Screen Cleaner

I got this from a forwarded e-mail and it is just too cute NOT to be included into my blog. I actually sat in front of my laptop watching this for a while, hehehe.

It's so typical of pugs. Lick lick lick lick lick... neverending licking, gosh! At home, I have a 3 in 1 - screen cleaner, floor cleaner and face cleaner.

Anyway, I showed this to Axel and he was curious at the beginning. He went behind my laptop to see whether there really was another pug there. When he found there wasn't, he lost interest. He went back to his usual floor licking.

Enjoy:



Click here for the actual site.

What's your f*****g problem?

I had a funny experience when collecting my cheque book today. 2 days ago, I received this letter from my bank asking me to change my cheque book. Apparently Bank Negara is changing their cheque truncation system and the existing cheques will no longer be compatible when they roll out the system.

So I went to my bank to settle this and waited for my turn to be served at this small little glass window thing. I don't understand why most banks' cheque collection booths are designed like that. Anyway there was this long haired cool looking guy queueing behind me. When it's finally my turn, I passed the letter, my old cheque book and my IC to the officer there.

The officer then went somewhere else to get my cheque book and during this time, this middle aged lady seemed to suddenly appeared from nowhere and cut to the front of the line. She looked at the cool looking guy queueing behind me and shouted "I just want to ask a question!". Then she looked around for the officer and as he wasn't there, she just asked the thin air "Where is the guy ah?". Aiya..she wasn't looking at me when she asked ma... so I assumed she was asking the thin air and just kept quiet.

Then finally the officer came with my new cheque book. She then asked the officer in a very "chor lo" manner about this new cheque matter and whether the existing cheques can still be used. The officer replied that the existing cheques can be used until June 08.

She then looked at me with piercing eyes and asked yelled "THEN WHY ARE YOU CHANGING YOUR CHEQUES NOW??!!!" as if I have stolen something from her!

I was stunned... collected my composure back.. and told her in my usual well mannered self (ehem, ehem), "Because I got a letter asking me to!". Then I grabbed my new cheque book and walked away without looking at her.

Well I could have answered her "WHAT'S YOUR F*****G PROBLEM?!!" but that's just not me, right? *Wink*

People can be so funny sometimes...

Table Manners

Pets should have table manners too...

Axel: I am a good boy you know...

PAWS Malaysia

Paws Animal Welfare Shelter (PAWS) is a society that was set up to help abandoned, abused and unwanted animals. It is an entirely voluntary society which is not supported by any government grant or subsidy. It operates through the goodwill of its members and direct contribution from the public.
~ taken from PAWS Malaysia's website

Today, I went there to renew my membership and to do some donations. It has been a while since the last time I was there.

PAWS Malaysia is located along the road leading to Subang old airport. The buildings there are quite old, but still functional. They accommodate mostly dogs and cats; but I did see a monkey and a few rabbits as well.

There are quite a number of rescued dogs and cats there. Made me feel a bit sad on how can people just abandoned these animals. Thank goodness there are societies such as PAWS that take them in and help to rehome them.

The dogs and cats have their separate enclosures. Some are kept in cages. They looked very well taken care of... thanks to the workers, volunteers and donors. As mentioned above, this place operates solely on the goodwill of the public... so without the kindness of these people, it would not have been possible.

See below for some of the pictures that I have taken there:

Adult dogs enclosures

Adult dogs for adoption

One of the cat enclosures

Cats for adoption

Some of the occupants:

You can help out by adopting some of these animals, or do some donation to help them in maintaining the place. Do check out their website to find out how you can do so.

PhotoHunt: Wooden

This was a wooden carving placed at Gan's rented condominium by the landlord when he was stationed in Pattaya during the period of 2006-2007. Gan hated it and thought that it was a huge block of ugliness. Me on the other hand, thought it was a beautiful piece of artwork.

(Click to enlarge)

It's a carving of a jungle and its occupants on a giant piece of wood. Just look at the intricate details. There were elephants, monkeys, buffalos, bears, etc. It must have taken a lot of effort and time to produce all these.

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

Beautiful? Yes...
Will I hang it on my wall? No...
Why? Cos it's a dust and spiderweb magnet...

PhotoHunt

Not happy with your looks?

Not happy with your looks? Want to have bigger eyes, higher cheek bones, fuller lips? No plastic surgery needed ... this method is totally free!!

See what I mean:

Just head over to Putty Face, a very fun tool from Miniclip. Change however you want to look like ... and get entertained! Actually when using the tool, you will be thankful for whatever that you have now, hehehe...

Putty Face Upload a mugshot and start modifying their face as if it were putty!

Play this free game now!!

Damn! Wish they have the function to add on more hair!

3 gold, 2 white and 1 black

Here are the latest pictures of my fish community.
I now have 6 of them- 3 gold, 2 white and 1 black.

This too, shall pass

There was this one scene in the movie "My Best Friend's Wedding" which made a very deep impression to me even now. I may not remember how the scene went exactly or what the exact dialogue was, but I can definitely remember the message.

For those of you who do not know this movie, it was about this girl (Julia Roberts...I love her!) who after hearing that her best friend (Dermot Mulroney) is getting married, discovered that she actually loved him. So she went for the wedding preparation with hopes in getting the guy back.

There was this particular scene where she finally accepted the truth and was crying at the door of a hotel room. Along came a bellboy who upon seeing her condition consoled her by saying that according to his grandmother, "This too, shall pass"...

When we are in emotional distress, there seem to be this dark cloud which follows us everywhere... and we are not able to see clearly. We seem to be drowning endlessly in our sorrows...and so we think. We forgot that like everything else, "This too, shall pass". We just need a little more time to let the cloud settle, and sunlight will come again.

I know it's easier said than done. I have been there... many times, trust me! Not so easy when the mind is so blurry with self pity. That's why we need something/somebody to remind us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

"This too, shall pass"... we should never forget this powerful phrase.

P/S I need to chant this phrase often this week as I am on my 24/7 technical support duty which I hate so so much!

WD Passport

After thinking about getting a portable hard drive for such a long time, I finally got myself one from Lowyat Plaza today. I need one desperately to backup my files from my laptop as it is starting to show symptoms of "dying"; and there are just those files that you wouldn't want the repairman to see, right? *Wink*....Files with detailed personal information la.. What else did you think I mean???

Haha..no la, not like those in Edison Chen's case. Even if there are, I doubt there would be anyone who is interested.

Anyway, I do have an existing generic portable hard drive that I bought a few years back. It's the type where they took a laptop's hard drive and put on an external hard drive casing. It is only 20GB but cost me RM300+ during that time. It's so expensive then as compared to now. Anyhow, it is not enough for me to backup all my personal files and downloaded TV series.

So today after scouting a few products and shops, I settled for one from Western Digital. It is called the WD Passport. I got the 160GB one for RM295 from this shop called MyPC. This shop offered the cheapest price as the others were selling the same thing for over RM300.

I thought it looked really simple and stylish. I wanted the white one (very Mac'ish) but it was out of stock. So I picked the red one.

This is not considered a new "toy" as there is nothing you can really play with. Guess that's why I don't feel excited about it... unlike the person who went with me to Lowyat and got himself a Garmin GPS Navigator. I am so green with envy...

Anyway, here's some information about WD Passport, if you are interested:

Key Features
Easy - Installation is a snap because you don't really "install" this drive; you just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is no CD to install; the included software loads from the drive the first time you plug it in.
Smart - Powered by the USB bus. No separate power supply is needed.
More space - capacities up to 320 GB means you can take even more of your photos, videos, files and music with you wherever you go.
Ultra-portable - This compact drive fits easily in your pocket or purse, weighs only a few ounces and holds tons of valuable data.
Synchronized and secure - WD Sync™ synchronization and encryption software lets you take your critical data with you. Plug WD Passport into any PC, edit files, read e-mail, and view photos. Then sync all of your changes back to your home or office computer. Your data is protected with 128-bit encryption. (Windows only)
Includes Google™ software - Search your drive, manage your photos, and simplify Web searches with included Google software. (Windows only).
Storage with style - Designed with a glossy case to make a perfect storage style.
Compatible - Use with Windows® and Macintosh® computers

PhotoHunt: Free

It's such a cliché but when the word "Free" comes up, my mind will automatically link it to birds. As the saying goes "To be free as a bird". I guess as a bird, the sky is the limit... and the sky seems to be limitless. Besides that, you get to see the world through a bird's eye view... like the picture below.

A bird's eye view

It was taken from the Empire State Building Observatory during my trip to New York in June, 2005.

Empire State Building

PhotoHunt

Little Sunshine

Been a while since I posted Axel's pictures. Here's my little sunshine...

Reaffirmation

Lately I have been having some negative thoughts again. I started to find faults... I started to concentrate on the black dot. Is this a post-CNY holiday syndrome??

I actually wrote a post about these negativities just now but I decided to delete it. Instead I think everytime when I have such thoughts, I should reaffirm myself by listing down the things that I should be grateful for on that particular area of which I am feeling unhappy about.

So here goes:

I am grateful that I have a job that provides me with a decent income.
I am grateful that I have a "superwoman" boss whom I can learn a lot from.
I am grateful that I have supportive colleagues who make life at work so pleasant.
I am grateful that I have the chance to be more technical.
I am grateful that I can keep in touch with my friends via IM at work.
I am grateful that I can access the internet at work for research or leisure.
I am grateful that I can go home on the dot most of the time.

Deal or No Deal?

Ever wonder how SMS contest on TV works?

Well last night I did an exploration of my own while watching "Deal or No Deal".

Looks pretty simple from the screen, just send DDE to 39868 to participate. I thought well... it's only RM1, what the heck! So I went ahead and sent the SMS.

In return, I received this:

Such an easy question, right? So happily I sent my reply. Then came another SMS.

Oh oh....not an easy one. Nothing that Wikipedia can't solve yah? So after finding the answer, I quickly send my reply again. A few seconds after that, my phone beeped again.

Oh such an easy one. I got my confidence back again. You don't even have to think, right? So off I sent my answer.

Gosh...who cares about such things??? Anyway Wikipedia is always a good friend in situation like this. After finding the answer, I sent my reply again.

Oh...so that's the last of the questions. I am sure if you are in my situation, you would be damn curious to know how you did. So I sent DDE RANK to check on my ranking.

My ranking was 71... which means it is totally hopeless to win 20% of the Deal or No Deal participant's winnings.

So what did I get to lose? RM4.60 for the received SMSes. I wonder how much I get charged for sending the SMSes to this shortcode.

Anyhow, every lesson comes with a price. For this, it cost a minimum of RM4.60.

Now I finally know how SMS Contest on TV works. Is it worth it?

Deal... or No Deal?

PhotoHunt: Heavy

Saw this PhotoHunt "game" from some blogs previously but only had time to really find out what is it all about today. It looks really fun.

It's really simple:- find out what's the theme for the week and post a picture (your own picture that is!) according to the theme. For more info, click on the "Photo Hunters" image above.

This week's theme is "Heavy".

My picture...

Hercules and the giant cookie jar

PhotoHunt

Lion Dance

This is the first Lion Dance that I have seen this year.

Working during CNY Eve

The office is sooooo quiet today. I bet even when it gets later, it will still be very quiet. Well, it's Chinese New Year's eve and many of my chinese colleagues (including my boss) had already taken leaves to go back hometown for the celebration.

As for me, I am celebrating it here this year as my parents have already "migrated" to KL. We will be having the "Tuan Nien Fan" (get together dinner) at my 2nd sister's place tonight. Pity my 2nd sister though... she sent her maid away recently due to incompatibility issues between my mom and the maid. So now she has to do almost everything at home herself.

I should leave the office about lunch time today. Last week when talking to my boss, I jokingly asked her whether we get half day off on Chinese New Year's eve. She said that usually for eve of a major celebration day, we work till 3pm. Then she smiled and said "Then again, I am not around, right?"... haha..how cool is my boss eh??

Anyway I am all set with my holiday mood already. I wonder how much work I will be doing today... ;-p

Fu Lu Shou

Fu (福), Lu (祿) and Shou (壽) are 3 of the famous deities in Chinese culture. They are also referred to as the 3 stars - the legendary stars of blessings (Fu), prosperity (Lu) and longevity (Shou). Each of them embodies an attribute of a good life.

In this Chinese New Year which is just 2 days away, I wish that these 3 legendary stars shine on us and our families. May they bring all of us happiness, prosperity and longevity to last through the year and through the lifetime.

Gong Xi Fa Chai!!!