Double Sheet nibbler

Forgot to post about this one. I got this tool about 10 days ago, about two months after I ordered it from eBay. But because it was over 60 days, I could not post any feed back to it and also, because it was over 60 days, that particular transaction record was gone. And so, I completely forgot about it.

Until I asked myself why my simple PC PSU project was not done yet. It was not done yet because I do not have a tool to make square holes in the metal panel. And to make a square hole in a metal panel, I need a sheet metal nibbler and since I (remembered) there's none for sale in Malaysia, I decided to get one from eBay.

Yep. That's just me. I forgot I ordered one and I went and ordered another one.
So now, I have one and also another one. Oh well, it will come in handy when the blade breaks one day or when Krsitine plays with it, one way or another.

And guess what? The second nibbler arrived less than 10 days!
And it was from the same seller too. My memory's going South

Kristine's "Activity Week" at School

[12 hours before]
Kristine: Daddy, you coming to school with me tomorrow?
Me: Huh? Tomorrow is Saturday. When did you have school on Satuday?
Wife: Tomorrow is the day for her and all parents are invited to see their work.
Me: How come I don't know about this?
Wife: You and your work. Don't tell me its more important than your family. Its already almost end of the year, you have so many leave piling up. Don't tell me you can't even take a day off.
Me: But its last minute la..........
Wife: [Giving me that, "What the Hell you work so hard for and now its almost middle of the month and your salary is still not in yet" look]

Quickly SMS to Boss:
Need to take Emergency Leave tomorrow as my daughter got Kindergarten Last day activity.

And so, today, I did not go to work, my Wife was happy and so is Kristine. Never thought such things can exist. I mean, I have seen all of these in the movies, about Dads not showing up at their children's special event but did not think it would happen to me too. Damn it. I have to be more alert on these stuff and they will never come back again.

While taking her to the school, I can see that she is happy and proud we were there. By the time we settled into her class, the activity for the day was introduced. We have to paint and glue pieces of wood to make some kind of a box. While we were doing it, I noticed the stark difference in her compared to her first month in school. She is actually looking forward to going there (the moment she steps through the gates la). But sadly, try as she might, to make friends, most of her classmates ignored here. Maybe they're shy on that day but if it happens all the time, I will be very sad for her.

I do notice that she is very eager to make friends of her same age but maybe, her approach is wrong. She is happy to greet them with a smile and a laugh and remembers all their names but if they keep on ignoring her, she might get discouraged. Because I was not there, I cannot solve this problem. Maybe during the parent-teacher meeting, we might have some clues.

This is the way to put on your shoes and still pose for the
camera. Why she does the victory sign (inherent in all
girls when taking photos) I cannot understand

After I dressed her up wit the protective smock, Kristine
is ready to paint her project. She wants to make the same
thing as shown by her teacher instead of coming up with
her own colour schemes I must make her to be more
creative and think out of the box often

Mommy also helped out

Krsitine painting the rest of the ice-cream sticks
to go with the box.

I allowed her to stick the onto the box as
well. One thing about sharing is that
everyone at the table shares all the
material from the painbrush to the
water colours to the UHU glue. And
I hate it when they do not return them
to the original place. Since today is her
special day, I have to let it go at that.

Kristine calling out to one of her friends

I hate looking at that face when
they ignored her. So, I distracted
her with more things to stop her
from thinking too much about it

In fact, almost everyone ignored each other and only
the parents talked. But I hate the girl in yellow as she
is really stuck up.

As I walked and explored her classroom, I came across her work in
class activities. Later, I realised that they are for display before the
teacher packs them up and lets them bring it home. Mysteriously
Kristine's is the only one without ears. These are made from dough
(no, not money) and are going soft already. So, I got my wife to put
them into a vacuum bag and hopefully, they can last for years.

A very imaginative use of pasta for a photo frame

Her colouring skills are not bad at all.

Here is another example.

Ball in the cup game which I could not even
get the silver ball to go into the cup

By breaktime, ours were joined with those from other
classes. They laid it there so that the Sun could dry the
paints faster before being sealed with a clear coat

Kristine tried a few times as well

In the end, she cheated. Ha ha ha ha

So which one is hers? Its very obvious.

OK, this is the one

Back to the computer room where everyone had something
to eat. We did not eat them in case the rest of the kids had
nothing to eat. I hated those parents who took the plate
and piles as much food as they can before heading to
their kid's class.

Kristine saying farewel to her class teacher of 2008.
Do we want her to go back there next year? It would
costs us MR300 bookig fee. Ouchie wa wa

Kristine and all her work. See the yellow book?
Some remarks were surpising, such as her most
favourite cartoon show. The girls in her class
wrote down Ariel, the Little Mermaid and other
girly stuff but not our very own Kristine who put
"Ben10" just like the boys in the class.

[Update: 19.11.2008]

Three days later, it was a Parents-Teacher meeting which I did my best to "escape" from work to be there. According to the teachers, she is the shyest in the class and most timid. (But she is a monster at home). However, when she and other girls group together, it was chaos in the class! So, its not that she is kept out of the circle. Still, overall, they said that she is willing to learn and can follow instructions but she is not that daring to "explore" things by herself. (Sure or not? I have to keep shouting and scold her before she does anything or to stop breaking stuff she "found" by herself. Ha ha ha ha). And the Mandarin teacher was surprised when she can talk Cantonese to her, so, in the first few weeks when she cried and cried (wanting to go home), she stuck to this teacher all the time since she was not confident to talk in English to her own class teacher. But when she is confident of something, you can see her positive reaction. But I like what her Computer Class teacher said, "... when you're free, you can go to Imbi or Low Yatt and look for this [pointing to computer screen] software in pirated version and let her try..........she needs to reinforce her hand-eye coordination, maybe you can get her a Playstation or a PSP......." Wah lau,like that also can! Ha ha ha ha ha {Unfortunately, my Wife did not agree on the Playstation part...... oh well]

Time for us to teach her to be more computer literate and also reinforce what she is being taught.

My Primary School I

Halfway servicing my customer's PABX, I realised that it was almost half-past twelve and so, my customer had to perform his Friday prayers and won't be back until after half-past two. Since my old school was nearby, I decided to shoot some pictures. I mean, without any shopping centres nearby, sitting on the sidewalk for two hours is not a very good thing.

I wanted to do this for quite some time, with or without a tripod or some fancy wancy lens. Since today is the last day of the shool term, there were not much students about which means I can shoot in peace. A word of warning though, this and the next few posts would be full of photos and long winded stories about my memories. Skip this if you think its too boring. Here we go.

For most of my student life, from Kindergarten to Secondary, it was always on Bukit Nanas (Pineapple Hill?) but don't ask me why it was named Bukit Nanas since most of the people who remembered it only mentioned tigers and elephants in the jungle. The hill houses St. John's Primary School and St. John's Institution. Next to it is the Convent Bukit Nanas and leading up to the hill was the Fatimah Kindegarten which has now disappeared. During that time, it was THE school to be in. There, you can mingle with a Minister's son, a rich man's son and some future leaders, really. But for me, its just a normal daily grind of waking up early in the morning, carrying my schoolbag, failing in exams and so on. Ha ha ha ha ha!

On the left used to be an Indian man with his stall which
sells newspapers and also a lot of toys, especially those
Action Jack figures. They are simple figures and with no
screws or glue to hold them, just a head with a long spine
which you insert into the body to lock it. I love to play
with them in the water and almost everywhere. The stall
also sells stink bombs ( I just kept it in my pocket because
the bottles looked so cute) and flat styrofoam planes you
can fly. The best were the Spitfires with the propellers

Minutes before the school bell rings, I would rush up the long
stairs. Before this, I would not dare to venture out and away
from the assembly point.

Somewhere on the right, is the workshop for those
students taking part in the Workshop Studies. I did
not get the chance but ended up with Moral Studies
years later. That really screwed up my life. Cheh!

This is the assembly point and my Father would fetch me and
then followed me here until it was time to leave for office.
I would stay with him every morning and play with his metal
digital LCD watch until I got older and he got me to take the
schoolbus. Also, I remember one afternoon where an Idian
boy was running about playing "catching" with his friends and
apparently, he could not stop in time and crashed into the
concrete edge. Minutes later, blood came gushing out. Another
was my Indian classmate in Standard one who has a lot of yellow
stuff coming out of his ears all the time and the teacher had to help
wipe it. I did not see him again from Standard Two onwards.

Another view of the assembly point. Pity they put up this green shade the
last few years. Spoils the scenery if you ask me. The Headmaster and his
assistant would stand on the podium and deliver their announcement
before we enter our classrooms. We go to class in the morning from
Standard one to three. And from Standard four to six, we had to
switch to afternoon. This was very bad especially when it came
to Fridays. Either you go home early or you get to come in
after two. Why its bad is because the schoolbus would not
stick to the schedule for Fridays. In Standard four to six,
I was bored for two hours while waiting for the bell to
ring. Since I do not dare to go out beyond the school
compound, I was trapped......

This is the sepak takraw court. On the left is the classroom for
religious studies and just under the middle, is the entrance to
my standard one class (left) and the canteen (right). On the
right and out of the picture, is my Standard two class.

Beware the Masked Kisser!

Let me warn you all, Ladies and Gentlemen. There is a masked person walking around. If you are spotted, be prepared to be kissed! The Masked Kisser would not stop at anything. You have been warned!

The Masked Kisser caught on film, kissing a chair

Oh no! Another victim of the Masked Kisser! Its a full Lip Service!

The last picture of the Masked Kisser when cornered.
She used her Ultraman Tiga Stance and then vanished

xD card to MMC adaptor

This is one of my worries when it comes to future-proofing my tools. One of the PABX system we service uses the almost obsolete SmartMedia (or MMC) memory cards as backups. Although their latest model now uses SD cards, there were a lot of the older models on the field. At the moment, since I have started my Senior Tech on PABX programming, he too needs these cards when it comes to backing up customer data.

Scouting around KL for these cards were dissappointing as they were either obsolete ("Sorry, just ran out of stock") or ultra expensive. The problem with these cards are that its very easy to kill them when writing halfway or just pulling it out as if it was a thumbdrive when you forgot to stop the voltage.

Then, while looking for one item, I came across this adaptor on eBay for less than RM50. Within less than 3 days, it arrived on my desk!

This is the xD card to Smartmedia adaptor.
I was a bit worred about the thing bent or
broken since they are quite thin.

At least my problem is solved as I can use the old xD
128MB card from my dead FujiFilm FinePix s5500
But where the heck is the 32MB xD that came with
the camera? Have to find it for my Senior Tech soon

Controlling the Fate of others

Sometimes, whenever you do something, you have to think first before actually doing it. Because whatever action you will take would affect the lives or fate of other people around you. You cannot feign ignorance because Karma will dish out the same to you. Not only that, one or twice would not satisfy Fate and you will find yourself on the receiving end more than once.

So, think twice before you act. And do not revel in the feeling that you have control of others's Fate.

Muahahahhahaha! I cannot help you even if I wanted
to. This is your own test and I am just helping to mark

The little girl and her bracelet

Once upon a time, there was a very nice little girl. She lived in a house with her Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa. The little girl is also very fond of the cat which came to stay in the house a long time ago. The cat likes her too because she fed it cat food whenever her Mommy lets her. Then one day, the little girl got a gift as a reward for feeding the cat. It was a beautiful and shiny cat-shaped bracelet. She was so proud that she wore it on her wrist the whole day while her little sister wore it on her ankles. But one day, the little girl was not happy.

Because she looked at the back of the pendant and realised her name was not Whiskas.
(OK, so its not true as I told her about Whiskas)

Very hard to photograph the shiny pendant and I had
to use the flash to get it. Oh well........

The white thing on her right hand (your left) is an
orange juice pull-ring. Kristine likes to thing of it
as her ring.

Superglue and Phones don't mix

Customer: Yo, take a look at this phone. It cannot get Line 4
Me: [Look, look, press, press] Aha! Its stuck
Customer: Really? Haih these Chemical Engineers!
Me: Yep, just as I thought. See these marks? Superglue.
Customer: Oh, s**t.
Me: OK, let me have a few days to take a look at it.

See one of the Superglue marks? Even after I submerged
it in water for two days, it won't loosen the glue. Can't use
WD40 or acetone. So, maybe I just have to look and get
the Superglue remover. This sure costs money. But I still
have two choices; either I crack it loose with some knife or
blade or just write it off.

Rear windshield wiper

So, I am back to driving a sedan and one thing I noticed, which often irritates me, are the droplets of water at the rear windshield. If I was driving my Bengmobile, I could swat them off with the rear wiper. However, there is none on a sedan. Covering it with a coat of RainX and hope every bump at the hum (hey, it rhymes!) would shake them off is hopeless. Haih.

Its very dangerous if its raining in the dark and
not only that, the previous owner had it tinted
which makes it hard to see at night.

I wanted to install one like this car but after looking
closely at the reflection o the car, its as if the wiper
is straining the glass. Might crack one day........

Some interior design activities II

So, after showing the customer the sketches done from SketchUp, they were impressed to the point of saying, "Please don't show it to my (big) Boss or he will want me to learn SketchUp." "But its easy. See how I build this table in less than 2 minutes?", "No please. Please! I got too much work already la." Ha ha ha ha.

First, we have to "hide" all the cables up in the ceiling.
Then wait for the newly painted floors and walls to dry
before the partitions and tables can be erected. Then
we came back to redo the cables and move the phones

And today, everything is ready!

"Wah, you so good!", here is another room for you to
SketchUp! I die liao! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Playmates MK VII Tricorders

During the third Season of Star Trek the Next Generation TV Series, the Tricorders have been upgraded from the MKVI to MKVII (which will last until the second Star Trek: The Next Generation movie). Before you ask me what Tricorders are, I will tell you: A handheld device used for scanning an area, interpreting and displaying data from scans to the user, and recording information. In other words, a plot device for the show. In the "real" World it is used to locate lifeforms, matter analysis, microfractures, etc. And ever since that show, I always wanted a Tricorder of my very own. A Mark VII, in fact. And so, a few years later, Playmates came up with some toys of the show. They introduced the Phasers, Tricorders and even the ships; all were equipped with push-buttons which plays different sound effects. And I was lucky to get one. It was fun to play with it but after a while, I realised that it is missing something, namely the flashing LEDs. These are the only STNG Tricorders to ever made it into the mass market by Playmates. No other manufacturers have ever done so, except for Master Replicas. (Art Asylum will be making the TOS version so that does not count). The MKVII Tricorders come in two versions: The standard/Engineering Tricorder and the Medical Tricorder. The Medical Tricorder is a standard Tricorder fitted with a higher resolution sensor array (but in the toy, the sensor cannot be removed)

The two Playmates Tricorders. Medical (TOP) & Standard (Bottom) Note the position of the switch on the Medical. Although its the same as the Standard Tricorder, its in fact a bit off. I also realised that the seller has used the stickers. And so, if I really want to mod it, I would have to peel it off and get a new one made. This means I would need to find someone who can print or most likely, silk-screen on to vinyl stickers

The Medical Tricorder is longer by about 4cm. The toy is about 14 years old now and because of its plastic, you can see it age (it discolours to yellow). The plastic is soft too and can be scratched or mutilated easily.

You can see the sensor array on the front of the Standard Tricorder (right) but not the Medical as it has a handheld high resolution scanner instead

The Standard Tricorder'sbattery compartment is located underneath while the Medical's is on the side. The speaker grill of the Standard Tricorder is located just under the clip whereas the Medical Tricorder's is can be seen clearly. But these points do not matter for now. The flat ribbed square on the Medical Tricorder can be slide forward to present the handheld scanner.

Sadly, the flap angle between the two Tricorders are not the same but is does not bother me

Here, you can see the two different screens. The Standard (left) and the Medical (right) versions. Each Tricorders have their own set of sound effects.

And the item I won was ........

After 20 days of waiting, I found it on my desk this morning! Woo Hoo! This is the item I though I would never win because the price went spiralling upwards as the other bidders fought. But in the last minute, I went on and tried my luck. Luckily, there was no sniping. The final price, I was charged, was very much less than on the winning bid total. Wierd.

Much to my technician's bewildered faces, I opened the box
and took out the Tricorders, smiled and then put it back in

More on this later. Have to work for more eBay "ammo", y'know.

Mid-Valley

Just a short one about us going to Mid-Valley. Saw my old classmate coming out of the lift but he did not see me. Oh well, I don't feel like meeting him anyway. But the way he has his kids, I guess, he got married almost the same time as me. I know how he is doing after much reflection, I am nowhere near. Just hope he is there to save me one day.

Kaelynn driving Kristine on a bus

They had so much fun that some kid
also wanted to join in whether their
Daddy likes it or not. Since she could
not pay for the fare, she got taken
away by Daddy, screaming her lungs out.

After months of not eating Teppanyaki at the foodcourt,
I remembered why I did not go there anymore. Nipple
rice that tasted more like damp glue and side veges
looked more like scraps from a chopping board.
But the fish and sambal still kicks ass, man.