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Saturday I took my wife and daughter for lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co it’s really to celebrate Mother’s day. My wife is really a simple lady who won’t demand much but I just want to make it a bit special. Besides, it will be fun for me and my daughter too. We went there around peak hours - lunch time and expected the air conditioned closed area inside the restaurant is taken. There are like 5 pax ahead of us so we just take the open air tables. Wasn’t bad considering the day wasn’t to hot and there’s no one smoking.

The place is new and owned by the Naza group. It is a franchise based on Forrest Gump movie and you can tell from the decoration as well as the non-stop FG movie running all the time. If you look at the menu items or any wall decoration, you’ll see that it’s full of quotes or names originating from the movie. On our table, the extra sauce and additional menu are put in this tin bucket which is quite unique and they have this car plates that spells - Run Forrest run (blue colour) and another one Stop Forest stop (in red). What it means is if you need service from the waiter/tress, you’ll show Stop Forest stop and if you’re fine, blue color plate Run Forrest run showed be shown. It’s a fun thing although people seems to prefer the normal ‘wave’ in the air gesture - might need couple more visits I think.

The service is good. They got Iqin (my daughter) some crayons and drawings+puzzles for her to play with. Enough to keep her occupied until the food came. The drinks came a bit late and instead of leaving us dehydrated, the serve us plain cold water. Just what we need.

The food came soon after - it took sometime since it’s peak time but not that long. We ordered Shrimp Heaven and Bourbon Street Barramundi for mom. It tasted good, unique I would say since we’re not used to eat all shrimp menu. I thought that since it’s themed as a shrimp restaurant, it won’t serve anything else besides shrimp but no, they do serve steak and some other non seafood stuff. Quite ok if you’re not the seafood kinda person.

Overall a very good lunch. Mom and Iqin had a good lunch everyone was full, the service is good and before we went back, we got ourselves a fridge magnet - it’s a hobby to collect them. Word of caution, the food is premium priced so does the merchandise so be prepared to shell out some serious ringgit! To me, everyone is happy so money is secondary - at least only for this one time =)

- Iqin and mom drawing ‘pish’,'mokey’ and ‘cow’*
* fish, monkey and cow =)

- Iqin acting as a Dracula… eeee…
- That’s the expensive merchandise outlet… although it’s in Malaysia, the price is like in Alabama… hehehe…

Before I start my new job, myself and the family had taken a trip up to Redang Island. This post is a bit late since I’ve started work but nevertheless if you’re looking to go to Redang, don’t re-think that. Just go! definitely worth while. We all went there with my wife’s company - I tag along with them since I’m so free … the trip there was a quick one (thank god). We took morning flight to KT. Once landed the resort bus is there to pick us up to Merang Jetty. At the jetty we have to wait for close to an hour for the boat this is due to peak period, a lot of people going there. It’s not entirely too annoying waiting since you can always go shopping around the stalls there and maybe sit at the restaurants and get cool up. Be aware though that this is not a super facility place I’m talking about - there are typically small stalls with canned drinks, normal teh tarik etc plus maybe some tid bits but it’s enough to get pass our boredom. I didn’t get anything here except bought Syiqin a nemo plush toy… she’s getting grumpy over the heat and delay.

Then off to Redang with the boat. It took about 45 minutes. Most of the folks are asleep now. The operator are very nice - you can go to the open deck or even the upper open air deck if you want. Watch your cap though! the wind might blow it away.

Once we reached there, everyone was in awe. It’s picture perfect! I mean, I’ve been to other holiday destination and most of the time what you expect and the reality is way different. This one is exactly like what you’ve been told. Clean silky smooth sand… crystal clear beach. The Laguna Redang staff make it even sweeter as well. I would say this is one of the few places where they really try to please you - literally, you can just ask and they’ll try the very best to help… which is cool especially with my 3 year old daughter.

We truly enjoyed ourselves. I’ll post some more pictures and words on the things you can do there. Redang definitely worth it.

I’m staying up late today, to watch nighline re-run of the Chua Soi Lek DVD scandal. Missed the earlier 8:00PM new due to new work hours. Was going around looking for stuff to read on my laptop where I found 2 local blog covering one of my favorite topics - coffee. This 2 blog is different that it covers local cafes, menus and some other useful reading. I’ve been saving for my own espresso machine so until I have that ready, probably I should read their experience and get some tips on being self trained barista.

Worth to state that previous attempt to get use instant espresso blends was a total disaster - never will go to that again, total waste of money. I would rather get a proper drink rather to get those instant ones. Also that’s another one justification to my wife so that she’ll let me get that dream espresso machine.

This 2 blog will definitely be a permanent link on my blogroll. If you can’t resist coffee, you may just want to have a peek here:
All About Coffee
Coffee in Malaysia

Definitely will be having espresso dream tonight… slrppppp… zzzZZZ =)

This one as shared on starians9296 mailing list… jari dah kebas so I won’t re-write:

So aku sampai agak lewat sebab tayar pecah somewhere around Tapah. Ada sorang mamat India ni stop macam nak tolong (ulat le ni)… rupanya tolong tengok je… terlepas la aku nak tengok opening. Sampai bebudak dok lepak kat Lot 10.

Bebudak yang aku ingat ada…

Stone, Mc Sex, Aku, Hadi, Sam, Hasril, Bedah, Bodent, Komeng, Katik, Ayam, Nyok, shasha, Efi, Derek, Robot, Capang, Sadao, GE, Adipek, Rizman… lagi aku tak berapa ingat… opek (nasib baik aku tak lupa)…

Then kekucar kaciran terjadi masa registration - gile ampeh takde system lansung. Then mahal RM150. Dapat beg, termos, batu kristal 50 years, magazine aturcara (aku rasa), tag ngan Cap. Aku rasa baju+termos+batu kristal tu kalau diorang tukar bagi baju kemeja lagi bagus. Ke neck-tie ngan pin ke… boleh gak guna hari hari…

Then aku chow sebab nak check in. Then aku, derek, boden and family gi Kinta City makan lunch. Pergh dah lain lah Ipoh. Selalu aku datang terus gi STAR je. Roundabout dah takde dah, infact dah ada fly-over kalau dari north-south h’way tu boleh naik flyover turun depan gate STAR. Pekan ipoh pun dah lain sikit… parkson dah takde. Kat Ipoh Dynamic still ada… tempat Im (Ibrahim - black) cuba mengorat awek dengan ayat skema. Tapi aku rasa dah kecik. Aku ada dinner kat TKK ngan family that evening - makan kat Ah Seng… ramai gileeeeeee budak STAR. Batch yg lebih senior pun ada, diorang pun layan Ah Seng rupanya. Dia nye Lai Chee Kang still ok tapi dah kurang ingredient (maybe costly). Jam kat tengah tu dah tak jalan then memang la ni ada taman permainan yg boleh bebudak main kat situ. Kamdar still ada lagi… Lido ngan satu lagi panggung wayang tu dah jadi restoran ngan kadai baju… tu tempat faveret robot + aku + chot gi layan wayang every weekend (chot cam biasa tak layan wayang, tapi follow).

Pas lunch + check in, gi tukar tayar kat TC then masuk tengok sports. Ada khemah main paintball (aku tak main pun)… ada clown, belon2 untuk family (tapi penuh ngan student star)… then gi white tengok Katik, Megat + Bedah rehersal. Bedah dah macam anak 10… dahi jendul gile… anak berkepiiiiit je ngan dia. Aku rasa dia takut tengok muka brutal abun (hehehe). Then gi basketball court jumpa Cikgu King… dia kata dia tau dulu masa PPM Perai curi2 melados =).

Then aku gi padang ragbi tengok STAR vs STAROBA. STAR menang 7-0. Opek main… 2nd half tak full time. Tapi old boys menang cheer… bebudak STAR aku rasa cheer pun tak tau. Kat padang hoki diorang layan main bola… announce kat surau suruh turun cheer tapi haram nye cheer… setakat jerit cam orang gila tu budak SamTet pun boleh buat.

Then balik dinner ngan family and later that night join dinner. Dinner paling hampeh sepanjang ingatan aku… makanan dining hall 100X lagi best. Ramai yang konplen… ada senior yg siap nak ngamuk ngan organizer tapi last2 cabut je makan luar. Bukan tu je, artis pun hancur - Shayla… tah minah mana tah perasan bagus tapi hampeh. Seating arrangement berterabur…. Mc Sex menang kettle walalupun dia target menang keta savvy for lucky draw. Pastu battle of the band mula lewat gile (aku rasa sepatutnya takyah si Shayla tu, terus je band)… budak batch muda called themself The Scuff nyanyi lagu tah hapa tah… macam kena dadah je bebudak tu. Tak berbutir… nanyi apa… then of course the show saver, band of 36! megat and gang (katik, bedah, stone + ayam) with m nasir medley menerima tepukan gemuruh - best show of the nite. Then after that batch of 87 - ok la, tapi coordination takde… singer dia feeling gila babas… aku lupa nak cakap, agak memalukan bila diorang buat laser show yang nampak tak ubah cam old DOS screesaver… ada ke patut masa brass band buat lagu dinner, laser show tu tunjuk citer earth evolution… asteroid jatuh, dinosaur mampus, etc etc etc…

Malam tu, Venny ada datang - so korang yg tak datang melepas le… she’s still hot as before! really! =) Then Mano, Pak Cheng, Harmain, Tan Teong Leong, Dawa, etc…

Then after Megat’s show, kitaorang gerak benteng… sembang benteng. Banyak la gak diceritakan - Alab dengar kata nak dapat baby… balau nak kawin (jeng jeng jeng) dan banyak lagi le… around 1.30AM, aku gerak balik while bebudak bujang dan yg perasan bujang (for that one nite) katanya nak gi layan karaoke….

Next morning, dekat tengahari baru sampai… nothing much in the morning. Aku beli buku 50 tahun STAR ngan DVD pengkisahan - ada orang cakap DVD tu 2nd piece sound quality out! (kena rip off lagi)… baju aku tak beli sbb mahal but Komeng borong boleh tahan… aku melawat Blue… as suspected, macam kena bom. Sepah gile! Bebudak cite form 5 duduk asing… yg lain duduk house. Kiub dah pecah - except for some house (tapi dah dikunci). Mini marathon dah pupus… Tapak gym tu cam kena tsunami… gi dining hall nak lunch… organizer tak sampai… so kitaorang makan dulu. Yama baca doa… cam biasa kitaorang amin je… makan much better than dinner - ada air soya … heheheh.

Then organizer pulak buat cipan cakap grand prize nye cabutan lepas AGM… shit… majority of the boys chow time ni.

So overall, it’s great dapat jumpa Cikgu… Zul, Harmain, Pak Cheng, Dawa, Mano, King, Venny, etc… dan of course jumpa bebudak batch yg lain cam Abun, etc…

But the event itself, sorry to say nothing to shout about. Poor organizer… poor logistic and execution. Such as waste for 50 years/gold jubilee…

Nanti ada masa aku add gambar… orang lain boleh tolong add to the comments…

I’m a coffee addict. I like to have that hot coffee in the morning.

What a great thing to have when Gloria Jean opened at my office - that would be just what I need as I don’t need to walk down to 1U.

I generally take cafe latte most of the time in the morning, however I felt that the barista for GJ didn’t prepare that good enough so I opt for Cappucino. I never really think of what’s the difference between them… but after some reasearch, I found that:
Cafe Latte - a drink of thirds as it’s consist of 1/3 expresso, 1/3 milk and 1/3 foam.
Cappucino - consist of 1/2 expresson and 1/2 milk + foam.

If you want more energy, maybe Latte is a good choice - you drink more milk but if you need a bit more coffee strength go for cappucino. But this is if you like milk. If not, perhaps just go for the coffee of the day!

The rugby World Cup is here and I’ve been enjoying some wonderful matches these few days. So far, the French were a big upset as they were beaten by the Pumas (Argentina). The rest of the usual favorites went on winning all their match.

As I’m blogging this, South Africa is building a lead against Samoa. I felt that the refs are favoring the big rugby nations more than the others. The Samoa were heavily penalize but not much for SA - not that I felt Samoa will win anyway. Samoa even had one clear try called off for off-side (which is a bad call from the touch judge from the replay). Samoa is just crumbling right no, they have lost their discipline and about to get a pounding from SA.

I hope the All Blacks will win this time. They have the opportunity this time and looking from the first match the rest are not very convincing.

It will be a great World Cup!

All of us know that there’s Mother’s day, Father’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Sys Admin Day, etc… but did you know that there’s such Work From Home Day? It was a surprise for me when I saw a topic on it in my mailbox (from a regular newsletter that I subscribe).

It was fairly interesting as I do WFH from time to time. It provides me flexibility to look after my family and do my work at the same time. I have a 1 and a half year old daughter, sometimes I need to fetch her early… look after her when she’s sick… stuff like that…

So the article that I’m talking about is here - Top 10 tips for working from home. Few points that I can relate:
1. Work from home is you working at home - not you taking a day off but working. There’s a fine important line here. You need to discipline yourself to stay connecte, turn on your phone, pickup the calls, etc. Your spouse need to understand that. Well mine do - I have a room that I can lock up during my time working from home, but I know people having hard time doing this.
2. Stand up and stretch from time to time. You don’t want to get Deep Vein Thrombosis - which is lethal I tell you, while working. Sometimes you’re just too caught up in your work and forget simple things like this.
3. Get a break and go take your lunch or snacks. It helps with the point above. Again, most of the time I WFH alone so I tend to skip lunch since I don’t have my lunch buddies around. It can be bad for you, long term.

So, happy ‘W’ing FH! Day… well I missed that as well. I just wonder what they do to celebrate this? Everyone work from home? Then where’s the fun? =)

Early this week, a friend of mine from India sent an email that says:

“http://www-07.ibm.com/in/ssc/

Take a visual tour of Solution center .. you will find a smart fellow .. ;-)”

Hmm… what’s this? I quickly went to the link and immediately remembered that I was invited to help them setup a promo video for the center. I was there for a meeting and conducting a class. Well, I thought that it’ll be for internal use… but no, it’s on public site. Hehehe… to watch back, it was funny… really.

I showed to my colleagues and friends… they thought it was fun. Hmm, I don’t think this suppose to be funny right? Anyway that’s good fun. Thinking back, that’s the first time I went to India. I made some new friends that quickly clicked till this day - we have not met since but I really hope to see them soon. We had a pool game, which I kick their a** hehehe I think they thought I didn’t know how to play in first place… we ate Frankie - which is delicous! They took me for a ride on the motorised trishaw (can’t recall what the call that)… I had the best Briyani ever there…overall it was great fun!

I hope I can visit India again some time… maybe other places like Mumbai.

Oh… by the way… if you’re interested in the video…
Go to this URL: http://www-07.ibm.com/in/ssc/

on right hand side, click on Virtual tour of the SSC (15.6MB).

iostream had a sreenshot on his website with some funny made up self made dialogue.

It’s raining outside, I can’t go to office as yet… so let me check my gmail…

Hmmm… error… even google had problems…

I have an old trustful P4, 1GB memory at home… it’s been broken for quite sometime. The monitor is screwed and I did not know that it’s a factory defect until a year or so after the warranty expires - plus the free repair period was over too… sigh. My wife has been bugging me to make this work since she wants to surf at home, access her email server, etc. She says she’ll get those online recipe and will cook some great stuff if I fix this for her - ok, fair enough.

I got myself a 19″ LCD plus a new 350GB 16MB buffer Seagate disk - I do video authoring as well so I though the current 120GB disk could be used as a storage area.

I just got a boxed OpenSuse 10.2 and thought that - it’s claimed as a friendly system so lets give it a try…

Installation was fine, manage to do everything in less than an hour - screen, soundcard and my DWL120+ DLink USB adapter was found (that’s impressive since it’s not properly supported).My nVidia card did not get registered properly - acceleration was disabled, so I can’t run Beryl.

When I rebooted, the thing looked like it worked like a charm. I could go to the Net view some pages and seems to be good.

But here’s the problem:
- I pop in my Santana CD, Helix Banshee seems to run but within few moments crashed… I can’t play my music CD.
- I pop in my DVD (since it’s a 19″ wide screen, I just can’t wait to see the difference), I use Totem but it says I need a codec - what?
- I rebooted, then my wifi can’t be identified… huh? it just worked 10 minutes ago… weird.
- I can’t configure Beryl cos xgl were not properly set up and can’t get to download the nVidia accelerated driver as Net is down…

I spent whole last night on the last 2 items as that’s my top priority but don’t seemed to work though I thought that I fixed it… hmm, a bit frustrated but not about to give up I went to sleep.

This morning I booted my system again, just try to hack my way before work - maybe I missed something.

During boot it seemed like the network is fine! Great! and I loaded the nvidia card and configured xgl… super great! Now I have Beryl running with that pimped up desktop!
Now I’m really happy with it… just need to fix Banshee (maybe get xmms) and get that codec for Totem.

I’m a RHCE but I think I’m converted!… will upload some desktop pics soon.