Oh!pEnions

Shogun 01062013

With everything out of the way and not answering any calls (I was instructed not to, OK?), we are now free to have our lunch at Shogun. OK, so its a buffet but like the rest of the family, they love buffets. I used to but now, well, it depends on my mood... and stomach. To be honest, my weight right now is below 85Kg. Back in the days, high 90's were a common figure for me. But ever since working in the last company and the passing of my Mom, I began to notice that I am not the jovial/idiotic self anymore, but more towards the moody and 'let me be alone' type. I want to go back to my normal self but, it seems like the more I force myself, the more I am pretending. So, I guess, I'll just let it be for the moment.

Anyway, the reason we went for Lunch here was to celebrate my Dad's successful eye Operation and also because my Sister came back. Yeah, that's the cause for celebration. Really.

We were the first handful waiting outside.

Once everything was settled, we were Welcomed
(such as who's paying and all that)

Its very unusual to be the first because you need to realise that
everything is 'ready' for you and so, there is no need to rush like
mad and take all the food as if there is no tomorrow.

All the sushi I ever wanted. But this time, I do not know why
I did no go crazy for the salmon sashimi...

Anyway, here is my first selection.
No more words. Om nom.. nom.. nom..

Kristine. Om nom.. nom.. nom..

Their favourite biological Aunt. Om nom.. nom.. nom..

Om nom.. nom.. nom..

Girsl trying out something hot/spicy. Om nom.. nom.. nom..

KAelynn. Om nom.. nom.. nom..

Om nom.. nom.. nom..

Add caption

Oh oik.. oink.. oink..

Dealing with IT-Challenged personnel

I got a call from an outlet in Shah Alam saying that their keyboard is not working. So, when its not working, the barcode scanner is not working too. Fair enough.

But it quickly escalated to DEFCON 1 when she realised that tomorrow is the weekend where Sales would go nuts and they do not have temporary receipts or even time to write them. Plus, non of my Techs were available since they had other sites to take care of. And so, when I tell you that I got the call, I was already about 75% in reaching home in the rainy weather. So, I had to do a u-turn back to the office, get the correct keyboard and then drive all the way, in the drizzling traffic jam, replace the keyboard and then scold the shit out of the staff.

Seriously, I did not do that. In fact, I went home instead.

Before you all think that I am shirking my responsibilities even if its after office hours, I am not. This is because I remembered I had left a keyboard there when during the previous trip, Vee-Chai was too full. If I did not remember this, then I really have to make a U-turn, get back to the office, go to Shah Alam just in time to see all the shops close. And I am not in the mood to try this on the next morning since we had appointment with Dad for lunch. He just came out from his eye operation.

And this is the reason why it was not working... facepalm time.
And as usual, no one admitted anything apart from the usual,
"I don't know." routine.

Star Trek:Into Darkness

Once again, its time to don the Star Trek Voyager costume again. This time, its for the Star Trek Into Darkness's Premier Night located at 1-Utama's IMAX Theatre. Jeffrey and I got our courtesy tickets from Richard which was a nice gesture because these IMAX tix are not cheap.

(L-R) Richard, me, Alex, Kenny, Peter and King

Richard in his usual pensive mood...


Right before the show starts, there were some quizzes which I guess, only Star Trek fans can answer.

But the ones after the show, was a little bit difficult since it was
so exciting, I more or less forgot about the details such as the
coordinates given by Khan.

Presents from Richard. A nice poster plus and very shiny key-chain

And well, Jeffrey and I had a lot of these Posters which Glows in the Dark.
There were given to us upon request but I did not expect the crew to give
us the whole box! Well it was late at night and after searching on the Net,
These are limited edition prints.

So, what did I think of the movie? Well, all I can say, was that its nice. I quite enjoyed it since prior to the showing, I ignored every advertisement and also 'news' from the Internet. So, it was more of a surprise when some of the plots revealed itself. But I was disgusted with the role-reversal and where Kirk sacrificed himself and the stupid thing with the tribble. The Wrath of Khan was a classic and although Cumberbatch did some fine acting, the excuse of being in an alternate reality does not justify such stupidity. Also, although it was censored out, Alice Eve's presence there did not do anything significant although she was supposed to be THE Carol Marcus. So, for the rest of the movie, I just concentrated on the 3D IMAX effects, the refit Enterprise and kept my brains in a box. No point nit-picking on a very expensive ticket.

But for new Fans, this is excellent!

QMx's TNG Commbadge

And today, I can tell you that I am a very happy person. The reason being is that my USD19.95 TNG Commbadge from QMx has arrived! When QMx announced it months ago, I was already on the pre-order list and so, as you might have guessed, I ordered them asap.

Its not so much that the prices are reasonable but that I have an 'Official' prop eventhough for this item is 'glamorised'. Yeah, its gold and silver plated, which in the original prop was not. And their surface was never that shiny to begin with since its a resin sculpt. Where the silver meets the gold, its actually in two pieces.

I guess that I would need them to be casted in resin but I am mulling on this one. Should I get one from Roddenberry.com or use this as source? But fret not, its for my own personal comsumption, esp for the fridge.

Yeah, once I have some time off, I'll talk to the Caster....

Its the in-thing to use magnets for the Star Trek Badges nowadays since more than
10 years ago as those pins are really painful and if your badge happened
to snag on something...

The QMx's TNG side-by-side with my cast Voyager badge.
Its very heavy and so, if you put on a thin shirt, it will dangle about.
I think I need more fridge magnets instead...

Wasabi Crackers

This is the first time I actually seen such product and yeah, I bought it immediately. The price was OK, though and what I liked about this biscuit is that its very thin.

The wasabi flavouring was only on side and its not easy to see them. So, looking for the wasabi is 50-50. But once you tasted them. Whoa...

My Future has been Fingered

All it took was less than 4.25 minutes to decide the Fate of my Country. In the morning, the line was incredulously long. By lunchtime, it was even worse. The stroke of luck came when it started to rain which actually thinned the crowd. By the time I walked across, the line was virtually non-existent.

1. Walked in, went to the Counter where people with PCs were not playing Galaga confirmed my IC and told me to enter room #6.

2. I did as I was told but was stopped by a Policeman drinking 100Plus. Apparently, one cannot bring an umbrella into the room in case it contains hidden weapons of mass distractions.

3. After checking my details, the man starts to mispronounce my name loudly and I was then instructed to have my left forefinger blackened the controversial indelible ink. (you know, the idea that came from Ambiga. Unfortunately, many reported the ink can easily come off, could not, did, did not and maybe might.)

4. Then I was told to go to a private booth and cross out the difference. Luckily, one of them is of the gentler sex which made my decisions easier...

5. Then I folded and slipped my secret ballot into a TRANSPARENT Ballot Box and walked out.

We need to do this every 5 years because going into the Parliament and kicking them out seems to be illegal. Oh well, I have done my duty and I hope, I will wake up to a brighter Malaysia tomorrow. I know it has to because tonight, I cannot look forward to digging my nose nor fingering my ears for wax...

Mars needs Moms

The girls and I watched this animated CGI last night and well, one particular scene made me quite teary-eyed. For those who have seen this movie, I am sure you'll know which scene I was referring to. It was when the Supervisor's shot caused Milo to trip which caused him to shatter his helmet. In while he was gasping for air, his Mom took off hers and gave it to him. She then broke off the helmet's lever so that Milo won't be able to release the helmet. In that very moment, Milo's mom sacrificed herself for him without even a second thought. Her love despite his naughty ways.

And that was very touching. Sure, the afterthoughts would come in such as why didn't they share the helmet together? Why? Why?

Although this is just a movie and being CGI and all, it will be ignore once the curtain rises. And on the Internet, I discovered that although it was a Robert Zemeckis film, it was the biggest Box Office Bomb in Cinema History. Sure the 3-D motion performance capture technology was great but there is something unsettling about it too. Still, that is another story.

To me, this is how a Parent would react based on the information and environment that surrounds them. When there is danger, whatever else is unimportant save for your Family. And if it means sacrificing your Life so that they may live or escape from danger, so be it.

No hesitation.

No regrets.

Just Love.

As Milo's Mom quickly puts on her helmet to save Milo, she knew the risk and what would happen. But to her, it does not matter as long as one of them is alive. Her Love.

The story so far...

I so hate office politics...

Really. It does nothing but create a negative atmosphere and saps productivity. After landing this job, seems that it finally caught up with me. And it was not pleasant at all.

What started it came when I first joined and somehow, got to know this person, A. He is a little bit abrasive and also talks a lot. Now, because I was new here, I have to be very careful in who I friend and who I do not. Since he's a long term staff, I lowered my guard a little but still, I was very wary. Because when it comes to some things, I realised that people used the friendship to cloud your judgement and/or force you to look at things their way.

So it happens that A was in charge of a project with a December deadline. Its a very important project which even the GM has emphasised the deadline many times. And so, in order to help him, I told him one of my ideas where we would help him by taking the system and deploying it on site while he installs the software in the office and also perform on-line maintenance when the systems are up. Not only would this lessen the workload but it could actually meet the deadline. However, as days turned to weeks, we waited and waited for the systems while he was 'busy' with other things. Finally, I took him to a corner and asked him about his project since I can see where he is going but I was rebuffed and also, I was told that everything is under control and there is no more deadline. Right, but I know this is not true since the GM has not said anything.

So, we sort of left him alone and went about our tasks until one day we received the email stating that we are now required to deploy the systems at certain locations. Here, I made a mistake of forgetting to inform him that my offer stops after December, and which he took as carte blanche. And so, after some terse emails from me, things around the office suddenly started to become hostile.

[Update 08042013]
OK, this is getting too long but suffice to say, the situation has changed. B is now gone, and A has lost his marbles. And I have been pulled out of my cosy Dept and into his, to help deploy those software as fast as I can. Something which is very out of my league but I was told, I am the most qualified person right now. And so, I had very limited time to learn how to install the software, deploy and perform on the spot training.

So, OK. Its not that difficult after all. But the most difficult was to glean information from A who doles out bit by bit. And in some cases, A will conveniently 'remember' how to do things/info once you found out the hard way. Me, I don't care about this anymore as I have my targets to meet.

But right now, I really cannot see where I am heading. And people are starting to assume I will be taking over B's post in which, I am actually not qualified at all. But I am not going to worry about these things right now, even if I need to use his room to install the software before I can deploy more. Yeah, people walk past, whispers and before you know it, they ask, "Are you really taking over his job since you're now in his room? Can you fix my printer/email/password, etc?"

Yeah, outstation trips, here I come!

Kaelynn's First Day

Today is Kaelynn's First day and this time, its a Primary school. Surprisingly, in her class, not many students were seen crying. But as for Kaelynn, she was OK with everything since she knows Kristine's class is upstairs and also, well, to be honest, she loved school.

One weird thing was, I have planned for us to leave the house early so that there would be ample parking space. Alas, even arriving before seven in the morning, the whole place was full. Its as if everyone had the same idea and decided to beat mine by coming even earlier...

However, early in the morning, she looked very lost. And not only that, like Kristine, she looked very small when compared to her classmates.

Recess time. Each class came and he students sat in their allocated places. When everyone was accounted for, they started on their Milo drinks and buns while the parents stood around the perimeter. Some feared that the light snack was not enough, bought them more food...

Nice little Diary

My Wife just passed two Diaries to me, asking me to pick one. I chose this one since this was the last Customer which I dealt with before my Life changed again. I am not sure if the customer has chosen more designs and this was part of their package but I am very happy that they are still with my Company.

Part of me wants to go back as I am starting to like the Diary Manufacturing or rather, the designing part. But part of me wants more technical challenges.

This time, I have noticed that they have used new material and also made the elastic much better. And the best part is, the paper is in the right shade of yellow with the faint Logo printed on.
However, you won't get this being sold on the street though. Its very exclusive.

My new Toolbox

With my new job, I felt that its quite appropriate that I have a new Toolbox with me. Oh, I can use back the old one but I want that to be the House Toolbox. And so, finally, yesterday, I was the proud owner of a Hilti case. Now, when it comes to tool cases, the Hilti, to me, is a very hard to get item. Not that no one is selling but it has a lot of conditions attached:

1. You must buy it with the tool, or
2. The shipping fees are horrendously obscene, or
3. Its always the wrong item.

And so, after so many years of on and searching, I finally got one. And the best part of all? It was a swap, well, more or less.

This is how it happened...
During my 'free' time for the past few months, I tend to end up at HHQ, esp on Saturday afternoons. As a result, I start to get to know more about the 'regulars' there and also, the owner Mr. Low, starts to get friendly towards me as well. (No, I did not buy the whole shop). And so it happens that one day, we struck a conversation about toll cases and I was looking for a Hilti. Although there was a member working at Hilti downstairs, it was not possible to get one. But this kind gentleman, I call him 'Kow Lou' menationed that he has a lot of tool cases and if he did find a Hilti, he will get one for me.

Fast forward three weeks later, when I came to HHQ, I saw one below the table and sure enough, it was for me! And so, after much pleasantries, I offered him something in return for his troubles but he would not accept. When that failed, I offered in exchange, my Army ammo case which I am using as a tool case. And he refused too. However, one of the regulars heard about it and wanted it. So, in the end, I gave it to him.

And here, we learn more about the ammo box-
A. At a roadblock, you can be detained for owning such item, pending on the searching person. As this is an Army 'item', he would like to know where/how you got it, you see.
B. Its a machine gun ammo box, which was made in 3rd November, 1985. (Oh-oh)
C. The seal is intact and if it was submerged, the items inside would still be dry. (Well, they're bullets, of course)

And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you, a Hilti case

Of course I cannot use it straight away since I need to remove some of the walls...

NERF Damansara 13102012

Just a stop-by for me as its raining and all. I was rushing to just meet up with the peeps and give a bit of support before heading off to ICW.

Billy with his broken running shoes

Taking shelter from the rain

Backlane action

So, why the sofa at the backlane?
Its definitely not for the cats, I can tell you that...

My new VISA card

Well, not really. Its a VISA Debit card. I opened a RHB bank account because my new job requires me to do so and not only that, it allows me to pay/receive money directly to my PayPal account!

Little Ms. Engineer?

As I came home from the temp work, what I saw shocked me. There, sitting at my usual place on the table, was Kaelynn, holding a screwdriver. She was opening the battery hatch of her Tamagotchi toy. The battery I gave her a few days ago has died and so, she found another piece and well, decided to replaced it herself.

The first thing you must know is that I did not teach her how to use a screwdriver. Nor did I show her where the battery hatch is. I asked my Wife and she too, denied teaching her. So, in conclusion, she did this all by herself.

After talking to my Wife for a bit, we speculated that Kaelynn could have seen and observed me working on stuff. So, this is where she picked up the knowledge.

I am both happy/proud but also afraid since I did not teach her about the dangers of mains electricity

Kaelynn's First tooth...

Now, its Kaelynn's turn...

Well, almost. Its juts little loose now...
Its the one on the bottom right, or fourth from the right

Things not to do on the plane...

The girls with the swing which they call it their plane

I am very confident that Kristine made the sign herself

Clockwise from top left:
No piping (No pee pee-ing), No Pupying (No poo-poo-ing), No climbing assep pilot, No vomiting, No drawing and No food/drinks

Kristine's first Monopoly game

Kristine bought a Monopoly set from her school yesterday for RM3.00. OK, I was a bit angry because she used her pocket money for it. But then, I realised that this is her first boardgame and well, for RM3.00, apart from the quality, its a steal.

And so, we played together for the very first time. And yes, Kristine went to JAIL on her very first dice roll. Then Kaelynn bought most of the properties and ran out of money. As for me, well... I just had most of the cash...

But I am going to get them a proper set since the Property cards and the money are all the same colour. Its very confusing and also sucks the fun out of the Game...

The Interview

To be honest, when Jeffrey Loo asked me to call this company, I was quite reluctant since the person there, although he was someone was both knew when I was in Tele Dynamics, I was not sure if I would accept this job mainly because it was located in an area I was not so comfortable with.

Still, I cannot let my friend's goodwill go to waste. I mean, I'll just go with the interview and get it over with. I mean, worse to worse, it just to meet up with an old friend and see how he's getting along, right? Yep, you got me there, I really wanted to throw this one.

And then I got the job...

I GOT THE JOB! WOO HOO! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

Guess where I will be come November 1st?

Conversation with Kaelynn

While we were burning the offerings, we had some conversation. At first, it was about me not being happy with them watching TV, esp Kristine who never listen to her Mom. Then, it shifted to my Brother whom Kaelynn was revealing her feelings...

"When Grandma died, Sook-sook did not do anything but went up to watch TV whole time. I feel very angry because he did not help..."

OK, this came from a girl who is not even seven years old and she already can feel and realise when things go wrong. I sat there speechless, with my jaw on the floor.

And the Fire kept on burning...

Pencil Lead Art

Sometimes, you really need to be alert and also, be aware of your surroundings. This was because with the two girls around, I really had to be stingy when it comes to praising them. Oh, they're good with their imaginations and all, to achieve the end result.

But its the middle process which really gets them into trouble.

Take this pencil lead art for instance. Its nice and very creative of the girl/s.
The the next question that comes to your mind:
How can they finish so much pencil lead in such a short time since their daily homework did not involve writing lines and lines of text.

So, now, I have to be very suspicious when they ask for more pencil leads...

Temp-ting work

I would like to relate to you a very bittersweet irony I just experienced. For weeks I was applying for work online and at the same time, trying to get as much part-time as I can. Both to me, were as common as Unicorns strolling around in a park. Online job applications are a great help when it comes to jobs because when we were looking for technicians years ago, we had a lot of applicants passed to us. On a daily quota. Within a specified time period. Because that's how much we paid for it.

But from a potential employee point of view. It sucks. There would be a lot of potential employers reading your resume but there would be no response from them (just like in this Blog) apart from some sympathetic, automatic email from Jobstreet, stating, on their behalf of the companies you have applied for, that the position is now closed yada yada yada.

It really makes you feel unwanted, as if confirming your position as some low-life pariah in the society.

But the funny thing was, within a day after my 'outburst' on Facebook, I had a minimum of three potential leads for a job from my friends. Three jobs. Yes, three actual jobs and they're all 100%, ready to confirm, ready to start jobs. That is the power of friendship and social media.

And also, in the meantime, I had a temp job from one of my good friend and classmate, Raja Azhar. Its a 5-day week job until the end of the month. Its a win-win situation because not only do I help him, he also teaches me the ways of garnering awareness and also, how to start online businesses.

And so, every morning, I get on the LRT to his office after I did my morning chores.

Nice keyboard. Niiice keyboard. Dont die on me. Please don't.... aw no.

The good thing is, on some occasions, I get to walk over to meet up with Bruce for lunch via the KLCC walk.
I cannot remember how long the stretch was but when I brisk walk, it took me about 15 to 20 minutes.

Woo hoo! My first cheque! I am rich again!
Now I can buy all the tin food I could not have for dinner!

By now, I have more or less decided on the job I want to take and all I have to do now is to give them a call and see how we can go from there...

PISCEAN WORKS

As adviced by a friend of mine this morning, I have started a Facebook Page. To be honest, I don't even know what a PAGE was not that it exists. But its there now. And I noticed that it was started on a special date too.

The name PISCEAN WORKS (I wanted it to be PISCEAN WERKS, though) was drawn from various combination of personal reflections and well, I wanted to start a new Company and all but did not have the balls to do so since at that time, I was really unsure of the future. I know that anything I started, I can not see it to fruition mainly because of other commitments and/or being too impatient.

The FB Page, I realised, was a good in-between medium because if I post it on the blog here, if you did not follow the 'series', you'd be lost. And I cannot post it on my Website as its not 'completed' yet. So, this FB Page sits right in the middle which also helps in getting my product/s known to a wider audience. So, I will now post most of the electronic stuff and projects there and make this Blog more personal.

Move your mouse to see something disappear. Click on it or the LOGO above to go to somepelace weird...