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...

You... light up my type...

Jeffrey Chan just dropped by with the Lighted USB Keyboard he promised to give to me. This is quite a nice keyboard and the advantage is that I can now type under dim lights. So, I happily unplugged my RM20.00 second-hand DELL SK-8135 keyboard and plugged in the A4Tech.

To be honest, the keys are a little stiff and I had to get used to the new layout especially where the RETURN key is concerned. Also, the left TAB keys are a little too small. Although the keyboard is a little stiff (did I mention that already?), I was realyl enjoying typing on the new keyboard.

[Hours later]
Yes, i am love this new keayboarf and althoug there are some mitype of works, I can near with it.

[Much more hours latr}
Yes, this keyboaf is qoog. befy very good and my ginfers are gettinga realy wrokout. Yep, I lvoe thes keyboarf.

[Very much more houts late\
My hands are hnting and its vey ptoinsful to type sin ful witho ut muych iztakes.

Sadly, this beings me to the quet ofgf geting new lghted keyboard liek dell isf I can.

Trip to Toys R Us 05102012

;;

Sisterly Love

With the coast being clear, I let Kristine walk across the school basketball courts to get Kaelynn. And both were happily walking back to the car. What I am trying to do here is to get the girls closer and also, let Kristine know that as the eldest of the two, she has a responsibility to her sister.

Yes, and Kaelynn admitted to me that she likes it when both of them walked across the School Basketball Courts. Maybe she feels proud that her Sister came for her when she was waiting with her other classmates and teachers.

The Sleeping Beauty

Yeah, she came down to the floor level and continued sleeping. In actual fact, it was Kristine who like sleeping on the bed and not her.

My sparkly bit

I had the opportunity to see one of my circuits again. This time, from the actual customer who brought it to ICW. He was very happy with it and well, this makes me happy too. What made me happier was the fact that I could get this circuit out within two days since by coincidence, I had a spare.

And he was testing it for more than a few days which is still going strong.
I cannot tell you more about what he is going to do with it since its for an upcoming model competition.

The things you can do in 28 minutes

My new daily routine now, which is, after I have driven Kristine to school and put the laundry out to dry, is to read my emails and also, to catch up on my electronic designs.

That is, if I wanted to. But today, I decided to try something else. Something which I should have done weeks ago but never did.

Yep. Deep cleaning my shaver with a pair of tweezers. It must be done within a stipulated time or else I would show up at my friend's place looking unshaven, as if I had not shaved that morning. Ha ha ha.

Knocking and shaking the shaver about is fine but it would not get most of the hair and other weird bits out. You need to clean the area around the spindle as these would create friction which easily exhausts the batteries. One day, I would like to open the whole shaver, and then dip it in a RM90.00 ultra-sonic cleaner...

(Yes, that is how much I need to pay to get one)

Merc vs Mitsu

Yes, I am still here at ICW, even though it was supposed to close by 2230. But then, this is the rare privilege given by Raymond Loke to his friends. And so, with the 'extra' time, I decided to have a look at some model kits and unfortunately, I came across these two models. I know, I know, I am broke but they're both so beautiful.

 

The first was this Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, which inside the box has a lot of 'extra' parts.
But for me, this is as close as I can get to owning an Evo X, the last of the Evo/Lancer series as Mitsubishi is not going to continue with the range anymore.

Next one up is the Mercedes SL65, for which on the first glance of the box art, was too good to be true. You have obviously seen these type of art before where, the artist would exaggerate/distort the subject to make it more pleasant. The good news is, this is how it actually looks and so, after searching for more photos of the SL65 on the Internet, what you saw on the box art is the real thing.

And so, I asked Raymond if I could reserve the Merc for until the end of November so that by that time, my salary would be out and I can pay him. Raymond agreed immediately and even let me have the kit o the spot but I declined.

Woo Hoo! I now have a Merc and one day, an Evo X!

Powerful Typhoon in Japan

It just so happens that I was near Hobby HQ today and just among us, the conversation of a powerful typhoon which rolled a car piqued my curiosity. A few days go, I did see the pictures of an overturned car but thought nothing more about it other than feeling sad for the owner.

So, when I came back, I searched the YouTube and I was shocked...



The rolling car is bad but what is more dangerous was the flying metal sheets or over here, zinc roofs which when I was small, I used to hear about people being decapitated or seriously injured.

Kaelynn's Mooncake

We're not Celebrating the Mooncake Festival this year for obvious reasons. But there is no stopping me from mooning a cake, though. You just have to do this very quickly, and in private so that no one knows what you did with the cake.

Anyway, we're not celebrating it this time due to my Mom's passing.

Kaelynn's school encourage the celebration though. Apart from bringing their own lanterns, they made their own mooncakes.

Its so beautiful and for a moment, I thought it was edible...

Big sister examining the handicraft...

"How the heck did she do that?"

Ah, if you stop bullying me, I'll tell you the secret...

The Lawyer and his cigars

Subject: FW: Talk About Getting BURNED !!
A Charlotte, NC lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a law suit against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued.... and won! In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
NOW FOR THE BEST PART:

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and he was sentenced to 24 months in jail and ordered to pay a $24,000 fine. This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.


Its funny and too good to be true, right? You're right on the dot,

This is just another one of funny joke stories which is believed to be in circulation since 1960. From the UrbanLegends website, what you have read just now, was the more 'updated' version of the joke.

Nevertheless, this is just a joke and should be kept as it is. Because, there is no such thing as the Insurance losing....

Ben10's New Range

While Kristine was being violins, I decided to toy around...


At the local Toys R Us, there were some new Ben10 toy shipment and they're already on the shelves. So, let's have a look see. I suppose this is the start for new 'American' toys to come in since for the next three months, its Halloween, Chrsitmas, etc.

But why, oh why, must they put the words, 'Proto' in the front? Because when I read the name, my mind instantly goes into the Ghostbusters World instead.

New Omnitrix using touch control. Initially, it looks bulkier and nothing works when I tested it, maybe there is some battery connector tab which was not removed.However, I still prefer the original anytime because nothing beats turning the dial around and the slam it in for the transformation. Cool isn't it?

Nice bike, and it reminds me of one of the Masked Rider series. This has potential for other things but alas, the prices stopped me. Its called the Tenn-Speed cycle (10-speed a bicycle) which does not make sense because a 'normal' real bike for kids, as far as I know, does not have that many gears. Anyway, the toy's upper cowl opens up to function as some sort of wings. But one thing good about this is that the Ben10 figure has a helmet. Hooray for road safety awareness.

This is also a very nice transforming spaceship vehicle thingy.

If you fold it right, it would look like one of those Slave II spaceships from Star Wars.

OK, this is a weird one, the Proto-Scope. Its actually nice name for a periscope. I would prefer they coming up with better names like Proto-Pock or PackoScope or, how about Packet-vision...

When you add it to the gun and glasses, no one would even want to sit next to you

A closer look at the glasses, which is the Proto-Specs.
Not bad for the name. If its from the Ghostbusters, that is.

OK, I'll admit it. I like this one. The shape some how gels with a lot of concept.

That is, until you realise its some kind of a exploding thing. I do not want to hold this in my hand while 'imagining' new designs only to have it explode halfway, traumatising my thoughts.

Ben10 Tech Blaster. (for blasting Techs?)
Its a nice design, for a briefcase thingy which turns out to be a weapon. Tony Stark must be jealous because his only turns out to be a suit. But seriously, a gun?

The rustbucket with no rust. At first it looks good

But the more you look at it, it was so good, you do not know what to do with it except to stuff action figures into it and most to most, try to make it fly (anywhere but near a window)

Now, this is a very nice vehicle. (No 'Proto' names too). Maybe I can call it, 'Proto-quad' or 'Proto-bug' or the 'Proto-Kev' or sometihng. But Aerotrack?

But once it 'unfolds' itself, it looked more like a technological flying tick.

I have not seen the new TV Series or any episodes apart from the ones years ago so, I am looking at them from a outsider point of view. Now, with the new toy range which could be a hit (if not for the pricing since everyone is comparing it to Ben10 bootlegs which is everywhere), it seems as if they're trying to market them as toys...

Kristine's Sports Day 2012

My Wife told me, taking Kristine to the Sports Stadium is very easy. All I needed to know is to just get there early. Well, as usual, all plans fail whenever I am around. Because by the time I reached the area, yes, area. I cannot say the word place yet. You see the whole area was full of cars and I'll bet the locals there wondered what was happening. For those who are coming from the main road (like me), you need to queue up for the queue to make the U-turn to the Stadium's entrance. The funny thing was, although her school has her own field, they decided to borrow a mini Stadium belonging to another school. BECAUSE this stadium was many times bigger than the field. OK, that was the only logic I could think of but I think it also has to do with the fact that it has more parking space for the parents and other authorised vehicles.

The even starts from 0800 until 1230 and surprisingly, this is the first time, in for a Primary school function (where I attended), everything went like clockwork with 10-12 minutes to spare! Wow.

And so, like any dutiful Parent, I resigned myself to a covered seat. Luckily with the overcast sky, it was not too humid nor hot.

All the students were gathering on the far side of the field. I am not sure what Group/Sports House Kristine was, but all I know was that she wore a blue band.

The Parade Starts off with the Scouts.

Then the individual Sports Houses, each being led by a Flag bearer and their mascot

Yes, you got that right, people. Wolverine!

After the Parade, it was time for exercises. And man, although the Wolverine costume was nice, it was very hot for her.

First casualty for the Red Cross that was on standby

Some funny moments where her younger sister wanted to join in too. Many times, there were repeated announcement to inform the parents to stay off the track until the announcer nearly lost her cool.
She should have started with, "For those parents who are still on the track, we will find your kid and kick her out and make her repeat the year..."

This was and the best part of the Sports. Each team had to pick up an clothes item and help the other team member wear them. And although each team has the same number of clothing, the costume is different.

Man, I love this 80-300 lens.

OK, now its Kristine's turn

She is fast but eventually, in the team they went to beyond third. She kept saying they were second but the teacher told them its over. Sheesh.

Full of confidence at first...

Walking around the field, talking to her classmate. This was what she had been doing since morning. She was not even in the parade but just, well, hung around the tents.

Kristine still looking excited and all

Until we reached home...