Ahhh.....what a day. My brother came back last nite from Abu Dhabi, mom and dad have not seen him since February. He's been working there for almost 2 years but I have met him in Dubai occasionally.
But now he's back for a full month! Long holiday. At least I get to spend some time with him before I leave for Kazakhstan. Yeah, I received my LOI a couple of days ago....visa will be ready soon.
In addition, my aunt from Singapore is back too. Been going out makan and lepak-ing for a couple of days now. Lack of sleep! LOL. Supposed to be relaxing eh? Anyhoo, this is the best time. Being able to meet a close family member who is away for a period of time is......ecstatic!
Remember guys....treasure your loved one's company. Make the most of it everyday.
Long Awaited Family Reunion
Mouse Transformers!!
I just gotten a new gadget to tinker with and it's FREE! A gift from my gal which she got it from a Sony launch...Oh the perks! Checked it online and found out the price of this little wonder....RM 299!!
The Sony Vaio 2 in 1 Mouse and Phone is a very nifty piece of hardware. It sits on my mousepad clicking away but when there's a phone call coming in from Skype....the mouse "transforms" into a phone! How cool is that! Only problem is that now I can't do anything when the mouse is a phone. The designers at Sony must be fans of Transformers.
This little contraption is suitable for people on the go...like myself...who has a laptop. If I am talking on the Vaio Phone, I still can use my touchpad to navigate. The mouse looks very sleek and fashionable, as expected from Sony. The middle of it's body is a strip of chromed metallic finish with a scroll button as volume when in phone function.
When a call comes in, an LED at the top of the mouse blinks. It also has hands free mode, to activate it I just press a button on it's side and it automatically raises the handset to a 45 degree angle. And I just speak into it. Cool eh?
Hands Free modeAnything and Whatever....
What you wanna drink? Hmmm....whatever-lah. (sounds familiar?)
When you ask someone for suggestion on where to eat or a what drinks they want to order....the most common reply is Anything-lah or Whatever-lah. I find myself saying the same words frequently when my parents ask me what I want to eat for dinner.
And for those people who can't decide and love to use these words when asked on what to drink....beware because you might get what you ask for....literally.
A Singaporean company came up with drinks labeled Whatever and Anything for people that cannot decide their thirst quenching liquids. Upon buying these cans, you won't know what it flavor it contains. Sort of like a "tikam"....Haha. Randi brought back 2 canned drinks that surprised me....haven't tried them yet though.
Counter Strike Clan member
Many years of rigorous training and countless hours spent in a cybercafe paid off.....sort off. Was playing online today in a local server and was "scouted" by a local clan. The [MP.s] clan. Requesting me to join their clan as a member....and I did. It's not yet official though. And at the same time....my counter strike kaki friend....Mage...was also invited to join the clan. Cool!
Now it's gonna be serious. More training and planning.
Do you smelllll what is burning?
Walked out of my room and in a single whiff, I smelt something burnt or was burning. I went and check the nearest wall power point....seems OK. Sniffed my way into my neighboring room and the smell was stronger there. Looked into my computer casing and saw that the fan was not moving....Uh-oh....there was soot everywhere. The whole PC innards was covered with it. Apparently my power supply blew up...literally...spewing black soot through both the inside and outside of the openings.
That computer has served me well, I never let it have a good rest for the past 2 years....and it has finally call it quits.
I hope that my hardwares were not fried in the process. So many downloaded....ummm....freewares in the hard disks. Will check it tomorrow for survivors.
Anyone seen the movie Borat?
Ahhh....land of the best caviars. Just received an email from my boss today....telling me to get a visa for Kazakhstan....cos I'm going there for my training! Well, I have been bugging them to send me for some training....so I don't mind that. As long I survive there. Will be there in time for Autumn which will be a cold.
My Dell Inspiron 1520
It has finally arrived! My spanking brand new Dell Inspiron 1520! They delivered it earlier than said, which is a good thing. I couldn't sit in the house waiting for it....so excited. I slowly opened the box and Voila!....White and smooth. Huge though.
With the 15.4" screen and the 9-cell battery, it is quite heavy. A little thick but this is NOT a business laptop so don't compare it with business or Ultra Mobile versions, with it's configurations....it is suitable for a replacement desktop and for gamers on the move.
My specs:
T7100 1.8Ghz 800FSB
2GB 667Mhz Rams
120GB SATA HDD
15.4" WXGA (1280x800) with TrueLife
NVidia 8600M GT 256MB
The only complain that I have so far is the LCD bleeding....it is quite noticeable from a certain angle. But not so bad. The brightness level is high....you can increase it more within the Nvidia control panel, practically turned my whole screen white with it. The viewing angle of the screen is quite good, I ran a HD quality anime and view it from the side angle and it still looks good. My monitor is just WXGA 1280x800, but to me....it's more than enough.
The bootup speed is blazing!
So far I've just installed FEAR and ran the test.
With both the CPU and Graphics settings on High and VSync ON....63% between 25-40 FPS, the remaining 37% is above 40FPS. Gonna test C&C3 and COH shortly.
Now I just need to get familiarized with the whole Vista shabang.
I have been Phished.....
I received a letter in the mail box the other day. A plain white envelope with my full name and address printed, I thought it is just another junk mail or another bill (sigh). Looking at the stamp, I was surprised to see it's from Madrid. Opening the mail thinking it's a penpal or something. In the envelope, there was a printed letter and an empty form or some sort.
After reading the letter, I was shocked to see that it was a scam. An e-lottery scam! It states that I have "won" Euros 585,510.00!! Woohoo...I'm a millionaire! Yeah...right!
I then realized that my personal details has been phished or being sold to a scam syndicate! What's worse is that the form that comes with the mail requires me to fill in other information such as my bank account number! I have been careful not to divulge any accurate details of myself online, except legitimate sites such as banking sites. They could've gotten my information from any source....even sold by Malaysian companies!
I will get this letter to the appropriate authorities and see what can they do about it. To everyone, just be careful not revealing any information of yourself online or anywhere else. I hope other people receive a similar letter will not be gullible enough to believe it nor respond to it.
My first Dell Laptop....on the way....
Well, I have already placed an order with Dell this afternoon. The new laptop range by Dell, the Inspiron 1520. Comes with 8 funky colors. I originally wanted the Ruby Red, very catchy but the salesperson told me that there is shortage of that color and some other. So I chose Alpine White, which just arrived today.
Now I just have to wait 7 days for it to arrive. Oh, and added RM 52 for a Dell All-In-One Printer worth RM 298. Originally wanted to buy yesterday, but thank god I waited....today the new promotion is way better. FREE upgrade to 2GB Ram along with RM400 OFF.
What made me buy Dell Inspiron 1520? The thing that caught my attention was their new Santa Rosa platform, which gives me the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT 256MB Dedicated memory!! This is a DX10 GPU! Also the 15.4" Widescreen....I like big screens. And definitely the FREE 2GB memory upgrade.
I'm not a plastic bag....yeah right
Imagine getting a brand new Porsche for 10% of it's original price. Would you get even it comes with a 1000cc engine? I bet you would....just because it's a Porsche!
That was a kind of deal that Anya Hindmarch (a designer brand) had last week, and I was there with Randi and her colleagues. They caught wind of the limited edition Anya Hindmarch's "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" designer bag coming to Malaysia and selling for only RM 55. Everywhere else in the world was sold out the first few hours of it's launch. We were at KLCC at 7AM to queue up but there were already 150 people ahead of us. Everyone waiting for the boutique to open at 10AM.
By 9AM the queue was all the way to the other end of the mall....estimated 1000 people. When the store opened it's doors the queue began to move....inching forward. Some celebrities already gotten their bag and were parading in front of the whole line. Sort of rubbing it in your face. Pissing everyone off.
Within 1 hour after the store opens, it was already sold out. Guess what....we didn't get it! Worst of all, why did they let 1000 people queue up when there is only less than 150 bags available?! That's what smart ass management are like. Those ahead of us were making a ruckus, yelling to the security guards and the employees of the boutique. I was kinda hoping that someone would throw a punch and let hell break loose.
All the waiting for nothing. Only a handful of people manage to get the bag. So we head on home. Empty handed and sleepy. Never again we shall be the customers of Anya Hindmarch.
Oh, as I was looking through the newspapers the next day....I saw my face in the article about the event. Haha. Check out the first picture above taken from the Weekend Mail. See if you can spot me.
Common Courtesy is uncommon
Define
Common [kom-uhn]
1. pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture; public
Courtesy [kur-tuh-see]
1. a courteous, respectful, or considerate act or expression
Makes up Common Courtesy, something that people nowadays are lack...or may have forgotten. Remember what we were taught in our Pendidikan Moral classes in our primary school days? Much have been lost or forgotten as we grow up living in times of conflict and self-centeredness or insensitivity. Be it towards our family, friends or even total strangers that we meet in a mall. When was the last time you called an old friend and ask how he or she is doing? Or by simply holding a door open for a stranger behind you as you walk through a door?
If you were to call or leave someone a message, you would expect them to reply or response to it, but some people tend to just ignore or give a lame excuse "Oh....forgot lar" or "Aiya, very busy lar". People, a response to a message or a phone call would not take 30minutes of your time. That is what common courtesy has become...uncommon.
The lack of common courtesy in this society causes much conflict amongst individuals.
There are many of us that would like others to treat us with courtesy, but we ourselves do
not treat others with that same courtesy that we would expect others to direct towards us. I see this is very common among us Malaysians. It is due to this ignorant viewpoint that the lack of courtesy towards one another exists. Individuals expect to receive but not to reciprocate which further irritates the problem.
Common Courtesy: Suggestions and wisdom
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
Starry starry Night
The sky is clear tonight, at 8pm when I was outside....I saw 4 distinct bright objects in the night sky. 2 at the North-NorthWest horizon and other 2 at the SouthEast. I knew that they were not stars but planets, so I brought out my telescope for a better view.
At the NorthWest, it turns out to be Venus on the left and Saturn on the right. Such magnificent clarity and brightness. Even Venus is only half revealed, it still outshines everything else in the sky.
Venus
At the SouthEast horizon, I could see Jupiter and it's 3 moons clearly! The largest planet in our solar system. At first I thought the 3 objects were distant stars. To look for Jupiter, look for the brightest object at the SouthEast, it is left to an orange star. The orange star next to it is Antares, part of the Scorpius constellation.
The pictures shows exactly how the planets are aligned as seen through my telescope. What you see here is what I saw just now. Tomorrow or the day after that around 8PM, just look towards these horizons and search for them, you will be intrigued.