Chapter 285 - On Solid Ground

Manusia bukan sahaja memerlukan tempat untuk berteduh kasih, tetapi juga tempat untuk berteduh dari hujan dan panas.

Kos sara hidup yang tinggi di KL membuatkan kita rasa sesak nafas dan sesak poket. Cukuplah dengan makanan mahal, rumah pun tak mampu kita nak beli. Sekitar 4 tahun dulu, rumah PKNS di Setia Alam hanyalah sekitar RM350k. Dengan ansuran bulanan selama 35 tahun, dia perlu membayar RM1700 sebulan. Beberapa minggu lalu, aku round area situ dengan harapan SP Setia mahupun PKNS ada buat projek baru. Apakan daya, projek yang baru-baru semua dah sold out. Future development pun disasarkan untuk rumah bangalow dan linkhouse. Rumah 2nd hand di Alam Nusantara (projek PKNS) paling murah selepas aku call sana dan sini dapatlah dalam RM560k. Rumah intermediate pulak tu. 20x70 pulak tu. Phase lama pulak tu. Kalau datang dengan harapan cari rumah harga RM400k - RM500k, harap lupakanlah. Aku pun masa tu datang dengan harapan bawah RM600k. Kalau ikutkan, dah molek sangat, tapi fikir punya fikir, aku tak rasa boleh commit ansuran RM3k sebulan. Kalau nak murah, kena mula cari di luar KL. Lupakanlah Lembah Klang, tapi Lembah Beringin masih boleh lagi. Hahaha. Aku pun tak nak cari rumah yang lebih kearah selatan ni, misalnya Kajang, Bangi, Nilai, Dengkil. Walaupun dalam Google Map distant'nya sangat relevan dangan situasi aku yang kerja di Cyberjaya dan isteri aku kerja di KL. Tapi, pernahkah kau datang berkerja di KL dari arah sana? Kalau ya, semestinya tau macam mana jalan jem nak masuk ke KL. Masuk je Sungai Besi, kau dah kejang. Lagipun, aku macam tak feel nak cari rumah di sana. Tempat di sana tu macam tak masuk dengan jiwa aku.

Makanya, aku mencarilah di belah-belah sini. Kota Damansara dah mahal dan tak ada projek baru. Ara Damansara lagi lah syaitonirrajim. Denai Alam pon dah mahal. Cahaya SPK pon dah mahal. Kalau budget kurang RM800k, jangan nak sebut tinggal kat sana. So, tinggal la ceruk-ceruk sana di Puncak Alam. Itu pun aku tak berapa berkenan. Sebab jauh dan harga yang tak berbaloi dengan value. Yang tinggal hanyalah Ijok, Bernam dan Kuala Selangor yang affordable. Alhamdulillah aku dah mula mencari. Ketika ni, memang keadaan mengizinkan. Kalau disebut, 'kalau 2-3 tahun lepas aku start cari, mesti dah dapat yang murah-murah', memang la sedap, tapi hakikatnya, keadaan tak mengizinkan untuk kami cari rumah sendiri masa tu. Terfikir juga macam mana budak-budak yang fresh grad nak survive? Mungkin jawapan sementara adalah menyewa. Tapi sesudah kahwin, perancangan mesti dah lain. Ketika tu, mampu ke mereka ni nak berumah?

Salah siapa rumah mahal ni? Sebab harga tanah mahal ke? Sebab harga barang construction mahal ke? Sebab developer tamak haloba ke? Sebab investors ke?

Semua ya!

Budget 2014 yang PM bentangkan tempoh hari memberi nafas baru kepada pemilikan rumah. Biasanya yang perabihkan rumah ni adalah investors yang beli dan beli dan beli, lepas dapat kunci, gantung banner 'Untuk Dijual'. Time tu harga rumah tu dah increase >30% sebab orang sentiasa nk cari rumah. Dengan pelan untuk naikkan kadar penalti dari 5% kepada 30%, mungkin investors ni pikir 2-3 kali untuk main beli-jual sesuka hati mak bapak derang. Dengan cara ni, mungkin memberi peluang kepada mereka yang betul-betul nak beli rumah tu. Kerajaan juga nak bagi subsidi untuk developer yang buat rumah kos sederhana. Bagus begitu.

Aku pun dalam usaha mencari 'rumah' kami sendiri. InsyaAllah, kalau diperkenankan, ada lah rezeki kami.

Chapter 284 - Why Celcom, Why?

So freaking pissed with this telco. Shitload.

Almost 2 months back, my wife received a bill amounting RM1000. This bill was separated from the monthly bill for a reason. Surprised, she called the customer service and lodge a report. Days later she called again for progress and the only explanation she received was the charge is upon her contract breach. Now we got more confused. She stated that, not in her knowledge she breach the contract. She only upgraded her iPhone 4 to iPhone 5. Package upgrade included of course. We urged them to investigate further.

We called almost once a week, because we get the idea that calling everyday would not give us the answer we seek; as every time we called, the answer always 'in progress'. A month passed, we received 2 bills again. Somehow I noticed the differences in account number, even for the same phone number. I called again for confirmation, and I found out that there are 2 accounts registered under my wife's number. One has been disconnected, and the other still active. Now, you can pretty much guess which account is being billed with the penalty.

3 days ago, my wife received a letter from a lawyer firm representing Celcom urging us to settle the penalty within 7 days or further legal action will be taken. Now I started to get so pissed. I went to Celcom branch in Jalan Ampang. Note: Don't go to HQ in Jalan Tun Razak. There only got their bigshots and they don't entertain over the counter customer.

Met a customer executive, and she said that my wife is being billed because she disconnect the account within contract period. I raised my concern to the executive as below:

1) Why is there a contract breach? The iPhone 4 was purchased on 8th June 2011 and the iPhone 5 was somewhere in middle of July 2013. Does it make any sense that if the purchase is on 8th June, the contract ended on middle of July 2 years later?

2) With mine and wife's phone, no such disconnect is needed when upgrading the plan or package. My wife had upgraded her normal plan to iPhone 4 plan before; and mine from Samsung Galaxy S plan to Samsung Galaxy S3. All without the need to disconnect. Why now?

3) Who did the disconnect? Celcom BlueCube in Kota Damansara or Celcom Exclusive in Curve? I suspected the earlier due to bad experience we had with them, and this might their vengeance to us. But later I learned that this was done by the latter party.

4) We didn't authorize any disconnect. Does it make any sense to disconnect a number then registering the same number again? Why the hassle? Have any proof and signature of allowing such activity?

The executive explained to me that these kind of dealer always finding ways to get the commission by registering new user. Hence, the trick of disconnect a number and registering it again. This is kind of bullshit and shouldn't be allow to happen in future. They are raking in money with the expense of the telco's name and reputation. Telco should closely monitor and set policies on how they should operate. Her advice is to come over again with the contract and proof of purchase at the outlet as they will expedite to their head of service.

Yang melayu (BlueCube) membohong lebih, yang cina (Exclusive) gila duit nak tiaw je. Menyusahkan orang.

Chapter 283 - Kurus?

Perlu ke seksa-seksa badan sebab nak kurus? Terpaksa tahan makan, kena paksa badan bersenam. Depends pada pendapat masing-masing, tapi honestly aku berpendapat at some point kita kena maintain badan kita dalam keadaan yg sihat. BMI boleh jadi benchmark. Tak perlu lah nak kurus sampai keding, sekadar dalam radar BMI yang sihat. Calculate your BMI by using this formula: weight / (height * height)

Below 25 = Good
25 <--> 30 = Fat
Above 30 = Obese

Dalam kes aku, bila usia dah cecah 3 series, plus berat badan yang dah boleh guna metrik tan (bak kata Ammar), aku kena consider longevity jasad ni. Tak perlu nak cover-cover, aku dalam kategori Obese walaupun kacak. Tapi tujuan aku beriltizam menguruskan badan ni sebab nak cuba avoid ubat-ubatan bila usia mencecah 4 series keatas. Surprising aku sepatutnya kena commit ubat kolestrol dan blood pressure. Takkan nak tambah ubat diabetes?

Tapi sejujurnya, tak perlu nak tahan makan sangat dan xperlu la senam hari-hari bagai atlet padang. Yang penting adalah :

1- Will spirit. Sebagaimana will spirit yang bantu aku panjat gunung Kinabalu. Nak ikut tubuh dan bisik hati kecil, aku dah berhenti kat Laban Rata. Cliche, but the will pushed me up and up despite the tired legs and body. Bila datang bisikan syaiton untuk aku makan dan malas senam, kena gigih la lawan. Jangan buat bende half-hearted.

2- Letak target yang reasonable. Jangan ingat boleh nak kurus 15 kilo sebulan. Unless boleh commit jaga makan dengan senam kaw-kaw. Target aku just nk BMI normal saja. Alhamdulillah, aku target 10 kilo sebulan ni, dan dalam 3 minggu aku achieve almost 8 kilo reduction. Aku tak timbang pulak latest weight, tapi aku saspek dalam 9 kg reduction dalam 4 minggu. Nak tahu rahsia? PM saya. Hahahaha.

3- Jaga makan. Yes, ni penting jugak. Google calorie counting. Nak makan xde hal, tapi kena aware dengan apa yang anda makan. Varies on each person, but usually the body needs ranging 1000 --> 2000 calories. Secara simple otak aku ni fikir kalau aku boleh survive below 1000 calories per day, surely ada kesan yang effective. Jangan ingat roti yang anda makan pagi-pagi tu makanan diet. Actually sekeping roti Gardenia packaging merah tu contain 156 calories. Compare dengan Gardenia yang packaging kaler purple tu cuma ada 60 calories sekeping. Cuba-cuba la kawal nafsu. Bagi aku yang gemar makanan dan makan, hati kena kental la jugak. Tapi jujurnya, aku pun ada day off dalam menjaga makanan. Reward thyself.

4- Senam. Again, an useful tool to get your waist shrink. Tak perlu dasyat-dasyat, bagi aku kalau dalam maintain seperti yang disarankan KKM, 20 minit setiap sesi untuk 3 kali seminggu, kira dah cukup bagus.

Selamat menjaga badan.

Chapter 282 - Matrimony

Tahniah Ammar Abd Halim atas penyatuan zahir dan batin anda dengan pasangan anda, Wahidah.

Ngee.. Please excuse the unusual wish above.

Memang kawan baik dunia akhirat aku. Fakta yang menarik.

1. Ammar ni 2 tahun muda dari aku.
2. Jumpa 1st time dalam kelas accounting semester 1. Aku ni student khas, kena join econ & accounting walaupon most subject dapat exemption.
3. Kami lahir di klinik yang sama di Jalan Ipoh. Of all the hospitals and maternity clinics, kat situ jugak kami dilahirkan.
4. Ammar gagal mencapai benchmark yang aku tetapkan, iaitu berkahwin pada usia 27 tahun. 
5. 2 tahun menyewa bersama di Shah Alam.
6. Tak berapa hebat bermain DOTA berbanding aku.
7. Kereta pertama kami adalah dari jenama Proton. 
8. Kami tak pernah menyaksikan dan mengesahkan kewujudan ayam Israel seperti yang digemburkan rakan serumah kami.

 Selamat belayar dalam bahtera rumahtangga. Kalau nak saksi atau alibi, boleh panggil aku. Hahaha.

Chapter 281 - Eid Mubarak

Salam Eid Mubarak.

My Aidilfitri was not as I planned. Fahim went down with fever and it kept us on our toes for 3 days. Pergi hospital dan balik dengan keputusan yang sama. Demam yg biasa untuk kanak-kanak, sangat dijangka. But as parent, of course we always blow things out of proportion. Especially when we find the temperature went over 38 Celsius. I dont think the nursery is good for Fahim. He tends to come home with some sort of illness every 2 weeks. Plus I dont think the nursery is compliance to the JKM's guideline. It suppose to have a healthy air circulation, not cooped in a closed hall. Yeah, a hall. there is no partition or room. Just a hall, with baby rugs covering the marble tiles, and air-cond blasting full-force. That is one of the reason I believe. They should change the air-cond filter more often as it might catch and trap the bacterias, hence giving an unhealthy air quality. This kind of setup might be normal for corporation's nursery. But to expect this from a health institution. Poor them.

Anyway, just a good wishes to all for a happy Eid.

Chapter 280 - Ramadhan Mubarak

Wishes all Ramadan Al-Mubarak. Selamat berpuasa semua.

I'll leave my special project update for now to give way to my Ramadan special. Special la sangat.. Alhamdulillah, sekali lagi Allah izinkan aku dan keluarga untuk bertemu dengan Ramadan. Might be a small deal to everybody, but it is something more than fasting, month of bless and forgiveness, and deeds. Ramadan tahun ni Fahim berumur 1 tahun 8 bulan. Challenging age for any parent. Anak dah ada kaki ni memang tak duduk diam. Umur sebegini anak dah pandai mengekspresi isi hatinya yang biasanya opposite dengan apa yang ibu bapa hendakkan. Tapi itulah asam garam parenting. Syukur, Ramadan ni aku sambut dengan anak dan isteri tersayang. Doanya kami akan ketemu banyak lagi Ramadan.

Comes Ramadan, I will always remembered my old friend, Asif Zaman. Arwah dah dia ni. Kami bukannya kawan dari kecil, sekadar kenal hampir 3 tahun belajar di sekolah menengah sebelum aku sambung belajar ke asrama penuh. Arwah meninggal di Jalan Pahang akibat kemalangan jalanraya. Walau pada mula aku kenal dia sebagai budak nakal sekolah, tapi agaknya dia seronok berkawan dengan geng-geng aku, dia sedikit sebanyak berubah dalam 3 tahun tu. Dalam nakal tu, antara sifatnya yang aku boleh describe adalah setiakawan. Banyak ceritanya, tapi biarlah aku simpan. Entah kenapa, mesti teringatkan arwah bila Ramadan. Bila teringat, aku rasa bersyukur sebab Allah masih izinkan aku berjumpa dengan bulan yang mulia ni. Tapi arwah tak ada rezeki sedemikian. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui. Setiap kali lalu di Jalan Pahang tu, teringatkan arwah. Al-Fatihah saja yang ku sedekahkan.

Bila dah berkeluarga ni, hati ni dah tak berapa hard rock. Things that I didn't give a shit, do matters now. Mungkin aku melihat sesuatu dari perspektif yang berbeza. Harapan aku semua saudara dan sahabat dapat menyambut Syawal nanti dengan gembira. Bukannya apa, menjelang Raya ni banyak sangat kejadian yang kita tak ingin. Berhati-hati dalam memandu. Kita tak mahu tengok permandangan seorang ibu, ayah, adik, abang, kawan mencangkum tepi jenazah di tengah jalan raya. Menangis, meratap atau membaca surah Yassin. Nauzubillah, mintak-mintak ianya dijauhkan.

Terbaru ni kejadian anak 2 tahun meninggal setelah ditinggalkan di dalam kereta. Enough said, aku tak boleh nak ulas. Tak ada hari yang aku tak teringatkan perkara tu. Dari perspektif ibu-bapanya, mahupun kanak-kanak malang tu. Sebab aku ada anak yang sebayanya, setiap kali terbayang, aku doa agar kejadian sedemikian tak menimpa keluarga aku mahupun sesiapa saja. We can judge the mother, but we need to put ourselves in her shoes too. Share your pity and forgiveness, as for the mother, she'll feel not enough forgiveness and regret in this world to atone her carelessness. Kita kalau geram-geram sampai cubit anak pon cukup menyesal lepas 2-3 minit kemudian teringatkan cubit tu, apatah lagi bila kita ni yang menyebabkan sesuatu yang lebih buruk berlaku pada anak kita. Nauzubillah.

Be safe, give loves. 

Chapter 279 - Human Engineering

Damn it. I accidentally dropped my Samsung Galaxy S3 on a pavement and the screen got cracked. The crack is visible and most of the hairlines are at the edge of the screen. Lucky me no crack in the middle part of the screen. Warranty ended about a week before the incident. But I was told that screen is not covered in the warranty. That is a blow. So, I'll keep using it until the crack is at its worst. Those who are asking, the dropped was from my waist height. Gorilla Glass not so gorilla-tough after all. By the way, I'm not looking for a phone change now as I'm on a different project.*wink*

Dated as of now, Malaysia is so much in haze. Just a friendly reminder. Take care of your health. Avoid outdoor and drink a lot of water. Remembered last time we were in the state of emergency, I was enjoying the days off from school closure. Now, ada darurat ke takde darurat ke.. sama saja. Kena pergi kerja, asap sedut saja.

Coming back to the special project, if God's will, I'll have this updated by the weekend.

Chapter 278 - Earth Hour

What is this?

I frown upon the catchphrase of save the earth with Earth Hour. We recently celebrated or how should I put it into words.. appreciate the earth by turning off electricity for an hour (8PM to 9PM) on last 23rd March. I was at a mall when I heard an announcement that they'll shut some of the lights for an hour. Takut jugak aku sebab aku park kereta kat rooftop yang dah sah-sah kurang lighting'nya. Aku tak pasti mana lampu yang dia nak tutup, mau dia padam lampu kat rooftop tu, risau jugak akan keselamatan aku. Risau aku di'harass oleh gadis-gadis yang sexual predator. Yelah, muka kacak, badak ketak.. siapa yang tak gigit bibir. Dengar announcement tu cepat-cepat aku beli barang dan cabut. 

I don't see how we can save the earth with this campaign. It is just an hour of 8760 hours in a year. Earth is dying. Imminently. With the way we scavenge the earth's resources, tarah bukit, balak tak hingat, increasing number of carbon footprints, minyak tumpah dan banyak lagi faktor-faktor mempercepatkan kemerosotan bumi kita. Same as human, as soon as he/she is born, he/she is dying. Death is imminent, may it be in 70 years, 50 years, 20 years or even days. Faktor-faktor seperti merokok, pelahap dan bangang mempercepatkan lagi kematian. Ya, hidup mati itu di tangan Allah. Contoh yang aku berikan ni hanyalah persepsi secara umum. 

If we are really serious in saving the earth, we should think of ways to convert our conventional living to more eco-friendly and dependent-free of earth's resources. Membeli mesin basuh dan peti ais yang eco-friendly tidak termasuk dalam kategori menyelamatkan bumi, kerana anda masih lagi gunakan letrik. Marilah kita mulakan dengan membeli kuda seorang seekor. Bayangkan anda pergi kerja menunggang kuda, cukup sebulan, bukan sahaja anda bebas carbon monoxide, tapi anda lebih sihat dan fit. Mungking kangkang anda akan kebas sikit, tapi lama-lama anda akan biasalah. Di mana kuda anda berak, campak saja benih pokok, tunggu sedikit masa, tumbuhlah pokok. Bukankah cara ini lebih baik dari membeli kereta hybrid. Maaf cakaplah, ada yang sibuk nak beli kereta hybrid, padahal nak eja hybrid pun tak betul.

Tapi, fikirkan dari persepsi yang lain, ibaratkan "melihat sebuah kemungkaran, selemah-lemah iman, hendaklah kita membencinya andai kita tidak mampu untuk menegahnya". Usaha Earth Hour ini ibarat selemah-lemah effort kita dalam menyelamatkan bumi. We can do better than this. Instead of one hour, we should lengthen the period. Or have it done every week. Force the electricity to be shut off. No compromise.

Chapter 277 - Short on Legs

Hola.

It is raining outside. 30 minutes more to head out for work. And I'm listening to Jamie Cullum's remake of What a Difference a Day Made. Don't blame me if I'm feeling a bit mushy and mellow. I'm away from my wife and son, and I miss them dearly. For some reason, I have this mixed feeling about moving out. Wife is working in KL and it is easier for her to get to work from Kota Damansara, but it is 50 km from my work place. Commute back and forth for me is getting tiring. I just wonder and baffled on how insufficient a public transport to and from Cyberjaya.. or even Putrajaya. I just feel that while the state administration and government offices are located in Putrajaya, we should have some sort of MRT or LRT going there. Not an option for me and maybe for some to go by the RM 9 per trip from KL Central to Putrajaya over the ERL. It is just too expensive. Plus, Cyberjaya will be overflow with offices in future, due to the spaces and infrastructure offered. Meaning to say, a lot of people will work in these 2 neighboring cities in future. This should be made into the city planning, I hope. Well, a short one this time. Gotta work!

Chapter 276 - Internet

Moving requires lots of money, time and energy. I'm just drained out from what I consider as a 'soft' moving. As mentioned before, my family and I are moving out from Kota Damansara. Our temporary loft is in Puchong. Yes, we're renting the place. I was skeptical on the location earlier. This was due to the fact that my eldest brother used to live there, and it was not the place nor the environment I am looking for (no disrespect). Contributing reasons are the apartment was poorly maintained, surrounding area and the density. But, after series of surveys and visits, this part of Puchong is totally different that my brother's. What is more, the place is very secured, superbly maintained, cozy and secluded.

Funny thing was, when I was busying myself looking for a place especially via iProperties.com or propwall.com, most of the pictures provided are the pictures of swimming pool. I wonder on whether they assume that we decide on the place based on swimming pool? Or do they assume we are going to sleep in the pool? What I want the most is to have clear picture on what's inside, whether there is a kitchen cabinet, how the layout looks like, the spacing and etc.

Now that's done, we got ourselves our own furniture. Very basic indeed, as we are not intend to splash on everything. We are after all running on a tight budget. Internet access is compulsory! There are 3 major players in fiber to home service. We have Unifi, Maxis FTH and TIME FTH. We do have another package coming in from Astro which is Astro IPTV, but they are using TIME's infra. I would like to subscribe to the Astro IPTV, but the place don't have the infra ready yet. I might save RM50 if that the case (IPTV subscription is RM240 which includes 10Mbps and Astro Beyond). On separate bill, Astro bill is RM140 and Internet bill is RM150. In fact, everyone there are still on Astro SD. Then I shifted my interest to Maxis. 10Mbps at RM148, again I was disappointed by the fact that the place is yet to be covered. My only choice is Unifi. 5Mbps at RM147 (after auto-billing).







Internet installed yesterday. The day before, I got a call claiming they are doing a survey. She asked me on my Internet access I had before while I was in Gombak. I told her, that has been terminated. She then asked on current connectivity status. Told her that Unifi is coming the next day to install. She asked where, and I told her in Puchong. Survey done. 5 minutes later, I received an email from TM saying that installer will come in 6 days to install Unifi for address in Puchong. The username registered is the same as the one I used while I was in Gombak (I'm using different username for the one in Puchong). Meaning to say that the asshole who called me for the 'survey' purposely registered me for another Unifi subscription. I had to go over the trouble to call the TM and straight things up. Reseller punya tahi, Customer Support kena bersihkan. To TM, jangan bagi kuasa lebih pada reseller ni. Xpasal kelak CS kena maki. Nasib dapat aku yang sopan santun.

Chapter 275 - Working on Weekend

Not so great huh! While friends are having good time on Saturday Sunday, I have to work. Darn it. That is the nature of those who works in support line. We work in shift and odd hours. The only benefit is that we only work half the month. We also getting a relief week, i might say. Per example, this week I work 5 days, Monday Tuesday Friday Saturday and Sunday. But coming week I'll work only on Wednesday and Thursday. Sweet right?

I have been working in support for 3 years now. And as I see this, support won't stay in Malaysia for long, and so I am. I'm not intended to be in this line for long. Now they shift the attention to other country. Most favorable is India because they produced a lot of IT savvy graduates, mediocre to good English and cheap labor. Who knows in future with political stabilization over countries like Indonesia or Philippines, Malaysia will no longer be the place to setup a support center. Cheaper labor and good English speaking should make the equation simpler. The favors are still in ours because we still relatively cheap (although increasing steadily) and geographically safe.

I'll make my mark to get as much technical knowledge as I can before that happen. My next stop is to get certification in management, in Network Design and become a Network Consultant. That'll surely rake in lots of money. Hehehe.

Should take up server's line instead. Sigh.

Chapter 274 - New Year 2013

Wow.. just wow. Looking back, my last update was somewhere around April 2012. Almost a cycle of lunar calendar there. So many things can be shared, yet I failed to put them to words. I'm afraid that this might become a yearly post. Poor my 4 followers. Hahaha..

New year, new beginning. As to date, my awesome adorable son, Fahim is turning to a year and 3 months young. A lot of work out for me there, while chasing him around the house and malls. So many things can't be done casually with my wife such as movies, dating, spontaneous holiday, karaoke and etc. All need to put Fahim into consideration. Above all, it is a blessing. Not all parent being blessed with this gift. For that, we are so thankful.

Stepped into 2 years of marriage, and we are not getting younger. I envy my friends actually. Same age, yet they have their own properties, while I'm gaining liabilities. Well, I do have an apartment, but I am too proud to say that I have enough. I always wanted to have our own landed property. A place where my wife and I to settle down. I wish 2013 will be good to us. Same goes to the years coming!

End of this month, my wife and I will move to our own place. A baby step requires for a giant leap. I am in a hassle to set things up, and hopefully will benefits us tremendously.

Well, will update soon. Hopefully not on another year! =D

Chapter 273 - Bring Out The Games In Me

Hola,

For the 1st week after buying the laptop, I felt the money was flushed in the drain. Didn't get the time to play around. Rarely opened. Used only for Internet browsing, which can be done from my slow Samsung Galaxy S. Then I decided not to waste the beautiful resource bestowed upon me, I went to nearby game store (u know what i mean) and get myself couple of games which my friend's PC could not play. Latest stuff. Got myself a Starcraft 2, The Reckoning, Sims 3 and Tropico 3. Well, rule out Tropico 3 since I wrongly bought. Latest version is Tropico 4, so Im guessing it is a 2010/2011 stuff.

OK, I just managed to install and tried 1st campaign on Starcraft 2. Installation was quite a hassle. Tested graphic at the benchmark of 3.5 star from 5. Tomorrow, will increase the settings for the graphic. As the rest of the games, I'm looking forward to The Reckoning, though from trailer, I feel like playing on PS3 should be my style for that type of game.

Chapter 272 - Intel Inside

I was a big fan of AMD before. My desktop was built around AMD when I was a computer geek. However, that didn't last long. My choice of motherboard ruined the whole setup. First, my RAM slot died one by one, then came the blue screen which all Windows users despise. My desktop was left unused till now. Since then, i've bounce from company's laptop to my sister's laptop to my wife's laptop. I figured, that I need one on my own as my wife's laptop was around for about 7 years. Talking about obsolete cycles.

I was intrigued by the Harvey Norman sales last weekend. After learning it from my mother in law, I went and felt the urgency of having my own laptop. I returned home and did some homework. Came back the day after and yet to decide. My budget did all the talking and I was browsing for laptop with Intel i5 running on it. I was then persuaded by a friend to go for i7 instead. It'll hurt my pocket, but I'll thanked for it. For those who is not familiar with the latest series of Intel, i'll have it summed up.

i3
Dual Core with Hyper-Threading (HT). HT means that single core is able to process 2 threads (whereby the original idea is 1 core 1 thread). Hence making i3 to have 4 virtual cores running.

i5
Quad core without HT. CPU is running on 4 cores. Then why the need of i5 when i3 have the same processing capabilities? Well, it comes down to cache. i5 cashing more cache than i3. -Edited- i5 and beyond are covered with turbo boost which will give an extra >0.5 GHz.

i7
Quad core with HT. Well, enough said, 8 virtual cores -edited- with turbo boost. All smile for i7 users.

Chapter 271 - Peace Ya'll

Selesai la sudah demam Maharaja Lawak Mega (MLM). Selepas edisi Maharaja Lawak yg berjaya menarik peminat seantero Malaysia awal 2011 lepas, giliran MLM pulak yg menggegar Astro Warna setiap Jumaat 10 malam. Ramai yg dah tahu, pemenang MLM adalah Osbon. Just like I expected, Boboi (consists of Afdlin & Harun Salim Bachik) will turn out to be like Jozan. Appealing and charming, yet lost at the final. Anyway, Osbon deserves to win. Their comedy varies for young to old demographic viewers. Abon really brought the best for his team.

Bak kata pepatah, rumah siap pahat berbunyi. Begitulah yg ingin diperkatakan disini. Beberapa pelawak yg kurang lawak dan tersingkir agak kritikal kepada salah seorang juri tetap. The man is one and only, Chef Wan. Orang kata mulutnya begitu puaka bila memberi komen dan waktu bukan dia memberi komen, dia turut sama enterframe bagi komen. Perang FB antaranya dan beberapa pelawak mewarnai sekejap industri seni.

Well, to be frankly honest, I do understand what both ends' feel. Let me underline it for easy reading:

1- Ego; They are already a well-known comedians. For someone who is not a comedian (a chef) to tell them that they are not funny and at time sucks is just an ego-reaping.
On behalf of the jury: What chef said were exactly what most of us had in mind. If I say it is not funny, then it is not funny. If I say it is pathetic, then it is pathetic indeed. I yelled that in fromt of the TV. No need to sugarcoat.

2- Shame; same with my point the above. They are expecting the jury to be more lenient and friendly, and save their face in front of the national 'paid' TV.
On behalf of the jury: This is a competition. Winner is taking RM350k back home. Runner up netting RM250k and 3rd place getting RM150k. This is a competition! The jury are suppose to treat them as a contestant. This is not a charity event. I can expect leniency from the jury if that is the case.

Glad that all over and as I heard, Chef Wan already closed his FB fanpage due to massive abuse from the comedians. He stated his opinion. He's already achieved something which is none of Malaysian achieved. And he got my vote over this.

Chapter 270 - Tweet Her

See the newly added button to your right. That's right, I got my own twitter account. I already past 1000th tweets recently, and honestly, I'm quite surprise with the milestone. Rambling mostly on football, I sometimes talked about politics and stuff I'm at. I tweet more than FB. So, please excuse my inadequate status update and response at FB. Follow at your will.

Ada apa dengan Times New Roman? Just changed the layout and font. TNR is lame. I fancy font named 'Ubuntu', but does not listed in blogspot. Anyway, enjoy the multiple posts. Semangat layout baru*

What else?

Thundercats 1985

Yes, after Avatar (cartoon, not the movie), I'm looking for decent cartoon to enjoy. Tried Transformers Animated, but just not working for me. I then found the remake of classic Thundercats. One of my favorites when I was little; Along with Voltron, Captain Tsubasa, Kesatria Baja hitam and Gaban. Thundercats was created on 1985 and on mid-2011, they re-make it. Storyline focused on the origin of the Thundercats which means the prequel to the 1985's Thundercats. I've learnt on how the members of the awesome Thundercats were assembled. Lionel Ritchie Lion-O is not that hairy yet in this series, Panthro looked more kick-ass, Cheetara looked less hag, Snarf as usual, WilyKats are the same cheekiness and Tygra looked less gay.

Thundercats 2011

I just hope below's version doesn't make it to the screen. They all looked wrong in all sort of aspects; Dimension, originality, purpose of living and sexual orientation. Just who the F the dude in white beard supposed to be?

Chapter 269 - Professionally Evolving Soccering 12

Ini kisah orang gelojoh.

Ada orang tu, beli PES 2012 via online. To be exact, via lelong.com.my. Setelah di'propa oleh kawan, dia pon test beli. Siap register bagai dalam website lelong, call member dia tanya macam mana nk order. Akhirnya, dapat jugak dia beli game ni dengan harga yg agak murah dari kedai2 dan store2 di Malaysia. He asked around, and he won't get this game at the price of RM170. Second hand maybe, but this guy, or as he checked on the delivery slip, 'Impulse Internet Cafe' is selling new PS3 games at very low low price. Go check and search for 'pbbcasio' from lelong.com.my and visit his store. He is not getting a dime for this recommendation.

Dia beli tengahari 22 Dec. Payment via Maybank2u. Petang 22 Dec, package dihantar ke SkyNet. Kawan dia cakap, delivery biasanya dalam 24 hours since dalam peninsular yang sama. Malam tu dia bukak youtube nak study gameplay dan skill2 mengelecek handalan. Dengan harapan dapat lipat CPU level regular dengan mudah. Esok pagi2, dia bukak website SkyNet nak track delivery. Package dah pon sampai di Kuala Lumpur dan sudah pon dalam van penghantaran. Senyum lebar.

Tengahari 23 Dec, van SkyNet tak sampai2 lagi. Tunggu la kejap lagi. Senyum tawar sikit.

4 petang 23 Dec dah tak senyum lagi sebab package tak sampai lagi.

5 petang 23 Dec dia telefon SkyNet. Rupanya, SkyNet tak boleh nk deliver haritu sebab nak cope dengan delivery2 Krismas. Package akan dihantar Selasa 27 Dec. Sabtu SkyNet kerja setengah hari dan tak buat delivery. Muka kelat dah. Dia kata dalam hati, "No, No, No!". Dia tanya pasal self-pickup, SkyNet jawab sebelum pukul 6. Ada satu jam lagi. Dia start enjin kereta, pecut ke gudang SkyNet di Batu Caves. Approximately, the place is about 20 km from where he is. Regardles the usual obnoxious traffic jam on Friday's evening, he sped up in and out of highway to Batu Caves. He relied on his GPS since he'd never been to the SkyNet. 10 minutes to 6, he managed to be somewhere in Taman Industri Batu Caves. He asked around for SkyNet and off drove like crazy. 6 sharp, he was in the SkyNet office. Package safely retrieved. All smile again.

Gelojoh tak dia ni?

Chapter 268 - EOY

Welcome December. So many wonderful experience from 2011, now we are to bid farewell. I can very much feel 2012 is not going to be good to me. Made new friends over new work place, and lost old friends from former work place. Haha. It is hard to play catch-up with myself, what's more with people around me. I stopped balling quite some time now. Hardly get myself on futsal pitch. I missed those days, easily had time to spend with friends, colleagues or peers. Friends follow me on twitter, then unfollow. Befriend via FB, then unfriend. That's is normal. Quote Chef Wan, "Ada I kesah?".


I was in blues for few weeks. It was weeks ago. That was when Man Utd lost to Man City by 6 goals. Horrendous! Next couple of games were not convincing as well. Won by small margin, failed to qualify for the best 16 in Europe and mounting injury crisis. But now, seems like are over the hill. Won by 4 goals over Wolves and 5 over Fulham; I am very optimist on United's hosting Wigan tomorrow. Winning on 26th and 31st will bring United back on top at the beginning of 2012. At least for few hours.

As I heard, FIFA is going to suspend FA Switzerland for reason they failed to take action on Sion. Sion fielded 5 ineligible players on their win against Celtic in Europa League; Causing Sion losing their place in Europe League despite winning the grouping stage. What will this means? If FA Swiss suspended, FC Basel will be expelled from Champions League, hence Man Utd as 3rd position in the grouping stage will overtake FC Basel 2nd place, hence will be on their way to the knock-out stage. Sorry Man City, it is only you relegated. Sorry SAF, you'll not going to get the only medal you don't have.

Chapter 267 - A Second Longer

Tertarik dengan kes baru2 ni melibatkan Yuna terpaksa memulangkan trofi Lagu terbaik AIM 18. So much fussed made over this. Penyokong2 Yuna seperti dirasuk menghentam AIM. Pada aku small matter. Kenapa ada recount? Sebab logik x kalau lagu yang sama dipertandingkan dalam kategori pop dimenangi oleh Anuar Zain Sedetik lebih, tetiba la pulak juara keseluruhan Yuna Penakut menang? Ni bukannya macam bolasepak yg mana sesebuah pasukan tu boleh menang Champions League, walaupon dia bukannya top dalam grouping stage. Prestasi pemain mungkin berubah2 dan menjadi lebih baik. Tapi lagu tu sama je sejak belom kira undi sampai la abis kira undi.

Katanya, industri ini dipolitikkan bilamana org kuat AIM iaitu Norman KRU ni abang kepada pencipta lagu Sedetik lebih iaitu Edry KRU. Not a strong case for me. Yang kira undi tu pon external audit from Ernst & Young. bukan calang2 company tu. International OKay. Tapi still salah kira. Or maybe ada orang dari E&Y yg nk Yuna menang? Never think bout that?

Lebih tiau bile Pengarah harapan FFM yg lepas dimenangi oleh Jurey. Sape dia ni? One of the komiti dalam FFM itu sendiri. Wicked right? Macam kau buat pertandingan tapi kau bertanding sama.

Kembali kepada Kes Yuna, aku siap stream lagi lagu dia. Legend sgt ke smpai layak menang AIM? Bila dengar tu, Oooookay la. Xde la sampai rasa nk dengar 2-3 kali. Tapi kalau Sedetik Lebih, memang xyah cakap la.. Aku rasa Yuna pon feeling2 pink dengar lagi tu. Jangan nk tipu la kata tidak. Melodi Penakut tu memang typical Yuna; penyampaian santai dan meleret, teringat pula pada Norah Jones. Sedetik Lebih lebih kepada fantasikal love story dengan accompanying instrument yang baik.

Bila melihat pada lirik, aku tetap pilih Sedetik Lebih. Mudah; sebuah puisi yg mengekspresikan cinta. In the other hand, people seldom said songs are best self expressed and that what Yuna did. He managed to put his frustration and doubt in words. Sad songs are the best because they truly come from heart and most of us understand how that feels like. However, i prefer love than hate this time.

PENAKUT

Tak semua kau rancang akan berlaku
Mungkin nasib tak menyebelahi aku
Entah mengapa engkau yang aku cinta
Mungkin lebih baik kau ku lepas saja

Chorus
Ini tidak adil tidak adil baginya
Ini tidak adil tidak adil bagiku
Ini tidak adil
Untuk engkau bertanya jika ku mencintaimu juga
Tidak adil tidak adil baginya

Kau tak pernah cuba memahami aku
Cinta kau ucap tak pernah engkau tunjuk
Dan bila tiba saat ku kehilangan
Beban yang tak pernah cuba kau ringankan

Ulang Chorus

Kau bukan milikku

Dan aku memang penakut
Mengakui cinta kepadamu
Seribu kali ku cuba ucapkan
Bila bersamamu
Kau bukan milikku
Dan engkau pun tahu
Kau bukan milikku

SEDETIK LEBIH

Setiap nafas yang dihembus
Setiap degupan jantung
Aku selalu memikirkanmu

Dalam sedar dibuai angan
Dalam tidur dan khayalan
Aku selalu memikirkanmu

Ternyata ku perlukan cinta dari dirimu sayang
Barulah terasa ku bernyawa

Kasihku ku amat mencintai kamu
Kerana kau beri erti hidup
Ku kan terus mencinta sedetik lebih selepas selamanya

Di kala penuh ketakutan dengan badai kehidupan
Ku bersyukur adanya kamu

Biarlah kehilangan semua yang dimiliki di dunia
Asal masih adanya kamu

Yg best tu siap special mention dek Boboi dalam Maharaja Lawak Mega minggu 5. Vid below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEs27wkNh7U

I dont like Sharipah Amani, the way she commented the issue making her looked stupid. Read and analyze the situation b*tch!

Chapter 266 - Baby.. Baby.. Baby Oooo

Tsk Tsk Tsk... Bukannya lagu Justin Bibir yg nk aku kisahkan, tapi rezki yg dikurniakan Allah pada aku dan keluarga. Alhamdulillah, pada 17 Oct yg lepas mak ayah aku dapat cucunya yang ke 5, keluarga mertuaku menyambut cucu yang pertama dan seharusnya aku dan isteri menyambut putera kami yg pertama. Scan seawal bulan keempat dah boleh menunjukkan jantina fetus dalam perut ibu. Although there are cases which doctor mis-looked the umbilical cord as a penis, but in our case, the doctor showed us the umbilical cord which was attached to the placenta, then slide downward to get the bottom view, and EUREKA! there's the fetus's penis. Rezki Allah, xpeduli la yg diminta itu perempuan atau lelaki, bila dah tau jantinanya, lupa semua itu. My honest opinion, better pergi ke klinik swasta atau specialist rather than Govt. Bukan nak condemn, tapi consistent-speaking, private clinic is better. Ada kes kawan yg jenuh ultrasound di govt clinic, tapi jantina baby xnampak2. Berkali2 pergi, hasilnya sama saja. Bukan nak kata tau jantina itu penting, tapi teknologi disebalik ultrasound itu sendri. Kalau dah doktor sendri xnampak result ultrasound tu, imagine kebarangkalian doktor akan terlepas pandang benda yg lebih penting, seperti kedudukan placenta, kedudukan fetus, volume air ketuban ataupun ketumbuhan! Clinic yang aku pergi tu, mesinnya boleh view 3D lagi. Bulan keenam dah nampak rupa budak tu. Dalam 9 bulan ni aku perasan 3 mesin Ultrasound yg berbeza. Each time, bertambah canggih mesinnya!

Until 9th month, we were religiously visits the Gynae on monthly basis. We chose Damansara Speacialist Hospital atas faktor rekemendasi dari keluarga dan juga testimonial mereka yg dah pergi. Rata2 derang ni keluarga juga. Cuma risau aku satu, yakni KOS. Ternyata lepas survey, DSH merupakan hospital yg mengenakan kos perubatan yg tertinggi di lembah pantai.

Gila load bos2 KPJ ni

1. KPJ DSH

2. KPJ Bangsar

3. Tropicana

4. KPJ Ampang

Usah bubuh Glenmarie dalam list, sbb survey2, xde sape kot beranak kat situ kecuali kerabat diRaja. Sama juga dengan Prince Court. Konfem mahal xhingat. Baik beranak dalam court badminton saje.

Our usual visit costing us averaging RM200. Mesti ada file charge sebanyak RM5. Paling murah tanpa ubat adalah RM 135. Doktor yg aku 'subscribe' ni usually charge RM80 utk consultation. Procedure seperti ultrasound kena charge around RM50. Tapi kalau ada blood test tu harga utk lab agak mahal. RM 300 kalau tak silap. Selama 9 bulan, 14 kali appointments, 1 blood test, 1 extended ultrasound. Kalau ada hati nk ke situ, sila la prepare wallet anda utk koyak sikit.

Cerita tentang kos lahir, harga berbeza utk 3 jenis kelahiran.

1. Normal delivery

2. Induced delivery

3. C-Sect

1. Normal delivery

Deposit dalam RM 3k dan kos akhirnya usually dalam RM 4k - 5k.

2. Induced delivery

Deposit dalam RM 5k dan kos akhirnya usually dalam RM 6k - 7k.

3. C-Sect

Deposit dalam RM 8k dan kos akhirnya usually dalam RM 8k -9k.

Selama kami pergi regular checkup, semua best. Posisi plasenta, posisi anak, air ketuban.. Semua sihat walafiat. Masuk je 3 minggu before due date, doktor perasan blood pressure tinggi sikit. Semua ni bagi aku mostly contributed dari anxious dan saspen. Even small2 thing can increase the pressure. Since that checkup, kami visit doctor selang 2 hari. Macam2 dah cuba, MC satu minggu x jalan, minum belimbing x jalan, jaga makan pon x jalan.. Masuk kali ke-3 appointment, doctor advised esoknya admit hospital, lusanya induced.

Proses induced ni merupakan stimulation kepada uterus untuk contraction. Sebiji tablet akan dimasukkan kedalam serviks dan within 2 hours, contraction semakin kuat. Tujuannya untuk mempercepatkan kelahiran bila contraction semakin kuat dan menolak bayi untuk engage dan seterusnya turun ke pelvic station yg sesuai utk labor. Bila bayi dah sampai ke pelvic station -4, boleh kata bayi dah nak keluar sangat.

Unfortunately, 2 kali induced utk bini aku, pintu rahim xbukak2. Pressure makin tinggi dan doctor advised utk C-Sect. Tengahari 17 Oct, wife masuk OT, anestetik bagi epidural utk kebaskan waist-down. Doctor buat horizontal incision just below belly button, and 10 minutes later, bayi aku pon keluar. Nurse immediately buat initial test, ntah apa yg dia cucuk, bayi pon menangis.. That was a magical moment. No parent will forget that. Selesai test semua, nurse bagi bayi kat aku utk diazankan. Lelaki keras macam mana pon pasti akan menitiskan air mata jantannya. Alhamdulillah.. Doktor pon kata xde complication, bayi pon OK, perut wife pon sudah dijahit, bayi dihantar ke nursery untuk further checkup sementara derang siap2 wife aku utk dihantar ke bilik wad. Opah dan atuk dah menunggu luar pintu OT trus sambut dan usung bayi ke nursery. Lupa lak kat anak kat dalam OT tu. Haha..

Since C-sect, pesakit usually akan tinggal sehari lebih di ward supaya doktor boleh check luka jahitan. Kosnya pon lebih la sedikit. Tapi kami stay 2 hari lebih dari sepatutnya sebab doktor diagnose bayi kami kekuningan. Tak banyak, lebih sikit je dari 10 point; 10.6 point to be exact. Usually doktor bagi balik kalau kuning < 10. Xpelah, janji anak sihat.

Selama 5 hari di DSH, servis mmg tiptop, walau kadang2 tu ada lambat sikit. Tapi nurse xkekok, cekap dan easy to communicate with. Worth every single dime? For me, if my baby is healthy and fine, it worth all my wealth (even though im not that wealthy).

Tido macam daddy

Alhamdulillah.