Oh!pEnions

Cowboys

I had to make a U-turn to get this shot and as fast as I can because of the weak batteries which means it can last about 15 seconds before it shuts down. I missed it on the first try because the traffic lights were red. They were using a 4x4 and wearing hats, I guessed they could be Australians.

Maybe I should have titled this as:

Cowboys programming disco lights

Yea! Call me the Quakemaster!

Motor in van

What were they thinking?
I guy riding a motobike inside a Van

You like these cars?

I was in Shah Alam today and saw this restored Toyota.
Nice

Then, I went down to Subang and saw this car

Careless Mistakes

Do you ever have this feeling?

You just got into your car and you're late for work. As you put your car in gear, your instinct tells you that its in reverse. Ignoring it, you start the engine and stepped on the pedal. You know you should have stopped and listened to that voice in your head as your car goes into reverse, hits the wall in a sickening crunch.

So, that is how I felt whenever I switched on my prototype circuits without checking why there are loose wires. So, more often than not, I would plug back in the wrong cables and short the microprocessor chip in less than a second.

And the innocent chip would go bye-bye. Which means I have to go down to Pasar Road again and buy about three of them in one go. Damn.

This chip costs me RM11.00 each. Don't play-play, ah!

Broken pepper mill

OK, so I like pepper. Ever since I came back from Sarawak in 2005, and after buying those black peppers, I was hooked. Usually, I gi for Ajinomoto's Pepper but then, although they were nice, but after tasting these Sarawak peppers, I preferred them. Everyone thought I was nuts because I used them on almost everything for the first few weeks.

Rice, fruits, meat, salad, fires, etc.

But there is one problem with these peppers. The mill that came with them always break. I think its because the cheap plastic gears that came with it was too brittle/weak to crush the pepper. In the end, what I had left was Rm27.00 poorer because I had to buy a really good pepper mill for the pepper. Because it is not a good example to use the hammer in front of Kristine............

Once the pepper ran out, I got out
a new one and it came with its own
pepper mill. But one twist on the
handle, I was eating plastic

Everything was string except for the black
plastic parts

After transferring the pepper to the RM27.00
mill, I was left with the empty broken pieces

And after staring at them for a few minutes, an idea
came into my mind....................

Now, all I need to do is to find someone with a Dremel and raid some electronics parts. More later........

Whooo ha!

Kristine "posing" for Daddy after catching her
wearing Granddaddy's socks

Cap Gun

When I was young, there were these cap guns going around. These little guns uses those small gunpowder dots laid on a roll of red paper. And when you use a hammer or any other object on these little dots, you will either get a small spark or a loud bang, depending on how good your eye-hand coordination was. But whatever it was, the smell of those gunpowder was heaven. There were a few guns that were quite big and carrying one makes you really feel like James Bond or some super agent. But the more common ones are those little blank Derringer types. I hated those because in the heat of the moment, you can get your fingers hit by the hammer or worse, get burnt from the sparks. And at the end of the day, what you have is a gun filled with gundpowder explosions and rusting metal parts (due to the explosions, la).

Those were the fun days and nowadays, all the toys that came out were more passive and full of electronics. So, I guessed those were the childhood years I can never get back. It was not until yesterday when I was in Port Dickson that I came across them again.

Although the plastic is now in bright fluorescent orange, the basic design of the gun is still there. Most of the parts are plastic too, especially the moving parts.

So, for RM2.00 you get a small gun, with 6 spools
of gunpowder

Pull the small lever and the inner chamber flips
out. Its quite an ingenius design as once you
pull the trigger, the hammer will hit the
paper and on the next trigger pull, a
plastic piece will roll the paper up for
a fresh new gunpowder

The trigger takes some force to pull. The hammer and
the opposite side has metal parts for you to hit the
gunpowder effectively.

But secretly, I wanted this more than those guns.
This is a rocket where you have a spring tip at the
top and the hammer at the other end. You just
slip the roll of red paper with the gunpowder spot
under the hammer and then toss it. When it falls
and hits the ground, the impact of the force would
transfer to the hammer and then to the gundpowder
Many afternoons I spent picking it up and tossing it.
Then again, that's me because I like being alone

Bathing Sisters

I was a bit too late for this shot as a few seconds ago,
both sisters were inches from each other, laughing

Saturday Jam

So, after clearing up most of my office stuff (as I was away for quite a few days), it was time to go home, at about slightly after two in the afternoon. And although the roads are clear, there is a small jam towards the Sg. Buloh bridge. Its amazing how fast traffic can build up in a matter of seconds.

This is what was holding up a long row of cars.
A portable "thumper" to hammer in those metal
stands for the barriers

Then further up the Highway, there was some activity on
the side of the clift where everyone slowed down to have
a look-see. I had to horn this car in front as he really did
slowed down his car and peering out of the window

PW-300GS Mobile Phone

Recently, I had the chance to upgrade my phone after saving for so long. My last phone was a Sony Ericsson T630 which, at most, had the following features which made my live bearable:
1) Bluetooth
2) Midi Ringtone
3) Camera

But now, I wanted more, espcially those that can play MP3 or .wav ringtones and have a MP3 player. Yeah, if I looked back, I really do not need to buy a new phone since it is a waste of money. However, seeing this new phone, I could not help myself. There are a few types of phones on the market now:
1) Candybar
2) Flip
3) Twist
4) Slide
5) Swing

So, this phone is a swing type. So, what made me buy this phone? I have checked the specs and none of it appealed to me. It does not have Bluetooth, limited MP3 playback, rubber keys which does not light up, flimsy swing cover, non-updating real colour screen, no caller ID, does not have a charger, no vibrate ring mode, no phonebook and lastly, side switch is easily activated. And worst of all, because there is no charger, I have to keep buying the batteries which costs me RM20 or more every few days if I want to keep using it. So, why do I still want it?

This is the PW-300GS

It stood out between my company and personal phones

Let's look at the features:
1) Attractive packaging
2) Slim design
3) Very loud designer speakers
4) Low power spectrum emitter

And since I got this phone cheap, there are some things which I am not happy with, but can be improved upon:

A) Cheap peeling paint (but this means I can customise the phone colour)
B) Colour screen does not rotate when you rotate the cover
3) Some parts are transparent which means more customisation

Going back home

Today is Friday and its the last day for us. We still have to stop in Kuantan before going home. But after that, I can get a good rest.

Anyway, this time we used the Coastal Road instead. By the time we arrive in Kuantan, we have calculated that the coastal rout is about 6 hours or so compared to the 7 hours via the "new Highway". But taking into consideration the time we stopped to look at the map, driving in the rain also for late dinner, we figured that there is no difference between these two routes. Except that the inner route is dangerously lonely.

Friday. Everyone is closed

Bye-bye, Terengganu

Testing the EL

OK, I am still awake in the Hotel in Kota Bahru. And I brought the Elecroluminescents (The ones I bought in Pasar Road) with me. After a quick soldering, they are ready for testing. Both strings lights up nicely but there is a problem with the single inverter.

If you connect the other EL while the first one is on, it will dim noticeably. But this will not be a problem as I will light up both at once. The seller does not have an inverter that has multiple outputs. Even if he has, I suspect its all soldered together inside.

Nice or not? Remember, it glows and don't expect it to
give out light like a bright fluorescent. And there is no
brightness control from the inverted

Oh, ignore the rest of the electronics components as I
was trying to connect the two EL strings on the board.
The inverter is not shown int picture and rest of the
compenents are NOT parts to make the EL glows

Bargain Find?

After everything has done, we decided to reward ourselves with a heavy dinner. Unfortunately, at KB Mall's Foodcourt, there were not much variety (maybe we should have gone food hunting). It will have to do because we're both too tired to go anywhere else. Our plan for the night was simple:

Eat food and Sleep

For tomorrow, it will be another long drive back to KL. Eleven hours of boredom, in fact.

At KB Mall, I bought two of these guns. Although they're
the same ones I bought and broke last year, this one is
slightly different in the sense that it has a laser diode

And for Rm9.90 you'll get two each: a laser diode, a motor,
the irritating sound chip, some LEDs

And since they're made in China, someone must have
copied the original copied design and made their own
versions. It was so bad that the molds did not make
good casting. The design is now, having different
variations, just like the laser diode.

Going up to Kota Bahru (again)

By the time I have finished with the Police report, it was already after four in the afternoon. And I am really really tired from that ordeal. Which is bad news because by the time I reached Kuantan, it was seven thirty in the evening and the customer has already gone home. Not only that, the Hotel in Kuantan that I usually stayed in, was full.

So, we decided to risk it and travel onwards to Kota Bahru, which is another seven hours drive. This is not only stupid but dangerous. Why? Because this time, we decided to use another route instead of the usual coastal roads which is full of traffic and slows down our journey. Our customer told is that there is a "highway" which we can use to cut short the journey to a mere five hours. Unfortunately, with a bad photocopy map and heavy rain, by the time we made it to Kota Bahru at two thirty in the morning, the travelling time was almost the same as if we took the coastal road. But one thing I must say, do not take this route at night. Alone. Even if it looks like an almost straight route on the map.

I repeat. Do not do this alone at night.

Its like driving into the dark with nothing to see except for the light beams in front of you. And sometimes, if you missed the road signs, you will be in trouble. And make sure, you have a full tank of petrol. Make sure, you look out for cows crossing in the dark. Make sure, you AVOID all the potholes too. Make sure the Hotel you're going to, has been informed of your arrival

If anything, this represents me on how
I feel today

And this is how I feel when I realised
we will only hit the bed after two in the
morning and with only less than five
hours of sleep before we start work
the next day

Ok, job done. For the rest of the cabling
screw ups, I leave it to the cabling
contractor as there is only so
much I can do to help

And as for the Telekoms people.........
Ha ha ha ha ha ha

Testing the CCFL

Finally, I managed to briefly test the CCFL. And I must say, they're quite bright too, and they look just like miniature fluorescent lights. The 12 volts are just enough for the power supply.

On the left is the small 12 volt blue power supply

When you switch off the power, for just less than
half a second, the tube fades. This might be a
great effect for the Warp Nacelle when it
comes out of Warp

One worrying fact is that the tubes got a little
warm in just less than three minutes. Maybe
I should test how hot it will go, after an
hour of blinding everyone

Murder in the bathroom

I saw the body when I switched on the lights
There was no blood, most probably it has been washed away
The victim must have died painfully
The head was twisted until it separated

No other marks were found as the killer hid their tracks well

Soaked, dried and left for dead

Still too young

After braving that stupid traffic jam, I arrived home
early and Kristine greeted me. We went for a short
drive (to park the car) and I discovered she is still
too small for the seat belts. So, its either Mommy
or the baby seat for her.

Overturned Lorry

On the radio, the Hitz.fm hourly traffic report mentioned about an overturned lorry from Kepong to Sg. Buloh which causes a heavy backlog traffic, which was about 2km from where I was. So, I quickly drove as fast as I can in the traffic jam (yeah, it was like skating in a sand pit) only to find tht it was not true. It was not an overturned lorry but more like a lorry which skidded and whacked into something. Cheh. Tipu punya.

From far, through the traffic jam, I can see some of the
wreckage. Both sides of the traffic were affected

So, I guessed the lorry hit the cement divider....

And whacked a lampost on the way, where the
debris fell on the opposite side

The police were there to control the traffic.
The front cab was twisted like a chicken
with a broken neck

For Captain Kirk

Last Saturday, I did have some free time after all that outstation travelling and all, and deicided to scoot over to Pasar Road. The Enterprise 1701A Lighting project has stalled for a bit, because for the past few months, I had to settle some of my debts before I could do anything else. But now, I am almost in the clear.

Anyway, there was good news when I went down this time. There is a new shop which sells Electroluminescent wires and also Cold Cathode Fluorescense (CCFL)!!!

The price for them are quite reasonable and once you know how cheap they are, you might want to get a bat and hit the 6th Floor Sungei Wang guy on the head. I have not had the chance to try the CCFL out for myself but in the shop, it was impressive. Also, this shop does white EL too. I was so happy, I bought the cables outright even though they were demos. But the new stocks are coming in a few weeks time.

The young chap allowed me to do this because I knew his Dad and always go to his shop in Pudu Plaza.

Anyway, the idea is to used the CCFL for the nacelle when it goes to Warp and use the Blue EL when it is not into Warp. But maybe, use the White EL instead of the Blue and then get a purple filter for that UV look on the grilles.

This is a 12" CCFL which is quite cheep cheep
And does not go blink blink when started

For Kal

Finally, I got the chance to go to that place again, for
your PKD stuff. This is a CR2032 coin-cell battery
holder which gives you three volts, enough to
light up all the 5 LEDs. But I am not sure if
the green LEDs needs to be lighted up as
well. Still, it beats opening the grips to
change the stack of coin-cell batteries
which could also somtimes give you
reliability problems when it is
shaken too much

One less Honda on the road

This morning, as I was going into the office, I spotted this
Honda Integra across the street. At first, it looked as if
this was a head-on collision.

But once I got a closer look, it was a different story,
as if the Honda wrapped itself around a tall pole.

Could be a tree since a lamp post does not

But whatever it was, I hope this was not a left-hand
drive car since looking at this picture, the driver
would not have survived

When Kaelynn sleeps...

You know, I think she follows after me as I *ahem*
sometimes sleeps like that too (except for the hands)

AhliFikir @ Cash Converters

There is something about Cash Converters which I like, and its much better then those Garage Sales as I do not have to bargain much. So, this means all the old stuff is there for you to browse without any old auntie looking at you as if you're some kind of a serial killer for cats. And what I like most, are the prices. Some are cheap, and some are a bit ridiculous. But then, there is the opportunity that something you wanted all the time, could be found.

But still, while looking, I am very sure the "good" stuff are being kept or bough by the staff. But then, so what? Anyway, I have not been to Cash Converters since 2004 and its like going back to the wonderful toy shop all over again.