Here is the first photo album of my Japan trip. This one shows photos taken at Tokyo Disneyland. Click the photo to enter.

Back from Japan already :)

Had a 5-day holiday in Japan, starting from the 20th to the 26th. 20th and 26th is mostly traveling while the days in between is when we were there.

First day: Tokyo Disneyland :P
Very very nice place to be. Too bad have to queue up for almost everything!!! The place was very very clean as well and very very well maintained. My parents went there before i was born, so this is disneyland is quite old, but the stuff inside are all new. Stayed at the Shinjuku area.

Day two: Asakusa, Ginza and Toyota's Megaweb.
Visited the Asakusa temple then proceeded to visit Megaweb, Toyota's theme park where all the toyota models are there. got to Toyota Passo there and managed to obtain the Passo catalouge. Why passo? coz Passo = Myvi with some cosmetic differences and also the passo has a lot more hi-tech stuff that can be installed from Toyota somemore. Makes our myvi like crap and P2 very kedekut. After that went to Lake Kawakuchiku (very very hard to spell) near mount fuji. The best part was that it was beginning to snow heavily as we arrive there.

Day 3: Lake Kawakuchiko, Mount Fuji, Hakone, Shinkenzen
First thing in the morning head over to the visitor centre of Mount fuji to buy some souvenirs and play with snow. Since we arrive early got a foot layer of snow in the adjacent road near the car park to play around with. The snow is still very very fresh after the snowing heavily the night before. But cannot go up mount fuji coz the road is covered in snow and visibility is very very bad. No matter, got snow to play with :P

After that went to the Hakone area to eat the black egg which was cooked hard boiled by a nearby hot spring. The hot spring is located at the top of a hill with an incredible view of mount Fuji in the background. too bad the peak is covered with clouds. Then proceeded to go around lake Ashi for cruise and lunch.

At night sat the Shinkenzen bullet train to our next destination, a small city of Hanabashi (sp correct?). I tell you, when waiting at the station the other bullet trains whiz by VERY VERY fast. No wonder it is called a bullet train.

Day four: Kyoto
Visited a kimono arts center to see a kimonos being made there as well to buy any souvenirs. My bro bought a very nice yukata (summer garment) for his gf; green color with cranes. Costs about RM 100++. Sorry girls, didn't buy any yukata or kimonos :)

Then head over to the Kiyomizu temple to drink its spring water and look at its architecture. Also ate in a small japan restaurant where you have to sit on the floor. The ones you see in japanese restaurants here with the sunken area for your foot is for our convenience, the real thing don't have that luxury. Very hard to get up after that :P

Day five: Kobe, Osaka, USJ, Kanzai
Stayed in Kobe coz no hotel room in Osaka (supposed to be Osaka), but quite near Osaka. In osaka when to the shopping district where there is one sushi bar with the kaitan belt with one special feature, all you can eat sushi. Imagine Sushi king where you pay a flat rate and eat your heart out and the belt is always FULL. All for 890 yen per person. Yes, the plates were piled high:P

After that went to Universal Studios Japan (USJ) to sit a few rides and buy some stuff. Again, long queues are a norm. Luckily got an express ticket which costs 50% extra over the original ticket price. Can get in in under 5 minutes one time :P But Disneyland dun have such a feature, so have to queue the old fashion way.

Then we head to the Nikko hotel Kanzai international airport, located right beside the main terminal coz the next morning we need to fly back in the morning.

Several things I noticed in Japan:
1) The place is clean, very very clean.
2) Safe; almost everyone dun lock their bicycle or moto at train stations or outside shops. Outside the shops no one jaga the goods, they assume you will enter and pay for the item
3) Small: Kelisas, Kancils, Myvis, Kenaris,Jazz type cars thrive here. The number of Camrys on the road can count with 1 hand, Accords... have not seen a single one. Oh, alot of Passos. At Disneyland lots of MPVs like Alphards, Streams etc. The buildings in Tokyo are build soooo close apart. The highways are double decker over roads and several feet from the nearest tall buildings.
4) Courtesy: Everyone greets each other, no one is rude. Everyone queues orderly, even though they may dress like a punk. The bus driver and everyone has pride in thier work (funny thing was, the taxi we took back in M'sia has its speedometer totally broken and was always showing 0 kph)
5) Hi-tech: In all the hotel toilets, got an electronic toilet seat. heated heat? yup Oscillating water jet? Yup. Automatic odour removal? Yup. Press button and it will wash your butt? yup. Flip phones there makes our flip phones a toy. Almost everyone takes photo using a flip phone (making our SLR a big dinosaur from yesteryear). Everyone I see uses a flip phone. Ticketing machine can accept 2 tickets in one go and able to read both of them (1 big, 1 small).

and many many more.

Will soon upload the photos.

in the meantime, meet my new soft toys :P

From the left, Hello Kitty dressed up as the volcanic black egg, cool relax guy and mount fuji.

I made a simple excel file to keep track of all my transformers. To be frank, I have a lot of transformers, but didn't expect to have SO many transformers till I have spend RM 1700++!!!

That's including a few I have not gotten yet :P

So time to budget I guess.

*** better find something else to craze about otherwise this is getting too expensive ***

EDIT: It's 1700++, not RM 1600++, I missed out 1 :P

This week alone I saw 3 rear-end accidents, 2 on the LDP, 1 in KL. And the last 2 that happened was very very near me; within 2 cars length.

The first was on Monday, on the LDP in front of the Kelana Giant. was quite near me, but I was on the lane closer to Giant and not on the road from the flyover. 1 green iswara crash into a kembara.

Second one was at the Bank Negara roundabout on Thursday. A van crashed into the back of the Perdana under the flyover.

Then today I was in the middle lane, one Honda Odyssey rear-end into a ford ranger in the inner lane. This time it happened in front of me (about 2 cars length) and if I had not noticed why the honda was accelerating into the ford I would have kena too. Not a simple slight bump; a crash.

Very very weird week indeed. Have one day whereby I had no less than 5 blaring ambulances at different times of the day past by/overtook me.

Managed to get my Jetfire+Grimlock twin pack at TRU subang Parade for only Rm 134.90. Quite cheap and it is at I believe at the non-goreng price. Grimlock is kinda like a nostalgia TF for me. Recalled seeing him in the Transformers movie when I was a little boy. A big T-rex with very funny lines (his intelligence is rather lacking, so he is a dinosaur of a few words) but big on character. Not to mentioned decepticons are afraid of this guy, except maybe Devastator of course. Little wonder in Beast Wars the Predacon leader wants to be a T-rex.

Oh, Grimlock kick butt too. Grimlock tried to death from above Devastator also (but failed).

Here's Grimlock in dino mode.



Here's Jetfire.


Jetfire has a nice sculpt too. The reason i want him is becoz he is a veritech. Well a not so perfect clone of a veritech but it can have robot mode, gerwalk and jet mode.

Gerwalk mode


Jet mode


Bought a special Gundam stand to make my TF fly :P

On the 3rd of November, went to another play at the Seafield school hall. This time they were playing the play Ma Ma Mia, How Can I Resist You, a play which uses the ABBA songs. Used to listen to Abba very often since my parents would play the CD very often during weekends.

Of course the storyline is cut to suit the secondary students crowd since there are some parts which make no sense like the girl can't really find out who her real father is (use a DNA test!!!!) or the 3 fathers didn't realized the girls mother is screwing them over since ALL 3 are supporting the girl. Only 1 father and 1 mother right? OK, apparently the scrip isn't meant for this generation. But the students sure can SING. SING very well I might add. At least the Abba songs I have been listening to all this while finally make some sense.

Anyway, I was able to obtain the highly coveted, no.1 scalper target, BB08! Bumblebee 2008. Bought it for Rm 120 and with Payload, a Decepticon armoured truck. Payload is not worth mentioning since his transformation is ok but he could have been better, but BB08 was sound from its construction standpoint. Unfortunately Hasbro's QC has failed in the panting department. You see, I got a 2-face BB08. 2-face = Batman 2-face? Yup, But not as bad as Batman's one, just that some paint wasn't applied properly.

Here's the picture of it.


Oklah, boleh tahan. Atleast its joints are tight and the head is there. i have heard about headless BB08s and Takara BB08s with loose joints. At least this problem can be rectified easily with some paint.

My next target?

TFTM Ironhide and the Grimlock/Jetfire Twin Pack. 1 T-rex and 1 Veritech!

Transformers so far:
1) Voyager Thundercracker
2) Voyager Rescue Ratchet
3) Deluxe Jazz
4) Deluxe Brawl
5) Deluxe Bonecrusher
6) Voyager Blackout
7) Leader Megatron
8) Leader Brawl (ppl think I'm crazy buying 2 versions of Brawl)
9) Deluxe Recon Barricade
10) Deluxe Longarm
11) Leader Optimus Prime
12) Deluxe Bumblebee 08
13) Deluxe Payload
14) Legends Optimus Prime

14 and growing strong!!!

Yes, my 360 is hates me.

But last weekend I finally bought Halo3 to with play! hooray! the 360 is saved....

anyway, TF2 is not that fun anymore since now everyone knows all the tricks and are skilled already. No more noobs to own :P

Which made me finally getting around to play Episode 1 & 2. I was surprised EP1 was.... short. Hey, what do you expect from an expansion which is cheaper than a full game?

Hope EP2 is longer.

... and my 360 still hates me :(

p.s: coz i never played it everyday and rather be with my 8800 GTS.

yes, this will be another post about Transformers, but now I practically have almost ALL the available toys I can buy except Bumblebee and Ironhide. Both are in Insane demand now and I'm better off buying one later this year or next year. Which is good news for my pocket.

Oh ya, forgot to mention I already acquired my last (hopefully) leader class transformer toy, Optimus Prime. Bought the Takara version instead of the usual Hasbro version. Cost me RM 245 inclusive of shipping. The most expensive purchase so far.

So let's see what I have:
1) Voyager Thundercracker
2) Voyager Rescue Ratchet
3) Deluxe Jazz
4) Deluxe Brawl
5) Deluxe Bonecrusher
6) Voyager Blackout
7) Leader Megatron
8) Leader Brawl (ppl think I'm crazy buying 2 versions of Brawl)
9) Deluxe Recon Barricade
10) Deluxe Longarm
11) Leader Optimus Prime

Deluxe is small size, Voyager is big size, Leader is well... biiiiggg size.

wow... that's one long list.

On another front been playing Team Fortress 2 ALOT. So alot that I didn't bother to play Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and 2 that has a hot chick called Alyx to guide you along. Must devote time to play everything in the Orange box AND my xbox 360. need Halo3.. need Halo3... oh wait, too busy hunting Transformers and enemies in TF2.

Have been a very busy past few weeks. Until no time to blog :P

Anyway, on the TF front, obtained Leader Class Brawl during the Raya week. Then this week obtained Deluxe Longarm (the tow truck that towed Bumblebee) and Barricade in different colors.

How I obtained Leader class Brawl is bothering on desperate and giving in to temptation.

It started on Friday when I brought my mom to the Gardens Mid Valley for her Raya Shopping treat. After lunch we parted to look for items which are of interest to each other. So i began my search around the entire Mid vally to look for.... transformers.

I started at Toys'R'us, found nothing there, continued to Jusco, only to have all the leader class toys snapped up when I arrive (ARRGGHH!!!), moved on to Metrojaya, then to Isetan and lastly to Robinsons. All came out fruitless. It is like a marathon mind you since Gardens+ Midvalley = very very long walk.

As I arrive home, Woon called to tell me that there was leader brawl at toy workers, a shop at subang Square. Cost around RM 195. But after the fruitless search at MV, I was too tired to get it.

Then late that night as I was on the Lowyat.net forums, someone posted that there is ALOT of Leader Brawls at Jusco sunway pyramid. He was there around 6pm, and no one seem to know there was a restock there.

Since it is like my second chance to get it, the next morning I went to Sunway pyramid to visit the jusco to buy the brawl.... the only problem was, it is the first day of raya and Jusco only opened at 1pm!!!!

So I balik and have lunch with family and then left the house around 1.30pm to go to pyramid. Parked my car and entered jusco around 2.15pm and lo and behold, there were 2 leader brawls there. It was as if there were waiting for me. I took one and immediately after that a family bought one for their son, less than half my age :P

Desperate? Crazy? Lucky? you decide. But leader brawl is too complex for a 5 year old. So do megatron. But since I bought it from Jusco I only spend RM 189.90. But the double trip to jusco cost me RM 6 = RM 3 * 2 times, so it turns out roughly the same price if I bought it from Toyworkers 24 hours before. Then there was a time so long ago when woon called that there were 6 brawls at Toys'R'us and he was getting one. Didn't buy that time since I wasn't desperate enough :P

Tried to upgrade my blog to have a better look. Unfortunately I will lose the C-box (the one that you can post messages) as well as the Xbox 360 gamertag thingy. Can't they just let us access the html code like normal instead of making us their customizing software?

Oh well, at least i tried.

Anyway, MANAGE TO BUY LEADER CLASS MEGATRON!!!

ALL HAIL MEGATRON!! Jazz and Ratchet so kesihan now. Bad enough they got no range weapon, but now the deceptercon leader is in the house with the majority of his army. Megatron and Jazz is the right scale though, and if you put them side by side Jazz is very very small.

Besides that bought the Orange box ori. going to try out Team Fortress 2. Atleast got something to keep me busy this long holidays.

Here are some of my photos of the Deceptercons having some sort of discussion.

Blackout: Take a look at my cool spinner melee weapon!! Can spin really smooth!!
Thundercracker: You have the ability to fly. Why bother with melee combat? You can just fly away! Besides, range combat is better than melee!
Bonecrusher: Not fair, you get cool weapon, you are voyager class, and your alt and robot mode rocks!! I hate you Hasbro! I hate you Michael Bay!! I hate you Blackout!!!!
Brawl: Nice weapon, but better have a large big-oh cannon just in case :)


Frontal view


View from the side


How the blades are positioned on blackout


Scorponok given with blackout. As you can see, it is like an afterthought.


Edit: I have made some photos smaller to fit the blog. You may need to click on it to see it clearly

Here are the photos which I took for my transformers. Much easier to upload to photobucket than to upload to Blogger. So enjoy :P

Transformers photos

Supposed to post this on Saturday, but nvm, too lazy during the weekends.

Just happened to be near Subang Parade that day coz my dad brought his car to fix his radio and alarm. So I decided to check out Toys'R'Us to see if there are any Transformer toys. To my expectation, there ain't any. But in Parkson, found something which 1-2 months ago scalpers will LOVE to buy'em all:

Bought myself the G1 redecorated Jazz. You know Jazz from the Transformers the Movie? The small silver car which Megatron tore into 2? Yup, that guy in his original white colors and racing stripes. There was about 10 of them there. So if demand is still good he will vanish by Monday.

Yes, I know this post is useless without pictures, but too lazy (again, haih) to upload them. :P

Posted some poses on the Lyn.net forum and it'll just use the pictures on photobucket instead of uploading to blogspot.

Thundercracker: Ratchet is sleeping. Time for...


Ultra KICK!!


Battle pose

Ratchet

Thundercracker

Another battle pose

A talk with Philip the penguin.

Bought something from Jusco IOI mall Puchong :P




Yup, you say that right, it's Thundercracker and Rescue Ratchet Transformer!!! Was very lucky since that was the last ratchet there.

HAPPY 50th MERDEKA EVERYBODY!

Didn't really do anywhere this merdeka, just stayed at home playing computer :)

This month has been the month of the sedans. From the start there is the launch other Civic Type R and Civic hybrid. One is a performance sedan upgraded into a sports car. The other is a 'green' car that theoretically gives more mileage. Both are from Japan. Both are sold faster than the Myvi.

Then came another sedan; the Lancer 2.0GT, also from Japan. Think of it as the prequel to the EVO X. Also snapped up like those Transformer toys and I guessed all the stocks for this year is gone.

Launched with much anticipation is the Proton Persona, the much awaited sedan from Proton. Saw it and my verdict: BOUT BLOODY TIME THEY GOT IT RIGHT. Good for you Proton. Need to suffer a bit then only you understand what the market wants.

At the same time the new Kia Optima large size sedan was launched as well, but kinda got HEAVILY overshadowed by the Persona. Note to Naza, pick a better date than too close to something as big as a Proton Persona.

Lastly is the newly launched Aveo sedan. Again, pick a better date to launch your car DRB Hicom. Comparing your car to the Persona, it is grossly overpriced. If you came out earlier you might have a chance.

Anyway, I keep hearing ppl complaining that the Persona is nothing more than a Gen2 with its butt lengthen. Well the following sedan cars are actually from a car with a hatch butt:
1) New Vios = Yaris
2) Aveo sedan = Aveo
3) Honda City = Honda Jazz

Do you see ppl complaining that the new Vios is a copy of the Yaris extended?

What I really want to see is a Myvi sedan. See if P2 is capable of doing what Proton did.

This is something I posted in a Toyota forum at Lowyat.net

Second Son, still in college: Vios
First Son, working: Corolla
Father: Camry
Grandfather: Lexus 460

First Daughter, working: Wish
Second Daughter, in college: Yaris
Mother: Innova
Grandmother: Alphard

Adventures uncle: Landcruiser
Playboy cousin: Celica
Contractor uncle: Hilux
Rich uncle: Harrier
Adventures cousin : Rav4

Added in for this blog:
Toyota fanatic cousin: AE86
'Green' cousin : Prius
Cute Male Cousin, just got lesen: Passo (Myvi)
Cute Female Cousin, just got lesen: Mira (Viva)
Uncle who runs business: Hiace van w/o windows
Auntie who runs a tuition centre: Hiance van w/ windows


One for every one of the family

I wonder why do Rolexes or other well known brand watches cost so much. Do ppl feel 'POWER' when they are wearing car priced watched on their hands? It must be the name. Rolex sounds more glamor than swatch or Seiko.

But i find it ridiculous that you must adjust the the date of the watch every now and then simply becoz it can't tell between a 30 day month and 31 day month and a leap year. Pay so much still you need to adjust. Granted you still need to adjust the time when you go overseas, but shouldn't be date changing be automated since it is pretty much predictable; as in once every month.

That's why I will buy a watch with a perpetual calender of some sorts the next time I buy a watch so that I don't need to adjust it at all. Just wear and go!

Ever wonder how Jazz ended up getting killed in Transformers the Movie 2007?

Well it all went like this:-
OP= Optimus Prime, J= Jazz, I= Ironhide, R= Ratchet, B=Bumblebee

OP: Guys, the director says that one of us must die in this movie, otherwise it is less "cinematic".
J,I,R,B: Oh man!
OP: So who it's going to be? I mustn't die in this movie since I am the heroic Optimus Prime and I have already sacrifice myself in the first movie. The director is trying to avoid the same negative response like what happend during the first movie where I was killed by Megatron.
I: Me neither! I have already been killed in the first movie when Megatron and gang boarded our shuttle last time! All Optimus fault for sending me to earth coz he needs some extra..
OP: Stop passing the blame or I'll choose you to be the one this time. In fact if you had been a little more patient and stop complaining maybe I won't send you anyway. Rachet, what do you think?
R: I'm with Ironhide on this one, I got blown to bits on that shuttle too. Darn barely a few seconds on screen and I'm dead.
OP: OK, ratchet and ironhide is out. Bumblebee?
B: Ohhh noo.... it will be very anti-climax for my character to die. I'm more famous than Opti..
OP: Bumblebee....
B:... Ironhide and gang. Besides, are you going to make the kids sad to lose his friend?
OP: Alright, so that leaves Jazz.
J: errr...look I understand that you and Ironhide and ratchet got killed in the first movie and don't want to be killed again, but can't it be Bumblebee? He got more screen time than me!
B: I repeat again, i am the main character..
J:.. and main characters do die.
OP: Any other reasons compared to screen time? I need to make a decision.
J: Can't you persuade the director to not have someone.. I think any Autobot killed? There is only 5 of us max in the movie!
OP: I have no choice, it's needed.
J,B,I,R: Haih.......
OP: Most likely it will be you Jazz, coz Ironhide will be the pickup truck for the human soldier at the end and he is needed for the next movie to teach the humans 'weapons and tactics'. Ratchet, the directors says he needs you for some 'repairing' scene in the next movie as well. Bumblebee the main human hero needs a ride he knows bests so you are to kept alive. As for Jazz.... so far there is no scene for you in the next movie.
J: haih....
J:If I have looked a little harder into Moon base one's sensors and spot Razor beak on that window...

The End.

Note that you need to watch the original Transformer movie to understand part of it. But still funny nonetheless.

My 360 is seriously under utilized. Can't blame it though, since Halo 3 isn't out until next month, played Dirt + Overlord and company of Heroes on the pc, so yeah the 360 is not being used.. yet.

Our big LCD tv is now 1 year old already.When we bought it, it was the top of the line tv. Now it is overshadowed by its more advance brother.

Got new projects coming and getting moving at my office, while current (and some headache) projects are drawing to a close and slowly getting CF. Oh, I have been working for 1 and a half years already, and that's 1 and a half years of experience.

I actually wanted to say something, but keep forgetting what I wanted to post...

I always wonder why ppl are so up to modify their cars. Installing spoilers, bodykits, new rims neons etc. Maybe it's about personality, like customizing your own "personal" computer. Maybe its about boosting your performance, like getting better fc or power.

I saw an ad last time for a bodykit for a Camry that has front, back and side skirting and also a stick-on spoiler. Claims that it can improve fc and reduce drag. It got me thinking, we engineers (well, I'm an engineer anyway, so..) spend billions of $$$$ to make the car aerodynamically clean (as in, reduce drag as much as possible) through wind tunnel testing and then some guy comes up with a plastic add-on that can increase stability and fc. Wow, if only things were that easy. Those things only add weight to the car and who knows what the spoiler will do to the car at high speed. Besides, spoilers only work at 100kph ++ and not very useful at low speeds our toll highways can offer.

Installed one game recently. It is called...

DOTA!

Thanks to the sound of battle emanating from my brother's room (his computer has it), I was bored so I decided to try it out. Quite fun and not as boring as those Anti-Dota ppl keep saying. But even more fun when type in the money cheat and get all the power items like rapier, mjolnir, butterfly swords, boots of speed etc. Coupled with a high level hero i was beyond godlike.

However i can say it is quite frustrating if you are playing against pros like you guys. Can't do anything but run away. Now if only the attacking creeps from each side are more and the usual catapult, melee unit and ranged unit. Quite boring seeing those guys battle after battle after battle.

I got theories on how the last Harry Potter book will end.

Here goes (coming from someone who has not read ANY of the potter books):

1. Ron gets so fed up with being the one sidelined every single time that he decides to form a plan to overthrow Harry and make Hermione his gf. So he frames Harry, gets Harry into an epic fight, killing him off in the process, kills off Dumbledore who realizes what's happening and cast a love spell on Hermione to make her fall in love with him. Then they live happily ever after.
   
2. Harry Potter finally faces with his nemesis. As he was about to kill him/her, he finds that they are actually his parents. He can't believe it and kept questioning if it was true. Since his love for his parents is so great, he joins the dark side and kills Dumbledore plus anyone who don't agree with him for keeping this secret away from him for so long.
   
3. Harry found out that the dark side isn't so bad afterall. So he organizes a great rebellion to overthrow Hogwarts and place all the teachers which are anti-dark side in prison. His friend Ron and Hermione came to know of his plans and faced him in an epic battle which results in both Ron and Hermione killed.
   

Cheesy endings I know, but would be funny if were to happen.

I have already watched Transformers. Excellent movie to watch!

Bumblebee is one transformer everyone loves. Who doesn't want a car which can transform into the latest wheels out there, help you pick up girls, doesn't need you to refuel it (I have yet to know how those bots refuel) and drive on its own? I want!

Used to watch the The Transformers: The Movie when I was small. Will really love the chance to watch it again; hopefully the DVD will come out. Oh wait it was on DVD, but in Aussie. Of course, there were certain things which is impossible to show in a life action movie. Like Megatron transforming into a handheld gun. Devastator appearing inside a small space shuttle (astrotrain). Soundwave having multiple cassettes (those old plastic rectangular thingies with magnetic strips) in its torso.

Still to someone who love transformers, it is a classic.

Mr bro has a new blog! This is his 3rd blog, since last time he'll decommission some if he becomes too busy. But the first year in college is always very free wan. It's the later years that are killer.

Anyway, here's the link http://mymiraclelov3sm3.blogspot.com/

Work has been catching up with me lately. So much work too little time and energy. Arrgghh i need a hug!

Also missed the time when I have someone to fall in love with :(

I'm sure all of you have heard about the new courthouse leak. It seems that everything that can go wrong is going wrong. Dun really know bout the construction industry in malaysia, but somehow buildings doesn't seem to be build like they used to. It all started with the landslide in Putrajaya (of all places) and then things went down from there.

Anyway, I feel that the cause of the leak; using PVC end cap to plug an ABS class 15 (to withstand 15 bars of pressure) is just so wrong, it becomes downright insane. There is no way either one of them can go together unless you had a proper adapter. To join ABS you need a special solvent which bonds the joints together. For PVC I think you use those plumbing tape and screw it in as it has grooves to allow it. Oh, did I mentioned the local water authority Syabas doesn't allow PVC pipes anymore? and ABS class 15 can't be installed too tightly otherwise it will break (expansion and contraction and brittle)? or ABS pipe is not recommended to be place in the sun? only licensed plumbers are allowed to carry out plumbing work? All this from a building services engineer whom is tasked to design cold water systems in building. In a perfect building the pipes would be stainless steel, but that would inflate the cost so much.

Anyway, my car had a change of plate recently. My car's cool number is transfered over to my dad's new car upon his request. The number is worth more than my Wira lol with car prices dropping like mad. Anyway the new plate is almost the same as the original plate and it costs cheaper too. I would prefer it to be BJM (JM is my name) but got BJL instead since the new car was expected to arrive from Thailand around the time the number was tendered. Coincidentally Ji Long is what those ang mo calls me when I was in Australia. At the same time my uni's e-mail is ji.long@ so and so. Over there, ppl tend to address a person by their first name and their last name. Oh well.

Now there is more reason NOT to play the 360 online.

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/05/17/xbox-live-security-5-17.aspx

Microsoft has started banning modded 360s in lieu of the launch of the Halo 3 Beta. It is a good thing to drop the hammer to ban modders as I have personally met this idiots online spoiling the game during the Xbox 1 days.

But I'm afraid my 360 ter-ban by Microsoft for some stupid reason and no way to get it fix since M'sia is not an official Xbox 360 supported country. Better safe than sorry.

Besides, our stupidyx is stupidly bad nowdays. We have the best broadband in the world!

I have been playing with my new rig. So far here is what I got to say; it can run things really really fast. I remember my brother saying to himself at the computer shop," X game, no problem. B game, hmm, no problem". The only game that has slowed it down is supreme commander. Dun ask me why, but this game is a very very CPU intensive. Quad-core is needed to run this game. In fact I believe the bottleneck is not the graphics card, it is the processor!

Also, since it has a 550W power supply unit, my room is warmer now everytime I play it. Last time my centrino laptop with 1 ceiling fan enough already. This machine needs the air-con on to play. There goes the electricity bill.

Oh, I have all 6 Shell Ferraris already. All perfectly lined up in my room and still in their packaging. The packaging is simply toooo nice to open :)

Finally bought my new rig :)

The specs are :
AMD Athon 64 X2 5200
Asus Geforce 8800 GTS 320mb
Asus M2n32-Su Premiun vista Mobo
Corsair 2Gb DDR2
Seagate 320 Gb HDD
and a very big casing with a glass side to see the inside

and that is excluding speakers, monitor, modem etc.

I finally able to try out Supreme Commander without having the game grinding to a halt. Even in demo form (I have not bought the real game yet) the game rocks! Will try out C&C3 later or maybe even DoW.

If there is one thing I noticed, this computer generates ALOT of heat. My room seems hotter than usual.

I'm still trying to get the msn working though, since this computer is connected online via a cross over cable to the router which is about 8 years old i think and rarely used. Either that the internet has been a little slow lately.

THIS IS SSSPPPPPAAARRRTTAAAAA!!!!!

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/443733

Some funny photoshop pictures based on the movie 300. Prepare to laugh really really hard. :P

This is one of the best Dawn of War comics I have ever seen. Credit goes to whoever created this comic. It was taken from the Dawn of War forum on Lowyat.net.


For those who do not know what is going own, Marines goes into battle by drop pods which is launched from their ship in orbit. Somehow their pod is "stuck" halfway.

Last weekend bought a little toy for myself.

That's right, I bought myself a toy helicopter. But not any helicopter, it is the Picoo Z miniture RC helicopter which only costs RM 99.90. It's movement is not as advanced as a proper RC helicopter with pitch, roll and yaw but it can sstill hover steadily and can fly around in a small room.


One set comes with the helicopter, the remote control with only thrust and to turn right and left. The heli hooks up tho the controller for a 20-30 minute charge and can last bout 5 minutes of less. Currently using 6 Energizers as I dunno how makan minyak these toy is.

All in all, great toy to have if you want something very very different.

Oh, do play it in a big room without a fan or candeliers.

I have exchanged room with my brother recently. When I was studying at Inti nilai and in Australia, my bro took over my room as mine is bigger and I was away studying; why waste a big room by leaving it empty?.

So now I am back for more than a year already we agreed to exchanged rooms and now I am typing this inside my original room. My brother doesn't mind though, since he had the entire house to himself when I was away.

Also, I saw Happy Feet on DVD. HIGHLY recommended. The graphics when you watched on the LCD and DVD player with composite cables (the 3 colored cables for pictures) is very clear and nice. Plus the music used in the movie can make you dance like Mumble. So good in fact we bought the original soundtrack. *I'm actually listening to it right now* Even without HD or DVD the movie is worth watching.

My bro who last month got his lesen is very happy with his Vivi. Sure it look like a girls car but once you drive it and sit inside it you'll be surprise. Very quite but I feel the engine is underpowered; could be due to the auto gearbox. Then again it is meant to be driven slowly and not for the heavy footed. Fuel consumption wise from what I heard is like my Wira auto, around 17-18 sens per km. But if I off a/c and very light-footed and avoid jams can get 15 sen-16 sen per km.

Talking bout Proton, I think Proton better seek a quick solution very very fast as it is being attacked at all corners by UMW (the company which manages Perodua). Kancil and Kelisa replacement eating Saga, Myvi eating the Savvy, and the soon to be released new Toyota Vios (Belta) to take on the Wiras, Wajas and Gen2s. Perdana is pretty much dead as ppl would rather buy a Camry or Accord or even a Focus, Civic, Sentra, City at its price range. So a temporary solution? a Wira, Waja, Gen2, Savvy sale like the Saga sale?

Actually what Proton needs is a Wira replacement model with Neo looks, Wira versatility, Savvy fuel consumption, Saga price, Waja+Neo handling, Perdana space and comfort and most importantly Toyota's quality. Notice the most important requirement is totally un-Protonish

Remember that Proton in the 1993-97s have very brisk sales of the then very advance Wira. Now it is Perodua's turn with the very advance Myvi.

I find it funny for the 14.8 km for me to drive back home from the Kelana LRT takes longer than the 13.3+ km for the 20-25 minute ride from Masjid Jamek LRT station.

Here's the latest route I use


Kelana Jaya-LDP-pass by Giant Kelana - up the bridge at Western Digital - up the cable bridge to Bdr. Sunway - cross the bridge over the NPE tunnel - turn left just before the LDP toll to cross to the Suncity side - pass in front of Menara Sunway- get on the NPE and pass in front of Pyramid - continue over the bridge at Kewajipan roundabout - continue over the bridge in front of the Police Station - turn left at the NPE Tujuan intersection and enter USJ.

The key place I avoid is the former KFC/Tujuan entrance from federal highway as the jam there is just horrendous nowadays; the Kewajipan entrance to USJ as it is always jammed no matter when I passed by it. In fact nowadays if I drive I stay back to work a little while longer till maybe 6.45pm before I start my journey home as by then the traffic has died down. But if it rains....... then no matter when I leave also still be late. Worst if the LRT has broken down.

The year of the fire boar is getting really hot now that the year is progressing. Being a wood rat (like all of us born in 1984), the heat from the pig has started a slow fire on the wood rat... but the rat is smart enough not to panic and roll on the floor to extinguish the flames. After that the rat will be smart enough to keep his distance and the rest of the year will be smooth sailing.

Some big guesswork on the zodiac on my part :)

Anyway I was wondering,

How do one know a girl already has a bf? Nothing beats spending energy trying to kau her only to have her say that she is taken (or her bf moves into the picture). If she's married it's easy, just look for the ring. But if she is single but NOT available?

Shoot and ask questions later? Or look real hard before you leap? How about just charge through with all guns blazing?

This is the reason why you need anti-virus on your pc and for that matter every pc out there.


Plugged the USB drive into the school computer that is used by everyone and the drive got infected with 160 plus unwanted exe files!!!

1st March marked the day I started working. So it marks the first anniversary of my working life. Right....

Anyway, if there were any questions on what car I would buy if I got for a certain amount of money, my choice would be:

100k to 150k : Ford Focus 2.0L Sport - Great looking, German engineered, different from the rest.

70-85k: Honda City iDSI - Extremely good fuel consumption, practical on space, great realiability

Less than 50k:... rather keep my present car and save somemore to buy bigger cars

I'll definetely avoid Protons , Perodua, Naza and Korean cars. My family has a Kia Sportage and I can say it has suffered a failed oxygen sensor a few times, a blown radiator valve (too much pressure) and now in hospital coz the radiator dried up and need a top overhaul (the top part of the engine 'burn'). Six years old and only covered 145000 km. Oh, it drinks alot for such a small 4wd. Thankfully it is a company car.

As for the other type of makes and models:-
Proton : We already have one. One is enough. Not bashing though, but would like something different
Perodua : Too small for my liking, good for 'Penyus' though
Naza : Seem to have all the old outdated models from Kia, Peuguet and Hafei Hobo. If Naza bring us NEW and CURRENT models maybe can consider.
Toyota : Two is enough. Too common though.
Honda : Like the Jazz and City. Rather take Focus for the Accords price range
Suzuki: The swift is nice, but too small and thanks to P.... nvm
Hyundai : The new Sonata looks good.. then for that price..
Mazda : If can top-up to 160k, can consider Mazda 6

Totally out of the league unless your company pays for it:-
Mercedes
BMW
Lexus
Volkswagen

As I walked into my house around 7pm after a days work, I was thinking what my brother is doing to celebrate Valentine's day. Surely he must be somewhere romantic with his gf, in a candlelight setting, exchanging gifts and talking to each other.

After the romantic dinner he'll send her home and drop her off at her house using MY CAR.

Not that I'm jealous or anything, but I always thought I'll get to do that with that Wira of mine after getting the car and lesen. My brother need to wait for less than a WEEK to do that.

Happy Valentine's day !!! Although I am sending this message at 10.39pm :P

Valentine's day is coming. As always, my brother has some big plans for his love (and want to borrow my car).

As for me, no plans as usual. Will definetely avoid cinemas, restaurants, shopping malls since those places will be pack with couples.

Part 1: On the Outside
Name : Long Ji Ming
Date of Birth : 20th June 1984
Current Status : Single
Eye Colour : Brown Black
Hair Colour : Black
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac Sign : Gemini

Part 2: On the Inside
Your Heritage : Chinese, Hainanese
Your Fear : Going to be single forever
Your Weakness : want to sleep.. want to sleep...*** zzzz***
Your Perfect Pizza : Hawaian with chicken and bacon

Part 3: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Your thoughts first waking up : So fast morning oledi :(
Your bedtime : Around 10-12, sometimes later
Your most missed memory : Care-free student life and a powerful computer and internet and LAN to boot and a generous finance minister :)

Part 4: Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke : Pepsi
McDees or Burger King : Mac
Single or Group Dates : Both
Adidas or Nike : None.. prefer Camel Active. Nike overhype, overpriced
Lipton Tea or Nestea : Both
Chocolate or Vanilla : Vanilla
Cappucino or Coffee : Both

Part 5: Do You...
Smoke : Rather waste my money on my 360
Curse : You'll do it alot once you start working (but not in front of ppl)

Part 6: In the Past Month
Drank alcohol : Yup. More coming next week :P
Gone to the mall : Yup
Been on stage : No
Eaten sushi : OMG.. this is a no!
Dyed your hair : pretend to be a blondie? No way

Part 7: Have You Ever?
Played a stripping game : Nope, all my friends are too innocent (Look at what I have missed during my teens lol)
Changed who you were to fit in : Being someone else? No

Part 8 : Marrriage
Age you're hoping to be married : 27-29 (Sees that my current age is only 22 going on 23).. must quickly act now!!
Number of kids: 2 enough

Part 9: In A Guy/Girl
Best Eye colour : doesn't matter
Hair colour : doesn't matter
Short or long hair : doesn't matter

Part 10: What Were You Doing?
1 minute ago : Doing the top part of this questionaire
1 hour ago : Surfing the net on my lappie
4 1/2 hours ago : Eating dinner, watching Astro
1 month ago : working? sleeping? surfing? Nothing worth mentioning
1 year ago : Lepaking to the max since I dun have a job that time

Part 11: Finish The Sentence
I love : to go out with a girl i like
I feel : so lazy at times I just wanna sleep
I hate : idiots who mess up with the projects that I took over before they left the company (Note: if you see anyone in your company like about to leave, better check if thier projects are in order)
I hide : a hidden vault containing an army that can reunite the Imperium under the glory of the Immortal Emperor
I miss : the care-free student life when in Australia
I need : a good life and good fortunes and good luck

Part 12: Tag 5 People
1) i wonder who else has a blog and ALREADY been tagged? hui ling has done it. So does eve (she tagged me). My bro deleted his blog, again. So anyone who has read this questionaire then.
2) My xbox 360, if it can read in the first place.

Been busy playing a mod for my Dark Crusade rts on my laptop. It is a survival type gameplay where wave after wave will attack you.

http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=135406&page=1&pp=15

All I can say it is one very nice mod and it is free :P

The best part has to be massing lots of uber units from capturing a critical location (you get one every few minutes of wave I think) :P

It is things like this that makes pc gaming far better than console gaming. Unlike Xbox Live Marketplace where you need to PAY to use cheats **cough ** NFS Carbon & the Godfather for 360 ***cough ***

Had to go to JB today coz the local water authority in JB, Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) requires the consultants to be present during the inspection to see the water tanks, meters etc.

Went there in the morning by bus and later car pool back to KL in a contractors car since he too is heading back to KL. The bus trip only took 3 and a half hours from Puduraya bus station to the Larkin bus station in JB. It was a direct journey with no stops whatsoever. Left KL at around 7am and arrive at 10.30am. The fare is cheap too, RM 24 only since it is the off peak season.

Let my bro installed Half-Life 2 onto my previous Pc which has a 1.4 Gb Intel P4 and a Geforce 4 MX. Needless to say, after a while of playing the some graphics error pop up and took forever to load.

I think after 5 years of using it, since early 2002 after SPM results, it is high time to change pc and to let this pc retire. Have not checked what is the latest processors or grpahics card required but I think I might need dual core and vista now.

2006 year in review

I have updated my links to include my bro's blog and my ex-classmate's blog. My brother abandoned his previous blog and attain a new web address as his previous one I can pretty much say has been "taken over".

Anyway I was thinking of writing the review of the year 2006, but never got around to it coz there is simple too many things to write about. Then I pop over to Eve's blog and saw her method of reviewing the year 2006 which is in point form instead of paragraph form like what I did last year.

So in a blatant act of copying her method, here was how 2006 was like:

• January and February was busy looking for job, sending out resumes and going for interviews.
• Started working life on 1st March 2006.
• March was quite boring and confusing as still learning to know the ins and outs of what I;m actually supposed to do. Earned first paycheck at the end of that month.
• As the months progressed, learned more of the trade and the scope of my job. Getting more and more capable to do things.
  
• Found out that work is tough.. ok enough of it.
• Used the LRT to commute everyday and found out just how unrealiable and how crowded it can be. Atleast they already ordered the new trains, but still have to wait.
  
• Bought my Xbox 360 which I was planning to get since last year 2005 with my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and maybe fourth paycheck with 2 games!
• Upgraded my handphone from my Nokia 7250 to the Nokia N80. First handphone to be bought by myself (the earlier ones were handed down from my parents), 6th Nokia phone to be used by me and most the expensive one to date (ouch).
• Sponsored the new TV table for our new TV to play my 360.
  
• Meet up and getting to know more of ppl from 5B like hui ling, chew, the low brothers and many more.
  
• Got the new Dark Crusade expansion original.
• Still no girlfriend and still have not met the special someone :(
• Didn't go anywhere for holiday :(
• Took only 2 days leave from March 1st to December 31st.
• Not a single MWDA game played in 2006.

All in all, 2006 wasn't as memorable as 2005, with the holiday to Uluru, falling in love (and having a girl reject, ouch), graduate from uni and many more. But 2006 was still a good year as the year was prosperous and nothing bad as occured during the year.

Let's hope 2007 will be better as I am hoping that:

• I will with someone special and have a girlfriend by the years end. (hopefully)
  
• Maintain the momentum in my career and the ecomony is stable
• Meet up with more people
• Get a PS3 and a Wii.
• Upgrade my desktop to play Supreme Commander

Currently I'm more keen on the first point that anything else.

I have bought something which is cute and can collect "wealth/requisition points/power/gold/respect/money" and it runs off solar power. May I present you, the solar powered waving cat!

Bought them from 1Utama since.. nvm, forgotten which weekend I bought it. Anyway it needs alot of light for it to work. Flourescent lights doesn't seem to make it work unless you have lots of them per sq meter like in those departmental stores. They also don't seem to work on a cloudy day where there is very little sunlight. Placing them near BRIGHT yellow light (again, like in those shops, haih) is one way to make them move. So much for solar technology.

Oh, the green one is mine, the purple one is my parent's one.

Yesterday went to Kemuning Utama to check on our second house and to let my bro drive my Wira for a while. Took to it pretty fast and now he know just how easy an auto car is. It was only last Friday that he took his 1st driving lesson. First drive around SS15, then was asked to drive to Kelana Jaya near the Kelana Jaya Giant to learn bout slope and parking. But imagine, first lesson already drive on Federal Highway and LDP on a weekday. And he was going quite fast too.

After that went to Klang for a while coz got 1 road on the way to Kapar, the whole road got used car dealers. Asked around for a 2nd hand kelisa or kenari. Too my big surprise 2nd hand kelisa a rare and far between, more so for an auto model. And the majority of ppl who enquire kept enquiring bout Perodua cars only. Small, cute, K cars are the norm now but I would take my Wira any day coz its bigger. Also, not a single Myvi in sight.

Something to ponder upon.

To get the the girl, you need the following 'C's:

The famouse 5 Cs:
Career
Credit Card
Car
Condominium
Club Membership

The alternate Cs:
Career
Citibank Credit Card
Camry, Cefiro, C-Class, Cayman S, Carrera, Citra
gated Community house
Club Membership
Cameraphone
Chief Executive Officer
Clever
Cat (pet cat)
Centrino notenook
liquid Crystal display (lCD) TV

But the above 'C's mean nothing without the most important 'C' of all:

Commitment

Looks like I just found out the holy grail of starting and maintaining a relationship.