Coloured Afternoon

I can tell you, right after 1030 in the morning, the house was already feeling warm. Its been like this for the past week and anymore of this, I am going to have a monster sore throat. So, after mopping the floors, I am scheming to get everyone out of the house and maybe to a shopping complex where the air-con will cool us down. However, the would mean spending money. And also, by the time we got the girls bathed and dressed, there would be a huge traffic jam at the parking entrance lot. Even the air-con at home was completely useless. So, I think we’ll all just lie down and vegetate at the tile floor the whole day…….

Kaelynn curious about her elder sister's piece of paper.
Actually, its more like Kristine's working folder. Ha ha ha

Eww! Kaelynn thinks Kristine is drawing obscene things!

Shorter thumbdrive

After carrying the thumbdrive in my back pocket for a day, I had to remove the long metal ring because it always end up at an ackward angle. So, after using a pair of pliers and a screwdriver, its gone. But not without a slight crack in the casing, no thanks to ol’ me butterfingers.

Flip-flops!

Our office had implemented a no-shoe rule. So, we all would have to wear slippers from now on. We got these while we were down south. For RM4.00 each, my only complain was that the area between the big toe and the second toe hurts like heck. That’s the main reason why I never liked those slippers with that obscene little thing right between the toes. But since its cheap, oh well.

I never liked them because they make this flip-flop sounds wherever you go because when you lift up your heel, the front end of the toes would make the sandals slap to the back thus making that sound.

mini-Bombs

The only thing these days which makes me look forward to an outstation trip are the possibilities of looking for toys or trinkets in old shops which you cannot find in the KL City. And sometimes, because they do not get things from a supplier, you can bet that most of the items on sale would be very different. So while we were waiting for a customer to unlock the doors for us, I decided to walk around the place. And to my pleasant surprise, I came across some capsule stand where those mini bombs were being sold. And luck was on my side because the lady also let me exchange 50sen coins which is quite unheard of in KL. All in all, I spent about RM6.00 in three trips because these capsules made my pockets bulge too much. Ha ha ha.

The capsules do not contain the bombs as there are other items in it, such as the gunpowder ammo which was stored in a black cylinder and a piece of plastic which resembles a mine (in other words, you got a dud capsule). Although the mini-bomb looked small, if my memory serves me right, its about an inch shorter than the original bomb. Still, it looked so cute.

Looking back at my haul, I got five bombs, three duds and four ammo packs. I wished I had more luck in getting the bombs. Still, I am happy that I get these mini bombs after more than two decades of looking for these childhood toys. How it works is very simple. You just feed it some gunpowder ammo. In this case, you just plug the nose of the bomb into the round ammo pack (the equivalent of traditional paper ones). Then you toss the bomb upwards and let gravity do the rest. Once it falls the ground, the heavy nose align the bomb downwards, nose first. And when it hits the ground, the nose will act as a hammer and hit the ammo causing a loud bang. You then use a new ammo round and toss it up again.

So, where is the fun in that? Beats me. But at that time, it was more fun than watching a cartoon or playing with some Transformers toy on a sunny afternoon all by myself.

Whoa! Look what RM6.00 did to me! Maybe I should have paid
her RM50 and take the whole thing as well. Bwhahahahahaha.

There are two variation to the mini-bombs apart from the colours. You will
either get a round fin or those sharp edge rocket fins (which looked
closer to the original). The you have the dud (left) and the black
box of ammo (middle). Once you open the capsule and the plastic bag,
you just push the lead nose into the plastic tail and you’re ready to go.

The nose was designed to take two kinds of ammo. The traditional
paper strip or the modern plastic gunpowder caps. However,
because of the size, it could not take the paper version
easily. I tried to bend the nose a bit and it broke.
So this means its made of those lead die-cast
(dangerous) and if I play them too much, it will
just break. Maybe by then, I could either buy
a tube of JB Weld or source for more of
these toys, Ha ha ha ha ha

On second thoughts, I think I should just keep them around and take them out once in a while. In the midst of everything, I forgot to take down the vending machine’s contact email and number in case I wanted more……….damn. So, anyone going near Tampoi soon?

Volkswagens!

By the time we start our journey, it was already nearing 8PM in the evening. And at the Toll, there was this transporter with a few classic VW’s. I am not sure if it’s the new regulation in force or economy at work. Something about JPJ requiring a car being inspected to determine its roadworthiness before it can be issued a license. But for classical cars, they could be in various stages in restoration and so, it cannot be driven on the road without passing the Puspakom inspection. But my Boss’s argument was that its more economical and safer to hire a transporter to drive it all the way back to KL rather than have eight tired people doing it. Still, again, using my camera, not all the shots were nice. But panning about in the dark produced weird results. Oh well.

Oh, hey look! Its a Yellow VW!

South

We had to make a trip down South because one of our customers needed to have their PBX system dismantled, brought back up to KL and have it re-installed into their existing branch. They could have asked the local main distributor to do it but then again, they might charge a little bit more. But our concern was that since the customer’s staff does not know much about the system, the technician could have helped himself and when it was our turn to reinstall the system, there is a very high chance of missing items. Since we had a few other customers to visit as well, we offered to dismantle the system, bring it back up to our office, and have it service/cleaned up and document it.

The trip down South is were one of those trips I never did looked forward to because my Boss pointed out that most of the highway routes are straight and when it comes to day driving, I could easily fall asleep at the wheel. Actually, I was not bothered about these driving facts but since he pointed it out, I dreaded going there even more. Even the UEM Engineers were of no help either, closing and opening lanes all over the highway. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Still, there is another reason why we needed to go down there. This was to make sure our customers do not feel isolated. Not only that, there was a site which we assisted and lent our consulting services for over a period of more than eight months only to be lost to an ex-colleague in the end. Still, there was nothing much we could do but to let the customer make their own decision. Since the building was almost ready, we dropped by for a site inspection and Thank God that we did not get that job as we just realized the cabling was all wrongly pulled. Even the proposed spot for the PABX is a bit out of whack. So, to correct it would be very costly and time consuming since the cabling contractor would not be paid for it, I guess. Not only that, there would be a huge problem during the installation as being a newcomer, they would not know how to allocate the lines.

In the end, I just know that we would be called in to help rectify the mess. We might even have to charge our services to that ex-colleague of ours under the instruction of the customer, create friction and also maybe a slap in her face. damn.

I just had to take this picture as it really reflects my
mood at that time after seeing we have lost that bid
for nothing.

On the way back, I tried some night photography which turned
out quite bad. Yeah, I should have read the manual years ago.
The first test shot was OK but when my intended target
showed up, I completely messed it up. Not only was it
dark and raining, it was quite a challenge to shoot from
a moving vehicle stuck in a jam and with a dying set of
batteries. I could not use flash as they could
just walk over and caused a ruckus.

This is a picture of two workers sitting at the back of the lorry with
some makeshift rain shield from cardboard scraps.
And it was raining.
Those poor poor people.

My new toolbox

OK, so I bought a new toolbox even though my 10 year-old toolbox still served me well. But when I saw it only costs me 80sen, I had to get it. Luckily, sensibility stopped me from buying more than one. But after a few hard seconds of strenuous thinking, I should have gotten a few more. I mean, the box has a slight translucent cover which lets you see the contents inside. So now, I have to get some tools for the toolbox. My Boss has already started me off with a screwdriver.

See the new toolbox? Nice or not?

And it can even be used to carry dried fruits

And this toolbox is quite compact too. You can carry it
in your pocket and save boot space.

The road's closed, Ma'am

This is the first time I saw an accident happening in front of my eyes. It happened at the new flyover at the Sungei Buloh junction. If you’re exiting from the Sungai Buloh Hospital toll or making a U-turn (due to the diversion from Sungai Buloh), you will be using this road. At the top of the flyover is a T-junction where you can turn right. But that road is still closed at it is not completed yet. Anyway, I was about 200 metres away when I saw a silver car suddenly did a turtle. The scene looked surreal as if it was a toy car that was being flipped about.

Within seconds, it caused a traffic jam and already some have alighted from the car, presumably to help. As we edged closer to the scene, it appeared that the Silver Proton Wira Aeroback tried to make a right and hit the concrete divider. Or maybe, it tried to overtake the small lorry in front of it and then lost control and the car hit the divider. Whatever it was, the front of the car suffered quite a bit and for a car that size, it was surprisingly light. And at first, I thought it was a Proton Saga.

Still, at the time of the accident, I guessed she must be rushing to Kepong to pick up her child since it was slightly over two in the afternoon and the nearest school was in that direction.

Computerwar

After seeing their website and plotting/scheming to go there, I finally got the chance. Besides, if The Suan reccomends it, then its a must go.


The thumbdrive came with a small program inside it called Imation Flash Manager which is completely useless. Once you set up your password and log in, there is no flash whatsoever. Even the green LED that blinks was not bright enough to serve as a flash. I want a thumbdrive, not a camera accessory.

Oh, hang on, I think it’s a software to manage the thunbdrive’s contents. Sure enough, once I have done that, it asks me if I wanted to partition the drive so that I can have a public and private partitions. I should have done this earlier because now, not only do I have to sit and watch all my MP3 and project files disappear as it reformatted the thumbdrive, I have to do it all over again. And its not a fun thing at 3AM in the morning. But once its done, with password protection, all my personal files are safe and its hidden too. Unless, I suspect, someone went and deleted that file, then all is lost. Still, there is the write-protect option……..

I got the DVI-to-VGA adaptor (RM18) and a new thumbdrive (RM42)

I can’t understand why some idiot would design the package to be
opened by popping the two locking lugs and then sealing the
whole damn thing. In the end, I had to find a strong pair of
scissors to cut the plastic to pieces before getting to the
product.

So, there you have it. A 1GB thumbdrive with a plastic cover and a keychain attachment.

Plug that into a WinXP PC and it immediately spoils your Hide & Seek game for the day

The Plan

This is what our new office looked like, but there were some small major changes. Its still looked like the one on the picture but some areas have been changed during the renovation process.

Guess where I am sitting?

Spare Parts II B

After my Boss took apart the Hard Disk, I decided to have a closer look at it. This was because in 1996, I took one apart and what attracted me was the aluminum part at the spindle which was both light and beautiful. Unfortunately, in this Hard Disk, there was none except for the shiny semi-broken read/write arm.

The leftover from the autopsy

This is so nice but its not mine to own. Sigh

The spindle part that was hoped to be but not

And I didn’t know Hard disk suffer from stomach complications too

Spare parts II A

Well, more parts for me now. I have just taken apart two PCs (The staff did it), an NEC PABX power supply (They did it again as they were bored) and also a hard disk (OK, this time my Boss did it). But regardless, everything still ended up on my table. Haih.

With at least three PC motherboards, I get some jumper switches,
connectors, some CPU, their heatsinks, and a CR2032 battery
holder. That is, if I have the time to de-solder them out of the
circuit board.

These little memory RAMs are not only obsolete but their
contacts are slightly corroded. So, I think I will turn
them into key-chains.

When you short pins 14 and 15 together(Green & Black cables),
you can power up the power supply and make the small
fans go (at the top). The bottom big fan is useless since it
needs 24 volts compared to the PSU’s 12 volt output.

Spare parts galore! Its not just going to Pasar Road/RS Catalogue/Farnell
to get them but the fun is in de-soldering them. Because you know you
can now destroy hundreds of ringgit worth of equipment without
anyone to screw you for it. Ha ha ha ha ha

I saw the Sign!

I wanted to take this picture for quite some time but every morning when I passed them by, the shop was not opened yet. But in the later parts of the day, either it was blocked by other cars or the traffic jam was moving too fast for me to focus the camera. I could have stopped and blocked the other cars but there is no fun in that. Anyway, I think they need more than just a spell-check.

dhal

There is never a dull moment with dhal. Some stalls have thick dhal which you can spread it like jam on your toast/biscuit/cornflakes/Twisties, etc. Some dhal are watery which you can drink it like a spicy soup. But I like the ones which are in between. This is because just like the brownish coconut sauce that goes on your tosai, I just love to mix them with my rice. And if they have the hot chili version, then it is ideal.

So far, I have not had the chance to mix it with pasta and sprinkle it with crushed papadums and slice raw onions, mixed with durian flesh and Cheezels……….

Unfortunately, if you had diorrhea.....

May 13

After looking for this book all over the place, I found it. The reason I was so interested in this book was because there were come parties calling for it to be banned. Since I have not read it yet, I cannot say much. But the sad thing was, after a week I bought it, it was sold openly all over the place. cheh.

Still, I do not understand, why is everyone so "afraid" of this book?

Priviledge Card

I spent so mucht time there they had to give me
a discount card. Its just so that I can get my
10% when the regular staffs are not there

Will's Torchlight

This was the second trip to Pasar Road just to get the torchlight. The first was on a Tuesday morning which I arrived too late as there was a big "wind" moments ago ("wind" as in authorities raiding your stalls and confiscating all your hard earned pirated goods). Yes, all these goods are good and some are not so good. But whatever it is, its still not as good as the ORI good, which is good good. But sometimes, the pirated good is as good as the good good. So, good or not?

Actually, in truth, I would go to Pasar Road again and again given just any excuse. This time, I was for my wife’s right indicator light module on her Wira. There are a lot of torchlight there, from the slim 1Watt to the Police 5 Watt versions. So, since Willa asked me nicely, I decided to get him a 5 Watt Police Torchlight. Police? Yeah.

But let’s get a few things straight here. Firstly, this is not an actual Police torchlight. And they do not come in a faux wooden cases. Not only that, even if you are a retired Police Officer, no one in the right mind would present such a stupid "fuck-off" gift to you. Secondly, although it says there is a 5 Watt LED inside, and unless there are words like Surefire or you paid more than RM200.00, it is not an original 5 Watt Luxeon LED torchlight. Period. And thirdly, there is no guarantee that the torchlight would work 100% even with all those "waterproof" seals and asking for a refund is like asking Mike Tyson to sew back the ear. And lastly, or ly-ly, Police do not buy their torchlights at the road shoulder.

So, Will wanted a torchlight and he got it. A RM15 torchlight, to be exact. (More like Torchlight = RM8.00, Wooden box = RM3.00, free weak batteries = RM2.00 and an additional RM2.00 as profit guarantee for not buying the recommended separate belt holster which costs RM2.00). So, yeah, the torch is bright but because of the reflector design, its still throwing the light about everywhere. Maybe I can buy a RM12 plastic collimator lens from Farnell and modify the reflector.............

Nah, this is Will's torchie. No touchie Will’s torchie.

Reminds me of a cigar box

And when you open it, there you go, a big stoogie

Which you can light up at one end

Blob in the Fridge

Cocolala, Coklala. etc. That was Kristine's attempt to say Coca Cola, which happened to be her latest favourite drink after numerous trips to MacDonalds (I think they serve Pepsi there). Still, this is what happens when you want your Coke to cool down fast and then forget about it hours later. I know, someone could have just used ice-cubes instead....... But I cannot name that person or else I won’t get any Ang Pous next year. Ha ha ha ha.

It looked as if something exploded inside

Some brown Iceman or something

Makes for a good John Carpenter's The Thing sequel

Spare Parts

As soon as we have moved office, my desk was automatically filled with a lot of electronic parts, even if those parts are not for phone systems. This is one of the hazards of being a Technical Manager. Still, I took them with relish because there are some items I would like to salvage. For today, these are the parts from a digital camera of unknown origin. I mean, if I had known where it came from , I would have scolded the owner for not putting in the camera’s plastic housing as well.

This is from an old Samsung PBX. I can salvage the switches
the phone sockets and some Eproms.

This is one of the circuit board from the camera.
I can salvage the small battery and its holder
plus the black buzzer.

This is the flash unit, note the big capacitor
How I can activate the flash, I have no idea

The opticals. The lens and prism (left), the CCD
(middle) and the lens (right). No use for me but
I can use them for scratchbulding a spaceship
or something

Pissed by a Rat

This is the year of the Dog and for most dogs, this is not a good year until after the middle of the year. Why am I saying this, I have absolutely no idea. Nor could I say anything nice to the customer except "You pissed off the cat, didn't you?". They have installed a Toshiba PABX years ago in an area which is now officially Rat Central after Happy Hours. And since their office was built next to the cemetery, I wouldn't even want to touch the rats. Even the cats don’t want to touch the rats. Really.

Throughout the years, the system has accumulated tremendous amount of biological material and ammonia based liquid. In other words, the rats pissed and shat on the system. It was so bad that it corroded the system’s power supply, burnt a few extension ports and rusted a lot of parts. By the time we came over (after they called for the main distributor who gave them a very bad corporate experience, that is), we had to quote them a new system and also salvage as much cards as we could for them since their big Boss does not want to have the system repaired. I mean, its already on its last legs when you switch it on/off, you can hear the power supply’s transformer plates chattering like crazy. Its like your heart going on and off a hundred times a second.

This card was slotted vertically. So the piss just dripped down

Some of the copper tracks turned black

And some components were compromised

It was so bad that this board was beyond repair