20221129 Passing through Petaling Street

HOW LONG WAS IT AGAIN?

It's been quite a long time since I last walked through Petaling Street. Sure, I've driven past or near the area but never really went through it. Like most KL-lites, we do go there at least a few times in our lives. This was the go to place when we need stuff at bargain prices.

So, you'd go there, get the items you want and then haggle for a bit and everyone's happy. Sadly was the time of pre-Internet. Nowadays, one seldom dare to bargain anymore and with so many Foreigners, it's not really CHINAtown anymore.

The Petaling Street as seen from the Jalan Sultan Ismail entrance.

 

THE PANDEMIC AFTERMATH

And so, it was a great opportunity for me to walk through the place, with a part of me trying to reconnect with the place. But alas, things were not what they seemed to be. My mission was to try to approach as many Hotels as possible.

Long ago, Nanyang Art store was  one of the two Art Shops to go to. There are so many colours and from here, I learnt the price of a decent Airbrush.

It's closest competitor, Venus Art was doors away but somehow, they have moved to Petaling Street.

 

But when I got closer, the place was being renovated for some kind of F&B shop

 Walking through the street, I can see a lot of signs of the Hotels. But once I get off the street and into the covers of the booth, the said Hotels had actually shuttered. The Pandemic really did affect the lives of everyone around.

KOTA RAYA

With the rain starting to get heavy, I decided to try one last Hotel, which was located at the 5th floor of the former shopping centre. In the 80's it was a very busy place what with Buses stopping in front, MacDonalds and Metrojaya at the back.

This was the pedestrian bridge I always used to get across to Kota Raya after buying my copies of 2000AD comic every Saturday. It has seen better times.

A little scare should the panel rusted through and I'd fall down to the traffic below.

 Anyway, the result was not what I hoped for and after exploring around, the place was also quite depressing. Strangely, I was stopped from wandering into the 4th Floor.

Kota Raya is quite cramped inside and surprisingly, the elevators are still there.

There are a lot more Philippine shops now. Even my favourite VHS and cassette tape shop was gone. There was no music throughout the whole building.

 

Since I was in the area, I just remembered REXKL, the place which I so wanted to go for a very long time...

 

 

 

 

 

20220913 Getting hot

After making sure my kids are delivered safely into the arms of their scholastic tormentors, it was time to go home. On the way back, while climbing the Mid Valley slope (the one where you exit off the Federal Highway right after the Petron gas station), I could hear my pistons pinging.

Usually when I start to approach the slope, I would use the car's momentum to let it go up about halfway before I step on the gas. As there was a car in front of me, I had to cancel the momentum and use the gas instead. And right there and then, I heard the sound. It only comes on if I just tap on the gas though. So I was wondering what is happening, thinking it could be the drive belt of something (OK, so the MyVi uses timing chains) and then I saw it with my own eyes...

 

The Engine is overheating!!!

And what made matters worse was that there is a slow moving lorry in front of us, watering the plants on the sides of the road. Keeping cool was all I could do since I noticed there was smoke coming out from under the hood. Finally, after an eternity, I got my car parked at the side of the road. Remembering that there was a Newsagent booth nearby, I two bottles of drinking water (3.0L in total)

The first thing you need to realise is that you cannot just open the radiator cap and pour in the (not hot) water. You need to wait or else, you will have more serious issue. After about a few minutes, I took the chance...

Slowly pouring in, hot radiator consumed about 1.25L of water while the reservoir took the rest.

There must be a lot of air bubbles as the water keep being burped out.

I know that the radiator was changed years ago after an accident and so, I guess it was time. Luckily, it was not the Radiator Fan nor its relay or even the temperature sensor. I had the water pump changed and also, I changed the thermostat myself last year. After thinking much about it, there was actually a warning sign which I could not recognise.

Days before and on that very morning, the car's air conditioner was blowing warm air. It distracted me as I kept wondering if there is any AC gas leak while not looking at the car's water temperature. And so, until I get this repaired, I had to pour in about 0.75L of water everyday.

 

Update: 20220919
I finally got the Mechanic (Mr. Sam from SK Chang Auto Service) to diagnose the issue which turned out to be the cracked radiator. The final price was  the same a pair of of new tyres (they're so bald, I can practically see the steel threads) which I planned to change. Because I am no longer required to commute 92Km daily, the radiator is now more important.

The Old radiator

I did not stop to check on the cracks but it is definitely near the hose.

This is from Mr. Sam's Phone which showed the damage.
He updates me on every progress. He told me he could not find any replacement sponge though. I might need to find it myself.

Yeah, that's two bottles of red coolant. I wanted to ask him to use the Toyota Long Life but since I did not see it in his shop, I just agreed.

Got a new radiator car thrown in since the old one's rubber has expanded

Maybe I should be looking into upgrading a larger radiator fan...
Not that it is necessary but sometime, the AC is quite warm and the water temperature needle is now halfway (sensor old?) instead of in the first quarter.

 

20220903 Run Down Office?

 So, I kinda came in late today.

And there was a lot of activity. I saw the remaining intern clearing out a lot of parts and stuff from the rear section wall, which is just next to the paint booth. The parts and things he laid out at the fence had a lot of those thick yellow bags. I am not sure what they are but yellow always mean hazard.

I walked back to the Customer Lounge, noting that the whole place is quite dark, as if someone did not turn on the lights with the storm clouds overhead. The first thing I did was to enter the toilet and it was quite dark, save for one light bulb. The other cubicle was closed off. I had to turn the lights on and off just to make sure.

The same gloominess also befell the Customer Lounge. Where the PS3 table and the Coffee machine  were, has been replaced with two vending machines which is almost empty. As for the Smart Android TV, it was off. I know I had deactivated the Screens but man, they do not have to turn it off.

Then I came to my Staff, she was her usual self but with a very thick makeup and red lipstick. I wanted to talk to her.

Then I realised, she is my ex-Staff.

I also realised, I did not actually go to the toilet.

Yeah, woke up just in time or else my Wife is gonna kill me.

Taking a Permanent Vacation

 

It's coming to two weeks since I was told that I would be taking a permanent vacation. And the date was brought forward 5 days earlier because of my remaining annual leave.

So I have time to dismantle my things since the option of buying them from me never came up. I would not be maintaining any data updates or additional work. My three Panasonic Keyphones, RAM upgrades to the work PC are some of the things I am taking back. They will have until the end of this month to decide on continuing with the Android TV's monthly payment and so on. I mean, the Manager has systematically removed me from all my responsibilities and undone my years of work. I would rather take back my stuff and destroy them.

Because to agree and compromise would be akin to being a, 'Sorhai'. So, I hope they can recover in a few month's time and they will call me back once again. Yeah, and I also hope the Tooth Fairy exists as well.

If you want to know, the writing was on the wall for months when I knew the Manager is suddenly becoming more vocal and telling me to stop doing certain duties. The next sign would be not being included in Management Meetings and then, I was not asked to go lunch with them anymore. The 'Confrontation' with the Director was the final nail in the coffin. There are a lot of questions which he could not answer. I know who created the rumour of a staff wanting to resign and it was used against me because of my methods to make them more resilient. I do have a temper because I believe that there is a line between staff and 'family' staff. In the end, 'Did that staff now become more efficient and better at their work?" proved that I was right.

Days later, the Director admitted that he did not expect the our discussion to go downhill nor when I called his bluff. So, there is the 'Opportunity' waiting for me once I revert back to the Energetic and Loyal Chow. He wanted to be sure that I am back as there are a lot of important Projects waiting for me. At this moment, it was quite difficult from keeping a straight face but I had to persevere.


In the end, I know they are in a hurry to let me go. And if what the Manager said is true, I am, again, the one to lose out because of their financial failures.

I do admit that looking for a new Job at my Age is going to be difficult. Just like always, the inBox is just full of... fluff.

Temporarily, I have a backup but this is not enough. I can't even send my Kid to a better College weeks ago.

The only consolation left in this Workplace

Packing my own Lunch

One thing I can say is that since early this year, I have been packing my own Lunch. Eventually, my Wife took over. I guess it was already a natural since it was so hard to have a decent meal what with all those Pandemic restrictions, separated seatings, food being sold out, masking up, scanning QR codes, etc.

But that did not matter anymore ever since I started this. A few months on, I can see some weight loss and well, being who I am, the solitude Lunch Hour has become such a joy. Whatever meal I could not finish, I know that it would be for next day's lunch. In most occasions, though, my Wife would make sure I have the freshest food.

For me, packing for tomorrow's lunch is a very simple exercise of just using and mixing whatever food or sauce I can get as sandwich filling. And being alone now, I do not have to worry about anyone commenting on my choice of lunch. In fact, no one bothers me much. Everyday, I just sit there, doing my most basic and original Job. Alone.

Roasted garlic, KFC's mashed potatoes, Tuesday's Korean chicken, Wednesday's Chicken Maryland fillet, garlic chili sauce and well, some Peri-Oeri sauce.

 

Oh, there is some leftover potatoes which I got from a roadside stall for dinner too.

All in a three bread sandwich.
I'll bet there is enough for Saturday's Lunch which is tomorrow. Unless there is no leftover KFC chicken pieces today, from last night's dinner.

 

I knew what you did. I just want to hear it from you, "Cold Storage".

So, this is how Cold Storage feels like when your style does not match. With the eventual 'lifting' of the Punishment, the suspected Jailor asked me, 'I need to know, can I still have your full support? Can I still have that Fully Committed Energetic fella on board?'

Let me get this straight. I was systematically removed from all responsibilities over time, whatever I have put in was discontinued or well, thrown away. I am now doing the most basic job left. You already knew my answer. I did what I did, managed what could, right or wrong, to get the results you want and when things are not so good, I am at fault?

Now you want me to help clean up and bring back the falling numbers which I have warned since years and even months ago? Why were my suggestions ignored back then? Yeah, there is nothing much I can do now but to sit and watch things burn.

I want to give you the answer which you're hoping for, but I want to be honest too, "A Job is a Job. If an opportunity comes, anyone would take it. After what was done to me, do you expect me to say, Yes?"

"Has anyone ever been rewarded for being fully committed and working more than normal?"

220624 The Raining

 

It rained early this morning while we were sleeping.

Then it rained again while I was on the way to work.

It did not rain much when I was about 3Km away from the Office.

But it was flooded, almost like the December of '21.

I can tell my Vee-chai was wet because the horn sounded more like a little croaked peep.

I know the roads would be wet from all the rain but surprisingly, the whole stretch was quite clear with minimal traffic bottlenecks. Over the radio, there was some reports of accidents which I guessed was what slowed down the traffic before the Federal Highway.

I know that the exit from KESAS would be jammed and was prepared to use the shortcut. Unfortunately, I had to re-enter the KESAS and take another detour back to the shortcut and refill my empty tank as well. Coming out back to the main route, the road was clear (since shortcut leads me past the flooding) and well, despite my best effort, I was about 3 minutes late. Still this was one of the three floods I had to go through and the last was much deeper so I had to step on the gas to prevent the water entering the exhaust.

 

Last Night's Dinner is tomorrow's Lunch

 Waste not, want not, they say. During the Pandemic, this has been my daily Lunch ritual. I would either pack sandwiches and use other food from the fridge as filling. Sometimes, if there were food left over from dinner, chances are, my Wife would pack it as next day's lunch. I am not sure what my Daughter did at school yesterday but she slept through until this morning. So, yeah, this was practically her Dinner.

 Which is fine with me. Because although I love doing this, there are a few positives from it. For one, it saves money because since the Pandemic the average cost of a simple lunch and a drink (you need to order a drink) has gone up to, and past the RM10.00 limit. Secondly, I do not need to go out in the hot Sun or heavy rain, hunt for parking/table space and also, wait for others to finish the meals or vice versa due to long waiting queues at the stalls and so on. But the most important thing is, I do not have to interact with people. Much.

 Lastly, one of the side effect is that I think I am losing some weigh as well. Which is strange because I seldom walk around nowadays and becamse lietrally desk-bound (another story, another time)

 Yeah, I am starting to begrudgingly accept that I am an introvert. And some even say I am an INFJ.

The awesome potatoes deep fried with hot chili oil and anchovies, a smidgen of pork and yam plus fried egg.

 

Mickey can't swim

I hate it when there are rodents around. When you see one, it means there are others and then I would have to start to play the usual waiting game with it. Setting the trap is easy but it takes a average of 5 days to get one trapped.

What I hated most is the getting rid of it part. Unlike termites, mosquitoes,  and cockroaches, getting rid of a rodent is not easy. Sure, you can bake it under the Sun, drown it even and well, give your Cat a present and other stuff. But since no Cat has officially adopted us...

Anyway, my usual would be to give the rat a nice midnight ride in the car and then introduce it to a new environment. 

But, this evening, I did not have to do that. Remember those YouTube videos where some guy would construct weird inescapable traps with buckets? We indirectly did one.

The rat somehow got into this pail and drowned. The pail was actually used to catch waste water from a leaking sink. How it do there, I am not sure but I did watch them jump at great heights.

In the end, I took a farewell photo and dumped its body into the drain.

Big ass Nangka

 

So, yeah, my Wife finally opened the huge Nangka which we guessed was about 30 kilos. And it is about the size of a big pillow. By the time I came back home, she was already done with it and so, I helped to to remove the sticky gum off the chopper. It's not easy but with some flour (or even talcum powder) and patience, I got the job done.

I learned this from my ex-Boss a decade ago when we were dealing with gel-filled cables. It's like wrangling with buttery wires which means there's a lot of stubborn gunk from your hands to the tools to the area, to almost everything you touched or did not touch.

So, this is one of the few times we get to see and eat big Nangkas. Even after sharing it with her sisters, we still had a lot left.

 

20220405 Dream

 This happened a few days ago but I just had the time to post it now.

In the Dream, I was back to my Engineer days although I am at my current age. It was like as if I was helping to install a Toshiba PABX. After so many years, I can still remember the programming and all. So, there I was, installing the system.

And I think, by the time I was finished, I went back home and my late Mom was there, asking if I had eaten. I replied, Thank you and yes.

I was so happy to see once more and she looked quite OK, standing in the middle of an unfamiliar and slightly dark room, with some kind of quilt-like matress as flooring.

Who I am

 This is so me when I was younger. Growing up, it eventually, it drove me to playing computer games by myself, drawing and try some scale modeling, etc. Usually, in most circumstances, there are no 'safe' rooms, I just have to grit it and carry on, which usually leads me to being emotionally angry or uncontrollable.

 

Something new for my VeeChai?

To be honest, my spare Alarm fob is lost and I am not so used to those Push to Start buttons, I am wondering why VeeChai cannot have one?

Actually, I just wanted to know, it its ECU is capable of interfacing with those OBD2 meters. So far, there is no answer unless I go to those Car Accessories shops or Perodua mechanics.

Repairing the Apple MacBook Charger

Just a few days ago, my Wife told me that she had issues with the MacBook. This Laptop was given to us as the one from her school was quite faulty. I planned to upgrade the RAM but at the last minute, this Laptop saved the day. So, she was happily working on it for a few years until last week.

So, after some discussion, she agreed to buy a replacement charger cable for me to replace it when I cam home. Worse case scenario? She would have to use my pre-owned ASUS.

This would be the first time I attempted to repair an Apple product instead of destroying it. After watching a few YouTube videos, I told my Wife the risks and she gave me the green light.

 

The replacement cable costs us about RM40.00. We could get it cheaper for RM10.50 but we would have to wait for it to ship from China,

The pinout for the charger cable. I was expecting a lot of cables but there's only two

Slide the power contact thingy away from the charger itself

Flip open the two plastic 'ears'. You can see the cable is quite worn. This is just one of the few holes I noticed in the cable's sheath

Using a pair of big-ass pliers, wedge the snout into the empty space of the 'ears' and pull the pliers apart. Do the same for the other side.

This is how the power supply looked. I lot one of the ears when it flew away.

De-solder the two cables but make sure you take note of its orientation. You might even want to take a before photo. But anyway, the cables were placed on a symbol which represents an electrolytic capacitor.

The White cable is easy to de-solder but the double-sided tape was blocking the black cable. Still it was not an issue exceot that my 30W soldering iron was not hot enough to remove the solder blobs. This is very critical since the PCB is a FR2 (the brittle SRBP material). So, I melted tome solder on the tip to make it slightly hotter. This really helped to melt the blob, enough for me to use the de-soldering pump.

The videos recommended solutions from CA (superglue) to hot-melts. So, since it was plastic, I tried Plastic Magic. So far so good.

OK, so it works. The next upgrade for this MacBook would be its LCD screen but I was told to KIV first.

 

The Book of Mandalorians

So, after finally catching up on the last 4 episodes of That Book, I must say that the Finale was overwhelmingly draining.

Remember that meme where the poor Devs girl watches in horror and finally in defeat when her client tested her product?
You know, where all the blocks went into the square hole instead of where it should have been? Yeah.

That was how I felt.

Anyway, the Why's

1. Cad Bane's presence was so powerful and I wished I had watched the Clone Wars all the way through. The voice was perfect and he really looked the part. Why..., oh Bobby did mention they're both old, hence most of the shooting. At least it is still better than watching the infamous geriatric laser sword fight. I still can't get over his bald head. Please elongate it a little more.

2. I love the fodder Tactics they used as it isolated and weakened every team to the point Fennec has to go rescue whatever was left.

3. The Mos Espa 'trench run' with the two firing ED-209s could use a Benny Hill theme. The place looked huge and here, all the action is on this one long street.
4. Why the King Kong reference with the Rancor? Also, by pulling it out of the shadows, it does not look so scary anymore.

5. Back to Cad Bane. He looked so unbeatable, so flexible, even in the Clone Wars and now old man gets the sharp end of a stick...

6. I actually did not like what the mid-end credit showed. Why can't they shove the nice fella into the Bacta Tank or something?

7. And just for the kids, yeah, the lightspeed thang. Yeah, I skipped a lot of parts after the battle just to get to this ending and the mid-credit scene. Can't say I'm missing much but that's on me.

In summary...
At one point in time, I am sure some of us would have experienced this scenario: In a play or some last minute group photo-shoot or something, they needed everyone to be there.
So, they would corral all the actors and actresses, and anyone they can get within grabbing distance to be on the glaring stage and tie up all the loose ends. So, everything feels, rushed and well, [insert on your upset emotions for that day].

The only thing I liked was the firing sound effects from the two Droideka-like ED-209 droids. Good Bass there.

I do like Star Wars and other Sci-Fi but not to the point of declaring myself a somewhat hardcore fan, expects everything to go my way . I am way past that. Heck, it does not matter if you do not like what I like and vice versa. Being with the 'in crowd' is so exhausting and pretending toe smile and like what the crowd loved is just so not me. I just watch them if and when I feel like it. If it's good, it's good. Otherwise the turd is just some evening flick to edge away the thorns from my daily grind. But for this one, I really need a drink. And I can't even hold my liquor.

Yeah, you do you.

Here is an image of Cobb Vanth just because

 

Wasabi

 "The only reason I go to these places (Sushi King, etc) is because I love Wasabi"

There. I've said it. And halfway through, I was kinda surprise of the sudden revelation and since the words are already halfway out, I might was well finish it. It is not a good idea to stop the literary flow at the same time when your wasabi filled mouth needs to vent out. Ah, the perils of multi-tasking.

Took me a few moments to digest what I have just uttered. Sure, I love going to these places despite the taste having devolved from being original to the more acceptable local palate. This was a conversation we had just a few nights ago after coming back from (somewhere). And as my Wife pointed it out, Japanese people do not go to Sushi King, Sakae Sushi, etc. for their meals. Just like we do not go to Pizza Hut to experience authentic Italian Pizza.

Anyway, coming back to the wasabi (yes, although what I've been eating all these time was not the real McCoy), I just love them and has been using them for the wrong reasons; a nose unblocker and (horrors) sushi sauce. Growing up in a typical Malaysian household, most of our meals comes with sauce in one form or another. Call it gravy, call it sauce, call it 'banjir', call it whatever you want and its there, on my plate.

If it is not there, you can bet your ass that I would be whipping up one. And just recently, I have discovered that sushi/soy sauce paste, with pate like consistency is way better than my usual wasabi sludge which resembled more like dark green toothpaste or, well, sauce.

 

 

Wasabi Paste.
Maybe I should have taken the photo BEFORE eating.
The powder soaked up a lot of soy sauce.

 

 

My most prized haul after the tables have cleared.
Well, not the salad sauce, though.

Cafe au Clavier

Sounds like a nice French drink right? I just typed that into Google Translate and well, the result in English was what I wanted: Coffee on the Keyboard.

It was just a few days ago, that I accidentally spilled coffee (for the first time in memory) on my keyboard. A used Dell Multimedia SK-8135 USB keyboard which I got for less than RM20.00 decades ago. And the one keyboard which I wished I had gotten more.

This is the Dell SK-8135 Multimedia keyboard.
I have removed the wrist padding since its just plastic

 At the time, it was the only keyboard which has two low powered USB ports (people call them USB hubs now) and I can just plonk in a Wireless mouse receiver in there. I used to be able to do the same with USB Drives but you cannot do that with the modern ones because they will make your computer insult you with words like insufficient power or worse.

Basically, I loved this keyboard due to its very unique curves at the space bar area. Oh, the USB ports and volume controls were a bonus but it was this curve which got me to part about 2 hour's worth of slave wages. Also, because of the two USB slots cut into the plastic, I can get a modern USB hub and modify/upgrade it. It was also the same keyboard which consoled me when I thrashed those mechanical ones just after less than 3 weeks of use before it reverted back into un-assembled component state.

It was the only keyboard which saw me go though a lot of things and still worked. And I christened it with 3in1 White Coffee.

Coffee mixed with two decades of dust, DNA samples, food, etc.
In other words, it is gunk.

Take a picture of they keyboard layout before you start
removing the keyboard caps.

You can see where the coffee affected the keyboard.
The dry dust at the upper left and right were not affected

I used a lot of cotton buds, IPA and curse words though

And they're not fun since the coffee/dust mix has dried

If I need to clone myself around my 30's,
I have all the DNA samples I need