Design Flaws

So it's design deficiencies after all (as reported in NST). The British consultant firm, Halcrow Consultants Ltd, briefed the Works Minister and his engineers on the report that pointed out the cracks on the MRR2 were caused by design deficiencies.

I remembered the Works Minister claimed that the cracks were not due to design failure. He said (quoting from Jeff Ooi's Screenshots) :

"This is no design failure. The engineer can sue them. The design was submitted to our office. Nobody can open his mouth and say design failure."

So what do you have to say, Datuk Seri? Appoint yet another independent consultant? If the design was submitted to their office, why was it approved? Was the work supervised? Looks like Datuk Seri has a lot of answering to do. Let's see what level is his Tai-Qi.

Bluetooth RC Car

For gadget lovers out there, check this out....



This is the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth RC Car: CAR-100. *droooooll*

You use your Sony Ericsson Bluetooth mobile phone to control the green and white car and to charge the car as well. Mobile phones that are compatible are K700i, T630, P900, Z600, T610, P800, T68i and T68. On these phone, you will need to install either the BluetoothCar Java application or the CAR-100 Controller software application depending on the model of your phone. To control the car, the keys on your mobile phone are used. Price? RM399. No bigger than a matchbox, you can control the car within a 10 metres radius.

If only I have a bluetooth phone.....

Grammar

Yesterday.
A colleague asked me to type a sentence, which he spoke out verbally, on a document I was working on.

Colleague : OK, you type ah. "Our proposal including the supply and install of ......" (he england veli power)

Papi : *type type type* "Our proposal includes the supply and installation of ....." (I corrected it while I typed it)

Colleague : Oh...installation. OK, good. Save and print out.

Papi : OK.

Then he went away to his office. Later he presented the same document to the GM. I was called in few minutes later, to ask me about few things. When I was in the meeting, i noticed that the document has been amended to read:
"Our proposal including the supply and install of ..."

Aik? He had corrected my 'correction'. And the funny thing was the GM re-commented on this and made his correction on the printout, it reads the same as what I amended when I made the correction.

Some people really don't know where they stand.....

Celebrating the Tang Lung Day

So yesterday was Mid Autumn Festival. There was a Tang Lung festival organised by the neighbourhood committee near my parents' house. The event was organised at a playground and started at 8pm. Mainly it was attended by residents around the area.

We had dinner at around 8pm. It was delicious!! The Hailam chicken was superb!! I 'tambah nasi' three times, Mami twice. After dinner, we went out to decorate the house with paper tanglungs. As the crowds got bigger and bigger at the playground, we went out with Yiyi to join them.


Mostly children, of all races, with various styles of tanglung. Spiderman got, Mickey Mouse got, Hello Kitty got, flashing disco lighs also got. And not forgetting the Ultraman and the Doraemon. Quite a number of kids drooled when they saw my Yiyi's Ultraman. "Wah!! Ultraman lar!".

There were a couple of kids with DIY tanglung. A broom stick with a wheel mechanism and a tin-tepung-susu/tanglung at the bottom. When pushed, the wheel somehow will spin the tanglung.


Some kids with the DIY tanglung.

Yiyi was very excited, and was kicking in my arms. The other kids also were playing with candles and tanglungs. Soon, some adults (comittee members, I guess) asked us to gather around and have a walkabout around the neighbourhood.



We joined the walkabout for about 100 metres, ha ha ha...because Yiyi is getting heavier!! And I was wearing my office attire. So we went back to my parents' house to chill out with my parents and enjoy our paper tanglungs.


Paper tanglung at home.

But the event could have been more fun. Most children were playing among their siblings and parents, rather than playing with other children and making new friends. And some parents were there to chit-chat, and hang around the makan table. It could have been more fun if some games were organised for the children, like past-the-parcel etc. But it was a great event to get people together nevertheless.

tambah nasi: Malay meaning 'to add rice'. Normally we 'tambah nasi' if the rice serving is not enough.
tin tepung susu: Malay meaning the container of milk powder, cylinder in shape and made of tin/aluminium.

Jump or Slipped?

I got to know about the news, where a single mother of 34 years old allegedly pushed her son and her daughter from the 17th floor of an apartment, yesterday when told to me by Mami. At first I thought that this is crazy and senseless. But since I could not confirm the news, I decided to read on it today.

The alledged suicide pact was reported in one of the tabloid, while The Star only reported about the fall. "Mom told 'em to jump" was the headline in the tabloid. The tabloid also reported how the boy was fighting for his life in the hospital, how the mother had lost her job and suffering from depression and how the mother would also joined her kid to jump off the building.

But today, it's a totally different story. The two children are now claiming that they actually slipped and fell, and there is no suicide pact. The sister lost her footing while running to the bathroom and somehow slipped through an opening in the railing. The brother tried to save his sister by grabbing her hand but he fell through as well. And this was also reported by the same tabloid that claimed, a day before, that it was the mom who made them to jump.

So now the question...why the two different stories? Is the alledged suicide pact story reported on Monday verified? Is it from a reliable source? Or was it just hear-say? How about the second story?

I know this kind of news sells. This is what most reader wants to know. It is shocking, it is unexpected, it is disturbing and it sells. But it has to be the truth. Not hear-say, not grandmother's stories, not a neighbour's "oh-I-saw-her-crying-on-the-stair-case-so-she-must-be-crazy" comment, but from reliable and verified sources. Look at what happened to Dan Rather of CBS's 60 Minutes.

Mid Autumn

Today is Mid Autumn Festival. The 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar.

But what a way to start the day. Today's traffic jam has got to be the worst jam this year! It took us almost 1.5 hours to get from our house to the office. Normally it took us only 15 minutes. Traffic was at a standstill. But looking on a bright side, I get to 'admire' the surroundings, otherwise I would normally zoom by. We also got to see some monkeys jumping from trees to trees. No, not the boy band Blue. The real monkeys.

From the radio, we found out that a container truck broke down somewhere near the underpass near the Subang Airport-Subang Jaya-Federal Highway interchange, reducing from two lane to one. For those who are familiar with this area will know that this is a very 'sensitive' point. Sikit flood = jam. Sikit accident = jam. Car broke down = jam. Road side work = jam. An indon talking on his mobile phone on the road side = jam. I guess Murphy's right.

Back to Mid Autumn Festival, tonite we 'makan besar'. Mid Autumn Festival is suppose to be a family gathering. But my brother could not make it because he is working the night shift tonight. My parents are having chicken rice tonite, yeay!! Authentic home-cooked Hainanese Chicken complete with the fragrant chicken-oil rice, hot and spicy hand-pounded chilli sauce with garlic and ginger, chicken soup with chicken 'spare-parts' and of course, succulent boiled 'white' kampung chicken. Even thinking about it now makes me droooooool.... yumm... And my mother has another specialty up her sleeves. Her special sauce of fried onions with dark soy sauce, coriander and vegetable oil. Dip the chicken in and....ahhhh....heavenly! OK..OK...enough already, it still early till dinner...ha haha

Tonite we will be having some tang lung walkabout in the neighbourhood, organised by the neighbourhood comittee. So expect to see Yiyi with her Doraemon, Papi with his Ultraman and Mami with her paper lantern, and some high-pitch annoying melody from the lantern, tonite. See ya there!!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival!!

Sikit flood: Malay + English meaning a little bit of flood
Sikit accident : Malay + English meaning a small accident
Indon : Malay, a short term for Indonesia, meaning Indonesian foreign workers.
chicken spare parts : meaning chicken's internal organ, a delicacies
tang lung: Cantonese meaning lantern.

Another fall

Yiyi had another fall last week.

It was Friday evening, we just came back fetching Yiyi from my parents' home. I was preparing to go out for a game of badminton, and Mami was having her shower. Yiyi was in her old walker, which she has outgrown. Big Mistake No.1. We were supposed to get the new walker, which is much bigger and stable, from my parents' house, but because we were rushing back so I could prepare for the badminton game, we forgot to take the new walker along.

I was wearing my socks and sport shoes when the Astro remote she was playing fell to the floor. In an instance, she tried to reach for it on the floor, leaning her body out of the walker. Because her upper weight is heavier, so she toppled together with the walker, face first. It happend in a split second! In a flash, I rushed to her (about 2 feet away), carefully carried her up. Then she started to cry. Loudly.

I tried to calm her down, while checking for any visible injuries. I carried her in my arms, with her face on my shoulder, facing my back. So I could not see her face. But this point, Mami had heard her cried, and rushed out from the bathroom. And when Mami carried her, I saw something that sank my heart. A drop of blood on her lip.

That takes the daylight out of me. I quickly prepared to bring her to a nearby clinic/hospital. But Mami said we should probably calm her down first, and then see how serious was her injuries. So we tried everything to calm her down. Mami remembered that a little sugar will stop the bleeding (her sister's advice). She put some sugar in her mouth, hoping the sweetness will stop her from crying, and will somehow stop the bleeding. It did stop the crying, but only for a while. But no more bleeding. And her upper lip started to swell. We played with her using her toys and teddy bears, and soon she calmed down and was able to smile when we played with her.

So I checked for internal injuries, her hands, legs, her abdomen, her back, and most importantly her head. Everything seems fine. And soon she was beginning to respond to us when we asked her on certain things that she understand. Upon further examination, we found out that she actually punctured her upper lip with her only two bottom teeth. And since she fell face-down, she bumped her left cheek. We applied some warm towel over her face to sooth her and to relieve the swelling of her lip.

Few moments later, when we confirmed she's ok, we put her to sleep. But all the while we were alert with her, making sure she is really ok, no nausea symptom, or vomitting (* touch wood* ).

It was really a scary and harrowing experience, especially when I saw blood on her lip. I should have been more careful and more alert with her. I made a mistake. This will serves as a lesson to me, and I will be more careful with her.

Sorry, Yiyi.

Cucuk

Shh.....Office gossip.......

This morning, one of my colleague, Makcik, went to see the GM to complain. So what is she not happy about..?

You see, our company employed 2 new staff few months ago. Both are in the Accounts department. The first one, Petit, joined the company first, together with another guy. Then the guy left after 3 weeks, and Shy was employed to replace him.

Petit who joined first, has a lower qualification but has few years of experience with her. She catches up with the operations and matters in the Accounts department and soon she was handling it on her own. Shy, who joined much later, has a higher qualification, but she lacks experience, and being a late-comer, she has a lot of catching up to do. For this obvious reason, she was put under the supervision of Petit.

The company also employed a new Accounts Manager, let's call him XAM, to overlook the operation of the Accounts department. XAM also left, after 2 months on the job. I guess he couldn't handle the 'heat'.

But XAM has been calling the office and chit-chatting with Makcik, gossiping. One of the thing, I understand, is about Petit and Shy. XAM has been cucuk-ing Makcik to go to the management and complain that Shy should not be put under Petit because of their qualifications. So after days of cucuk, Makcik went to see the GM this morning. And it was quite an argument, I can hear the quarrel in my cubicle!

Let me give you my two cents worth. It doesn't work that way. If we have to rank staff based on their qualifications, then my director, who only has a certificate, will come under my supervision and I will be chaffeur-driven in the company Mercs (how I wish...he hehe ). Qualifications are used when employing a staff. After employment, it goes by performance and skills. You don't downgrade a person, only because a fresh graduate with a Master degree just joined the company.

And one thing I don't understand also. This Makcik has nothing to do and has no authority over the Accounts Department. Why is she so 'kaypo' and trying to 'fight for the rights' of Shy?? Any hidden agenda? Does the GM know about the invisible hand that cucuk Makcik??

haii..... office politics *sigh*

cucuk: Malay meaning to poke.
kaypo: Hokkien meaning busy body.

Amazing Race

I can only say one thing about The Amazing Race 5 finale 2-hour show on Astro AXN last night: "Amazing!!". For those who have not watch it, you might wanna skip reading this (spoiler ahead).

And for the first time, the team that Mami and I 'sokong' won. Chip and Kim. I must say that they are not the most competitive team in this race, and they are not the strongest as well. But they played the game well, and with good strategy. Chip was struggling to ascend the limestone wall, pulling his heavy weight up the rope, but the fitter Brandon managed to take over the lead. Brandon and Nicole finished first in the Pit Stop for this leg of the race, but they finished third in the final.

The strongest team and the most competitive and aggresive team would be Colin and Christie. They have been number 1 in many legs of the race, but they finished second after Chip and Kim in the final. The Yield used by Chip and Kim in the Phillippines on Colin and Christie really turned the race around. But Colin and Christie went very aggresive after that and managed to catch up with the rest.

It was a good race indeed. They deserves the 2004 Emmy Awards they won for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program few days ago. Can't wait for the next season The Amazing Race 6 to start in October. Yay!

sokong: Malay meaning to support.

Tang Lung

Lantern, or Tang Lung in Cantonese, is one of the specialty of the Mid-Autumn festival aka mooncake festival.

Everywhere you look now, hypermarkets, pasar malam, street markets, and groceries stores, you will find lanterns, of all shapes and sizes, being sold. Last week we decided to get a couple of tang lungs for Yiyi first mid-autumn festival.

At the hypermarket,

Papi : Wah!! Look at all those tang lungs. The paper type, the plastic type, the colorful type, there are so many of them.

Mami : Yalor, last time we only have the paper type. We even made our own tanglung.

Papi : Look at this one, inflatable tanglung. They have Doraemon, PowerPuff Girl, MashiMaro, Ultraman.

Mami : The Doraemon cute lar, let's get this for Yiyi.

Papi : OK. But look at this Ultraman one, not bad also.

Mami : One enough already mah, some more girl-girl don't play with Ultraman one.

Papi : But look at this Ultraman, so macho leh, Yiyi will love it.

Mami : You want it for yourself, is it? OK lar, buy lar.

Papi : he he he...


"The dynamic duo, Ultraman and Doraemon"


"Ultraman couldn't stand the harsh environment on Earth, and the light on his chest went tee...too...tee...too...tee...too, so he flew back to Ultraman planet."

Urut

I am always tickled by this signboard promoting a certain massage service on my way back to my house from work.


Translation: Malay "Massage - Change Size"

Papi : Ha ha ha Urut to ubah saiz.

Mami : Urut what ah?

Papi : What do you think?

Mami : Urut tangan also can what. Some people, one hand is bigger than the other hand. So they 'urut' it to make it smaller or bigger, so both hands will be the same size.

Papi : Ha ha ha....

Mami : he he he....

Mami was just pulling my legs.

FYI, if you don't already know what service they are promoting, it is actually a traditional massage for men to enlarge their penis. I am not sure whether it actually works, and I have never tried it before, so, no comment.

Just wondering....who is giving the massage, male or female? If the massager is a she (and a hot one too), and she 'urut' it, of course it will 'ubah saiz'. Ha ha ha....

Gmail Invites

I have 6 GMail invitations to give away.

No need to send me a joke or a story. Or solve a riddle or play a game.

Simply leave ur email in the comment, and I will send it to you, first come first serve of course.....

:)

Kampung Wedding part 2

Pop quiz.

If the wedding dinner is at 6.30pm, and the restaurant is about 5 minutes drive from the house, with no traffic congestion in kampung, what time would you leave your home?

The answer is................6.45pm!!

So we reached the restaurant about 7pm. Most of the guest have arrived, except for a few VIPs.


All seated.

As in normal kampung wedding, karaoke is a must. And for this, they got professional services. They came in a van with the complete set of karaoke, with super duper big speakers in front of the stage, a small TV set for the song lyrics, an up-to-date karaoke songs library, and a big red banner (complete with HP number) to promote their services which they conveniently hung it on the stage. There's more..... they also provide MC service, 2 hot female singers and a Beyond-wanna-be male singer.

The dinner finally started around 8pm. The normal dishes you would find in a Chinese wedding dinner. But what amused me most is the karaoke session. Every Tom, Dick and Harry would go up and show off their 'talent'. If Simon Cowell was there, he would have drop dead right there and then. And the speaker turned up to the max didn't help either. Waves of hokkien songs after hokkien songs were bombarded at the diners.


"Ladies and Gentlemen, let's put your hand together for the Kampung Idol!!"


These hot duo were getting more attention than the newlyweds.

The dinner ended around 10pm, but the torture singing didn't not stop there. They kept singing even if the crowd has gone home.


I didn't stayed to find out who won the Kampung Idol contest.

The dinner was so-so, the portion of the dishes was small. Almost everyone went back looking for food. After the dinner, when we reached my in-laws home, everyone seems to have the same common goal. To reach for the pack of dried meat we bought home.

Mami told me another cousin is getting married. What? Another Karaoke session?

Kampung Wedding

We spent our weekend attending a wedding, kampung style. The celebration lasted two days. 2 nights 1 day to be exact.

We travelled back to Mami's hometown last Friday to attend a 'little' gathering that night for friends and family on the bridegroom side. He is Mami's cousin.

We reached there around 8.30pm and the makan-makan has already started. It was buffet style, plenty of food; fried mee-hoon, curry chicken, yong-tau-foo, kuih-muih, beer, soft drinks etc. But this is not the only attraction. ;)


Busy around the buffet spread.


Another group making themselves busy at a corner.

At a hidden corner, behind the chicken barn, a rather big crowd surronded a small table. No, they are not culling chickens nor testing the chicken for bird flu, they are playing Pai Gow, a chinese domino game.

We didn't stayed back to see who's the big winner, but I was told the game will continue till next morning! After 3 plates of meehoon, 3 scoops of curry chicken, and a few currypuffs (and some delicious nyonya kuih) later, we went back to my in-laws house.

The next day, the bridegroom went out early to fetch the bride. Since the bride's hometown is very far away, so they rented a chalet near the bridegroom's house. Easy lor. Around 10pm, Mami's uncle called us to come to his house for more makan-makan, but more importantly, the tea-serving ceremony, which indirectly translate to angpow. So we prepared our angpows, and head for his house (walking distance).

It was our first tea-ceremony. I was quite nervous and Mami too, I can see, she was quite excited. But nevertheless Mami's earlier warning rang in my ear: "Hold the tea cup as firmly as you can. Don't drop it.". Later I found out why....

In the tea-ceremony, we have to follow ranking. Top ranking, is of course the elderly lar. They were served first. Grandmother, Grand Auntie, then Uncles and Aunties. Then our turn. We sat on a chair, facing the newlyweds who were standing facing us. A relative was standing nearby with the tea in teacups.

Bridegroom (in mandarin) : Se Cheh Foo, drink tea *serving teacup with tea* (they adressed us using relationship, in this case, it means 4th (cousin) Sister's husband)

Papi : Thank you. Emmm....sweet. *hands shaking terribly ktr...ktr....ktr....*

Bridegroom : Cheh cheh, drink tea *serving teacup to Mami* (Cheh Cheh meaning sister, he addressed Mami sister)

Mami : *laughing...* he he he ......

Then it was the bride turn. My hands were shaking all the time. I was holding the teacup tightly, worried that I might dropped the teacup. Dropping the teacup and breaking it is a big NO-NO. It would mean bad luck times 100.

Then more photograph sessions for the couples, while the others just hang around, chit chat. Moments later, we went back to my in-laws house.

In the evening, we prepared to go for the wedding dinner at a nearby restaurant.
-- to be continued --

Touch & Go

I was reading a story about a Touch & Go user being overcharged because of faulty reader. Apparently, when he first touched the reader with the card, the gate didn't open, and the display shows the toll charges but no balance was shown. Then he touched it a couple of time again, until the gate finally open. He later found out that he was also being charged for the first couple of time he touched the reader when the gate didn't open.

I never trusted the Touch & Go card. I have used it before, but after a week, I decided to go cash. For some reason, the reader at the toll plaza near my house could not read my card. It happened twice, but not at other toll plazas, and I tell you it was not a pleasant experience. Back then, there were no staff standing by to help you if you have problem with the card/reader. You spoke to them thru the intercom, and you will have to wait until they walk all the way from their office and open the gate manually for you. All this time, people behind the queue will be honking at you, shouting profanities at you, dagger-stare at you like you have raped their pet dog. After those incidence, I lose confidence in the card.

T&G with credit cards, T&G at parking, T&G at LRT, T&G this, T&G that. Thanks, but no thanks.

But one thing I do not understand. Why do people have to choose to re-charge their T&G at 6.30pm at the T&G Recharge lane knowing that this is the peak rush hour time where people is rushing to go back home, and still queuing up at the 1km long queue??

Who buy the moon cake?

One day, Mr. Chee hit the lottery. Not big lar, only 1 big 1 small, 3rd prize. As he was feeling very happy, so he decided to get some moon cakes for his colleagues.

So he went to Kam Lan Lun Tai and bought 2 boxes of Golden Jade Light moon cakes. At the office he gave to the secretary, so she could cut it up, and everyone can enjoy it over tea time (10am to 12am).

So his colleagues was very happy. Got free mooncakes mah. Then the big boss came in to the pantry. He helped himself with the mooncake. Taruk kaw kaw.. So after the boss finished eating, he asked....

"Hmmm nice ah....who buy ah?

The colleagues said ....

"Chee buy lar"

;) The above was adapted from an SMS I received some time back.

Moon Cake Festival

Being the good son that I am, and the good daughter-in-law that Mami is, we went to buy mooncakes for our families.

Nowadays, there are so many varieties out there. The traditional lotus paste, red bean, 'kam thui', and the modern icy skin, dragon fruit, spirulina, choccolate, belacan..... And they are selling it everywhere. In restaurant, pasar malam, hypermarket, order online, telephone booking, bakery shop, even at residential home.

My family is not really into mooncakes, except my mother. She is into anything sweet. And at her age, that is not a good thing. But since it's a once-a-year celebration, we normally get a box or two for her. Her favourite is the lotus paste with double yolk.

Today, we went to one of the hypermarket to get her a KLT mooncake. KLT?? What happen to Kam LanLun Tai? Did they change their name? Maybe because of all those jokes about their name, they decided to use only the abbreviation of their name.

Oh my! The price has also increase!! The year before last year, we bought it for around RM7.50 per piece. Last year it was around RM8.50. Now, RM9.80! At this rate (RM1 increase each year), by the year 2020, a Lotus Paste with Double Yolk would cost RM25.80 per piece!! Fuiyo!

Oh..well, like I said, only once a year...

kam thui: Cantonese. A type of mooncake with assorted fruits and nuts, with a slight sesame seed taste.
belacan: Malay meaning shrimp paste (but no, this is not a type mooncake, but who knows, with all the funny funny ingredient they are coming up for mooncakes, maybe one day)

A new makan place in town

When Mami said "let's go makan" yesterday during lunch time, I suggested Lobster House in Taipan, USJ. I got to know about this place from a fellow blogger mdmafia. You see, Mami's got a raise!! :)

So we went there during lunch time, we were expecting a bigger crowd but only 2 tables were occupied. Good, not crowded, right for us. I think the name "Lobster" chase customers away because people always think it is expensive. Actually the place is not expensive at all. But it could be their promotions, since they are only 1 month old.

We went for the mushroom soup, smoked salmon fresh salad, fried mantau, Mami went for the seafood platter, and lamb shank for me.


The smoked salmon salad. Tasted OK, vege is fresh.


Fried Mantau/Bun. Soft and fluffy inside, crunchy outside. Not to oily. Good.


Mushroom soup. Watery, a bit sour. I also tasted a bit bitter. Bad. Give it a miss.


Seafood Platter (RM22.90). Mami always have problem deciding, with so many goodies on the menu, he he he. So I suggested this. Everything comes in 3, mussels, prawns, squid, fish, with saute mushrooms and onions and some salad on the side. And the portion? BIG! But the prawns were not fresh though.


Lamb shank (well, after I was done with it he he he - RM16.90). I forgot to snap a photo of it before I ate it. The portion is big, the meat's soft with spices. Taste? Excellent! But I thought the dish comes with potato strips, as what I read on the menu, but I got chunks of pumpkin and also kailan.

The price came to about RM68.99 with gov tax. No service tax though.
It was good overall, not pricey, we will definitely come back for more. Especially for the lobster.

We left with a full stomach, and a big smile on our face... :)

makan: Malay meaning eat/to eat

Kau Tim Liao!

Yes!! It took me almost 1 and half hours to 'DIY' the cabinet with no manual whatsoever.

And I was right, I have to 'attack it from a different angle'. The day before yesterday, I started to build the middle part first, starting from the top, leaving both side panels for last. When I finished assembling the middle part, problem started when I tried to assemble the side panels. You see, there is no screws to hold the middle part together, just a couple of small wooden pegs (about 3cm long) that loosely hold the thing together. So when I tried to put in the side panel and tried to push it in, the whole thing shifted.

So yesterday, I started from the top-right corner. I disassembled the whole thing, start buiding it again. Still the small wooden pegs were giving me headache. Aiya, why don't they make it longer, so it could hold the middle panels in its position. A little nudge is all you need to toppled the whole thing. So I was very very careful. The small, crampy, little store room is not helping either, not to mention stuffy.

But in the end I did it. YES! I did it! *bowing - clap clap clap*
So now, no more excuse of no places to put my 'rubbish' in the store room....

man! my whole body is aching!!

kau tim liao : A combination of Cantonese/Hokkien meaning work done.

Blog Layout

Aisehman....I just found out that my blog layout appears funny in Mozilla FireFox 1.0.

I have just installed FireFox 1.0. And the first thing I do, I checkout my blog page. For some reason, the 'Disclaimer' appears between the content and the right side bar. *sigh*

I normally use IE, no problem there.

Anyone reading this, and the layout looks weird or out of place on your browser (other than IE or FireFox) , please drop me a comment. Many thanks. I will try (try only ah....he he he) to look at it.

Back to coding the template...

DIY Cabinet

Now I know why I was in IT field, rather than in carpentry or selling furniture. Because I really suck at it.

We have been looking for a cheap cabinet for our store room to store our junk and rubbish. So last week, when a certain hypermarket was having a promotion RM99 for a 12 compartment bookshelf/cabinet, we bought it. We have checked; before promo RM180. And it was damn heavy.

It was until last night, that we have time to assemble it. DIY lah. After visiting Yiyi, we went back early and got to work.

At 8.30pm:

Papi : OK. This should be easy. *pounding chest* Sap sap sui.

Mami : Sure or not, don't action lar.

Papi : Easy lar, by 9.30 can finish lar. Then shower, then watch Amazing Race at 10.

Mami : OK.

Papi : *Unwrap box, take out the wooden panels, screws, door knob, wooden pegs* Eh? Where is the manual? *search search*

Mami : Hah? No manual ah? Then how?

Papi : Don't worry, easy lar, I can do it *pounding chest*

At 9.50pm:

Mami : Eh? Papi, can ah? Amazing Race want to start already. I go shower first.

Papi : Celaka mya. No manual how to assemble?

Mami : *laugh* ha ha .. you said easy one...

Papi : Aiya, I am an engineer lar, not a furniture seller lar...if write program to fly rocket to the moon I know lar...

Mami : OK lar, I go shower first, if cannot tomorrow continue..

Papi : OK.

At 10.50pm:

Papi : Aiyoo...my back hurts...my legs are aching...... (old already)

Mami : ha ha ha..tomorrow continue lar....

Papi : OK lar, tomorrow lar.

So today I am going to take everything apart (actually for the 4th time already) again and start from scratch again.

sap sap sui : Cantonese meaning very easy.
celaka : Malay meaning damn!

That was fast ! !

Finally!. The air conds at the Tenku Ampuan Rahimah hospital have been fixed. Now the patients, doctors, nurses and staff can stay and work comfortably, and hopefully no more surgical operations have to be postponed.

So now we know, what it takes to get things done. Get the media to cover it and make a headline out of it. Then get a politician or two to 'inspect' the problem. Walah!! Repair works was done round the clock 24-hours. Rm90,000 was immediately approved to purchase split airconds. Another RM 13mil is on the way. Talking about efficiency!!

But a statement from one of the doctors really got to me:

From The Star
“The hot environment makes us angry fast and I sometimes tend to take it out on my patients unintentionally. It is so unfair to them, I know, but they also scold us back because they are feeling the heat as well,” said the doctor.

Moron

What a moron! Idiot! I am still boiling thinking about it.

I was posting messages on one of my Yahoo Groups (my ex-college classmates), when this stupid f**k colleague of mine sneaked (snuck ??) behind me and was reading what I was typing. When I realised he was behind me, nibbling on a piece of biscuit, I was boiling inside. He was just standing there, reading my messages and have the nerves to ask me what I was writing. I stopped typing and keeping my cool, just ignored him. But no, he didn't get the idea, he still stood there like a kayu trying to read the rest of my message. WTF? I closed my windows, proceed to open up some other documents, then he left.

kayu: Malay meaning a piece of wood.

Free cars for all

I picked this up from usj.com.my forum where a piece of news from Yahoo News was posted.

Oprah Winfrey Gives Cars to Audience

CHICAGO - Oprah Winfrey celebrated the premiere of her 19th season by surprising each of her 276 audience members with a new car.

"We're calling this our wildest dream season, because this year on the Oprah show, no dream is too wild, no surprise too impossible to pull off," Winfrey said on the show that aired Monday.
Winfrey said the audience members were chosen because their friends or family had written about their need for a new car. One woman's young son said she drove a car that "looks like she got into a gunfight"; another couple had almost 400,000 miles on their two vehicles.

Making sure the audience was kept in suspense, Winfrey opened the show by calling 11 people onto the stage. She gave each of them a car — a Pontiac G6.


She then had gift boxes distributed to the rest of the audience and said one of the boxes contained keys to a 12th car. But when everyone opened the boxes, each had a set of keys.

"Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!" Winfrey yelled as she jumped up and down on the stage.

The audience screamed, cried and hugged each other — then followed Winfrey out to the parking lot of her Harpo Studios to see their Pontiacs, all decorated with giant red bows.
The cars, which retail for $28,000, were donated by Pontiac.

"A little idea grew into a big idea," Mary Henige of Pontiac told The Associated Press.
She added that Pontiac will pay for the taxes and the customizing of the cars.

In other segments on the show, taped Thursday, Winfrey surprised a 20-year-old girl who had spent years in foster care and homeless shelters with a four-year college scholarship, a makeover and $10,000 in clothes. And a family with eight foster children who were going to be kicked out of their house were given $130,000 to buy and repair the home.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show," which debuted in 1986, is syndicated to 212 domestic markets and 109 countries.

Wow!! I can really imagine how it would be like to be part of the audience.

Picture Source: Consumer Guide website

Contests

For the past few days, the radio station, Light&Easy, has been having a contest called Crack-The-Code. The first 3 callers who called after the que to call was played on the radio will get a chance to give their 4 digits code. A mystery guy will then tell you whether the code is valid or not, and how many numbers you got correct. The last winner won herself RM15,ooo!! That's a lot of money!!

The last time I got so close in winning big money was a few years back when Hit.fm was having The Fugitive contest. The game is quite simple, everyday, for 3 weeks or so, the fugitive will be released somewhere in Malaysia (mostly in Klang Valley). He/she willl be hiding, performing some activities, and blend in, so that no one would catch him. Every now and then, the radio station will give out clues of where he is. Also there will also be interviews with people/previous winners who have met the fugitive to give out clues on how he/she looks like. And when you find the fugitive, you have to ask him THE question "Are you the Hitz.fm fugitive?", and you will win loads of cash!

So one day, I was driving in Damansara, when I heard the clue "Bamboo". Straight away, I thought of Sungai Buloh Rest & Relax area on the NKVE, which is a short drive from Damansara. I arrived there few minutes later, and the place was basically very quiet, almost deserted, I was the only one there looking for the fugitive. But I was sure the fugitive was there and was determined to find him. So I looked everywhere,... well almost everywhere. I looked in the shops, restaurants, toilets (male toilet of course), in the park, in the parking lot. After searching for an hour or so, I went back to my car to listen to more clues, or to find out maybe he was already caught by someone. The next clue came as "Relax". Now, I was 101% sure he was in Sungai Buloh R&R. Within minutes, the area was swarmed by hundreds of people looking for the fugitive and asking the THE question. I was even asked by a few people. In the end, no one caught the fugitive in Sungai Buloh. Later I found out he was actually in the Bilik Mandi, the only place I didn't look. Aiya!! I could have been RM8000 richer!!

But it was really good fun and entertaining and a nail-biting experience as well. Asking a total stranger the question is really awkward and uncomfortable. But for RM8000, I don't mind...he hehe...

Baby Language

Yesterday, Yiyi was speaking in French. Or was it Swahili? But GrandPa said it was Baby Hainanese. Ha ha ha....

She has been in talking mood for the past few days. Sometimes talking gibberish to herself non-stop.

Papi : Yiyi, what are you doing?

Yiyi : Kala la kalu ba bu laka

Papi : he he he ....what are you holding?

Yiyi : Kila bu ba ooo wah ooo wah.......

She seems to be experimenting with her voice, making different sounds, flicking and rolling her tongue and making sounds from her throat. But when we put Yiyi with her cousin who is 5 months older than her, both of them seems to understand each other, talking in baby language. Which reminds me of a movie few years back. Baby Geniuses. It's about a secret code or language that baby talks to one another, and some bad guys (I think) were trying to crack the code.

So for the past few days, Yiyi has been talking and talking, and all of us were trying to figure out what she is trying to say. Can't wait to go back tonite to hear her talk again.

Balik Kampung

We went back to Mami's hometown over the weekend. We normally do so every 2-3 weeks depending on how busy we are. We also made a visit to Mami's aunt in Malacca town so she could bring us to a cheap tailor/fabric wholeseller to have our sofa's cover custom made.

So the three of us, Mami, Yiyi and me drove to Malacca on Saturday morning, took us about 2 hours to reach there. We went straight to the aunt's house. We picked her up and went straight to the wholeseller. We also bought our sofa covers along, so they can take down the measurement.

At first they didn't dare to accept our order, because of the complicated design of our sofa. But then the tailor asked for additional time and we have to leave the covers with them for reference. They asked for a month time to complete the work. So, our sofa at home will be 'naked' for a month. The price? Slightly more than a grand. *double sigh - look at empty wallet*

After sending the aunt home, we went looking for our favourite popiah stall, right in front of Madam King Supermarket (Malacca Town Centre). This popiah stall sells big thick popiah, with juicy stewed sengkuang (sweet turnip), fresh tauge (bean sprout), cucumber, scrambled egg, laden with pork oil and chunks of pork lard! (aka Non Halal). Thinking of it now makes my mouth waters. Yummy!! .....But it was already closed. Aiya!! The stall only open from 2pm till finish (normally around 3.30 - 4pm).

So what to do, went back to Ah-Mah's (Yiyi grandma) house empty handed lor. The normal routine in Ah-Mah house, eat, sleep, chit chat, goto Ah-Choh's (Yiyi great grandma)house, eat, sleep....chitchat....eat......But we also brought Yiyi to see ostrich at a guarded eco/nature farm nearby.

At the guard house:
Guard : Encik, nak pegi mane ni? ("Sir, where are you going?")

Papi : Err..nak melawat. ("Just want to visit")

Guard : Encik telah beli tanah disini ke? ("Have you bought any of the land here, sir?")

Papi : Ni tengok, nak belilah ni. Tengok dulu.. ("Err...not yet...wanted to...")

Guard : OK, boleh masuk, sales office kat sana...("OK, you can go in, the sales office is just around the corner")

Papi : tima kasih ("Thank you.")

Mami : Ha ha ha .... you lied to the guard ah....

Papi : he he he...

One mistake. We forgot to bring Yiyi's walker along, so we were holding and carrying her almost all the time. She is still learning to crawl, and to walk, so we have to be careful with her. But she was very happy, playing with her cousins, kicking, screaming, and laughing.

Around 6.30pm we made our way home, and reached home 1 and half hour later. Sent Yiyi to Yeh-yeh and Mah-Mah (my parents). And we got to our home around 10pm, tired and exhausted.

Balik Kampung - Malay meaning going back to hometown
popiah - spring roll

GMail

Thanks to Zhi Xin of Odds and Ends, I got my Gmail account. Yeah!!

I have started using it, so far so good, lots of features. The main attraction is the 1GB storage space. So I m going to change my blog's email from Yahoo to GMail. If you wish to contact us, or send us a comment or anything like that, shoot your email to papimami.blog@gmail.com .

MC

Yesterday, this conversation was overheard in the office between a colleague and my boss (GM).

Colleague : Boss ah...

GM : Yes, what?

Colleague : If I don't come to the office tomorrow, then I am on MC ah.

GM : Huh?? *blur look*

Papi : *covering mouth trying not to laugh* hmhmm...hhmmh...

Conspiracy Theory

Since I was a teenager, I am always fascinated with the world of the weird, strange, and mystery. I read books and watched shows on UFOs, Big Foot, monsters, ghosts and all that is unexplained. So yesterday, when I stumbled upon a show on Star Channel (channel 70) on Astro, I was excited.

The show "Conspiracy Theory: Did we land on the moon?". It is a 1-hour show by Fox presenting all the evidence from both sides as well as NASA. Since we just came back from visiting Yiyi in my parent's house, I missed the first half of the show.

Anyway, I already knew most of the arguments of the conspiracy theorists: the doctored pictures, the waving American flags in a vacuum atmosphere on the moon, the multiple lighting found on the moon as evidence in the pictures, and the radiation in the Van Allen belt that could fried an astronaut in seconds, and the heat storm from the sun. But this show provides more. There were films footage and photographs to back the conspiracy theorists claims. NASA was fighting back with their evidence, the moon rocks.

One of the evidence that riddled me is the cross-hairs that were permanently etched into the lunar cameras between the film and the lens. It actually served to provide an estimate of distant in the photo and it would have to appear on top of every image.

But in this photo, a crosshair is behind a part of the lunar rover.

All in all, the show provides good entertainment but no conclusion. Viewers were asked to make their own decision based on the arguments presented in the show.

Some of the viewers/debunkers who think that man indeed made it to the moon in the 60s and 70s, have this and this to say.

Same birthday

What is the probability of you meeting another person that has the same birth date as you. I mean the same year, same month, and the same day. How about the same hour?

Last Sunday we (my mom and dad, Mami, Yiyi and me) went to my cousin's baby full-month gathering. It was at her in-laws house, in an ulu place in Cheras. As my father puts it "kau coke sap sam wan" Cantonese meaning "9 bents 13 corners". So after 9 bents and 13 corners later, we arrived at the house, people already started eating. yeah, we were late coz of my 'house-cleaning' Sunday! *sigh*

So we went in, said our "Hi, Hello, How are you?". Then I went straight to the buffet table. Hungry mah. There were a lot of people there, not to mention babies too. So there was this couple who came with their baby and their parents. Soon, Mami and the couple had their "mother to mother" talk.

Mami : Hello baby.... wah so pretty.

Young Mother : Hello, he he he...wah your baby also so cute...

Mami : How old is your baby?

Young Mother : 11 months already.

Mami : Really? Mine also 11 months. Which month?

Young Mother : October. October 5.

Mami : Eh? October 5? Same as mine also... *turn to call Papi* eh Papi, this baby also Oct 5. Same birthday leh...

Papi : *chewing chicken meat in mouth and putting down drumstick* mmm...mmm... huh? same date ah? eh, so ngam one. (ngam loosely translated as a coincidence)

My Dad : Eh? really ah? same date ah?

My Mom : Wah. Same date ah? Got 4D ah? 1005 lar...must buy!

Soon all our converstation resolves around Yiyi's and the other baby's (her name's PK) birthdate. The young mother even 'belanja' Yiyi a baby biscuit, of which Yiyi finished it in a snap! Aiya, Yiyi so kan-cheong like that...he he he...

But when two babies got together, people will start comparing.
"The baby looks like a boy lar". She's a baby girl.
"Yiyi more active".
"If the girl's nose give to Yiyi, then Yiyi is more beautiful".
"See...see...put them together, see who is taller..."

Ha ha ha ... You got the picture.

Anyway, it was very unsual to find someone with the same birthdate. I should have ask for a contact from the couples. Maybe Yiyi and PK could be friends.

Ant Attack Part 4

So now our house has been treated, let's hope the termites will be gone :)

We spent the entire Sunday cleaning our house. For the past 1 week, our house looks like a war zone, and smelled pesticides. Paper boxes were lying around in the kitchen, some were on the dining table, some on the floor. Old newspaper were everywhere. Termites-eaten cabinets were outside in the lawn, with some wet, terrmites-ridden boxes out in the car porch.

So the entire Sunday was spent cleaning the entire house, from top to bottom. At then end of the day, Mami was complaining of backache, and I was walking with a limp. My legs were aching due to excessive running up and down the house. By the end of the day, our house began to look like our house. Ah...home sweet home.

So what did we learn from this episode? A lot. And we want to share with you all:
1. Always have some space between your wood cabinet and the wall, so that you can peek between the gap and see any termites activity. Early detection is important.

2. Always look out for unsual wood dust or sand. It could mean termites are building tunnels and eating through your cabinet.

3. In a very quiet area, you can actually hear termites consuming woods (if your house is infected). One day, Mami was in the toilet...errr...doing her business ...he hehe when she heard sounds like termites eating thru wood. True enough, that night when we checked, the toilet roof has already been infected by termites.

4. I was told that adult termites are called swarmers (the reproductive termites). This is what the chinese called "sui ngai" (Cantonese meaning water ants). These winged termites normally came out after rain and likes to swamp around lights.


5. When your house is infected, try not to disturb the colony. Get help from a pest control company as soon as possible. They will have to look at the colony and analyse the damage.

6. I know it is neat, clean and economical to put your old stuff in paper boxes aka Double A A4 paper boxes, or that old printer box, but it is a defintely no-no. Termites love paper boxes.

7. Termites normally come up from the ground and out from the side of the walls. They follow piping, cabling or any holes they can find inside the walls. And of course, they are attracted to wood. So do take note of these.

8. If you could afford soil treatment before renovating your house, do it. That way, you will have a peace of mind, and your house will look better without holes around the parameter. Do shop around, different companies will have different services, different maintenance and different pricing.

9. Also if you decided to have soil/termites treatment, pls do let your neighbour know. Because the termites will be very likely to move to your neighbour house. Like what happen to my colleague. Both of her immediate neighbours (left and right) were treated for termites, so the termites have no choice but to go to her house!

So house-owners beware!!

Picture Source: Ohio State University-Entomology-Termite Control

Ant Attack Part 3

What a weekend!! It was a tiring and hectic weekend for both Mami and I.

Because of termites, we engaged pest control services. After a few quotations and a couple of visits from pest control company as well as some research, we chose a company that provides us with a 3 years warranty. The others only provide 1 year warranty. We also opted for the drilling method. According to the sales person, if you don't mind the drilling, it is the better option. And cheaper too.

So, as agreed, they came on Saturday morning to do the job. 2 guys came with the sales person, and after some briefing by us and by the sales person, they started work. First, the drilling. They drilled 10-cents-sized holes of 1 and 1/2 feet deep around the parameter of the house/building. They only need to drill one side of the wall, as the chemical (pesticides) will seap into the ground and spread. We asked them to drill inside the house because most of the holes will be covered and hidden by furnitures. In just 1 and 1/2 hours, they were done drilling.

Next was to pump the pesticides into the ground, through the holes they made. For this, they have to wait for the motor pump from another team doing another job nearby. But unfortunately, I was told that the other team had drilled into the piping system of the other house, so they were going to be late with the motor pump. *sigh*

So we waited till late afternoon before the motor pump was available. The 2 guys quickly setup the whole thing, the pump, extra-extra long rubber hose, a big barrel (for the pesticides, mixed with water), and a long pipe that they sticked it into the hole to spray the pesticides into the ground. When done, they covered the holes using white cement and plasters, and tried to match the colour with your tiles/mosaic. Other than that, they also gone up the ...err...attic (?? the area between the ceiling and the roof) and sprayed around the area.

Before they go, they issued a certificate to us to certify that our house has been treated, which also serves as a warranty certificate. All in all, it was a job well done.

Hacked

Every morning, one ofthe website I read is usj.com.my. But this morning, it was a bit weird. Most of the links were down. Then I clicked on the "View Discussion" link on the Web Forum section on the main page.

Click here for a bigger version (101K)

This page greeted me. "Go Out of Iraq" with an animated graphic of a man and a boy. They were hiding from some sort of attack, and at the end of the animation, were killed by an explosion.

usj.com.my was hacked by a hacker who named himself/herself as YASHHHH.

Twin Towers

For Merdeka. Some decorated their houses with Jalur Gemilang, the Malaysian flag. Some put up banners and posters, shouting Merdeka slogans. Others created the Jalur Gemilang using the most unusual materials, aluminium cans, kacang putih, flowers etc.

But this guy is amazing. He actually created a replica of the Twin Towers using books in front of his double-storey house. He actually occupied two houses, next to each other.


Who is he? Billi Lim.

Billi who? Billi P.S. Lim. The author of the book titled "Dare to Fail" and also a motivational speaker. Bukit Bintang voters must remember him in the past election as the independent candidate who lost his deposit, again.

The structure is a very tall structure, taller than the double storey house. As he claimed on his website, "The tallest book tower". The frame was built with a sort of metal, looks like aluminium, and his books were arranged around the frame, till the top.


I am not sure about you, but if I leave next door to this 'twin towers', I will be very very worried.

I also checked out his website, when I came across this:

Billi appointed as member of Advisory committee of Hair Masters Solan (??) & Hairdressing school, the official Hair Stylists for the Miss Malaysia / Miss World pageant.

Solan?? LOLOLOLOL!!

An advisory committee of hair stylists?? hmmmm.....I don't know.....