Oh!pEnions

The most reliable handset

Boss: Hey, take a look at this.......
Me: Uhuh, its a handset.
Boss: Notice anything different?
Me: WTF. Why would they do that? Its crazy!
Boss: Its a Nitsuko or Meisei (I can't recall)

The end of the telephone cable's jack is inserted into the
socket INSIDE the handset. In normal design, the socket
are outside. In this case, the jack's plastic clip is broken
and to change it, you'd have to open the handset to do the
change. One customer got pissed off and cut the cable I
think. OH, see the dirt on the left? That's the dirt from
the sweat of your hands. It stinks and needs to be cleaned.

Dr. Who's Future Sonic Screwdriver

And finally, it came. This is the latest sonic screwdriver from the Dr. Who series. It appeared in tow episodes, "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" and quickly gained a following. The sonic screwdriver was from the future and it belonged to Professor River Song who knows the Doctor but we're not told in what way. The episode gained a high viewership went it was broadcast in 2008. Even of you have not watched the current David Tennant Dr. Who series nor have any interest in it, I would recommend you to start with the two episodes. After awhile you'd be hooked. Initially, I was never interested about the Dr. Who series but after seeing David Tennant bringing him to life, I was a bit hooked.

Anyway, after my first sonic screwdriver, Character Options came up with another, which is the Future Sonic Screwdriver. Initially, when it came out two months ago, it was quite expensive but after some waiting, one of the sellers in eBay came with a very reasonable amount, almost the same as my first sonic screwdriver.

And so, after two weeks or so, it arrived on my desk.
On the box is the picture of Professor River Song who
met the Doctor in the future.

The screwdriver comes in a two part plastic pack and even
separated the batteries. Maybe its a trend to stop a lot of
people from pressing buttons here and there, especially the
"Try me now" toys where the batteries are usually half dead
by the time you got it home. Doing so would actually lead
to more broken toys on the shelves. But then again, its a
good indicator of how long a toy can last. Ha ha ha ha.

This time, the design for the sonic screwdriver's
three LR44 batteries is quite unique. All you
need to do is to turn the end cap and it's open.
Alas, you still need to use a screwdriver to open
the cover for it. But if you turn to the other side,
it looks very futuristic. I am not going to show it
to you, you just have to get one yourself. Heh.

And here you go. Professor River Song's Sonic Screwdriver.
Its supposed to look dirty although its from the future, where
the Doctor gave his to her for some reasons unknown and it
was modified to this stage, presumably by the Professor herself.

Oh, looky! There's a blue LED in there!

Open the secret cover and it reveals a neural relay.
Now, press the grey button........
(Originally, the five green LED comes from a normal
10-segment LED bargraph.)

And now, its gone red, which means the LED is a custom
made 3mm RED/BLUE. It can be done because I did order
some 1000 pieces of Yellow/Blue 5mm rectangular LED
custom made from China before. The price is quite
reasonable too.

However, although I liked the toy, its paining leaves a lot
to be desired. But that is not the main gripe. They have
designed the sonic screwdriver in such a way that all the
seams of the two plastic halves of the body can be easily
seen. And it would take a long time to putty and hide
them. And so, I have to leave it alone.

The Future Sonic Screwdriver and the Dr.'s.
Kinda made the Dr. Who's sonic looked so
bland and boring. Hee hee hee hee

Sardine curry puffs @ Damansara Uptown

While I was working at Damansara Uptown, I spotted a couple selling deep fried food from a van. While her husband was manning the apam stove and doing the deep frying, she was selling the food. Feeling peckish, I asked for the curry puffs. She said something to me which I could not pick out as I was not sure if she was talking to her husband or to me, but I do remember the word "ubi" (malay for potato) which means curry puff with potato filling.

Which is quite common.

Since I did not say anything, I just let her pick the curry puffs for me. And then I left as I was in a hurry to see the customer. You can call this a quick lunch if you want.

After the first curry puff, which was potato, I though nothing more about it and I wolfed down another. Wow.

Sweet.

And spicy.

Wow.

WOW!

I was hooked! Now I see what she meant! She was talking to me, asking if I wanted my curry puffs to have either potato or sardine fillings. Since I did not reply, she mixed them for me. This is the sardine/onion/chili mix which is quite common in those sardine sandwiches with cucumbers. But to have them in a curry puff is amazing.

Oh, and one day, I want to try the apams as well as I have seen the husband laying the mixture onto the pan, which is quite gooey/sticky than normal.

And so, after work, on my way back, I bought 15 pieces.
Naturally, wife scolded me for buying so much but in the
end, she agreed that it tasted delicious.

I love procedures

Me: OK, see this card? When I slot it in again, the system shuts down.

Customer #1: OK. So, this card is fried.

Me: Yep. I would like to take it back for repair. Can you do the release documentation for me?

Customer #1: Yes. Just let me get them.....

He goes away for a while and then a young lady comes along.

Customer #2: Hold it. What's wrong with the card?

Me: Its fried. Need to take it back for repair

Customer #2: Don't you have tools with you? Can't you just repair it here?

Me: Nope.

Customer #2: Why not? I thought you were the specialist here?

Me: Lady, if you got a stomach ache, you'd go to the Doctor and he'll tell you that you have a problem. You want more, you'd have to get your stomach into the operating room, OK?

Customer #2: Then why did you come here? I am not going to pay you for this trip. How come you did not tell us before you're coming here?

Me: Look. I am here because of your dealer. They called us. And so, you deal with them, OK?

After a few rounds of me calling my Boss, my Boss calls the Dealer, the Dealer calls the customer, the customer calls the Dealer, etc. Its finally settled.

Customer #2: Well, don't mind me, we're only following procedures and we're looking for honest people. My friend recommended them as their service is good (and they called us instead. Right.) We don't want to deal with the main distributor. You know why we dropped them? [She's trying to play games and get cosy but I stood my ground]

Me: I know why you dropped them. Their service charges are legendary. Well, don't mind me too. Usually this thing can be repaired in less than three days.... [Now I turn the tables on her]

Customer #2: Yeah? Really? That's good.

Me: But now, I HAVE to follow procedures too. So, this will take time, maybe two weeks since we have to diagnose it, call the dealer who in turn will call you.... bla bla bla.

Customer #2: [Looking defeated] OK, but don't repair it first, OK? My Boss knows about these cards and he knows enough electronics to know when you will cheat us.

Me: OK, why not we do this. I will leave this card with you so you can get your expert Boss to have a look at it and repair the card himself.

Customer #2: Er, ........... (thinking hard) can I have your namecard?

Me: No. We're under this dealer, so you have to deal with them.

Customer #2: You told me you have serviced this company years before [which is true, since I was with the main distributor in the mid-90's], can I contact you?

Me: Nope. You'd have to call the dealer directly since they called us to service you.

Later on, at the office, after I relate the whole thing to my Boss, we both agreed not to service this customer in the near future since they're giving so much crap. And from the vibes, we know collecting money from them is not easy. Hate dealing with people who think they know everything and likes to be the Boss. I have been to this company before and I can say this: Nothing has changed.

And the victim? Its the poor system here
plus a few extensions which will not work
while the card is gone

New socks

Although the socks are new, its still too big
for Kaelynn. still, she loves wearing them.

DIY airbrush

And so, my idea is forming. I wanted to have an airbrush system in my workshop. But I am not prepared to invest so much at this time. Just getting the airbrush itself is expensive already. And then there is the problem of getting the compressor. Of course I could go back to using expensive pressurised air can (expensive because it just pressurised air and it finishes fast) like I did when I was in UK. But that was more than 10 years ago and not only that, these cans are rare in Malaysia. Then, I could get a spare tire and pump it up at any gas station too but bear in mind, the workshop is so small, I can't even let a hamster sleep there. And if I wanted to get a real deal compressor, I must be willing to shell out a lot because there are other things to get besides the compresssor and other whatnots which I have not researched.

And so, I thought to myself, why not just invest a bit for the airbrush itself and then DIY on the compressor? Great idea, eh? Well, its great on paper, that is. After making the first blunder, I realised that the airbrush itself needs a working pressure between 15-40psi. And the air pump I bought was pumping out a measly 65L/min at 0.04MPa (or 5.8psi) which is way below what is required. Still, it would be a matter of time before I get to try the air pump. And I suspect that I would have to thin the paints a lot.

Although the air pump costs RM160, I got a discount of RM5.00
which I used it for the filter wool, which could be used as an air
filter for my DIY spray booth (later this year)

There you go, the whole casing is made from metal which
gave its weight. There is only one output from the pump
which is the small hole there. You just attach it to a small
black cylinder which then connects to another part which
has multiple exit plugs. I could just use the hole and try it
there and then on the (proposed and coming) airbrush. If
the pressure is still lacking, maybe I could pry open the
case and have a look at the motor to see if it can be either
replaced or modified. I won't do this until I have the cash
to get the airbrush, its piping and some paint.

Found this on the floor. Its a remote for something (car?) and
since it looks quite new on the wet road, I would say someone
jsut dropped it recently. Since there was no one, I waited a bit
before testing its buttons. Unfortunately, none of the parked
cars responded...........

OK, so I was not happy with the replacement probe. After
all, for RM3.00, the plastic was crap and it would only be a
matter to time before it fails when I needed it most. OK, let
me tell you a bit about the probe. There are two versions;
the normal one is a pair of metal blades just like mine. But
there is another which has two pairs of metal blades which
usually peels itself off in weeks, rendering the probe useless.
But now, there is a new verson for this from Pro'sKit which
instead of using the thin metal blades, they replaced them
with a double-sided fibreglass PCB instead. How it works, I
am not sure but in the next few weeks, the result will show.

The Tin Man and the armoured Dwarf

OK, I so I got itchy hands this week. After staring at the Heroclix Iron Man, I wondered how tall it is compared to a Warhammer 40K's Space Marine. And so, after searching from Forums and all that, I discovered Games Castle in Damansara Utama (near Atria). This is one of the places for Wargamers to get their stock of miniatures and also involve themselves in games. But if you need to go there, be warned that the opening hours are biased towards working people.

And so, I was there between 11 to 2 in the morning, observing the players, the game and so on. By 1AM, almost everyone had left save for Richard and his friend who were painting miniatures while his friend was tasked with building the Vindicator from the sprues. As I have never seen the Vindicator up close before, I just sat and watched. Since there was no instruction manual, he relied mostly on the Space Marines Codex (in other words, the catalogue pictures of the Vindicator la). Luckily, I did study the Vindicator's assembly manual from the Net and did get to help out a bit. While we were there, they played "The Librarian and the Judas Chalice" DVD, which was directed by Jonathan Frakes (of Commander Riker fame from Star Trek the Next Generation). Its like Indiana Jones but in a more educational and comedic way.

And so, I got the Biker Scout (again) for RM50 which is a bit
more than what I got from ebay but the dfference is getting
it NOW. And then, for RM30, I got about 11 Space Marines.
I bought these as separate sprues from the boxed game set
"Assault on Black Reach".

There is a reason why these were sold cheaply: They
do not offer much in terms of spare parts and have a
severely limited pose. For example, this Space Marine
comprises of only three parts; The main body, the
weapon and backpack. I could have bought a more
expansive set of Space Marines but I have my own
reasons for this. Maybe I would get more later on.

Compare that to the Bike Scout, which costs RM50 for
just a figure and a bike, the Space Marines works out
to be so cheap. The Biker Scout comes with a lot of
extra hands, and parts such as weapons and a few
heads. So, its worth the asking price.

And now, we compare them side by side. Oh God. Its like Professor Frankenstein with his assistant, Igor. And so, while Iron Man is standing at about 45mm, poor old Igor is stooping at 32.5mm. But if he stands straight, he could still be 10mm short.Then again, these Space Marines are always stooping, which I suspect, could be from the heavy backpacks they carry. And I suspect, they also get shot very easily since those backpacks could be as heavy as
a fridge. If Anthony Star is 6'1" (in Armour, its 6'6") he could very well be close to 1/48 or 1/42 scale. But as for the Space Marine, the scale is a problem. If we measure his head, he could be 1/48. But if we measure his shoulders, the scale is different and so on. Therefore, they are classified as 28mm miniatures where everything is out of proportion. Really. Because if you tried to put him in the same scale as Iron Man, what you'd get would be a fat misformed midget who loves horse riding.

And coming back to the previous post about mass painted
miniatures, the main problem would be the eyes. Here,
Anthony Stark (Iron Man) looked like Marty Feldman,
famous for portraying Igor in Young Frankenstein. When
you're in a rush to complete all those figures, you'd just go
and put two white dots followed by two small dots. And
when someone buys those figures, they would also go,
"dot dot dot dot" [expletives, la]

Marvel Heroclix

The Heroclix started quite some time ago and slowly, it should be gaining popularity by now. In fact, they have even included the game Halo into it, calling it the Actionclix series. Basically, what you do it to have some miniatures and play aturn by turn battle on a grid laid out. Sounds very familiar like those fantasy games such as warhammer 40K.

Unfortunately, the company, WizKids, has ceased production of all these 'clix series as of November 2008. But there is some good news. It could have found a buyer by March 2009. True or not, I am not sure. What really attracted me to this is due to the collectable miniatures, which I accidentally stumbled on it while I was browsing around for Iron Man. And so, after some searching on eBay, I got the Iron Man and The Punisher (which I should not have) for about less than USD 4.00, exclusing postage which, I think, was about USD1.50

And in less than three weeks, it arrived. The figures
are made out of some hard vinyl and not those normal
plastic as I expected. But then, maybe its logical as the
players would be moving them about which could bend
or break the figures if they were made from plastic or
the more traditional white metal.

Unfortunatelty, like all the mass painted miniatures,
the details are not exactly as I liked it to be. Still, of
the two, Iron Man is much better. And since I am not
interested about the game itself, the base where the
number dials are, can be removed if I wanted to.

NERF Longshot's in Malaysia!

*ahem*

Yes, sir.My Lordship. Your will be done. I have secured the latest tool of destraction. However, my Lordship, care must be taken at where you aim as such spurts of pleasure can be very damaging. Your humble slave recommends holding it with both hands for a better feel. Never has this slave seen such weapon of mass erection which allows for those hard to reach pleasureable long range shots. With those sexy knobs on both sides, your Lordship can use just one hand to stroke it into readiness.

In the meantime, while preparing for your arrival, this humble slave will pla...er, examine to see if your Lordship's tool is complete.

*ahem*

Yeah, for RM149.90, after years of waiting. Even eBayers are
afraid to ship this thing (and its not cheap to do that either). I
don't blame them because the box itself is humongous. After
seeing it, all of a sudden, RM149.90 does not seem to be such
a huge amount. In fact, it made it as if money is nothing.....

To Nexus

Oh, yes my dear Lord Polyvinylness. The service is
RM8.80 to kick the parcel carrying slave to you, plus
an extra Rm0.95 for the bubble envelope for your popping
pleasure. Do scrub the legs clean but don't spread them
too much or you're really screwed.

Maintaining your own tool

When you are working on a certain target, your tool is the most important thing. For without it, you are not sure of the results you're getting, or for that matter, any result at all. Not only that, simply inserting your tool in and out at different slots won't get you anywhere. Take my word for it.

So, with efficiency in mind, one must make sure their tools are always ready at hand and in perfect working condition. Do take some time to check on your own tool, you can do it in private if you're embarrassed about your colleagues seeing the condition of your tool but in most cases, many are not shy about showing their pristine tools. Examine it, feel it and test it so that you know its in good working condition. Always use a good firm hand as it can boost your confidence which in turn would make your work at hand more exciting.

And so, after more than four years in my hand, it broke.
And the replacement is not the same as the quality does
not meet my expectations. Still, with so many slots to
attend to, I just have to make the best of it. The elongated
part really does make a difference as it guides itself into
intended slot. Just make sure the legs are not crooked
or else your insertion would not be perfect.

As always, I like to use tools which I can repair or mantain
with my own hand. Because when push comes to shove, the
elongated part will really make sure I am not wasting my
time. The more it inserts, the smoother it becomes.

Infra-red detector

I got this kit when I was planning to build the IR light pen
for Loctor. Unfortunately, the pen in question has gone
missing. Anyway, since I cannot find a nice project box
to house the circuit board and the battery, I just used
some double-sided tape. And I was so happy the kit
can take 3 volts instead of the recommended 9 volts.This
is a very useful tool as I do not want to use the Nikon D50
to take pictures of the Infra-Red LED (as you cannot see IR
light with the naked eye, even if you dress it up with contact
lens.) when I test it all the time. What I do is to use the LED
tester and then when the LED in the kit lights up, this means
the IR LED is working. Not bad, eh?

Screw jobs

When it comes to screwing, if done right, is a pleasureable
thing. But sometimes, it needs practice. Because experience
will determine the end result even before you start. And not
only that, one must plan first and not go headlong into it.

The secret to a perfect screw job is very simple. You just have
to make sure that the intended target is right for you. And not
only that, you have to be patient as well. You cannot rush into
things as these things take time. Just do it slowly, and in a firm
action. In the end, you will get what you wanted.

However, sometimes, people will start straight away as more
often than not, it is hard to control the urge when the target
is already mounted and willing. And so, without taking things
into consideration, after some time, you will find yourself
stuck, especially during the heat of the moment when you
realise that size does make a difference. And never ever
force it even if YOU think its alright. It never is.

Check Hup White Coffee

After reading Suanie's blog about the White Coffee, I decided to have a go. But I have to stop and think first.Yes, the worst case scenario: What if the coffee is crap and I would have to finish the whole pack. And if I give it to friends, they might turn into enemies for Life or worse, feint death when I come visit them. Then again, on the other hand, it might be great (since Suanie has great taste in food) and my friends might kill me for the packets. So, either way, I would be in trouble.

Its not easy with my mind going nuts at the moment as try as I might, I could never remember how the packet looks like. With my Nokia 5800 still at the Nokia centre, it would look silly everytime I go to a shop and pull out an A4 picture of the coffee. The worst thing is, every shop that I went to, happens to have the name of Carrefour and all coffee packets look the same to me. I would only know I have bought the wrong one if the packet is pink and after finishing all the packet, I feel feminine and love Beetles for no apparent reason.

But today, luck was on my side because while waiting for a friend at Puchong's Giant, I found it there, selling for about RM13 or so (I lost the receipt). I was so overjoyed that I did not mind using the money meant for my daily ration of fish crackers (for lunch, la) or behind the "less than 10 items" line where everyone failed their maths in counting. Alas, my guine...er, good friend weezy was not available for lunch today to share in my experime...er, gift.

Not did I get the coffee, I got a jar of Nussfit (because I
could not afford the REAL Nutella) in my attempts to
get Kristine eat her breakfast.

When I first opened the packet, the pleasant smell that
came wafting out was very familiar, as if I had this drink
before. The only think I can remember was that its not
coffee and it smells of butterscotch. But whatever it
was, it escaped me.

One trick I learnt from an old relative of mine was that she
would use a bit of hot water to mix the powder into some
paste until there were no floating globs of unmixed gloops
left......hah?
Then, you just add more hot water or cold water, or not
so hot water or not so cold water. But whatever you do,
don't even try it with Tonic water, Kickapoo, Kahlua or
even Brand's essense of chicken. And ketchup or chili
sauce is a definite no-no. But its OK if you mix them
all together for the Heng Tai session when the Groom
comes for the Bride. However, Kahlua is not cheap.
And neither is drain water.

Come to think of it, you'd better not add this to the
coffee either. Just toast it, spread some butter and
then this. But do not add cucumbers, Marmite
(or Bovril) or peanut butter even if you feel suicidal
today. No point being beefy nut who's cool but dead.

And so, after a few sips of the coffee, I am in the mood for
dinner. Here, you can see my dinner on the mini wok with
the leftover soup, tofu, brocoli, green pepper all mixed
with the rice. The coffee is so good, in fact, I am going to
have one after this. And just in case, another one with
hot water. And another one to make sure its coffee and
maybe one more before bedtime. And I should sprinkle
some of it into the Nussfit toast for my snack.

[Update: 11032009 0314]
Oh-oh. I still can't sleep and my heart's going thumpity thump. No, I am not addicted to coffee as I do not like coffee much unless its those Iced ones from Starbucks or whatever. Maybe I should take a cold coffee to counter all these shaking. And another one after that, as I am a bit thirsty. And maybe, I should try mixing it with Milo for that special Neslo feeling......

Sure Chek Hup (pronounced chekup, as in Cantonese for "instant") Jing San ("alert") effect one.

[Update: 11032009 0746]
OK, that's it. No more coffee for me. Haven't slept a wink last night.........

10 minutes to bedtime

With 10 minutes left before their bedtime (Ok, is actually one hour late) I decided to let them play for a while. What I did was to place all the pillows in the room and form them into a big soft mass. Then, I let the girls jump as much as they want but with some simple rules that they cannot jump if someone is still in the mass. Or, if the pillows break off, they must stop and then rearrange them back. And most importantly, they cannot aim their jump outside the mass........

The perils of multitask thinking

I am always busy. And when I am busy, I think. Or rather, I don't think. That's not right. Let's try again.

When I am busy, I am always thinking all the wrong things at the wrong time and place. Maybe I can call this daydreaming. My mind is always drifting now, (No, I am not getting senile), always thinking about my Hobbies and also, my electronic projects which has be seriously put on hold again. Yeah, maybe that's the reason because despite the doom and gloom of the World Economy, we're still working our butts off like there's no tomorrow, thanks to our customers who really believed in us.

But, in my personal life, I felt that I am not doing enough. And so, while I am working, my mind sort of unconsciously tries to analyse and plans my projects. Its like you sitting in front of a PC but with at least four LCD screens, each with a different task for you to work on. The problem is, once it gets too exciting, it sucks more thinking power from the rest of the brain and before I know it, I am in there, imagining and thinking about the darn thing and nothing else. Maybe I should be taking a day or two off, be alone, to think and do my projects.......

I was so badly distracted today that I actually
peed into the trashcan instead of the urinal.
The only thing that stopped me was the
realisation that no sane person would
ever install a mirror in front of a urinal.
(Luckily, I was the only one in there)

Snip, snip

Its that time again, where the girl's hair needs to be cut. And I hate this because I wanted their hair to be long, at least down to the shoulder blades. However, there are two reasons why it has to be done: One, its quite hot and two, Kaelynn has learnt how to bully Kristine by pulling her hair.

See the blank square on Kaelynn's forehead? Its not Mommy's
fault but Kaelynn's as she came across a pair of scissors which
everyone had missed. Like all her experiments, the result was
really disastrous. Then again, I should count my lucky stars as
she did not try this on the back or on the top of her head.....

Next, it was Kristine's turn whose fidgeting made the whole
ordeal much longer than it should be. Kaelynn's running here
and there did not help much either. At least this time, I did
not get scolded for taking photos like a mad man......

OK, so her hair is done, but to me, its too short now.....

Starting them young....

While she was having her lunch, Kristine suddenly whipped out
Mommy's old Mobile Phone and start her pretend conversation.
Wow. I wonder how she learn about this since all of us do not do
this. Period. I think, by the time she has her very own phone, this
might be a normal thing for her. Maybe I should get her a Bluetooth
headset by then, and place a mirror in front of her. Then she would
look weird talking to herself or the plate of spaghetti. Ha ha ha ha.

Getting high

We have all, at one time or another, seen and experienced the funny side of giving drugs or alcohol to children and/or animals. Its very very funny. Until it happens to you, of course. But in some countries, it was normal. For example, when I was in UK, there was one senior who was from Hong Kong and she said her family was very used to drinking alcohol when its winter and she has been doing since she was a toddler. Well, this is not Hong Kong and no, my Dad would not give some to me. Besides (at that time) its shite.

And so, one night, while both of us were relaxing with a can of Shandy between us, the curious girls were there............

Mommy pouring from a very strange can.......

And the foam is so different from Coca Cola and Kickapoo

And so, Kaelynn being more curious than her sister,
decided to try the drink. At first, I stopped her but
by then, it was too late

When it comes to kids, their expressions and response
are very innocent and straight to the point. And
unfortunately, this is Kaelynn's response. She
loved it to bits. Oh-oh.

A few minutes later, because we have yet to
have dinner, I think the drink went straight
to her head already

And as such, this was also my first reaction when
I drank Shandy for the very first time........

And so, Kaelynn starts being friendly. Too friendly, in fact.
I know she's high but everyone else denied it. Of course,
she does show the classic symptoms in a subtle way,
which, naturally, were ignored by everyone.

Luckily, Kristine decided to stick to her ice cold Ribena

And, with the absense of a dancing pole, Kaelynn
improvised with some chairs and Mommy

By now, I can tell you that she's taken more
than one third of the can. Here, Kristine is
happy that she can get near to her sister
without any untoward incident