Just a Thot

Arduino

2011-09-13T22:15:00.004+08:00

Got my Arduino starter pack today! Bought on Sunday. They mail it on Monday and received it today(Tuesday). Very efficient. RM 139.90.
The problem, albeit minor is a small the poslaju tracking system. It seems that the only put it into their system after they delivered it. Maybe I'm expecting too much.
Like wondering where the package was at the moment..

Now where do I start?

Here is a good place to start.
http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows

New Year

2011-01-02T00:27:00.002+08:00

Today is the new year. Did not do much except for a small gathering at aunt Ida's house with my parents and Unc Vincent and Ivan. Chatted over lots of things, catching up on our lives.

It was nice to be able to meet old acquaintance, reminiscing about the old days.
Plans to blog more but somehow getting busier and lazier.

But it is a start. :)

Happy New Year everyone! May all your wishes come true. On second thought, I don't want to wish that. Let me put something to show what I mean.
The title is:

I ask God.

“I asked God for strength that I might achieve.
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.
I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”

Under supervision

2010-10-23T21:42:00.003+08:00

Never thought that air stewardess would be under supervision too. On my Airasia flight back from KL to Sibu just now, saw a pretty young stewardess, Nita. I think she must be new. Cos there was this lady kept asking questions and the she was like a bit unsure, laughing and smiling when answering questions. Reminded me of my students.
And those under supervision. Anyway wish all of them best of luck.

Should have taken her photo and post it here. :p

Formating mail merge in Word

2010-09-22T12:27:00.003+08:00

Taken from http://wordprocessing.about.com/od/usingmailmerge/qt/NPFSwitch.htm

When using Excel spreadsheets in a mail merge process, many users frequently run into difficulty formatting the fields that contain number values. To ensure the data contained in the fields is inserted correctly, one must format the field, not the data in the source file; unfortunately, Word does not provide a way for you to change how many decimal places are displayed when working with numbers. While there are ways to work around this limitation, the best solution is to include a switch in the merge field.

To specify how many decimal places to display in your Word mail merge, you can use the Numeric Picture Field Switch (\#):

1. With the mail merge main document open, press Alt + F9 to view the field codes

2. The field code will look something like {MERGEFIELD “fieldname” }

3. Directly after the end quote around the field name type \# -- do not add spaces or quotes

4. Directly after the field switch you just entered, type 0.0x if you want to round the number to two decimal places, 0.00x if you want to round the number to three decimal places and so forth

5. Once you have added your field switch, press Alt + F9 to display the fields instead of the field codes

Your number will appear rounded to the decimal place you specify; if it does not display immediately, refresh the document by minimizing it to the toolbar and reopening. If the field value still does not display correctly, you may need to refresh the document again or close and re-open your document.

Jovana

2010-07-20T23:45:00.001+08:00

Haven't blogged for a very long time. Guess I was too busy. And because of the change of environment this year.

Infected by a virus last week. Not sure how it happened. But it came from a handy drive. Called it the Jovana virus.
Because it creates a recycler folder called Jovana in each drive.

C:\documents and settings\administrator\application data\yjty.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\csrss.exe

I tried to delete these file but the the process was still running. Killing it Process Explorer was also fruitless.
Then I tried Unlocker. Only then I was able to delete the file. Need to find the program.

Here is the content of the autorun file.
"sêË×ÄÑÀÊÄêÎ×ŠÄÌäêëàñ×ÄÊËŒŠ×ÄÊËœš÷L?DAdlq?dw?nmkslakdl?l?wqdw?ÝÆÂÁôûÄâëáÝÆÖÁÂüëàñäæôûñüáìäæüæËÄÌÜÎÄÙÆËÛÂÕÙÖËâàëâôäæüñûôäÆÑüáûôäÆÑÜÁÔÛÄÑËÁÇÂÖÆÜâÖÆÄÉüáâæâÆÄËÎÛÔÆâëÆÔÜÛÄÆüáñÄÆëáâ÷ÙÂËÖÆüâÖÄÆëâëáÔÛÄÆìüáäæÛÔÌÁÔÛÄÆÁ×üëôÙÖÌÜÎÖÆÌÒÔÖÙÂËÔÆôûüÄÆÌÀÔÛËÂÝÆËÄÖÉÂÖÒÉàîÀÆö
open=JOVANA/pojatar.exe
action=Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer
icon=JOVANA/pojatar.exe
Shell\open\command=JOVANA/pojatar.exe
shell\open\command=JOVANA/pojatar.exe
USEAUTOPLAY=1

Then it created a lot of processes in the temp folder.
It also modifies the registry by creating a few startup entries.
Here is one of the entry created:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
"Shell"="explorer.exe,C:\\Documents"
The rest I forgot cause I deleted them as soon as it came out.
If the process is still alive, it will create all the entries into the registry. Only after I killed it that I was able to fully stop it from modifying the registry.

This is taken from ThreatExpert.com
JOVANA.EXE has been seen to perform the following behavior:

Writes to another Process's Virtual Memory (Process Hijacking)
Adds a Registry Key (RUN) to auto start Programs on system start up
This process creates other processes on disk
Executes Processes stored in Temporary Folders
This Process Deletes Other Processes From Disk
Executes a Process
Injects code into other processes
Copies files
JOVANA.EXE has been the subject of the following behavior:

Created as a process on disk
Executed from Temporary Folders
Has code inserted into its Virtual Memory space by other programs
Added as a Registry auto start to load Program on Boot up
Deleted as a process from disk
Terminated as a Process
Executed as a Process
Copied to multiple locations on the system

I'll be this Husband. I promise...

2010-04-21T20:51:00.002+08:00

A nice video I saw in Facebook.

RTC reunion

2009-12-29T23:25:00.003+08:00

Went to a RTC reunion just now at Auntie Ida's house. Actually it is my parent's reunion rather than mine. Guess they are in a closly knitted society when after all this time, they still keep in contact with each other. Today there are Vincent Sia and wife, George and Angela, and Auntie Ida as the host. They officially declare the house as the HQ for the RTC alumni with Ida as the president. They talked about old times especially Mr Agas and who's where at the moment.

The next meeting will be a year from now which is on the 26th Dec at 4 pm.

People First?

2009-10-26T21:51:00.007+08:00

This morning I was checking my students' exercises when I saw one of the books is damp. I was about to tick my student off for not taking care of his books when I caught a whiff of kerosene. I immediately guessed what had happpened but I asked him anyway.

He told me that his mom had spilled over the oil lamp while he was doing his homework. Luckily the book did not catch fire. I was horrified.

Most kids, even adults nowadays had never even seen or used an oil lamp and here is my 10-year-old student, using it every day to study.

Would any of the young parents now allow thier children to use matches? Or even use an oil lamp with a very flammable liquid inside?

Here we are, forwarding email about the dangers of handphone while filling up gas for our cars and this kid is using it in front of him every day in order to study.

Where is he? Why is he not using an electric lamp?

I can easily answer the first question. He is in Kanowit. The second question is much harder to answer. We don't have electricity here. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. The nearest electrical pole is about 10 km away.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/22/nation/4953964&sec=nation

Windows XP Login then Logoff! (Solved)

2009-10-25T22:09:00.003+08:00

Remember my last post about Windows XP login and immediately logged off?

Finally I solved it after 2 weeks of troubleshooting. *Sigh*
The solution is simple, just finding it was the hard part.

I've done all the advice given in most pages I've found.
That is creating/copying a new set of userinit.exe from the recovery CD to windows\system32\ folder.
Most people manage to solve their login/logout problem after doing this.

But I can't. I need an extra step which is editing my registry.
Caution!!!
Registry editing is dangerous. Make sure you backup first before doing any editing.

I used BartPE to boot and there I can edit the registry.
This site has a good explanation and screenshots on each step needed to be taken to edit the registry.

1. Insert the BartPE CD into the drive, and boot the system from the CD.

2. Type Regedit.exe in the prompt, and press Enter. Select the HKEY_USERS hive

3. From the File menu, choose the Load Hive option. Browse to your Windows installation drive, for example the following location:

C:\Windows\System32\Config\

4. Select the file named SOFTWARE (the file without any extensions), and click Open
5. Type a name for the hive that you've loaded now. (Example: MyXPHive)
6. Now the SOFTWARE hive is loaded, and present under the HKEY_USERS base hive.
7. In order to fix the Userinit value in the loaded hive, navigate to the following location:

HKEY_USERS \ MyXPHive \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon

8. Double-click Userinit and set it's value correctly. Example: Set it's data as follows:

C:\Windows\System32\Userinit.exe,

(Include the trailing comma also. The above assumes that Windows is installed in C:\Windows, and Userinit.exe file is actually present in the System32 folder. You may want to verify that as well.)

9. After entering the correct data, you MUST unload the Hive. To do so, select MyXPHive branch, and then in the File menu, choose Unload Hive. It's important to note that you'll need to select the MyXPHive branch first, before unloading it.

10. Quit BartPE and restart Windows. See if you're able to logon to your profile.

My problem was that somehow my registry got corrupted. The value for the userinit is:
C:\windowsstem32\userinit.exe,\s So I changed it to the value given above.

Sibu in the Blue Ocean

2009-10-20T22:18:00.002+08:00

I think I did post something about a speaker, Mr Tan Kee Hian quite some time ago. Well he is back and now he is going to have a public lecture in Kingwood Hotel next month. Usually I don't like speeches or lectures but this is an exception. He is a Senior Global Expert in Blue Ocean Strategy and you would learn a lot from him.

Actually it is better if the target audience is those involved in decision making or policy makers. For us normal day to day person, I'm not sure what we can do. Maybe he'll tell us.

Details are as follows:

Date: 2 Nov 2009
Time: 7.00 pm
Venue: Kingwood Hotel

Please drop a comment if you are going.

Autochk not found

2009-10-17T23:13:00.002+08:00

It was quite some time I had problem with my computer. Now it is solved.
Only after I added a line in the registry.

Yes!!!
Now I can defragment my drive.
Now I can scan my drive.
All after doing the autochk in the registry.
before that it was ???. ???

Here was the post that I found.

>I am running win2k sp3 and when I boot the computer I
>receive:
>
> \SystemRoot\Windows\System32\Autochk.exe program not
>found - skipping Autocheck
>
>This lasts for about 2 seconds and then the system boots
>normally and seems to run fine. I have tried chkdsk /r/f
>and it doesn't help. I have located the file autochk.exe
>in C:\winnt\system32 and have tried replacing the file
>from another similar machine with no change. If I rename
>the file it recreates itself. If I delete the file it
>recreates itself. I am not sure what else to try, any
>suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
What is in the registry at the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute

It should be a REG_MULTI_SZ data type set to
autocheck autochk *

If not, set it to
autocheck autochk *

Windows XP Login then Logoff!

2009-10-13T23:54:00.003+08:00

Have the problem stated in the title. Damn frustating when you can't get into windows to do some fixing. Found a few web pages. Here are some of the tips.
But it doesn't work for me. Need to find other ways!!!

Anyone has any idea????

http://www.logicnest.com/archives/90
- http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-22087-xp-auto-log-off

Basically what they advice is that we need to have a Windows Setup CD.
Enter the Recovery Console

Boot the system using the Windows XP CD-ROM. In the first screen when the Setup begins, read the instructions press "R" (in the first screen) enter the Recovery Console. Type-in the built-in Administrator password to enter the Console. You'll see the prompt reading C:\Windows (Or any other drive-letter where you've installed XP)

Type the following command and press Enter.

CD SYSTEM32
(If that does not work, try CHDIR SYSTEM32)

COPY USERINIT.EXE WSAUPDATER.EXE

Quit Recovery Console by typing EXIT and restart Windows.

You'll be able to login successfully as you've created the wsaupdater.exe file (now, a copy of userinit.exe)

Now, change the USERINIT value in the registry (see Phase II in this page) and change it accordingly.

Grand Blue Wave Hotel

2009-10-13T23:53:00.004+08:00

Went to Shah Alam for KMK. Stayed at Grand Blue Wave Hotel. Supposedly to be a 5 star hotel but personally, I think the 3 star hotels in Sibu are better than it.

Rooms are small and looks old. Paints are flaking off the walls. And NO WIFI!!!!!
Not even in the lobby!!!

And try guessing how much they charge for the broadband service from the room???
Look and the screen capture below.

Anyway here is the setting from the hotel.

http://vbn.inter-touch.net/UI/UM/template1/usermanager/GuestPortal.php?loginflag=-1&PHPSESSID=fp5ahdpjirjl6bmbpkt1bm636tce38u5

Error Number [25] : This port is locked. Kindly use another port, or contact the interTouch helpdesk for further assistance. Error code 25.
Toll-free interTouch Helpdesk number: 1800801372
Please close this window

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 210.19.67.144

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.192

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 210.19.67.129

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 202.75.242.254

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 202.75.242.254

203.121.72.76

Seneka Rootkit

2009-09-28T23:09:00.003+08:00

Just discovered that I have a rootkit installed in my system. Don't know how long it has been there. All I know is while I was watching my process in my system when suddenly I saw explorer.exe was trying to access seneka in the registry. I know what I installed in my computer and seneka was not one of them. I searched in my registry for the key but it couldnt be seen.

I scanned my pc for virus using NOD32 and there was none found. Searched in the net for seneka and there were not much info at all. Then I found out that seneka is a root kit. No wonder my AV cannot detect it. And no wonder lately I have a lot of problem with BSOD when I was shutting down my pc. Especially after using Media Player Classic.

The site ThreatExpert have the best explanation of what it does. But it is not enough.

I found this site that have a list of rootkits remover. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/networking/?p=736

I tried a few of them.
i)Trend cant detect at all.
ii)Sophos quite good.
iii)Gmer- yes.
iv) Ice-sword- dunno how to use.

I found that there are a few files in my system folder with seneka as the file name but I could not see them. I have enabled show hidden and system files but it was useless. Doesn't even show that it exists.

Only when I tried to name a file with the name seneka*, that I know that the file exists. Anyway any files that I named starting with seneka* will soon be hidden/deleted/moved/ or anything at all!!!

After I had used the rootkit remover only then my AV can detect the seneka files in the system folder and identify it as a trojan.

Sibu-Kuching Car Trip

2009-09-28T22:08:00.003+08:00

Went to Kuching last Wednesday. Want to renew my grandama's maid's passport. So have to go during workdays. Wednesday was the 3rd day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri but the consulate was still on holiday. So we, my parents, maid and me went there on Wednesday.
At first mom wants to take the bus, but I wanted to drive. So we finally used the car.
We started of at around 9.30 am. Stopped at Debak(6 km from main road) for lunch. Then continued to Betong using the Layar/Bebangai shortcut (8 km from main road). Visited Azizah then persuaded to go to Rashidah and finally to Johan's house for raya. Then visited my former teacher, now a Pemancha.

Finally we left Betong at 4 pm. Before that have a look around town. Then went back to my old school. Everything changed. There are no more ponds in my old school. What a pity. Some of my best memories are from there.

Stopped at Lachau for a break. Then continue our way to Kuching. Reach my aunts house around 8 and have dinner there.

Blind Spot

2009-09-13T20:46:00.004+08:00

Felt a sudden blind spot when playing badminton last Friday. I thought it was tiredness so I can't see things properly but when I reached home, the problem still persists.

Only found out that I have blind spot when I was on my computer. The cursor keeps missing on a specific area on the screen while both of my eyes were open. Not blindess. The problem persists for roughly an hour. Not really sure. Definately more than half an hour and less than 3 hours. And a bit of headache.

Consulted a doctor and he adviced me to see an opthamologist. Just in case it was caused by a blood clot and something about transient ischemic attack. I.e it is something like a mini stroke, which I hope is not.

I also asked my cousin, and he said maybe scotoma.

Anyway found a website http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/
For diagnosing symptons. Cuz.. Maybe you could check it out and tell me whether it is ok or not.

Face to face with a cobra!

2009-09-04T23:49:00.003+08:00

Faced a cobra on my way back last night. Around 11.10 p.m. I was walking back when I suddenly saw a snake in the middle of the road. Almost stepped on it. At first I thought it was a normal snake, so I went closer. When I was less than a meter away, it suddenly raised it head. At that time I'm not sure that it is a cobra. All I know is that it is a black snake, about 2 feet long and as big as a thumb.

As I went closer, it raises up its head and flatten its head/open its hood. By then I was sure it was a cobra. I went closer and suddenly it hisses loudly! Automatically I stepped back 3 steps. And it followed me! Oh s***! I thought to myself. Wanted to run away but afraid that it will chase me.

Keeping my eyes on the cobra, I slowly stepped back and move further from the snake. On the way back I walked loudly back. I.e I stepped loudly to the ground, more like a stomp because usually snakes will feel the vibrations of the ground and run away. I was hoping there was no more snakes lurking in the bushes nearby.

The Crocodiles of Rajang River

2009-08-18T23:11:00.004+08:00

Living by the river has its own perks. We could see the wildlife in its natural habitat. Recently 3 crocodiles would wait for food near the riverbank everyday. This happens to our neighbouring school, about 10 minutes from our place. The kitchen there always have leftover food eg: fish heads that are always discarded into the river.
The crocs will then wait patiently by the river for the food to come.

They are scavangers now. I just hope that when the holidays are here, the crocs will know how to look for their own food. If not then the students here will be in danger.

1Malaysia? Blah!!!

2009-08-11T22:42:00.002+08:00

Wanted to open a 1Malaysia account today. Went to RHB bank to open, but they were out of form, so they asked me to get the form from ASNB. So I went to ASNB to request for a form. When I was at the counter, they told me that they could not give it out as they only have limited copy of the form.

So I asked them if I could open an accouont there. They said yes, but the minimum amount is RM 100.00. Then they asked me to go to the bank and get a bank draft for them to open an account with them.

It was such a hassle for me to go back to the bank so I asked if I could open an account there and then. They said yes but must have a bank draft.

Told them again that I just want to open an account with RM 100.00. They kept on telling me to make a bank draft. They said that thier priority is for those who have bank draft.

Then I asked them again, "Since your priority is for those with bank draft, and nobody is here, I think I can open an account now right?"
Their reply? NO.

This time I asked them, "So your priority means ONLY FOR those with bank draft?"
Their reply: Yes, something like that la.

I was really angry at that time. They have 3 staff, 2 female and a male, 1 was reading a newspaper and they don't want to open an account for me? And priority is for those with bank draft. Their excuses is they have limited forms. What the hell? I want to open an account there and then, not that I want to bring the form home.

I was pissed off!!! This is discrimination! Those with no money will be discriminated. Only those with lots of money will need to go to the bank to get a bank draft. People like me who wanted to open a minimal amount in our account is not allowed to do it!!

And this is 1Malaysia???? For all MALAYSIANS????
This is only for rich Malaysians!!!
A discrimination between the rich and the poor...

Damn... If

Setting up dvd

2009-08-09T18:51:00.000+08:00

Spent the whole day trying to setup the new dvd writer. Got a
Samsung Super-Writemaster DVD writer. Before that went to buy a set of blank dvds. It was only then I know there is a difference between DVD+R and DVD-R. Though I still don't know the difference.

Anyway when I was trying to set up the dvd drive as secondary master, my computer would not start up. I made sure the jumper is set as master but to no avail. Tried changing the jumper here and there but it was futile. So at the end I just put two optical drives together. The CD-ROM is the master and the DVD-writer I put it as slave. It solves the problem of computer not starting up. Haven't try backing up my data files yet. Hope it is ok.

Then bought a Chinese writing pad which costs RM29. Compared to the 1 I bought a few years back which costs more than a hundred.
Still have problems writing. Cause when I open notepad to write, only garbage characters appears. For eg: 你好吗？is written as ÄãºÃÂð£¿ . I can type in the pinyin, the only problem is I can't write it... Anyone has any idea?

Btw, the brand is Usin.

Rest in peace Timmy

2009-08-01T21:54:00.003+08:00

Timmy died last nite...
Bleeding non stop from the mouth after being knocked down. After being knocked down, he went to our back yard and lie quietly there, in the bushes. Digging a hole and made himself comfortable. I guess he knew that he was going to die.

He was bleeding non-stop and we brought him to see a vet in Rajang Park. It was the only vet that opens at night. The vet gave him a shot to reduce the swelling. And then give me some med to stop the bleeding. And I thought that it was the vets job to stop the bleeding.He didnt even clean the wound. And he also gave me 2 types of med. I guess it must be antibiotics cos he said must finish it in 5 days. All that for RM 28. But all of that came to naught when Timmy died last night. :(

Rest in peace my friend...

Memories

2009-07-06T20:53:00.003+08:00

Had a great weekend last week. I met with my good friends during my uni days. We attended our friends' wedding dinner at Lee Garden.
Never even realize that I really miss my friends and the care free days.
We had a sort of mini-reunion, the best of friends during our uni days are back together again. The last time that we had the same number of people was in 2002, during our graduation. We had some other reunions before that but there were some of us that could not make it on the few occasions. So I was really happy that we could be back together again, reminicing about our uni days. And talking about nonsensical things all the time. Somehow the song Graduation seems to fit in nicely.

It certainly bring back a lot of memories. Some that have already been forgotten. And some memories are best left forgotten.

Ps: I would like to thank Pei Ye, Wendy and Anita for their time in Kuching. Hope to see you all again. Thanks!!

A Tribute to the King of Pop

2009-07-03T15:13:00.000+08:00

It has been a week since the news broke out. I can't believe it. Somehow I feel like he would make a comeback...

Anyway here is one of my favourite song from him. I even like the video game of his.

Nobody can claim so many moves that can be identified with them, except for the King of Pop. The dance, the moonwalk and the anti-gravity lean, all are trademark of his.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-30T21:29:00.002+08:00

Went to watch Revenge of the Fallen last Friday. I would give it a rating of 8 out of 10.

A lot of thing baffles me.
1) One of the most glaring thing is that the Decepticons have a much more advanced technology than the Autobots. I like Soundwave though in the original Transformers, he was a radio player with lots of cassettes that can transforms into animals. But now he is a spymaster. Can't even see him transform.

Then there is the nanotechnolgy used by the Decepticons. One example is the ability for the Decepticons to mingle with humans. I wonder why Autobots can't do that.

Then we can see the nanites are being used to steal the All-Spark fragment from the base.

2) Then there is the matter of reviving Megatron using the All-Spark. As soon as he got the All_Spark, Megatron lives again without any injuries. Why dont the Autobots use the same thing for Optimus Prime? Even when he got the Matrix of Leadership, he still need help from Jetfire to become stronger... Sigh...

Lots more of things to comments on but then it is just a movie. So just sit and enjoy it without thinking too much. Then it is a gjavascript:void(0)ood movie...

Mukah to Sibu

2009-06-20T23:20:00.003+08:00

Reach home around 9pm yesterday. Started our journey at 5pm from Mukah. We hope to go over the treacherous road before dark. But we did not make it. It was raining and the road became more difficult to drive. Saw a snake. The Ibans called it Ripong. Its looks like a python, but it is much much shorter and fatter. The snake should be larger than my thigh but about 1 meters long. They said that the snake is delicious.
Plan to stop and take the snake but our car was full.

Then there was something got stuck on the wiper. At first I thought it was a leaf. but it was moving so I thought it was a moth. When the wiper stops moving, only then I saw that it was a bat. Luckily the bat was not dead and it flew away when the wiper was stopped.

Anyway I bought some umai back home to Sibu. RM 10 per container. Then plus another RM 3 for the sambal. Also bought some keropok and tabaloi.

After taking my bath and dinner, I went back to sleep. Slept for 12 hours straight.
Never felt so tired in my life. Today also a bit tired. Luckily felt a bit better after my badminton game.

Mukah Workshop trip

2009-06-18T22:06:00.002+08:00

Went to Mukah today with a friend. The trip took almost 4 hours. The road to Selangau is ok. Just that it is a 2-lane 2 way road. So if any car is slow, there would be miles of car behind. No wonder there are lots of accidents happening on that road!!

Who is to blame for all the deaths?

Anyway the trip from the Selangau junction to Mukah town is even worse. The road are full of potholes and rocks, and a lot are bigger than bricks. Can't go more than 40kmph. For a car, can't use more than the third gear. Saw some coals on the grounds too. Visibility on some part of the road are less than 5 meters because of the dust.

We started our journey from Sibu around 2.30 and reach Mukah town at around 7 p.m.

ATLANTIC STARR - I'll Remember You

2009-06-16T21:04:00.001+08:00

Words have left us all alone
And something's come between us
To turn the fire cold
Thoughts that chase you in the night
Silently the storm
The life from in your eyes
And I remain alone, no matter who
may try and take your place

CHORUS:
And I'll remember you
The dreams we could of dreamed
The tears I should have seen
We used to say forever
But I'll remember you
Your pure and simple heart
Your shadows painted dark
I will always love you
I'll remember you

Summer rain to fallen snow
We knew that it would last
But there's no way to know
It's such a storm that's in the sky
quietly will pass, quietly we'll cry
And here I stand, alone with every
promise melted through my hands
(Chorus)

Oh, and I remain, alone no matter
who may try and take your place
(Chorus 2x)

I'll remember you....
I'll remember you.....

The bravest mouse in the world

2009-06-15T17:31:00.000+08:00

This is an interesting image I found somewhere in the net.
A mouse steals food from under the nose of a leopard at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire

Streamyx Downtime

2009-06-10T23:37:00.002+08:00

Damn!! Saw this announcement from Streamyx

Why always down. The service this few days already sucks...

STREAMYX SERVICE INTERRUPTION NATIONWIDE

Dear Valued Customers,

We wish to inform our Streamyx customers that Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) will be performing a network upgrading exercise from 11.00 pm, Friday, 12th June 2009 until 6.00 am, Saturday, 13th June 2009.

As a result, Streamyx customers nationwide may experience a disruption of service during the stipulated period. We would like to assure you that the service would resume to normal after this period.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) wishes to inform its customers that it is migrating its existing core network to the latest network technology to facilitate the ongoing improvements of our network performance and service quality. The migration will allow TM to provide a more integrated service proposition to support a large ecosystem of applications.

The infrastructure migration will take place in two stages on the following dates and time-periods:

1. Friday, 12 June 2009, 11 pm till Saturday, 13 June 2009, 6 am
2. Friday, 19 June 2009, 11 pm till Saturday, 20 June 2009, 6 am

Therefore, all our Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) such as iTalk and Home Prepaid customers nationwide may experience a disruption of service during the stipulated period. We would like to assure our customers that the services would resume to normal after this period.

Things to do this week

2009-06-08T23:48:00.002+08:00

One week had passed. Went to Miri for the first half, rest during the second half. Last Friday I went to buy ball, pump and net with mom and Wen.

Ball(Molten)= RM 149
Net(1 pair)=
Pump = RM 20
The fun = priceless! (Sorry guys. Too much advertisment! =))

On Sunday put up the net. Then search for the standard court size. Found 1 plan by Wen, but can't draw it. Still a few measurements missing.

Then I found a more detailed plan. But still got problems.

Now trying GoogleSketcht to draw it first. Then can draw on the ground.

Tomorrow going to buy the paint. Anyone have any idea on what colour and how much to buy?

Miri Wedding

2009-06-04T22:10:00.002+08:00

Came back from Miri after a 7 hour bus ride PB(Suria). RM 40 one way. We stopped at Batu Niah, Bintulu and Selangau(Simon's Coffeeshop). Started at 8.30 am and reach Sibu at 4 pm.

Anyway we went to Miri for my cousin's wedding. Quite grand. The car is BMW 700 series.
Wat I like most about the wedding?

The bridesmaid! She is one of the most pretty bridesmaid I've ever seen. Should put her pic here but sorry... No camera. Maybe you can ask my cousins who are there. hahaha

The Promise

2009-06-03T15:53:00.002+08:00

Hello Sis,
Don't know the exact date of your wedding anniversary. Which date did you choose anyway?

This is something that is nice. Want to tell you about it during your wedding but no time. So this is for your wedding anniversary. :)
It is from a play:

I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even
marry you because I loved you. I married you because you
gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults.
And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect
people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage.
And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that
protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them -
it was that promise.

Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth

Miri Trip

2009-05-31T15:41:00.000+08:00

It is holiday!! Going to Miri this afternoon. Using PB(Pan Borneo) Express. Going to be a 6 hour trip. Aargh...
Maybe meet some friends there.

Just want to list out what I have to do this week.
1) Draw a basketball court.= Search for the diagram and measurement for the court.
2) use db for my gaji appllication. Sigh... Need to learn back ms access.

Stereograms

2009-05-29T20:58:00.000+08:00

How to view Stereograms
Learning how to see autostereograms in like learning how to ride a bicycle, or how to swim. Some people learn very quickly, others on the other hand experience difficulties at first, but eventually everyone manages :) Once you have got the hang of it, three dimensional viewing becomes increadibly easy too, no matter how long you had to practice at first. This page hopes to give you an insight into how to view autostereagrams if you can't already.

Here's some tips how to view stereograms:
Basically you need to unfocus your vision and look through the tereogram. This makes patterns to overlap and gives each eye slightly different view, and that makes you see 3D image.

Get any still stereogram for training purposes or use the one on the bottom of game's Intro screen.
Step 1.
Look through the stereogram imaging that it's transparent. Your eyes should be relaxed and not focused on stereogram. When your sight is blurred try to move closer and further toward the stereogram, and do it very slowly. At some distance you may notice something happens and blurry relief may start appearing behind your screen. It'll be blurry, the next step is to make it sharp.
Step 2.
Try not to switch your sight onto the image - look through it all the time. Hold your head horizontally, don't tilt. Also try not to blink. It may take a little while until eyes focus properly by themselves. Do not force it because you gonna switch to 2D image. Eventually hidden image will become sharp and clear like a reflection in the mirror.

I can't see anything, what now??
If you don't manage to see the amazing pictures hidden inside a the autostereograms immediatley, don't let it get you down. Your brain needs time to switch between 'NORMAL' vision to that of stereoscopic vision. Try not to force your eyes when focusing.
Don't overdo it... Even although the methods are completly safe you should increase your viewing time gradually at first. Then, when you are sure you have mastered the technique, you can submerge yourself in the world of 3D vision for hours !

Method 1 - Parallel Method
Move your head so close to the screen that the tip of your nose nearly touches it. Stare straight ahead into the distance as though you could see right through the screen. Now, move your head slowly away from the screen. Make sure you don't change the focus of your eyes. Keep looking into the distance. As soon as you see a 3D picture is beginning to form, stay where you are. Don't change your position in front of the screen. If you should happen to loose the three dimensional picture, it is probably because you have subconciously tried to focus on the picture. If that happens, Go back to the start of the method and try again.

PTPTN

2009-05-19T16:26:00.003+08:00

I called the Immigration Office and they told me the names in their system are from PTPTN. They can't remove any names from it since they(Immigration) are only helping the PTPTN only. Only PTPTN can remove the names from the list not the Immigration Department. So no use calling the Immigration office about the list.

I have emailed PTPTN about asking when they sent the letter to me and here is the reply
Untuk makluman,

Notis kutipan balik: Oktober 2004
Notis peringatan pertama: Februari 2005
Notis peringatan ke dua: Oktober 2005
Notis peringatan terakhir: Disember 2005
Siar nama diakhbar: Februari 2006
Kemuka senarai nama Letter Of Demand: Jun 2007
Kemuka senarai untuk saman: September 2007
Senarai hitam Imigresen: Ogos 2008

Untuk maklumat lebih lanjut anda di minta berhubung dengan Pegawai Undang-Undang PTPTN di talian 03-22781026 / 0322781027 dengan segera.

How come I never received any of the letter?????? And I am still using the same address. Damn...

And I replied to them on the 3rd of May. Haven't received any reply from them yet.
Btw SS: Here are a few of my questions:

Terima kasih atas maklum balas dari pihak tuan. Namun saya minta maaf keran tidak pernah menerima sebarang notis dari pihak tuan.

Oleh itu saya memohon jasa baik tuan agar dapat menghantar surat tersebut semula.

Saya juga ada beberapa soalan di sini.

1. Bolehkah saya menerima sebarang diskaun kerana tidak pernah mendapat sebarang notis?

2. Sekiranya saya telah mula membayar, berapakah masa yang diambil untuk mengeluarkan nama saya dari senarai saman dan senarai hitam imigresen?

Terima kasih atas jawapan dari pihak tuan.

Happy Teachers Day!

2009-05-16T16:28:00.001+08:00

Since today is Teacher's Day, I would like to wish all the teachers a very Happy Teachers Day!! Here are some of the nice messages for teachers everywhere.

Rich people travel in cars,
Poor people travel in carts,
But teachers travel in hearts,
So continue your journey as teachers!!

I can appreciate
coffee without susu,
Nights without lampu,
Curry without lembu,
Burgers without keju,
BUT not a school without Cikgu!

A teacher
takes a hand,
opens a mind, and
touches the heart.

Teachers that love to teach creates
students that love to learn...

Sarikei and Bintangor Trip

2009-05-03T20:39:00.003+08:00

Went to those 2 towns yesterday. To send wedding invitation. Not mine, but my cousin. =) Went to Sarikei first and have kampua for breakfast there. Then went to the market to buy some fish and prawns.

After that we went to Bintangor to buy pork leg.

Pass through my old kindy. Then I saw the funniest sign ever! Sorry but I dont have a picture of it. It is a notice:

"Dilarang menembak ke talian Sesco!"

Translated to English, it means "Do not shoot at the power lines!"

I guess that the people there had too much free time to shoot at anything.

Anyway while I was blogging this, there was a mouse in my kitchen. Just a small one though. Caught it by the tail and gave to my dog.

Weekends Trip

2009-04-26T21:17:00.003+08:00

Last week I went to swim in Damai Lagoon, Kuching. Today and yesterday went swimming in Bintulu, Similajau National Park. Both the beaches are nice. The beach at Damai is clearer, with lots of people. I can see a school of shark or maybe fishes in the water. Not sure. I tried to swim closer but the fishes are faster. :)

But in Similajau National Park, not many people were there. But there are jellyfishes. I accidently touched one while swimming. Luckily it did not sting me. Or maybe it was still a baby jellyfish. Smaller than the palm of my hand. The beach there is nice. Coarse sands with lots of seashells though small...

How I wish I have an underwater camera...

Distance of the Hearts

2009-04-18T21:02:00.000+08:00

A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained,
'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.

ATM is safe?

2009-04-16T21:28:00.000+08:00

Hackers have crossed into new frontiers by devising sophisticated ways to steal large amounts of personal identification numbers, or PINs, protecting credit and debit cards, says an investigator. The attacks involve both unencrypted PINs and encrypted PINs that attackers have found a way to crack, according to the investigator behind a new report looking at the data breaches.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/pins.html

Other kinds of attacks occur against PINs after they arrive at the card-issuing bank Once encrypted PINs arrive at the HSM at the issuing bank, the HSM communicates with the bank's mainframe system to decrypt the PIN and the customer's 16-digit account number for a brief period to authorize the transaction.

During that period, the data is briefly held in the system's memory in unencrypted form.

Sartin says some attackers have created malware that scrapes the memory to capture the data.

"Memory scrapers are in as much as a third of all cases we're seeing, or utilities that scrape data from unallocated space," Sartin says. "This is a huge vulnerability."

He says the stolen data is often stored in a file right on the hacked system.

"These victims don't see it," Sartin says. "They rely almost purely on anti-virus to detect things that show up on systems that aren't supposed to be there. But they're not looking for a 30-gig file growing on a system."

Flood indicator

2009-04-15T21:03:00.004+08:00

Almost a week since the high tide prevented me from using the Stabau road. Actually 6 days. Tomorrow I dont know whether the water will recede. But I know that this 2 days, Sibu is flooded. Now it seems normal. Every month we will have flood during the King Tide.

Don't know who is responsible for this flood but for sure this floods are not normal. It only started this year, the earliest is late last year. Usually we would have flood only during the Chinese New Year. But now we would face it monthly, during the King Tide. We would have to depend on the Sarawak Government Almanac to see which road can be used.

I have an indicator which tells me which road to use. It is by looking at a toilet at the Menyan bridge. If you can see the water, which is on the same level as the toilet, definately do not use Stabau. Or even if the water is a 2 feet below the toilet. I will take a photo of it when water level is normal.

For those of you who don't know, the bridge that I have been using to take photo is a Bailey Bridge. Meaning it is a easy to built bridge because the original bridge had collapsed. Due to what??? I'll let you all to speculate. The people here had been living without a proper bridge for 2 years. Here is a picture of it.

Trojan/Worm

2009-04-12T20:49:00.004+08:00

The latest variant of the conficker worm finally shows its true face, and that is to make money. This variant E is first detected last week.

Variant E of the worm was the first to use the base of Conficker-infected computers for an ulterior purpose. It downloads and installs two additional payloads:[30]

* Waledac, a spambot otherwise known to propagate through e-mail attachments.[38] Waledac operates similarly to the 2008 Storm worm and is believed to be written by the same authors.[39][40]
* SpyProtect 2009, a scareware anti-virus product.

Taken from http://www.katu.com/news/tech/42811892.html
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm's authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.

As many as 12 million computers have been infected by Conficker. Security firm Trend Micro says some of the machines have been updated over the past few days with fake antivirus software - the first attempt by Conficker's authors to profit from their massive "botnet."

Criminals use bogus security software to extort money. Victims are told their computers are infected, and can be fixed only by paying for a clean-up that never happens.

Conficker gets on computers through a hole Microsoft patched in October. PCs set up for automatic Windows updates should be clean.

Here are a few links about the conficker
microsoft
Conficker Working Group

Death...

2009-04-06T21:04:00.000+08:00

Recently my friend just passed away after suffering from cancer. At least she suffers for less than a month. Anyway here is a story explaining what happen after death.

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
Leave the examination room and said,
'Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side. '
Very quietly, the doctor said, ' I don ' t know. '
'You don ' t know? You ' re, a Christian man, And don ' t know what ' s on the other side? '
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
'Did you notice my dog?
He ' s never been in this room before.
He didn ' t know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough. '

Deleting jwgkvsq.vmx

2009-04-06T20:20:00.000+08:00

Just found out that the conficker worm creates an undeleteable autorun.inf in the root drive of the USB drive.

When I tried to delete it, the msg appears as follows:

Error deleting file or folder.

Cannot delete autorun: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected
and that the file is not currently in use.

So what I did was to go to the properties of the autorun file.
Click on the Security tab.
Click on the advanced button.
Change the owner to my user. Or add the current user (in my case here, admin) to allow permissions for the full control of the file.

Before I change it, the owner was the worm in the recycler folder.

After adding the owner and changing the permissions, I was able to delete the file.
Thank goodness....

Btw: remember my last post? about jwgkvsq.vmx? It is actually Conficker.

Disable USB Drive

2009-04-05T20:13:00.005+08:00

Remember the previous post where my pc was infected by a virus/worm? It was the conficker!! Or downaup virus.. No wonder so difficult to remove. Got several variants...
And very virulent!!

How to test for it? Here is a simple test. Just go to this site: http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

You should be able to see the pictures below if you are not infected.
If not you better go to the site. The explanation is there.

Anyway microsoft is offering USD$ 250 000 for information that leads to the arrest of the writer of the worm.

Here is something I got from the net. Forgot where I got it. This is used to disable USB storage device. There a few tweaks to completely disable USB but for me, storage device is the main culprit for trojan and virus to spread, so this is the way. Cos if you disable USB, devices such as keyboards, mouse and etc could not be used.

A more reasonable option for sysadmins is to disable write access to USB port so that data files cannot be written to the mass storage device. The USB thumb drive will be read-only.

Open the Windows Registry and open the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Now add a new DWORD called WriteProtect and put the value as 0 to disable write privileges to the USB port. To reverse the step, either delete the WriteProtect REG_DWORD or toggle the value to 1 which will enable the port.

Remember that the above trick works only with Windows XP SP2.

If you like to go a step further and disable users from connecting USB storage devices to their computers, here's the trick:

Open registry and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\UsbStor

Now in the right pane, double-click Start and type 4 in the Value data box (Hexadecimal) and quite the registry editor. To enable the USB storage devices, change the Start value back to 3.

As always - back your system up before messing around in the registry.

Just open regedit and browse to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

Notice the value 'Start'

Switch this value to 4, and USB storage devices are disabled.

Switch this value to 3, and USB storage devices are enabled.

Hope this helps.
Oh ya..
This few tools are a must if you are infected. Or not.
One is the windows update.
Then conficker remover.

Sense of smell

2009-03-26T22:46:00.000+08:00

Haven't been able to smell for more almost 2 weeks now. All because of my sickness. But now feeling better. Except for the constant headache. Otherwise I'm healthy as a horse, a week horse that is.

I really wish I could smell again, so that I can taste the food. For me food is now just odourless. Cant even differenciate between coffee and tea.

Fire in the hole!!

2009-03-24T21:15:00.002+08:00

Was woken up by my parents. 5 am in the morning. There was a fire at my neighbour's house. Call Doc C. I immedietely call Dr C and told him that his house was on fire.
Then I quickly went down to see if i can put out the fire. But the fire was too big. And I was onlone. And still sick.

Then I just used the garden hose to wet my neighbours wall. Just to cool it down.
Waited for a long time for them to arrive. While my father calls the police and fire department.

The bomba took a very long time. My advice to everyone. if you have a fire, better put it out yourself. You definately cant wait for them cos each seconds count.

Sick...

2009-03-22T21:39:00.002+08:00

Down with flu, fever, cough, headache and whatever you can name.
Today finally I can stay awake for the whole day doing nothing.
After 3 days of non-moving, with the exception of getting up for wc and drink a few sips of water. Thats about it.

I lost 4 of my 5 senses during this time. Actually all my senses are down But my sense of smell is completely lost. I can taste the 4 basic taste = sweet, sour, salty and bitter(especially heigthen this time).

Cant smell anything. Cant smell the roses. Cant even smell my own shit. (Not that i try ok?) No toilet business for this week. hahaha.

Went to see a few doctors.
Finally afraid that i was getting dengue after my camp at YMCA so went to do a blood test. Luckily it was not dengue. But the doctor gave me 5 types of medicines!!
1)Chlorpheniramine
2)metoclopramide()
3)erythromycin
4)paracetamol
5)Mist. ammonium & ipecacuanha ()
scary...

Trojan

2009-03-13T19:44:00.000+08:00

Infected by a trojan. The trojan created an open UDP port at 123.
Then another TCP at 135( I think... but this port is used by Netbios).

Then it creates a folder Recycler/S-5-3-42-2819952290-8240758988-879315005-3665/jwgkvsq.vmx
Size is 159KB. It also creates an autorun.inf file with the size of 58KB.

Services stared using the svhost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

By using services.msc I identified a few services that use svhost.exe
Service name:
1)Help and Support from the services menu.
2)COM+ Event System
3)Windows Management Instrumentation
4)Themes
5)System Event Notification

This is which i have disabled during startup so it should be the source of infection.
6)DHCP Client
7)Computer Browser
8)Secondary Logon
9)Server

WolframAlpha

2009-03-10T13:38:00.003+08:00

A new kid is coming to town. And it is going to be big. Bigger than Google.
And it is called WolframApha.

What it is you may ask? Simply put, it is an electronic brain, that can answer you questions. I mean answer your questions! Like in using natural language.
Google uses keywords that you typed in the search engine and compared it with the huge databases that it has.

Wolfram:

Wolfram Alpha is a system for computing the answers to questions. To accomplish this it uses built-in models of fields of knowledge, complete with data and algorithms, that represent real-world knowledge.

For example, it contains formal models of much of what we know about science — massive amounts of data about various physical laws and properties, as well as data about the physical world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/09/search-engine-google

Evolution of Religion

2009-03-04T20:52:00.003+08:00

Had a revelation!
Found out that religion and life is almost the same.
Not the philosophical kind of way.
But literally.

How does life begin?
From the mud. From prions. From proteins.
How does it replicate?
By using DNA, RNA.

How does religion begin?
From animism. Polytheism.

Then monotheism. Hindu. Buddhism.

童话 - 王光良

2009-03-02T23:50:00.003+08:00

Just watch the mv. It is about a guy learning to sing and play for a competition. Then he puts his handphone on the piano so that his girlfriend can listen to him.
Because the girl is sick...

You can read the English translation of the song in the movie below.

忘了有多久再没听到你
对我说你最爱的故事
我想了很久我开始慌了
是不是我又做错了什么

你哭着对我说童话里都是骗人的
我不可能是你的王子
也许你不会懂从你说爱我以后
我的天空星星都亮了

我愿变成童话里你爱的那个天使
张开双手变成翅膀守护你
你要相信相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局

我要变成童话里你爱的那个天使
张开双手变成翅膀守护你
你要相信相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局

我会变成童话里你爱的那个天使
张开双手变成翅膀守护你
你要相信相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局
一起写我们的结局

Trouble with Internet (2)

2009-03-02T00:06:00.004+08:00

Remember my last post about the slow internet?
Well... Found out the reason from limkitsiang's blog. Here is the reason taken from it.

We strongly believe this is mainly due to the damage to TM Net’s
international link to North America via Asia Pacific. The international link named by TM Net in an announcement on 24 February 2009 is APCN2. According to their statement, “TM expects the complete recover of its services by 5 March 2009.”

We also understand that not all streamyx users are affected equally. Those with IP address starting with 118, 115 and 124 are affected severely while those with IP address starting with 60 experience almost no interruption. To check what IP address you are on, visit http://myip.dk.

You may get around the APNC2 problem by directing the traffic via Europe. To do this, you will have to use a proxy server located in Europe. We recommend the proxy in Britain listed at the following website : http://www.xroxy.com/proxy-country-GB.htm

Please note, using the proxy recommended below will not allow you to login to the blog to comment due to limitation of free service.

To set proxy on Firefox in Windows;
1.Click Tools, Options
2.Click Advanced, Network, Settings
3.Click Manual proxy configuration:
4.Key in 194.36.10.156 for HTTP Proxy: and 3128 for Port:
5.Click Ok and you are done.

To set proxy on Internet Explorer 7:
1.Click on Tools, Internet Options
2.Click on Connections, LAN settings
3.Check the Proxy server option
4.Key in 194.36.10.156 for Address: and 3128 for Port:
5.Click Ok and Ok again and you are done.

A note : Please do not use open proxy to login to any online banking website or paypal or equivalent website.

Updated!!!
Oh ya... Forgot to mention that we can apply for discount/rebate if our connection have problem. But we must report the problem to the call centre. Only after they have the report number you can get the rebate/discount.

Rebate and gone

2009-02-28T21:10:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, I went to get the Rebate for my bike and car.
Guess what? All the money gone in the same afternoon.

But it is for a good cause. Upgrading my car's audio system. Bought a new stereo system, Pioneer = CD(mp3 and wma) and tuner At the same time change the speakers. Cause my old speakers are twisted by the sun.

But after a week ++ listening to it, I found out that I need to put a set of speakers in front. Not actually need but you get what I mean. Maybe a set of tweeters.

Kiss- Because I am a Girl (18SX)

2009-02-26T21:37:00.003+08:00

This is a very good song. First heard the song when I was in College.
Just watch the video below and it may bring tears to your eyes.

Here is the English translation of the lyrics:

I just can't understand the ways
Of all the men and their mistakes
You give them all your heart
And then they rip it all away

You told me how much you loved me
And how our love was meant to be
And I believed in you
I thought that you would set me free

(REFRAIN):
You should've just told me the truth
That I wasn't the girl for you
Still, I didn't have a clue
So my heart depended on you, whoa

(CHORUS):
Although I'll say I hate you now
Though I'll shout and curse you out
I'll always have love for you
Because I am a girl

Been told a man will leave you cold
Get sick of you and bored
I know that it's no lie
I gave my all, still I just cry

Never again will I be fooled
To give my all when nothing's true
I won't be played again
But I will fall in love again

(REFRAIN)

(CHORUS)

I loved you so
Now you leave me in the cold
How could this be
I thought that you'd only love me

Into the night
I will pray that you're alright
You hurt me so
I just can't let you go

You took advantage of my willingness
To do anything for love
Now I'm the only one in pain
Will you please take it all away

Never thought being born a girl
How I can love you and be burned
And now I will build a wall
To never get torn again

(CHORUS) [2x]

Scandisk Error

2009-02-24T20:39:00.001+08:00

Remember the day that I lost my partition while resizing my external HD?
I am able to recover it after trying a few recovery software.
One favourable review is by using Active Partition Recovery.

I have been able to get my partition back but there are a few files that are corrupted. Tried to scandisk but an error came out.

"Windows was unable to complete the disk check"

Damn it... Then I have to use chkdsk. Found a few errors and fixed it.
But still got problem. Right now I just leave it for a while. Until I have more time to backup my data and try repartition it again.

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is New Volume.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
0 percent completed.
1 percent completed.
2 percent completed.
3 percent completed.
4 percent completed.
5 percent completed.
6 percent completed.
7 percent completed.
8 percent completed.
9 percent completed.
10 percent completed.
11 percent completed.
12 percent completed.
13 percent completed.
14 percent completed.
15 percent completed.
16 percent completed.
17 percent completed.
18 percent completed.
19 percent completed.
20 percent completed.
21 percent completed.
22 percent completed.
23 percent completed.
24 percent completed.
25 percent completed.
26 percent completed.
27 percent completed.
28 percent completed.
29 percent completed.
30 percent completed.
31 percent completed.
32 percent completed.
33 percent completed.
34 percent completed.
35 percent completed.
36 percent completed.
37 percent completed.
38 percent completed.
39 percent completed.
40 percent completed.
41 percent completed.
42 percent completed.
43 percent completed.
44 percent completed.
45 percent completed.
46 percent completed.
47 percent completed.
48 percent completed.
49 percent completed.
50 percent completed.
51 percent completed.
52 percent completed.
53 percent completed.
54 percent completed.
55 percent completed.
56 percent completed.
57 percent completed.
58 percent completed.
59 percent completed.
60 percent completed.
61 percent completed.
62 percent completed.
63 percent completed.
64 percent completed.
65 percent completed.
66 percent completed.
67 percent completed.
68 percent completed.
69 percent completed.
70 percent completed.
71 percent completed.
72 percent completed.
73 percent completed.
74 percent completed.
75 percent completed.
76 percent completed.
77 percent completed.
78 percent completed.
79 percent completed.
80 percent completed.
81 percent completed.
82 percent completed.
83 percent completed.
84 percent completed.
85 percent completed.
86 percent completed.
87 percent completed.
88 percent completed.
89 percent completed.
90 percent completed.
91 percent completed.
92 percent completed.
93 percent completed.
94 percent completed.
95 percent completed.
96 percent completed.
97 percent completed.
98 percent completed.
99 percent completed.
100 percent completed.
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
0 percent completed.
1 percent completed.
2 percent completed.
3 percent completed.
4 percent completed.
5 percent completed.
6 percent completed.
7 percent completed.
8 percent completed.
9 percent completed.
10 percent completed.
11 percent completed.
12 percent completed.
13 percent completed.
14 percent completed.
15 percent completed.
16 percent completed.
17 percent completed.
18 percent completed.
19 percent completed.
20 percent completed.
21 percent completed.
22 percent completed.
23 percent completed.
24 percent completed.
25 percent completed.
26 percent completed.
27 percent completed.
28 percent completed.
29 percent completed.
30 percent completed.
31 percent completed.
32 percent completed.
33 percent completed.
34 percent completed.
35 percent completed.
36 percent completed.
37 percent completed.
38 percent completed.
39 percent completed.
40 percent completed.
41 percent completed.
42 percent completed.
43 percent completed.
44 percent completed.
45 percent completed.
46 percent completed.
47 percent completed.
48 percent completed.
49 percent completed.
50 percent completed.
51 percent completed.
52 percent completed.
53 percent completed.
54 percent completed.
55 percent completed.
56 percent completed.
57 percent completed.
58 percent completed.
59 percent completed.
60 percent completed.
61 percent completed.
62 percent completed.
63 percent completed.
64 percent completed.
65 percent completed.
66 percent completed.
67 percent completed.
68 percent completed.
69 percent completed.
70 percent completed.
71 percent completed.
72 percent completed.
73 percent completed.
74 percent completed.
75 percent completed.
76 percent completed.
77 percent completed.
78 percent completed.
79 percent completed.
80 percent completed.
81 percent completed.
82 percent completed.
83 percent completed.
84 percent completed.
85 percent completed.
86 percent completed.
87 percent completed.
88 percent completed.
89 percent completed.
90 percent completed.
91 percent completed.
92 percent completed.
93 percent completed.
94 percent completed.
95 percent completed.
96 percent completed.
97 percent completed.
98 percent completed.
99 percent completed.
100 percent completed.
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
0 percent completed.
1 percent completed.
2 percent completed.
3 percent completed.
4 percent completed.
5 percent completed.
6 percent completed.
7 percent completed.
8 percent completed.
9 percent completed.
10 percent completed.
11 percent completed.
12 percent completed.
13 percent completed.
14 percent completed.
15 percent completed.
16 percent completed.
17 percent completed.
18 percent completed.
19 percent completed.
20 percent completed.
21 percent completed.
22 percent completed.
23 percent completed.
24 percent completed.
25 percent completed.
26 percent completed.
27 percent completed.
28 percent completed.
29 percent completed.
30 percent completed.
31 percent completed.
32 percent completed.
33 percent completed.
34 percent completed.
35 percent completed.
36 percent completed.
37 percent completed.
38 percent completed.
39 percent completed.
40 percent completed.
41 percent completed.
42 percent completed.
43 percent completed.
44 percent completed.
45 percent completed.
46 percent completed.
47 percent completed.
48 percent completed.
49 percent completed.
50 percent completed.
51 percent completed.
52 percent completed.
53 percent completed.
54 percent completed.
55 percent completed.
56 percent completed.
57 percent completed.
58 percent completed.
59 percent completed.
60 percent completed.
61 percent completed.
62 percent completed.
63 percent completed.
64 percent completed.
65 percent completed.
66 percent completed.
67 percent completed.
68 percent completed.
69 percent completed.
70 percent completed.
71 percent completed.
72 percent completed.
73 percent completed.
74 percent completed.
75 percent completed.
76 percent completed.
77 percent completed.
78 percent completed.
79 percent completed.
80 percent completed.
81 percent completed.
82 percent completed.
83 percent completed.
84 percent completed.
85 percent completed.
86 percent completed.
87 percent completed.
88 percent completed.
89 percent completed.
90 percent completed.
91 percent completed.
92 percent completed.
93 percent completed.
94 percent completed.
95 percent completed.
96 percent completed.
97 percent completed.
98 percent completed.
99 percent completed.
100 percent completed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

312568824 KB total disk space.
44312916 KB in 15892 files.
8988 KB in 902 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
92372 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
268154548 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
78142206 total allocation units on disk.
67038637 allocation units available on disk.

Damn the slow Web

2009-02-23T22:43:00.004+08:00

These few days my internet sucks. Really damn slow. Don't really know what is the problem. Either the DNS server is acting up. But I'm using openDNS so I don't think that it is the problem. Anyway my downloading is fine. It is just the web surfing that is damn slow.

Here is the internet traffic report. Seems like the whole Asia is experiencing packet loss.

Region	Current Index	Avg. Response Time (ms)	Avg. Packet Loss (%)
Asia	59	373	21 %
Australia	79	182 >	2 %
Europe	76	228	6 %
North America	88	114	5 %
South America	87	122	0 %

And here is a more detailed report on the Asian router.

Router	Location	Current Index	Response Time (ms)	Packet Loss (%)
misschaos.chaos-studio.com	China (Shanghai)	29	204	62
ns2.rilinfo.net	India (Bangalore)	70	294	0
gsrmum.vsnl.net.in	India (Mumbai)	73	264	0
core-mgl.cbn.net.id	Indonesia (Mangole)	78	215	0
router1.iust.ac.ir	Iran (Tehran)	0	0	100
gi0-1.thr-001-core-1.ctel.ir	Iran (Tehran)	72	279	0
nat.mindu.co.il	Israel (Tel Aviv)	77	223	0
cs1mr1.comsourceone.com	Japan (Tokyo)	0	0	100
itr-test.isp.qa	Qatar (Doha)	74	257	0
gateway.ix.singtel.com	Singapore	79	202	0
tpnoc1-osr-transit.ix.giga.net.tw	Taiwan	83	170	0

Frogs for lunch

2009-02-20T21:52:00.003+08:00

Yesterday had frogs for lunch. :p Tasted quite sweet, but I dont know whether it is because of the herbs that are cooked with it or the taste itself. The Chinese called it the Water Chicken(水鸡) because it tasted like chicken. But for me the texture is more to fish than to red meat.

And it is quite expensive too. RM 30.00 per Kg.

Nabau

2009-02-15T22:34:00.007+08:00

Sarawak has just recently recovered from a major flood. You can click on links from my friend to see the flood in Sibu by Wen and Tsai.

Last week there was a news about a huge snake reported in Utusan Borneo and some Chinese newspapers.

The locals here called it Nabau. It is a mythical creature. Something like the Loch Ness monster.

Nabau is giant snake according to the Iban folklore.
It is huge and may have a goatee.
Some may even have legs.

Some say that if you swim under the Nabau, you will never be bitten by any other snakes because you swam under the King of Snakes.

This picture is labeled as Dipa. Not sure what it means.
Anyone?

Anyway here is a blog about someone who knows more about the origin of the pciture. There is a bigger picture there.

This is labeled as Dipa Btg Igan. To me it doesn't seem to be like a snake.
Maybe photoshoped? Tell me what you think..

Car trouble

2009-02-15T22:16:00.002+08:00

Another RM111 gone yesterday....

Suddenly cant switch into gear 1 in my Waja. Actually cant even shift into other gears at all. Seems that the gear is stuck. Luckily the car behind me at the traffic light did not press their horn. They know that I have car trouble since I switched on my emergency light. At the traffic light they avoided to wait behind me. hahaha...
Tried to shift the gear a few more times and finally can get the car to move. So I drive slowly to the workshop.

Finally I arrive at the workshop and guess what? The car can't move anymore. hahaha.
Why do I laugh? Cause the car was stuck at the entrance and like it or not, they have to fix my car first. If not cars won't be able to get in or out of the workshop.

Anyway I guess it was a problem with the clutch since I am unable to shift my gears.
Even when I had fully press down the clutch, the cars still tried to move.

They finish fixing my car at around 4 pm. Sigh.. No time to rest. Morning have to work. Then help a friend set up his streamyx. Then fix car. Then badminton.

System restore failed

2009-02-08T22:59:00.005+08:00

Had this problem with my system restore after I restore it as a result of my deleting the user account on my pc last time.

System Restore is not able to create a restore point.
Please restart the computer, and then run System Restore again.

What am I going to do?
Here is a tip from the net. Want to try it later.

statemgr MUST be enabled in msconfig for system restore to
work.

To check:
Start>Run>(type) msconfig>Startup Tab>make sure statemgr is check>OK>restart if prompted to.

Then try this if it is still not working.

1. Restart your computer in Safe or DOS Mode.
2. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
3. In the Named box, type wininit.ini.
4. In the Look in box, click Local hard drives, and then click Find Now.
5. Right-click the Wininit.ini file, click Rename, type wininit.xxx, and then click OK.
6. Close the Find Files window, and then run System Restore again.
7. If the previous steps do not resolve the problem, run the following command to repair the damaged portions of your registry:
Start>Run>(type) scanreg /fix

UPDATED!!
I cant even do scandisk! I tried to scandisk in the tools tab.
Have to use the DOS based CHKDSK.
And found quite a lot of errors.
Fixed it and hope it will be ok

Recovering from a Partition Resize

2009-02-01T23:39:00.004+08:00

Damn it!!! Just now was trying to resize my partition on my external hardisk. Suddenly my pc went kaput and now my hardisk is unformatted!!!!
Was using EASEUS Partition Manager. Trying to resize the partition. Then create a new one. 300 GB is too big for one partition.

How am I going to recover the data????
I have lots of file in my HD! :(
My ebooks, mv, animes, software, songs.. Aargh!!!!

6th Day of CNY

2009-01-31T21:34:00.003+08:00

It is the 6th day of CNY. Just want to recap what happened during the first week of CNY.

1st Day.
Visited grandma. Ah Qi already scolded us for being late. haha.. Then her house. After that Alex came with his family. In the afternoon, my father and I went to Teochew Association. Soon Koh, Robert Lau and Daniel are visiting. Sorry for the lack of title addressing. Lazy to type the whole lot.

At night went out with the Swan City. First Toh Hee, John Lau, Sim and lastly Clements house. Until after 12 am, helping kevin to register his I-Tune thingy.

2nd Day
My sis came back! :) She arrived in the morning. Say Huat came at around noon. Then after lunch we visited the DeNai. Then Public. After that Meena and 4 Gu. The last visit in the afternoon was JiEe. Went back around 7pm.

Nite we had visitors. After that we (Meena, MeeIng, MeeChang)& family went to Say Huat's house. A convoy. heheh

3rd Day
I was sick. Went to see a Doc. Sleep whole day because of the med.
Actifed. At nite we plan to have dinner at the Hong Fu. But it was closed. So we went to Shabu. The road was flooded. We watched the flood rising as we eat. Then we went to granma's but she slept d. So we went to MeeIng. Supper we had kampua.

4th Day
Plan to have laksa in the morning but my sis and hubby woke up late. And my mom's colleague came. So have to serve them. A whole bunch of them. Not enough seats even.
No time to have breakfast. Then we went to Nice House for our lunch. Then went to my PK1 house. Sleep for a while then dinner at home. Dinner was nice. Semah and sea cucumber soup. After dinner we went to granma's house. Until 9 plus. Actually my fren was going to visit me but I was not at home. Sorry Sie Wei. After that I went to pick up him and went to Wen's house. Chatted with his collegue until almost 1 am.

5th Day
Went to have laksa. Finally. :) After that send my sister and her hubby to the airport. Quite sad... Saw Soon Koh sending her daughter also. Saw someone who looks like Stella Chung. Is she from Sibu?

In the afternoon, I plan to visit a few frens but they were not at home. So I end up at Wen's house. Chatting the whole afternoon.

At night I went out to visit MeiLing, my house and Steven's house. 4 gu & family also came to my house at the same time.

6th Day
Today I watch tv the whole morning. Then a few episodes of House MD. Alan came and we chatted about the Secret. Then my normal badminton session. Finally I decided to blog about this week. Kind of forgotten everything already. Have to think quite hard to recall what I did in the past week. Luckily my sister reminded me a few things.

ASP.NET Machine A...'s

2009-01-29T16:29:00.000+08:00

Had a very itchy hand a few days ago. Saw in the user accounts an account with the name ASP.NET Machine A...'s. Since i never created the account I just thought that it was maybe a spyware or something like that.

So I just decided to remove the user account since I don't have the password for it. Then hell came...

My pc suddenly becomes slower, crawling even. Cant run any program. I can't use windows explorer or do anything at all. S***. What have I done?

Regretted my impulsive behaviour. I was thinking.. Oh no. I have to reinstall my windows! Then I decided to boot into safe mode and try to see if i can undo what I did.

Tried system restore. It was damn slow. Actually the msg "Not responding" is on the system restore window. Left it for half an hour and finally it managed to restore back my pc.

But to a state where lots of programs I installed cant be used anymore.
Regretted that i did not backup my registry. But then I'm glad that I don't need to reinstall windows.

After this I need to learn how to back up my registry.

Kiss- Because I am a Girl

2009-01-25T14:52:00.000+08:00

This is a very good song. Can bring tears to your eyes..

Here is the English translation of the lyrics:

I just can't understand the ways
Of all the men and their mistakes
You give them all your heart
And then they rip it all away

You told me how much you loved me
And how our love was meant to be
And I believed in you
I thought that you would set me free

(REFRAIN):
You should've just told me the truth
That I wasn't the girl for you
Still, I didn't have a clue
So my heart depended on you, whoa

(CHORUS):
Although I'll say I hate you now
Though I'll shout and curse you out
I'll always have love for you
Because I am a girl

Been told a man will leave you cold
Get sick of you and bored
I know that it's no lie
I gave my all, still I just cry

Never again will I be fooled
To give my all when nothing's true
I won't be played again
But I will fall in love again

(REFRAIN)

(CHORUS)

I loved you so
Now you leave me in the cold
How could this be
I thought that you'd only love me

Into the night
I will pray that you're alright
You hurt me so
I just can't let you go

You took advantage of my willingness
To do anything for love
Now I'm the only one in pain
Will you please take it all away

Never thought being born a girl
How I can love you and be burned
And now I will build a wall
To never get torn again

(CHORUS) [2x]

The Terminal

2009-01-25T00:26:00.000+08:00

The Terminal. The latest night club in town. Just beside RHB bank. Just opened today. With lots of people. And a dj at the front of the stage. But not many lenglui lor… Mostly just guys. Maybe it is still early… Around 12 am.

Anyway it is CNY eve now. So want to wish everyone a very Happy NIU Year!!

Disk partitioning.

2009-01-18T21:23:00.002+08:00

Want to partition my HD. Wondering which software to use. Any recommendation?
And i want to partition to drive a: if possible.

And here are a few that I found from Wikipedia.
* Acronis Disk Director Suite
* Apple Disk Utility
* BeOS Partition Manager and Boot Manager
* Disk Doctors Partition Recovery[3]
* Microsoft Logical Disk Manager or Disk Management Console (diskmgmt.msc), part of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista
* Microsoft diskpart
* Paragon Partition Manager[2]
* Solaris format utility
* Symantec PartitionMagic and ServerMagic
* TeraByte Unlimited's BootIt NG

Snapter- Scanning Documents without scanner

2009-01-11T20:28:00.003+08:00

Came across this site, a review site about
Snapter: Scan Your Documents Without A Scanner.

This is for those who doesn't have a scanner, but has a digital camera. It will adjust your photos into readable documents. Haven't tried it but if any of you have tried it you can leave your comments below.

Here is the link if you want to download the software.
http://www.snapter.atiz.com/index.php

War in Gaza

2009-01-09T20:44:00.004+08:00

It has been more than a week since the Israeli forces went into Gaza. Don't get me wrong but I don't really care about war in far away places. I think that war is the stupidest thing man could ever do.

Anyway when I saw a photo of a father crying for his children, my heart cried out for them. This is stupid....

The Israeli is wrong to "attack" Gaza. But then Hamas is stupid too. Why can't they just say sorry and they lose the war. Then the civilians could at least be saved.

Sigh... Just pray for all of them.

PS: Here is a link to a different point of view. On why Hamas is the wrong side here. It is written by Alan M. Dershowitz. He is a law professor at Harvard. His latest book is The Case Against Israel's Enemies (Wiley, 2008).

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1149129&p=1

Here is a link showing Hamas requesting children to form a human shield!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=351_1231430391
WTF?

Keyboard Problem

2009-01-05T20:09:00.003+08:00

Had a problem with my keyboard. When I type in @ the char # will appear. Actually it not the problem with my keyboard. It is keyboard remapping. It is just that when I installed East Asian Language in my computer. At that time I set the keyboard setting to UK.

The solution? Just remove the UK keyboard from the Regional Settings and install US keyboard. Thats all.

Trouble with Internet

2008-12-31T20:06:00.000+08:00

Want to connect to internet but having problem just now.
My DSL light is stable. Its just that I cant connect to the net.
After spending almost an hour with the support from TM doing this and that.
Finally found out the problem....

My DNS server. Should put it to streamyx's DNS.
The DNS are:
202.188.0.133
202.188.1.5

Before that I have to flush DNS.
The command is ipconfig /flushdns

Actually I have been using OpenDNS for quite some time without much problem.
Maybe its because of the undersea cable near Egypt. I don't know.
Later maybe I'll change again.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart

2008-12-23T23:24:00.002+08:00

The video to "Last Christmas" saw George and partner Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at their home in an unspecified ski resort, although the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland. It became clear early on, however, that Andrew's girlfriend had previously been in a relationship with George, and it was to her character the song was aimed.

This is the version by Hilary Duff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXqqrl-XE7g

This is the original by WHAM.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZhoF9Isf0o

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance but you still catch my eye
Tell me baby do you recognise me?
Well it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me

(Merry Christmas!) I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying "I Love You" I meant it
Now I know what a fool I've been
But if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again

(CHORUS)

(Oooh. Oooh Baby)

A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I'm hiding from you and your soul of ice
My God I thought you were someone to rely on
Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on
A face on a lover with a fire in her heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Oooh Oooh
Now I've found a real love you'll never fool me again
(CHORUS)

A face on a lover with a fire in her heart
(Gave you my heart)
A girl undercover but you tore me apart
Maybe next year
I'll give it to someone,
I'll give it to someone special (special)
someone
someone

===============
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
who'll give me something in return
I'll give it to someone
hold my heart and watch it burn
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
I've got you here to stay
I can love you for a day
I thought you were someone special
gave you my heart
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone
last christmas I gave you my heart
you gave it away
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone

Night out....

2008-12-22T19:47:00.002+08:00

Went for a yamcha session last night. With a few acquaintances.
A few professionals. Some of them pharmacist, doctors, police officers, and politicians. No lawyers this time. So as usual the topics will usually turn to the issues of corruption, politics and gangsterism. We argued on what should the opposition do. What they are doing wrong and stuff like that.

We questioned him(the politician) about on why Anwar still doesn't want to take over the government if he already has the numbers? Where is the shadow cabinet? The reason is quite long and I'm not going to put it here. Still the same issue. You can find the explanation in Malaysia Today.

New mouse again

2008-12-21T19:14:00.007+08:00

My old mouse, MobileGear is still quite new, meaning I haven't use it in more than a year when the axel of the scroll wheel snapped. I bought it this CNY with my sister.
Sigh... Want to see if i can glue the broken plastic back together. If not then I have to use the new mouse.

Today bought another mouse for my laptop. This time I bought Logitech V120 optical laser mice. Cost RM55.00 with 3 years limited warranty. Don't know what does that mean. Maybe some of you can give some idea.

Anyway here is the feature stated on the website: Convenience

Cord Management: Cord winds neatly into base, USB plug snaps securely into place protecting laser lens.

But I think it is quite troublesome if I just need a short cable from mouse to laptop. Maybe a spring operated cable is much better.

Shoes for Bush

2008-12-18T21:05:00.006+08:00

These two days the news is full of news about Bush being attacked by a reporter.
The second day,(yesterday)there is a flash version of the game.

Then today I found a funny image. But it is quite big. Over 1Mb in size. If it is copyrighted please tell..
The title is "Bush Captured!"

If you do watch pokemon, you will understand... Haha..

Car Service

2008-12-15T22:47:00.006+08:00

Money draining out of my pocket this week. Today spent more than RM700 to service my car.

Alignment should be RM 30.oo but since we change 4 pieces of wheels, they provide the alignment service free of charge. Using computerized Miller software to align the wheels. POKAI

Particulars	Price per unit	Total
Change contact:	RM 80.00	RM 80.00
Change tyres	RM 130 x 4	RM 520.00
Rear absorbers	RM 70.00 x2	RM 135.00
Absorber Dampers	RM 10.00 x2	RM 20.00
Labour charges + Gov taxes	RM 30.00 + RM 1.50	RM 31.50
Grand total		RM 706.50

How to save the world from Economic Depression.

2008-12-13T22:24:00.003+08:00

The problem with all these ideas is the money is only directed at those who created or benefited from the problems. Why not attack the situation in a manner that will benefit most everyone, an approach that has been successful before and, when compared to the current course, has little downside?

I came across this article in the Forbes. It is written by Frank Beck. It tells us how to solve the world from Economic Depression. The solution?

World currencies should be devalued overnight.

It can be done on a country-by-country basis, but a coordinated devaluation would work best. A devaluation of 30% would raise the dollar value of all assets by 43%. A $200,000 home with a $230,000 mortgage would become a $286,000 home with the same mortgage. Presto! The homeowner who was $30,000 upside-down now has $56,000 equity and a good reason to make his payments. Both the homeowner and the bank are immediately better-off.

It would even benefit those who purchased their homes responsibly, as the value of their homes would rise by the same 43%. The current course of throwing trillions of dollars at the culprits is without any benefit to those who acted responsibly.

Admittedly, this is not a solution without the price of inflation, but the inflation would be short-lived. The current course will ultimately cause massive inflation that cannot be accurately estimated, and it may not even solve the problem.

Currency devaluation proved effective in ending the Great Depression. In 1930, Australia was the first to leave the gold standard, immediately devaluing the aussie by more than 40%, and the economy quickly recovered. New Zealand and Japan followed suit in 1931, each with the same result. By 1933, at least nine major economies had enacted a devaluation of their currency by removing it from the gold standard, all of whom emerged from depression.

In 1933, through a series of gold-related acts, culminating in the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, America realized a dollar devaluation of 41% when the price of gold was adjusted from $20.67 per ounce of gold to $35 per ounce. America, like the others before, had its economy bottom and recover as a result. Of the larger economies, only the French and Italians continued to adhere to the gold standard, and their economies remained depressed until finally, in 1936, they allowed their currencies to devalue, and their economies then recovered.

I see no reason to believe we would have any different result today. Only debt would remain the same. All other assets would immediately be worth more (in nominal terms), whether it be a home, a stock, an ounce of gold or a used car. Bank balance sheets would immediately improve, as many loans would be moved from non-performing to performing status. Banks would be paid with devalued dollars, but they made millions creating the mess. The current use of government stimulus through the creation of dollars will certainly lead to a similar or worse devaluation, so this is likely a net gain for the banks too.

Businesses would instantly become more profitable, and workers' pay would increase, allowing each to pay their debts more easily, even while sending more tax dollars to Washington, without raising tax rates. As assets are sold, the capital gains would send even more taxes to Washington. States and locales would receive more revenue via sales and property tax, improving the fiscal condition of school districts and local governments. The national debt would effectively be reduced by the same 25%, giving future generations a chance. Combine the move with a congressional pledge to only raise the budget by half the devaluation, and we could be on track for a balanced budget and paying down the debt.

As the old Saturday Night Live skit said, "Think of inflation as your friend. Wouldn't you like to wear $1,000 suits and smoke $100 cigars?" I know I would.

Frank Beck is Chief Investment Manager of Capital Financial Group and ProPlayer Investing in Austin, Texas, an affiliate of Partnervest Securities of Santa Barbara, Calif. Mr. Beck may be reached at Frank@FrankBeck.com.

Natures Grossest Creatures

2008-12-12T19:53:00.005+08:00

Just came onto something interesting while surfing just now.
Some of nature's Grosset Creatures..

For example the Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-12/natures-grossest-creatures

Beware!!! If you can't stand it, don't click on the link above!!
It is really gross!!

Chameleon

2008-12-05T20:50:00.003+08:00

Saw a chameleon on my way back from school today. Almost crushed it to death. I was thinking of catching it but I drove too fast. Couldn't stop in time.

Reminded me a few of my encounters with it in the wild. The first time is while waiting at a bus stop in KL (Taman Tun if I'm not mistaken).

Then once during my training years in MPR. I caught one on my way to class. Put it in a bucket. It really changes colour, from green to brown but not much. And when I brought back to the hostel, my friend was so afraid of it. He said that if we are bitten by it, we would die before we could walk 7 steps. I guess that is the Chinese belief. Never knew it before.

The other time was when we are going for jungle trekking during the Toastmaster's Youth Leadership Camp this year. Caught it but don't know what to do with it so just take a photo of it and let it go.

Refund (2)

2008-12-05T20:41:00.003+08:00

Remember my last post about my canceled trip? Well I was thinking of how to get my refund back.
I've mentioned how Airasia had refunded my flight ticket. Actually they did not refund the flight ticket, they just refund me back for all the airport taxes, managment fees, the nasi lemak I ordered and the baggage handling fee. Which is quite ok condsidering that if my flight ticket is the RM0 fare, I would get all my money back. But alas, I booked a last minute flight to Bali so I guess it is ok.

Actually it was not a refund. They just gave me a credit so that I can use it to buy a ticket within this 3 months. The due date is 11 Feb 2009. Must remember to use it by then!! Hahaha...

About the trip back from Bali, it is a very nice surprise for me. Just now when I was going to settle my credit card bill, I found out that I couldn't pay the statement's balance. The error message was "Amount Exceeded Outstanding Balance"

After checking my account details, I found out that Lionair had credited IDR 599 000 into my account. The flight costs IDR 799 000.

11-Nov-2008 WWW.LIONAIR.CO.ID JAKARTA PUSATID IDR799,000.00 = RM252.23
26-Nov-2008 WWW.LIONAIR.CO.ID JAKARTA PUSATID IDR599,000.00 = RM176.06(Credit! :)

I was already worried on how to call the office to get the refund. Cause there is no Lionair office in Sarawak. In their website, they gave you a few numbers to call, all Indonesion numbers, without the country code. So I ask around and seems like nobody knows. Then during my trip to Melaka, I asked the hotel which I stayed in and they told me the code.
It is +62 and the numbers are:
+6202163798000 or +6208041778899.
When I called the numbers, they asked me to call their office in KL (03-27139911).
I called the number and guess what? The number is not in service!

Don't know what to do anymore and just now I saw that there is a credit in my account! Good job Lionair!

Oh yes.. Forgot to mention that I went to their website http://www.lionair.co.id to cancel my flight.

And thanks sis! For lending me your phone to call. My phone can't call international number. =)

Unplanned Trip

2008-11-30T22:01:00.005+08:00

Remember my last post about my canceled trip? I guess it was a blessing in disguise. It was because of it I was able to see my sisters' lives in JB. I got a taste of how is their life there. A lot of insight also. Went to a few places in Skudai. And a few places in Melaka. Will blog about it some other day. With pictures...

MS Access limitation

2008-11-24T23:25:00.000+08:00

Microsoft Access by design was not designed to be used for such large size storage of data or to keep a large number of records. By default, there is a 2GB maximum file size on a mdb file, and a 32768 maximum number of objects that can be stored in it. If you are thinking of having 100,000 records in a ms access database, I would recommend against it.

Here are some more interesting statistics for your information:

Attribute - Maximum
-----------------------------------------
Number of characters in a table name: 64
Number of characters in a field name: 64
Number of fields in a table: 255
Number of open tables: 2048 - Actual max is less, since access opens some by default
Table size: 1 gigabyte
Number of characters in a Text field: 255
Number of characters in a Memo field: 65,535 when entering data through user interface; 1 gigabyte when entering data programmatically.
Size of an OLE Object field: 1 gigabyte
Number of indexes in a table: 32
Number of fields in an index: 10
Number of characters in a validation message: 255
Number of characters in a validation rule: 2048
Number of characters in a table or field description: 255
Number of characters in a record (excluding Memo and OLE Object fields): 2000
Number of characters in a field property setting: 255

Refund!

2008-11-18T23:31:00.003+08:00

The disrtuption of my plan causes me to seek for refund for my flight from Johor to Bali(Denpasar) and Bali to Singapore on the 17 Nov(Take off :0030 ETA 0300 ). Yes!! Midnight and arrive early in the morning. Never been to Changi Airport, so I decided to see what there is to see early in the morning there. I've planned to take the earliest MRT from Changi to Kranji, which is 6.00 am. Meaning I have 2 hour plus at the airport.

Everthing gone in smoke... Now I need to plan how to get my refund from the airlines. The refund from Airasia was surprisingly fast.

http://www.lionair.co.id/travelinfo_reservations.htm

Conversation with God

2008-11-15T23:59:00.001+08:00

God: Hello. Did you call me?
Me: Called you? No.. Who is this?

God: This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat.
Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.

God: What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.
Me: Don't know. But I can't find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.

God: Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results.Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.
Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

God: Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some.In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you
are comfortable with.
Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?

God: Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.
Me: why are we then constantly unhappy?

God: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit.That's why you are not happy.

Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?
God: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.

Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.
God: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?
God: Diamonds cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.

Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?
God: Yes. In every term, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can't we be free from problems?
God: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to)Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading..
God: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?
God: Success is a measure as decided by others.Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing your road ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.
Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

God: Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessings, not what you are missing.

Me: What surprises you about people?
God: When they suffer they ask, 'why me?' When they prosper, they never ask 'Why me'. Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can't get the answer.
God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be.Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not merely a process of discovery but a process of co-creation. You are my co-creator.

Me: How can I get the best out of life?
God: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence.Prepare for the future without fear.

Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.
God: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO..

Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.
God: Well.. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve.Trust me.. Life is wonderful if you know how to live. 'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away!

Blacklisted, Barred from leaving the country!!!

2008-11-13T16:45:00.004+08:00

I was prevented from going out of the country on the 14th. By the immigration Department. The first question they asked me:

Immigration: Do you have any letter?

Me: huh???? What do you mean?
Immigration: Do you have income tax?
Me: No. (Thinking to myself, I don't even qualify to be taxed)
Immigration: Wait ar.. Let me ask somebody first.
Then he went and ask somebody. I guess must be his superior.

Immigration: Do you have any outstanding loan? MARA?
Me: No, but ptpn?
Immigration: That must be it... You go back and settle you loan first. Right now I''ll go and help you unload first. Then we went to the check in counter to get my luggage back.

WTF!! I never got any letters from PTPTN and now I'm blacklisted??
I know I should have settle my loan but they never sent me any letter to tell me how to settle my loans. Anyway, I've been to their website to check and my name is not listed. Now after I went back to check, my name appeared again. *&^^%

Then I emailed them at penyata@ptptn.gov.my requesting for details. Then there was this reply from siti_aishah@ptptn.gov.my which is surprisingly quite fast and polite asking me to go to www.ptptn.gov.my and click on eFES to check my details.

Quite efficient.

One night in Skudai.

2008-11-13T08:54:00.002+08:00

Yesterday reach Senai Airport... The flight was ok except for some minor turbulence. But one thing I don't like is the pain in the air when the plane was descending.

Then my sister picked me up and went to their apartment in Desa Skudai. Traffic was terrible compared to Sibu. :) But not as bad as in KL. We have dinner at around 8 plus. Not bad la the food.

Today my flight to Bali is 1330. Wanna go for breakfast now.

Windows Mobile

2008-11-10T20:42:00.003+08:00

Just updated my blog template last night. Now everything is gone. Especially the links to many interesting blogs and sites. I guess I have to do it again.

Anyway since I'll be going to Bali this week, I need to update my PDA. I installed WorldMate Live. After installing it, I found that I have this popup each time i restart my PDA. The file 'WMScheduler' cannot be opened. blablabla....

I looked the installed directory, Storage Card/Program files/WorldMate and the file is there. After much searching, the solution is pretty simple. But I dont like it, cause I have to install it into the main device itself and I don't have much memory to support it.

While searching for the solution, I also looked at a few softwares that could edit the registry in Windows Mobile. Here are the two programs that I found. This is taken from:http://www.inspectmygadget.com/2007/07/17/how-to-hack-your-windows-mobile-registry/

Mobile Registry Editor: runs on your desktop and connects to your device using ActiveSync. Once you have this installed, connect your device via ActiveSync and click on one of the folder to the left. If the right side refreshes, you have a connection.

Being a desktop application, it is easy to navigate and make changes using your keyboard and mouse. As I don’t make many registry changes away from my desktop computer, I would generally use this.

PHM Registry Editor: runs on your device so you have free reign over where and when you make changes to the registry.

It has a nice interface and is quite easy to use on our little Windows Mobile screens. PHM Registry Editor works a little faster for me than Mobile Registry Editor did.

Back up and restore the registry in Windows

2008-11-03T20:01:00.003+08:00

This is taken from MS support.

Manual steps to back up the registry in Windows Vista or in Windows XP

Windows Vista
1. Click StartStart button, type systempropertiesprotection in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
User Access Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. Wait for Windows to search for available disks and most recent restore points. In the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab, click Create,
3. Type a name for the restore point and then click Create.
4. After the restore point has been created successfully, click OK two times.
Note If System Restore is turned off, click to select the local disk, click Apply and then click Create.

Windows XP
1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Create a restore point, and then click Next .
3. On the Create a Restore Point page, type a name for the restore point and then click Create
4. After the restore point has been created, click Close.
Note If System Restore is turned off, you receive a message that asks whether you want to turn on System Restore now. Click Yes. Then, in the System Properties dialog box, click to clear the Turn off System Restore check box, click OK, and then repeat this step.

Restore the registry
Manual steps to restore the registry in Windows Vista or Windows XP
Use System Restore to undo registry changes in Windows Vista or in Windows XP
Windows Vista
1. Click StartStart button, type systempropertiesprotection in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
User Access Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab, click System Restore,
3. In the System Restore dialog box select Choose a different restore point, and then click Next
4. Select the restore point that you want to use, and then click Next.
5. Confirm your restore point, and then click Finish System restore restores the selected Windows Vista configuration and then restarts the computer.
6. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..

Windows XP
1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\System32\Restore\Rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), and then click Next .
3. On the Select a Restore Point page, click the system checkpoint. In the On this list select the restore point area, click an entry that is named "Guided Help (Registry Backup)," and then click Next. If a System Restore message appears that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make, click OK.
4. On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click Next. System Restore restores the previous Windows XP configuration and then restarts the computer.
5. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..

Public Forum

2008-11-01T23:18:00.003+08:00

Last Saturday I went to attend a public forum by Mr Tan Kee Hian.

He holds an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar). He also holds a BSc (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London (John Samuel Prize; Imperial College Award; Shell Scholar). He did his "A" Levels and was an ASEAN Scholar at the National Junior College in Singapore.
He lives in London, but will spend eight months of the year in Asia.

When Mr Kong called me to go for the forum, I was a bit apprehensive. He told me the speaker would be someone with a MBA from Havard. So what I thought to myself. Even Khairy is a ~~Havard~~ Oxford graduate and what he said did not reflect his education at all.

Anway I told Mr Kong that I would give it a try. After my badminton game of course. And potluck dinner at Miss Yongs. :)

I reached MPI at 7.50 p.m. Accidentally went to the church because I was passing through it. And I thought the forum was in the church. After a few steps, I suddenly remembered that the forum was held in MPI, not at the church.

It was after listening to it that I realized that the speaker was no ordinary person. He was a Shell scholar and was a consultant with the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) for Malaysia.Btw he is a former classmate of Daniel Ngieng, those of you in Sibu would know him.

Btw here is a link to show how much he charges for one session.

The title of the forum was Outlook for Sibu. Or something like that.
Will blog about it later.

Deleting Temp Files

2008-10-30T23:20:00.001+08:00

Copy down the command lines below and save it as a batch file.
It should clean your pc of temporary files. This includes caches and cookies.
It is especially useful if you are facing low virtual memory.
Not much but it does help a little.

@echo off
echo cleaning in progress
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.tmp
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*._mp
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.log
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.gid
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.chk
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.old
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\recycled\*.*
del /f /s /q %windir%\*.bak
del /f /s /q %windir%\prefetch\*.*
rd /s /q %windir%\temp & md %windir%\temp
del /f /q %userprofile%\cookies\*.*
del /f /q %userprofile%\recent\*.*
del /f /s /q "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\*.*"
del /f /s /q "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp\*.*"
del /f /s /q "%userprofile%\recent\*.*"
echo it is done!
echo. & pause

Converting DVD to VCD

2008-10-25T20:49:00.000+08:00

My friend asked me to help her convert her karaoke DVD to VCD. Since I'm not an expert on videos/audio, I ask my sister whom I consider expert in this cause she is doing the converting all the time. Just for backup.

I also asked my friend and he recommended me to use WinDVD(buyware) which I found huge, more than 100MB.
My sister recommended DVD decrypter and AutoGordian. (Freeware)
Another friend recommended AnyDVD by Slysoft(shareware).

After much searching I found this to be quite good.

First I need to rip the dvd to .vob. I used AnyDVD for this. Created more than 3GB of files in my hd.

Then I have to convert the files to avi using AutoGK.

Finally to convert to VCD, I used WinAVI(Shareware). The program puts a HUGE text in the middle of the VCD asking me to register it and remove the text from the video files created.

I'm a Celebrity!

2008-10-20T20:14:00.008+08:00

OMG! I'm a celebrity. It happens when I just happen to have nothing to do, so I just submitted my photos I have to the website of the Vogue magazine. Using some old photos that I have taken during my Installation night. Fat chance I thought to myself but what the heck. Just try la.

And one thing that is puzzling me is why Victoria Beckham has my photo. I wonder where she gets it from. I don't care anymore. I'm FAMOUS!!! Its great!!
Hahaha....

*Note*
Actually it is not my photoshop skill. I just use the site from Photofunia.

Footprints in the Sand

2008-10-15T23:46:00.005+08:00

www.footprints-inthe-sand.com
This is one of the earliest poem that I've read about the Lord. I saw it in a bookmark sold in a church more than 10 years ago. I thought it is the most beautiful poem I have ever read.

Now that i found out the author, I'm going to put the link here.

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."
Mary Stevenson

Starcraft Multiplayer VPN Setup

2008-10-08T20:24:00.002+08:00

Here I am assuming that
i) Starcraft is installed in your computer.
ii)IPX is installed.

First, install a VPN software first. Here I am using Hamachi. It seems that the latest version does not work with starcraft. I have to use Hamachi version -1.0.1.5-.

Note: Enable all the services. Disable the firewall. Don't update!

After that just play Starcraft as you normally do. If you encounter the problem of cannot join network, try this:

Goto Network connections and properties of the lan
card that your using to N/W. Goto IPX/SPX properties
and assign locator numbers. eg 000001 on computer
one, 000002 on the second.............. This resolves
the issue of cannot join network.

Don't Neglect Sabah

2008-10-07T21:03:00.003+08:00

Just read an article. I'm posting it here because I'm wondering how many of us had this kind of experience as a teacher?
This is written by a doctor but I think teachers and doctors are the two professions that understands this. When they are posted to the interiors that is. If not they would think that the world owes them a place. It is when they are posted to somewhere that they never been, will they eyes be opened.

Another Doctor | Sep 8, 08 5:11pm
I refer to the Malaysiakini article Kota Marudu needs more than wireless Internet.

I read Dr Hams letter and cannot help but agree with many of his
observations. I worked in Sabah for over seven years as a house officer and medical officer. After my housemanship, I was sent to Ranau to serve in the district hospital. What Dr Hams described in Kota Marudu is not something isolated to that district alone in Sabah. It is an often repeated story in the whole of Sabah.

My first introduction to the poverty in Sabah came during my first months there, when a sweet 70- year-old lady from Kota Marudu was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with deep jaundice. She lived alone in a small village off Kota Marudu and noticed the jaundice about a month before.

She had no money for the taxi fare and so waited a month to sell off her chickens to have enough money to pay RM50 for the transport to Kota Marudu Hospital. She had to walk two miles to get to the road to get to the taxi.

Having been born, bred and educated in Peninsular Malaysia, I was shocked. When she arrived, she was septic and had a gallstone lodged in her common bile duct. The stone was duly removed but she was found to have a heart problem that required a pacemaker. We arranged for her to get a permanent pacemaker but she refused.

When I pressed her for her reason, she told me that she couldn't afford to buy batteries for the pacemaker, having sold off her chickens. Once I explained to her that the batteries would last for years and we would provide them, she agreed to the pacemaker.

Ranau town itself has roads and is on the main highway between Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu. It developed primarily as a result of the Mamut Copper Mines in the district. However, highway in this context means a two lane road with frequent landslides and potholes, with a two-hour drive to Kota Kinabalu.

Outside Ranau, transportation becomes a problem as tarred roads disappear to become gravel or crudely marked logging trails. Anyone who has worked in Sabah would have the same stories to tell, of extreme poverty and poor transportation.

During my 2 years in Ranau, I've heard and seen it all, patients with cerebral malaria, a condition unheard of in Peninsular Malaysia, coming in after 48 hours to the hospital from places like Kaingaran and Karagasan, with relatives having to push the 'pirate taxi' through the mud, spending RM50 on fare during the monsoon season, the equivalent of 2 months income, this too when petrol was only around RM1.20 a litre in Ranau.

Patients having to delay treatment for life threatening conditions because a bridge washed away along the trail (I won't even call it a road) to Tambunan. Emergency surgery such as caesarian sections, appendectomies and even ectopic pregnancies had to be performed in our little district hospitals by Medical Officers with little more than 4 months housemanship experience.

Medical emergencies such as myocardial infarctions, which in Peninsular Malaysia would be managed in a Coronary Care Unit setting, had to be managed in the district hospital level. I'm grateful however, that my staff in that hospital were the best I've ever had the pleasure of working with and were dedicated enough to want to make a difference in their patients' lives.

But poor transportation does not only affect the access to healthcare. Having no roads to be able to transport their agricultural produce for sale means that these people are stuck in a never ending cycle of poverty.

At most, some of them get RM20 to RM50 by selling their produce to middlemen to be sold at the monthly tamu or market at prices that are perhaps only 10 percent of the value of the goods. These innocent people are also preyed upon by traveling cloth merchants, mostly foreigners, who offer them 'easy payment schemes' to buy cloth for clothes, and when they cannot pay for the cloth and the interest accumulates, they end up having to marry their daughters to these men, who often have wives back home in Pakistan.

One of the cases I could never forget was of the family who came to Ranau Hospital just as I was leaving, a family who had failed crops, were hungry and unable to get food. The father collected some toad eggs and fed them to the whole family in a desperate attempt to stave off hunger. When they arrived at our little emergency room, one of the children were dead and two passed away within 10 minutes of arrival in our casualty unit due to poisoning.

Education is a problem in parts of Sabah outside major towns like Kota Kinabalu at the moment. Many children would be lucky to be able to get to a school or even afford to get to one. Most of my patients outside Ranau were lucky to even have a primary school education and a vast number of women marry in their teens.

I've had 14 year olds delivering babies in Ranau, most of them have never ever stepped foot in a school. The education level is so poor that many women feed their children condensed milk thinking that it's better than breast milk.

But at the heart of it all, these mothers want the best for their children but are not empowered with the knowledge to help them. Major towns in Sabah have electricity courtesy of the Sabah Electricity Board, but smaller villages have either diesel generators or rely on candles or lamps when night falls.

How can children study in these conditions? Like many doctors in the
districts, I had to learn Dusun to communicate better with these patients who could speak little else.

Forty five years after the formation of Malaysia, the promise of a better life for these poor Dusun, Murut and Rungus patients in the districts of Sabah is a pipe dream at best. How can our politicians claim to have brought development to the state and have neglected these poor people, many of whom still wear the cheap t-shirts and caps given free by political parties from many elections ago.

How can I claim to be proud of Putrajaya with it's beautiful bridges and lamp posts and the Petronas twin Towers when our fellow Malaysians in Sabah are so neglected?

The cycle of poverty and illiteracy one sees in the districts in Sabah brings despair to the heart. Eradication of poverty must tackle the real issues of education and transport and not just handouts to poor people.

By all means, declare Sept 16th a public holiday, but remember it in it's real context, where we made a promise to our brethren in Sabah and Sarawak to treat them as equals in Malaysia, and give them the development they've been long denied.

Bus trip from Miri to Sibu

2008-10-05T22:31:00.002+08:00

Had a tiring day today.

Yesterday was the Division E Humourous Speech Contest. Alice won the contest so she will be representing our club to Bali this November. I'm proud of her. Congratulations!!!

Woke up early this morning. Can't sleep well. Took my shower then had breakfast with my uncle. He went and pick me up at Dynasty Hotel.

Then he sent me to the bus terminal at around 8.15 a.m. Wanna take the 8.30 bus but the 2 buses was full. So I had to take the 9.00 am bus to Sibu.

Freesia express. It was an old air-conditioned bus. The bus started off at 9.00 am, right on time. Before that, there were a few JPJ officers checking on the bus.

The trip took almost 8 hours. They used the old road. Maybe the driver want to pick up the people along the way. It often stopped along the way to pick up people. We stopped for toilet break at Batu Niah, then Bintulu and lastly Selangau.

On the way, the kid that was sitting on the same row as me vommitted a number of times. He is about 2 years old and he keeps on wanting to eat and drink.
Eat then vomit. Eat and vomit again. Greedy kid. :) The smell was nauseating.

Anyway we finally arrived in Sibu at 4.45 pm.

Basic Tools

2008-10-04T12:17:00.002+08:00

Here are a few tools that is a must have in my pendrive:

1. Process Explorer2 - Kill unwanted process and virus.
2. Autoruns2 - Disable all the startups to make the pc boots up faster.
3. TCP view - To make sure there are no trojans opening any back door.
4. Netcat - Swiss army knife for the pc.

Must have software!
1. Antivirus - AVG/ NOD32
2. Adaware by Lavasoft
3. Registry Editor- Because most virus disable the registry editing.I used the one by Lavasoft.

Then there are a few tools that is nice to have.
1. Resource Editor - ResHacker/XNResourceEditor/ eXeSc641
2. Hex Editor - XVI32
3. Text Editor- Notepad2
4. Ip Scanner -
5. Photo Editor - from Windows 98. Much easier to use than those in win XP

Starcraft & Counter Strike

2008-10-04T10:34:00.004+08:00

Haven't played Starcraft for a very long time. It has been my favourite games during my university days. With Counter Strike. I really miss those days when we would shout to our neighbours just so that we could have a game against each other.

It was then one would hear all the swear words coming out from both our houses. Those who didn't know us will think that we were having a fight. But if they stayed long enough to listen, they will know that we were in one of our games session.

Computer keeps Rebooting / Ntdetect failed.

2008-10-02T12:07:00.001+08:00

A friend just ask me for help with her laptop. It keeps on rebooting. And I mean that it doesnt even shows the windows loading. It just keeps on repeating the bios screen.

And then when I look carefully, just before it reboots, I saw for less than a second, the word Ntdetect failed. I googled it and found a solution. Simple. Took me less than 5 minutes to solve it.

Run XP repair.
Type in:
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
where X is the drive letter for your CD drive.
Remove the CD and type exit.

Selamat Hari Raya

2008-10-01T22:29:00.002+08:00

Just want to wish all my friends a Happy Eid Mubarak.

Went visiting today. Started at 10 to an open house beside a mosque near SK Deshon.
First house, Mohd Lee at Kampung Jeriah. Quite far away from Sibu town. It is just a small kampung house. Built by himself I think. There is no ceiling, just newly built zink roof. Somehow makes me think of a story in the Bible. About a story of an old lady who gave a few copper coins. Meaning those who have not much but are willing to give their all.

Luckily his house is in the kampung. With a lot of animals and plants. Chicken, ducks, fishes, bidin, jagung, noni, breadfruit, durian, ubi, etc.

Then we went to Kak Siti's house nearby. A new double-story terrace house. And then go to Siti Azzyati's place in Sungai Bidut. Got lost along the way. There is one road there with lots of lane with the name Hock Seng, Hock Chung, Hock this and Hock that until I went Hock Chuan!!! Chinese kampung.

After that we went to Cikgu Azman's house in Bandung. The last house is Hajah Maria, Lot 63 Kampung ...

Then went to my school teacher's house with Madam Kong and family.