HP Premier Business Partner

The company I work for offers IT professional services and consultancy for businesses and organizations. We offer services that includes Project Management, Facilities Management Services (FMS) and application systems development, apart from providing IT infrastructure for networks (such as WAN, Internet/Intranet and data center facilities).

On top of that we also supply pcs and peripherals (printers/scanners/whatever) for business and even individuals and our preferred vendor is of course HP, hence the title of this post. We do purchase other brand of pcs like Dell or Acer but we mainly deal with HP for a number of reasons which I shall explain shortly.


First they provide like the best customer support ever. Their call center staff is polite and helpful and their support engineers will come to your place the next day to attend to your problem with little question asked. Unlike Dell who insists you troubleshoot the problem yourself by phone and only send their support staff as a last resort. That's fine with pc-savvy people like me but imagine the trouble you'll have to go through if you're only say a housewife or non pc-savvy folks? They'll have a torrid time trying to do that. That's why we always recommend HP to our customers.


I really love their Service Center located in Damansara too. Now I've been to many Service Centers and HP's is simply the best. The friendly staffs there are well-trained and very professional and their service is fast and prompt. I just love to hang out there, watch their huge
plasma TV while helping myself some free refreshment (my favourite is Choc-o-cino). I mean Canon don't have stuff like that and Acer's Service Center is like crap compared to them.


Plus every year HP likes to spoil their Premier Business Partners by sponsoring several all-expenses paid trips around the world. Last year for example, several executives from my company went to Beijing and Gold Coast while The Boss went for a trip to the U.S. After all we
did contribute hundred and thousands of ringgit every year for purchases of pcs, printers and servers so it's understandable that they pay back their customer's confidence with such trips.
Who knows maybe next time I get to go overseas oso?? He he. And that's only from HP. Their main distributors also give us McDonald's and petrol vouchers from time to time.


So guys when you're thinking of buying a pc, you which one to choose now rightttt? :) I'd love to promote my company here also but for everybody's sake I better not just in case. You know la I'm not exactly and angel or something, I do bitch about work at sometimes.



Today's post was brought to you by:

Condolences

A heartfelt condolences to my friend / office mate Rafidah Arshad (a.k.a Chip) for the departure of her dear father yesterday. Al-Fatihah.


The tale of two cameras

Today I would like to pay tribute to my dear Kodak CX4200 digital camera. I bought this camera about 3 years ago and it had served me well through the years and captured many momentous and memorable moments in my life.



The Kodak CX4200 is only my second camera ever. My first one was also a Kodak digital camera which I forget the model number. But it was only 1.2 mega pixel then and no video recording. I dropped that camera several times and eventually it broke beyond repair.



The CX4200 is slightly better than my first camera with 2.0 mega pixel and 30 seconds of Quicktime Movie video recording. I know it's pathetic by today's standard but it was okaylah for a 400 ringgit camera. As long as you stood still while taking a picture you should get a decent blurry-free photo. For every 10 pictures I took, 5 or 6 of them will be blurry. And the video captured was rather grainy plus you had to restart every 30 seconds because it got a rather limited memory to record longer video clips. Forget about taking pictures at night (without flash) cause the result would be some dark and indiscernible photos. This camera is rather bulky too and it'll make a noticeable bulge when you slip it in your pocket.

Nevertheless the CX4200 camera had captured many memorable and important occasions in my life such as Adam's birth and 2 years photos of him growing up and several family member's weddings. And about a year ago I accidentally dropped this camera and I've been having problems with the battery compartment ever since. I get this battery low signal all the time even when I load a brand new battery. It is still usable though if I shake it vigorously several time.

Anyway the point of this story is, I decided to reward myself a brand new camera on Tuesday. I've been thinking of getting a Sony CyberShot but then changed my mind at the last minute. You can find quite a number of really affordable digital cameras at Low Yat Plaza nowadays. The Sony CyberShot I've been looking at is under 500 ringgit but the memory stick is sold separately so I had to fork out another hundred bucks for it.

Nikon Coolpix L100 for RM520

That's why I settled for a Nikon Coolpix L10 camera in the end. It's 5.0 mega pixel with 3x Nikkor-zoom lens with a focal range of 37.5-112.5mm (35mm equivalent). This camera offers high light sensitivity up to ISO 800, meaning you can take great-looking pictures at night or in low light conditions. Such sensitivity also makes it possible to capture fast-moving subjects with greater sharpness. Oh and the photos are up to 2560x1920 in size.



Additionally this lightweight camera boasts a huge 2.0 inches LCD screen and several useful features like Face-priority AF that automatically detects and achieves sharp focus on people's faces wherever they are in the frame, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix that can automatically overcome the red-eye effect sometimes caused by flash, and Nikon's D-Lighting that can rescue underexposed images or shots taken with too much backlight.

Finally I can take pictures at night, yay!

It also got a choice of 16 scenes modes such as night portrait, landscape sunset/dawn, fireworks show and close up. Finally I got a camera with a macro mode that works up to 15 cm length.



The video capture is great too (640 at 30 frame per second with sound) and the movie clip is continuous, limited only by the size of the SD card (which I got 1GB free). Ooh I can't wait to create one of those music videos again.

But as for now the only picture I could take of Adam is when he asleep cause he'll be kicking and screaming to play with this camera whenever he sees it. Don't get me wrong but when Adam plays with my stuff he likes to toss them around and I still love my kid you know so I'd rather play it safe before I strangle him or something ha ha!



After taking approximately 2168 photos for me it's about time you go into retirement. So goodbye CX4200, you've been a great service to the family and for that I'm gonna reward you with Order of Merlin 3rd Class. Maybe I'll let Adam play with you instead after this.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallow pdf file is a fake!

I'm sorry to say that this pdf file that I got is merely a fan-fiction. My apologies again if I had mislead you guys. Today's lesson: never believe everything you find on Google.

Read the fan-fiction here



I realized that after reading the first chapter from the real Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book. Here's a snippet:

Chapter One
The Dark Lord Ascending


The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then, recognizing each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.
"News?" asked the taller of the two.
"The best," replied Severus Snape.
The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched.
"Thought I might be late," said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. "It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?"
Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedg...

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So if you ever found a pdf copy of Deathly Hallows anywhere on the net, you can check out if it's the real one by referring to this reader's guide here.

Sorry again.


Update

Aparrently somebody posted the entire (and real) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows text here! Check it out quick before it's gone.

Way I live

I'm failing miserably in this whole diet thing. I told you I'd prefer to do it the natural way. I had that Herbalife product like twice only this week and they didn't taste so good. Actually they tasted quite okay but since my brain keep saying this drink sucks and these whole diet drink/food/pill thing won't work that's why they tasted kinda bad to me.

By the way I ate a lot this month and the month before. Like last month we ate seafood in Klang and then I had KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut like every week and I've been having some very sumptuous lunch and dinner almost everyday. And the best part was I didn't have to pay for almost half of them cause there's always someone to treat me (like Linda,Bujal, clients). But just like Rina, I lost like 20 kilos after eating so much food, unbelievable!

Okay I'm just kidding. Unlike Rina, I'm just a regular mortal human being and I do gain weight exponentially with what I ate. You see it's hard for me to start exercising these days. Wish I had 8 hours more everyday to do stuff.

Everyday I woke up around 6:30, leave home around 7:00, and if I'm lucky I got home right after 5:00. But many times my job requires me to travel to distance places and I usually got back around 6:30 to 7:00. The wife usually got back even later so I had to pick Adam and tend to him until she got back. Weekends is the only time I can rest and spend some quality time with my family so where got time to exercise meh?

Plus my neighbourhood got too much dog and I don't really like to be barked at every 5 metres.

Those are not excuses man! It's like there some sort of Divine Intervention which is stopping me from excersising!

Nuri Wreckage Found, All Six Airforce Crew On Board Killed

This just in from Bernama.com:

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (Bernama) -- All the six airforce crew on board the Nuri helicopter, which went missing on Friday, were killed.

A Nuri helicopter

The search and rescue team found the wreckage of the ill-fated helicopter near Genting Sempah, in Genting Highlands, Tuesday.

Royal Malaysian Air Force public relations officer Mejar Zulkiflee Abdul Latiff said the wreckage of the helicopter was found by the ground search team at 5km northwest of Genting Sempah at 1.24pm.

(This is NOT the actual wreckage - shown here just for illustration purposes)

Bernama learnt that all the bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage and are being flown to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for post-mortem.

The next-of-kin and families of the victims have been informed of the bad news. They are waiting at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for the arrival of the bodies.

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Seriously man, if 15 out of 30 Nuri helis they bought already crashed, it's high time they retire all of them before more life is lost.

Weekly update

Okay I'm starting to hate those fake mermaid pictures. Time for new entry.

My dad dropped by a few days ago bearing chocolates and Pringles for Adam. Of course he didn't come here just for that, he has to come down to the KL HQ at least once a month now so we'll probably meet more often from now on. FYI my dad lives with his other family in Kota Bharu.

He wanted to have dinner with my family and sister Lina. So right after maghrib prayers we went to Shah Alam. Linda had to work overtime (again) so she won't be joining us. Lina's husband was not feeling very well so in the end it was only me, dad and Adam for dinner. We ate somewhere in section 17. I had a horrid time trying to make Adam sit still or behave.The food was not so good and dad ordered too much in the end there was so much food left unfinished.

On the way back I told him about mother's impending marriage. He was quiet and didn't say much but I can sense a tinge of sadness from his face. I guess first love die hard eh?

He left me with some slimming products from Herbalife. Actually I prefer to loose weight the natural way (ye ke?) but I didn't have the heart to refuse my dad. Those products don't come cheap you know.

Today I went to KL with The Boss. Yup, I sat next to him all the way to KL and back. I was just about to leave the office when The Boss asks me to accompany him to KL since he's going there as well.

It's not that I'm scared of him or anything, it's just I'm a terrible company. Especially with people that I don't know well. I'll be awfully quiet and only talk when the other party asks. That's how it was this afternoon. I just kept to myself and The Boss looked equally bored with me. Only on the way back we chatted a bit where he asks stuff about me.

Anyway we stopped by Sri Petaling just now for lunch and Friday prayers. One of the perks of going out with The Boss is you get to eat for free and you can order just about anything he he!

Tomorrow's another session of motivation seminar at Uniten. I hope they read and take my feedback comments seriously or else it'll be another 4000 ringgit down the drain.

Mermaid found in Teluk Bahang

Yesterday I recieved an e-mail titled "Teluk Bahang fisherman found this, newspaper not allowed to publish!"






If I am a newspaper editor, I sure as hell won't let my reporters publish these photos cause they looked kinda fake to me. Actually these photos have been around since last year and if you Google for Teluk Bahang mermaid/mermen you'll find several sites discussing this.

The real Transformers

It's amazing what a little bit of make up and some fancy clothes can do to your appearance. Well, maybe a bit more make up plus some botox shot and plastic surgery :)



































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Oh and today's post was brought to you by


(Because sometimes it's not worth it)











p/s: Bujal & Hanum don't be mad at me okay? :)

Music of the day

Teacher's pet - Seringkali

Seringkali, aku hanyut dalam bayangan
Berterbangan perasaan ini... walau
Kau ku gambarkan dalam lamunan

Diri ini selalu ingin bersamamu
Bila ku terkenang kemesraan bersamamu sayang ..
Masihkah aku di hatimu

Masih jauh rasanya perjalanan ini
Bilakah masanya harus jua aku kecapi
Walau ranjau penuh berduri

Akan ku bawa cintamu bersama selalu
Takkan kubiarkan ia tersisih dari perasaan ini
Dan ingin ku luahkan dalam lagu ini
Sebagai bukti cintaku, agar kau terus menanti diriku

Hanya kau yang ku cinta
Hanya kau yang ku harapkan
Ke puncak asmara
Ingin kita kecapi bersama

Walau gambaran yang ku gambarkan
Yang seringkali, ku renungkan
Menjadi lukisan di jiwaku

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Dedicated to the real love of my life...

Time to change

Today we'll be leaving Adam at a new nursery. He's been staying with Linda's parent all last week and since they've left already last Sunday we'll have to find a new nursery. The new nursery will cost us a bit more but it's closer to our house and the woman in charge came highly recommended. Adam was asleep when we left him with Kak Azi this morning so all was quiet. Else I'm sure Adam will kick and scream while clinging to his mother refusing to let go. It breaks our heart to see him like that but we don't really have much choice really.


We've tolerated the previous nursery long enough and yesterday was the final straw. Many times we send Adam in the morning and she's always not there. It's either she's still sleeping upstairs or just too lazy to come down. Many times we have to leave Adam all by himself downstairs with the door unlocked and everything. Let's not go to the part where I found Adam running around bare-footed on the street in front of the nursery the other day. Does she even care about the kids anymore?


I'm pretty sure the nursery owner, Umie who runs another nursery at Vista Pinggiran have no inkling of what's happening in Taman Universiti. Well I'm not leaving my kid with that sorry excuse for a nanny anymore. I bet she took that job as a last resort and she's not really into kids.


I wish I'm lucky enough to leave my kid with someone we trust, a relative or with my mother maybe, but unfortunately my mother is still working plus she's getting married soon and I doubt she'll have the time to take care of Adam. So until we can afford to make mama a stay-at-home mom, you just hang on there Adam okay? I'm sure you'll quickly make many new friends there.

I maybe the man of the house but when she goes shopping I'm relegated to the official bag-keeper and kid minder, sigh...


In other news I've reverted to my old bald hairstyle (tada!). I've been having nightmares since that barber screwed up my hair a few weeks ago and I'd rather not have hair than look so ugly.

Anyway my wife commented that I looked much better without hair but of course you'd expect your wife to say nice things like that so her opinion doesn't really count. But hey, since when do I care what other people think of me? If they don't like how my hair or how I look then that's too bad. I'm not changing myself for anyone. They'll have to take me as I am.

Oh and I donated blood for my 10th times last Sunday at Jusco. It was there that I found out that I'm now 97 fricking kilos heavy! Okay, top signs thay you're fat:

* Your friends start saying "Dude, you look bigger nowadays.."
* Your regular clothes started to shrink
* Your sport shoes felt one size smaller
* Your weigh 97 kilos on the scale

So the signs are there and it's high time I really start exercising.

Actually I'm tired of all this exercise and diet talk. I bet you probably are too. So, screw the exercises and the diets. I'll loose weight if I feel like it and know I feel like eating. Hmm that new KFC chicken chop looks oh so yummy! :P