Keep Out!

Pasted on Adam's door last night after a small fight with his sister.

Can't help but laugh about this one with Naza.

Re: finger dance II

My speed test result. Quite miserable, I would say.

:P

 

Wanna know how fast (and accurate) you're typing?

Head on to:

http://www.powertyping.com/#pt

 

Here's the link for the speed test: http://www.powertyping.com/typing_test/typing_test.shtml

Interestingly, there's an alternative keyboard layout other than the normal (QWERTY) ones that we're using. It's called Dvorak. I only knew it now.

Dvorak keyboard layout:

http://www.powertyping.com/dvorak/keyboard.html

 

From http://www.powertyping.com/dvorak/dvorak.html:

Dvorak keyboard

the keyboard designed by August Dvorak in 1936, an efficiency fanatic, a professor of the University of Washington, and a cousin of Antonin Dvorak - the composer.

 

Dvorak arranged letters according to frequency, placed common letters on the home row and made the stronger fingers do most of the work. It significantly reduced fingers movement which is the reason for increased comfort and speed and diminishing RSI syndromes.

 

Rough typing rhythm is supported by placing vowels on the left hand home row and most common consonance on the right hand home row.

--------------------------------

 

More on Dvorak here (Wikipedia).

I for one won't be adding that skills in my arsenal for sure, unless if I'm bored I'd try it for fun.

 

Go to http://www.freetypinggame.net/ for interesting ways to learn typing online.

If you're adventurous enough, google 'online typing tutor game' and explore. For now, I'm lessening my mistakes by practicing (or type very slowly).

 

Sheesh...

 

Interesting note: the alphabets in TYPEWRITER are located on the top row of a QWERTY keyboard.

 

See my previous entry here.

Weekend (and more) Travel - 5th - 8th June 2010

whoa! in my draft box for quite some time already

 

School holiday.

 

Kids were pestering,

"Ayah, cuti ni kita tak pergi jalan-jalan ke Ayah?"

"Ayah, nanti kita pergi rumah Aunty kat KL jumpa Byron tak?"

 

I have registered for a ride in FRIM on Sunday 6th June. It's about time for a visit to Senawang (to see my parents, not the bike shop).

 

Wifey wanted to go to Kluang to sample the coffee at the railway station and Ayer Hitam to 'visit' Claytan factory outlet. Plus, I wanted to have the Ikea meatballs with her.

 

Oh, and Umar needs a high chair - Ikea's Antilop is quite cheap.

 

Okay, then, seems like we have enough reasons here.

 

***

 

Friday 4th June

At midnight I stuffed the car with Umar's pram, my bike and riding paraphernalia, and left ample space for 2 luggages plus more.

 

Saturday 5th June

As usual, we went out an hour (plus more) later than planned. Detoured to Kg. Melayu to get some murtabak for Ayah and Akak/Azeem. Unfortunately, the favourite outlet was closed and the other not so nice outlet already ran out of dough. So we went straight out to the PLUS highway, destination Ayer Hitam.

 

It was a short visit at Claytan, just looking at what they have in store, and for Naza to weigh the options for her dream stoneware stock. Me, I bought a big bowl and 2 serving dishes for Ibu. Ok lah tu.

 

Went to Kluang heading for the railway station to have a taste of their toasted bread with kaya, and of course, coffee. Not our luck, we were there at 1.30pm, their break time. Resolved to revisit on our way back to JB, and we moved on to Senawang.

 

Reached Senawang in the evening, and stayed only for a short while. Amri was also there shortly after we came, and it was quite merry. Wanted to stay longer, but have to move on to the final destination - Kuala Lumpur.

 

Wanted to go to Ikea for dinner, but instead we went to Jalan Gombak to sample Uzbek dishes offered at Le Chateau de Puah, as it was already late. It didn't take long for our food to be served, and they're delicious, all of them. The ambience of the place is nice too. Relaxing. Oh, and they've got this one big orange tabby too. Always a plus to have a cat lazing around at an eating place.

 

Took a turn to Jalan Sentul after leaving Kg. Puah, for a brief visit to my primary and secondary schools to feed Marsya's curiosity. My oh my, the area is now very different from what it used to be. The school itself, it looks like a prison from the outset.

 

The next destination was Akak's place to stay for the night - nearby Jalan Kuching. We headed there via the Sentul Link. Also for me to know how far I walked to school during my day, so I showed the kids my walking route from school to home in a drive tour. It was nearly 2 km one way. If my memory serves me well, it was about 15-20 minutes walk, sweating and chat with my route mates. Reached Akak's place and settled down for a good rest quite close to midnight.

 

Sunday 6th. June

Went out in the morning for my mountain bike ride at FRIM in Kepong. The event ended at about 1pm and I headed to a friend's place in Taman Melewar to say hello and check out his new small bike shop - basically a small area in his house.

 

Back to Akak's place to fetch Naza and kids, and we went to Legend Hotel KL. It was a very short drive, and we checked in our room in a whiff. The room is spacious, and the upholstery is nice. I love the bathroom. Big.

 

After a proper bath and solat, we headed to Ikea for our dinner and 'therapy'. Bought a few household items including Umar's high chair, and that's it. Back to the hotel for a good night's rest. I really need it.

 

Monday 7th. June

I woke up early and got ready for the much awaited breakfast (yay!). Packed up things while waiting for the others to get ready. We went down to the dining area around 9.45 am. 45 minutes for a good whip of buffet breakfast. I have to say that I'm quite impressed with the friendliness of the staff. I had a wonderful breakfast. The dishes are delicious, especially the sambal for their nasi lemak (considering for a hotel, that is. Ibu's sambal is the best, still). Managed to sample everything, including the made to order omelette. Oh, they have tosai booth also.

 

Bottom line, I'll check in into the hotel if I have the opportunity next time.

 

After breakfast, went with Marsya, Adam and Umar to the pool. Well, I'm babysitting Umar on the pooldeck while Naza prepping up our stuff in the room before we check out in the afternoon.

 

We checked out eventually at 1 pm and went to The Mall for a quick stroll. Nothing much to see, but Naza was in a wonderland down in Cold Storage at the basement. Good selection of fine foodstuff there.

 

After that we went to USJ for me to fetch a collection of unwanted old bike mags. Planned to have our lunch in Subang Parade's food court. When we arrived, Umar and the others were sound asleep. So I left them in the basement parking and get the food tapau. It must have been quite some time since my last visit there, and much to my dismay, SP don't have food court (read: cheap food) anymore. Food are available from a comprehensive collection of 'branded' eateries decked out on the ground floor, though. I settled for Chicken Rice Shop, and headed out to USJ 11. While I was in USJ, I went also to Rodalink outlet in Taipan USJ. A good outlet, but not knowledgable staff.

 

After solat Asar, we headed to Senawang, the transit before final destination JB. Ayah called and informed that he prepared soup for the children's dinner. How thoughtful; and made me thinking: would I be like that with my grandkids?

 

Reached Senawang around dinner time, and I was a bit tired by then. That's when I decided to stay for the night, much to Ayah's delight of course.

 

Tuesday, 8th. June

After breakfast we headed out to Kluang. Need to be there before 12 noon if we were to sample the coffee and toasted bun. Not to miss it again this time, so we went out early. Well, ti was around 10.30 am when we left Senawang. It was drizzling when we arrived, and alhamdulillah we got a nice parking spot within the small parking lot at the train station. Unfortunately, many of the items in the menu were already finished, except for the main attraction.

 

The coffee? Worth the visit. The toasted bun with butter and kaya? Reason good enough for a revisit.

 

After Kluang, we went to Ayer Hitam to get Naza's plates. One happy lady she was.

:)

 

Went towards Batu Pahat for our late lunch after that. I read about Bisik-Bisik, and tried to look for it. There it was, on the right side towards Batu Pahat about 12 km out from Ayer Hitam. It was only us and 3 other people patronising the outlet. A very nice place, but the food could be improved (a lot) much better.

 

Finally, that's the last stop of our journey. We went home straight from there and reached home at night.

 

All in all, when I looked back at it, yeah, it does make a difference to go out and travel once in a while.

Leave the $ factor aside, though :)

 

Photos are here.

 

Thanks for your visit.

Have a nice day!

 

DSLR

DSLR = Digital Single Lens Reflex (camera).

 

Senang cerita, kamera yang saiz besar tu lah, dengan lensa bear tu; bukan jenis kompak yang muat nak masuk poket. Mengikut pengamatan, kalau pergi kenduri kahwin sekarang ni dah merata orang gunakannya; bukan sahaja oleh jurufoto profesional yang dok ambik gambar pengantin dengan bersilang kurang-kurang 2 bijik di bahh, bahkan termasuklah awek-awek (selalunya model yang basic aje lah). Macam mudah digunakan pulak.

 

Sekarang ni harga dah mampu milik agaknya, ataupun rakyat dah makin berkemampuan. Alhamdulillah. Harga untuk permulaan dengan kit lens lebih kurang separuh pakej umrah yang basic, ataupun boleh beli mountain bike yang agak hebat spesifikasinya. Ataupun boleh bawak famili pegi bercuti sakan di hotel/resort lima bintang.

 

Bukan tak berminat. Cuma tak boleh nak masuk dalam poket, dan tak senang untuk dibawa semasa berbasikal (boleh tu memang boleh, macam brader ni). Amat sesuai untuk merakam peristiwa penting dan tempat menarik semasa percutian (dan umrah).

 

Tapi tak apalah, buat masa ni aku tak perlukan lagi. Bukan boleh nak ambik gambar sendiri pun. Lagipun it's merely a tool for art. What's important is the composition.

 

Cheh... konon. Sour grapes la tu.

 

 

DVD: An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

I was on duty for MMHE's booth for Iskandar Malaysia Career Expo a few Sundays ago. My first time taking part in such event, and it was quite a good experience. A chance to contribute something for the company, while my riding Sunday being compensated justly (at least for me) in various ways. The expo was held in a spacious exhibition hall sited next to Danga City Mall in Johor Bahru. Not many participating companies; less than 50. Many visitors, though understandably most of them are fresh graduates. Enough to make the booths busy, I would say.

 

 In my day-to-day in the office, I'm sitting most of the time. Standing at the booth for at least half the day, my 9 to 5 duty ended with me feeling a bit exhausted. Not eventful, but not boring either.

 

I took the chance to browse around the mall after the expo wrapped up. Found a charity shop selling second hand items. Also a nice second hand book on level 4. I must have spent more than an hour in there browsing the shelves.

 

Curiously, the books are arranged by the authors' names. Normal? Nope. For they arranged it alphabetically using the authors' first names.

 

Besides books, they also have dolls (Barbie & Ken with accessories), magazines, CDs, DVDs, Coke collection (cans, bottles, other Coke items), and selected second hand collectibles (for those who collects old junks).

 

I found a 2006 original DVD without a price tag in its original packaging sitting lonely on a CD rack. The plastic cover has frayed, though. I took it to the counter, and the shopkeeper inspected before deciding that the price for me to pay is RM5. That's just great, an original 'An Inconvenient Truth' DVD for only a fiver.

 

Only a few days after that I managed to watch it. Quite dramatic, eye opening, and it shows the whole picture of what's Global Warming is all about.

 

Sneak peek of what's inside: melting ice (why, how, where), global temperature arising consistently with CO2 level in the atmosphere, Katrina (how, effect), extreme rain and drought, propaganda, and many more.

 

If you'd like to know what's happening to the earth with Global Warming, and have 95 minutes to spare for watching a presentation by Al Gore, I can lend the DVD to you. I assure you, GW won't be a cliché anymore.

For now, browse here: http://www.climatecrisis.net/
wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth
review: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497116/

 

Oh, I love the credits at the end. They presented tips on how to help with GW. I smiled when 'ride a bicycle' is mentioned.

 

Like I said, the Sunday was compensated in various ways, and this DVD is one of them.

My Name is Red, Pirate Latitudes and Famous Five

I went to MPH City Square JB last Sunday to get Marsya's Famous Five book; to fulfill the promise I gave her for getting good results in her exams. Well, originally it was for the morning school exams, but she compensated for the Sekolah Agama's results instead.

I spent quite some time at the Junior Readers/Series collection shelves looking for the book, before I finally went to the query counter and asked the girl to check if there are FF books available in the store.

Duhh!

The books are currently out of stock, being ordered, and would take some time to arrive in the JB outlet. Asked how long, she returned "about 1-2 months". Well, knowing Marsya, she certainly wouldn't be able to wait that long (and I'll suffer the unending nagging). Instead, I asked the girl to order cases 1 and 2 (2 mystery cases in 1 book) from other MPH stores and have it delivered to JB for me to fetch it later on. It'd take 5 working days, and I guess Marsya would be okay with that. Hopefully.

Okay, so I browsed around, after placing an order for the FF book...

First to the 'buy 3 pay for 2' selection; none caught my fancy. Then to the magazine racks. Flip upon unwrapped cycling magazines, and drool over the latest sexy road bikes and monstrous mountain bikes. RM30+ is a bit too pricey for me. I've got the cheaper local cycling magazines at home, anyway... So...

Aha! My eyes saw Crichton's Pirate Latitudes on the New Arrivals shelf. The paperback edition is finally out. Two versions, actually. One is the international edition, and the other one is (I guess) the normal edition. I chose the slightly thicker 'normal edition', solely for the quality and feel of the paper.

Three things made me buy the fiction:

1. It's a Crichton's novel; and I've been waiting for quite some time for the paperback edition.
2. 20% discount for MRC member, making the price down to less than RM30.
3. Comparatively cheaper than an imported mountain bike magazine

:)

The day before that I went with Naza (and Umar on tow, of course) to Harris (Popular) bookstore in Jusco Tebrau after sending Marsya to Ulu Tiram for her motivation camp thingy.

Was hoping to get her FF book in Harris, actually, but they don't stock them at all. I browsed around and was contemplating for quite some time if I should get that Orhan Pamuk's book My Name is Red. I know a few friends in Goodreads Malaysia who are reading it, and also Uncle has read it. Plus, it's by a Nobel laureate. The novel seems to be good, so I thought why not. It has been quite some time I haven't read a fiction, anyway; other than Crichton's, for that matter. I got myself the paperback edition, of course (read: cheap).

There were long lines at counters in Harris, I managed to finish a chapter (a few pages only, actually). Well, it's quite good. The storytelling is something I haven't experienced in my lifetime. It's different. Okay, I read a bit of Sidney Sheldon, too, besides MC. Orhan's style in MNIR is something new. I continued at home, and am up to my 6th chapter now. I'm enjoying it, albeit only a few pages at a time.

read more:

My Name is Red on Wikipedia

Orhan Pamuk's official website

Enid Blyton's Famous Five

Punctuation and Spelling (plus cats) at theoatmeal.com

I bumped into these pages the other day on theoatmeal.com, a brief stop at Khairul H's blog (a friend from Goodreads Malaysia).

 

I love the comic illustrations and also example sentences.

 

Have fun!

1. 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling
2. How to Use an Apostrophe
3. How to Use a Semicolon

For cat lovers, while you're there, check out these posters too:

1. How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you
2. 17 things worth knowing about your cat

Hehe...

 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good weekend!

Gurgling

I was feeding Umar last night, and he was wriggling his hands and legs while repeatedly throwing his body to the back. This went on for a while, and it was quite hard to feed him.

 

While the food was in his mouth, he discovered something new as he was trying to squeal: gurgling.

 

Umar seemed to enjoy it, for he gurgled and experimented different variations for some time. Hehe...

 

Of course, the messy feeding session was cut short but continued later, by his mother (the best person to do it, it seems...).

:)

16 more bags

Out of 50 of Tesco Finest Earl Grey teabags, I have 16 more to go to.

Have to endure this one, for I don't want to waste it. If you'd like to help me out, I'm glad to share with you some of the 16 bags. Come around my office for a cuppa.

I'm switching to Twinings' next. Much better aroma and taste than Tesco's. If you have Dilmah's Earl Grey, can I buy one teabag from you for a sample?

There are mixed reviews for Tesco's Finest Earl Grey. Compare the two links I'm providing here:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/drinks/tesco-finest-earl-grey-tea/

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews9766.html

Me, I'm not buying Tesco's anymore.

Oh, darn it. I have a few more of Tesco's at home, too. Come around this weekend, we'll have a chat over a cup of Earl Grey. Bring your own biscuits.

:)

Blowing Raspberries

Umar's favourite thing to do nowadays, since last week: blowing raspberries.

He does it very intently, complete with wrinkly forehead.

Fun to watch.

Nasi Ayam

Marsya: Adam, awak dah belikan untuk saya lead 0.5 tu dekat bookshop?

Adam  : tak, saya tak beli...

Marsya: kenapa? kan saya dah bagi duit dekat awak.

Adam  : dah tak ada... saya dah beli nasi ayam...

Tickling Without Hands

It's genuinely uplifting when Umar giggles squeakily when I made funny faces.

Especially because he laughed without me having to tickle his ribs.
:D

My FOUR Birthday Cakes

the 4 yummy birthday cakes, from Naza and kids.
clockwise from 12 o'clock: custard pudding wrapped with sponge layer, earl grey with walnut, walnut choc and blueberry-vanilla.
yes, it's earl grey!

My mailbox was overwhelmed with notifications from Facebook on my virtual wall yesterday. It started on Monday with a birthday wish from Smé (thanks heaps, bro). Until today, the birthday wishes kept coming in. Thank you, everyone.

I didn't really celebrate my birthday, to be honest. It was a normal day as usual. Albeit, I was elated with the birthday messages that I received from friends through Facebook, Google Buzz, Geni and SMS. Hmm... all digital.

At home Naza prepared for a nice celebration with the kids. She went to Jusco Permas Jaya with earlier in the evening. Adam relayed this as soon as I entered the door to bring my bicycle in after the ride from office.

"Ayah, we went to the Body Shop just now, mak was looking for massage oil", he excitedly quipped. I managed to maintain a straight face while smiling inside.

After Maghrib, I set the nice looking cakes on the plate and we ate them together (after I shot the photos). It was simple and nice celebration.

True enough, Naza gave me a nice box from Body Shop. There's a massage oil (no surprise there), a tub of Kistna hair and body wash, and a bottle of Kistna EDT. Marsya gave me a key chain, wrapped, with a small card that she made herself . Adam bought me a cheese loaf which I brought to the office this morning. Umar gave me a sweet smile when he saw me, awoke from his sleep.

Couldn't ask for more. Thank you, y'all. I appreciate it very much.

Now, if you do want to give me a birthday present... hmm...

Cow

Adam : Aunty, you're like a cow.

Aunty: Cow? Why, why do you say I'm like a cow?

Adam : Ya lah... you give Byron milk...

Google Buzz

A nice feature I added into my Gmail this morning.

http://www.google.com/buzz

Much like twitter and facebook's status messages, but with so much more - links, photo thumbnails.

I'm learning the ropes by using it, and to discover its features as I go along.