Present from MacDonalds

Whenever they can, my parents would sneak off and take Kristine to MacDonalds. There, she can have fun at the mini playground, eat ice-creams and other sweet stuff which we would never buy for her, except once in a while. So, this time, there was a Hello Kitty promotion and she got a Hello Kitty Videocam. Well. the package looked like a videocam but actually, its just an LED shining on a set of six templates so you can make some patterns on a surface. And Kristine was thrilled to bits. Well, for a few nights. The she got bored and that was the time I managed to get it away from her.........

So, this is a Hello Kitty videocam

When you open the LCD flap, you will find that there is
no LCD. The flap serves as a cover for a compartment
to keep the pattern disk

Slot the disk in, and then shine it on a
wall/body/face/bum, etc. And you
will see a pattern

I was to tempted to open up the casing (as the LEDs
were too bright) to modify it so that the light does
not leak out to the casing. I couldn't because it
uses those screws with funny heads which
needs a special screwdriver just like the
toys at Burger King. Darn.
Oh, press the yellow button for some fun

A Walk in the Park C

She has her fun with t

I like this design on the swings as it is
not so easy for kids to fall out. But as
the height cannot be adjusted, they
would have to lift their legs higher
or else it would drag on to the
ground, twisting the ankles

A Walk in the Park B

Then there were these idiots riding about in their bikes
If they happen to crash into any kid, I think everyone
would rush over and beat them to a pulp

This dustbin is not part of the decoration.
Its just that someone threw it onto the
bush and it knocked the cover off

Oh boy, when Kristine saw the swings, she was so
excited, the was about to ditch her bike and
wanted to run over there. I refused to pick
up after her and forced her to use her bike
to go there. But instead......

First, it was with Mommy and sis

A Walk in the Park A

So, today is would be a special day for the two girls because we're going to take them to the open park instead of the usual evening walk around the neighborhood, terrorising everyone. We were planning to take them for quite a while but due to my busy schedules, it was not possible until now. Because today is the only free Saturday I could ever have. Ha ha ha ha.

Kristine staring at a lake for the first time

There are some fishes and even turtle there.
Next time, maybe I could get some food for
Kristine to feed them

The reason we wanted to take her here is
so that she feels at ease in a public place
and let her mingle with other kids
without causing any fracas

There are somethings at the park
which I am not happy about. For
instance, there are a lot of these
uncovered holes which for kids,
is dangerous if the happen to
fall into it

Natural Air-con

When you're driving, ever wondered where would all the air go if you wound down all the car's window?

No?

Me neither

But for this car, the driver knows. And not only that,
he can still drive faster than you.

Yeah, its because his rear window was smashed

Easy Rider

I just had to take this photo. The guy was enjoying the ride
on the highway, just riding normally. Yeah, and not only that,
I think my FujiFilm autofocus is not doing its job anymore

Jammed up in Kepong

Nowadays, it is not normal for Kepong to have a jam at this hour (0815) as the schoolkids are already being punished by the teachers. So, maybe there was an accident. By the time I arrived at the scene, it was something else. A burst water pipe. By afternoon, it was already halfway being repaired. This is not easy as the hole lies in the middle of the 2-lanes.

And this morning, you can clearly see the patch-up was World Class.

Here we go......... Oooh, water.

And lots of it

Water + Tractor = Bad News

There you go. I think you can fish in there

Blinking Lighter Part II

So, after a heavy jam in Kepong due to a burst water pipe this morning, I was still the first to arrive early. And with some precious "enough to do something but not enough to do anything" minutes, I decided to explore the lighters again. OK, so its too precious to loan it to my friends knowing them, it would be lost before the gas resevoir are empty.

See the small itty bitty screw? You just unscrew it and
don't worry, the gas resevoir is housed in its own
separate tank. Yeah, RM250, you get half the
gas but more lights. Bwahahahahhahaha

Once the cover is opened, out pops the electronics

To activate the torch, you just press the metal piece to
the LED's legs and thats it. Oh, you can keep the small
purple nipple for your other model projects. What I liked
about this module is that it already has a small case for
you to put all the small batteries in. So you can modify
it to suit whatever project you have in mind.

As for the part where you need to activate the three blinking
lights, its a bit more difficult. After examining the whole
lighter, I guessed the blinking circuit could be activated
via static or some capacitance. Because when I
touched the left lead and the right metal piece,
nothing came on until I used a screwdriver
to touch my hands. Once I have the time
I will try again with bare wires to test
my theory

Megatron at The Outpost E

So, here you go, Megatron.

Which is quite big, even in my hands. Would I buy it?
Initially, I would, but after today's transformation, I decided not to.
His transformation is too complicated and fragile for me
I prefer to let Optimus Prime kill him. Ha ha ha ha

Megatron at The Outpost D

OK, sorry. I can't resist it but I like Gerwalk modes. Blame it
on Macross if you like. But it would be funny if Megatron did
transform halfway and then changed his mind. I couldn't
make the legs go further back as this would offset the
centre of gravity and Megatron would topple over

OK, I give up. Its time for my appointment and Richard
has to continue the transforming.

After more than an hour, when I came back, it was almost done.
Here is Richard with Megatron in his hands. The P38 looked a
bit oversized but then, maybe it was because the designers
wanted it to match with masterpiece Optimus Prime

Megatron at The Outpost C

After more than 40 minutes, I was still struggling to transform Megatron. It is really not as easy as I first thought.


One thing about his hands is that it swivels in and all
five fingers can move independently

5 minutes after that, I gave up because it was time
for my appointment and my friend has still not arrived

See this shoulder join? Its very hard to snap it out
and harder to keep it aligned to the other

50 minutes worth of sweat

Megatron at The Outpost B

So, I started to transform while waiting for my/our friend. And let me remind you that this figure is quite big. And not only that, because its a "virgin", the parts were tight and sometimes, I was afraid that I might have broken it.

My hand for comparison

This is his head which is quite thin to me and he has a hole at
the back of his head, which is for his recent screw job

No wonder he has a frown. When transforming, his upper
head will collapse down to his chin before being hidden.
Ha ha ha

Puny Human! I will squeeze your balls like I squeeze this... this... rubber thing

Megatron at The Outpost A

So, I was waiting for a friend of mine, who is also a friend of our company, to hand over some detailed information at The Outpost. When I arrived, I saw the Masterpiece Megatron. And Richard approacehed me because the light on Megatron's scope is on the blink. So, after repairing it, I decided to take some shots. Then I was approached again because someone had trouble transforming Megatron.

The problem with Binaltech/Masterpiece Transformers was that although they were designed to resemble closely to their original figures, sometimes transforming them is not as simple as it seemed.

Megatron's scope uses two LR44 batteries, which is protected by
a plastic cover which you need a screwdriver to open

The problem lies with the plastic piece held with the loose screws.
This caused the button on the outside to spin and lost its place.
So when you press on it, it gets stuck

Once I tightened it, everything worked! This is how the scope looked when
opened Just a simple red LED, a resistor, a switch and two batteries. All
designed into an object a lot of people would kill for.

The scope alone is about close to 8.5 inches .You can view through the scope
but the LED is blocking your view. There is a nice cross-hair but since everything
is blocked its useless

A closer look at EL

I had the chance to open the inverter up this morning and true to my suspicion, they were using a transformer. This is the part that makes the whole unit hums or gives a high-pitched noise. Anyway, do not try to open it up when there is power because in effect, the circuit transforms a normal 12volt battery DC (Direct Current) to an AC (Alternating Current), which I guessed, could be 160 volts and at a frequency in the Kilohertz range.

Although I did not have the time to test it out on the project, a quick measurement looked as if it could fit. And later on, join it with blue EL and control it with a relay.

There is a switch on the right of the picture which controls the mode
of the inverter, (OFF/MUSIC/ON). So, you can either set it to light
all the time or flash in sync with music/sound. We set it to music
and it flashed while were were arguing about the price at the shop.
On the left, is the volume control to adjust the Mic's sensitivity

On the left is a fancy-wancy 12volt plug for vehicles and it has quite a long lead.
And on the right is the connector from the inverter to the EL string. I can put
about 4 EL strings as the inverter is powerful enough to do that. However,
since both of us could not verify the inverter's potential power, I think one
or two 1.5m LE strings are enough. If its longer, the LE string might be
not be very bright at all. Still, let's see how it will be when my Credit
Card clears up soon.

Here is a closer look at the connectors. The left is from the inverter while
the right is from the EL string

You can easily cut these strings to make it longer or join with another
EL string of another colour. All you need to do is to strip the outer
sheath, locate the two thin wires and that is all there is to it.
In theory, that is

My new Mouse

OK, so I had to sacrifice again. My mouse broke, just a day before the 2 months was up. And I usually go through them like I go through those mobile-phone handsfree kits: Months or even weeks. This is because I carry my trusty Toshiba Notebook wherever I go and with its daily plugging in and out and also the twisted cables, it could not take it anymore. I could have repaired the suspected faulty cable like my previous mouse but since it is so thin, the only result would be me uttering a lot of profanities.

And when it comes to choosing the mouse, I do have a few requirements, mainly the two side buttons which allows me to switch pages to and fro (or up and down), especially when surfing or doing documentation. Size comes next as I hate small mouse which tires my hand. Next would be the usual optical sensors and USB connectivity. Features are always last on my mind.

But this time, due to my tight financial problem, I had to make do with a smaller mouse but with the same 2-side button features which, by now, I cannot do without. And because of this, I saved RM10, as the mouse costs me RM39 (which is one and a half day's worth of petrol and toll). So, for the next few days, I "try" not to go anywhere far. But that is not right because it is my job, that is, until my new technician comes in and I have fully trained him.

Usually, the mouse I bought are A4 Tech brands and they really do last me quite a while. But for these new mouse, because of their fragile thin USB cables, I really cannot say. If I don't go mobile everyday, the mouse would survive. But the company would suffer. So how?

This is my old mouse. It has the 2-side buttons, the double-click orange button,
and claims that it can be used on glass surfaces. Yeah, right. My dining table has
a plastic transparent cover and the mouse went nuts on it.

The old mouse (left) and the new mouse (right). Notice the
similarities?

The new mouse is smaller but this macro shot made it otherwise

Don't believe me? See how my fingers had to curve
on the new mouse?