blogging will resume normally after the finals that is on the 24th of this month.

21 March 2011

2011-03-21T21:14:00.042+08:00

As you all know, school's off all last week. Since we were too broke/lazy to send the kids back home like everybody else, Adam and Mia spent much of the short break at the nursery. Yes we are terrible parents. Anyway, we asked Adam if he has any home works to do during the holidays to which he said no which is rather surprising/suspicious you might say.

So yesterday was Monday, and school started again. By the time we dropped him off at his school that morning, Adam seemed reluctant to leave the car. As you can see in the picture above he was stuck to the door and ready to cry. When we asked what's wrong he said he was afraid that his teacher would scold him again. So I walked him to the school meaning to ask his teacher personally but then his teacher is absent today. By then Adam was already crying and when I wanted to approach him he started running away. In the end Adam skipped school altogether yesterday. So we sent him to the nursery instead where once again he started to run away again. Apparently he was mortified of Cikgu Bab, one of the staff at the nursery. This time I had to literally run to catch him and carry him kicking and screaming to the nursery. In the end, we didn't have the heart to leave him crying and howling there so Linda decided to take the day off and stay with the kids at home.

I always thought parenthood was never easy but I never thought it would be this hard. Upon further inspection we found out that Adam just didn't finish his home work, that's why he was afraid to go to school yesterday. Come on man. I also didn't finish my home work some times but I went to school anyway despite the fact that my teacher will cane my butt merciless in front of the class or at least stand on my chair/outside the class for the entire period. If you did something wrong, be a man and face the consequences. Just how long you think you can run away or avoid it anyway?

This morning I was preparing for the worst. Thankfully Adam walked casually to class today without much drama. Adam Farihin, you are full of surprises.

1 March 2011

2011-03-01T21:02:00.000+08:00

Have I told you the time when my car broke down by the highway? No? Well that's because it just happened this morning. We had just finished dropping of the kids at their school and nursery and took the exit near Sierra 16 when I saw smoke coming out of the front bonnet. A quick glance at the temperature meter showed it was over the roof. So I quickly stopped by the roadside heading to Cyberjaya to see what's wrong.

When I opened the hood, my coolant tank was completely dry. I swear I regularly checked them like once every 2 or 3 weeks. So I called a few people and they said to wait until the temperature goes down a bit before attempting to drive again. So my wife and I sat there for like an hour or so with our hazards light watching people heading to Cyberjaya/Putrajaya/Serdang/KLIA/Kajang drove by. Truly a classic moment. To be honest, I'm just glad none of those pesky tow trucks came by to offer us 'help'. When the car sufficiently cooled down, I poured 2 liters of water into the tank and cautiously drove the car to a Proton workshop in Equine Park. In the end, we had the radiator fan motor changed for RM300+ including labor. Even then the mechanic managed to screw up the car's wiring causing the hazard light to turn on and off occasionally. File this one under shit always happens if you buy a Proton and after it turns 5 years old.

28 February 2011

2011-02-28T12:36:00.026+08:00

Today we had an appointment at Pantai Cheras Hospital near Kuala Lumpur for Linda's maternity check. After having both our previous children born at Putrajaya Hospital, we decided to try someplace new. Don't get me wrong, Putrajaya was excellent for a government hospital. It's just Pantai Hospital is better. Last time Adam was admitted at Pantai Hospital Bangsar, we received preferential treatment from the doctors, nurses and staff there. The place was great and the food was outstanding. We thought we wanted to have that same hospitality nearer to home in Cheras.

After waiting for over an hour for the Guarantee Letter to be ready, we finally get to see the obstetrician for Linda. He did a very thorough check on my wife and set the dates for our fortnightly appointment. If everything goes well, we shall welcome our second daughter on the 17th of May this year. What's more, she will be born in the same city as I am. Can't hardly wait.

26 February 2011

2011-02-26T20:51:00.032+08:00

This morning Adam followed his grandma to her school to witness a chess competition. He didn't actually took part in the competition, just attending as a spectator. A couple of school in the Petaling district took part in the competition including his own school. When one of the contestant didn't make it, my Mom decided to enter Adam into the competition.

Now Adam did played chess before, a couple of time with me at home but he loses every time. His lifetime playing experience was like 12 times with all losses. So when my Mom talked Adam into playing chess there it was like throwing him into a lion's den. First game he lost. Still okay. But when he the second time, he got so frustrated and sad, he cried there and then. I had to rush to the school and drag him into the car crying and wailing. I know my Mom meant well but Adam is absolutely not ready for any competition, at least not right now. Who knows he might be future world champion but at the moment, he needs practice, lots of it.

24 February 2011

2011-02-24T22:16:00.030+08:00

3 weeks ago my beautiful and expensive Apple keyboard decided to pawn me and suddenly stopped working. I have no idea what happened. It was working fine one day and the next day when I came home from work it just stopped responding.

Since it's still under warranty, I sent the keyboard to an authorized Apple Service Center at Machines, The Gardens Mid Valley. The first week I called to ask for my keyboard and the service technician said something about me spilling water on that thing of which I vehemently denied. My wife can testify how well I handled the keyboard at home. Didn't even let my kids touch it. Then they said they're going to do more checks but I didn't hear from them until 2 weeks later when I myself took the initiative to call them again. This time they said they're waiting for the replacement parts which should arrive this week. By then I was clearly unhappy with their snail-paced service so I gave them a few good word for their incompetence. Only after that they called and emailed me to apologize. Yesterday I got a call from them saying my brand new keyboard is ready. Yes, Apple decided to replace my broken keyboard with a new one. So yesterday evening I went to The Gardens to pick up my shiny new keyboard. Moral of the story: Machines sucks, Apple is cool and keep the receipts for all your purchases.

This keyboard is so good, I can't bring myself to use any other types of keyboard anymore. So now only I can resume all my long delayed home works and assignments.

19 February 2011

2011-02-19T12:19:00.020+08:00

You can say I'm pretty much a regular customer at R.S Auto in Puchong, a Proton Savvy/Renault specialist workshop. In fact I have put up a glowing review of this workshop on my blog which provided direction and answers to numerous Proton Savvy owners around the country whose having problems with their ride.

I send my car for regular service there every time and this year alone I went there twice already. The last time to change my brake pads which costs RM110.00 a set. Yeah they still charge a reasonable price for their labor and parts. It's only that their service had gone from friendly to indifference. I went there bright and early in the morning, around 10:00 AM when the place has just opened. No one else was there yet, I'm the only customer and yet they don't even cared to say hi or greet me, their returning and paying customer. Mr. Ho, the head mechanic doesn't give a hoot about you anymore. Most of the time he'll past all the work to his crews. I wonder if he does anything at all.

If I had it my way, I would like to take my car elsewhere to somebody who cares or at least give some semblance of courtesy. The only thing stopping me from visiting some generic Proton workshop is their exorbitant fees. Perhaps R.S Auto has got so successful, they've drown in their glory. R.S Auto sucks. The place is filthy and the service is dreadful. I'm not recommending this place to anyone again.

8 February 2011

2011-02-08T00:53:00.019+08:00

There are 3 barbers/saloon to choose from for guys if you live in Taman Puncak Jalil. There's NS Hair Saloon and ShanM barber shop both located just next to MyMydin and Firzana restaurant. NS Hair Saloon is a one man show run by a mamak (presumably) and ShanM is run by a two man show. Since I moved here I've been going to NS Hair Saloon to get my hair shaved. For 10 ringgit he will shave my head clean with a razor blade and I get some free head and back massage from the man after every cut.

Today though there was a queue (like 2 people waiting) at NS so I decided to try ShanM instead next door. So he proceeded to shave my hair with what looks like a used razor blade, something I only noticed halfway through the job. When he's done I get no free back message but instead I get a few cuts on top of my head from his clumsy workmanship. To further add insult to my injury, he charged me 12 ringgit for his lousy job. Needless to say I have no intention of going back there ever again. Pray I don't get HIV or something horrible.

The other barber shop in Taman Puncak Jalil is run by a Malay dude named Rahman. Unfortunately I never get to try his service because he seemed to be missing all the time whenever I visit despite the sign showing OPEN. Maybe he's shy of me or something.

5 February 2011

2011-02-05T21:24:00.002+08:00

If you didn't leave planet earth last week you should heard the big news/drama where Liverpool former number 9 Fernando 'El Nino' Torres handed a transfer request for a move to Chelsea, yes of all clubs. Things had been great for the Reds with Kenny Dalglish taking over from Woy earlier last month and completely transformed Liverpool from a mid-table team to a 4 games wining streak teams gunning for top 4 finish in just 3 days. What's more with the owners showing intent with the capture of Luis Suarez from Ajax, everybody thought good times are ahead for the club. And the Chelsea offered a bid for Torres which the club rejected only for the player himself writing a transfer request.

The rest as you know is history. Chelsea completed a £50 million transfer dateline day capture of Torres while Liverpool managed to sneak in Andy Caroll from Newcastle for a club record of £35 million. So we lost one potentially unhappy and under-performing 27 year old striker for 2 young and exciting strikers. Not a bad piece of business at all. Already so-called Liverpool fans were tearing and burning Torres' jersey outside the club while the former hero turned villain defending his move to a rival club saying he cannot wait anymore at Liverpool to fulfill his ambition of winning trophies at 'big club' like Chelsea. Tonight though it was his destiny to show a meek display at his club debut against Liverpool and subbed after 65 minutes without a single attempt on goal. 3 minutes later £11 million Raul Meireles scored the winner making it 4 in a row for the real big club to move up to sixth in the table for a fighting chance for Champions League qualification. Perhaps Fernando Torres can go home tonight content and count his money but 10, 20 years from now he will definitely regret turning his back to the club and fans who had supported him through thick and thin, bounced with joy when he performed and defended him to the hilt when he didn't. He who betrays will walk alone.

3 February 2011

2011-02-03T21:11:00.001+08:00

Since I have a rather limited annual leave at work, I have to make the most of these back to back public holidays. Today for example we went to Manjung in Perak to visit my sister in law and their new home. I thought being Chinese New Year day, the roads and highways should be clear of vehicle since yesterday was supposed to be the rush hour. Wrong. Apparently everybody took the opportunity to go sightseeing and everything today. The (paid) highway was jammed from Tanjung Malim all the way to Bidor where we exited. Should have taken the free trunk road instead.

Anyway, Linda's sister moved into their new terrace home late last year. It only costs 140,000 ringgit in Manjung, a price that would be impossible to find here in the Klang Valley. On top of that she spent 14K renovating the house not including furniture and everything. In a way, government civil servants are so lucky because banks are more than willing to give out loans to them. It doesn't matter if you're a gardener or headmaster. Of course after spending so much, the house looked really beautiful inside out. Wish we could have that much money to spend (or borrow).

30 January 2011

2011-01-30T20:35:00.000+08:00

Today is my friend's/classmate Saiful Nizam's wedding day. As we are quite close in class, I simply had to go to his wedding which is incidentally our first wedding invitation for this year. It rained today from morning till the evening. That of course didn't stop us from going to the wedding.

We left home around 2:00 in the afternoon. About a mile from home, I forgot to bring my camera with me. So we turned back to pick up the camera. Then halfway through the journey, Adam had a bad tummy ache and he accidentally soiled his pants. We had to stop at Tesco Extra near Cheras to buy him a new pair of pants. By that time it was already 3 o' clock. Since it is raining today, traffic condition along MRR2 was as bad as a regular work day. It took as an hour to get to Batu Caves. When we finally made it there it was already 4:15 PM and the caterers wasted no time packing their stuff to go home. Well, at least we did get to see the bride and the groom. He was sorry that we missed the food but I told him we'd be surprised if we didn't. In the end we detoured to Pantai Dalam and had nasi lemak at Warung Rindu. Congratulations to my friend Saiful Nizam. Don't stay up too late ya tonight!

22 January 2011

2011-01-22T20:45:00.026+08:00

It's been nearly 7 months since we moved here to Casa Riana apartment. All that while, we've been delaying payments for our maintenance fees. We thought it was the least of our priorities so it always come last in our monthly budget and sometimes we just skipped the payment altogether. The thing is when it's time to renew our parking lot car stickers, we had to settle all our outstanding arrears beforehand. Else we might not be permitted entry with our car into our very own home. I know that sucks but that's one way the maintenance company get to make all the owners pay up their maintenance fees. That said, I can see about a quarter of the tenants here has yet to change their old car stickers and the due date is set until the end of this month. It is interesting to see what happens when that day comes. I'm sure tempers will flare and all hell will break lose.

Lucky for me my lovely wife sacrificed to settle all the outstanding arrears so we can come home in peace and not get bugged by the security guards every other day asking to change our sticker. We drove down to the management office in Pandan Jaya to pay 5 months worth of bills. What would I do without her. One thing for sure I will vote to change the management company once their contract is up. RM143 is bloody expensive to pay for an apartment of our size.

11 January 2011

2011-01-11T20:28:00.003+08:00

Okay class, today we are going to take a look at my working table. It is just a plain old second hand table but since I work here every day, 5 days a week it means something special to me.

1. I bought this fern plant from Jusco for RM13.00 exactly on January 1st. The last two plants that I brought to my office died under mysterious circumstances. It's been 12 days now. I do hope this one would last.

2. This pretty desktop calendar is given by Nadia Comot.

3. This is my Alderaan Ubuntu server. It contains many wonderful and magical things!

4. My underpowered yet reliable second hand Dell SX260 all in one desktop PC. Although it only runs on a 2.0GHz P4 processor and 1GB RAM it still manage to get my my work done everyday.

5. This is the card that my wife gave me for my 30th birthday. Thanks darling.

6. This is the Raya card that Adam wrote for my colleagues, believe it or not.

7. Yes my desk is always tidy and not just this one time for show.

8.Even my tray is unusually tidy.

9. The first check that I wrote using my check book. 500 ringgit deposit for grill installation for our house.

10. I love my place near the window. Hope the rumors that we'll had to move upstairs is not true.

11. I also have a photo of Steve Jobs somewhere on my desk you know, for motivation :)

9 January 2011

2011-01-09T13:42:00.026+08:00

My first class for the 4th semester for my Diploma in Information Management starts today. For the past 3 years we've been meeting at UiTM International Education Center (INTEC) campus in section 17 in Shah Alam. Starting this senester however, class will be held at our very own Faculty of Information Management at Puncak Perdana. Since the new class is further away than before, I've decided to car pool there with my classmate who happens to live just nearby. We'll be taking turns driving there every class so that we can save cost and petrol.

The Puncak Perdana campus although rather far, has better facilities like classrooms with projectors and enough desks for example and complete labs for each related subjects. I can even see my company's name posted on most of the desks in the labs because we did supply and install many of the computers here some 7-8 years ago. Needless to say I must simply study harder and earlier if I want to improve my current 3.6 CGPA. That said, we have two subjects without final examinations this time although assignments and projects will still be plentiful. 2 of them are related to IT and my job description so I have no excuse but to excel this semester. So as I always, good bye blog. Time to study again.

6 January 2011

2011-01-06T23:37:00.001+08:00

Into the Wild is a movie based on a true story about one Chris McCandless who after graduating with honors from a university, ceased all communication with his family, gave away all his savings and began traveling across America to Alaska. With virtually no money in his pocket, Chris made his journey mainly by hitchhiking, on a freight train, by kayak and just walking. When he needed to eat or buy supplies, Chris would do odd jobs or work part time for a while just to get by. Two years after he started his journey, Chris made it to Alaska and began his journey into the harsh Alaskan wilderness. Ill-equipped of supplies and his seemingly bad luck with nature, Chris McCandless died of starvation after spending more than a hundred days in the wild.

Very few films had managed to leave a deep, touching impression on my life and Into the Wild is one of them. Whether Chris is a selfish person and a complete idiot for cutting communication with everybody and journeying into the wild with very little provision or he is an adventurer who lived his dreams is still open for debate. For one thing this movie made me realize that life is not all about fame and fortune and material things. It's about living your dream through a journey of discovery. About how life is short and you'll never know when your last day will be and of course like Chris few final writing said - happiness is only real when shared. Definitely one of the best movies I have ever seen all my life.

5 January 2011

2011-01-05T21:02:00.002+08:00

My fourth semester begins this Sunday. Although I'm already halfway through my studies, it still feels like a long way to go before I graduate. So, like every other semester, I applied for the education withdrawal from my EPF savings. The whole process took less than an hour but since I had a lot of work to do today, I only managed to submit my application to the EPF office. I'll have to pick up my text book/modules some other day. If my calculations is right, all my Account 2 EPF savings will be finished by my 7th semester. That means I won't have any money left to pay for my final semester. Maybe I should start saving from now. Anybody want to donate for my education fund? You can give as much or as little as you like and it's for a good cause! :)

Apart from that I finally get to change the nomination for my EPF savings today. Previously all my savings will go to my Mom should anything happen to me. Today it will go to my wife and kids. Sorry baby X, your name is not in the list yet. Of course I will change that later. Have you updated your EPF nominees? All you need to do is fill up a form and bring a copy of your identity card. It only takes a minute but will save your family from so many problems in the future if you didn't.

1 January 2011

2011-01-01T21:24:00.014+08:00

Today like any other public holiday throughout the year, I decided to do the most productive thing I can that is stay at home and clean the house. I don't usually go to shopping malls or public places unless it is absolutely necessary.

There's some get together and potluck dinner at my apartment tonight but Mia is not feeling well so we decided to skip this one. She threw up three times this evening, once in the car. The doctor said she had a temperature and a fever. Poor girl. She didn't even play her favorite game Fruit Ninja today.

By the way, from today onwards I won't be using my 017 3487709 number anymore. You guys can contact me at my other 019 number. I kept getting my calls barred using that number because I can't seem to pay my bills on time. My payment schedule had been erratic these past few months. Anyway, you should get a text from me with the new number by now.

31 December 2010

2010-12-31T22:13:00.000+08:00

2 hours before the new decade. I am not going anywhere tonight. I am staying at home. At 30 years old, New Year, Merdeka or any other public celebration is already behind me. I'm too old for those kind of shht. Wishing New Year or anything is overrated. New Year resolution is lame. Just fricking do it already. Most of you never finished your previous resolutions anyway. It's been like that for what, 20 years already?

Wonder why I'm so moody and demotivated. Is it life? work? Liverpool FC? global warming?

30 December 2010

2010-12-30T20:39:00.001+08:00

Early this morning we went out and stoped by My Mydin to buy a school shoe for Adam. Believe it or not, we couldn't find a shoe his size in the whole of Tesco Puchong last week. Lucky for us My Mydin opens as early 7:00 AM. After dropping off Mia and a quick breakfast at Thoiba we went straight to SK Taman Universiti. Before today we had no idea where Adam will be going to school next year. You see we submitted the transfer application form to that school last week. Somehow the teachers or the clerk at the school took their own sweet time to submit the application to the district education office. By the time they sent the application last Monday, we found out the 200 students quota for the new school has already been filled.

Lucky for me my Mom happens to be a deputy headmistress (Penolong Kanan) in a school in Serdang. She pulled some strings and called her buddies (and former colleagues) at SK Desaminium to get Adam admitted there. I can't thank her enough for her favor. Still we didn't find out until this morning that Adam had already been accepted there at the new school. So this morning instead of sending Adam through an orientation, we only had to pick up his text books from SK Taman Universiti. The queue was at least a hundred meters long but we're just glad that Adam get to go to a school very near to our place. After Taman Universiti we head on straight to SK Desaminium to check out the school and confirm Adam's name there. Sure enough Adam had been accepted to the school and his real orientation starts tomorrow. I'm just happy that this is all sorted out finally.

29 December 2010

2010-12-29T20:46:00.007+08:00

There was tears of joy all over the country this evening as Malaysia has the AFF Suzuki cup for the first time after a 4-2 aggregate win over Indonesia. It's something considering we were never favorites at the beginning of the tournament. To be honest I don't harbor any hopes of the national team winning anything in any competitions. I guess we are so used to losing that winning would be the exception. Anyway congratulations to Malaysia and the national team. The PM even declared tomorrow as a public holiday after being coaxed in Twitter. Winning this Asean-level cup is good and all but defending it is another thing. Consistency is key. I will only true believe in the national team if we keep this up all the way to the highest level. Let's see if we can qualify for the Asian Cup next.

Meanwhile halfway around the world, Liverpool, yes the 'mighty' Reds lost again this time to bottom of the table Wolves. Right about this time I am not the least surprised who beats us anymore. Liverpool under Roy Hodgson can only be good enough for a mid-table team if not relegation dog-fight. Honestly I don't care anymore as long as that loser is our manager. I cringe at watching any Liverpool games these days. Mortified at the possibility of us losing again for the umpteenth time. I'd rather sleep than bother staying up late in the morning than watch us lose to some small clubs. Really, Liverpool has gone to the dogs.

28 December 2010

2010-12-28T20:47:00.012+08:00

For this 5 months checkup we finally get to see the gender of our future family member.

And I am delighted to say that it looks likely to be a girl, again! Well, that's what the sonogram looks like anyway. We can only be sure in our upcoming check up or when she finally comes out. Now for a nice baby girl's name.

24 December

2010-12-24T20:07:00.000+08:00

You know I don't believe in imaginary white-bearded old man or some rusty old lamps with magical properties. Still if I could be granted a couple of wishes right now, here's what they would be...

1. Woy Hodgson leaves Liverpool FC (by mutual consent of course) and replaced by none other than Rafa Benitez (or somebody better).

2. My company does a Petronas and give us 6 months bonus (amen!).

3. Apple accidentally sends me a 27" Core i7 iMac tomorrow.

4. Those Nigerian email scam that I occasionally get is like for real and I will recieve 2.5 million in my bank account soon.

23 December 2010

2010-12-23T21:11:00.001+08:00

Yesterday evening I found of from Adam's nursery owner that today will be the last day for standard 1 registration at the SK Taman Desaminium school which is like around the corner from our place. Previously we have registered Adam at SK Taman Universiti because we heard the former school won't be open till later next year. So this morning we rushed to the school before going to work to work out the registration details. The clerk in charge told us to write down Adam's name and our home address and that's it. She told us to check back in a couple of days.

Later today my Mom called saying that I had to submit Adam's birth certificate, our IC copies, marriage certs, utilities bill, Puspakom inspection form, EA form and whatnot to the school because apparently our transfer request was rejected by the education dept because of the incomplete documents. WTH? Lucky for me my Mom knows this things. I spent the entire lunch time plus 30 more minutes waiting for the school office to open and submit the documents. Even then I don't know for sure whether Adam will be accepted to the new school.

Parenthood is though.

22 December 2010

2010-12-22T19:29:00.001+08:00

After 25 days being part (which felt like eternity) we are finally reunited with my little precious kids today.

Mia looked like she gained some weight, perhaps she had a good time back home and maybe overfed as well. She stopped wearing diapers now, at least during the day which is a very good news for us. Think of all the diapers we would save. Adam, well Adam is still Adam. Still playing a lot of games, computer, Facebook. He got a new tricycle scooter from his Atuk and Matok for his birthday. Still demand his very special birthday present from his Mom. Welcome back kids, we missed you.

17 December 2010

2010-12-17T20:02:00.034+08:00

Today my colleagues and I worked together to clean the office, you know the usual stuff, throw away unwanted things and paint the wall here and there. Some people say my company is cheap and these are a job for cleaners and certainly not suitable for someone who studied like crazy for 3 years to get their 1st degree. They've got a point there. If my wife's company were to do something like this, their union will be up in arms threatening legal action to protect their fellow employees from such nonsense.

For me, I think this "reciprocal assistance" or gotong-royong thing helps to build a sense of belonging and camaraderie among the staff. Why waste money outsourcing the job to someone else when we can do it all by ourselves? It's not that big of deal anyway. Don't we all like clean our own homes once a month at least? Today we can see who's really hardworking and who's the lazy slob. Besides we are only a small company of 50 and we don't have any unions yet.

16 December 2010

2010-12-16T20:20:00.001+08:00

If you haven't notice, I gained a few kilos recently. Some say I had a really good appetite while I myself believed it was because of lack of exercise. Lucky for me I found this new hot exercise cum diet regime called the Kangoo diet. This diet is really simple and easy to follow. You just have to make sure the air conditioning unit of your vehicle is broken and don't fix it, that's all.

When you drive around in your car especially in the afternoon, the temperature inside your car will become really hot and you will sweat it out like a fig. Meanwhile in rainy weathers, you still need to wind up the window or else you may get really wet. When you do this, the temperature inside will get really hot as well and again you will sweat like you're in a sauna except that this one is free. All this sweating will eventually burn your calories and fat and in 2 weeks you may lose up to 3 kilos easily. And the best part is you don't have to spend a penny or lift a finger! All you need is window up and air conditioner down!

Testimony from a satisied customer:

I tried the Kangoo diet yesterday and it worked like a charm! I almost loss 500 grams just by driving 45 minutes to Puncak Alam. Just make sure you don't follow any garbage trucks cause boy they do stink!

-Rizal Isamil, Seri Kembangan

15 December 2010

2010-12-15T12:55:00.001+08:00

Yesterday a French man came to my office to promote something, a product or service. When it was time for him to leave, he tried calling a cab but after 20 minutes no cabs arrived (or wanted to come). So I offered to take him to the taxi stand in Equine Park knowing that there's always a couple of taxi drivers hanging around there. When we arrived, all 7 taxi drivers refused to take him where he's going - Jalan Maarof in Bangsar. Exasperated he said back in France you cannot refuse to take a passenger or they will revoke your license. Sorry to say monsieur Herve but taxi drivers in Malaysia can get away with pretty much anything. They can refuse to pick you up, send you anywhere they don't want to and especially refuse to use the meter and rip you off at every chance. The law is there but the enforcement s severely lacking.
In the end I offered to drop him off at the Serdang train station where I told him to take a train to Mid Valley. In Mid Valley he should have no problem getting a cab to Bangsar. Was I embarassed by the whole incident? Of course! But then sadly that's the norm here. We are still light years away from being a developed country judging by the attitudes of some of us. I'd like to say not all taxi drivers are like this but I know I can't. Most of them would do exactly the same. But you can't really blame them because everybody knows how bad traffic is at 6:30 in the evening in downtown KL. One would be crazy to head on there at that time for no concrete reason, taxi drivers included. Au revoir monsieur Herve. I Hope you won't bad mouth us too much when you get home. Most Malaysians are not that terrible but taxi drivers here, they're the exception.

Sent from my iPad

10 October 2010

2010-12-10T09:41:00.001+08:00

Hi friends! It's that time of year again to report my not-so-interesting academic achievements! Does anybody cares? Maybe. Well, to summarize my grades gone down a bit compared to last semester. For semester 3 I got 3.48 down from a high of 3.82 last semester. I must admit that this time it's a lot tougher than the 2 previous semesters.

The lecturer for English for Academic Purposes for example is one of the most fussiest and strict English lecturers I've ever learned with. Her attention to detail and standard is unbelievable. Our essays and assignments must be impeccable and outstanding and just ordinary would not do. I don't remember the last time I got anything other than A for an English subject but this time I got B+. I seriously think I'd had a better chance getting an A studying under Shakespeare than her. Human Communication in Information Agencies meanwhile is all theories and unless I had a photographic memory, it would be humanly impossible to remember all 9 chapters. Plus the lecturer didn't exactly give us a lot of clue or hints what might come in the final paper which is a killer paper by the way. I actually spent the 3 whole hours in the exam hall cracking my brain and yet I got just a B.

The other 2 subjects were okay although I'm quite surprised that I managed to clinch an A for Islamic Information Management. Management of Internet Resources which delves with HTML, CSS and creating a website is right up my alley so there's no surprises there. Okay enough about last semester. Registration is opening now and I must challenge myself to do much better next year.

8 September 2010

2010-12-08T06:58:00.032+08:00

Monday I had a cold, a common cold - nothing serious. That morning I went to a site office to replace my colleague whose on leave. There I had to sit right beneath the air coniditoner unit and there's now way I can control the temperature. By evening I was hot all over and my cold had turned into a full-blown fever.

So yesterday I went to a local panel clinic nearby and the doctor found my temperature was a warm 39 degrees. He gave me a jab on the butt, half a dozen of pills and a day off tomorrow. But after leaving the clinic I was 57 ringgit poorer. WTF, 57 RM? Next time I'd rather queue and suffer for 3 hours at a government clinic than waste my money there ever again!

3 December 2010

2010-12-03T09:05:00.007+08:00

Steve Jobs must personally thank me because I just made him even more richer yesterday.

After weeks of saving up and doing evening part time jobs, I managed to save up enough to buy my dream tablet computer. It didn't come easy I tell you, I even had to let go of my precious iPhone to afford this one. So is it worth it? Absolutely! Review coming next week.

2 December 2010

2010-12-02T16:48:00.001+08:00

Imaginary no more :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

28 November 2010

2010-11-28T15:38:00.008+08:00

This school holiday we've decided to let the kids spend some quality time with their grandparent back home in Tanah Merah. Although my home town is actually in Pasir Mas but we send them back just to Tanah Merah because there's nobody to look after them in Pasir Mas. My little sister has very little experience with children and my grandma would not have the energy left to tend to those kids.

In Tanah Merah however, they've got their aunts and other grandparent whose more than willing to look after them for the next few weeks or so. We took the train to Tanah Merah on Friday and return home by bus yesterday. My wife was already teary eyed and crying at the bus station, on the bus and also when she returns home to find our empty apartment. Duh, whose idea is it in the first place? I have the feelings the kids would be home really soon.

25 November 2010

2010-11-25T15:37:00.001+08:00

These are the boring days. I find my time stuck in traffic or waiting for something to be quite unbearable. I used to watch movies or TV series while stuck in traffic or read my RSS feed or surf the web while waiting for my wife shopping. Today I can't do any of that. I just sold my iPhone today.

It was not an easy decision really. I find my iPhone to be an inseparable item in my daily routine. Like I almost can't leave home without it. Then again I think it's time to move on because I'd like to have something better. No, not an iPhone 4, that's way too expensive but I'm saving to buy a magical and revolutionary device next. Yes you guess it right, an iPad. Now I only need to find another 800 ringgit from my dream machine. Boss, you have any 2nd hand iPad you wanna let go?:)

24 November 2010

2010-11-24T21:22:00.001+08:00

At three-zero I am still blissfully married to my lovely wife for 6 years now, I have 2 wonderful children and another one on the way, hopefully 5 months from now. I have been at the same company for the last 4 years, have our own car and our very own little apartment. Yes there are always good and bad times but that's life. And yes I wish I had fared better or be able to give my family and myself the best of everything in life. But the important thing is, I must be very grateful for all that life has given to me and count my blessings, which are too many to count. Always remember that there's still many people out there fighting a harder battle. Alhamdulillah for everything.

This morning my colleagues sang me happy birthday during briefing. I was so embarrassed that I became absolutely speechless. I don't remember them doing anything like this for anyone else. I also got several text messages wishing happy birthday and a few dozens more on Facebook. Thank you very much guys, I really appreciate it.