31 December 2010

2010 in Numbers


125 blog entries
Check the number of entries for 2008 and 2009, I am consistent if nothing. =) Besides consistently writing rubbish quality entries, I am also consistent in being ugly, consistent in getting balder, consistently slacking in style, et cetera...

9724 Scribble Pad visits
That's from 23:58 hours on 6th of January to 21:33 hours on 31st of December. What I didn't record is the number of my visits out of that 9724. =P

17428.9 kilometres covered
Distance commuted to and fro ulu place and home.

322 hours 30 minutes drive
Time taken for the 17428.9 km stated above. That's 13.4 days of my life wasted on totally unproductive activity, plus the added "bonus" of griefs from idiotic drivers. And people wonder why I don't join the Great Place to Work committee anymore.

1279.11 litres of petrol
Amount of petrol consumed by my MyVi from 3rd of January to 30th of December. Note this includes personal usage and not just the 17428.9 km above.

24 PowerPoint
Number of formal presentations I created this year for work.

34 models
Number of CFD models I generated this year. Catwalk baby, catwalk!

75 badminton sessions
Playing with cock is fun and healthy. All should play cock! Shuttlecock.

9 missed badminton sessions
Either sick, urgent family issue, or outstation.

34 novels
Number of novels read. Averaging 10 to 11 days to read a book, sounds about right.

348 hours 30 minutes of virtual life
Amount of time spent playing World of Warcraft in the 5 months I subscribed to this year.

33, 6, 3, 1
Important numbers to me this year. ^_^



Happy new year everyone, here's wishing you a fantastic 2011!

29 December 2010

A few words on relationship


Nobody is perfect, so relationships are not perfect, and the road to happiness is strewn with ups and downs.

No relationship can be perfectly happy all the time, but please don't hang onto an unhappy relationship.

Be mindful that there is happy relationship with the occasional bad moments, and there is unhappy relationship with occasional sweet moments. The former is healthy, the latter is not.

Not everyone is cut to be one half of a couple, and a relationship is not a compulsory element of a happy life. If you keep dipping a toe into dating but never quite feel comfortable with it, perhaps you are better off single after all.

What's the point of being in a relationship that makes you sad and miserable most of the time?

Life is too short to be wasted on unhappiness.


Just a sharing, and not all words are mine, some were taken from stuff I read.


27 December 2010

蜗牛找家


蜗牛在找家
一个负担得起的家
一个简单舒适的家
一个甜瓜喜欢的家
一个大小瓜爱的家
一个属于我们的家
一个温馨快乐的家

26 December 2010

Christmas Eve at Straits Quay


Godsister-in-law brought us to Straits Quay on Christmas Eve.



Straits Quay is on the reclaimed land behind Island Plaza, Penang. It's still relatively new with most of the shops still not open for business.


this image is taken by His Royal Highness King Hsiang

Most of those already open for business are cafes and restaurants, and since it's Christmas Eve, most of these only serve thier dinner set, which was around RM150 per person.

Yea, it's like robbing or extortion. But strangely there are still people who are willing to be slaughtered instead of boycott this kind of ridiculous seasonal inflation.



When will people understand that consumer has the power to stop this kind of greedy action? Boycott the establishment until the businessmen learn that the consumers are smart and will not let them just steal our hard earn money because someone died or was born so many years ago.


we were in giant candy land!

Oh well, who am I kidding? There are just so many filthy rich people who don't give a damn about the increase in price of the same old same old food served any other day.

And there are just so many of those hopeless romantics who think it's super duper romantic to spend a lot of money on things not worth that value on a public occasion, not realising that most of these are just hypes and cons the businessmen made up that has nothing to do with the original intention of the occasion.


imagine how many people that doughnut can feed if it was real

Just go look up the origin of Christmas and say, the businessmen all time favorite Valentine's Day (forever known as Businessmen-con-you-day by yours truely).

And really, do you have to be dictated by public occasion for that "special day"? Come on, special day with your loved one can be any day of your choice, a public occasion doesn't make any day extra special.


this is not the way to take photo of fountain. Fountain, what fountain? =P

Oh well, I can shout and gripe all I want, still come the next public occasion, same thing will happen. Some people never learn, some things never change.


slightly better shot of the fountain, to the side or sitting down would have been better

Anyway, after enquiring a few restaurants in Straits Quay, we ended up having our dinner in Dome, and it's slightly less than RM150 for three adults and a child. =)

Most of the people there that day were like us, drawn there due to the novelty of it.


huge Christmas tree

There was a stage and some performers with painted face, we didn't stay and watch, were just there for the dinner really.


cheeky Hsiang in the giant doughnut

Christmas decorations were plentiful, with a huge Christmas tree.


this is the Christmas tree viewed from the second floor

Parking was still free the day we went, so it's a good time to check out the place. =)

22 December 2010

Munchkin!


This is an invitation.

Well, kind of. =P

Who would have thought that an offhand purchase while I was on business trip would end up getting me so involved.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to the card game called
Munchkin.

As a principle I usually do not do advertisement on my blog, but I like this game so much I just have to spread the word and hopefully get more friends hooked so I have more people to play with. ^_^


image source

Psst... Steve Jackson, feel free to send me a few of the expansions for advertising this for you. =P

Munchkin is a three to six players card game that will take about an hour or so to play. The aim of the game is very simple: be the first to get to level 10.

It's the process of getting to level 10 that I like veli the much. You see, this is not a care bear game, you curse, steal, backstab, step on your buddies to get ahead. Don't you worry, they will do the same to you too! No hard feelings, it's just the way the game is. =)

Such wicked, sinister and devilish game, I likey! ^_^


Yes I am evil in case you haven't noticed =P

The game is turn based and quite easy to get a hang of, there are even videos on YouTube that teach you
how to play Munchkin.

I am an engineer so this is a flow chart I made to explain the turn phases in Munchkin:


new Munchkin players, feel free to use this as reference

Anyway, to those who know where I stay, it's holiday season and we have a couple of long weekends coming, interested in a game or two? ^_^

And to my colleagues who are interested, we can probably squeeze in a game during Friday lunch time... =D

Oh, talking about holiday season...

Dear Santa, as you know I have always been a good boy, *cough* would you mind stuffing the following Munchkin expansions into my sock this Christmas?

Munchkin 2: Unnatural Axe
Munchkin 3: Clerical Errors
Munchkin 4: The Need for Steed
Munchkin 5: De-Ranged

Er... I will prepare a HUGE sock. =P

19 December 2010

Yo!


Wifey bought a yo-yo for His Royal Highness King Hsiang, who couldn't wait to get it out of its wrapping while in the car.

Only to find that there simply isn't enough space for him to try out his new toy, and the following conversation occured:

Boy: *exasperated* mommi, there's not enough space to yo!

*wifey laughed out loud*

Dad: Not enough space to play yo-yo, Hsiang, not not enough space to yo.

Mom: Hsiang Hsiang, you cannot just make up a word.

Boy: Oh, okay.

15 December 2010

Yes indeed, I am back


The warmth of my wifey.

The laughters and noises of my sons.

The comfort of my bed.

The variety of delicious food.

The snail speed "broadband" internet.

The rude and idiotic drivers.

The compulsory "free" wake up call from the mosques.

Aaahh, yes indeed, I am back in Malaysia.

13 December 2010

Where's my t-shirt?


Arrived home Saturday evening. Home sweet home.

Pretty much slept the whole Sunday away.

By the way, where's my I barely survived the 36 hours flight marathon t-shirt?

Multibillion company, yet the employees can't even get on business class on their business trips. I wouldn't mind the short flights, but seriously, give us a break with flights more than 6 hours. Or at the very least, let us get on direct flights instead of multiple hops and transits.

Do our work hours worth so little that the 10+ hours wasted on the multiple transits matter none?

Bah! Gimme my t-shirt and please don't send me on business trip for a long while!



On a totally unrelated note, found out about this ground-breaking, earthshaking, deeply impactful news today:

McDonald's has landed in ulu place!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Does this mean ulu place is no longer ulu?

This change has profound consequences and should be hotly debated over a Value Meal or Happy Meal. Rather this than the joke and often shame that is our politics.

Word.

09 December 2010

Home Going


Just one more night. Tomorrow, I will be on my way home.

My long way home.

You know, just four flights spanning over 32 hours.

Okay, make that my loooooong way home. =\

21:20 hours of that 32 will be in flight, 10:40 hours of it in transit.

And that's not including the time it takes to get to the airport, the waiting time before the first flight, the immigration and luggage waiting time after final arrival, and the time it takes to get home from the airport.

I don't know about you, but this is probably the number one reason why I hate travelling.

On top of that we have the motion sickness, jet lag, cracked lips and dry skin...

Good grief I hate travelling! >_<

Really, I just want to go home.

Can someone invent teleportation already?

07 December 2010

02 December 2010

My Time is Not Mine


Slacker month is over. =(

Ironically I was darn busy in slacker month so it's a good thing I only write 4 entries in November. Else I would have been posting crappier than usual rubbish instead of high quality rubbish, hehe. =P

Initially I intended to write a good length entry about my business trip so far today but thanks to my shopaholic colleague who has to shop everyday, it's already 22:30 hours by the time I got back to hotel room and took my shower. =\

Despite directly expressing my wish to get back to hotel room as soon as possible after dinner since I have much work to do, we still ended up getting back to the hotel near 22:00 hours.

Bugger.

Not everyone has nothing to do and just want to get back to hotel and go straight to bed one you know?

Dammit for cost saving car-pool, I can no longer take charge of my own time.

What a cheap company, bollocks.

*Grumble grumble grumble...*

Oh well, nothing beats starting a new month with a rant. =P




Nope, I didn't blog while working, slacker extraordinaire has principle one! It's not office hours this side of the globe, in fact, I am going to sleep now. ^_^



21 November 2010

我们的选择


六年前
海边
家人朋友见证下
你选择了我*
我选择了你**
我们一起走过那红地毯

谢谢你老婆仔
结婚六周年快乐!



* 让那些高大威猛的俊男们错愕不解
** 哇,拾到宝

16 November 2010

Ice, just ice


This was how I spent my birthday this year.

02:30 hours: after 2 hours of lying down with eyes closed (note: not sleep), was up again. Finished the pack up, loaded the final luggages into the car, got the two sleeping kings into the car, and off to the airport. Breakfast: slice of bread, can of Red Bull.

07:15 hours: 06:30 hours flight finally took off, not too shabby considering the delay was not an hour yet. It's Air Asia we are talking about after all, flight delay comes as default. Bye bye Perth, bye bye Australia.

12:30 hours: hello Kuala Lumpur, hello super slow check-in luggage offload.

13:00 hours: wifey, two kings and mother-in-law off with friend who came to pick up. Brother-in-law and I jumped onto the waiting coach to 1 Utama. Zombie-like by then with a strong urge to sleep in my own bed tonight. Lunch: McChicken burger, fries and drink with wifey, in the other car... =\

14:30 hours: reached inlaws'. Surprisingly mentally sharp for long drive, so set in motion for the KL-PG home going. Verified North-South highway not closed due to flooding, it was only closed at Jitra and north.

15:50 hours: sorted everything and left inlaws'.

20:30 hours: home sweet home! Three trips to move all the stuff from car to house while wife busied getting the kings to sleep, they already taken packed dinner while on the road. Nope, poor driver got nothing. =(

21:00 hours: family and stuff settled sufficiently to think about my dinner. Didn't feel like cooking and felt like being served so hello Subaidah! 24/7 mamak except Friday lunch time. Birthday dinner: Maggie Goreng + Limau Ais. Added an ice blended mango on the whim. Maggie Goreng tasted great, maybe I was just too hungry. Eating alone ain't fun though.

After that, felt so veli the tired. Couldn't remember what time I hit the bed.

Eh? What has all these to do with the title?

Well you see, while I was having dinner, a couple arrived at the other table and made their order...

Guy: ais Kacang satu.

Lady: satu lagi, tanpa kacang.

I sat near to the drinks counter and overheard the guy serving the drinks mumbled:

ais kacang tak mau kacang pula...

^_^




Sorry to those who do not know the Malay language. I suggest you just give this one a miss instead of trying to learn a language that has next to zero use outside Malaysia and Indonesia. Okay okay, let's be generous and include the kiasu-land as well, since so many Malaysians embrace the kiasuism and work/reside there. =P

09 November 2010

I just want to see you naked


The night before we went on vacation, wifey asked...

Are you going to shower soon?

Why? What's the rush?

I want to wash and hang all the clothes tonight.

You know, our pyjamas will have to wait until we come back anyway... or do you just want to see me naked?

I just want to see you naked.

*stripped, threw the clothes into the washing machine, went to the lounge to turn off the television and lights, then walked upstairs to the bathroom*

*whistles* ^_^



That's why I haven't bought anything from
I Mizz.

Who needs sexy lingeries when you and your love one are comfortable just walking around naked? =P

I know this is against my principle of "not selling out to advertisement", but honest to goodness I didn't get bribed to do this they just put a gun to my head. The shop is owned by my high school mates.

For those who are interested in cosplay or alluring attires, do check out the
site and see if anything tickles your fancy.

Just don't mention my name else you might be charged extra or denied service altogether! =P

02 November 2010

Slacking with the Roos


Ahhh... November, the slacker month.

Here I am, in my sister-inlaw's cozy house, in front of wifey's netbook, a cup of Coke within easy reach, enjoying a peace and quiet break from all the travelling and sightseeing these few days in the land of kangaroos, koalas, beautiful seasides, and flies.


Wave Rock, Hyden, taken with Canon IXUS 800 IS

If only I had brought along a novel to read, it would have been bliss.

No worries, I substituted reading with Mario Kart on Wii. Had fun driving off cliffs, into lava and oceans, skidding on banana skins, get knocked around by tortoise shells, and generally losing horribly. ^_^


Canal Rocks, Dunsborough, taken with Canon IXUS 800 IS

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the sightseeing vacation and the quality time with family.


Young & mama, taken with father-inlaw's Nikon D300*

It can be tiring though with the two kings so some solitary peace and quiet time is much appreciated in order to rejuvenate.


Hsiang racing with mama, taken with father-inlaw's Nikon D300*

It's customary to only write four entries in slacker month (instead of the usual eleven in case you haven't noticed), I am not going to change that tradition.

Usually the first entry of slacker month is written on the day with the bestest number**, but I know this year I will be zombie-like on that day as I will be flying at some ungodly hours. So here it is now, on this fine spring day.


Self-portrait, kind of, at King's Park, Perth, taken with father-inlaw's Nikon D300*

It's also customary to compare the visitor count on Scribble Pad's birthday so here they are:
2008: 4746
2009: 13300
2010: 23226

I guess I clicked the refresh button a bit too much this year... =P


Shoalwater, Rockingham, taken with father-inlaw's Nikon D300*. Sea is clean and clear unlike Boleh-Land's

I like to wish all the November babies a very happy birthday, especially to those whom I know and are close to. Everybody knows November babies rock! =P

Slacker extraordinaire, writing this entry in Fremantle, Australia.




* haven't a clue with Nikon cameras, can't even find aperture priority and no idea how to focus lock >_<
** 4, of course, d'oh!


30 October 2010

Portrait


I like photography.

Though I haven't got a digital SLR.

Though I haven't been photographing seriously for years.

Though I am not good at it (don't confuse passion with skill!). =P

I am particularly bad with portrait, as it requires social skill in addition to photography skill (see sentence above).

So when I was deciding about sending in a photo for portrait category, these are my immediate choices:





But I think they probably won't be accepted as portrait by conventional minds. =P

So I ended up sending in an edited version of this...



Just want to show off how cute my son is really. ^_^





This post has been created in advance and scheduled to post today.

25 October 2010

Sleeping Beauty, part deux


Sleeping Beauty part one is like, a long long time ago...

Anyway, this is part deux, mainly of king number 2!

Alrighty, I will shut up now, this is going to be a picture-ful entry. =)


this is a comfy pose


I like my bolster


legs on bolster


I know kung fu!


I also have my "super hard pose" (refer to part one for king #1's)

So, what about king number 1?

Fear not, he has been setting example...


this is how you avoid the pillow and bolster!








This post has been created in advance and scheduled to post today.




21 October 2010

Just Breathe


Breathe CK, just breathe.

Yes, take a deep breath.

That's it.

Now let go of all the work.

It's okay, you are not superman.

Go grab your supper, and read a novel to wind down.

It's time to rest.

Hopefully the tightness in your chest will go away.




"Talking to oneself is the first sign of insanity."

Good thing I am way beyond that.


17 October 2010

Work/Life Balance


Booted the laptop, opened the programme as well as the document.

All set to go. The wearisome task of understanding and then translating codes to layman's terms.

Yet, for a long, long while, all I have done was staring at the screen.

Rational sense dictates that I should grab whatever time I have to get this done as soon as possible. Time is of the essence.

But the heart is not in it. It's bloody Sunday for goodness sake!

My inner angel and demon are duking it out while I sat there being assaulted by contradicting thoughts and emotions. Indecisive.

To work or not to work? That's the question.

13 October 2010

Uno


If I missed my badminton session, you bet I have a very good reason instead of some lame excuses.

Things that could make me miss badminton include but not limited to: wife giving birth, being ill, out of town, important event of people I care about, wifey said so.

I am down with flu and sore throat, but that alone would not have stopped me from going to badminton today, it's for the important milestone event that I gladly came home straight after work.

You see, His Royal Highness King Baby Young turns one today. ^_^

Alrighty, less words more pictures!


Birthday presents!


Thanks for the presents!


Boink! And laughed since mama said "no, Young Young"


Enough photo already, put cake in here where I point!


da cake


Cutting the cake? Bah! Piece of cake!


I have pwned the cake, now we feast!

Better Place


Losing a loved one is never easy.

Losing one's mom is devastating.

My condolences, I am sorry for your lost.

I know no words of mine will ease your pain.

But I just like you to know that you have a group of friends who care.

Please let us know if we can be of any help.

Take care of yourself, Yann.

Hope you can find solace in knowing your mom is at a better place now.

10 October 2010

Sign of Aging


Throwing a party is a lot more tiring than it used to be.

Even with the "easy way out" of getting fast food* and can drinks, with relatively little cooking and preperation done ourselves.
*KFC in Island Plaza took 20 minutes to serve two customers. Fast food, really?

Perhaps it's trying to keep up with those children with their boundless energy.

Perhaps it's the fatigue due to the recent crunch time.

Perhaps it's just me getting old.

Pretty darn sure the kiddo won't remember a thing about this.

But hey, it's an important milestone.

And yea, the laughters of the children playing together were worth it.

Just the music I expected.

Thanks for making this happened, you know who you are.

09 October 2010

无题


小天使
明天爸爸妈妈会替小弟弟开个生日会
你也来凑热闹哦
除了替你小弟庆祝
我们也会为另一个小朋友庆祝
其实原本也要替一个阿姨庆祝的
但阿姨的孩子病了所以没来了

如果明天爸爸妈妈忙着招待客人
没时间看顾你的两个弟弟
你可要帮帮忙
别让那两个活泼好动的小瓜弄伤自己哦

明天,如果小弟弟懂得许愿
你偷偷告诉爸爸
让爸爸帮他实现愿望
^_^

07 October 2010

Catwalk your heels off


Tonight, I am not going to work. I am not even going to turn on my laptop. I do declare.

For the past two weeks I have been working every day and night. Weekends included. In fact, weekends were even longer hours as I started work the moment I woke till late into the wee hours.

Doing the one thing that got me hired in the first place - cool guy doing hot catwalk thermal modelling.

I like doing hot catwalk thermal modelling, for I am competent with it. I will not boast like some people as being a thermal expert (because I am not, am just a thermal engineer), but I do am fairly decent with thermal numerical simulation.

I would be happy just to do thermal modelling, but job scope has changed since I joined the company and I no longer just provide modelling support. The sad fact is I pretty much get roped into anything with the word "thermal" in it, or anything that's remotely related to thermal.

Luckily no one has come up with "high temperature restroom cleanliness thermal solution" yet, else you would see me cleaning the restroom with hot soapy water.

Anyway, let's get back on topic.

Two full weeks of doing thermal simulations to compare the performance of new tool designs. 24 models to cover the many variations of the 5 designs.

And if you knew me, you would know that I didn't just do a single case of simulation for each of the model. I did a total of at least 350 cases.

Granted, most of those were calibrations of my base model with the empirical data, but for every model hence, I did at least 4 cases to cover different scenarios.

While it's the computer that's crunching the numerical equations, models do not generate themselves. Slight variation of a design, for example the change of a hole size or location, is not just about modifying that in the model when there is non-uniform thermal contact resistance map to consider. Also, post-processing more than 350 cases takes time.

Anyway, I have documented the model predictions and my analysis and handed in the report this evening, I am hoping that's the end of this.

Cause while I was busy burning up with all these, I lost the quality time with my wife and sons, missed the Bulgarian dinner with my family and god-sister-in-law who dressed up and made up prettily for the evening, lost countless hours of sleep, and didn't have time to play DotA! >.<

If only I could also take a month to install the thermal simulation software, request for training, give suggestion and plan but commit to nothing, or just send e-mail saying I agree with what the other has said.

Oh, and welcome others to the "thermal world", whatever that is.

04 October 2010

So happy to see you!


This one is for my dear friend Lily, otherwise known as Veronica (it's like her artistic alias or something), or more commonly the siao cha bo. =P

Received an e-mail from Veronica the
model extraordinaire today asking me why there's no October entry on my blog.

After I got over the shock of knowing there is actually someone following my blog, we found out that the reason she wasn't seeing my previous entry was simply because her internet connection was cacat. The entry loaded after a few minutes. =P

She asked why I didn't write anything on Lynn & Jeff's wedding, which we attended last Friday.

Hmm... she probably doesn't understand slackerdom very well. Last Friday only wor, which self-respecting slacker would post a writeup so soon after an event one? Have a reputation to maintain, okay? ^_^

Told her I got no photos yet to go with the writeup (if I do write about it, that is), and besides, need the right mood and feelings to write something one mar. Told her I don't know what to write since I haven't got the "feel" yet (translation: slackerdom =P). My mood was pretty much dominated by the incident of my younger son falling off the bed that night, hence the previous entry.

Anyhow, shouldn't have bothered explaining, since she wasn't interested in all that. This reply from her summed up what she's really after:

Nvm one... chin chai put a line said you were very happy to see me again...

...

Sorry huh Lily, I freely admit I am not very good at expressing myself verbally, face to face encounter makes me timid. I am slightly better with written communication and since you siao enough to ask for it we so friend friend, here's it:

Yo Lily, I was so veli the happy to see you again that night!

Happy? =P

Honestly, mightily glad to see you again. ^_^

02 October 2010

That Dreaded Sound


This one is for the parents...

Middle of the night. The sound of something hitting the floor.

A breath stopping pause. Followed by the bawling of your baby.

You are instantly awake and practically jumped off the bed. Your heart somewhere below your guts.

Rushed to pick up the baby and hugged him/her close to your chest.

But the damage is done.

Lights get switched on, checking for bruises and any other injury while soothing the poor baby.

Stayed up long after the baby has gone back to sleep. Feeling guilty for not waking up in time to prevent the incident.

Heart broken to pieces seeing that purplish bump and the residual tears at the corner of the eyes.




Poor baby Young will have a bungalow on his forehead for a few days to come.

I am so sorry my dear child, papa has now placed something to prevent you from falling off the bed again.

If only we have done that earlier.

30 September 2010

Now Everyone Can Fly


In case you are not aware, "Now Everyone Can Fly" is the tagline of AirAsia.

AirAsia is a low cost airline, and honestly, if you do not care about anything else but cost, AirAsia is a good choice.

Before you think I am being paid or bribed to say this like some other blogger is, hold your horses.

AirAsia sure gives you competitive airfare, sometimes so low it's hard to believe. The thing is, that's not the only thing that's low with AirAsia.

There are also low quality planes, low quality services, low punctuality, low inflight food supply, and low customer care and responsibility.

If you have ever been on an AirAsia flight that was on time, congratulations! Quick, go buy lottery! For the rest of us, please expect a delay, it comes as default and consider yourself lucky if the delay is under 60 minutes.

If you are flying AirAsia on a long flight or flight involving a meal time, please do yourself a favour of either packing your meal, or pre-order the inflight meal. Else you might just end up like my sister-in-law who had to go hungry while flying back from Australia because the aircraft ran out of food.

If you were stuck in that unfortunate situation and you cannot stand hunger, then maybe you should try to persuade other pessengers to sell you their meal by offering twice or three times the meal cost, using the money saved from the cheap airfare, of course.

If you are planning an important trip, for example to attend a convocation, wedding, or just a hard-earned vacation, think twice before you choose AirAsia. Imagine you have applied for your annual leave three months in advance, booked the accomodation and transportation, rushed for days to get your work sorted so you could have peace of mind while you travel, checked online regularly on the flight and pre-ordered the inflight meal, only to find out one week before the trip that the flight you have booked and paid for six months ago has been cancelled... >_<

The reason? Something about aircraft maintenance and nope, there is no alternative flight on the same day offered as replacement.

<sarcasm> As we all know, something as important as aircraft maintenance is always scheduled on a whim to cause disruption to the service instead of planned well in advance to minimise impact to business. </sarcasm>

So if the timing of your trip is also low priority, or the convocation and wedding ceremony can be delayed, like for a mere few weeks, just for your sake, then yea, go go AirAsia!

Oh, I haven't got to the best part yet!

Know how we found out the flight has been cancelled? Well, father-in-law needs to cut short his trip so a change of return date is necessary. It's while asking for a change in the return flight that we were told the outbound flight has been cancelled, and earliest flight available is 9 days after the original date.

What. The. Fish and duck.

Imagine if we didn't need to change the return date. That's one week before our trip and AirAsia hasn't bothered to inform us about the flight cancellation yet.

Bollocks.

Unbelievable craptastic low quality of service!

Now, for the icing on the cake (yes, still more!), remember the advice of pre-ordering inflight meal? Yea, we followed our own advice since the original flight has dinner time smack in between, the meal cost came to RM60. AirAsia cancelled the original flight and new flight is now on graveyard shift time (midnight to early morning), there no longer is a need to have inflight meal so we thought of cancelling that.

RM35 for processing fee please.

I have used WTF and bollocks, so I will just go with speechless.

Now everyone can fly... but do you want to?

25 September 2010

Sorry Me


His Royal Highness King (Young Man) Hsiang is already three, yet he often falls when he is walking.

Hopefully it's just carelessness and his lack of attention on where he is going and not something serious.

He fell again while we were leaving Tesco today, wifey admonished him for not paying attention on walking and he said:

"Sorry mama."

"Don't say sorry to me, you fell and made yourself pain pain lor."

"Oh... Sorry myself."

*pause*

"Sorry me." *pats his own head*

24 September 2010

Crunch Time


Recovered from the flu/cold/slight fever that prompted the previous entry in a record two days, usually it took me longer (yea I know, weak, fragile old man). I think it's due to all those vitamin C tablets I consumed.

After the flu I had my first ever gastritis that rendered me immobile, curled in pain on my bed. I am no doctor, but I am guessing it's due to the citric acid from all those vitamin C tablets I consumed... Good thing my mom has some Chinese medicines at home, still I had a delicate stomach for three days hence.

Then the workload skyrocketed. Today's the first time I turned on my home computer since the weekend, had been working till the wee hours everyday after dinner these few days. So the hostile takeover of the Wednesday badminton session wasn't such a bad thing after all, I left the office about the same time as we usually end our session anyway.

Really bad timing for so many things to happen at the same time period. So much to do, so little time.

It's either bad timing, or simply because I am such a slow person. The price of working in snail speed (but very thorough!) is the sacrifice of my sleep.

And health, humour, blogging desire...

Alrighty, back to work!

13 September 2010

Special Effects


This is an X-files entry.

Since I have no idea how and why it happened, I will just give you the facts (as usual), and let you draw your own conclusion.

The following are graphs of empirical data collected using same set of equipment, it's largely an automated process with human involvement required only at the start of each data collection to do some manual handling that doesn't change any of the equipment involved.

First, this is what a normal data looks like:



Good and dandy, data like this is what I need.

However, sometimes things go haywire for no apparent reason, same set of equipment, different day and time, different person who did the manual handling, the data turned out like this:



The human involved manual handling part should really not affect the data, so logic deduces that it must be the equipment that causes this.

But hor, the few data collections after I resumed the responsibility of the manual handling part showed that everything is alright, for example:



Strange, and I haven't a clue why. The superstitious explanation is that perhaps the equipment only works if I handle it myself, and not other people. So when I was unavailable and asked a colleague to help perform the manual handling part, the data went haywire?

I know it's not logical, so I simply dubbed this the N-effect.

As if the N-effect is not bad enough, I had the misfortune to experience something worse, simply by having another colleague tagged along to learn when I did the manual handling part.

Behold! The M-effect:



Basically, no data at all. >_<

After two days continuously getting data like this, I smartened up and did the manual handling part alone with nobody around to induce any "special effect".

And yes, my data turned out fine after that.

*X-files music* The truth is out there...

10 September 2010

来来来,来单面说


他们说:

“这些衣着性感女表演和高音量不仅干扰附近居民,也影响回教徒的祈祷,这根本不顾及回教徒的感受,也欠缺敏感度。”


其他的人说:

“这些每天五次*刺耳的高音量祈祷不仅干扰附近居民,也影响非回教徒的清静生活,这根本不顾及非回教徒的感受,也欠缺敏感度。”

“我孩子晚上八点入睡,没半个小时就被祈祷声吵醒,都不站在别人的立场想想。”

“由于工作需要凌晨三点才能入眠,三个小时后又被念经声弄醒,搞得整天都精神不足,真的会短命。”

“总是在人家用餐和休息时祈祷,真的是吃睡都不安宁。”

“不到一公里内有两间回教堂,每天五次比赛吵人。”

“上回和英国来的朋友一同在外享受晚餐时附近的回教堂开始念经,老外顿时失去食欲,说好没礼貌这样硬性干扰别人用餐。”

“声音污染,减低我们的生活素质。”



*斋节期间一天六次

08 September 2010

Baddy


Baddy, my own short form for badminton, as I put in the court reservation instead of the "meeting" other people defaulted to.

I guess with so many meetings everyday we are bound to run out of meeting rooms until meetings have to be held at the badminton court... =P

Today's turnout was a lot better than Monday's. Why ler? Don't they realise a good exercise is just the thing to counter Monday blues and makes you sleep soundly at night? =)

The thing with Wednesday session is that there are also a lot of other people playing so the place is usually packed. And since I booked the (old) reservable courts, the others would go early to swarm the (new) first-come-first-served courts, which have better lighting and floor grip. So we don't get to play on those courts lor. =(

We have another colleague joined us today, a decent badminton player. The good thing about being the one with lesser skill is that I get a lot of chances to learn and improve from the other players. The bad thing is of course whoever partners with me has to be used to losing. =P

Anyway, I had a blast, drenched in sweat by the end of the session, I likey!

Those immature or easily offended by perfectly normal organ should stop reading now, consider yourself warned. ^_^

There is this one thing that worries me though...

You know, my undies are always sweat-soaked by the end of a session, and I have to drive at least an hour to get home, will my, er... "wonder bar", or erm... "joy rod" get a cold ah?

=P



07 September 2010

Ron95 versus Ron97


Right, this entry is like... two months later than I initially planned to post. Two months is still within slacker time frame of "soon", so all is good. =P

I have been recording the time, mileage and amount of petrol I used to commute between home and office since my department moved to ulu place.

I have since satisfied my curiosity of the distance and commute time needed, as stated in the
previous entry. Of course the distance hasn't changed since I have been using the same route and the commute time doesn't differ much as well since I am still driving as I always do.

This entry is about comparing Ron95 to Ron97, in terms of the fuel consumption and efficiency. I was curious about whether Ron97, having higher octane (more oomp!), would end up cheaper than Ron95 since more oomp equals to less fuel needed to cover the same distance?

Since 81.47%* of statistical data are made up on the spot (*including this one =P), or interpreted to suit one's agenda, it's therefore worthwhile to understand the data collection method, sample size, boundary conditions, factors included/excluded to derive the figure of interest.

Or you can just go collect your own data. =P

For the benefit of those who didn't read the
previous entry and who are too lazy to click the link to read it (you lazy buggers! =P), here's a bit of background (I am a creature of habit so nothing has changed really):

- MyVi first generation 1.3L automatic transmission
- about 70% highway 30% city**
- mostly sticking to speed limit (usually about 5km/h over on highway =P)
- follow other vehicle at safe distance so no sharp braking and acceleration
- fill up at Shell when I have about 25% petrol left
- pump tires every 2nd or 3rd time I fill up petrol
- always fill petrol to full so amount of petrol filled equals to amount used for the distance covered, I record the numbers and zero the odometer

** interesting to note that time wise, it takes roughly 55% and 45% respectively to cover the 70% highway (including bridge) and 30% city

Sample size:
Ron97 = 11
Ron95 = 31


Okay okay, here are the figures you want to see:

Distance covered per litre of petrol:
Ron97 = 15.9 km/litre
Ron95 = 15.7 km/litre
(i.e. confirmed Ron97 more oomp, teeny-weeny bit)

Amount of petrol needed per kilometer (invert of the above):
Ron97 = 0.063 litre/km
Ron95 = 0.064 litre/km


Not much difference eh?

Let's commpare them in Ringgit. Data collected when Ron97 was RM2.05/litre (so 11 times is enough punishment for my wallet, I am not THAT curious =P) and Ron95 was RM1.80/litre, that's before the government stealthily rises the price. A meaningful distance to consider is 10,000 km, this is when a service is required.

After 10,000 km, amount of petrol used:
Ron97 = 629.9 litres
Ron95 = 637.8 litres

At RM2.05/litre and RM1.80/litre respectively, cost after 10,000 km:
Ron97 = RM1291.28
Ron95 = RM1147.99

(for new rate of Ron95 at RM1.85/litre, cost after 10,000 km = RM1179.88)

So, using Ron95 consumes more petrol but still costs less.

In case you are curious, based on my data, which really is just applicable to my driving style and commute route, it's only when Ron95 is RM2.03/litre that I am better off using Ron97, assuming Ron97 is still RM2.05/litre, that is.

If you want to find out that magic number based on your own driving style and commute route, what you need to find out is how much it costs you per distance for Ron97 and Ron95 respectively. Basically it's a y = mx graph where y = cost, m = gradient (RM/km), and x = distance. Smaller m means lower cost and m depends on the mileage you get (km/litre) and the petrol price (RM/litre), divide petrol price by mileage to get m.

Not sure how many people felt insulted by my explanation, no offence intended, just want to inform all level of people. =)

Anyway, sorry environment, poor me is wallet first green peace second, Ron95 it is for me. =P



05 September 2010

SC2: Wings of Liberty Completed


This entry is really for my own personal record. Maybe, just maybe, some geeky gamers will find it interesting too.

Completed the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty single player campaign in the wee hours today.

Gotta hand it to Blizzard for making great games. Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, each a winner that other gaming companies try to clone.

Anyway, first time through the single player campaign, love the smooth gameplay and followed the storyline like a true fanboy. Played the normal difficulty and completed the 26 missions in this order:

01. Liberation Day
02. The Outlaws
03. Zero Hour
04. The Evacuation
05. Outbreak
06. The Devil's Playground
07. The Great Train Robbery
08. Safe Haven*
09. Cutthroat
10. Engine of Destruction
11. Media Blitz
12. (secret mission) Piercing the Shroud
13. Welcome to the Jungle
14. Breakout*
15. Smash & Grab
16. The Dig
17. Whispers of Doom
18. A Sinister Turn
19. Echoes of the Future
20. In Utter Darkness
21. The Moebius Factor
22. Supernova
23. Maw of the Void
24. The Gates of Hell
25. Belly of the Beast*
26. All In

Saw the easter egg Diablo in The Devil's Playground mission, didn't notice the tauren and murloc marines easter eggs though, will keep an eye out on my next run through the campaign.

The secret mission Piercing the Shroud is obtained by destroying a science facility in the Media Blitz mission and taking the data. The science facility is at the lower right corner of the map.

Will also choose the other option on those missions where options are available in my next run. These missions are marked with *, so instead of saving the colony I will destroy them next time, the mission will not be Safe Haven then but of another name. Will side with Nova next time instead of Tosh, and will destroy the aerial base of the zerg instead of their underground nodus.

Yea yea I know I can play them from the archive but I want to play through the champaign with different upgrades and research path anyway.

The following modified screenshots are the upgrades and researches I have as I entered the final mission. I missed the Protoss research opportunity in the In Utter Darkness mission, so I could have 30k credits more and probably another upgrade, oh well. All mercenaries hired.

This is my upgrade path as credits became available, had 125k credits left unused:

01. Infantry > Marine > Stimpacks
02. Infantry > Medic > Stabilizer Medpacks
03. Infantry > Firebat > Incinerator Gauntlets
04. Infantry > Marine > Combat Shield
05. Base > Bunker > Projectile Accelerator
06. Infantry > Reaper > U-238 Rounds
07. Vehicles > Diamondback > Tri-lithium Power Cell
08. Starships > Viking > Ripwave Missles
09. Starships > Viking > Phobos-class Weapons System
10. Base > SCV > Dual-Fusion Weilders
11. Base > Missle Turret > Hellstorm Batteries
12. Base > Terran Building > Orbital Command
13. Base > Terran Building > Fire-Suppression System
14. Vehicles > Goliath > Multi-lock Weapons System
15. Vehicles > Goliath > Ares-class Targeting System
16. Dominion > Spectre > Nyx-class Cloaking Module
17. Dominion > Spectre > Psionic Lash
18. Infantry > Marauder > Concussive Shells
19. Vehicles > Siege Tank > Maelstrom Rounds
20. Vehicles > Siege Tank > Shaped Blast
21. Starships > Medivac > Rapid Deployment Tube
22. Starships > Banshee > Shockwave Missle Battery













Oh, best I did in the Viking arcade game was level 2, not even reaching the boss. =\

Here's hoping I don't have to wait another 10 years for Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.

04 September 2010

瓜瓜篇


才三岁的大瓜开始有点叛逆
总要造反激怒爸妈
十年后的青春叛逆期不知会怎么样?
学会唱些华语儿歌逗弟弟
但还是带香蕉音

调皮的小瓜已会假哭撒娇
哥哥唱歌他会拍手
知道爸爸要吻他会逃避
四颗牙的笑样很可爱
就是还不叫爸爸

甜瓜日复一日细心照顾大小瓜
近来几乎每天都给大瓜气坏
天天燃烧自己给儿子们
天下第一妈妈
只是没时间给老瓜

老瓜呢?
老瓜只想要可以好好睡一觉
希望工作的同事们可以合作点
最好就是可以中个大彩票再也不必为工作和钱烦
只是呵,老瓜不买彩票的

01 September 2010

Oi, don't simply say leh


Shocked and stunned till mind went momentarily blank when a lady colleague said out loud in front of a group of colleagues that...

"CK touched my butt"

Wah lau eh, I did no such thing! >.<

Honest to goodness, I am not that kind of person ler. Really.

After I picked up my jaw from the floor and popped my eyes back in, I requested clarification so I could clear my non-existent reputation.

Turned out to be a twisted version of my label looking action a while back.

Wah lau eh, how did moving the shirttail aside so I could read the intriguing jeans label turned into touching the butt?!?! >.<

Don't simply say leh, veli the big wok one. Could lose me my job at work and lose me my ear, or worse, at home one ah...

Admittedly it was my bad to move the shirttail, but I touched no butt, I swear!

They say curiosity killed the cat. I honestly just wanted to find out what that label says. =\

And I am not a cat.

Maybe, I should just go ahead and touch the butt now since I am being accused of it anyway. =P

Just kidding wifey, don't kill me.

*meow* =^.^=




This is meant to be taken as a light-hearted sharing, the lady colleague was just joking, er... I think. =P

31 August 2010

Random Thoughts


Replugged-in

Like it or not, internet is part of my life now.

No, I am not addicted to Facebook nor crazy about instant messaging, I just like to have my daily dose of forum surfing and blog reading.

So when my router started to act up a few weeks ago, my 'normal' lifestyle got disturbed by its erratic behaviour.

I put up with it since it was still working sporadically, while the reset button no longer works (always a bad sign), manual rebooting multiple times managed to get it going.

Until two days ago, that is. It's now offcially dead.

Router modem set to serve as bridge since I have a wireless router that handles the traffic, after a mere 1.5 years of service the modem went belly up. Of course the warranty is just 1 year, typical.

Replaced the dead Pci DSL2-01 with a new TP-Link TD-8817 today, hopefully the TP-Link product is more reliable. Well, at least it comes with a 2 years warranty so I guess at least I have two years before it kaput.

Am now weighing my options of dealing with the dead modem... should I hurl it against something hard and solid, drop it from great height, or use something hard and solid to smash it?

Hammer time! =P

May you rest in pieces, you piece of crap.

-----

+1

Happy birthday Fang!

Wishing you a fantastic day, hope you get to enjoy the day just the way you like it, and get married and have babies.

So nice to be born on our National Day, as long as you remain in Malaysia, every birthday is a holiday! ^_^

-----

53rd birthday

Happy independence day Malaysia!

While the older and more exposed I get, the less my sense of patriotism becomes, I do love my country still.

Can't say the same for the government and majority of the politicians who directly contribute to my diminishing patriotism.

Besides a great reluctance to quit my home country (which according to some racists, doesn't welcome me), there is hope that with the new generation of enlightened Malaysians who realised the "supreme race" idea is just going to impede development and tear the country apart, I guess it's still worth hanging on the citizenship, for whatever it's worth.

Here's hoping that within my lifetime, I would see a Malaysia that is fair to all its rakyat, a Malaysia that doesn't differentiate its people by race, gender or religion. You know, just Malaysian.

Of course, here's also hoping we would have a government that's really for the rakyat, and not for their own pocket.

One can always dream.

28 August 2010

Disabled Parking Space


Public infrastructures in Malaysia are actually much better compared to, say, ten years ago.

It warms my heart to see that there are now buses designed for the ease of disabled people, the emergence of ramps and disabled parking spaces at shopping centres and offices. After all, disabled people are also part of our community, and should be treated equally if not better.

So I am rather proud that infrastructure wise, my beloved country is marching towards the developed country standard. Yay, Malaysia Boleh!

However, many of the rakyat are not. Many simply do not develop, and some are downright uncivilised. It's like junglemen in a modern city.

Just look at how casual some people litter, throwing rubbish wherever they like.

Most of the news regarding our politicians or politics are disgraceful redicule, as if it's their job to provide a constant supply of jokes for the foreigners and shame for the Malaysians.

There are of course those monkeys in clothes that staying true to monkey's behaviour, like to fling shits around. It's really sad that according to these monkeys, even as a Malaysian, I am not wanted in my own country because of my race.

As a Malaysian, I am not treated equally because of my race. No idea why the bumi deserves better treatments and privileges, but sadly that's the way it is now. One Malaysia huh? Yea right.

I often wonder if Chinese-Malaysians and Indian-Malaysians really did vacate the country, how far back would Malaysia fall to?


Anyway, I apologise, I have strayed too far from the topic.

What I really want to talk about is those very able people who park at the disabled parking spaces. Go check the vehicles at the disabled parking spaces, don't be surprised most do not have the permit or badge to park at disabled parking space. True disabled people will have these permits and badges, you see.

So far, the people I saw with my own eyes parking at the disabled parking space are able body people, they simply park there because it's convenient. Just like those selfish drivers on the road who think only about their own convenience, regardless of the inconvenience to other road users. Yea, those bastards.

Okay, let's give them the benefit of doubt and assume they simply forgot to display their disabled parking permit, one wonders what disability such able body persons are suffering from?

I could only come to this conclusion: they are disabled in the brain, specifically, they suffer from fooking-stupid-revolting-selfish-terminal-idiocy.

First class infrastructures, monkey-class population.

Sad.

24 August 2010

The Bold One


Actually, it's the bald one lar, not the bold one. =P

A question I get asked a few times these few days is: "What happened to your hair?" or "New hairstyle?"

Here are my typical answers:

"Hair? What hair?" *puzzled look*

"I used the wrong shampoo." *serious face*

If there was a follow up question on what shampoo I use, I would feint forgetfulness and ask what shampoo he or she is using, and said "yea, that one."

If a name of the shampoo was not forthcoming from the inquirer, I would just say: "the one Wendy is using."

^_^

Truth is wifey forgot to attach the number two head to the clipper when she gave me a hair cut in the weekend, she realised that after the first cut on the back of my head. Said she could do an inverted V as cover up pattern so naturally I asked her to just shave off everything. =)

Have always wanted to see how I look bald anyway.

Thing is, I didn't actually shave to the skin since I am too chicken shit to put the shaving blade to my head, I don't want to end up with scars all over my scalp. =P

Anyway, that's that.



No idea why but somehow Veronica, who is in another state, is interested in seeing my bald look so a photo is requested and hey, I am not about to say no to her.
Model extraordinaire you know? Don't play play.

If she thinks she is going to get an honest shot then she clearly doesn't know me, muahahaha! =P

Behold! H.Ang*, the Rulebender!
*H.Ang = hubby of Karen Ang


I think fans of Airbender Aang are going to cry if they see this

Not good enough?

Fine fine, how about this then...

Behold! CKratos, the God of slack!


please don't kill me, fans of God of War

Too scary looking?

Okay okay, this one should do it then... I hope.

Behold! Minsc wannabe and his stuffed toy Deefer!


what lar, I don't have a space hamster okay?

Butt kicking for goodness! (Baldur's Gate gamers will know this)

Come on, at least give face to Deefer ler, it's adorable! =P


22 August 2010

-_-


This is a rant, so quit now if you are allergy to rants. =)

The
return of Mr Memory... *sigh*.

Thought I have rid myself of this empty bucket, why oh why the single person in the department whom I just can't tolerate has to come bugging me? >_<

Of course I am not surprised the transfer didn't work out, though I honestly wish it had so we would no longer be in the same department. Just shows that not everyone is like Mr Chicken Shit, smart manager looks at actual performance when hiring instead of buying all the cocks and bullshit.

So the "expert with at least 10 years experience in modelling" is now asking a lowly thermal engineer to teach him how to do modelling huh? Just how the heck did he survived all these years? Bullshitted his way through all the performance reviews? Or was it his "people management skill", i.e. get someone else to do his job while he took all the credits?

Seriously, can't even sort out a simple installation and licensing of modelling software? That's just... unbelievable. It's just following instructions on the website you know? And there is that Tech Support link on the website where one can get help from.

He can continue to dream on if he thinks I will spoonfeed him, there is a limit to this 'mentoring request'.

There is something irony about mentoring someone who attended the same thermal modelling training class a couple of years back, who was already showing off his "extensive knowledge" by giving some hoo-ha in the class, who deemed fit to skip more than half the training session, and not to forget one who has "at least 10 years of modelling experience".

I am watching this 'mentoring request' closely, and I am going to pull the plug as soon as the first sign of "people management" shows up. I couldn't care less about the bullshitting skill, Mr Empty Bucket, and you can go burn in hell if you ever try to take credit from my work.

If I was a harsher person, I would not have agreed to the mentoring in the first place. There is just that sick satisfaction of an "expert with at least 10 years experience in thermal modelling" requesting for mentoring.

I hope I won't pay for this wickedness.

18 August 2010

Unease


Restlessness. I need my badminton fix. Exercise and sweat.

Anxiety. Finished the most fundamental course of the software I need to get my work done today. Yet I am still blur blur.

Disquietude. There is that nagging feeling that badminton sessions simply don't happened despite what I did, planning ahead of my absence.

Uneasiness. Something is not quite right, I just can't pinpoint the source of this feeling.

=<

15 August 2010

New Toy


Ever since His Royal Highness King Hsiang dropped my Logitech MX1000 cordless laser mouse, causing it to go haywire many, many months ago, I have been looking for a replacement.



Thanks to July's bonus and the approval from finance manager (wifey), I finally bought myself a new mouse.



It's Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse, not going with cordless this time since I do not want the history to repeat again. Hopefully the cord will stop the mouse from hitting the floor if either of the Kings (there are two now!) dropped my mouse. Touch wood.



Just thought you might want to know about my new toy. =P