White Coffee

Zack and I went to the Ipoh Town Kopitiam on Tuesday night and I wondered if there was a Kuching Town Kopitiam in Ipoh...

It'd be nice if there was such a thing.

All kidding aside, Ipoh Town Kopitiam was quite good. That white coffee thing was a lot stronger than I expected. It actually gave a me a headache.

I'm coming back here soon. We left Zack's house very late and only spent something like 20 minutes there before it closed. Hardly enough time to soak up the atmosphere.

That was only enough time to eat half boiled eggs on toast, which was very good by the way. It was a little salty but I overdid the kicap so that was my fault actually.

My first impression was quite good. The staff was quite nice even though I could see that they all wanted to go home at the time. It was 10 o'clock and yet more customers arrived...

Still they were very nice about it and patiently waited for everyone to leave.

I think I'll hang out here next week on Monday evening.

I took some more pictures and you can see them here.

In other news, I'm once again feeling a little dry when it comes to blogging. Nothing new is coming up. Apart from some routine stuff. I bought a card reader yesterday evening to replace my other one which I lost.

It cost 30 bucks which I thought was quite high at the time but the nice thing about this reader is that it can read M2 and MicroSD cards without needing any adapters. Very useful indeed. And fast. Unlike my previous card reader, this new one doesn't display all the slots in My Computer until you plug in your memory card. Very convenient.

Apart from that? I've done nothing useful or interesting. Except maybe help Zack with his Streamyx set up. And buy a button cell battery for a friend whose PC can't remember what time it was anymore.

All this working at night is getting to me. I'm not sure if I want to keep doing this. I would love to work 9-5 again if I can.

Know anyone needing an experienced tech support technician?

How True is This?

I have no idea what to write about so I'm going to rip something off the net and ask a question. This is going to be a looong read so the question is, how true is the following...

The 10 Most Dangerous Mistakes Men Make With Women

MISTAKE #1: Being
Too Much Of A “Nice Guy”

Have you ever noticed that the really attractive women never seem to be attracted "nice" guys?

Of course you have.

Just like me, I'm sure you've had attractive female friends that always seemed to date "jerks"... but for some reason they were never romantically interested in YOU.

What's going on here?

It's actually very simple...

Women don't base their choices of men on how "nice" a guy is. They choose the men they do because they feel a powerful GUT LEVEL ATTRACTION for them.

And guess what?

Being nice doesn't make a woman FEEL that powerful ATTRACTION.

And being NICE doesn't make a woman CHOOSE you.

I realize that this doesn't make a lot of logical sense, and it's hard to ACCEPT... but GET OVER IT.

Until you accept this FACT and begin to act on it, you'll NEVER have the success with women that you want.

MISTAKE #2: Trying To
“Convince Her To Like You"

What do most guys do when they meet a woman that they REALLY like... but she's just notinterested?

Right! They try to "convince" the woman to feel differently.

Well, I have news for you... YOU WILL NEVER CHANGE HOW A WOMAN "FEELS" WHEN IT COMES TO ATTRACTION!

Never, ever, EVER.

You cannot CONVINCE a woman to feel differently about you with "logic and reasoning".

Think about it.

If a woman doesn't "feel it" for you, how in the world do you expect to change that FEELING by being "reasonable" with her?

But we all do it.

When a woman just isn't interested, we beg, plead, chase, and do our best to change her mind.

Bad idea. One that will never work.

MISTAKE #3: Looking To Her
For Approval Or Permission

In our desire to please women (which we mistakenly think will make them like us), us guys are always doing things to get a woman's "approval" or "permission".

Another HORRIBLE idea.

Women are NEVER attracted to the types of men who kiss up to them... EVER.

Don't get me wrong here.

You don't have to treat women BADLY for them to like you.

But if you think that treating a woman well means "always getting her approval and permission for things", think again.

You will never succeed by looking for approval. Women actually get ANNOYED at men who seek their approval.

Doubt me? Just ask any attractive woman if Wussy guys who chase her around and want her approval annoy her...

MISTAKE #4: Trying To “Buy” Her Affection With Food And Gifts

How many times have you taken a woman out to a nice dinner, bought her gifts and flowers, and had her REJECT you for someone who didn't treat her even HALF as well as you did?

If you're like me, then you've had it happen a LOT.

Well guess what?

It's only NATURAL when this happens...

That's right, I said NATURAL.

When you do these things, you send a clear message:

"I don't think you'll like me for who I am, so I'm going to try to buy your attention and affection".

Your good intentions usually come across to women as over-compensation for insecurity, and weak attempts at manipulation. That's right, I said that women see this as MANIPULATION.

MISTAKE #5: Sharing
“How You Feel” Too Early In
The Relationship With Her

Another huge and unfortunate mistake that most men make with women is sharing how they "feel" too early on.

Attractive women are rare.

And they get a LOT of attention from men.

Most men don't realize this, but attractive women are being approached in one way or another ALL THE TIME.

An attractive woman is often approached several times a DAY by men who are interested. This translate into dozens of times per week, and often HUNDREDS of times per month.

And guess what?

Attractive women have usually dated a LOT of men.

That's right. They have EXPERIENCE.

They know what to expect.

And one thing that turns an attractive women off and sends her running away faster than just about anything is a guy who starts saying "You know, I really, REALLY like you" after one or two dates.

This signals to the woman that you're just like all the other guys who fall for her too fast... and can't control themselves.

Don't do it. Lean back. Relax.

There's a much better way...

MISTAKE #6: Not “Getting” How Attraction Works For Women

Women are VERY different from men when it comes to ATTRACTION.

You need to accept this fact, and deal with it.

When a man sees a beautiful, young, sexy woman, he INSTANTLY feels a sexual attraction.

But does the same apply for women?

Do women feel sexual attraction to men based mostly on looks? Or is something else going on?

Well, after studying this topic for over five full years now, I can tell you that women usually have their "attraction mechanisms" triggered by things OTHER than looks.

Have you ever noticed that you see a lot more average and unattractive men with beautiful women than the other way around?

Think about it.

Women are more attracted to certain qualities in men... and they're attracted to the way a man makes them FEEL than they are to looks alone.

If you know how to use your body language and communication correctly, you can make women feel the same kind of powerful sexual attraction to you that YOU feel when you see a hot, sexy young woman.

But it's not an accident. You have to LEARN how to do this.

And ANY guy can learn how...

MISTAKE #7: Thinking That It
Takes Money And Looks

One of the most common mistakes that guys make is giving up before they've even gotten started... because they think that attractive women are only interested in men who have looks and money... or guys who are a certain height... or guys who are a certain age.

And sure, there are some women who are only interested in these things.

But MOST women are far more interested in a man's personality than his wallet or his looks.

There are personality traits that attract women like a magnet...

And if you learn what they are and how to use them, YOU can be one of these guys.

YOU DO NOT have to "settle" for a woman just because you aren't rich, tall, or handsome.

Let me say this again: If you know how to use your body language and communication correctly, you can make women feel the same kind of powerful sexual attraction to you that YOU feel when you see a hot, sexy young woman.

MISTAKE #8: Giving Away
All Of Your Power To Women

Earlier I mentioned that it's a mistake to look to a woman for approval or permission.

Well, another similar tactic that a lot of guys use is GIVING AWAY THEIR POWER to women.

Said differently, guys try to get women to like them by doing whatever the woman wants.

Another bad idea...

Women are NEVER attracted to men that they can walk all over... Women aren't attracted to Wussies!

MISTAKE #9: Not Knowing
EXACTLY What To Do In Each
Type Of Situation With Women

Now I'm going to blow your mind...

A woman ALWAYS knows what you're thinking.

Women are approximately TEN TIMES better than men at reading body language. That's ten TIMES.

I know, it might be hard to believe. But for example, if you're out on a date with a woman, and you want to kiss her, she knows it.

And if you don't know exactly what to do and exactly HOW to kiss her, and you just sit there looking at her and getting nervous, she won't help!

And this goes for ALL aspects of women and dating...

Approaching a woman, getting her number, asking her out, kissing her, getting physical... everything.

If you don't know what to do in each situation, you will probably screw it up... and LOSE EVERYTHING.

And you KNOW it.

It is VITALLY important that you know EXACTLY how to go from one step to the next with a woman... from the first meeting, all the way to the bedroom.

MISTAKE #10: Not Getting HELP

This is the biggest mistake of all.

This is the mistake that keeps most men from EVER having the kind of success with women that they truly want.

I know, guys don't like to make themselves look weak or helpless. We don't like to ask for help....

(The rest of this point is a pitch for some self-help thing. You can read the rest here.)

So did anyone read that? What do you think? Is any of this true?

Chap Goh Meh

... and as usual I'm covering for people again.

Internet connection still not very good at the moment. Line still not very stable. Can surf the net but downloading and posting things still a hit & miss affair.

I already know what's wrong. Something to do with the phone line. Already made a report. No follow up yet. I somehow have a feeling this will drag on for awhile.

Was off work the last few days. Very restful and very busy at the same time. Went out a lot. I need a longer break.

I do have one good story to tell. Something about that phone number that was left in my comment box a few posts ago. But the story isn't very long at the moment so nothing much to tell currently.

I watched Hot Fuzz yesterday. Nice movie. The plot was quite unexpected.

I didn't get much sleep before coming to work today so I'm kinda tired at the moment. Therefore, not much to tell in today's post..

Maybe later?

FML and Other Stuff

Over the course of these years of internet surfing, I inevitably sign up for all kinds of things. Blogging sites, email, free web hosting, forums etc. Most of the time, I end up not using those things. Occasionally, I sign up on to some stuff so that I can stalk other people. Livejournal for example.

And Multiply. I signed up for Multiply some time ago but never thought about really using it until a few days ago. It's actually quite convenient. I like the way it provides space and easy means to put up stuff like pictures, videos, MP3s, blogs, links and so on.

So my Multiply site is up and active. This blog will remain my primary location for... well, blogging but for everything else I'll probably use Multiply. It's quite fun. Try it.

In other news, I'm dying to know how much Football Manager Live will cost per month. If it costs less than 50 bucks, I'm in.

The people in charge have said that the subscription will cost the same as "a few pints" a month. So my England dwelling viewers, how much would that be in real money?

Anyway, I've been reading up on FML and I love the idea of building and running your own football team alongside 1,000 other managers. Yeah, according to what I've read each "world" will be limited to 1,000 teams. I think it's just nice. To juiciest part of all must be the players. FML will use the legendary Football Manager player database which includes tens of thousands of REAL WORLD players!

Yes, you can sign Christiano Ronaldo. And any other big player you can think off. Provided these haven't been signed by the other 999 managers...

I'm actually already thinking about my FML team already! The game allows you to customize damn near everything about your team's setup (except starting finances which will be the same as everyone). Team name, nick name, strip, stadium name and of course your roster.

I would like my team to wear green\white hoops ala Glasgow Celtic. Or blue\white hoops like QPR. It's because it's different see? I think most people would go for red\white, all red or blue. Yeah, lots of Chelsea\Liverpool\MU fans about.

So what about the name eh? For your prospective Kuching-based players there will be tons of choices I would think. KFC (Kuching FC)? AC BDC? Heng Guan United? AFC Kuching Utara? South Kuching Wanderers? Atletico Potato? PJ Athletic? Persatuan Olahraga dan Bola Sepak Matang Hilir?

So many cool choices!

I can't wait.

Oh by the way, FM 2008 ver8.02 patch is out.

Hmm Valentine's Day

I wanted to post about Valentine's Day and how it doesn't bother me at all now when compared to last time before I went and took my pills...

... but I'm too tired to think of anything to write. Nothing comes to mind. Which is strange considering how long winded (and emo) I would usually get around this time of year.

So what have I done lately? I had one PC to fix a few days ago. It's ok now.

My Streamyx connection is better but still lots of timeouts and the line still drops randomly although not quite as often. TM knows about this. Yesterday someone called to ask about it and they are aware of the line dropping. They've assigned a different technical team to my case apparently.

I hope they fix it soon. The random line dropping is very annoying.

I went to The Office with some friends on Sunday. Met some new people who are completely different from the type I usually hang out with. It was ok.

Last night my phone went crazy and refused to send messages until almost midnight.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and for the first time ever, I don't feel lonely at all. I'm completely ok. Not an ounce of regurgitated pain. Not a sliver of painful memory of past bad relation stuff. There is no sign of anything bad at all. It's an interesting feeling. Or is that lack of feeling?

I guess being emo is made worse when you had dysthymia eh?

And so with this, I would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Valentine's Day. May it bring joy and happiness for all. I have many friends who are in relationships at the moment and I hope they have plans for something on the day itself or thereabouts.

Me? I work tomorrow night so no Valentine's Day plans for me. Maybe next time.

Scum

elitist (noun)

A person who thinks they are better than everyone else.

Contrary to their own feelings, elitists are arrogant pricks who place themselves higher than others without any actual evidence of their so-called higher standing. Elitists also come in many different shades and colors, from the bombastic college student to the obsessive gym rat to the many types of snobbish, high brow "connoisseur". Usually when one is confronted with a confirmed elitist, the first thing that anyone feels for them is utter repulsion at the fact that this animal scum believe themselves to be in any way above their fellow primates.

Elitist behaviour can be evidenced by the barely concealed disdain the elitist feels about their inferiors. This disdain is often (poorly) disguised as "observations" or "honest opinions". The elitist is usually hypercritical and will react angrily when challenged, particularly when challenged by someone whom the elitist deems as "inferior".

- Adapted from Urban Dictionary

I read something something yesterday that prompted me to think of the above term.

Sometimes, I feel sorry for people like this. Perhaps they don't realize it. In at least one case familiar to me, it runs in the family.

The elitist scum may be able to fool some people with their aura of faux class and they seemingly "intelligent" critique of the inferiors surrounding them but in the end they usually manage to alienate everyone and end up as their final reincarnation.

That of the friendless bitch.

Kacang lupakan kulit, he saying goes. Remember that people.

So if you do in fact think you are better than your present company, please rethink that. In all likelihood, it's the other way around. A "superior" person brings up all those around them, not put them down.

I'm off work for the next few days.

Guess What?

This blog celebrated its 4th anniversary. In January. Once again, I completely forgot about it.

I was reading some old posts and how things have changed since this confused attempt at a blog post. The thing about blog posts is apart from the topic being blogged about at the time, they also carry the memory of what things were like when those posts were written. Things like what I was feeling and what was happening at the time.

I read old posts and comments and I remember more than just the posts.

Every now and then I browse through my own archives and these days I'm struck at how different things were only 4 short years ago. The person who started this blog and the person writing this post now? Totally different guy. Is that what's called growing up?

You know, I may be 35 this year but never once have I ever considered myself an "adult" in the conventional way. Perhaps I am what is called a man-child? Perhaps. Maybe I'll never truly "grow up" in the traditional way, as in becoming your regular responsible, mature, family man type of person.

Imagine me with my own family. That's a funny picture really. I can barely take care of myself let alone someone else.

Anyway, I may have digressed a bit here.

Regardless of any sentiments I may have about growing older, it's been four years since I've started blogging and it's a good thing that should be celebrated. God knows how much worse off I would have been had I not been blogging.

So here's to many more years of blogging and many more years of discovery and change.

Oh yes one more thing, a long long time ago I wondered about what makes a man attractive to women and how people like swaggery ex-colleague can make women swoon in their presence despite acting like a complete ass. You know, the X factor, the "thing".

No, it's not that women like jerks and people who mistreat them. Not really anyway. It's something else.

A few months ago, I was hanging out doing nothing when suddenly it occurred to me what it was. I think I know now. Some guys are born with it. Some other guys eventually learn it.

And some guys just don't have it, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, I can't really explain what it is that I see. Maybe one day I will be able to write it down.

Anyway, happy birthday blog. You have served me well and may I continue blogging ever more. I would also like to thank all those friends and strangers who take the time to read and leave comments. Your presence honours me.

PS. I found this great Jerry Kamit song recently. It's awesome.

I'm Bored...

early morning sky...

...so I will post random pictures from my phone...

This is a Dell Vostro 1200. Belongs to a colleague. Very nice and small as you can see. Cigarette pack for scale.

It's 12 inch and very reasonably priced. I want one. But the Vostro 1400 14 inch notebook is also quite nice and is actually cheaper. No matter, I'm not getting one anytime soon anyway...


These are little oranges people left at the office. I ate a ton of these. They were very, very good. Unfortunately, they are all gone now...

This is one of those interesting floor tiles found at the Spring. I have another picture of the even more interesting ceiling at the Spring Food Court. Very physidelic. I love the Spring. I think it's awesome. And MPH open last week too.

It's a nice place to hang out . Looking forward to doing things next week. Hopefully, I can get my DSL problem sorted out then.

More Internet Problems

Well Telekom has followed up with my problem the other day and still no joy. They've already put me on an elevated priority but so far the problem is still there. Very dirty connection, lots of timeouts, lost packets and line dropping.

Since it's the Chinese New Year holidays I'm not expecting this problem to be resolved until at least next week. In the mean time, I've been scouring the net for possible causes and solutions.

Two things at the moment.

One, my phone line is very noisy. Noisy as in lots of clicking noises and static when you're on the phone. All this while I've taken this for granted since the line's been dirty a long time actually. It's even worse when my router is working. Apparently this is not normal and may affect my internet connection. But the strange thing is even with all the noise, my DSL connection's been working all this time without any problem.

This leads me to...

Two, the router. I've been reading a lot about DSL connections problem and now I have this nagging suspicion that my router may be dying. I need to bring my router to a friend's house and test it there. His connection's been fine and very fast. If I get time outs at his place with my router...

That means I need to buy a new router...

Shit. More money gone. Is there a way to repair a router? It's a shame really. Or maybe I can sell my current router. The modem part of it might be busted but the wireless and the switch parts of it is still ok.

I'll know for sure on Monday.

Meanwhile, I'm tracking this quality Linksys product.

*Sigh*

In other news... well there isn't any at the moment. Apart from yesterday evening when another friend's PC developed a problem. His 6 year old 20Gb hard disk is finally in it's death throes. It's got bad sectors now. Luckily, the dude bought an 80Gb unit last year so now he's booting up from that.

I noticed that his PC is now noticeably faster than it used to be. It now runs Titan Quest very nicely and I could even bump up the detail level and use a higher resolution without lagging. So if you are running your PC from an ancient hard disk and feel the thing is quite slow, it is. Time to fork out the cash and change the disk.

Don't worry about it, hard drives are cheap. RM180 will get you a nice, fast and reasonably large 160Gb. The 80gb ones are cheaper still.

Yeah that's it for now. Nothing interesting these few days.

Happy holidays and have a Happy and Prosperous New Year~!

Hackintosh!

Did you know that it is possible to build a fake Mac using IBM compatible PC parts and run Mac OS X on it?

I didn't know either. Until now. Intriguing....

And here I thought I'd run out of ideas for PC projects... Will I do this? If I got extra cash, why not?

To be completely honest, I don't understand why Apple won't release OS X "in the wild", so to speak. I'm pretty sure that they would rake in the money if they do this. At the moment OS X only runs on Mac hardware (officially at least) and from what I know, the only thing that prevents OS X from running on "wild" hardware is something in the code... (of course I'm not sure about this so I could be wrong).

By the way Lifehacker is a good website for tech stuff. Very cool.

Talking about cool, I think the Sony Rolly is very cool too. I mean, it dances. How cool is that? Watch this video and this video. Here's the advert. Cool eh?

In other news, my connection issue at home is bad enough that I had to call Streamyx this morning. They've reset my port twice already. The line quality is still not very good with lots of timeouts but at least I don't get randomly disconnected anymore. They haven't called back to close my ticket so I think they are still looking into it. I hope.

I get off work tomorrow and I have some extra work to do. I also have a birthday party to attend in the evening. I hope to be able to squeeze enough time to finally visit MPH at the Spring.

Also, I feel the need to change blog templates again...

Not Connected

*Haven written in a while and quite a few things to write about, so this post will be rather long.

The internet connection at my house is quite patchy over the last few days. Sometimes, the line would drop and other times it would get very slow for some reason.

On Tuesday I wanted to blog about the sheer idiocy in attempting to plagiarise something off the net and to claim it as your own. It happened again recently. In fact, this has happened once to a friend of mine. I wrote about it years ago. I'd link it if only I could find the post...

Anyway, it beggars belief how some people think they can get away with it. Sure, the internet is big. But not that big. Eventually people will find out.

What I want to know is why does one need to plagiarise blog posts for God's sake? Is it SO hard to go and write? I do get that maybe some people find it hard to write what they are thinking. When I started, it was hard for me too. These days it's not that hard at all. The only hard part these days is finding stuff to write about it.

I had wanted to write and post this on Tuesday but my internet connection went on the fritz. The next day it was ok but it was really erratic. So no mail, no facebook, no YouTube, nothing.

Not that I had much time to do all of that anyway even if I had a good connection.

I was off work but I had to do some other work involving people's PCs. Lately I've been thinking that it might be good if I were to do that computer service thing properly. As some kind of side income. I do enjoy it after all and it'll will give me an excuse to look over all the new tech stuff coming out. Ever since I started working here at my current job I've been kind of behind the times tech wise.

So, I went to help this friend of mine with some computers that they have in the house. It was quite satisfying to bring back dead PCs to life. It was even more satisfying to introduce internet usage and culture to my noob friends. They had just gotten Streamyx and so far the only thing they know how to do is download warez...

Well after giving them a tour of my favourite websites and a crash course in search engine use, they now know that the net isn't just for warez. Or porn...

The really good thing was these guys seem really into the whole www internet pop culture thingy that I keep talking about. As anyone knows, an eager student is a good student.

The next evening, I had to go to another house to check out another PC. This one has a crashing IE7 problem which I will attempt to remedy on Monday evening. Oh yes, that evening I also need to set up a new 80Gb hard disk in another PC...

Yeah, I think I would like to do this semi-professionally now. The extra bit of cash will be handy. So, you got PC problems? Need advice? Want to buy computer but are intimidated by the bewildering array of choices available?

I can help out.

In other news, I was at a kopitiam with my cousin\insurance guy when he suddenly offered to set up with some women he knows. Usually I say no to this kind of thing but somehow that evening I was quite intrigued by it. So yeah, I told him go ahead and do it. I don't mind.

It'd be nice to meet new people. If I can meet new people with someone else doing my approach work for me, all the better. I just hope I don't disappoint them when we do meet, whenever that is. My insurance guy is a rather busy guy so I'm not holding my breath to be honest.

This coming week is Chinese New Year so that means I'll be in the office as everyone else is on vacation. As usual.

Here's wishing everyone a nice holiday and a nice trip back home (if applicable).

Still Too Busy

The title says it all.

Yesterday, I was off from work and today I'm back at work again. Had only one day off. Very tired. We've had a grueling few days here and everyone's on edge. Sadly, there will be extra work until the end of February when we will finally get our replacement.

Still can't think of anything worth writing about but the urge to post is there. So what does one talk about when there's nothing to talk about?

Well... The weather is very hot today. Extremely hot. The planet is getting hotter, that's a fact. Just now I was outside and suddenly a memory from a long, long time ago appeared in my head. I was 5 years old and still living in our old house. I remember very clearly frolicking outside with various animals in our yard.

It wasn't this hot at 10.00am 30 years ago.

Maybe I should do my part and get a car that doesn't fail emissions tests? Unfortunately, this won't make much sense from the financial point of view. I can only buy a new car four years from now. Which is a damn shame because there are at least two new cars that I really fancy and can actually afford, provided I get rid of mine now. Which is a lot easier said then done.

In the same wanting-to-buy-stuff-but-can't vein, I really want my own notebook. Unfortunately, I can't justify buying it at the moment. I've thought long and hard and can't come up with a good reason for getting one other than the peer pressure. Nearly everyone I know has either got one or in the process of getting one. In fact, a colleague received his notebook a few days ago.

Ach.

Anyway, I'm definitely getting one this year. I just need to square away a few things first. Maybe I'll get one as a reward for all this extra work I've been doing.

So far 2008 has been a busy year. Which is a lot better than many previous years up to this point.

I haven't written about women and relationships in a long, long, long time eh? Don't know why. I want to and in fact I have many things to discuss. I get a lot of self-help dating tips in my mail and many of those tips will make really good things to discuss.

I think the fact that I'm not really into anyone right now may have something to do with my not posting about it. My current situation is rather boring. I have this urge to go and meet new people again despite my better judgment.

Why I'm not doing anything about it is another blog post all by itself.

One last thing, the other day I was managing my haloscan account when I noticed many comments offering help from people who claim to know me or claim to be my friend. While I'm touched by the gesture, I do wish these people would either identify themselves or just mail me.

I remember one particular comment offering to introduce someone to me. This is great except that I found that comment buried in an old post months after it was posted...

Wouldn't it be nice if I knew who it was who posted that. I would like to have responded timely to that offer.

So some ID would help. Or if you would like to keep yourself secret, just mail me. My email is available in my blogger profile.

Ok then, I must go now. Must figure out what to do for lunch because the ATM machine is down and I only have 4 bucks...

Saying of The Week

"Change is inevitable... except from a vending machine.."

Busy. No time to blog. Nothing to write about anyway.

Later.

Me?

True or not?

The intelligence part is quite true. I like computers and clever gadgets. I am rather logical and I do like the maths quite a bit. And science! Anyone who's ever seen my mp3/cd/cassette collection knows how much I love music. I'm also quite fascinated by languages.

The personality part, I don't know. I mean, me a craftsman? A creator? Unless "craftsman" also means "guy who fixes broken things (usually computers)", this assessment is a wee bit off...

I would like to invite everyone to take this test. Let's compare notes.

In other news, the new Proton Saga (formerly known as the Proton BLM) is out. It looks absolutely gorgeous! The specs are quite competitive and so is the price.

I want one dammit!

Five Minute Post

I have 5 minutes to post. In the office now. Nobody here yet.

Checked out The Spring over the last few days. Big. Impressive. Different. It's about time we get something like this around here.

However...

I personally think that the standards of many of the stores are just a little too high for your average Kuchingite to afford (although I could be wrong about this actually). Some of the boutiques are so high end it's scary... Then again, I'm not exactly a connoisseur so obviously I can't say much..

Hopefully, the place will survive and prosper. I do like it a lot and it's a nice place to hang out. The Food Court is quite nice. I was at my friend's house yesterday delivering his PC and he told me that he absolutely loves Kluang Station. Must check it out soon.

MPH bookstores still not open yet. Really looking forward to it. The supermarket (Ta Kiong) totally rules. FOS is pretty ok too.

Yes, I'm quite cheap. Very cheap actually. Especially when it comes to clothes.

Talking about clothes, I recently realized that my so-called wardrobe is non-existent. I have like 4 pants and 5 shirts...

So I went out yesterday and bought this really good pair of pants for a extremely reasonable 70% discounted price of 29.95! Yes, I'm cheap. I need more polo shirts too. I need them for work. I'll probably go next Monday to shop for them. Cheap, functional ones that aren't too garish.

I also need new glasses.

I must make it a point to be less cheap with attire yes? After all, I'm not cheap at all when it comes to computers. Or eating out. Or booze. To be honest, I haven't really done a good job minding my appearance.

Must try harder.

In other news, I watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was great! Cate Blanchett was totally awesome as The Virgin Queen. The sets, the costumes... sumptuous would be a good word to use when describing them.

I want to watch this again.

Ok, must end now. I hear people coming...

Springtime

Tsk. At work now and feeling very lazy. Forgot to bring my handphone just now too.

Also, I got pissed off at a user just now. See, some people use computers to do their work but can't be bothered to learn more about how to use a computer because IT people are around. This attitude sucks and really gets my goat. If something is important to your work shouldn't you be more attentive and motivated when people are teaching you how to use it? Just because support is around doesn't mean you can ask us to do everything. Like delete old stuff. And organize your info for you. Some people, too damn lazy/dumb for their own good.

Teaching isn't even an official part of my job for crying out loud.

Anyway.

It's an interesting day for Kuching because the giant mall The Spring opened. I usually don't really care but when I discovered that they actually have a website my interest peaked a bit. Looks very impressive from what I can gather from the website. From what I can see, it'll resemble one of those malls in the Peninsular.

Starbucks is there so at least we don't have to drive all the way to the airport anymore although the airport one has a certain quality about it. We usually go there at night and usually there are no crowds. I hope the one at The Spring will be ok too. Of course, there's free WiFi so that's cool.

MPH will also open a bookstore there. Really looking forward to that. We need more quality bookstores in Kuching. Maybe it will help push prices down. I love reading but I've been put off by book prices recently. These days I do 98% of my recreational reading online. Thank God for the internet and free information.

The current list of tenants at the Spring are quite impressive. I hope to see the rest of the available lots taken.

As curious as I am, I'm thinking of staying away at least until the crowds ease off. This weekend, everyone and his mother will be there. I can imagine the parking horror.

I'm thinking 11.00 am this Monday would be a good time to check out the Spring. I don't think too many people will be at a mall on Monday morning. Hopefully.

In other news, I finally pried myself from my games and watched some DVDs after a long, long time.

I'm not a huge fan of musicals but Dreamgirls was awesome. A must for RnB fans and those who enjoy the Motown Sound. I was very surprised by Eddie Murphy's perfomance. He was excellent. Jamie Foxx was great too. Entertaining film for sure. And Beyonce was nice to look at, as usual... Her acting wasn't bad either...

I also watched Gridiron Gang. That Dwayne Johnson is not a bad actor at all. He's supposed to be an "action hero" but some of his stuff is quite different from the stuff other "action heroes" appear in. Unlike most "action heroes" the guy has real charm and can even be funny.

Looking forward to more great stuff from The Rock in the future.

Hopefully this week goes by quickly and without drama. This is January and time feels like it's dragging its feet...

Twelve Inch

Computers and computer stuff are getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper...

Small notebook computers are very, very expensive aren't they? They usually are. 12" notebooks are usually very, very expensive.

Except now you can get one for as low as RM1999/-

I came home from work this morning to find a Dell pamphlet on my table about their new 12.1" Vostro 1200!

Twelve inch only! That's so cool. And not expensive at all. An Intel Core 2 Duo shod Vostro will cost about RM2200/- which is very competitive for a ultralight.

I can actually afford that. Shit. If only there was an available with a dedicated graphics card.

I'm sure it will be available in one or two months.

Ok, I'm off to check out other notebook brands. I wonder if HP has anything similar to this...

PS: I found a useful guide to Finding The Right Notebook.

PPS: Been through other manufacturer's websites and forums and stuff. For ultralights (12" notebooks) Vostro 1200 has the best bang for buck at the moment.

Clash With The Titans!

Something interesting just occurred to me just a moment ago.

I've been playing Titan Quest : Immortal Throne over the last week. The week before that I was playing God of War 2 on my PS2.

It occurred to me that both games begin in Greece and uses Greek Mythology as a backdrop, namely the conflict between the Greek pantheon and the Titans. Interesting coincidence no?

Anyway, today I'm going to write about Titan Quest. God of War 2 is so famous and so excellent there's not much need to discuss it.

I've never even heard of TitanQuest and the expansion Immortal Throne until one of my friends told me to try it out. It is an hack and slash action RPG. Which means that its a Diablo ripoff, which means lots of combat with monsters which also means lots of mouse clicking. Gameplay? It's a Diablo clone. Lots of clicking...

So what's so good about a Diablo clone and how does it compare to the original? Usually clones of popular games are never really as good as the original. But not Titan Quest for it is a good Diablo clone. I'm sure many gamers have fond memories of all those hours spent clicking away in Diablo/Diablo2. Play Titan Quest and prepare to get nostalgic . In a good way.

In fact I'm starting to think maybe it's better than Diablo and Diablo 2. Not only from the technological point of view where it obviously is superior. Titan Quest's got some really neat features.

I remember in Diablo you could pick between three types of characters. In Diablo 2, you can pick from five. In Titan Quest and it's expansion, you can pick from many, many classes. I really do mean lots.

I also like how they made loot more "believable". It's a "what you see is what you get" kind of system.

If you kill a boar you won't get weapons and armour, for instance. Instead, you might get a boar hide trinket which you can use to enchant your stuff. Same goes with other animals. If you take out an archer, you will get a bow (obviously). If you see an archer using a bow that looks different from the weapons of his/her other bow using colleagues, it's a special item and you can pick it up if you kill the archer. Whatever weapon and equipment your enemy is using is exactly what will drop when you kill it.

I like this loot system. It's a small feature but I really, really like it.

If you install Immortal Throne, there's a feature which enables you to swap items with your other single player characters. Very cool feature.

The graphics? Excellent textures and lighting. The physics? Nice ragdoll effects.

Conclusion? Diablo ripoff. But a good one. So I'm recommending this to any Diablo fan.

__________________________________

In other news, there was a bit of news from a colleague about this very attractive engineer here. Her current boyfriend is apparently going out with someone else behind her back. Poor girl, she is actually very, very nice.

I'm suddenly tempted to "make things interesting"so to speak.

Actually, I'm not really serious with the idea because this urge will go away in the morning . Probably...

Better not, it's not a good idea and I'll probably fail anyway.

So how's your weekend?

A Lighter Post

Monopoly Mania: 25 of the Most Awesome Monopoly Boards Ever

I found this really cool post while blind surfing. Really cool. I want to play the Transformers one. I also like the Electronic Banking version.

In other news, the new Saga is available for booking. From what little I've seen of it so far, it looks great. Best of all, it costs about the same as my current car when I first got it. I'm going for a test drive if I can.

All of a sudden, I'm wondering how much my current car is worth and how much extra money I need to cough up to get it...

Some Crap

There was an newspaper article the other day about the Public Service Department and their intentions to hire more non-Malays into the public sector. I also read another article where the PSD boss claimed that most non-Malay people aren't interested in working for the government.
Then there was another one stating that the PSD doesn't factor race when processing applications.

I laughed. And laughed some more.

The truth is, race DOES factor when it comes to appointments in the public sector. Everyone and his dog knows this, as evident in these two letters in The Star.

I have my own stories to tell. One of my friends was unemployed a few months back. I asked her how come she didn't apply for the various government vacancies available at the time. She said she won't bother because "only Malays get it".

Then I have other friends who come out of colleges and universities and go straight to the private sector to look for work. They didn't bother applying for government jobs either.

By the way, in the examples above those friends of mine are Iban and Bidayuh. You'd think that being classified Bumiputera might help them in this case but actually not really.

I'm not surprised by this attitude.

It's not true that "only Malays get it". Other people do get it. Sometimes. Once in a while. Occasionally. But more often than not, you know I know lah. More often than not a Malay person will get it regardless of other things like qualification and expertise.

But here's the shocker. I'm not going to blame the government or the boss of the PSD. It might not be their fault as far as implementation goes.

Remember the fuss about Little Napoleons some time ago? (For those who don't get it, a Little Napoleon is a megalomaniac government officer who enjoys exercising his powers a little too much). Here lies the problem. The government or the PM or the minister of whatever portfolio may issue whatever directives but by the time it gets down to middle management, the whole thing goes to hell.

This happens quite a bit around here. In this case, the PSD might actually mean it when they say that they want more non-Malay people to join the public service. I'm certain the instructions and the memos and other documents have been issued.

So how come no change? Well, the middle management, the head of departments, the deans, the HR people, they might have other ideas...

I used to work for the government once too. I can tell you that some heads of departments are EXTREMELY influential and VERY "flexible" when it comes to "following" Ministry directives. Some of these people are also VERY, VERY racist. Seriously. Since they are head of department, they can conjure up all kinds of official sounding reasons why so-and-so got promoted and why so-and-so got appointed to whatever position.

I know this kind of manipulation. It happened to me. In the end, they made me leave which was a good thing in the long run. I could write the whole story but it's really, really wrong. That same story is also why I personally would NEVER work for the government again, at least not until they change the working the culture.

This sort of shit happens a lot. I'm not the only non-Malay person I know who left a "cushy" government job. So how to change this? How do you investigate this kind of happenings? How do you nail a head of department who knows this Datuk and that Datuk and so on so forth?

The PSD could try to investigate if they want to but let me tell you, unless they go covert and plant spies the info they get will NOT be the correct picture.

I guess this is just a small part of the "Little Napoleon" problem with the public and civil service. It's a sickness and I don't see how anyone can change it.

Having said all this I must say that occasionally, things aren't this bad. I also have other non-Malay friends who do work for the government who are treated equally and have even gotten promoted.

It's so unfortunate that the word "ocassionally" crops up in that last paragraph...

So if the PSD really wants to do something about this please do so. There are many, many non-Malay people who are willing and able to serve and do it well. Heck, some of these people are even available right this minute what with them not being employed and all that...

The thing I'd like to see is how the PSD is going to do it..