It's that time of the year again for me to look back and reminiscence on the good times, learn from your mistakes, bla bla blah of the past year. As always, these past 365 days is filled with bitter-sweet memories. Some are pretty good and some are just plain bad. Here's what happened in 2008.
Nothing much happened in January this year. My wife was heavily pregnant with our second only child and we found out (much to my delight) that it's going to be a girl.
In February, I took my family for a short trip to my in laws place in Manjung, Perak. I think that's the only vacation (sort of) that we took this year. During that 3 days 2 nights stay we had lots of fun especially with the picnic that we had at the Teluk Batik beach. February also marks the beginning of the General Election fever and I joined in the fun by writing this little piece that got featured on Malaysia Today, of all places. I won't deny that I was brimming with pride when that article was published there below The Corridors of Power and No Holds Barred. To think that I was not even remotely interested in politics a few months before. Today I'm a full-fledged supporter of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
Aaah, who could forget March of 2008. I voted for the first time ever in the March's General Election and along with more than half of other Malaysians, we voted for a change. Long before Obama and the Americans go clamouring for change, we Malaysians did it first in that political tsunami that gave the Opposition control in 5 states and denied the seemingly mighty and invincible BN 2/3 majority in Parliament. This is just the beginning. I believe when more and more enlightened young voters like me went to the polls next time (2013 the earliest), another party aside from BN will be in power. Mark my word.
Still in March, on the way back from the elections my son's head accidentally smashed into the windscreen of our car because he just couldn't sit still. It costs us a cool 400 ringgit to replace the windscreen. 25th March 2008 was definitely one of the happiest day of our lives when we welcomed our 2nd child, Mia Ariana into the world.
In April we finally subscribed to our first paid satellite TV ever, Astro. That was only after they offered me an irresistible 80 ringgit installation fees and they threw in a free decoder and dish as well. The next month, I bought myself my first ever notebook, the Asus EEE PC 4G. It was a dream comes true sort of moment for me. I've been wanting a notebook of my own since like forever. Little that I know, it's going to turn into a nightmare not long after that.
In June we started sending Adam and Mia to a new kindergarten/nursery. We were less than satisfied with the previous place and found out Tadika Bestari Ceria is a better place to send our kids to. June also marked the month our dear Pak Lah (prime minister for all) hiked up the fuel price to a record RM2.70 per liter compounding the miseries of millions of Malaysians. That's something he should take time and ponder after his early retirement next year. My Linda celebrated her 27th birthday this year. Who would have thought that Bujal finally found his one true love this year?
9 July 2008 was probably the darkest hours of my family. A gang of thieves broke into our home and got away with most of our prized possessions (including my PC and notebook). We never recovered any of our belongings despite the police's assurance that they are hot on the heels of the thugs. If I didn't know better, I'd say the thieves are in cahoots with the investigating officer in Seri Kembangan. Highly unlikely you say? I'm not so sure about that.
Since the thieves took our wireless broadband along during the break in, I was without Internet for almost a month. Only after we paid Maxis 600 bucks for the new modem that we're back online in August.
In September, I think we somewhat recovered from the tragedy last July. At least I can afford to get a new digital camera to replace the one that I lost. September is also remembered as the month my hero, RPK was thrown into Kamunting under the dreaded ISA.
It was Aidilfitri again in October. This year it was our turn to celebrate at my wife's hometown in Tanah Merah. October also witnessed the day Faiz dragged me and the entire family to Sungai Buloh to meet our possible future in laws. Hmm, he seems to be quiet about it at the moment. Nothing exciting happened much in November save for that historic Obama victory. We terminated our Maxis wireless broadband subscription during the same month. Last week we received our final bill totalling something around RM220 ringgit. Yes, Maxis even had the audacity to suck our blood one last time by charging us this ridiculous 200 ringgit discontinuation of service handling fee. Give me one reason why I shouldn't switch my phone line to Celcom.
I didn't have Internet at home for most of December until (after going through so much trouble) I successfully registered for Celcom wireless broadband. Although the USB modem costs me 400 ringgit, I assure you it's all worth it with Celcom. I got a new niece when my sister delivered her second child on the 26th of this month.
Although I had a few good moments in 2008, I think what happened in July just overshadows everything that's good this year. As much as I hate to admit it, I think my Boss is right when he said never take anything for granted. Lesson truly learned. So goodbye 2008, hello to 2009. I hope things will be much better next year.
p.s: I do have a new year resolution (2 in fact). You'll have to see it for yourself to find out :)
Year end party
Anyone read about the no-panties party rumours allegedly planned in Johor Bharu? They're true! Except it's not held in JB but right here in Seri Kembangan, Selangor. More specifically at my friend's Bujal house.
Okay-okay I am just kidding as usual. Nope there's no pantie-less party tonight. Well I don't know whether Bujal wore his panties or not tonight but we did have a party at his house. In fact it is still going on right now as I type this. Some of my colleagues pooled their resources to organize this little get together at Bujal's place in Taman Lestari Putra.
I think most of my colleagues were there, bringing along their spouses, kids and partners. I brought Adam who was as usual, makes himself busy helping me with the chores. The menu for tonight was fried bihun, laksa, spaghetti and various other snacks and cakes. The main course was of course the chicken barbecue (with a few fishes as well) which was mostly cooked by yours truly.
That was Rizal S and Sapuan pretending to grill some fish. They burnt all the fishes later on. When I arrived, Bujal and Sapuan were frantically trying to light up the fire for almost half an hour already to no avail. I did it in less than 5. I didn't become the official satay boy for 10 years in a row for nothing you know. I end up cooking over half of the chickens. If you came across a few raw/under-cooked chickens that's normal la wei. Nobody's perfect you know.
The cake was provided by Mrs Nordolyna whose birthday is today. My Boss' birthday was last Saturday so Happy Birthday to you guys. Doly came by tonight showing off her brand new Proton Persona. The party was supposed to last late until midnight but I didn't stay for long because Adam was already bugging me to go home by 11:00.
Standing on the right holding the baby (not hers) is Miss Hajar. It was her last day at work today and she'll be furthering her studies in UPM tomorrow. Good luck and all the best Hajar, I won't miss you at all he he. But Mr. Radzi probably will. Is it true when you said that Boss will be taking over your place?
Thanks for the food and party Bujal, guys. We definitely should do this again some time. Happy New Year.
Okay-okay I am just kidding as usual. Nope there's no pantie-less party tonight. Well I don't know whether Bujal wore his panties or not tonight but we did have a party at his house. In fact it is still going on right now as I type this. Some of my colleagues pooled their resources to organize this little get together at Bujal's place in Taman Lestari Putra.
I think most of my colleagues were there, bringing along their spouses, kids and partners. I brought Adam who was as usual, makes himself busy helping me with the chores. The menu for tonight was fried bihun, laksa, spaghetti and various other snacks and cakes. The main course was of course the chicken barbecue (with a few fishes as well) which was mostly cooked by yours truly.
That was Rizal S and Sapuan pretending to grill some fish. They burnt all the fishes later on. When I arrived, Bujal and Sapuan were frantically trying to light up the fire for almost half an hour already to no avail. I did it in less than 5. I didn't become the official satay boy for 10 years in a row for nothing you know. I end up cooking over half of the chickens. If you came across a few raw/under-cooked chickens that's normal la wei. Nobody's perfect you know.
The cake was provided by Mrs Nordolyna whose birthday is today. My Boss' birthday was last Saturday so Happy Birthday to you guys. Doly came by tonight showing off her brand new Proton Persona. The party was supposed to last late until midnight but I didn't stay for long because Adam was already bugging me to go home by 11:00.
Standing on the right holding the baby (not hers) is Miss Hajar. It was her last day at work today and she'll be furthering her studies in UPM tomorrow. Good luck and all the best Hajar, I won't miss you at all he he. But Mr. Radzi probably will. Is it true when you said that Boss will be taking over your place?Thanks for the food and party Bujal, guys. We definitely should do this again some time. Happy New Year.
Windows 7 wallpaper
Official wallpapers for the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. Click on thumbnail for larger image.
Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem setup
If you just subscribed to a wireless broadband Internet chances are you will be given this Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem. You might get it free of charge or you can buy it for a price ranging from RM350 to RM500 depending on where you get it (it might be cheaper at Low Yat Plaza, KL). I bought mine for RM399 (USD117) at a shopping mall nearby.
For IT savvy people, the installation is pretty straightforward. Just plug in the device and follow directions from the manual. For the rest of us, here's how.
The modem comes with 2 USB cables, one short and the other long. The long one has 2 USB interfaces, one used for data and power and the other optionally only for assistance power in case the computer is not able to provide the full 500 mA power needed to operate it. Use the long one for your first time installation. Insert the SIM card provided by your wireless broadband provider into the tray (on the left side of the modem). You can't go wrong with this one because if you do, it will not fit in. Also make sure your ISP have activated your Internet account.
Plug in the USB cable into your computer. For Windows user, the modem will normally installs itself along with the default Huawei Mobile Connect software. If it doesn't, click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and look for the MOBILE_CONNECT drive on the right hand pane. Look for the AutoRun.exe icon and double click to install the software. Follow the simple on screen instruction to install the software. If your PC is ancient like mine, the modem might some fails to automatically install when you plug in the USB cable. If that happens, try a different USB port.
After the installation is finished, click the Mobile Connect icon your desktop. The modem should be initialized and if everything goes on right you will see this screen below with the signal bar and your network provider's name displayed.
You won't be connected to the Internet until you click the Connect icon. This will usually take a few seconds and you're online when you see this screen below.
The LED colour on your modem will differ depending on your connection type. Cyan (light blue) means HSDPA, the fastest connection available. Blue is for 3G, slightly slower but good nonetheless. Green is for low speed GPRS connection.
For Ubuntu Linux users like me, the installation process is very much automated. Just plug in the USB modem and everything will be installed automatically. This is true for Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex. I haven't test it on other distros yet.
For IT savvy people, the installation is pretty straightforward. Just plug in the device and follow directions from the manual. For the rest of us, here's how.
The modem comes with 2 USB cables, one short and the other long. The long one has 2 USB interfaces, one used for data and power and the other optionally only for assistance power in case the computer is not able to provide the full 500 mA power needed to operate it. Use the long one for your first time installation. Insert the SIM card provided by your wireless broadband provider into the tray (on the left side of the modem). You can't go wrong with this one because if you do, it will not fit in. Also make sure your ISP have activated your Internet account.
Plug in the USB cable into your computer. For Windows user, the modem will normally installs itself along with the default Huawei Mobile Connect software. If it doesn't, click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and look for the MOBILE_CONNECT drive on the right hand pane. Look for the AutoRun.exe icon and double click to install the software. Follow the simple on screen instruction to install the software. If your PC is ancient like mine, the modem might some fails to automatically install when you plug in the USB cable. If that happens, try a different USB port.
After the installation is finished, click the Mobile Connect icon your desktop. The modem should be initialized and if everything goes on right you will see this screen below with the signal bar and your network provider's name displayed.
You won't be connected to the Internet until you click the Connect icon. This will usually take a few seconds and you're online when you see this screen below.
The LED colour on your modem will differ depending on your connection type. Cyan (light blue) means HSDPA, the fastest connection available. Blue is for 3G, slightly slower but good nonetheless. Green is for low speed GPRS connection.
For Ubuntu Linux users like me, the installation process is very much automated. Just plug in the USB modem and everything will be installed automatically. This is true for Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex. I haven't test it on other distros yet.
And then there was two
Last night just when I was about to sleep around midnight, my Mom called telling me my sister's water just broke and she's been rushed to the Putrajaya hospital all the way from Shah Alam. Somehow she couldn't contact her husband so she had to ask her neighbour to send her there. My Mom and I arrived at the hospital around the same time my sister arrived.
Working as a government school teacher, she didn't have to pay for the deposit or anything. All she needed to bring was that guarantee letter (GL) from her employee. She checked in around 1:00 AM and until then we still could not reach her hubby. We know maybe he's in a super-secret black ops mission with the Road Transport Dept (JPJ) but surely you can answer the phone right? About 30 failed calls latter, we just gave up about contacting him. Poor Hairie wailed out loud when her mom went into the labour room. Thank goodness my Mom is around to console and pacify him.
I didn't stay and wait for her delivery but my Mom did and right until 7 in the morning the baby still refuses to come out. Her hubby finally arrived around 4:30 saying he just got back from an operation in Teluk Intan (in a neighbouring state). Said he was ordered to leave his phones behind. Don't want anybody to leak anything to the tontos maybe? I don't know really but if that's true it surely sucks to be a RTD staff's pregnant wife.
Anyway after more than 7 hours in labour pain, the doctor finally agrees to cut her open. Although her first child was born the Cesarean way, her second baby has no problems or complications whatsoever so that's why she had to wait for so long. The procedure took less than 30 minutes to complete and by sunrise my sister had safely delivered a healthy 2.7 kilos baby girl. The baby has yet to have a name as of now. I recommended Melissa Maureen but she didn't really agree to that. Oh well. It is your baby.
My sister lives right in the middle of Shah Alam so going to the Klang or Sungai Buloh hospital would be much-much nearer but she insisted on going to Putrajaya anyway. She told me she heard horror stories about the deplorable conditions at the Klang hospital and the new Sungai Buloh hospital is also not up to par yet. I know Putrajaya hospital is good, in fact I have 2 kids born there. It's the best government hospital you can find anywhere in the Klang valley, for maternity and also other ailments. The doctors are good, the nurses are friendly, the rooms and equipments are world class and the price is pretty reasonable too. I'd personally recommend it to everyone.
So congrats to you sis. May your baby grow into a healthy and beautiful little girl.
Working as a government school teacher, she didn't have to pay for the deposit or anything. All she needed to bring was that guarantee letter (GL) from her employee. She checked in around 1:00 AM and until then we still could not reach her hubby. We know maybe he's in a super-secret black ops mission with the Road Transport Dept (JPJ) but surely you can answer the phone right? About 30 failed calls latter, we just gave up about contacting him. Poor Hairie wailed out loud when her mom went into the labour room. Thank goodness my Mom is around to console and pacify him.
I didn't stay and wait for her delivery but my Mom did and right until 7 in the morning the baby still refuses to come out. Her hubby finally arrived around 4:30 saying he just got back from an operation in Teluk Intan (in a neighbouring state). Said he was ordered to leave his phones behind. Don't want anybody to leak anything to the tontos maybe? I don't know really but if that's true it surely sucks to be a RTD staff's pregnant wife.
Anyway after more than 7 hours in labour pain, the doctor finally agrees to cut her open. Although her first child was born the Cesarean way, her second baby has no problems or complications whatsoever so that's why she had to wait for so long. The procedure took less than 30 minutes to complete and by sunrise my sister had safely delivered a healthy 2.7 kilos baby girl. The baby has yet to have a name as of now. I recommended Melissa Maureen but she didn't really agree to that. Oh well. It is your baby.My sister lives right in the middle of Shah Alam so going to the Klang or Sungai Buloh hospital would be much-much nearer but she insisted on going to Putrajaya anyway. She told me she heard horror stories about the deplorable conditions at the Klang hospital and the new Sungai Buloh hospital is also not up to par yet. I know Putrajaya hospital is good, in fact I have 2 kids born there. It's the best government hospital you can find anywhere in the Klang valley, for maternity and also other ailments. The doctors are good, the nurses are friendly, the rooms and equipments are world class and the price is pretty reasonable too. I'd personally recommend it to everyone.
So congrats to you sis. May your baby grow into a healthy and beautiful little girl.
Maxis wireless sucks, use Celcom instead
Before I signed up for Maxis Wireless Broadband, I've heard of stories that their service sucks and you should go for anything beside Maxis. I didn't give that much thought though because first I remembered Maxis' package was much cheaper (starting from RM68 per month) and the registration was quite hassle-free. All we needed to do was show up at any Maxis branch or reseller, fill up the form, pay 100 ringgit and then they give us a modem on the spot. 24 hours later we were surfing the Internet at home.
We chose the Advanced package (684 kbps at 78 ringgit/month. At first the Maxis wireless Internet connection was okay lah. Not as fast as Streamyx but quite acceptable. After all our house is not covered with 3G or HSDPA according to the coverage map. Then after about 2 years of using it, it started to turn from bad to terrible. The connection is super-slow and sometimes I get disconnected every 5 to 10 minutes. It was truly frustrating. So late last month we've decided that we had enough of Maxis snailband and we canceled our subscription altogether.
We planned to apply for Streamyx but the people at TM said they cannot install a fixed-line to my house because there's no telephone line yet on the street that we stayed. The row of houses behind and in front of us have telephone line but nope, not on our side. I thought after 51 years of independence most if not all part of Malaysia should be accessible to a land line. I guess not. Oh well, it's your loss. Here I am living just 22 kilometers from the capital, right inside the MSC but no telephone line. Totally unacceptable.
That's when I seriously thought of applying for Celcom wireless broadband instead. I didn't get the chance to visit any real Celcom branch so last weekend we went to the Blue Cube store at The Mines instead. Blue Cube sells all kind of mobile phones, Blackberries and they also accept payment and registration for Celcom Broadband. Just our luck. When we got to there, they've ran out of modem so we cannot register for the free modem package. The earliest the modem will arrive is next year. So unless we're willing to fork out 500 something for the no-free modem package, we're stuck without Internet for now.
Then yesterday I stumbled into this store at Jusco nearby which sells wireless broadband modem for just RM400. 400 is still a lot of money but since everything feels lighter when shared, we decided to buy it anyway. Then we went straight to the Blue Cube store in Sunway to register for the 384 kbps /RM68 per month package and after 2 hours we're back online at home. And after using Celcom wireless broadband for two days I can say that they're much much faster than Maxis, even at 384 kbps.
So moral of the story here, if you want a good wireless Internet connection, go for Celcom. Avoid Maxis at all cost. Even if they offer you a free Dell notebook with the subscription. The notebook is overpriced anyway. What's more even with the free-modem package, you can keep the modem after subscribing for 18 months unlike Maxis where the modem will not be yours, ever. And you had to pay a whooping 600 ringgit if you loose it.
Here's a summary of the wireless broadband packages offered by Celcom
1. RM69/month up to 384 kbps, no modem, no contract
2. RM98/month up to 3.6 Mbps, no modem, no contract
3. RM99/month up to 384 kbps, free modem, 18 months contract
4. RM129/month up to 3.6 Mbps, free modem, 18 months contract
For package 1 and 2 you also have to pay the first month's bill (either RM68 or RM98) on the spot during registration. For package 3 and 4 you have to pay 3 months bill in advance (RM 297 or RM387) on the spot. If you register at Celcom or Blue Cube, you can take home the free modem right there and then but if you register at an agent or a reseller, you'll have to wait for a week or so for your registration to be activated and then you go back to the reseller to collect your modem. A hassle, I'm sure.
So my advice is, go for the 1st or 2nd package, minus the modem. You can always save up to buy the modem (ranging from RM350 to RM700) but you won't be tied to any contracts and you can terminate the service anytime you like. But if you go for the 3rd and 4th package, that's okay too. You pay extra for 18 months then you get to keep the package or terminate the service if you want. Either way, they're much better than Maxis.
p.s: Celcom didn't pay me to write this
Related links:
Battle of the wireless broadband
We chose the Advanced package (684 kbps at 78 ringgit/month. At first the Maxis wireless Internet connection was okay lah. Not as fast as Streamyx but quite acceptable. After all our house is not covered with 3G or HSDPA according to the coverage map. Then after about 2 years of using it, it started to turn from bad to terrible. The connection is super-slow and sometimes I get disconnected every 5 to 10 minutes. It was truly frustrating. So late last month we've decided that we had enough of Maxis snailband and we canceled our subscription altogether.We planned to apply for Streamyx but the people at TM said they cannot install a fixed-line to my house because there's no telephone line yet on the street that we stayed. The row of houses behind and in front of us have telephone line but nope, not on our side. I thought after 51 years of independence most if not all part of Malaysia should be accessible to a land line. I guess not. Oh well, it's your loss. Here I am living just 22 kilometers from the capital, right inside the MSC but no telephone line. Totally unacceptable.
That's when I seriously thought of applying for Celcom wireless broadband instead. I didn't get the chance to visit any real Celcom branch so last weekend we went to the Blue Cube store at The Mines instead. Blue Cube sells all kind of mobile phones, Blackberries and they also accept payment and registration for Celcom Broadband. Just our luck. When we got to there, they've ran out of modem so we cannot register for the free modem package. The earliest the modem will arrive is next year. So unless we're willing to fork out 500 something for the no-free modem package, we're stuck without Internet for now.
Then yesterday I stumbled into this store at Jusco nearby which sells wireless broadband modem for just RM400. 400 is still a lot of money but since everything feels lighter when shared, we decided to buy it anyway. Then we went straight to the Blue Cube store in Sunway to register for the 384 kbps /RM68 per month package and after 2 hours we're back online at home. And after using Celcom wireless broadband for two days I can say that they're much much faster than Maxis, even at 384 kbps.So moral of the story here, if you want a good wireless Internet connection, go for Celcom. Avoid Maxis at all cost. Even if they offer you a free Dell notebook with the subscription. The notebook is overpriced anyway. What's more even with the free-modem package, you can keep the modem after subscribing for 18 months unlike Maxis where the modem will not be yours, ever. And you had to pay a whooping 600 ringgit if you loose it.
Here's a summary of the wireless broadband packages offered by Celcom
1. RM69/month up to 384 kbps, no modem, no contract
2. RM98/month up to 3.6 Mbps, no modem, no contract
3. RM99/month up to 384 kbps, free modem, 18 months contract
4. RM129/month up to 3.6 Mbps, free modem, 18 months contract
For package 1 and 2 you also have to pay the first month's bill (either RM68 or RM98) on the spot during registration. For package 3 and 4 you have to pay 3 months bill in advance (RM 297 or RM387) on the spot. If you register at Celcom or Blue Cube, you can take home the free modem right there and then but if you register at an agent or a reseller, you'll have to wait for a week or so for your registration to be activated and then you go back to the reseller to collect your modem. A hassle, I'm sure.
So my advice is, go for the 1st or 2nd package, minus the modem. You can always save up to buy the modem (ranging from RM350 to RM700) but you won't be tied to any contracts and you can terminate the service anytime you like. But if you go for the 3rd and 4th package, that's okay too. You pay extra for 18 months then you get to keep the package or terminate the service if you want. Either way, they're much better than Maxis.
p.s: Celcom didn't pay me to write this
Related links:
Battle of the wireless broadband
2008 Granny® Awards
Song Of The Year
'10:04' by One Buck Short
Nominees
'Fall for you' by Secondhand Serenade
'Best damn thing' by Avril Lavigne
'Bye bye' by Mariah Carey
'With you' by Chris Brown
Album Of The Year
'E=MC2' by Mariah Carey
Nominees
'Halal and loving it' by One Buck Short
'Folie à Deux' by Fall Out Boy
Best New Artist
Taylor Swift
Nominees
Jonas Brothers
Miley Cyrus
Best Pop Artist
Mariah Carey
Nominees
FloRida
Chris Brown
Jason Mraz
Best Pop Song
'Bye bye' by Mariah Carey
Nominees
'Dangerous' by Akon/Kardinal Ofishall
'In the ayer' by FloRida
'I'm yours' by Jason Mraz
'With you' by Chris Brown
Best Rock Artist
Secondhand Serenade
Nominees
One Buck Short
Jonas Brothers
Avril Lavigne
One Republic
Best Rock Song
'10:04' by One Buck Short
Nominees
'Fall for you' by Secondhand Serenade
'Stop and stare' by One Republic
'7 things' by Miley Cyrus
'Love bug' by Jonas Brothers
Best Music Video
none
Most Overrated Artist of The Year
Kate Perry
Nominees
Leona Lewis
'10:04' by One Buck Short
Nominees
'Fall for you' by Secondhand Serenade
'Best damn thing' by Avril Lavigne
'Bye bye' by Mariah Carey
'With you' by Chris Brown
Album Of The Year
'E=MC2' by Mariah Carey
Nominees
'Halal and loving it' by One Buck Short
'Folie à Deux' by Fall Out Boy
Best New Artist
Taylor Swift
Nominees
Jonas Brothers
Miley Cyrus
Best Pop Artist
Mariah Carey
Nominees
FloRida
Chris Brown
Jason Mraz
Best Pop Song
'Bye bye' by Mariah Carey
Nominees
'Dangerous' by Akon/Kardinal Ofishall
'In the ayer' by FloRida
'I'm yours' by Jason Mraz
'With you' by Chris Brown
Best Rock Artist
Secondhand Serenade
Nominees
One Buck Short
Jonas Brothers
Avril Lavigne
One Republic
Best Rock Song
'10:04' by One Buck Short
Nominees
'Fall for you' by Secondhand Serenade
'Stop and stare' by One Republic
'7 things' by Miley Cyrus
'Love bug' by Jonas Brothers
Best Music Video
none
Most Overrated Artist of The Year
Kate Perry
Nominees
Leona Lewis
Tesco (M) is evil
Once upon a time whenever my family wants to do our monthly groceries, we would always go to Tesco. I don't know about you guys but I think the goods sold by Tesco is the cheapest amongst all the hypermarts around. Although Giant and Jusco is much nearer to my home, I'd always prefer to go to Tesco.
Another reason why I liked to visit Tesco is because they have this play area for kids. Like all other typical dual income family with no maids, we always bring our kids along to shop. And since Tesco thoughtfully builds this free playing area, one of us can sit there and keep watch while our kid(s) play while the other half goes shopping in peace. A real win-win situation for all.
And then something happened. Suddenly when I go to any Tesco stores, I don't see that free playing area any more. All I see is they've been turned into this for profit video games arcade. I don't know whose idea is this but I think Tesco screwed up big time for doing that. Now we have to pay to let our kids have fun. Gone were the days that the children can have fun playing together with total strangers. What's even worse, not all of us can afford to or willing to fork out our hard-earn money so that the kids can play those senseless video games. And when that happens you can always see those kids cry and create a scene around those video arcades much to the dismay of the parents.
I demand that Tesco (M) brings back those free playing area. What's a few thousand ringgit of profit compared to your customer's satisfaction and a pleasant shopping experience? I think most would agree with me that we'd rather have those free playing area compared to that queue buster thingy that you're promoting. Do that or you'll have this regular customer shop somewhere else.
Another reason why I liked to visit Tesco is because they have this play area for kids. Like all other typical dual income family with no maids, we always bring our kids along to shop. And since Tesco thoughtfully builds this free playing area, one of us can sit there and keep watch while our kid(s) play while the other half goes shopping in peace. A real win-win situation for all.
And then something happened. Suddenly when I go to any Tesco stores, I don't see that free playing area any more. All I see is they've been turned into this for profit video games arcade. I don't know whose idea is this but I think Tesco screwed up big time for doing that. Now we have to pay to let our kids have fun. Gone were the days that the children can have fun playing together with total strangers. What's even worse, not all of us can afford to or willing to fork out our hard-earn money so that the kids can play those senseless video games. And when that happens you can always see those kids cry and create a scene around those video arcades much to the dismay of the parents.I demand that Tesco (M) brings back those free playing area. What's a few thousand ringgit of profit compared to your customer's satisfaction and a pleasant shopping experience? I think most would agree with me that we'd rather have those free playing area compared to that queue buster thingy that you're promoting. Do that or you'll have this regular customer shop somewhere else.
Best of The Cardigans
Listening to Swedish pop act The Cardigans always bring back fond memories of my short but memorable stay in Sweden during which I hang around IKEA World HQ eating meatballs with lead singer Nina Persson and trek along the fjords which is strange because I've never been to Sweden or anywhere else outside this country, ever. Besides, nobody treks along the fjords. It's dangerous and quite pointless. Ah well, maybe in my dreams.
Who could forget that sweet girly voice of Nina Persson and the cool yet funky 60s inspired pop rock music by The Cardigans. Although not very active at the moment, this band is definitely up there among my most fave bands along with Nirvana and Weezer. Here's the best of The Cardigans for your listening pleasure.
Best of The Cardigans
(in order of my preference)
1. Rise and shine
2. Carnival
3. Lovefool (acoustic)
4. Sick & tired
5. My favourite game
6. Erase/rewind
7. Been it
8. Deuce
9. Losers
10. Happy meal
11. Burning down the house (feat Tom Jones)
12. Pooh song
13. Hanging around
Who could forget that sweet girly voice of Nina Persson and the cool yet funky 60s inspired pop rock music by The Cardigans. Although not very active at the moment, this band is definitely up there among my most fave bands along with Nirvana and Weezer. Here's the best of The Cardigans for your listening pleasure.Best of The Cardigans
(in order of my preference)
1. Rise and shine
2. Carnival
3. Lovefool (acoustic)
4. Sick & tired
5. My favourite game
6. Erase/rewind
7. Been it
8. Deuce
9. Losers
10. Happy meal
11. Burning down the house (feat Tom Jones)
12. Pooh song
13. Hanging around
Leave it to the pros
A few days ago my 4 years old had a kind of serious skin infection on his face. Adam had been showing signs of eczema ever since his was small but this one was quite serious because the thing has started to boil and he couldn't stop scratching his face. We went to a clinic nearby but the doctor said it could be really serious because Adam also had a temperature. So she advised us to go to a hospital for further inspection.
One of the perks Linda enjoys for working at her current workplace is panel clinics and hospitals, including all those under PMCare. So today we went to the KPJ Kajang Specialist Hospital in Kajang to get Adam checked up.
We rarely go to private hospitals before so when we got there we were quite at lost of what to do. Thankfully for us, a staff there approached us the moment we stepped into the place and after inquiring about our problem he promptly guided us to the appropriate place on the 1st floor. He showed us where the registration counter is and told us to wait in front of the correct room. So very professional, a far cry from the government hospital we've been to in Serdang where we had to wait for hours to get Adam's dislocated shoulder fixed.
Yes we had to wait for over an hour for our turn because the it was Saturday and there's a dozen patient before us but it was all worth it.
The regular doctor that we went to said Adam is suffering from one thing and prescribe a medication. The last doctor who checked him said he was infected with a condition called herpes something and warned it could be really serious. The doctor that we visited today said something different altogether and explains very thoroughly his symptoms and the correct treatment for each and every one of them. So who should we listen to? The general practitioner or the self-proclaimed family doctor or the well-paid, professional paediatrician? We decided to follow the latter. So Adam didn't have that herpes thingy, just regular virus infection. Silly Dr. Sarrimadh.
A week later Adam had improved tremendously and the medications that we got from KPJ worked like a charm. I think we'll be going to this hospital first for everything from now on. Too bad I'm not covered by PMCare.
One of the perks Linda enjoys for working at her current workplace is panel clinics and hospitals, including all those under PMCare. So today we went to the KPJ Kajang Specialist Hospital in Kajang to get Adam checked up.We rarely go to private hospitals before so when we got there we were quite at lost of what to do. Thankfully for us, a staff there approached us the moment we stepped into the place and after inquiring about our problem he promptly guided us to the appropriate place on the 1st floor. He showed us where the registration counter is and told us to wait in front of the correct room. So very professional, a far cry from the government hospital we've been to in Serdang where we had to wait for hours to get Adam's dislocated shoulder fixed.
Yes we had to wait for over an hour for our turn because the it was Saturday and there's a dozen patient before us but it was all worth it.
The regular doctor that we went to said Adam is suffering from one thing and prescribe a medication. The last doctor who checked him said he was infected with a condition called herpes something and warned it could be really serious. The doctor that we visited today said something different altogether and explains very thoroughly his symptoms and the correct treatment for each and every one of them. So who should we listen to? The general practitioner or the self-proclaimed family doctor or the well-paid, professional paediatrician? We decided to follow the latter. So Adam didn't have that herpes thingy, just regular virus infection. Silly Dr. Sarrimadh.A week later Adam had improved tremendously and the medications that we got from KPJ worked like a charm. I think we'll be going to this hospital first for everything from now on. Too bad I'm not covered by PMCare.
Football Manager 2009 review
Proclaimed as the most realistic and popular football management game ever, the much anticipated Football Manager™ 2009 was officially released on 14th November. As an ardent fan of the FM game franchise, I didn't waste anytime to spend my hard earn money and buy this game for 200 bucks over the Internet. Yeah right.
Nevermind how I got my hands on this game, first thing I noticed about FM 2009 is it came in a DVD instead of the usual CD-ROM. That should be a cause for concern because with bigger file size usually means bigger minimum specs. My fear were confirmed when I read the min specs.
Processor:1.4GHz or Faster
Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon
Memory: 512MB RAM
Hard Drive Space: 2GB
DVD-Drive: 4x Speed
Video Card: 128MB and above
After a month and a half playing this game, I can safely say the real minimum requirement for you to comfortably play this game is Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM and at least 256MB video card and above. My PC does meets the min requirement but it is still ridiculously slow. And with my 128MB video card, forget about watching the game in 3D match engine. I'd be lucky to even watch it in TV mode.
Installation was pretty straightforward but when I first run the game I received a 'Cannot run game:Failed to set up graphics system' error. Arghhh!! After much googling, I found out I had to download and install this Microsoft Direct X SDK patch first from Microsoft. Only then can I play the game in peace.
As always, I pretended to be my fave team's manager (that's Liverpool FYI). In the beginning I opted for a medium database and 6 leagues but after a while, I reverted to small database and EPL only. If I stayed on with the former setting, I'd finish playing the game by the time I'm old and grey. My old beat up P4 PC just cannot handle all those graphic and processing.
I'm sure all of you do this, create a new player using the Game Editor named after yourself with the skills and attributes of Superman, rightttt? I did that too, one after me and another after my brother. Aside from that I also altered my player's skills a little bit and transferred most of my fave players into the club. (Owh please tell me one Malaysian who doesn't like David Beckham playing in their team).
One of the first thing I noticed about FM 2009 is the much improved media interaction. In this game I get to be grilled by the press a couple of times each month before and after games and trust me some of their questions were really tough. Well you can always create a scene and storm out if you're tired of those pesky journalists. Just be careful though cause everything you said to the media can and will affect the team's morale as a whole.
You also can now watch the confidence of the board and the fans for every match, signings and players form via the Confidence screen. Beat a fierce rival or win a major competition and see their confidence level soar to Superb.
One thing I learned from FM 2009 is not to take your assistant's feedback seriously. There will always be a huge gap between the midfielders and the strikers and all your new signings will have problems fitting in your squad. Just ignore him completely.
As a seasoned player of the CM/FM franchise, I find FM 2009 is quite challenging yet fun to play. It is not as hard as FM 2006 (before the patch) but certainly not too easy as it is quite a task to win a top-flight league such as the EPL or BBVA. As always I love all the new features (save for the 3D match engine simply because it's too high end) and the new players in the database.
In my first season in charge I managed to win the League Cup, Premiership, FA Cup and the Champions League also (hey that's everything!).
At last they finally remembered to put in quadruple in the victory types. Previously I only get a boring magnificent treble although I won everything in the season.
Although we lost 7 times this season we still managed to beat Arsenal for the title by a mere 4 points while Man U and Chelsea came 3rd and 4th respectively. Who knows it would be like this also in real life? (fingers-crossed!).
Naturally I won the Manager Of The Year award and the Liverpool fans worshipped me, yeah-yeah whatever.
Like any seasoned player of FM 2009 will know by now, having the best players in the world playing in your team is definitely not enough to win anything. You've got to come up with a fool-proof, one size fits all master tactic (who got time to edit for every match?). I edited the default 4-4-2 attacking tactic to my trusted and tested all out attack tactic and so far it hasn't let me down yet. Using the same tactic, I won the title every season until 2015 in FM 2008. You can download the tactic here.
Here's some of the new features offered in FM 2009:
3D Match Engine – You can now watch your matches in 3D from multiple camera angles and re-watch any part of the match by fast forwarding and rewinding the action using a new match time bar that flags the key moments in the game.
The old 2d view of the match engine is still there, especially for those people whose computers aren’t powerful enough to take advantage of the 3d views.
TV View – Watch your matches in new full screen TV view and customise your match day screen with widgets to view the information you need as a football manager, be it player performance, match action zones, pitch radar, latest scores and many more.
Assistant Manager Feedback – Pre-match and in-match feedback from your Assistant Manager on how the team is performing and your player’s motivation levels, as well as hints on how your tactics are working and how you could outwit the opposition’s tactics. <- Ignore him! Improved Media – SI have worked hard to reflect the greater impact the media has been having in recent years on the world of football, in the in-game dealings with the press. The game now features more news stories, more detail and greater media interaction than ever before, creating an even more realistic simulation of the football world.
Press Conferences – Attend pre-match and post-match press conferences with local and national journalists and build up relationships with them over time, but choose your answers carefully because they could come back to haunt you in the media at a later date.
Transfer Rumours – View the latest news on what players are being speculated on, and who’s said to be interested in securing their services.
Preferred Moves – Train your players to learn ‘preferred moves’ to add to their game. For example, train central defenders to not dive into tackles, or wingers to do stepovers before crossing the ball.
Female Manager – For the very first time you can now play as a female manager. All of the text in the game now also has a female gender so the game represents female managers and staff in the game in the correct gender.
Updated Competitions – Fully updated for the new 2008/09 football season with all the latest league, club and player data, featuring over 5,000 playable clubs from over 50 countries, and around 350,000 players and staff from around the world, drawn fresh from the famous Sports Interactive database.
Widescreen Support – As a result of usability testing on Football Manager™ 2008, this year sees widescreen support for the game for the first time, as well as lots of tweaks to the user interface for easier navigation.
Since I've already achieved everything I can ask for in the first season, I'm now going back to the bring a Conference club to Premiership game mode. It's not easy to bring any club 5 leagues up but I've done it before and surely I can do it again in FM 2009. This time I decided to put my daughter in charge of my fave Conference (Blue Square Premier) club, Northwich Victoria. So far she managed to get promoted to Coca-Cola League 2. I'm sure she'll win every league from there to the EPL. Come on you Trickies!
Nevermind how I got my hands on this game, first thing I noticed about FM 2009 is it came in a DVD instead of the usual CD-ROM. That should be a cause for concern because with bigger file size usually means bigger minimum specs. My fear were confirmed when I read the min specs.Processor:1.4GHz or Faster
Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon
Memory: 512MB RAM
Hard Drive Space: 2GB
DVD-Drive: 4x Speed
Video Card: 128MB and above
After a month and a half playing this game, I can safely say the real minimum requirement for you to comfortably play this game is Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM and at least 256MB video card and above. My PC does meets the min requirement but it is still ridiculously slow. And with my 128MB video card, forget about watching the game in 3D match engine. I'd be lucky to even watch it in TV mode.
Installation was pretty straightforward but when I first run the game I received a 'Cannot run game:Failed to set up graphics system' error. Arghhh!! After much googling, I found out I had to download and install this Microsoft Direct X SDK patch first from Microsoft. Only then can I play the game in peace.
As always, I pretended to be my fave team's manager (that's Liverpool FYI). In the beginning I opted for a medium database and 6 leagues but after a while, I reverted to small database and EPL only. If I stayed on with the former setting, I'd finish playing the game by the time I'm old and grey. My old beat up P4 PC just cannot handle all those graphic and processing.
I'm sure all of you do this, create a new player using the Game Editor named after yourself with the skills and attributes of Superman, rightttt? I did that too, one after me and another after my brother. Aside from that I also altered my player's skills a little bit and transferred most of my fave players into the club. (Owh please tell me one Malaysian who doesn't like David Beckham playing in their team).
One of the first thing I noticed about FM 2009 is the much improved media interaction. In this game I get to be grilled by the press a couple of times each month before and after games and trust me some of their questions were really tough. Well you can always create a scene and storm out if you're tired of those pesky journalists. Just be careful though cause everything you said to the media can and will affect the team's morale as a whole.
You also can now watch the confidence of the board and the fans for every match, signings and players form via the Confidence screen. Beat a fierce rival or win a major competition and see their confidence level soar to Superb.One thing I learned from FM 2009 is not to take your assistant's feedback seriously. There will always be a huge gap between the midfielders and the strikers and all your new signings will have problems fitting in your squad. Just ignore him completely.
As a seasoned player of the CM/FM franchise, I find FM 2009 is quite challenging yet fun to play. It is not as hard as FM 2006 (before the patch) but certainly not too easy as it is quite a task to win a top-flight league such as the EPL or BBVA. As always I love all the new features (save for the 3D match engine simply because it's too high end) and the new players in the database.
In my first season in charge I managed to win the League Cup, Premiership, FA Cup and the Champions League also (hey that's everything!).
At last they finally remembered to put in quadruple in the victory types. Previously I only get a boring magnificent treble although I won everything in the season.
Although we lost 7 times this season we still managed to beat Arsenal for the title by a mere 4 points while Man U and Chelsea came 3rd and 4th respectively. Who knows it would be like this also in real life? (fingers-crossed!).
Naturally I won the Manager Of The Year award and the Liverpool fans worshipped me, yeah-yeah whatever.
Like any seasoned player of FM 2009 will know by now, having the best players in the world playing in your team is definitely not enough to win anything. You've got to come up with a fool-proof, one size fits all master tactic (who got time to edit for every match?). I edited the default 4-4-2 attacking tactic to my trusted and tested all out attack tactic and so far it hasn't let me down yet. Using the same tactic, I won the title every season until 2015 in FM 2008. You can download the tactic here.
Here's some of the new features offered in FM 2009:3D Match Engine – You can now watch your matches in 3D from multiple camera angles and re-watch any part of the match by fast forwarding and rewinding the action using a new match time bar that flags the key moments in the game.
The old 2d view of the match engine is still there, especially for those people whose computers aren’t powerful enough to take advantage of the 3d views.
TV View – Watch your matches in new full screen TV view and customise your match day screen with widgets to view the information you need as a football manager, be it player performance, match action zones, pitch radar, latest scores and many more.
Assistant Manager Feedback – Pre-match and in-match feedback from your Assistant Manager on how the team is performing and your player’s motivation levels, as well as hints on how your tactics are working and how you could outwit the opposition’s tactics. <- Ignore him! Improved Media – SI have worked hard to reflect the greater impact the media has been having in recent years on the world of football, in the in-game dealings with the press. The game now features more news stories, more detail and greater media interaction than ever before, creating an even more realistic simulation of the football world.
Press Conferences – Attend pre-match and post-match press conferences with local and national journalists and build up relationships with them over time, but choose your answers carefully because they could come back to haunt you in the media at a later date.
Transfer Rumours – View the latest news on what players are being speculated on, and who’s said to be interested in securing their services.Preferred Moves – Train your players to learn ‘preferred moves’ to add to their game. For example, train central defenders to not dive into tackles, or wingers to do stepovers before crossing the ball.
Female Manager – For the very first time you can now play as a female manager. All of the text in the game now also has a female gender so the game represents female managers and staff in the game in the correct gender.
Updated Competitions – Fully updated for the new 2008/09 football season with all the latest league, club and player data, featuring over 5,000 playable clubs from over 50 countries, and around 350,000 players and staff from around the world, drawn fresh from the famous Sports Interactive database.
Widescreen Support – As a result of usability testing on Football Manager™ 2008, this year sees widescreen support for the game for the first time, as well as lots of tweaks to the user interface for easier navigation.
Since I've already achieved everything I can ask for in the first season, I'm now going back to the bring a Conference club to Premiership game mode. It's not easy to bring any club 5 leagues up but I've done it before and surely I can do it again in FM 2009. This time I decided to put my daughter in charge of my fave Conference (Blue Square Premier) club, Northwich Victoria. So far she managed to get promoted to Coca-Cola League 2. I'm sure she'll win every league from there to the EPL. Come on you Trickies!