31 August 2008

Still feeling a little bit light-headed from yesterday's cold. I swallowed 6 paracetamols and 2 cold tablets yesterday. I think that had worked. My nose is not runny anymore and I felt less miserable today. Despite all that, I brought my family to KL to do a little bit of shopping for Hari Raya. First we thought we'd buy some new clothes for Linda and the kids at Mid Valley but when we got there, the parking lots are all but full. Yup all 10000 of them. Crazy people this Klang Valley folks. So I rerouted our journey to Masjid India instead. We parked the car on the 5th floor of Semua House and stroll along Jalan Masjid India and Jalan TAR looking for a baju melayu for me and Adam.
This year, our baju raya theme is all white. Actually I meant to wear that last year but I just couldn't find a single white baju melayu then. This time we started much earlier and I was really lucky cause I found one right away at Kamdar. I also bought a black and silver samping to match it. Now that I have my baju melayu ready, Linda and Adam can start looking for their own baju raya or else we won't be wearing matching colours for Hari Raya (what a horrible thought). But so far we've been wearing the same colour for the past 4 consecutive years.

Later in the afternoon I went to a friend's house to fix his PC. He works at one of our associate company in Subang and I've known him for 2 years now. Actually I didn't like this guy very much. He sends one log form for one problem but when we got there he asks us to check every single PC (and server) there. I know it's my job but usually I also have other places to go to and work to finish too in a day. Besides that he always ask for a reduction on this bill, a discount on that invoice, free stuff with every delivery bla bla bla etc. Err hello mister, we're not HP or Cisco or Santa Claus and we rarely hand out free gifts and stuff. Unless of course you're really-really important client.

Having said that, I got a real surprise when I visited his home today. He treated me with so much warmth and hospitality that I totally regretted thinking all those nasty thing about him above. He lives in a small terrace house somewhere in Cheras with his wife and 3 girls. During the 2 hours I stayed there, his wife served me a delicious cempedak goreng, banana fritters and some kuih pau fresh from the steamer. And although I don't drink coffee much, I had two cups of coffee at his house today. Some more when I was about to leave, they give me a box of dates. I don't eat dates too but I'm still touched by their thoughtfulness. Some nice people. That's the proper way to treat your guest. And they don't even have any titles to their names. So moral of the story here: don't judge the book by its cover.

What independence celebration? Celebrate what? The fuel price? inflation? rising crime rate? I have no reason to celebrate this year. I'm postponing mine until September 16th (if you know what I mean).

30 August 2008

I had a cold today. That could only mean one thing: my hair is too long again. My hair acts like a sponge on my head. It retains water when I shower making my head cold and eventually attracting various viruses and bugs. So I went to a barber this afternoon to get my head shaved again. I just can't wait for Linda to do it because like me, she's been very busy with work and stuff lately.
This morning I went to Low Yat Plaza to buy Linda a phone. Her current phone, a Motorola V3 which I gave to her last birthday had broke down several times already and we find it's not worth it to fix it again. Furthermore since she got her bonus this month, it's time she gets a new phone. I arrived at Low Yat around 9:30 AM and the place was largely deserted save for a handful of employees reporting to work. I know The Mines shopping fair is much nearer but since I got duped last time I bought a phone there, I don't trust those phone-sellers at The Mines anymore. The best time to go there is from 11:00 AM onwards when it's not really busy and most of the shops are already open. After looking around for several hours I decided to get Linda a Nokia 2630 (AP one jer not original) for RM320. The original one would have cost RM499. It's nothing fancy just a simple slim Nokia phone with 1.3 mega-pixel camera, mp3 ring tone and Bluetooth. She was clearly delighted to have this new phone. At last she can now text and make call from a working phone. The last phone showed a blank screen intermittently. For now she's still hiding it from Adam's view. New phone + Adam Farihin is a bad-bad combination :)

29 August 2008

Another workshop for another day. Today I wanna story you about this geek chick. From my experience, you don't find many expert women in the IT field. But if you do find them they are generally really-really good, better than the male counterpart even.
I found one such person recently at this workshop we're organizing. Her expertise in the IT field is simply amazing. I have no idea what she's talking about sometimes because they're beyond my level. And that's coming from a mother to two kids some more. One word: Respect!

28 August 2008

Check up time again for Mia. We're supposed to have the day off today but something came up last week so I had to work today and cancel my leave. These are busy-busy times for us.
We arrived later than usual today and as a result we had to wait for 2 hours for everything to finish. The Seri Kembangan Clinic is s breeding ground for aedes mosquitoes. I managed to kill 3 mosquitoes with my bare hands but another 3 successfully bit me. It's like a plague there. I'm not surprised if someone who go there for treatment get dengue instead.

Doctor: Where you do you think you get bitten by those aedes mosquitoes? At home? Work?
Patient: I got it here at this clinic la you a**hole!

I met my friend from school here, Stopa (not his real name). He brought his wife whose 2 months pregnant. We didn't get to talk much cause I'm in a hurry.

I was a little bit late for my 10:00 AM IP telephony workshop. I have no comments for the workshop but the food was good (and free!). After lunch I ran to Shah Alam and Subang for some unfinished business.

When I got home today, somebody was a little bit cranky. C'est la vie.

27 August 2008

It rained again today from afternoon till evening. I'd like to report that the food quality at Seri Mutiara had improved tremendously since baldy and wife had returned from wherever they've been. Kak Na and co also returned from the balik kampung trip so now I can enjoy their nasi berlauk again which never fail to give me gastronomic delights every morning, 6 days a week.
Later on I went to KL city to pick up wifey. We plan to do our groceries at Tesco this evening. Because of the rain they SMART tunnel was closed to prevent flash floods in KL city. Because they closed the tunnel, most major road in KL was congested like hell today. Because of that, it took us about an hour to get home. Because of that also, we canceled our plan to go shopping at Tesco. Apart from that I also heard there's flash floods everywhere in the city anyway. I think that beats the purpose of building the SMART tunnel in the first place which is to ease traffic and prevent flash floods. So much for that multi billion dollar 'engineering marvel'.

As you can see the photos are back. I found my old, faithful 2 Mega-pixel Kodak camera stored in a box upstairs and I've been snapping these pictures with it. It also has a name now. I named it Dino (for dinosaur). It's so big I had to hide it in my work bag safe from people's view. I'd like to buy a new, smaller camera but I can't afford it. Not right now. I have no money.

Cuba gak nak pinjam ngan orang yg ada tapi tak dapat. Padan muka aku. Saper suruh tanak belajor rajin2. Kan dah gaji sikit mwhahaha!

26 August 2008

Today maybe the D-day for Permatang Pauh by election but work as usual for the rest of us here. Bujal and I went to Shah Alam and PJ today. We stopped for lunch at section 10 in Shah Alam at a restaurant called Hartinie.
Looking at the menu I knew at once the owner must come from Kelantan. I had a lovely ayam percik and solok lada for lunch. Although RM7:00 is slightly above my normal budget, I think it's worth it lah. Where else you can find original ayam percik like that in the city?

It rained all day today. I was tuned to the radio for most part of the evening waiting for news from Permatang Pauh. At around 7:45 PM when I went online at home, the unofficial figure was Anwar leading by 15000 majority. I waited for the official news from TV but it didn't come until nearly 10:00 PM on Bernama TV and Astro Awani. Shitty TV3 only displayed it as a news ticker, not surprising since the BN candidate loose, huh. So great news from PP. This is just the beginning. The road to Putrajaya won't be a walk in the park and the present regime surely won't roll over and let Anwar take over. 21 days is a long time in politics, just about anything can happen. All we can do is pray for DSAI's safety.

25 August 2008

Today I started work at my new place on the 1st floor. Everybody who previously located on the ground floor had to move upstairs to make way for this project.
I got a new spot right next to the window. Actually Bujal wanted that place but then he'll be far away from the air con then.

24 August 2008

It's been raining a lot these past few days isn't it? On cold rainy days like these when we're alone at home with me wife and the kids are asleep we will usually err bake scones, cakes or cookies together ha ha! Are you kidding? On cold, rainy days like these we usually make sweat loving all day long. But not today though cause Linda choose to have her period this very moment. Dang.

We had dinner at Mutiara again tonight. Actually I had dinner there every other day of the week. Adam loves to have fired rice for dinner and he demands that I buy one almost everyday. Today's food sucks big time. Our usual cook (the owner) was MIA so his sucky assistant took over the cooking hence the sucky food. My advice is to you guys out there, if you can't see the bald(ish) owner around, don't visit Seri Mutiara restaurant. Yes I did say they cook the best food in Seri Kembangan but I was wrong. Only that baldy cook knows how.

22 August 2008

Busy-busy day. Today my colleagues and I worked together to move our furniture and office stuff upstairs. We had to clear the ground floor which will be turned into a staging area for an upcoming project. Earlier this morning I went to Shah Alam and Damansara to do some work. Then after the Jumaat prayers, we get straight to work.

In the evening I went to KL to pick up Linda and then head to my sister's place in section 17, Shah Alam. Being a Friday plus the rain, I expected the roads in the city to be congested. I took nearlier an hour to get to Shah Alam from KL. But not before getting lost a bit at section 18 and 19. Shah Alam roads are quite foreign to me, what's more at night. Today Lina made some barbecue in conjunction with her birthday and 3rd wedding anniversary last week. I don't know why but I took over the task of cooking the barbecue meat. Maybe because everybody knows I'm good (ahem) at this grilling thing.

We didn't get home until midnight. My feet is aching from all the hard work and too much driving.

Guess how much is my water bill last month? It's RM5.62 after the kind-hearted Selangor government paid my first 20 cubic meter. That's why I voted for Pakatan Rakyat. The really put the people's interest at heart. If that's what they're capable of doing at state level, I can't wait for PR to take over the country. Amin.

21 August 2008

If you noticed my song of the moment on the left hand side, it is Amelina's 'Bulan cinta'. I was never a huge fan of dangdut music before but after passing certain phase in my life, I now listen to a wide genre of music. This particular song brings me back to the memory of my McDonald's days. My store (#38 at Uda Ocean) organizes trips for their staff almost every year and one year we went to Port Dickson. I slept for most part of the journey cause I had a closing shift the previous night. I couldn't sleep much cause there was an impromptu karaoke session on board the bus and someone sang this song.
I had a really good time at Port Dickson that day especially since Linda were there too. We ate and played games together and bathe in the sea. Check out that dude's hair. Totally awesome. I miss those young and carefree days.

20 August 2008

It's school holiday again and that could only mean one thing: less traffic during the morning rush hour! Yay!! It's already proven time and time again that parent with school going children contribute the most to traffic problem in this country. There's a ridiculously simple solution for that. All school session must start in the evening, 8:00 PM the earliest. Anyone with me?

Because of the school holiday also I missed my regular Kak Na's nasi berlauk for breakfast every morning. Kak Na and B took this opportunity to go balik kampung with the kids. Sigh. Now I have to endure crappy mamak nasi lemak for the rest of the week.

It's only 10:20 in the evening but my 4 year old is screaming for me to go to bed with him. Ciao.

19 August 2008

Yeah I'm back baby, yeah!!

This time bigger, bolder and much more frequent posting (I hope). Just got myself a new modem and sim card and I'm still reeling from the joy of getting reconnected at home. An Internet connection for a blogger is like water for a fish. I felt like Raya came early this year heh! So much to write, so little time. I think I'll post a few things at a time.

Today Bujal and I went to somebody's house to fix something in Shah Alam. The landlord was someone with a title which I won't mention here. This is our second visit for this month alone. Not that I'm complaining or anything. It's our job after all. Last week we went there to fix this recurring problem. We stayed there for like 3 hours trying to fix it. While we were there, the lady of the house cooked this wonderful smelling Penang fish curry. I know that smell really well because my late grandma used to cook it for us all the time when we were young. Besides, all my relatives from Penang knows how to make this original fish curry. This fish curry is different from the one you have at any mamak stall in Selangor or anywhere else outside Penang. Only a real Penangnite can make this particularly delicious fish curry. I normally don't eat most types of fish but for this, I'll make an exception. Anyway my point is the smell of the curry whiffed and filled the entire house including the room where we worked. We've been there for 3 hours and naturally we were ravished and our tummies grumbled even more with that delicious smell.

Back home in my village in Pasir Mas, my mom, grandma and aunts would always serve some refreshment, at least a glass of plain cold water to anyone who visits our house. It doesn't matter if they come for a social visit or to fix our roof, paint the house or cut the long grass in our backyard. One thing for sure they will receive some form of hospitality as our guests. But not at this house we visited today.

I'm not demanding that they invite us for lunch or serve us Mocha Frapucino everytime we visit or anything, just some simple common courtesy would suffice. I guess that word doesn't have much meaning in this urban jungle we live in today.

18 August 2008

I never thought I would be so glad to see this modem start page on my dekstop pc at home. It took us quite some time to acquire a new wireless HSDPA modem after losing the old one because this thing don't come cheap you know. Last Saturday we went to Maxis HQ next to KLCC to purchase a new modem and to get a new sim card. As I said before, Maxis wireless broadband customers never own the modem that come with their subscription. It belongs to Maxis and we're just borrowing it (you pay for the rent every month in your bill). Once you decide to terminate the service, you'll have to return the complete modem set or you'll have to pay a cool RM599 for the entire thing. Plus if you decide to stop the subscription in less than a year, you'll have to fork out another 200 ringgit as a penalty (no charge for over a year). That sucks.

So I took my family to KLCC last Saturday for jalan-jalan and to get that modem. The broadband counter was located in the middle of that Maxis Center and it was manned by 2 staffs. I didn't know we have to sit down first and wait for our turn to be called cause there wasn't any queue number system or whatever. Apparently those guys are so good that they can remember everybody who come there and when their turn is. I stood there like and idiot for like 2 minutes before they told me to sit first.

We waited for our turn for about 20 minutes. We got a new modem and a sim card and the guy said we'll be connected again after 2 hours. 3 hours later at home, I tried to connect to the Internet but failed. I tried everything with the modem for around 2 hours before calling it quits.

The next day I went to Maxis KLCC again to ask about my connection. Apparently they activated the old sim card instead of the new one that they gave me yesterday. Duh. So they gave me a new sim card and activated it on the spot and they tested the connection right there and it worked. I went home this time with high spirits but guess what, not connected.

The next day, right after work I ran to Maxis KLCC again to get it fixed. This time there was no queue and the staff at the counter solved my problem in like 5 minutes. This time I took no risks and borrowed somebody's laptop and tested the Internet connection on the spot. Finally they activated the right sim card and here I am back online after going through so much trouble. I'm ever so grateful to those guys at Maxis KLCC, I don't know what'll I do without their help. So to you two guys manning the Maxis broadband counter in KLCC last weekend I'd like to say a big, fat, f*ck you! Thanks for making me go to KLCC 3 days in a row. I'd like to claim my petrol and toll money with Ananda Krishnan. Can somebody give me his e-mail address please?