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