Scariest Sound

2 days ago in the wee hours of the morning, I heard the scariest sound that made me jumped out of my bed and nearly out of my skin. It was like one of my nightmares came true! "WHY MEEEEEE? WHY MEEEE?"... I asked myself....

The sound...


Yeah no kidding... it was the scariest sound.

In my company, all engineers are required to be standby support for our clients at least a week in a month. So every week, there will be 2 people doing the support. This week is my turn. When the pager beeps, it basically means that there is an issue reported by our clients that need urgent attention. Most of the time, we do not get many of such cases.

However this week seems to be my "lucky" week... cos I got a page! Besides that page, there were also a few other issues that arised needing attention.

Not being familiar with the technical aspects of my company's products made it worse. I was practically unsure of what to do. Luckily I have good experienced colleagues who helped and guided me a lot. I guess as I learn more about all these, I will be more comfortable having the pager around. Till then, the beeping sound still gives me the jitters.

Well, there are 3 more days before I can pass the pager to someone else. It almost feels like letting go of a burning coal from your hand. At the meantime, I pray hard that the pager remains very silent....

C'est La Vie

C'est La Vie is French for "That's Life". It happens to be the title of Fish Leong's (yes, again!) song from her new album. As I like her a lot and this is my blog, I am putting her MTV again...

Deal with it, C'est La Vie...

Pinyin lyrics:

Ne laisse pas le temps te décevoir
ll ne peut être conquis
Dans la tristesse dans la douleur
Aujourd'hui, demain Au fil du temps Le temps C'est La Vie

也许我会再遇见你
ye xu wo hui zai yu jian ni
像恋人般重逢美丽
xiang lian ren ban zhong feng mei li
看你满脸胡渣的笑意　
kan ni man lian hu zha de xiao yi
爽朗一如往昔
shuang lang yi ru wang xi
C'est La Vie (3x)
C'est La Vie (3x)

走一个城市的陌生　走到了
zou yi ge cheng shi de mo sheng, zou dao le
曙光无知无觉的黎明
shu guang wu zhi wu jue de li ming
一路微笑的满天繁星　
yi lu wei xiao de man tian fong xing
消失在日出里
xiao shi zai ri chu li
C'est La Vie (3x)
C'est La Vie (3x)

*
oh　塞纳河的水　是心的眼泪
oh sai na he de shui, shi xin de yan lei
流过了你笑的　每个样子（一去不回）
liu guo le ni xiao de, mei ge yang zi (yi zhou bu hui)
我会在你的记忆　看到我自己
wo hui zai ni de ji yi, kan dao wo zi ji
看到了结局　
kan dao le je ju
爱在错过后更珍惜
ai zai cuo guo hou geng zhen xi

都将走向新的旅途 Au revoir
dou jiang zou xiang xin de li chern, Au revoir
说好不为彼此停留
shuo hao bu wei bi ci ting liu
看车窗外的你沈默不语　
kan che chuang wai de ni chen mo bu yu
我不再哭泣
wo bu zai ku qi
C'est La Vie (3x)
C'est La Vie (3x)

**
oh　塞纳河的水　是心的眼泪
oh sai na he de shui, shi xin de yan lei
流过了漂泊的　人生风景
liu guo le piao po de, ren sheng feng jing
愿我们各自都有 美好的一生　
yuan wo men ge zi dou you, mei hao de yi sheng
美好的憧憬　
mei hao de chong jing
爱在遗憾里更清晰
ai zai yi han li geng qing xi

*, **

也许我会再遇见你
ye xu wo hui zai yu jian ni
像恋人般重逢美丽
xiang lian ren ban zhong feng mei li
C'est La Vie (3x)
C'est La Vie (3x)

CRV Stolen!

My 2nd sister's new Honda CRV was stolen from her gated porch early yesterday morning. The thieves opened her automated gate, took the SUV out and closed the gate back.

My sister woke up in the morning and as usual did her chores around the house. Then she looked at the porch and discovered that her SUV was not there. Initially she thought my brother in law could have taken it out; only to discover that he was still in bed.

When they made the police report, they found out that there were already many cases where new Honda CRVs were stolen from their owners. Guess it must be one of the hottest cars around.

My poor sister. She has been running into some unpleasant situations since buying this car. First was that the new car got banged from behind not long after she got it. Then her handphone got snatched in the pasar malam... and now this.

Anyhow, thank goodness she's not hurt in any of these incidents. One's well being is always of the utmost importance as money can be earned back, and handphone and car can be bought back.

Baby's Daily Activities

I am not a parent, well..at least not to a human baby. So I may miss out a lot of things in this post. Please do enlighten me...

My take on a baby's daily activities:

1) Cry when hungry, scared, uncomfortable, frustrated or for no apparent reason.

2) Get fed. Other uninvolved people may not be around to distract from feeding time. Else, cry and refuse to drink.

3) Get burped and if not done properly, throw up milk. Take own sweet time for milk to slowly go down.

4) Be cute, salivate but only allow selected people to come near. If those unselected ones come near, do the crybaby face...

5) Get sleepy anytime, anywhere. Cry if condition is not ideal for sleeping. If not entertained, sleep anyway.

6) Pee pee and poo poo. New technology diapers will handle the job very well. If not, cry...
*Pic not included due to kind consideration for readers*

Model: My niece

Red Balloon

I almost have 2 pugs

I collected Axel back from his vacation 2 days ago. Well apparently this time around, the slimming spa (aka Gan's home) was not so effective. Axel did not slim down even a tiny bit. I noticed there were quite a number of snacks for him there, and suspected his diet was probably down the drain. I guess many still fell for his sad, cute face...

Anyway, I went and got a weigh from Tesco. Put Axel on it... yes, it was indeed a task getting his big bum onto the small weigh. After a few attempts, I succeeded!

He's 15kg!!!

I have this very good book on pugs that I bought when I first got Axel. It's called "The Pug Handbook" by Brenda Belmonte. I searched it for a pug's ideal weight. The book says 8-9.1kg. So Axel is almost equivalent to 2 pugs!!

This calls for an intervention! I have to cut down on his food somemore and 100% no more treats!! Hmm... I read that baby carrots are healthy substitute for treats, so I guess I will have to get those for him.

Sigh....Fatty fatty....

This is Axel the pug, not Axel the pig

Ringtone only for the young

There is this regular TV commercial about a ringtone that only young kids can hear. I thought "what the hell??" and dismissed it as some sort of scam targetted at innocent teens. However last weekend I came across this advert again and curiosity got the best of me. As usual, I turned to my best friend and genius, the internet.

Apparently this is no scam! This product was spawned from a technology called "Mosquito" originated from UK. This technology was used as an ultrasonic teenager repellent. Shopkeepers would install this ear splitting 17kHz buzzer to disperse teenagers loitering in front of their shops. Adults (mostly those over 30) were spared.

Well, the principle of this technology is based on the biological reality that as you grow older, you lose the ability to hear higher frequencies sound. This is called presbycusis or aging ear.

I found the sound file and played it with Windows Media Player, with my speaker's volume at the maximum. Nothing! I couldn't hear anything! I called my elder sister and got her and my nephew to listen to it. They could hear it and they said it's very annoying. Gosh...my sister still has this young ear! I played it for Gan and he could hear it... then again he is not in his 30s yet.

However when I put it here with a flash player (as below), I could hear it. Not sure whether is it because the flash player converted it to lower frequency.

Anyhow, I found this site with different frequencies sound. I could only hear up to 14.1kHz. Give it a try and if you cannot hear beyond 14.1kHz, come and join my old folks club...

Update from the Fish Tank

The first goldfish I got for my tank died of fungus infection a week ago. I guess that's the problem with buying unhealthy fish from those not well maintained fish shops. After the demise, I changed almost all of the water from my tank, and added in 2 new fantail goldfish from Taman Megah's pet shop.

These 2 are still thriving and looked pretty healthy and active.

Fish Leong - 崇拜 (J'Adore)

As I was browsing some music videos from YouTube, I found out that Fish Leong, my favourite local chinese singer has released her latest album titled "崇拜" (j'Adore) on the 9th Nov 07. I will definitely be getting that this weekend.

The first song from this album ...

Update: 17 Nov 07, 4.00pm
I went to Seri Kembangan's Jusco for lunch just now. Searched for Fish Leong's album in Jusco and Speedy Video but to no avail. Speedy Video's storekeeper told me that they have not receved any stocks yet. Came back and checked the web again.. and it is correct that the album is already released here. What is going on?

Update: 18 Nov 07, 12.15am
Went to Subang Parade to attend an ex-colleague's wedding dinner. As we reached there early, I went to scout around the CD shops to see whether they have Fish Leong's album. Alas found it in Speedy Video. Cost me RM48.90. Besides the CD, there are the lyrics booklet and a notebook with Fish Leong's pictures. Now that I am at home, I will put on the CD and let j'Adore seep into me...

Cute pug videos

Axel the pug is on vacation. He is at Gan's home again since last weekend due to popular demand from his fans there. I guess he must be showered with so much love and playtime until he forgot about his daddy here.. :-(

Miss my little boy so much. So I go YouTube and watch some pug videos. Here are some of my favourites:

Such a smart little pug!

Pug training a baby?

Excited Pug

Being Banana

When we refer to someone as a "banana person", it basically means that someone is a chinese but does not know the chinese language. You see, a banana is yellow on the outside but white in the inside.

I am unfortunately a "banana person" although I don't consider myself as fully "banana". Reason being I do speak and understand basic chinese. It's only when you start to speak fast or in flowery language that I will be looking at you and say "Wo bu ming bai" (I don't understand).

Anyway I do find it a disadvantage to be a "banana". Firstly the chinese newspapers tend to have more juicy details than their english counterparts here.

Then for those like me who like chinese songs, we are very handicapped when come to understanding, learning and singing these songs.

That's why whenever I go karaoke, I will bring along a stack of my hanyu pinyin (romanised) lyrics of the chinese songs. Of course there are also those songs that I have sang so many times that no lyrics is needed. Those people who don't know me well would get so impressed upon knowing that I can't read chinese characters but sang as if I did. They would say "Wahh.... so accurate la your pronunciation". What they didn't know is that I spent half a lifetime memorising those songs.

Oh..and what about those chinese entertainment magazines... You can't get those sleazy details from "Galaxie" (is this still in publication?) or other english magazines, can you?

As a "banana", there are a lot of interesting chinese blogs out there that are out of reach. Yeah, we can use those translation tools to translate the blogs to english but you probably be spending a lot of time deciphering the result. They will totally lose their actual meanings anyway.

Not knowing chinese language also means we can strike out any plans to work in countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan or China where chinese language is used from daily conversation to all documentations. Perhaps that is why I never even give it a thought.

Aiya...why didn't my parents send me to a chinese school??

I left the girl there...

- a Zen story

Two young monks were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling.

As they came around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross at an intersection.

"Come on, girl," said the first monk at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

The second monk did not speak until that night when they reached a lodging temple. The he could no longer restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told the first monk, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

"I left the girl there," said the first monk. "Are you still carrying her?"

Cup Cover Devil

After my incident with the lizard, I was on constant lookout for a nice mug cover. Last weekend, I saw an interesting one at Action City in The Gardens.

Cute plastic bag from Action City

The one that caught my eyes is called the Cup Cover Devil. It's a piece of rubber with the face of a cute devil and has this huge protruding nose.

The way it functions also fascinates me. Just put the cup cover over the mug.

Then press the nose down and this will achieve an air-tight sealing.

I am so tempted to try this out with a full mug over a lucky colleague's head.. Hmm..maybe one of these days I will..... muahahahaha

To remove the cover, just peel it from the side.

Cute and convenient!!... for the price of RM9.80.

Fish Tank Resurrected

Got my fish tank set up during the weekend.

Lets see how much I have spent on this so far:

• Tank: RM0 (old tank)
• Silicone Sealant: RM7.50
• Lamp: RM0 (old lamp)
• Metal Stand: RM50
• HOB Filter: RM35
• Anti-chlorine: RM1
• Gravel(5kg): RM17.50
• Backdrop: RM6
• Fish Food: RM6
• Decor: RM16
• Goldfish: RM3
  
  TOTAL: RM142

The result:

Currently I have only 1 goldfish in there. Slowly I will add more to accompany it. My target is to have 4 goldfish.

So far am loving it!! I find the sound of running water really soothing.

Now, I am going to sit back and wait for wealth and abundance to come in ... ;-p

Happy Birthday Axel!

Happy Birthday Axel!

Axel is 2 years old today... and if following the old formula to calculate Axel's age where 1 dog year equals to 7 human years, he is only 14 years old - a teenager.

However, this formula is no longer used. With the new formula that takes into account the fact that smaller dogs mature faster (calculator can be found here), Axel is now 24 years old... a full adult waiting to lose his virginity.

My little boy is one step away from being a man....

Random Pics - Home Items

Feng Shui and Fish Tank

Feng Shui when direct translated means Wind and Water. It is an ancient Chinese art of correct placements for furnishings and decor. The practice is based on methods for retaining the positive energy “Qi” which is said to be beneficial for well being. Wind is the force which removes the "Qi" while water promotes the retention of the energy.

I am not exactly a feng shui practitioner. I take the approach of if I can follow it, then I will do it... but if it requires a lot of effort and money, then I will just ignore and hope for the best.

Anyway in my recent interest in setting up a fish tank in my apartment, I thought I will do some references to find out what feng shui has to say about having a fish tank at home.

Well...apparently water features such as fountains or fish tanks when placed correctly can bring wealth and abundance. Oh...I definitely am desperate for those!!!

Some of the feng shui guidelines from the net:

• The best locations for placing the fish tank is in the North wall or along the South East wall.
• When you stand at the main entrance facing out, the fish tank should preferably not be placed on the right side of the home (interior)
• Avoid placing a fish tank in any bedroom or in the kitchen. Generally, it should be placed in the living or sitting room.
• The fish tank must not be at the centre of the home.
• The best shape for a fish tank is rectangular or round. Avoid a triangular fish tank as it represents the fire element. (fire is incompatible with water).
• For the leg stand of the fish tank, one advice is to paint them in the colour of the location. For example, if the fish tank is at the East wall, it can be green/dark green. If it is at the North, the stand can be black/grey/blue. If it is at the west, it can be white or gold.
• Best to keep 1, 4, 6 or 9 fish.

Based on these guidelines, I have an idea on where is the best location for my tank. It will have to be next to my couch as it is the North wall and there is a power point there.

Oh, I also read that if within 4 months since putting your fish tank in that location and things go from bad to worse, then it's time to move it!

Fish Tank Resurrection

Yes, I have finally decided to resurrect my fish tank. After being influenced by my fish nut colleague whom I "converted" last time, I am going to start up my empty tank again.

You see, I was a fish nut long time ago and was responsible in introducing this hobby to my colleague who went on to become a major nut.

Me on the other hand, stopped fishkeeping after moving to my apartment. I kept hamsters in the tank instead.

After my hamsters died, the tank was just left sitting in my study room.

So a week ago, I bought the silicone sealant to reseal the corners of the tank as most of them were already bitten off by my hamsters last time.

I procrastinated in doing the sealing until a few days ago. It's not easy at all to carry out this task. You have to press the sealant tube with consistent pressure as you move along the corners. I did a very lousy job on this one. I now have new respect for those people who make fish tanks for a living.

Then I left it to dry for a day or two before putting it through a "leak test". So currently it is sitting in my bathroom while I monitor the water level. I guess tomorrow I will know whether this tank is fit enough for me to proceed.

If it is, my next step is to get the stand, filter and gravel; and set up the tank before welcoming the fish.

My new darling?

HP iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Marvell PXA270 Processor 520 MHz
• TFT 65,000 color 240 x 320 pixel touch panel display with LED backlight
• 128 MB SDRAM main memory, 256 MB flash ROM
• 117 x 60.3 x 17.5mm, 145g
• Bluetooth, USB 2.0 client for sync/data/charge
• 3G, HSDPA and Quad-band
• Integrated WiFi 802.11 b/g with WPA2 security
• GPS navigation
• 3 Megapixel camera, 4X digital zoom
• Smart Touch wheel and three-way thumb wheel

Click here for more info

When will it be available here?

Can I afford to woo this beauty?

Take Bear Bear

I tried this a few times and Axel seems to know what "bear bear" is. However there were times he showed some attitude and refused to entertain me.

Love is Beautiful - 曾国辉

In my opinion, Zheng Guo Hui (曾国辉) is one of the better Malaysian chinese singers around. He won the Astro Talent Quest singing competition in 2005.

His debut album released early this year is titled "Vois" and I totally love it. My favourite track from this album is "Love is Beautiful".

For "banana" people like me who love chinese songs but can't read the characters, we need pinyin lyrics. I found this really useful pinyin translation site which will help me increase the number of chinese songs that I will be singing in Karaoke. ;-)

Love is Beautiful

天空原来是蓝色的
tian kong yuan lai shi lan se di
太阳躲在白色云里
tai yang duo zai bai se yun li
真美丽
zhen mei li
天气好好的
tian qi hao hao di
因为我们在一起
yin wei wo men zai yi qi

*
是不是小鸟已飞去
shi bu shi xiao niao yi fei qu
感觉到空气很清晰
gan jue dao kong qi hen qing xi
大自然 拥抱在一起
da zi ran yong bao zai yi qi
变成我们的天地
bian cheng wo men de tian di
美丽的画面会永远藏在我心里
mei li de hua mian hui yong yuan cang zai wo xin li
让我知道你的需要
rang wo zhi dao ni de xu yao
我们一起寻找
wo men yi qi xun zhao

chorus:
让我陪你到最后
rang wo pei ni dao zui hou
不要放手
bu yao fang shou
一起走 扶摇最后
yi qi zou fu yao zui hou
暴风雨也不算理由
bao feng yu ye bu suan li you
让我陪你到最后
rang wo pei ni dao zui hou
我不会放手
wo bu hui fang shou
我们一起走到以后
wo men yi qi zou dao yi hou
love is beautiful
love is beautiful

* chorus

天神一直守候我们背后
tian shen yi zhi shou hou wo men bei hou
幸福的路
xing fu de lu
让我们努力去拥有
rang wo men nu li qu yong you

chorus

A visit to The Lost City

I visited the Lost City today, and left the place feeling totally lost. I was like "Huh...what just happened??".

"The Lost City" exhibition is being held in Summit Square from the 8th Oct - 31st Dec 07. After my gym session in the same building, I decided to pay this place a visit. After all, it's a Saturday and I didn't have much to do.

From outside, it looked pretty interesting. Adult entrance fee=RM22/person.

Upon entering, I was led to the auditorium for a video show on lost cities. The whole auditorium was empty except for me... so I got to sit right in the middle for the best view. It felt rather creepy though, reminded me of this horror movie where this guy sat in an empty cinema and in the middle of the show discovered that he was not "alone"...

After the video show, I was led down to this small space where some artifacts were exhibited. The lady explained to me the different artifacts and we covered all of them in 5 minutes. Yes...it was THAT small! Apparently those were real artifacts borrowed from their owners for this exhibition.

Some of the exhibits:

All these artifacts are in the first section of the exhibition. The second section is inside the "God of Death" (in Mayan culture).

There were a few rooms in this section supposedly with special effects. However they screwed up somewhere cos when I got in, most of the rooms were not working. After the fourth or fifth room, I came to the exit. It was such an abrupt ending!

Anyhow, I didn't think whatever they had there reflected any lost cities. It's very much like they just put up some display, turn on some lights and sound effects, and then call it an exhibition. Didn't feel like it was done professionally at all.

To me, this exhibition is like a lost city itself. Empty... and dead.

Read The Signs, Moron!!

It's already damn frustrating to be stuck in a long queue towards the toll booth. Then there would always be these people who do not know how to read.

Although the signs clearly stated "For Touch n Go Only", they would still go to these express lanes and get themselves stuck there for not having the Touch n Go cards to pass through. Those innocent drivers queueing behind them would then have to slowly reverse to make space for them to get to the cash lanes, causing the jam to become worse.

I think there should be bigger signs with clearer message for all these morons.

Traumatic Experience

Such a traumatic experience for the little kid. Poor thing...

Abbreviation vs Acronym

I learned the difference between abbreviation and acronym today from Star newspaper. All this while I thought they are just different words describing the same thing.

Now let me see whether I can still remember what I read from the papers... hmm better to confirm this with some online dictionaries.

Abbreviation

• meaning: a shortened form of a word or phrase, usually made up from the first letter of each word. They are pronounced letter by letter.
• example: CEO is an abbreviation for 'Chief Executive Officer'.

Acronym

• meaning: a shortened form of a word or phrase, usually made up from the first letter of each word. They are pronounced as a word.
• example: AIDS is an acronym for 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'

In short, acronym is an abbreviation that can be pronounced as a word.

Some funny acronyms I found from the net:

• ADAM - Ada Dangdut Ada Maksiat
• BMW - Bought My Wife
• KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid!
• CHEVROLET - Cheap, Hardly Efficient, Virtually Runs On Luck Every Time
• BATA - Buy And Throw Away
• HONDA - Had One, Never Did Again
• BEER - Beginning Enjoy, Ending Regret
• PUASU - Put Up and Shut Up
• ADIDAS - All Day I Dream About Sex
• FORD - Fix Or Repair Daily
• VISTA - Very Inconsistent Software, Try Again
• CRAFT - Can't Remember A Fu**ing Thing
• FEAR - Forget Everything And Run
• PITA - Pain In The Ass