Kristine's spaceship

"Daddy, see what got!"
"Wow, what is it?"
"Its a spaceship!"
"Wow. Let me take a photo, OK"

SNAP

A few minutes later, her spaceship was forgotten because she has to complete her homework.

My Lightsaber's broken

Ever since my wife agreed to let me go ahead with the electronics venture, I have been searching high and low for all my tools as they're stashed everywhere. My idea of using the store room as my project room is still on hold as it will be used to store all the junk from the "other"house. And I cannot use the office since my desk is easily the messiest. Damn.

Still, all is not lost since I roughly know where all my stuff are but when I opened one of the boxes, I was shocked to see my Lightsaber secretly doing some private chemical exchange with the battery. Yeah, when I put my stuff in storage, I have to make sure that whatever batteries they use, must be taken out or else crap like this would happen. And so, this is the only one I completely forgot. The problem was when I designed the Lightsaber, there was not enough space to make a screwcap and so, it has to be pushed/wedged shut. When I wanted to take out the batteries, it was too tight and then, naturally, it went MIA, battery inside and all.

The chemical from the batteries reached with the outer copper casing
thus producing a greenish gunk which I am all too familiar in my work.

After struggling like brainless baboon for a few minutes, the cap came
off with a metallic "whop". And here, is the extend of the damage. The
inner casing, which is aluminium, was affected too. And so, the battery
holder was stuck. So, I have to pry it out carefull in case I break my
beautiful yellow plastic Rm5.90 screwdriver. (Price gone up, ma)

Then when I saw the connector, I was happy because this means that I
do not have to pull out everything and resolder them all over again. And
so, all I have to do now is to get a new AAA battery holder and a brand
new connector and its all set! But just an afterthough: Since I designed
the Lightsaber to be rusty and all, maybe I should redo the whole thing
and dip it in corrosice chemicals......... or maybe not. I don't have time
for this right now since I want to get a few projects off the ground soon

Doing Homework

Since the school term has started, everyone was very busy. Not only that, I have to keep asking Kristine if her new teacher has given her anymore homework. This was because when she comes back from school, she will chuck her schoolbag on one side (just like me) instead of putting next to her table. And so, when Kaelynn got bored, she will start rummaging her sister's bag and throw out all the contents inside, including her homework. I did not notice this until I saw it for myself. It did not help either when I asked Kristine directly which her answer is always, "No". Then, when the questioning got further, would she tell the truth. Its not that she does not like doing homework but its just that she does not really bother is she has it or not.

I must try to wean them off Astro......

As Mommy is busy teaching Krsitine, I was also busy too

Busy making sure Kaelynn does not disturb the both of them

And so, I got her a makeshift chair and table so that she could bring her
own bag to work on. Incidently, this was Kristine's bag which is now
"hers". Since Kristine has new things, she will "forget" the old stuff.

And she is happy with it since she now has a bag to call her own. But I
think, one day, when she is older, she will realise, "Hey, wait a minute...."

The car that goes, "Eeeeeeeeeee"

squeeeeeeee......eeeeeeeeeee....eeeeeeeeeee

This sound came on and off while I was driving. It came when I was cruising and did not step on the brakes. At first, when it happened, I thought it came from the factory since I was driving through an industrial area. The second time it happened, I thought it was the beat up lorry in front. The third time it happened, I thought it was the car behind and so on. Until there were no cars or factories within the 20 metre radius. And then, I know its the car. Since I was near the workshop, I decided to pay them a visit.

Me: Boss, got strange noise from the car, so I am sending it the workshop
Boss: OK. But...... can you go to the XYZ customer first? Hmm..... better not. Fix the car first
Me: OK. But its going to take some time
Boss: And also, get them to service the car since its past the 5,000km mark.
Me: OK

This time, I insist on using Platinums even though they costs RM128
now, compared when it was RM68 (for my Satria) in 1998. The original
plugs looked shot. You should note that Platinums or whatever "-diums"
you are using, does not help much in terms of performance for a normal
"A to B" car. All it does is that it lasts longer than normal plugs. But if you
are using a highly tuned or a turbo-charged car, then its a different story

Yep, the air filter's gone too. I told the mechanic to shut up as he was
being sarcastic about the filter not being changed since it left the car
showroom. Funny this was, the frame is rubber and so, I played with
it like it was an accordion or something.

So, this was the cause of the metal screeching sound. The brake pad's
going. And this is just the rear wheel. The front wheel's have a bit more

"Can I have the EBC green stuff, huh, can I?"
"Not unless you want your Boss to kill you"

Oh, OK. And this is the new pads fitted. But I cannot stop
the car like normal as the new pads need to settle into the
discs before it can start to "bite". So, I have to brake slowly

There were some chaps on a 2-month learning experience from a local
college called "The Automotive College" or something. The workshop guys
told me these are the future experts in car maintenance and repairs.

Maybe he is telling the truth as these guys are very good at observing things.
I just told the mechanics that if I see them servicing any of our cars, I would
personally kill them.

And one of them told me to take more pictures about the dirty workshop
and eMail it to him so that he can write about it in his workshop. WTF!
So, I am going to send this picture to him instead, Ha ha ha ha ha.
Since I am starting to know these mechanics, it does not matter if the place
is dirty or not. Chances are, if you go to a workshop that is spotlessly clean
there must be something wrong, if not, trust me, you're going to be that
"every minute" sucker.