New Blogger Fascia

Just came from all the crap and then Google or something got me to update my Blog. Although everything is the same to me, I was pleased with the archive section on the right. Oh yeah, now I can also drag and drop the stuff into my Blog without going through much HTML coding which I am crap at, anyway. Maybe that is why my NuffNang stuff does not show

Mooncake Festival

tey;

The trip down South Part Two

On the second day, I woke up quite lethargic because of some noise next to me. And not only that, the new Nokia mobile phone vibrated every few minutes so, I

It is now 0745 in the morning. Too bad the window is not clean

The Banana bread was wonderful and so was the egg.

So, I decided to scramble for more eggs. Oh, the sambal was just right
But what made my morning was the dhal. It was thick and nice. Too
bad they ran out of nasi lemak

Since Johor Baru is next to Singapore, a lot of Johoreans
install their TV aerials to receive Singaporean TV programs
too.

The Trip down South Part One

So, today is Monday and we're due to go down South this time. But because there were two customers having system downs during the weekend, I had to pop by to see if they're alright after the technicians did some recovery work. By the time I have done my work and reported to the office, there was another site which needed my attention. So, I decided to go there, solve the problem and them meet up with my Boss. By the time both of us were ready to go down, it was after one in the afternoon. Sad to say, by the time we reached Batu Pahat, it was already quarter to five and we have exactly thirty minutes to dismantle two PABXs at two different locations. Which means we have to split ourselves. But once it was done, we broke fast with our client before continuing our journey to Johor Bahru. It was a long drive mainly because both of us were tired and by the time we reached there, it was already late. Since we're not familiar with the area, we had a hard time looking for a Hotel. Luckily, we found the city and decided to go for Crystal Crown instead of those RM40 shoplot Hotels.

Halfway during our search for a Hotel, there was this particular person who called. Maybe because we're both tired and cranky or maybe because its him. He called to ask if I am still outstation which I replied I was. To cut the long story short, it was a call to remind me to attend a seminar in Seremban this Saturday and to make sure I am fully committed to this MLM thing. And I am not happy about his instructions to skip those Weddings and come straight to the seminar. In fact, I am not even happy about him instructing me to tell my Boss that I have the rights to take leave on those occasions. And I am even not happy about the things he talked about my cousins when they are not interested in this venture as (they have gone through this before).

Wedding invitations are a privilege (contrary to the oft belief that it is a dreaded "saman" and is a forced obligation to attend). It is a privilege because your friends have thought of you. I cannot just abort the special occasion and then drive down to Seremban/Melaka for this. It is also incredulous to even suggest that I should not attend my nephew's wedding because this MLM is more important. I HAVE to be there as there is a CEREMONY to conduct. I am not a Christian and ignoring my practice of my birthright religion shows how I am perceived both as a friend as a slave to this MLM. In fact, it is downright insulting to get me to ditch all my friends and families to concentrate on this. It is even downright insulting to tell me what is important and what is not according to the MLM rules and priorities. I have my commitments and I have to right to distribute my commitments and not just for this. Its called responsibility.

By getting into this MLM, I would assume it would be my solution for financial freedom but if this means abandoning my family and friends, then it is not worth it at all. I cannot just drop everthing and then follow your pace of life. There are a lot of things I have to clear up and consider before I can do what you want me to do, Master. A few people already know that my company has gone through a lot of crisises and now, it is not the right time to leave everyone to drown after all the rats have jumped ship. I owe it to my friend who has given me so many chances. Ditching them now, in their hour of need is like telling your Mom, "Thanks, Mom. I have to go and scam more people. Oh, by the way, can you please put everything that is yours in my name on your way to die?"

What the fuck, man. As soon as I have time to breathe from all this busy work schedules, I think I am going to stop this nonsense once and for all.

[This post has been re-edited many times to take out most of the obscenities and very angry words]

Saw this accident at Batu Pahat, just a few kilometres from my customer.
The funny thing was, just 100m ahead, there was a Police Roadblock
and they were not interested in the accident.

This is the Batu Pahat Mall. The way the escalators were built
was quite interesting and we summised that it just opened
Because everything was new and most of the shoplots were
still empty. Oh, and one of the escalators were under repair

And just before the Senai (I think) exit, there were these bright
LEDs lamps on the road. On the left were Red LEDs, White for the
middle and Yellow for the right. We felt like airline pilots going through
a very long runway

A word of warning about this hotel. Any vehicle at the 2.0metre mark
better be careful when entering, especially at the ramps leading to
other levels. The clearance was 2.4 metres and I felt claustrophobic

Burnt Out

Becareful where you leave your metal stuff where there
are open mains electrical or high-current battery terminals. I
just dropped my bag on the floor, it touched the terminals
and a lot of sparks/smoke/popping came out. So careless

I am starting to like the MyVi

The more I look at them, the more I seem to warm up to them. However, I don't know why I keep comparing its fuel consumption with the Kenari. Reading from Forums, I know that its FC is a bit on the high side and this might be the determining factor. However, my heart melts when I see one with those fibre kits added on.....

Nice or not? The Side and front, la

And here is another one, where the wheels are nice

And here, it is completely lowered and with dual exhausts

It is very low, I tell you

Fooling around with the hat

They're at it again. No matter how we "misplaced" the items, Kristine found them again. So, it was another night of fun before bedtime.

Yeah! I found the hat!

Let's see how you look....

Erm, OK. (Reminds me of those Russian Guards)

Facebook

Don't know what it is, but just joined after a friend invited me (months ago). Ha ha ha ha
Damn. Must get out of the office and go home. Paperwork killing me

Knackered

OK, no more posts from me for the moment. I am suffering from the effects of driving too much. this morning, I overslept/coma on the floor where my Mom found me. Can't even get up. Yesterday, I was working more like a zombie.

The Trip up North Part Four

So, its almost evening and I am still driving. By the time we finished our job in Sitiawan, I decided to let my technician break fast in Lumut since (I thought) there were better choices there. I was wrong because everyone was either breaking fast themselves or closed for that matter. So, in the end, we settled for some backlane stalls where the Tom Yam was so hot, I started sweating like mad.

Anyway, the day is not over yet because Boss wants some Chee Cheong Fun in Teluk Intan and since it was on the way, I decided to get some for the both of us too. I can never resist some Chee Cheong Fun when I am wither passing through or in Teluk Intan (unless its during the day whernthey do not open). By the time I came back home, it was almost two in the morning and I am still feeling fresh and alert. (Which later on, I learnt is not a good thing)

This is the safest distance to follow a cement mixer truck
which throws a lot of things at you. Distance: 200meters

This is what happens when you get too close. Luckily, its
not cement by mud

We came in, rushed about and opened the van for all the
tools that we needed. The guard was surprised too

The Trip up North Part Three

OK, while in the ferry this time, there are no safety DVDs. It seemed like as if these ferries are from different companies and each of them have their own "rules". Anyway, on the DVD, they're showing some Hong Kong Film called "Unstoppable" which is hard to watch because of the rolling about. Well, not really. Its because of the spoken languages. I believe they're speaking in Cantonese but were dubbed in Mandarin. Worse of all, the subtitles were more entertaining as I can guess the translator did a direct Cantonese to English translation. For example, when the phone rings, we would say, "Hello?" but because of the Cantonese, we would have to say, "Wai?". And the "wai", when spoken in different intonations, can mean from feed to broken to hello to hey. So, the translator translated it as "feed". Ha ha ha ha. But I am tempted to get this DVD as the action scenes are quite nice and has a bit of rooftop running scene (called Le Parkour, go wiki it) just like from the District13 movie (or called Banlieue 13)which was so engrossing.

Another ferry coming in

This is what it looked like inside

How I wished one of the ferries are like this cantamaran
then I wouldn't get so seasick as it will only move up & down

Shots of fishermen boats.....

The Trip up North Part two

This morning, we have a lot to do. Mainly, to make sure we service the Langkawi customer within the shortest time so that se can make it to the Sitiawan customer before they all leave for the evening. So, if I followed my schedule carefully, we would have reached Sitiawan by four in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, this was not the case because the Langkawi customer took more time than we expected as more problems cropped up the more we asked. I hate it when they do not want to sit down and discuss but rather, tell it to you in the fly. Worse of all, the person in charge went out and we had to wait for an hour before he came back. So, I made him feel guilty and he drove us all the way to the pier to compensate. He did ask why we did not take a ferry from Penang to Langkawi but he answered himself as the ferries on these routes are small and with the recent earthquakes, they could not withstand any form of raging waves or Tsunamis.

Our ferry came in at one in the afternoon just in time. So, by about three, we cleared Alor Setar. This time, instead of exiting more familiar Bidor-Teluk Intan-Sitiawan route, I decided to exit and detour at Cangkat Jering-Sitiawan route, which is the back and direct way. Although its about 80-odd kilometers, we lost a lot of time because of the twists and turns in the road which the van could not handle and also there are a lot of traffic (slow lorries) which are very hard to overtake. By the time we reached the customer, it was six forty-five in the evening. Although she promised to wait for us, by half-past seven, she drove off without telling us. Luckily, there was a maintenance guy who will acknowledge our service call as my Boss had phoned ahead. Still, if I ever did see that stupid woman, I am going to give her a piece of my mind.

This is my breakfast buffet: Flower sausage with onions, chicken burger
with onions and tasteless fried Maggie. My second helping consist of boiled
eggs with onions, sambal and rice. My third helping were toasts with orange and
strawberry jams followed with toasts and baked beans. Lastly, it was some
watermelons with some bananas. Ha ha ha.
OK, I had to eat this much because we'll be on the road the whole day and
no time to stop for anything.

I like the way they decorated the boiled eggs

This is a taxi (that I know of) any other cars would be a taxi hantu
(illegal taxis, la) but then, over here, I don't care as long as I get to
where I needed to go.

Some of the ferries similar to the ones we took

Trip up North Part One

Although I did not drink any Chinese Tea the night before, I could not sleep well. And today is the day that I needed to drive up North to service three sites. The plan was to drive up to Alor Setar, then stay in the Hotel in Butterworth for the night and meet up with Loctor. And on the second day, service the remaining customer in Penang before going down to Sitiawan. Yep, its going to be a long day.

If I was driving my own Satria or the Kenari, this trip would not be a problem. But because I had to use the van for the first time, it was quite hard for me. The problem was in the driving itself. Firstly, because the van's seat was high, I was literally sitting on a high chair and pressing the accelerator and, in that position, it makes my ankles ache. Secondly, because the van is a company van, its speed is limited to a maximum of 90kmh. So, with my aching ankle, I was trying to either slow the vehicle down or speeding it up all the time. And its not easy overtaking other vehicles when you're too slow to accelerate. Most of the time I get "flashed" from behind. And with my technician sleeping next to me, he was of no help either as I keep blacking out for a few seconds. So, I had to stop in a few R&Rs to make sure I don't really fall asleep. By the time we reached Penang, things went sort of, hokey. Our first stop, which is Alor Setar, has been postponed to next week because the contractor has not completed his job yet. So, I was lucky to have called him before going to Alor Setar. So, we detoured to our second customer in Penang. Suddenly, after that job, we had a call that required us to go to Langkawi. I do not know which is worse: Rushing to the pier within one and half hours from Penang or going to Langkawi all by myself for the first time. So I told my Boss that if I managed to clear the Penang Bridge jam, I will try to reach there (within legal speed limit) and if I fail, we'll stick back to the original plan of staying the night in Butterworth/Prai adn kacau the Loctor.

Anyway, we reached the pier just in time for the last ferry which is due to leave at 1830. Funny thing is that there are a lot of "Agents" who will help you from booking a car in Langkawi to getting a Hotel. Anyway, through this agent, we got our van parked while he does the rest in booking a seat for us in the ferry and getting a Hotel for us in town with the best rate. And so, we're off! The ferry are not like the ones in Penang. Think of it as more of like a small passenger plane as the seats were arrange like so and they also have safety VCDs (sorry, no videos). Halfway through, they showed the second side of the bootleg Transformers movie and I fell asleep. Deep inside, when they showed that movie (which I have not even seen it yet) I know that the trip is not going to be 20 minutes or so. Later on, when I woke up, my techncian told me the trip was exactly one hour and ten minutes long. As a precaution, we decided to take our dinner at the jetty before going to the Hotel based on my previous experience in Langkawi in the late nineties where all the shops were closed quite early. Once we have settled down at the Hotel, I decided to take a quick walk next door to the Duty Free for some chocolates before everything closes at about nine thirty in the evening.

One nice thing about this Hotel is that they offered my technician either to have his food sent to him or come down for the buffet when he needs to start his fasting at five in the morning. So, this means I do not have to ask for a morning call after all as my tech can wake me up later. (Which he did not because after stuffing himself, he went back to sleep)

I just love the water fountain thingy in the middle
Some R&R really have nice decorations now

Saw this on the way to Penang Bridge
Reminds me of those 80's Game & Watch

In the ferry, hanging on one of those pillars
are the barf bags. You just pull them when
you need them, just like those traders at the
night market

My spoils for the day. A bag of nougat, 4 packs of
chocolates (which is delicious but melts under normal
Malaysian temperature)

Good luck to you, Mrs Fabian!

You know what? Today is a nice day. And one of my friends is getting married. We have been neighbours for quite a long time without knowing each other. And all it took was an Internet Forum and that incident on the road.

The wedding was quite interesting as teh Groom did arrive in style. But because someone (or everyone on the Groom's side) did not follow the instructions/schedule, they were at the mercy of the two cute and sexy ji-muis (bridemaids?). For you see, according to customs, the Groom cannot enter the house until after eleven in the morning. This is one example where arriving early has no benefits whatsoever. And so, the two ji-muis were relentless to the point where all the Groom's Heng-tais (support and best man) deserted him. By the time he has done with the adulterated biscuit and the tea, the poor Groom has difficulty passing the last stage, which is to sing with his already sore throat. I think this was because they (The Groom's side) accidentally pointed the roast pig's rear end at them in the first place.

The day went well except for the emergency part where the Bride had to rush to the washroom in the restaurant. Oh, and I met some old friends there too.

Because she values her privacy, I have not had the chance to ask her permission to post photos in this blog. So, no piccies for the moment, ok?

My new gun

Because there was an hour delay in last night's dinner, my Wife and I went out shopping for a bit and that's when I saw the gun. Ever since I saw (bits of) the anime Trigun, I was obsessed with the revolver. Although it does not look like it compared to this one, I still wanted that toy. Yeah, I am obsessed with guns (but not in using it as I hated the noise it makes). Anyway, although its made in China, I believe that this is an "original" design. And boy, I can tell you this: It is huge/long.

Just the gun, please. I am not sure what I can do with the
rest of the items in there

Yes, this is a very long gun and when you pull the trigger,
sparks will fly. And then again, maybe not. Its not easy to
test the guy in public or inside the toilet

Compared to the NERF knock-off, its huge.
Slim but huge

Driving the Van Part Five

OK, I know the fuel consumption of the van is bad but I wanted to test this more thoroughly. So, I used the van until the tank is empty, then fill it up with RM30 worth of petrol and see how far it goes. For the past few days, the distance it got me varied from 120Km to about 200Km. The figure is not consistent since I was driving it through different road conditions. For example, if I drove it through the Highway where there are minimal stops and/or gear changes, I would get a lot of mileage. But if I am driving through urban roads like in the town, where traffic lights and gear changes for acceleration are the norm, the distance would be shorter. And if I am stuck in the traffic jam, habis lah.

So, for the test, I topped up with Rm30 and for this route, I was driving mostly through Hignways and without using the air-con. So, I got 216.8Km which, in the van's case, is quite alright.

At Rm1.92 per litre, RM30 would get me 15.625 litres. So, in this case, the van was giving me 13.8752 Km/Litre.


Then as luck would have it, on the second test, I was driving mostly through urban roads, without air-con except for the last 30Km since I had to pick up my wife, which got me 191.7Km.


In this case, at 191.7Km, the van is giving me 12.2688Km/Litre.

So, I can say that the consumption fluctuates from 7.744 to 13.8752KM/Litre. This is a huge difference.

Compared to the Kenari, which went as far as 290KM (with air-con but at average 70KmH) for the same amount, it was 18.56Km/Litre and my Satria at mimimum of 260Km (I think, using IFT), it was about 16.74 and at 220KM (post-IFT) it was 14.08KM/Litre. Wow.

So, as far as fuel consumption goes, no car that I have driven came close to the Kenari. All the tests were done with the average speed of 70KmH.

[Update: After my trip up North on 17/17 Sept, here are the latest]
I put in roughly about RM115 and got about 940Km . So, this time, the fuel consumption is roughly 15.7 considering it is mostly Highway travel and I have a passenger.

First attempt is 198KM

This is what the needle shows when I put in RM30 worth of petrol

Second attempt is 216Km

You got to be kidding me! 91KM just for driving
about town for the weekend with the Wife & Kids

Morning Jam

This morning, there was another tremendous jam. And for no apparent reason, the whole journey took me an average of two hours. By the time I reached the 'source" of the jam, it was because a lot of traffic was going towards Jalan Duta from the NKVE. Apparently, there was some major accidents in Bt. Caves or something which affected a lot of traffic into and out of the City.

Want to see what he saw?

Yeah, cars. Lots of cars. All moving like snails.

Kristine and Mommy's glasses

Today, Kristine found Mommy's glasses and decided to have some fun with this "forbidden" item.....

She looks cute when she put the glasses on top of her head

And then, in her own way, she decided to model for the glasses

And oh, she even looked much cuter when she wore these
baby cap and socks which we found, was meant for
Kaelynn months ago.

OK, she's running away because Mommy is angry

The battery

We just had to replace the customer's DECT Phone today because it does not work anymore. I had a hunch that either their charger is not working or that their rechargeable batteries are dead. Anyhow, I guess that they have thrown the rechargeable batteries away and then replaced it with normal batteries. And when they plugged the phone back to the charger, the charger tries to charge it and it made the batteries worse. And they even mixed the alkaline batteries with other brands. Luckily it did not explode or something.


Guess what the new DECT phone's batteries were from?
China. Yes. China. "Made in China" label nowadays does
not mean cheap but more of like beware.

They used it so much that the surface is so bad and
also, even the rubber cover on the side is close to
disintegrating since it soaked up so much of the
sweat from the user's hands. Yucks