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.

2006 will retire in 5 hours time. I wonder if 2007 will bring better fortunes and luck for all of us (including you, currently reader of this blog). Will write a review of 2006 like what I did early in 2006 if I am up to it. I can say 2006 was really an exciting year and also a journey into the unknowns and pains (and gains) of working life.

So goodbye 2006 and welcome 2007!

There is a something I heard from my friend:
"In uni, the ocean is very big, very abundance. But when come out to work, it has reduce to a very very small puddle."

I would add " .. when come out to work, the ocean is still very big, but you need better equipment and resources to to get those that are swimming deeper."

Either way, both also doesn't sound good.

P.S: I just cannot get the pictures to stay close together for the previous post, oh well.

Went over to Hui Ling's house for her Christmas Eve party. Stayed up very late till 5 in the morning to keep Woon's friend company after he drank a little too much alcohol. Anyway it was a mixture of a wild party and a good reunion for us since I met with some of the 5B gang. No other former 5A students in sight (where are you guys?). HL also invited some of her UM kaki along too, and I must say they are far more crazy than us (except maybe for Pravin though).

Anyway I did not take any beer/vodka/wine as I know my face will surely become very very very red and I am unable to go home after that. After all, I have tried alot already; Korean wine, australian red, white wine, vodka, local beer, aussie beer and of course XO. Also I dun want to humiliate myself in front of everyone :P

Many thanks to Hui Ling for organizing this party and Merry X'mas and a happy new Year!

Woke at 11am and I found a fun wrapped package on my table. I have no idea what was inside it. Really, no idea. I wasn't expecting a single Christmas present this year at all (Blame it on the fact that I got no gf so I dunno what it is like to give/receive gifts for/from love ones, unlike my bro the romeo). So what are the contents?

Isn't he cute? as soon as you open it you can see the cute smiling face of this soft toy.












It also came with a cardboard box to keep whatever I fancy (lovebirds out there, I know you will be filling it up with stars, love letter, cutesy items etc etc, but I will try to fill something more useful inside).









Anyway I place the soft toy together with Philip the penguin (from Philip Island) and the kangaroo from Australia. I figured this is the best place to place them as all of them are overlooking the door to my bedroom. Now all three are in good company :)








Here is a close-up shot of the soft toy I received. Apparently this is a soft toy for the next Chinese New Year which is the year of the Pig. The chinese character on its necklace says "abundance". Looking forward to a great 2007.

Before I forget, I would like to thank my parents for giving me this surprise gift :)

Meet up with Chok, Hui ling, teck seng, woon and ching last night. It was pretty late actually at 11.30pm, especially when the next day i need to go to work. Gosh got to learn to take more leave so that can zzzzz more.

Really long time have not meet up with Chok nor Teck Seng.

Anyway i tried taking photos and even videos, but the enviroment was too dark even for night mode. Dun want to use flash otherwise like lighthouse attracting ppl.

If all goes well tomolo will meet up with my friend which got the Measat scholarship.

My bro has been shopping around the major colleges to see where to go next. Last Sunday followed him to Taylor at Leisure Business Centre (Bali there, in front of Motorola), Taylor at SS15, Inti Subang and Segi next to Summit. Needless to say, he is spoilt for choice. Targetting either Interior Design, Graphics, Business, Accounting..... anything but Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Dunno what he'll do though...

Yesterday already went to the ONE Academy at Sunway and Limkokwing at Putrajaya to have a look. Didn't went to Sunway coz Sunway doesn't offer anything he is interested.

I remember during my time i was easy, just mechanical engineering FTW.

The weekend is HERE!!!!

Whoppie!!

** Tries out the Calsberg Christmas edition beer with family***

I would say that the beer is less bitter than the normal Calsberg, but the bottle is small though, only 325 ml. Even the Australian beer is 375 ml.

Another thing, the wifi modem is spoil!! So have to move right up to the telephone point with a normal dial-up modem.

My brother has just completed his SPM. SO with his new found freedom he went to watch Casino royale at Pyramid, progress through Gears of War faster than me and will pick up driving lessons very very soon. The fight for the dropship keys is still wayy ahead but it will come very soon.

Anyway too busy and tired to do anything as usual. Bought the new Xbox 360 game Gears of War. The graphics are extremely top-noutch especially when viewed on a HDTV.

Today I went to a bungalow site at Country Heights Damansara which is located near the Pengchala toll. Pretty hilly area, ideally suited to build your extremely overpriced, large, beautiful, feng shui optimized mansion. As I went downhill on the way home tried the LOW gear on my car for the first time. My car never went up to Genting before. The furthest it went was Nilai and that was a good 5 to 7 years after it was purchased. So low and behold, after engaging low gear (which is "L") the car slowed down when going downhill. Pressing the brakes was not required, instead need to press the gas a little to go faster. Now I understand why the "L" gear is placed there.

No matter how hard I try, I can never get work done fast enough!!!!

Regradless if I have assualt termies, mammoth tanks, landraiders, you name an offensive weapon, I have it, I can never get it done fast enough. Maybe not enough brute force like the saying " if brute force doesn't solve your problem, you are not using enough".

Actually the problem is that I cannot work overtime too much. It makes me sick. Some ppl say work makes them sick and I believe them. There is only so much you can push ahead before falling asleep. *** sees girls running away from me since I can't work longer than them ****

Speaking of girls... will i ever meet a girl which i'll fall in love again? Still remember last year around this time....

Two weeks ago went back to SMK Seafield's new hall to watch a play. Took a very large 360 degree panaramic photo. I'll see if youtube supports panoramic shots or not. If so than can see panoramic view of the inside of the school hall :P

Saw this entry in my 360's blog:
"paanjang16 was absent yesterday... I was smelling something that reminded me of sweat... He better not be playing with a Nintendo Wii... burning calories while playing games is just wrong"

Well, actually I was more playing my computer and killing heretics and purging the planet than playing the Wii. Besides, the Wii isn't out yet, let alone a PS3.

Been using my N80 for a while. So far it is performing well, although there are some delays viewing the pictures. The delay is like when you want to view a thumbnail but it takes a while to load.

I got a new HP. Bought the Nokia N80 from Sungai Wang coz there are many hp shops there and can get a good price if you look hard enough. Decided against N73 coz the key pad too small, no wifi (for something so expensive, no wifi??) and time to change to a slider phone instead of a candy bar phone.

Here is the close-up of my phone in action. Has a very bright LCD screen and cool blue color keys. The transparent case around the phone is for protection but still has openings for the keypads and other important functions like cameras etc.















The picture below shows the number of phones I have used since I got the first one circa 1997/98. Kinda stick to Nokia all this while. My brother used Motorola, Alcatel and my dad Sony Ericsson in addition to Nokia phones. But my brother who usually can recommend handphones say Motorola do hang sometimes and I have seen my dad's Sony Ericsson P910i hang a couple of times, so Nokia is the way to go for next gen phones. Let's see if this phone lives up to its expectations and do not hang like the rest (from what I read on internet forums, N80s do have problems, just like 360s for that matter, so fingers crossed).















Kinda amazing to see how far hps have gone smaller and smaller and smarter and has cameras (N80 has 2, one behind and 1 in front) and has color lcds in a span of less than 10 years.

Puts on Warhammer 40k cap :)

Praise the Emperor!

I now gotten the Inquisitorial approved version of Dawn of War Dark Crusade!! Was in Mids Valley when I saw this sacred artifact. Immediately bought it and brought it home to the safety of my chapter's stronghold to begin preparations to wage war on Kronus!

** Takes off Warhammer 40k cap***

Yippie.. time to game!! My 360 is going to be soooo jealous :P

Can't wait to get the newest expansion to my favourite RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, Dawn of War Dark Crusade!!

The problem is that the "inquisitorial approved" version hasn't arrive yet (most probably in some darn container in Singapore) and the only way to satisfy my urge for battle, like most Choas marines will say " BLOOD!! BLOOD !! I FEED ON BLOOD!!" is to get the heretic version (as in the, ahem version) first. Of course once I buy the original version the I'll purge the heretic version to play online.

Arrghh, really cannot wait.
And I'm sure he can't wait too.

I really dunno why, but my tag-board has since gone offline. I think the company that hosts the tag-board has gone bust, or got hijacked or whatever. Still have not search for other tag-boards to use. Surprisingly the tag-boards of my other bloggers are still online. Must have chosen a more financially stable one.

I was thinking I really should upgrade my phone. I know Changing phones too often is very costly, but what the heck, I need a phone with both a camera function and some high tech stuff to go with it. Need the camera function for work as I need to take photos when I go to site. Too lazy to bring along a camera.

So what phone I had in mind?

The Nokia N73. Has a pretty high end camera for a phone with auto-focus and doesn't have the brick size of its larger cousin the N90-ties.

But the price of one... RM 2200!!@$!@#$

Although I can afford still too expensive. More expensive than my Xbox 360 with 3 games even!

I kinda amazed on the entries made by the Xbox 360 blog site. When you never play with it says the darnest things. Like " I have seen wierd things, but my owner not playing today really takes the cake!" or " I'm going to make you play tomolo, just you wait!! I'm not Kidding!!". When I do play it, it then shower praises like it has been waiting to be played for years. Of it also complains I play too short. Acutally yesterday (Friday night) I did play my Xbox, just didn't bother to go online with it. So the server which hosts and generates the blog "thinks" I didn't play.

For those who think I have neglected my 360 due to the constant rants and pleas by the 360 (as if it has feelings lol), dun worry, it is in good hands.

Enough talking bout my 360, now to other news...

It has been 1 year since I went to Uluru. Still remember the date I was there; 25,26,27 September and the sweet memories there. So happen 25/9 was the birthday of someone I know. Arrive there on the 25, went to visit The Rock on the 26 and 27.

For the post that explains the entire trip, here's the link http://paanjang16.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_paanjang16_archive.html

Here's a group photo of the members in our tour group. Note that there were 3 S.Koreans, 2 Japanese, 2 from France, 3 Singaporeans, 1 American, 1 South African, 1 British, 1 Malaysian and the rest Australians (I think), so we have ppl from almost all parts of the world in our group. Can you match who is from where?

The hardest thing to say to your friends or whoever that you know of is no.

That day which was my friend's birthday I had to turn down an invitation to have a makan gathering to celebrate his birthday was pretty hard one. Imagine, your best friend's birthday and you really cannot go coz you have other important matters the next day. It doesn't help his friends who message me to go is trying to persuade me to go ahead anyway. On one hand you felt you have let down a friend, on the other hand you really have to make this compromise to yourself. Very hard to describe in words I tell you. To make matters worse I let the cat out of the bag by calling the birthday boy/girl in panic when his/her friends wanted it to be a surprise.

Wat to do, I'm one of the first of out the gate when it comes to studying and into the working world. The majority of my friends are still studying and have a LOT of time to spare. Not to mention I need more sleep than most ppl (I'm amazed how far some ppl can go without falling asleep).

Here's a little something I thought about:

Remember the 7 Cs? Whereby,
Cash -Rich
Car -Got wheels
Condominium - A property in the sky
Club Membership - Self explanatory
Career - Stable Job
Credit Card - Swipe Away!
Company/CEO - Own a company

Now there's 7 Ms, whereby
Mansion - Condo penthouse or bungalow is not big enough
Mercedes/Mustang - Not just any car!
Money - Rich!
Manager - Not only a stable job, but high position
Musician - To impress the ladies
Masters Degree - Knowledge is power
Mustache - Err.....

Or Bs, whereby
Boss - Da'boss
Bugatti/Brabus - A Mercedes isn't going to cut it
Bungalow - How needs a condo?
Bachelor Degree - Knowledge is power
Bonus - Stable pay is not enough
Bank - Own a bank

This is all I can think of so far. Maybe there's more to add in the future.

Since my friend wants me to blog more to compete with my xbox 360's blog, here's an entry.

I have added a few more links to some other blogs like my cousin's son's blog, the xbox 360's blog and paul tan's automotive blog.

BTW, I dun think I can compete with mt 360's blog since it updates EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Oh, and I also do not always go online with it. Sometimes I just play offlince and that's it. Really want to see what it will say if I dun play for 1 week.

Anyway today happens to be friend Woon's birthday. Happy birthday Woon!

My 360 can blog.

Sounds silly but there is a website which can sorta create blog entries that reflect what my 360 is thinking. Let's see how accurate are its blog entries.

The address to it is:

http://360voice.com/blog.asp?tag=paanjang16

Just got Ridge Racer 6 and an extra WIRED controller in case my wireless one runs out of juice. YESSS! Time to challenge my bro in football!!!

My parent recently went ot a wedding dinner of my mom's friend's daughter. It was held that the Nikko hotel along Jalan Ampang near KLCC. What I heards was that during the dinner the bride, bridegroom, bridegroom's parents and bride's parents (in no logical order) made a speech. To make matters simple either my brothers wedding (since he HAS a girlfriend) or my own (not within this decade at this rate) will have one section for the XO drinkers to drink, a ballroom dancing area for those who want to dance the night away and a wine testing area for those who like wines. The only speech one has to make is to tell everyone about the 3 areas , period.

P.S: Sorry Woon, still thinking if there should be an area for DoW Lan gaming.

Recently on Tuesday there was a war between to Big TV stations. One is showing the Fairy tale wedding reception of a pop princess marrying a "datuk" with loads and loads of cash, the other showing the exclusive interview of a couple after thier tragic break-up.

I wonder if the broke-up couple wished they went for Siti and Datuk K respectively.....

Anyway of all the time in the world it had to be on the same day and at the same time. Your's truely saw both by switching the channels to TV1 to TV3 and vice versa.

My Xbox 360 is now downstairs plugged into a 40" inch LCD. The graphics is beyond words to describe. Ok, really want to post a picture, but that would show too much.

It happened again.

Was in the thick of the action, with a barrage of missiles heading my way, firing everything I've got at the enemy, then...

Or,

Was in the thick of the action, dodging my way out of enemy fire. About to align my sights on the fool who attacked me when...

Or,

Doing a perfect lap with the maximum amount of kudos any pro driver can get. As I am about to the the last corner to win the race ...

Ok, I made up the last one, but the batteries of my 360 controller goes kaput at those very moments I need them. Half-way playing then suddenly need to re-connect the controller. I think I these rechargable batteries are the low end type (1300, the high end ones are 2600). I used the Energizers which came with the 360 itself and it lasted a very long time. The Everedy batteries which are meant for cameras didn't last long either.

So now I am charging more and more and as often as possible. Hopefully I won't get frag coz my controller went dead.

Wanted to do something when I come back..... but sooo malas........ nvm, do tomololah...

My brother and I have been playing the 360 lately. So far my brother seem to be better in some of the games I bought. In PGR3 he drives better and has more $$$ and cars than me. When it comes to Fifa World Cup 2006 he can play better and not tackle everyone, resulting in less red card issued. He even won the World Cup with England!

Anyway, I have been playing a bit of DoW with the new enhanced AI mod. I would say the computer dun attack you so fast and thier attack force is less compared to last time. But they are now very smart.

Here's a typical scenario: I have build up enough squads of marines and pushed the enemy back to his base. When I arrive at his base, there is no one to greet me and the buildings are clear. So I proceed to attack the buildings in the enemy base. During that time I can see the computer calling in some squads into the buildings. Not a problem since my force is big enough to deal with them.

Just then out of nowhere, this DREADNOUGHT appears and I am forced to retreat since:
1) my force has little to no anti-armor weapons
2) my machine temple/base/factory isn't ready
3) my machine temple/base/factory is ready but so far away

So I have no choice but to retreat and see my men being tossed about by the dreadnought. After awhile the computer has more armor than the anti-armor weapons I have and proceed to defeat me.

Here is the route I typically take to office. First I start from SJ, move on to Federal highway, take breakfast in Kelana Jaya, get on the LRT at the Kelana Jaya station, alight at the Masjid Jamek station and walk to office. So total distance travelled is 52 km.



This is the route I use to go home. From my office in KL, take LRT back to Kelana Jaya, use the LDP then take an alternate route to the old airport road (to avoid the crawl towards the Western Digital flyover), join the Federal Highway at the clock tower then return home by Jalan Tujuan.

On the way home today I thought I find out how much kilometers do I travel to and from work on an average day. So I booted up Google Earth and trace the distance from my house to my office and back.

*** Tries to upload picture and failed ****

Nvm, maybe some other time. From the looks of it I can't upload to blogger from my lappie to the router wirelessly. Oh well, next time..

Anyway, the distance I travel on average per day is 52 km. About 26km to work, 26km return. If I drive and average 17 cents a kilometer, I will have to spend 8.50 a day. For a month with 4 working weeks RM 170.00, just on petrol. Not including toll, parking etc. So no surprise of I have to spend about RM 300 just to commute.

Anyway recently someone e-mailed me asking how is Seafield. He/she wanted to know if Seafield is a better choice compared to SMKSU. I told him/her that Seafield is more friendly, the clubs are more active and the facilities are better etc with a little help from my still in Seafield brother. Later got the reply that he/she has decided to come to Seafield to start Form 1. Btw, he/she got to know about the school and my e-mail from my SMK Seafield website. Gosh, stil have not update or perform anything maintenance for it ** guitly ***.

Saw the seconds Pirates of the Caribbean movie last Tuesday in Summit last Tuesday. My family decided to all go out to watch it that night. Came back late around 11 something and the tickets cost RM30 each but it was worth it. One very fun movie with losts of funny scenes :) Highly recommended. Oh, and wait till the credits end.

My brother and I have been playing with the 360 alot. Now feel very boring surfing the net. Now playing the racing game PGR 3 and the 1st person shooter PDZ, but have been playing the racing game more. Cars I have bought so far in PGR3 is the Skyline, the Gallardo and a 20th edition Countach. Trying to collect enough credits to buy all the Lambos :P. Then I'll earn one more archiement points.

My brother so far drives better than me as he has more golds!! Started with a Noble M400 and now deciding on which car to buy next; now busy test driving his next purchase like a choosy buyer.

I have decided to replace the World Cup disc as I fear trying to test it too many times will destroy/melt/burn my 360's lens. This is the last time I'm buying an EA product. First was Battlefield 2, and now this game :(

One of the features of Xbox live is the marketplace is that you can buy stuff like themes, map packs, gamer pictures etc using microsoft (MS) points. MS points is the Xbox live currency where certain amount of real cash is turned into a certain amount of MS points. The good things bout this marketplace is that you can buy whatever that is available.

The bad thing about this marketplace is that almost everything that is available costs something. Want a Halo 3 theme? Need to pay about 150 MS points. Want the famous horse armor for Oblivion? Another 150 MS points (the best part is, the pc version is cheaper and you can always look around for that patch to install that horse armor). Need more maps to wage war on? Another $$$$ MS points. Want street fighter 2? Around US10 I think, which is quite steep considering there are FREE street fighter 2 software on the net.

There are some items that are free however, like the game demos (duh) and occasionally some good developer put in some stuff to enchance the game for free (like Sega's Chromehounds). Unfortunately there are some developers out there who like to milk their gamers... too many to mention.

My 360 has arrive!!! Collected it on Thursday night from the seller in 1Utama, then went online with it last night :P

I must say that this console is very very advanced and the present TV in my house does not do it justice. What I need now is either a HDTV plasma or get a VGA cable adaptor to appreaciate the graphics better. The controller is totally wireless and can start the console remotely.

As you can see, the color scheme is all white in color, unlike the color scheme of the origianl Xbox or the ps2. Adapting the Ipod whiteness to appeal to more ppl it seems. My Panasonic tv still works perfectly even after all these years :)

So the games I got is Project Gotham Racing 3, a racing game, Perfect Dark Zero, a First Person shooter and Fifa World cup 2006 football game. Still have not managed to play the Fifa game coz the disc got problem; darn EA. Hopefully can get it replaced soon.

Went to Segamat today. Visited an oil palm pulp factory under construction. The concrete structure is up but the whole factory is empty coz the machine have not arrive from China yet. This allowed a small window for all the contractors to finish up the work before all the machine arrive coz once the machines arrive, everything else is secondary.

On the trip back ate some durians. Yummy :P

The world cup is finally over with Italy as the WC2006 champions. I didn't watch the final match which began at 3am this morning because I had to go to work later, but my father and younger brother did. I was pretty shocked to hear that Zidane head-butted an Italy player. Why would anyone do that in the WC final and his very last match before he retire?!?!@?#$ Or maybe he thought, he wanna do a Mastercard moment after all these years.

Note to all football players, settle all fights and insults OUTSIDE the pitch, preferably in the locker room where no one but your teammates and manager can see.

Disclaimer : I meant no insult to Zidane, just that I couldn't believe he lost his cool in the most important match of the year.

If all goes to plan my 360 will reach the local supplier in which I ordered my 360 from tommorow. A big IF all goes to plan. Knowing luck it would be delayed again :(

2/07/06 is the Canteen day/ Karnival day at my former secondary school SMK Seafield. Might take a look for a while to see how is my former secondary school look like :)

My 360 order has been delayed by a few days coz the person ordering it want to take order for a game which was released a few days later. So most probably I'll get it by the 1st week of July.

Nothing much to say, except work has caught up to me. Really miss those days when I am still studying, less worries, more time for gaming, more time to lepak and cash was almost not a problem since fully subsidise by parents :P Now my 360 have to be bought using my own cash. The good thing is that my parents won't complain I'll spent money on this "toy" :P

Here's something I took from one of past 5A class mates blog. This website tells you how much of the world you have visited. From the looks of it I have not gone far enough :P

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Just to let everyone know, I'm now 22 years old and it has been that long since I was born :P .

And yes, today 20/06/2006 is my birthday. Happy birthday to me :P

Now where's my 360?.. oh ya still have to wait for it to be ordered from Singapore...

Yesterday night went to see the Proton Satria Neo. Dunno why they named it Neo. Either the designers were matrix fans or they had installed too much neons in their car. Couldn't use the name Neon since Dodge already used it for their Dodge Neon.

I was quite impressed by the Satria Neo. The interior is better and easy on the eye although there are some obvious areas where Proton did not include something to save cost. Like the Proton name tag on the dash in front of the passenger side to cover the "SRS Airbag" notice. Some circular plastic covers beside the steering whell etc. You got to wonder if the Europeans get something in those areas. Quality wise, it looks better than the past Protons, although I can't comment if you will get a lemon in the end since this is after all a show car. Performance wise I too cannot comment since I have not test drive it.

My brother of course was very impressed by the car. The only problem is that he cannot drive yet and no financial means to buy it! As the saying goes, when you are young and want such a car, you can't afford it and your parents will not buy it for you since it is 2 door. But when you can finally afford & old enough to buy it, you can't since a baby is on its way and you need a four door car!!!

For me a 2 door car is too small. I can barely fit in the back and even the driver's position is too cramped for me. Besides, I prefer to upgrade from a 1.5 auto wira to something larger. I thought of this, I prefer a four door car so that me and my gf will sit in front, and my mother and father in-laws (gf's papa and mama) can sit comfortably in the back, and hopefully be impressed enough to........ you get the picture.

My phone experience something very funny yesterday and the day before. For some unknown reason, I can't make a call out or sms ppl, but I can receive calls and smses. Then by afternoon yesterday my phone is able to make calls like normal.

Must be the fact that on Wednesday I made a call to Singapore while in Segamat, Johor for a meeting. Had to spend the whole day out of the office to attend the meeting there, so had to call Singapore bout my progress on their project.

After that I think Celcom mush have thought my phone has been stolen and used to dial international numbers from another location compared to the Klang Valley. Since everything is back to normal again it could be that the network is unrealiable that the time of the call..... very unlikey since I tried to sms while the LRT was passing by the Telekom building on Thusday!!!

I watched CARS today :) Kinda funny movie where there are talking cars everywhere!! No need for me to into the details of the story as many of you would have read or saw the trailer somewhere. Was expecting the main hero to die in a spectacular crash in the end but this is a Disney movie after all. Kinda dissapointed that there weren't any Mercedes or Skylines or Evos for in the movie at all. Also, where is the Lambo?

I have decided to get a 360. No doubts about it. I'm too lazy to paint my 40k minis, and a 360 should last a few years into the future before the 720 comes out. The 360 can't and will not play any pirated games, but since I am working already 1 original game a month is still affordable- unless I got a gf or need to buy something else. I still need to upgrade my computer when the time comes too, but that would be around next year when Supreme Commander comes out.

Today I met a classic "Help, my (insert relative here) is (insert type of emergency here) and I got no money to buy a (insert transport ticket, be it train aeroplane etc) to (insert your favourite destination here)" plea from someone in the LRT station. Needless to say I surprised to see such a person asking for money several meters below the river bed in the underground station. Thankfully it was a major station along the LRT line and not on the streets where he might turn nasty.

The best part was, he ask me in Mandarin first I think, followed by Hokkien or the like, another dialect, and lastly in English. I told him alot of ppl say such things to con ppl and if he REALLY need help get off at the next station (he followed me into the train) and tell security your problem. He left at the next station...

Today my brother, father and I went to see KLIMS (KL International Motor Show) at PWTC. Lots more cars on display this time, and also lots more booth babes for happy shooters to point at.

Should see the amount of ppl taking pictures at the boothbabes. In some of the stalls the main draw is not the product, but the booth babes. Not surprise though, since in E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in the US, there are some ppl who come to E3 only for the boothbabes.

My bro did took a lot of photos, maybe I'll put one here soon. One of the best was the ASIMO robot. One more step closer to 30 foot tall Mechs!!! However it still required a few grid lines on the stage for it to walk and navigate.

Need to go back to office on Sat to do some work. Altough officially we are working a 5 day week sometimes there is simply too much work we have to come back on Saturday :(

Hopefully next Saturday is free.

Tried out DoW online. First battle I managed to play was a 2v2. The problem is, by 3 minutes my enemies has a big army combined together; several choas marine squads and his commander together with several sniper squads fully armed with sniper rifles :P. By 5 minutes by opponent's base is overrun and by 6 minutes we are dead. Woopee... kena rush.

Seconds was a 4v4. Everything looked good at first. But as my ally started engaging the enemy team, things grinded to a halt. Everyone on the battlefield froze. The game was not frozen though, as I can still move around and select units. But the game froze due to extreme lag. Woopee... game aborted due to lag.

Yesterday had 2 very hilarious battles. The first one ended with me winning the game with ZERO loses and wiping out every single unit my opponent has. For some unknown reason my opponent's Inova Wolf, in her Mad Cat can't shoot properly and Shin Wolf performed badly in his charged. My forces meanwhile played a game of staying behind cover and infuriating my opponent.

The 2nd battle was equally hilarious. For fun I made an infantry heavy army with only 1 mech, the Highlander Koshi while up against Geoff Bekker's Kodiak and Kendrick's Mad Cat 3. It was like a scene from the 40,000 universe, where my infantry battalion charged up towards the enemy while some of their brothers are killed in the process. Eventually a group of my infantry managed to make contact with the big bad bear and proceeded to capture it. Geoff the veteren warrior in his kodiak, panic when this group of infantry touched his mech and suffered a critical miss in the process. This later caused himself to be capture for the majaority of the battle. He was later freed after a desperate but eventually successful struggle to elinimate his capturers. At first it looked like the SWs would succeed, but a mistake on Kendrick's part cost him his mech (he thought that infantry standing there was a lousy group of shooters, only to found out they are actually elite snipers). And most of the time the units that actually made victory possible was my opponent's infantry and vehicles (Honorary mention to the SW Maxim). While the mechs....... I dunno what to say.

Had a very hectic week. The usual got to finish up the drawing for contractor or client and meeting with client to discuss what is wanted for the project. But it's still ok and I managed to get some things done before the weekend :)

Nothing much to say except that I did not went to play MW this week because my MW friends had a lot of stuff that needs to be done. So this Saturday I felt it was like Sunday in which I did not go anywhere.

Plugged in my Xbox to play for a while. I noticed that the majority of players in my Xbox Live friend list have already got their Xbox 360 and playing games which are meant for the 360. So I'm the only few who still have the old Xbox and plays Halo 2 online. Mechassualt, Burnout, Crimson Skies all have very little to no players anymore. Which is a pity, since duking it out with 8-10 players in Mechassault is absolutely chaotic and fun. Crimson skies when played with a large amount of players is also very fun. Oh well, some games just grow old with time.

For the past few days I have been thinking on what to buy using my first and now my second paycheck combined. Couldn't decide on what to buy when I got my 1st paycheck coz I was busy with work and decided to wait for my range of options to get bigger. Now that I have received my 2nd paycheck, my available resources have grown larger and so too are the available options for spending. The problem is, I still can't make up my mind on what to buy!!

It's not like I am kedekut; I am a big spender and won't mind paying RM 15 for a large ice-blended at Starbucks, spend RM 100 or more for dinner in a restaurant or anything that has got to do with food. It's the non-edible stuff that I have problem deciding on what to get.

Among the stuff I am thinking on buying are:

1) Xbox 360 : The console itself cost RM 1500, games another RM 160, so I would spend about RM 2000 just to get the console and with a small selection of games. The problem is that it will only have about 2-3 games to play and my interest to play 360 has waned since I came back coz playing an RTS on my pc is more enjoyable (Blame Dawn on War on this). Also, my resources will be strech thin if I make this purchase, and I highly doubt I can buy the stuff I liked to eat :(

2) Warhammer 40k : Since I am hooked to Dawn of War is no surprised that I want to try out the original table -top game from which the RTS games is derived from. The cost of setting up and army is also as expensive as the 360, but can be spread out over a few months as the army takes time for it to be fully battle ready and fully painted. Like the first month I can spend RM 500 for the rule book (I know, buying the RM 250 rule book is insane) and the Land raider. Then next month I buy a tactical squad for another RM 500 and so on. Really liked the idea of getting the land raider, but my CBT gladiator is still in pieces and unpainted and as soon as the land raider is finished I highly doubt I will want to get the marines. After all, all I want is the land raider sculpt. Also, I even said to my self, why stop playing a minitures game (because it is too expensive) to play another minitures game (which is also very expensive) ? Still deciding on whether to pick up the hobby, but to tell the truth, prefer playing computer :P

3) PSP : It was this same time last year I wanted a PSP. The price has dropped, more games available, but it still cost a bomb just to get started. Add to the fact I need to buy the sony memory stick duo which is only compatible with the PSP itself, no thanks.

4) Nintendo DS : I would have bought one last year if I wanted to.

5) New graphics card : Unfortunetly because my computer is prefer ancient by todays standards, I need to spend about RM 3000 just to get a new mother board, ram and processor to run the graphic card I want to buy. Also not many new interesting games to justify an upgrade and my laptop still do fine. (To my DOTA friends out there, DOTA is not my cup of tea)

6) New handphone : nope, my current one will do me fine

7) New car : my current car is still ok, no need for a new one

8) New watch : my current one is fine

As you can see, I do not have many needs or wants on my part to justify spending on any of those above. Maybe next month when I have more dough I will buy something, but in the mean time I am still keeping my non-edible wants on hold. Very thrifty I am right?

My previous week was one hectic one. Had a site meeting on Monday in which I have to drive there and also had to stay at office until 8pm on Friday to make sure the construction frawing of one project is printed out. It's not a small drawing mind you, it is a detailed drawing printed on a big plotter which prints on A1 size paper. And the mechanical drawings is lot because there are alot of different services for the building. Anyway managed to get through the week ok. Pretty rushed though..

Just now went to the wine shop beside Maybank in SS15 to have a look. Saw a lot of Australian wines, but none of the brands I am familier with. There's a lot of Shiraz, Cabernet Souvignon etc, but we somehow the wines I drank last time when I was in Australia are either rare or cannot be found. I saw there is a bottle of Old Vine Shiraz of another brand which costs almost RM 200!! Before I left Australia I bought and drank a bottle of Old Vine Shiraz from a winery which can only be bought from the celler door for AU60. The wine was very nice with a rich earthly vanillay oak flavour... something like that. Then there is another white wine which is fruity and sweet. It's name is Mcguigan Black Label: Traminar Restling. It is also bought from a winery in Australia (the Barrosa Valley to be exact) and we took it home to drink it during CNY. It costs AU 20. It is so nice that my family wants to drink it again and I am hpoing the local distributer of these wines brought some to M'sia.

I changed my computer abit this week. No more Norton Anti-virus. It bugged me everytime I turn on my computer, everytime to update it and renew its licience. Worst, the message does not pop up the minute your computer boots, but a few minutes after windows loads, so if I already started a program like Dawn of War, the stupid message appears to disturb. And then when you disabled the Auto-protect, it bugs you not stop to turn it back on!! Very bad if you want to squeeze a few Hz out of your computer.

Instead I installed Kaspersky AV. So far so good. It has a 3 month trial to try it. After that must but a 1 or 2 year licience to use it. Atleast it is not as annoying as NAV which BUGS you to update and renew. The 2006 version BUGS you like hell to activate and to update it I'm going to delete it and put Kaspersky instead for my parent's PC. Also it has made their computer slower. Not to mentioned NAV is known for not detecting some stuff when it enters your computer.

On Monday night went for dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant in Taipan. It is just opposite my former tuition centre and Macdonalds. The food was very nice but the wine was even better!! My face turned red after 3-4 small cups of the wine. Must have drank too fast. The wine has 14% alcohol, quite normal for red wines.

Long weekend

It was a long weekend at the end of the first month of working. Felt very happy that the weekend was finally here as I am looking forward to it he whole week!

Anyway, on Satrurday morning I woke up early coz the family mechanic need to come to my house to replace the falt battery in my car. The battery ran flat due to a malfunction of the timer switch that controls the "ring of light" around the key entry. So the "ring of light" drained my car battery till it ran flat. Alarm don't work. Starter not a squek. 100% dead. Fortunately all it needs was a battery change and the car was good to go. Too bad I can't have the "ring of light" anymore. Looks very cool at night.

Then in the afternoon although my car was repaired, my friend picked me up to go play MW. He fianlly got a dropship of his own and has the chance to be dropship command. The battle on Sat between us ended after we called it off due to lack of time and nearing a stallmate. But Arnis managed to hold down 1 assault mech and a group of infantry while my artillery and the rest of my forces move in for the kill. Too bad Arnis was sacrificed in the process.

On Sunday went to Cheng Beng at the Nirvana near Semenyih. Nothing to talk about since it was a yearly routine.

Almost a month

I had worked almost a month now. Just one more week to mark the first month of working. Tomolo not going to play MW as everyone else has some work to do. Good for me though, get to zzzzzzz for the week ahead. For someone who likes to take naps and sleep long hours working the whole day is very tiring... and my office maintain a 5 day week with normal work hours somemore! (too expensive and not that productive to work on Sat).

Dunno why I want suddenly thinking to buy a land raider sculpt for display when my CBT gladiator is still in pieces inside its plastic blister. Must atleast get that mech walking b4 I decide to get anymore "dust-gatherers". Maybe it is because I pass by Amcorp mall everyday to and from work that I should check out Wolf's place.

Haih, nowawdays also not many ppl online to chat with. Even when they are online, there are away or busy.. must be a busy time for everyone (including me!)

3 Weeks of working

By now I have already worked for 3 weeks. Nothing much is going on yet, as no projects has been assigned to me. Still, the day goes by very slowly when you have nothing to do.

The funny thing is, when you have no work, you will be begging for work. When you DO get work after begging for it, you wish that particular work you wished for was not given to you! Funny how humans behave.

Had a fun weekend playing MW. Managed to beat 2 opponents by my superior force (and also alot of luck, as my friend will explain.. ). A fun game to say the least. Also in every game there will reach a point you and opponent will neither move forward as both of you will know what will happen next. It's like " You go first!!" "no you go first" " your force is superior than mine, you go first:P ".

Weekends here!!

Whoooppee.. the weekend is here. Can sleep a bit later and get mroe sleep than usual. Dunno if there is MW on saturday, hope more ppl will come so that I can slaughter any noobs who dare challenge me :P

Anyway, I was wondering how does ppl play Dawn of War against 2-3 insane computers and still WIN. I know it will take a long time but usually I get slaughtered before the hour is up. How do these guys do it???!??

Of course they dun cheat coz defeating 2-3 insane computers with cheats is very easy.

Working already

That's right, my first day of work was on the 1st of March. The job: Mechanical Consultant Engineer. Office: In the heart of Kuala Lumpur, near the Bank Bumi building. Type of work: M & E Building services consulting such as air-con, firefighting, sanitation, cold water plumbing.

So far oklah the company. Getting there is easy since can tumpang my dad's transport and take the Putra LRT to the Jamek Mosque LRT station. If required drive and park at the Putra LRT station. Then a short walk to the office building and go up to the office by lift. Have not updated this blog much since when I come back from work a little to tired to do anything.