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Showing posts from September, 2006

Koala

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KoalaBoomerang Originally uploaded by williamnyk . "Criikey! I've got a giant boomerang glued to me balls!", exclaimed the Mr. Koala. That can practically sum up my job at the moment. I have 40+ screens to finish by November, with only 2 other colleagues to help out. I'm screwed. Looks like I'll have to cancel my Raya holiday plans too. Stress... I woke up today, brushed my teeth. Walked to my chest of drawers. Picked up my alarm clock. Saw that the time was 4:00AM. F*ck. Ugh. PS: The koala is a souvenier from Australia my colleague got me. And yes, the boomerang IS glued to his balls.

The Lesser of Two Evils

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loiterspend Originally uploaded by williamnyk . One must compliment the management of Sunway Pyramid for putting up this sign. Since my secondary school days, loitering or more affectionately called gejala lepak has been scourge among the youths in Malaysia. I really admire the management for doing their bit for the betterment our community by trying to deter the act of loitering. Their approach is really novel. Why loiter around the corridors (God forbid making a mess and scaring away honest shoppers) when you can spend good money at our tenants. Who cares if you're a truant form three student with no pocket money to spare. We don't care how you get money, just move your asses into our stores and start generating some sales. There's only barely 11 shopping hours for God's sake! At the end of the day, we're happy. You're happy. The community's happy.

See You in the Water IX, X

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Yellow Card Originally uploaded by regrettheerror . Although I can do one stroke now, I find that each time I get to the pool, I need to struggle a while before I get the hang of things. The skill is kinda stored in my short term memory. Need to warm up before it all comes back to me. I forget how to breathe. I forget how to move. Maybe once a week is far too big a gap, but scheduling some "me" time to swim can be a bitch at times with shitty work schedules and other commitments. Back to my ninth lesson. Another instructor. Again. Michael this time. The face of Learn2Swim . No swimming this time, but water safety. The ominously named Dead Man's Float . All that keeping bouyant by taking in breaths had me dizzy after 30 breaths or so. In addition, I was taught how to "stand" in the water after floating on one's back. Lastly, was shown the right way to move from face-down to face-up position. Drank some refreshing pool water in the process of getting

Brain Essence

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brands Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Exams have always been a focal point in our education system, but I've recently noticed that people are becoming VERY preoccupied with it. Maybe coz parents are way more kiasu these days... Parent A: Wah, your son sooooo clever ah, score 10 A's in his SPM! Parent B: Aiyah, he sooooo stupid. Got one subject he only got a B! Parent C: Aiyoo, cannot talk to you now. Have to send my girl to class. 3pm swimming. 4pm mandarin class. 6pm Smart Reader. Parent D: Aikk, your daugther not 3 years old only meh?! The exam mentality has even invaded marketing and ad campaigns. Pencils these days are sold as OMR-tested and exam grade . Tuition centers are buying air time and giving out tips on radio stations. Chicken essence is being sold as an indispensable exam companion. Aren't we so glad that the kid in poster managed to secure himself such outstanding results by popping chicken essence? It might as well be a poster for Ritalin

Snake Oil

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snakeoil Originally uploaded by williamnyk . The photo is of a literal snake oil salesman who was plying his trade at Taman Cempaka . Normally, what you would you get is products with spurious claims of enhancing virility", "rediscovering the experience of malam pengantin baru ", "recharging one's batteries", "curing aches and pains", "regrowing lost imbs", "getting x-ray vision", etc. OK, I exaggerate, but sometimes it's just that amazing. However, this is not the case for this husband and wife team. They were selling a snake oil beauty cream that is supposedly able to cure your acne in just 4 days! Move over Activa! Once your acne is gone, it will make your skin smooth and supple. Find that hard to believe? Go snuggle the old guy's face. 100% hypoallergenic. Put a dollop in your eye. You won't go blind! La Mer can balik kampung . I was waiting around hoping that he would have some snake-charming show, b

Speed Limit

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Speed Limit Originally uploaded by kegger . Typical rush hour mornings-- After braving the bloody traffic at Old Klang Road , I got onto Federal Highway and subsequently up the Kerinci Link ramp. If you've used the highway before, I'm sure you now that it has a speed detector coupled with an information. It's supposed to tell you how fast you're going and if you're over the limit, it'll add a friendly little reminder for you to slow down. Well, just the other day, one car in front of me clocked a shocking 300 km/j ! If it wasn't a malfunction, I'd swear the guy would have flown off the ramp already. I for one don't think that the electronic board actually deters the motorists from speeding. Perhaps if they tweaked the message a bit: 70 km/j. Your reg # has been recorded. We have your ass.

Incompetence

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All my apps belong to us Originally uploaded by lisamac . Warning: Geek post ahead. It took me 3 days to force an old set of source code into Microsoft's VSS 6.0 and get it running. Another 2 days to unbind a new set of source from its current source control server to another server. The source code must really hate me . Lesson learnt: When unbinding a .NET solution from VSS, you should bloody well delete all the *.scc, *.vssscc, *.vspscc files from the directory structure. If all else fails, manually edit the solution file to remove the "GlobalSection(SourceCodeControl)" portion. For the project files, also throw away the "SAK" lines. There!

Congratulations

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.happy sunday. Originally uploaded by .serena. . Congratulations to SK on the occasion of her graduation on Sunday. Two years of hard work and heartache has culminated in a Master of Science degree. She had received many gifts from well-wishers, but I have to specifically mention two due to their novel value: 1) A Spongebob Squarepants bolster (in Winnie the Pooh colour scheme) 2) A gift basket of chocolates and potato chips Have you received any weird graduation gifts?

Stewed Goodness

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stewrice Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Haven't done food posts in a while. Maybe coz nobody belanja makan . :D Packed dinner at Seri Petaling the other night at the "Big Fried" stall smack dab in front of Magnum 4D. I must say that their stewed rice is fantastic. At $5.00, you get a generous serving of white rice ( duh! ), chicken meat, beancurd, okra, eggplant, lettuce, kacang botor , prawns, cuttlefish, chillies and fried pork lard bits. Can't find that combination elsewhere.

Nether-Nutrition

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Ginseng in Namdaemun Market, Seoul Originally uploaded by Peter Garnhum . The aussieBum Essence is probably the first undergear in the world to combine minerals with fabrics. This particular undergear contains microencapsulated Ginseng or Vitamin C within the fabric, allowing it to get absorbed into your skin for greater comfort and wellness. Everybody needs a little pampering down there and everybody surely deserves a pair of aussieBum Essence. SK raised a very pertinent question regarding the practicality of this product-- laundry. I guess on the product care label they either specify that you not wash it, or just drink the wash water to reduce wastage. The possibilities are endless, err.... maybe they will partner with Pfizer in the future to apply micro-encapsulated Sildenafil. Would you like some pamparing down there?

Mentor

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penari-jaipong-JI2005-0007 Originally uploaded by JI2005 . Mentor may not be as popular as Malaysian Idol, Akademi Fantasia, One in a Million and its ilk, but it offers no less fun times. The host, Ashraf Sinclair is as annoying as Jien. I used to watch a few episodes because my irama Malaysia singer, Nuraniza Idris was one of the mentors. I have gotten many sideways glances and disapproving glares for professing my preference for her. Mortified friends and colleagues express shock that I would choose her over Siti Nurhaliza . But that's the fun. Siti's so "mainstream". For unknown reasons, the general populous dislikes her. One colleague remarked that her performances are over-the-top, with a whole kampung on stage. For this reason and many others, her albums are really hard to find, original or otherwise. I hunted for her album ( Sawo Matang ) all over the Klang Valley, but I finally got hold of it at 1am in a Johor bus stop whilst on the way down to S

Hats Off!

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Hats off ! Originally uploaded by Robert Silverwood . I don't know about other universities, but in UM and UKM, when graduates collect their graduation robe and graduation package, they are given a large paper bag to dump all the stuff into. However, this is not the case at UPM where SK collected her graduation robe the other day. The robe collection went on smoothly, but the graduation package collection was messy due to the fact that university included a whole online survey into the process. Adakan penggunaan ICT dalam proses pembelajaran memuaskan? Adakah anda akan melanjutkan pengajian anda di UPM? Graduates were required to fill in an online form and print out a verification slip as proof of form completion before collecting the graduation package. Some did not fill in the survey. Some did not print out the verification slip. And for those that actually printed it out, they still wanted to manually verify it. You can imagine the chaos. But I digress. Back to the whol

See you in the Water V, VI, VII, VIII

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Pepper takes a dip Originally uploaded by tschopper . For everyone's reading pleasure, I have condensed 4 posts into 1. This is to spare you the details of my excruciatingly slow progress in the last 4 lessons. But I'm glad to report I have finally reached a milestone! 8 lessons, 5 instructors and 1 physics lesson later, my "kermit stroke" has been declared decent. I just recently managed to do it with one kick and one pull and for a decent distance. One more lesson in turning and I'll be able to ditch my green card for a yellow one. No significance to me ( no, yellow does not go better with my trunks ), but the instructors make it seem like a big deal. With just 4 more lessons to go, I hope to at least be learn another stroke. The gains from my aquatic activities aren't very significant ( where's my toned, swimmer bod?! ), but I do see minor improvements to my lung capacity and stamina. I'm not as tired after my swim anymore, but I have a nag

Comments

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match 2 Originally uploaded by PocketAces Certified . So far, I have gotten mixed remarks regarding my new hair colour. It's no Ernst & Young white paper, but here are the results in a no less attractive format: POSITIVE: 1) Close friends seem cool with it. 2) My R&D Manager found it refreshing and he said it made me look more alert . 3) One colleague remarked that with my tanned face (thanks to the swimming), I now look like a beach boy. NEGATIVE: 1) My project manager compared me to "Che-Sun" aka Golden-Haired Lion King from Louis Cha's famous novel. 2) One colleague started a dare that she would dye her hair white, if someone else would do a green. I was tempted to start a fund just to see it through. 3) One colleague remarked that with my tanned face (thanks to the swimming), I now look burnt . I'm not pissed with the comments or whatever, as Mel said, some people just don't know how to give a complimenent or just lack the tact to shut u

Gnome Around the World II

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GnomeInCorinth Originally uploaded by williamnyk . In conjuction with the 1000+ hit on my blog: Gnome is back! Never staying at one place for too long, Gnome split from Barcelona and is now in Greece . An ancient place that brought us the Olympics, democracy and uh....... "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (?). Today's photo is of ancient Corinth, the facade of the lower fountain of the Agora . The significance of the place is unknown to me. If you're curious enough, Google it. PS: My hit count reachad 1k thanks to a visitor from KL who actually visited most of my past entries. Thanks!

Perv?

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Urinal Fun in Thailand Originally uploaded by sloganmaker . Maybe I was imagining things, but I think I was given an indecent proposal at the Plaza OUG toilet the other day. I walked in and headed towards the urinals. Nobody else was around, except for an Indian guy in his 30s doing his business at the urinals. He was looking to his side. I didn't find it unusual as it was the general direction of the entrace and the sinks. While I was peeing one urinal away, I heard him say something: Ah chai, ......(unclear).... 2 ringgit? Ah chai... At first I thought he was asking for the time, but that's just weird. I distinctly remember hearing 2 ringgit . I decided not to acknowledge the guy. Just finished up, washed my hands and walked out like I didn't hear a thing. Gross. If you read the papers, sexual predators normally try to purchase their underaged victims' silence with sums like $1. Come on, kids aren't so dumb. PS: What do you think? Was he asking for mone

Do Not Ignore

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readdig Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Ever since I've moved from OUG to Bukit Jalil and having changed my mailing address, I thought I had managed to escape the scourge of the Reader's Digest 600,000 Super Contest . After 2 years of bliss, I knew it was over when I received a letter in the mail marked Exress Day Timed Delivery and Time-sensitive Documents Enclosed . The evil people at Reader's Digest have finally ganged up with Citibank. Arggghh! Citibank sold me out. I really hate that contest. All those fake "important" documents, faux cheques, obnoxioussignatures and plastic car keys. Return within 7 days! Eligible for One Hundred and Ten Thousand Ringgit Urgent! This key could help you open the doors to a brand-new car! Just to get me to subscribe to the expensive publication. I'd rather subscribe to National Geographic. Screw Dennis Tam, Finance Director, Prize Payment Centre, Contest Committee, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Taste in Men

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Treepapa Originally uploaded by doc18 . Watched the Siti and Datuk K's Majlis Persandingan some time ago (and I better blog this before they become yesterday's news), and boy, it was a boring affair. Her pearl-studded gown from Khoon Hoi was a yawn and the performances put my mother to sleep. However, certain parts were entertaining. Firstly is the performance from one Datuk M. Daud Kilau (not Datuk Mat Kilau as I was corrected by IkanBilis). This veteran singer really moves with the grace of a woman. He looked stunning with his butterfly brooch. Secondly is the quip from Indonesian diva Hetty Koes Endang : We have the same taste in men........ (long pause) ......... We like men with moustaches. The whole thing ended with the cake cutting ceremony. The golden couple sliced the $12k multi-layered cake with a sabre! While her parents got to slice a $50 (by my estimates) yellow glutinous rice cake the size of birthday cake. Talk about contrasts. It's the thought that counts,

Backward Compatible, not Forward!

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menkl Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Warning: Irate geek ramblings ahead. Once again, stupidity has reared its ugly head at one of my client sites. They went ahead and installed a service pack on the production server without first conducting a thorough test and consulting us. I didn't even know that fact before I got there. The whole day, both of my ears were stuck to a phone supporting and getting pressure from the managers. All my efforts for remote support failed, so I was "convinced" to get my ass down to the site to oversee a restart of the whole system. It was Merdeka eve and it rained during the rush hour, so the trip there was REALLY enjoyable. I made a few wrong turns and it didn't help my current mood. By 10pm, we decided on an interim solution to divert the server traffic. Up till now, my technical manager and I are still looking for a permanent solution. Lesson learned: An internal HTTPRequest with SSL within a Windows 2003 Server will no

Addicted

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new hair...4! Originally uploaded by fussy tassy . I'm actually blogging from Snips, OUG . I definitely have a problem. Finally recoloured my hair again. Regained my beng -ish looks with copper brown and highlights of orange. I'll get a mouthful at the office tomorrow. My stylist was very discreet in asking why I missed my last appointment and I answered very coyly too: Yeah, I skipped a haircut. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Curry

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currywurst Originally uploaded by spanier . A private post. If it doesn't make sense to you. Don't worry, you're not high. You're not losing your mind. Mel whipped up another batch of her special Bhai Curry on Merdeka eve. Just bring the chapati , we'll start a party. You go girl!