This will be my first ever trip outside the UK since I got here. And I think it will be my first trip ever to an European country other than the UK.

Looking forward to it.

Fight Club
Originally uploaded by Kevin Steele.

I have a dog but unfortunately this dog has had some bad childhood memories and hasn’t survived therapy – it is afraid of cats. But I think it has something to do with a dominant male cat vs. a small female dog.

I’m just not too happy that the cats are having a standoff vying for territorial rights in MY house. Dogs don’t do such things. That’s why I hate cats.

So tonight, the cats decide to take it INSIDE my house. In fact, right outside my bedroom door. I was looking for a sub-machine gun or a baseball bat, but the only thing I could get my hands on was a half-empty bottle of water. I was too tired to throw the thing, and they ran off before I could do anything.

I spent the next few minutes back in bed plotting my next attack… how to throw the bottle, how to trap a cat…

I don’t know how they got in the house in the first place. Sigh.

I remember when I first got a volcano red Sony Ericsson T610. It was a used Midlands unit, which I got for RM800 and came with a Krussel case worth RM50 which I never used. It served me well over 2 years, but by now the rocker was starting to give way and the camera wasn’t worth anything by camphone standards today.

It still looked gorgeous, though. Matched the color of my car.

I had to give it up, though. Well, okay… “had to” is a subjective term. I gave it up for a W810i. Today. Same candy bar format. Same phone manufacturer. Same look and feel. But it’s super-powered.

Compared to my T610, it can…
- play mp3s up the wazoo
- shoot photos that will take up 3 times your PC screen
- animate every single cursor movement
- do the laundry and cook my meals

Apparently, it will make phone calls too. But my T610 could already do that.

So, yay for Moore’s Law. I paid a little over RM1k for this tiny thing, and I’m going to use it as a camera, a walkman AND a phone. Which is what I bought it for in the first place.

Yummy yum.

The apartment is still stuck in limbo. Oh well, I’m attempting to revive blogging from Flickr to avoid the death of my inspirational juices.

Notice the clean lines, space and separation of living areas (work, couch, sleep), and generous use of modernist lighting on all functional reas (work area, couch, and bedside lamps). Flooring is very breathable. So is the window and balcony window, to create illusion of space in an otherwise cramped area.

Very scandinavian.

This stupid excuse for a burger is a complete rip off! The fillet is only slightly larger than a Chicken McNugget, and you can eat it in one big bite.

It costs RM6.95, when you buy the O.R. Fillet Burger regular meal, which comes with another stupid excuse for a potato wedges “tray” spewed with cheap liquid cheese.

In fact, ALL of KFC’s meals are complete rip offs. The KL Sentral branch does not even have a ala carte menu on their display boards, in order to push you away from doing mental calculation with their prices.

With the same price at RM6.95, you can get a decent double cheeseburger meal at McDs.

Look at the picture. You can see my fingers there. I’ve even tossed in a few 1 sen coins for measure. This thing is not a joke. If it wasn’t for my friends who went there for snacks, I would not have stepped in.

“You need to know what to order”, a friend advised me.

ARGH!

rant money

I was going to post something in response to some idiotic delay about my apartment (again), and I was looking around for some photos on Flickr, but I couldn’t come up with any…. so I typed the word “argh” in the search field and eureka!

Argh! The Funniest Thing You Have Seen On Flickr

Lately, I’ve been earning some spare cash doing simple graphic design projects for some businesses. Stuff like posters, brochures and catalogs. I find that it pays a lot more than my software development projects, which have tricky support issues and the local market is not as open to pay for freelance development.

I’ve picked up useful InDesign and Illustrator skills along the way, and as I used to enjoy drawing in my youth, this acts as an avenue for me to continue sharpening my creative side.

So, why don’t I quit my day job and be a freelance graphic designer?

Well, I guess I’m not a full-fledged graphic designer. I probably won’t be able to take on complex and large design projects. But the short term and simple ones do fine for me.

Meanwhile, I’m still on the lookout for someone in need of some good programming skills for short term.

work money

• the Oil Palm Trees of Death
• the giant “Coming Soon” sign across the road from the Street Mall
• the overpriced menu at the Penang House restaurant
• the forever unfinished super-highway in Dengkil that leads to nowhere
• Dengkil roads
• bad finger food at Hops and Grapes
• MMU lecturers and tutors
• 2 tollbooths to get there
• Puchong

I will miss………

• Dengkil Bah Kut Teh
• Dengkil Chinese restaurants
• Traffic ease
• “Greenery”
• Carpooling with Huat Heng

To it, I bid adieu… as I am now becoming more acquainted to 15 minute LRT transits, more magazine consumption and music on my ipod. I’d also like to think that my walk from the station to the office burns more calories than I would eat during lunch, hence reducing my need for exercise. Either way, the journey from home to the office and back is always splendid. Much better than I had expected, and I expected to gain a lot from the move.

klangvalley, cyberjaya

Firstly, it doesn’t promote itself as flaringly candied nor rich. It has a dull and unimaginative color, occasionally peppered with loose economy-grade tea leaves. And at a price point of 30 sen, there’s nothing that can quite match it.

It’s creeping up to 50 sen in some parts of the city now, though.

Nevertheless, I am constantly satisfied when I gulp it, sip it, or look at it. A mouthful is enough to quench thirst. A sip has enough zing as teas go. And somehow you are toying with the thought that you actually got away with that at a bargain, while the other guys around the table are paying for some overpriced fizzy pop or the more popular sugar-loaded iced cafe stuff for 3 or 4 times more.

And even if you won’t like the taste, somehow you’ll find ways to like it. It’s kind of like that odd leaf water thing they serve up at Korean or Jap restaurants on free flow. You don’t find it very punchy but you keep drinking it because you know it’ll keep coming, and it doesn’t overpower the meal like some drinks do.

If only they served that in mamak shops.

musings, life

article: link

KOTA KINABALU: Finally, firm action is being taken to protect the rich, yet fragile, marine eco-system of the diving haven of Pulau Sipadan.

The contract for the controversial RM4.5mil clubhouse project on Sipadan has been terminated with immediate effect, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said after a state Cabinet meeting yesterday.

He also ordered a management revamp of Sabah Parks, the state government agency that oversees all gazetted parks and islands, including Sipadan and Mount Kinabalu.

news, musings