Happy Winter Solstice & Merry Christmas

I know it's quite late to say the "Tong Yuan" season but it's never too late to wish here.

I got this shot on my own during making tong yuan with my uni buddies. If you want to see what did we do, click here on my Facebook album. I'm quite lazy to upload them into Flickr as I'm pumping a lot of photo into it. So, it's essentially for my blog entry only.

Not forgetting the upcoming event on this Saturday...

It seems that next week is the starting of another semester break. For your information, I'm not having any of it because my final year project is still active. Better version, I'm getting busy to finish off my experiments and start writing thesis.

Yesterday, after the Tong Yuan event, I cycled around my housing area and found out most of Kamparians (particularly UTAR students) has gone back to their hometown. Neither Christian nor non-Christian, they take the event as a holiday as what I've said, semester break. So, early of yesterday I got a call from my mum asking me that I want to go home for the Tong Yuan celebration or not. Because currently, I've some experiments ongoing, I can't leave yet. Kinda sad that I have to absent myself for the event.

And last Tuesday, it was my mother's birthday. At least, I've celebrated her big day earlier. Anyhow, yesterday my mood was going down and I felt homesick. I was thinking how am I gonna balance myself later on if I work outside of my hometown. I will be devastated with such feelings. It is bad. Very bad ones. I can go mad for a week if I kept myself in that state.

Sigh. Eventually, I still can hold my stress and keep strong to face the coming days.

By the way, there's something new here.

I think not all Malaysians like to use this social networking called Myspace. So, tadaa! I got mine so look out at it from here or clicking the link on the top bar of this blog. It's kinda different than Facebook but I will try out the site.

It will be simple.

Why I make myself a Myspace account?

Two reasons. One, I'm going to remove my Friendster account once when I save out all my stuffs from there. Two, my "brilliant" Malaysia government proposed to banned Facebook from Malaysia because they scared Malaysians condemned the government with so-called racist and threatening post. Shit on the person who propose such idiotic idea. They are worse than people who are thinking in the box. I think they are not using their brains at all.

So, you can banned it anytime but I will confirm that I will start condemning the government in whatever internet post out that I can find. Blog, twitter, myspace and whatever. I'm serious so don't provoke me making such moves. You don't want create another Namewee version people. So, back off.

*I sounds like shouting at you because I use the word "you". I'm referring to the Malaysia government, not you my dear, lovely readers. Muacks :)

A bientot!

Ahoy Penang! (Day 1)

Ahoy there. Yeah. It has been a long time since I post here. You can blame me being lazy actually but I have a research to do. You know, thesis writing, journal reviews and not forgetting about my research sessions. Now, I just have some relaxing time to blog something here. So, this is a long time story but it's still good to be blog about my trip.

Read more...

Selamat Hari Raya

Daun dianyam makin tersimpul,

Gulai di dapur terlebih santan,

Sanak saudara riuk berkumpul,

Sambut lebaran penuh kesyukuran.

Ibu riuh ke hulu dan hilir,

Sedia juadah pelengkap hidangan,

Pagi Syawal bergema takbir.

Tanda Kemenangan puasa sebulan.

---

First, I would like to wish all my Islam friends and seniors Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. It's been a while that I had a feast for it because all my Malay friends are not around in Ipoh or I'm having exam during the season. No matter how, I enjoy having multiracial friends because I learnt their cultures and found them exquisite and authentically interesting.

Recently, there are few issues about racism here and there in Malaysia but they don't torn my faith having friends from different cultures and ethnics in past, present and future as well. With that, I believe as we hold our hands and unite each other to bring Malaysia to other countries to show that our country is strong, bold and remain its tradition.

As there's a saying in Malay:-

"Bersatu teguh, bercerai roboh"

which means that once we are united, we are strong but when we are seperate far from each another, we will fall. So, no matter how, we must keep away negative thought in order to gain our beliefs and unity for present and future.

I sound patriotic now so just back to the real story. For those who are celebrating Hari Raya, I wish you had a good time with your family members around and cherish the moments. For those who are not, go to your Malay's friends house and get into the festival.

Maaf Zahir & Batin.

A bientot!

P.S. : You might see me abandoning the blog but I'm not. So, I hope you stay tuned because I'm quite busy in the moment dealing with my Final Year Projects. I try to make it as successful as possible because I want to get good outcome for my polymer research. Wish me luck and look forward on my blog posts after my final exams. :)

Please Don't Hit Me

Because, "I Love U"

Friends?

Disclaimer: I'm gonna post something you might don't like or disagree. Any how, it's my voice that I have buried for long time whenever I met new bunch of friends. If you are offended, please discontinue reading and leave.

You have been warned.

Read more...

An UTARian's Faith

Faith: Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.

Everyone has faith in themselves but it just the matter it is strong or weak. Yesterday, my friend showed me a video clip talking about UTAR and I'm not sure whether he has the faith on UTAR. Check this video...

Somehow, I find myself in the middle of the problem. Agree and at the same time, not agree on what he had said.

Okay. This is going to be long comment about his video. First, actually I hate to have early morning classes at 8 a.m.. I don't know how the management arrange our timetable until even the lecturers complained about it.
So, this guys takes a ride with UTAR bus everyday and he need to be early birds to catch up a sit in the bus. From what I can see, Westlake area has more than 2 waiting points for us to get the bus. Hence, I advice him that be at the first point where the bus arrived at the first place before getting on the second or third point. In short, wake up early and plan your time properly. If you have troubles to wake up early, the best alternatives are hitching friends' cars or cycle to UTAR. It's not a bad idea to have some exercise everyday by cycling but I know that cycling from Westlake to UTAR campus is quite tiring due to the ascending roads.

I'm not condemned this poor guy here as I've mentioned, some of the things he said are true. Actually, what I can see is the bus schedule is not properly arranged and the rounds are not enough. At my area (Taman Kampar Perdana, nearby Tesco), there are only three rounds of UTAR bus. Luckily, our housing area is nearer to the campus and cycling is not a problem.

As a conclusion, in the transportation part, both scored evenly.
For those who had transportation to UTAR, I think the parking space is inadequate. So, it's troublesome even for those who successfully got their places on sticker balloting. Sometimes, if you park your car at wrong place, you might meet some good security guard to allow you to do so. If you meet a bad, angry and keep-blowing-whistle guard, better leave before he/she bites you with sarcastic words.
What I can advice is get a few friends to pay on behalf of your hefty RM 100 sticker and pay a little sum of money for the petrol to UTAR. By using this method, you can minimize the amount of car, motorbikes and even bicycle in the campus area. Plus, you are saving the environment in Kampar by reducing the emission from cars. So, for just a sedan car it can fit maximum four person. You guys just need to plan your time properly to adjust the transportation schedule in right way.

So, same even score for UTAR and students. 1/1.
Now, let's talk about the UTAR facilities. About the sport complex, I think the plan is not a problem because most of the users utilize the complex after 5 pm instead of morning and afternoon session. Who wants to have sports in the slot between lecture and tutorial classes? Even if you really want to spend some time, please go to the gym instead kicking and slamming some balls under hot sun.
About the cafeteria, I've mentioned in my past blog that we have four cafeterias located at Block C, between Block D and E, Block G (Library) and Block H. So, since you can't have your meal at Block C, why don't you go to other blocks or just pack up and have meal in empty lecture classes instead of squatting on the side of the cafeteria?
In the end of the video, he said we must have faith on UTAR improvements. I agree on that because it's impossible that UTAR make the leaps in one year since Kampar campus is considered as new. So, in the mean time, enjoy the university life to the fullest. Find alternative ways to solve problems rather than complains.

Even we complain, most likely UTAR has reasons to reject or ignore us. So how?

Change your adaptation to UTAR instead the other way round :)

A bientot!

Coffee anyone?

Over half the adults in the United States drink coffee on a daily basis, and the percentage has been on the increase for many years. Canadians enjoy their fair share as well.

I'm a coffeeholic as for the record. I enjoy coffee. Espresso, latte, cappucino or just regular ones. Mocha? I'm not fond with it because I dislike chocolate. I mean the super concentrated chocolate because it will overcome the taste of a food or beverage. Those are crazy chocolates!

But not as crazy as her...

I just browse something and the net came out something like this.
Now you know how Starbucks and Coffee Bean make their beverages. Time to make them ourselves (for the sake of our wallet)!
I love latte and espresso. Latte is kind of coffee you can taste with lots and lots of milk. I think it deals with creams. Plus, there's lot of art you can make on it too!
The typical one. Fern.
For those who greet their lovers in the morning...Animal lovers...
Science fiction geeks...
I guess this one is for your kids and children...
Reminding you about your dog (it's waiting you to feed him/her)
This one reflects the coffee maker. Lazy people.

Okay. Let me ask you, why drink coffee? I guess most of them take coffee when they are busy and sleepy. As we know, coffee is famous of their main compound: Caffeine.
This is caffeine with 4 nitrogen, 2 oxygen and 3 methyl groups. Don't get it? Let's scroll down...

Caffeine is one of the analgesic drug which can induce people from sleeping. As for me, I have it whenever I'm going to study late night. So...
My eyes will stay open...
I will be excited as my adrenaline pumps (without going to exercise)...
Don't follow this guy as he's having coffee via IV drip.

Actually, having to much caffeine (coffee) is not a good idea.

So many side effects!

But...

According to Maya Karin, coffee contains anti-oxidants which will fight against cancer. Not forgetting as she says, "More reasons to have a cup of Nescafe."

So, you know what you can say about the goodness of having coffee once other people ask you not to drink coffee. :)

A bientot!

Nokia E71

Finally, I can change my old phone to a new one! Last time, before Blackberry (BB) was being introduced into Malaysia tech market, I was enthusiastic to hand on iPhone 3G. Nice touch functions, brilliant apps and the sort of features that a tech geek wants.

When I had a touch on an iPhone (belongs to my friend), I found that the touch feature is kind of not responsive. I try to flick fast fast and suddenly, the phone hanged. Then, the startup was like waiting long enough as the Apple logo loads like forever. So, in conclusion the deviant feature that attract buyers is only the touch feature.

So, my interest goes to BB, the ones with a mini-sized keyboard.
My friends told me something. "OMG. You like such phones? The keys are damn small and your fingers are big. How to get use to it?"

So, three local telcos in my country offers BBs and each of them are postpaid plan. So kinda tough decision for me to change from prepaid to postpaid since I'm not a frequent phone user.

Therefore, I eyed on Nokia Eseries which suits for me in the aspect of productivity and connectivity. So, there are a few choices like E63, E71, E72 and E75. I prefer blocktype of phone so E75 is not a choice for me. In the end, I chose E71 and wait for the price drop below RM 1000.

At last, two years of waiting came.

I want a silver type and black keyboard. No stock. I need to get the Black edition. The seller said it's the latest design from Nokia which is Black Theme.

The design that I want actually is the same as the displayed on the box.

See? Totally metallic black.

Once I hold the phone, I feel the sturdiness of its metal casing. Stainless steel body to be exact. The lanyard is a quite nice but I hate when it's not straight. See the curve?

So, my answer to the keyboard is "No problem!" The keys are like little bumps so my fingers can feel each buttons. It's not a flat button. Plus, when I input something wrong, the predictive feature correct my words.

About the screen, the resolution was nice and the interface is user-friendly. I can access to apps that I want and look for my to-do list right on the homescreen.

I found that I need to get used to it by using my two thumbs to press buttons to type. It takes me for a week or two to type faster. Now, I copy additional lecture notes directly with my phone without jotting letters by letters on the paper.

My friend was laughed at me just now when I copied notes. Anyway, I'm much faster than him. XD

I love the hidden camera of the front screen for 3G video cam and light sensor as if they are not there...

The main camera on the back of the phone is 3.2 megapixel with autofocus function and LED flash. I took some pictures such a landscape and macro mode. Nice but I need to change the Auto function which is default when I operate the camera in every session.

As I say, the material for the phone is stainless steel. The huge battery cover was really hard. I use it to hit my friends' hand for testing and they yelled. Yeah, it's damn hard and solid.

The disadvantage of it is I can see smudges of my fingerprints. I need to clean it using clean, dry clothes everyday since it was covered with oily and dusty smudges.

The speaker and the reddish button of power. Hard to find such button with this striking color.

The covered mini USB port, microSD slot and last but not least, the infrared port. I can't believe my phone is equiped with infrared function. So, I downloaded an apps which allows me to control whatever machines which have infrared control. TV, air-conditioners, DVD players. I even try to control LCD TVs in shopping malls. It works... *thinking of doing something evil*

The box comes with nice casing which feels like real leather. Of course, it's not made from leather. I might buy nice casing soon but I'm not sure which one looks professionals. Recommendations? :)

Same goes to the lanyard.

The USB connector was short and it's hard for me to adjust my phone's position whenever I connect it with my notebook. Nokia, please make it longer...

The handset was quite tangling due to its sticky wiring. I found that the earpiece was not user-friendly because it keeps pops out from my ear. I still prefer the ear plug type. In the mean while, I bought a audio converter to convert 2.5 mm headphone jack to 3.5 mm and hook the phone up with my big headphone when I play some medias.

The charger is particularly small and light. There's one good point.

My sister said that my phone is like Ironman because in a certain period, the Navikey will illuminated as if it has heart beat.

It's turn off now. When I received messages, got some missed calls or whatever, the blinking will go faster and spontaneous. Nice features so that I won't check my phone for messages and all sort of stuffs you missed when you can't see when the display is turned off.

I hate the original theme in it so I downloaded some nice one.

Changed the old-fashioned grey icons into professional-looking icons. I still have tonnes of themes to choose from.

This phone allows me to go to internet anytime for free using wireless internet. No telco charge apply for it.

Trying to look for my bloggie...

Ah! There you are!

Plus, the free Nokia Ovi maps give me a guide whenever I want to go especially in KL.

So, that's all I can review about my phone. It's not totally an entertainment phone like Nseries but for me, the main usage of the phone is essential features that help me to plan my schedule, write some documents and get a direction from free maps.

A bientot!