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

Mind Enhancing Products

Apart from newspaper comic strips, comics, in-Tech and Sci-Fi technical books, I have never read a real book for more than... more than... OK, ever since we got married. But then, I met Jason who lent me his book Who Moved my Cheese and then David Schwartz's The Magic of Thinking Big. He asked me to read chapter two and I did. (please do read this chapter first and depending on your perception, it could be from "Oh My God, this is so true, how could I have been so fucking blind" to "Huh?" or something in between). After that, the reading bug sort of materialised again and bit me in the *censored* and with all the saved up lunch money for this month (and temporarily subsidised by Mr. VISA), I went ahead and bought two other books; Lydia Teh's Honk If You're Malaysian and Steve Chandler's 100 Ways to Motivate Others. This was because MPH was having a small booth at one of my Customer's Corporate HQ. (But I missed Lydia Teh by two days as she was there to give a talk). Of the three books, I have managed to finish Lydia's first. And if you like to laugh at yourself, (pointing and laughing at your own mirror image does not count) this is a great read. And if I have money for next month, I am going to get her two earlier books.

So, why am I reading these books all of a sudden? And why am I listening to all these motivation CDs while driving? Why? Well, no, I am not having a mid-life crisis. Even if I am, I won't even know what the heck its all about. The reason is more than personal because I want to improve my family's lives apart from having to go for lobotomy sessions and towing ATMs from the walls in the middle of the night. So, hopefully, within a few more weeks, I will know the outcome of my planning. Anyway, this is all the time I have to blog this entry as I really need to get back to the books and my hectic work/family life.

Oh yeah, go read the “Cheese” book first and if you have the chance, try to get the VCD as well. I know I have it somewhere, courtesy of one Mrs. Chow and her Red Engine years ago.

Its still under the wrappers

Do not read this in a Library

This one is goos

An afternoon with Wong Choon Hann

Today was something quite unexpected for me. You see, our company was selected to go for a Panasonic Product training. And because there were limited seats, I was given first priority. Going there was a bit weird because as I have been working with Toshiba PABX for so long, it was like stepping into an enemy's territory. Although I have gained my freedom years ago, the feeling was still there but there is a chance for reconciliation because we CAN now all embrace them as much as we liked. The second suprise was that I got to meet a lot of familiar faces in the industry too. From ex-colleague (turned competitors) to old friends and scums alike, we still had to put on our happy faces and hide our shock. At least for now, I know who's who and how to react since I coming out of my protective Toshiba bubble.

Throughout the day, I was expecting for a more comprehensive (and technical) training for their existing PBX and PABX products so this could bring me up to date instead of bugging my main supplier. But alas, it was not to be, because after looking through the afternoon’s itinery, it was more like a product launch for dealers. Still, I was not disappointed as the products being launched for the afternoon was actually for Call Centres and Hotels, something which Toshiba was lacking over the years here, in both support and costs. I hate to say this but it was the main distributor’s fault which led to the Toshiba brand being so weak now. So, I am now more confident than ever in approaching for Hotels.

For the better part of the afternoon, we had guest speaker, Mr. Wong Choon Hann, one of the National Badminton players, to give us a motivation talk. He had just returned from Scotland the day before and just to hear him speak was quite an honour. He told us how he got into the game, how he fought, experienced his first injury and how he overcame it, both physicaly and emotionally. And after that, it was off to Subang USJ's badminton court for a clinic session where participants were given tips and demonstration on badminton by Mr. Wong.

All in all, it was a good day for me. I have been near some celebrities and personalities but never this close nor shook hands with them. (Except for Najib where we lined up like "never see before kampung fella" to shake his cold and clammy hands, which I do not like to mention) Still, Mr. Wong was quite sporting and just to see him grace our wretched lives, was quite an event.

Still, I'd like to mention that there is something wrong with my camera. When I shoot straight on, the images are blurred. But under a bright sunlight, the chances of it blurring is less, though. But when close up, its fine. I wonder why. I have even made sure it is focusing on "centre" as mentioned by Loctor.

Hee hee hee hee

One of the better shots from my camera

Mr. Wong demonstrating the effects of using the front legs to
bounce back immediately as most of the players used their
shoes for that ehk..ehk..ehk.. braking

At the end of the day, poor Mr. Wong was asked to sign
things from shoes to wallets.....

Stanley MiniTripod

I must stop this. I am getting more and more obsessed with Stanley Tools. Just after I bought the blade, I went for its mini torchlight too. Maybe I am a sucker for new designs and although my head tells me that it is just a mini torchlight with a single White LED and some small batteries just like those in the disposable lighters, I went ahead and splurged RM10 regardless.

This is a mini keychain where it opens up like a small
tripod. The head can swivel up and down too. For those
who are familiar with Babylon5, the head looked like that
Narn Alien or something.

Oh Boy. When I need to change the batteries, it
might be expensive. The top part is a slide switch
which is difficult to operate since it is so rigid
But then again, maybe its supposed to be so
since its going into people's pockets a lot

The light is so-so when compared to the 9volt
6-LED torchlight. 6 against 1. Ha ha ha ha

Still, I like it. Until I went to their
website and saw their Titanium
version..........

The FireAngel Makeover?

Yeah, guess who she is.

Bouncing spiky thingy III

After opening the toy, this is what it looked like.
I am not sure if the impact did it but the battery
nearest to the front is bulging.......

Stanley Knife

OK. When it comes to tools, I am sure there grades to them. However, in Malaysia, the brand Stanley is quite prominent (to me, that is). Or maybe, Stanley is the upmarket version for tools. Still, what they offered are better quality tools, IMHO. So, its that fact that I decided to replace my "lost" RM7.60 Stanley knife. Yeah, I bought another Stanley knife. Maybe the yellow/black colour combination appealed to me.

But after seeing the blade, for the first time, I had to buy it. Hee hee hee

This is the RM15 Stanley cutting tool.

The knob is to loosen the handle which allows you to slide
metal blade out or, when you need to open it up to change
the blade inside

Or so I thought, since I can't read Japanese anyway.

And so, this was the blade's first victim.
Word or advise, although it is a nice heavy blade, do not
drop it as the blade will snap off and cut someone.
Or never us it when there are live wires around...

Moving II

This was the second weekend that we are moving. By now, almost everything is in place. The walls and partitions have been completed and so were the moving of the furniture. All we have to do now is to reinstall the phone system, the network and also the alarms.

Everyone is arranging their working space

My technician is handling the communications side

My desk is at the far end, just next to the gray partition

And I could not help anyone because I was stuck in
a customer's place cleaning up their cabling which
was "spoilt" be a previous installer. After six hours on
the floor, my back gave way. Ouch

Keep on Working

Whatever it is in Life, we must always strife and make
sure we always do our job, come rain or shine or lorry

Kristine

Nothing much exciting happened while or office Internet is still down since Terrorkom's normal promise did not materialised. But there are two incidents where Kristine made our day.

After her Sunday bath, she was about to run out of the house
until I distracted her with my mobile phone

Wearing pants on your head still does not make you a mobile Pirate

Lighter LED

While moving, I came across one of those disposable lighters with LED lights. Since the gas was gone, the owner threw it away. But the battery's still good, though.

For RM2.00 or less, you get a free torchlight module

Its still working, see? I used a pen to touch the leads together.
And after it stopped working, I get a free White LED

Moving Office

We're moving office. Ths was planned since months ago and only finalised once everyone agreed on the location. But because I was busy and all, this time, I did not help much. The move took about two weeks. As we could only do it during the two weekends and also in the evenings. This showed how busy we were apart from our normal business.

Just think about it. We moved about 500metres away and we saved RM800 in rental. But the bad thing is, we're on the upper floor, just above a Karaoke Lounge....... Can't work late nights anymore. Ha ha ha ha ha

This is the old office. Behind the metal network cabinet
was my table, or where I was supposed to sit

My techs removing all the shelves and moving the stock
at the same time.

All the stocks after moving needs to be accounted for....

The shelves being rebuilt on the new premises.

Bouncing spiky thingy II

A few days after I came back, I noticed that the toy acted weird. But nevertheless, Kaelynn was very interested with it. It was not until my wife told me that the toy was broken. Yeah, erika told me that we're supposed to shake it and not to whack it against the wall. So, after feeling the toy a bit, it was slightly deflated and I could feel something broke inside.....


Kaelynn loved to play stretch with it

And also bite it too

But I really feel pity for the toy which lasted only a few days

Lighting up your helmet

This is only a theory since I do not have a Deep Eyes Armour set. Instead of using Blue LEDs to light up the whole eye-lens, I am thinking about making a few turns of Blue Electroluminescent Wires around the inner edge of the rings. Then I use Aluminum foil to reflect the EL glow to the outside. On the other side of the foil (where you would have stuck a round piece of transparent glass/acetate *which is not shown on the picture below*) you stick a dark tint. Or you can just replace the whole foil and back cover with silver tint and a round glass, the ones you use on car windows (the tint, I mean)

Is this how the lens are constructed?

I am the Fool

Yeah, I went to wilphua's blog and it piqued my curiousity. And its quite true too. Dammit

You are The Fool

The Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. The bag on the staff indicates that he has all he need to do or be anything he wants, he has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning. But the card carries a little bark of warning as well. Stop daydreaming and fantasising and watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Speak like Optimus Prime!

I was at the Outpost and the new Transformers Toys caught my eye. These are the toys leading to the Tranformers Movie due out soon. One toy which in particular stood out was the Optimus Prime Voice Changer mask. I think its about 12" tall. It looked nice but since I did not have the cash to buy it, I would just have to content with holding it while its still in its packaging.

Here is the mask

At its right side, there are three buttons which you can
press to hear his pre-recorded voice

Compared to my Sony Ericsson T630, he's big