Weilian's Blog

The test showed that my heart was Ok but it was stressful. The doctor was surprised when I told him that I usually sleep at 1.30 am and wake up at 5.30 am. My heart is not having enough rest.

The doctor advised me to sleep at 10.30 pm every night. I shouldn't drink too much coffee or tea. I should drink milk (which I don't like to drink) or beverage like Milo and Horlick.

I am happy that my heart is OK. But I cannot deny that age is gaining on me. I need to take care of myself. I need to cut down 3 hours of surfing time every night... 8-(

I think there should not be an end for the Green Goblin and The Venom. They are Spider-man's classic enemies. (After the show, I feel I like The Venom better).

It was a duel between Henley and Orange. Finally Henley won it. But I personally think Orange sang better. She should win. What a pity... one's talent is determined by the number of SMSes received and not by a panel of judges.

1.
I went to Jabatan Haiwan, Jalan Haji Manan. I remember last time when I last had a dog, I went there to get a licence. They gave me a copper badge after I paid RM25.00. Time has changed. They do not produce dog licence anymore. They directed me to Majlis Perbandaran Kluang.

2.
I went to Majlis Perbandaran. I paid RM1 for a form. They told me that I need to produce a copy of my identity card, a copy of Cukai Harta, a certified health certificate of the puppy and two 4R sized photos of the puppy.

3.
I went to the photo studio to have my puppy's photos developed.

4.
I went to the vet to get my puppy examined. Then I got a certified health certificate for it.

5.
I went to the photocopy shop to have all the documents photostated.

6.
I went to Majlis Perbandaran again to submit the form, the photos and all the necessary documents. I paid RM10 for the procedures. Now I have to wait for another 3 months for them to get the licence ready.

Wow, it is not easy to get a licence to keep a puppy. I think they purposely make it difficult to discourage people keep dogs. I am wondering why we do not need licence to keep cats. Cats don't bite? Cats don't shit? Think again.

Looks like a good begining for this year. Hopefully this year my fortune will come rolling in (cai yuan gun gun lai)

Prolink WGR1004 wireless router

Aztech DSL600EU ADSL modem

The wireless router and the modem were not "shaking hands". There must be some settings in either the router, the modem, or both, to make them shake hands. I tried to configure both of them but in vain. I tried to ask many friends but most of them were busy because of the Chinese New Year. I tried to send to PC shops but all were closed for CNY holidays.

5 days passed. At last I found a shop which was opened for business after the CNY break. It was Creative Comp in Taman Idaman. Its Technical Manager Mr Hairuddin was really kind to attend to me immediately. He took a little while to successfully set up the connection (he is really technically capable).

Now I am running wireless and sharing connection with everyone at home. No more waiting and no more tapping inside the cramped room. It's great!

Is that reflecting a bad economy situation? Or has everyone gone to the newly opened Kluang Parade? Or do they really need to wait for the last minute rush?

Unbelievable.

By looking at the photo, one might think that I was in Bangladesh. No, I was here in Kluang. I happened to drive pass this area. There was a coarse vacant land and was turned into a football pitch by the foreign workers.

I heard when all the town people balik kampong for festive seasons, the major towns in Malaysia change into mini Indonesia, mini Bangladesh, mini Vietman and mini Myanmar. Hmm…

It was 2pm. As I entered the shop I saw a few young men in the shop and nobody cared to ask if they could help me. Finally I went to a man and asked if they were using Fujifilm Crystal Archive paper. To my surprised, he said he didn’t know what type of paper was used and there was no way to find out as the boss was not in. I asked him to flip over a printed photo and read the wordings. Yes Fujifilm Crystal Archive indeed.

I wanted my photos to be printed on 8R size on that specified paper. The man told me I could take the prints at 9.30pm (more than 7 hours!).

At 9.30pm, I went to the shop again to collect my prints. The boss was there but he ignored me, maybe he thought I had no money based on my attire (t-shirt, short pants and slippers). Then I was told my prints were not ready yet. I got furious and demanded to cancel my prints. At last the boss stood up and told me to wait a little longer while he checked on it. After 15 minutes, they gave me my prints.

To my horror, they cropped my photos and spoiled the balance of the subject! They set the white balance way off. The natural green became yellowish green! And they printed the date on the photos! All the prints were not usable for a photography contest. I demanded an explanation from the boss. He offered to reprint my photos as a compensation. I said no.

That would be the last time I went to M2 Digital Photo Studio. I swear I will never step my foot into that premise anymore, even if all the photo shops in Kluang go bankrupt.

But sadly to say, Malaysia football quality has dropped drastically in the 80's and 90's. I have completely lose interest of Malaysia football (look at South Korea and Japan. There are already in the World Cup. Where is Malaysia?)

Yesterday while I was waiting for some downloads to be completed, I made myself a cup of coffee and switched on the TV. There was a delayed telecast of the semi final Asian Football match between Malaysia and Singapore. And I watched how the Malaysia team played.

I was asking myself, "Is this the Malaysia national team?" They were playing like school children. I even thought it was a MSSM match.

They played aimlessly. They had no strategies. They had no planning. They couldn't send the ball accurately to teammates. They couldn't dribble. They couldn't do anything, except "just kick the ball" and spitting out saliva.

Way to go, Malaysia, way to go.

Upon recovery in late December, it became apparent that the comet was brightening rapidly. It became visible to the naked eye in early January 2007. It was visible in the northern hemisphere until about 13 January 2007 (source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...).

Too bad, I missed the golden opportunity to view this magnificent celestial sight.

According to Chinese mythology, The Dragon King is the God of Rain. In ancient times, people offered sacrifices to the Dragon King, praying for timely rainfall and good harvests. Besides ruling over the aquatic life, the Dragon King also manipulates clouds and rain. When enraged, he can flood cities.

The capture of the white dragon had enraged the Dragon King. It commanded heavy rainfall and big floods. Couldn't cease his anger with the first flood, he commanded a second wave and almost wiped out the whole Kota Tinggi.

I think these helicopters are used to transport VIPs to the flood relief centres.

"New hardware found"
"Installing hardware"
"Your hardware is installed successfully. Do you want to reboot your computer?"

At first I was wondering why do I need to reboot my computer. When I checked the pendrive, I saw these (hidden) files in it

F:\ms.config
F:\rm
F:\AUTORUN.INF
F:\infrom.exe

Updated antivirus should be able to detect and clean all those files. Too bad my computers in the lab are not connected to the Internet and they do not have the updated antivirus database. All the computers are infected.

This virus is said to spread itself thru pendrive. If you plug in your digital camera into the USB port of an infected computer, I am sure the virus will copy itself into the digital camera. If only the media card is infected, then we can easily format the media card. But if the virus alters the system of the digital camera, then it would be a havoc.

Be careful of the pendrives.

"This is only an enact photo"

It was as big as the size of a football, light green in colour but gradually turned into red before it finally disappeared in the sky. It was surely not an aircraft nor an UAV. Until today there is no news on the media about this incident.

Could it be the effect of such a big meteor that caused the change of weather in Johor, especially in Kota Tinggi? It was a catastrophe that Kota Tinggi was hit by massive floods for two times in less than a week.

Although now the rain had stopped, many roads are still impassable. Many residents of Kota Tinggi are stuck with no fuel, no fresh food, no vegetables, no fresh water and no medicine. Let's pray for the nightmare to end soon.

"The water is rising after a few days of non-stop raining."

Today I tried to send my daughter to school. All the roads to Kluang town and to STK were flooded. Jalan Mersing, Jalan Besar, Jalan Sek Chong Hwa, Jalan Kg Melayu, Jalan Hj Manan were all flooded. The traffic came to a halt. I had no choice but to turn back. On the way back, I received a call from my colleague telling me the Education Office had declared that all activities in schools were canceled because of the flood.

I then went to the provision shop to stock up dried food in case of emergency. I bought lots of biscuits and bread. The shopkeeper told me that many people had come to buy loaves of bread. The delivery lorries still can reach the non-flood areas. In case the water keep on rising and all the roads are blocked, then we will run out of supply.

"The water had risen above the dangerous level"

Today I saw the Agusta helicopter flying around, maybe to survey the condition of the floods. I tried to snap a few photos of the helicopter but it flew away when I got my camera ready ;-)

I bought 4 pieces of Eneloop and use it on my Canon S3. I made a record to check how many shots I could make with my Canon. I snapped around 220 shots. With Energizer 2500mAh Ni-MH, I could snap only around 160 shots, although some reviews said it can snap up to 300 photos with regular alkaline batteries. But I must say my numbers were not really accurate because sometimes I previewed my photos more on the LCD, sometimes I locked on the target longer, sometimes played with the zoom more ... etc. But overall, Eneloop performed better that Energizer. I was surprised that none of the camera shops in Kuala Lumpur that I went know anything about Eneloop. Some gave me cynical smiles when I told them the benefit of Eneloop.

So I went to Low Yat Plaza. Indeed the price was cheaper. I saw some selling at RM1699, RM1660, RM1620 and RM1600. It was even cheaper at Bukit Bintang Plaza, a few steps away from Low Yat Plaza. The cheapest I got was RM1540 (USD438). There were many shops in Bukit Bintang Plaza. I took the S3 and tried its 12X zoom to the salesgirls opposite the corridor. Fantastic... So I took the camera home.

The normal price of this S6500fd was RM1800 (USD512) but it was selling at RM1588 (USD452) during the sale. I did not get the camera though. Here were the factors :

I tried its 10X zoom... hmm... not very impressive. (Fujifilm should made their sales outdoor where there were lots of things to zoom at)

The LCD was too bright, as if it was washed out (or maybe too many fingerprints on it).

The lens is too long. I was worrying how to carry it wherever I go with its lens protruding out.

I told the salesman I was concerned about S6500fd which does not have an image stabiliser. The salesman argued back accusing it was my lousy way of holding the camera. He started to clown on the lousy ways of holding a camera (I don't like people clowning in front of me).

The credit officer should smile. No smile, no deal. That's it.

So in the end, I left Menara Axis empty handed.

A few days later, I went to Fotocharlie, The Summit Batu Pahat at 5.45pm to buy that camera. I was standing there for more than half an hour and nobody attended me. The male representatives were busy teasing the female representatives. The female representatives were giggling away. At last I asked one of the man about Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7. He then called out for a girl. The girl (wearing yellow Fotocharlie t-shirt) knew nothing about camera. She said there was no such model as Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 (she couldn't even pronounce "FZ7"). When I insisted, she said she never came across such model of all the "years" she worked there.

Then I asked her to call the headquarter. She called and replied that the HQ confirmed Panasonic has no such model.

I called the HQ myself and another girl picked up the phone. She was giggling away. I asked for the manager, she said the manager was on leave. She ganged up with the salesgirl to make fun of me.

I got frustrated by the unprofessional ethic of Fotocharlie. I hope Fotocharlie will properly train its staff in order not to trash its reputation as an established company.

I canceled my plan to have any deal with Fotocharlie. I am going to Kuala Lumpur to get the camera.