Risky Laundry

It's a good thing that I don't have that much laundry to do around here, since I gave away the dryer and there's not much space to hang up the laundry.

Yup, the dryer is gone. Saved me a few hundred ringgit of repair.

I've lived quite happily in this situation until today. As usual, I would wash the bed linen in the morning, so that it would dry and I could reuse it before nightime. This afternoon, after a whole time of good weather and wind, I went to collect the linens which I'd hang out at the balcony.

The pillow cases which were thicker, dried. Good news! The bedsheet was also dried. But as I were pulling it towards me, I saw the brown spot (and not invisible!). Yucks!

Re-wash is in order... Sigh! And I didn't have a bedsheet for one night.

Down to earth

Weekend is here again. After the excitement of last weekend, I decided to have a mundane, down to earth, slow weekend. All that will be translated as 'house chores'. Laundry and more laundry. That seems to be an endless task. Sweep the floor, mop the floor, wash the toilets and the tubs and basins. Wipe the exposed surfaces. And more unpacking! Putting things away. How fun! All that and some scrabble and some astro factored in... and some R&R. Ideal...

Goody! Goody!

Where to go, if you just want a quick, short getaway with no hassle and worry? The place must also be suitable for all ages! You must think this is difficult... but the answer turned out to be 'Genting Highlands' for my family last weekend.

It's school holidays! And a weekend! We wanted to do something different and fun, for the kids and for the grandparents... and for ourselves - being my brother, wifey & I. After a few rounds of subtle brainstorming, Genting Highlands was chosen.

I wasn't sure what we were going to do to fill the time for being there for 2 nights. But it turned out to be fun. On Saturday, the kids and I had fun in the indoor theme park. The grandparents were along to be the watchful eyes and to take pictures! On Sunday, the kids and parents went to the outdoor theme park, while my parents and I went to the Chin Swee Temple. The shuttle bus is now FREE! It used to be RM5 per way a few months back.

The temple is indeed beautiful. and lovely. and meaningful. After a lovely morning walking around, breathing the fresh, crisp and slightly moist air (it drizzled a bit), we went back for a late lunch and a short walkabout the shops before going back to the hotel room for a short rest (afterall, this is supposed to be a relaxing weekend away). Later, we met up with the other group for dinner and more shopping. It was a bit disappointing that there were not many sales!!! But I did manage to get myself a bag, a sweater, and a pair of sunglasses! YAY!

The last day, we enjoyed a slow breakfast, just fooled around and then it's time to check out already!

All-in-all a fine weekend. For the record, I still have not made my way into the outdoor themepark! I need to go with someone who is into those stuff!

Oh dear!

'Let's be together'. 'Let's not be together'. How could one person say this and that in the same life time to the same person?

I came from the old school of thought. Going through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live. Toughing it out and companionship. That's my concept of being a couple (other than love & passion). But not to all...

Having experienced breaking-up a couple of times, I know it's tough. Although it's a good thing that the situation unravelled before we signed the contract, I wouldn't wish it on another person.

Anyway, this relationship thing has been going round and round in my head lately. Partly because a friend told me that she started dating again, but the guy is far from ideal (I wish her all the best and really hope that things work out - she's really a great gal). And a friend whom I used to do things together had stopped doing things with me - does it mean we broke up? (I'm just sad because friends don't do that to a friend, or do they? or are we more than just friends?). And another friend is going through a rough patch as well.

I hope friends in rocky situations would stay strong. Life is a challenge sometimes and there is no situation where we are not strong enough to wade through.

We just need to remember, rough patches will pass... thankfully.

Birthday at Bravo

For the nicest and kindest person in our office, this year, we decided to celebrate at a new restaurant called Bravo at IAvenue. An Italian one and a not bad one at that! The Italian feel was really there in the restaurant. There were maps on the table - which I made full use of to illustrate to my friends where exactly I went during my 1+ week sojourn in Italy/Austria.

The aglio olio that I had was superb. I wished I could do it myself. All the meals by the rest of the gang got good reviews. The spanish cake (dessert) was also superb. My hot chocolate was however a disappointment. It came with coffee mate!! That made me miss the hot chocolates in Italy/Vienna A LOT! I guess it tasted better also because of the nice memories...

Astro Installed

Finally have the Astro - Cable TV, installed. It was apparently an easy job since the previous tenant did not remove the cables. And also because there was no need to install the dish that is the outdoor unit, since the building already has a central one...

Quantum of Solace

I think Daniel Craig is abSOlutely gorgeous. Need I say more. The show is good.

Anyway, let's concentrate on the strength of the show. The title itself connotes that something sad had happened. And after the deed, some kind of consolation or comfort were required. The title is just so relevant to the show and to how Bond would be feeling after the 'Vesper' episode. Although being a manly man, he has to deny it to all.

I was a bit lost when the movie started with references to Vesper & her boyfriend, but thankfully, caught on not too far along. The gadgets part was totally missing from this Bond. Where is Q? And Moneypenny. Were all that somehow explained earlier on and I missed it?

It was kind of a twist towards the end. The fight had all been for water when all parties were going along and thinking that they would be getting oil. Ha ha! But ofcourse, ultimately, it's all about the money.

Somehow, is there some kind of ties between Bond and Italy? There were quite a number of scenes in Casino Royale which were based in Italy. The finale being in Venice... and I did recognize some of the locations. And Quantum of Solace opened in Sienna. The first few scenes into the movie, the carabinieri appeared and I was brought back to Florence, where I captured the photo with the carabinieri cars... O wow! Europe changed me a bit, I think.

All in all, I was thoroughly entertained. and enjoyed the movie so. Daniel Craig, oo la la! More! More!

Refund for fuel surcharge

I was really happy when I read that AirAsia is scrapping off fuel surcharge for their flights. This is good news for travel bugs. It means we could go more places with the same amount of $$. And hopefully, other air lines would follow.

And this morning I read in the newspaper that someone has shouted out to AirAsia to consider refunding the fuel surcharge for tickets bought. I fully support this as I had bought tickets for trips next year which included fuel surcharge!

Other than the fuel surcharge refund, my wishlist includes:
1. More destinations from Penang to be included. Currently, we have to fly to KL first.
2. Cleaner flights.
3. On time flights.
4. More destinations, eg to New Zealand, Europe, Japan.
5. More zero fare flights, with less advance purchase.

B.O. - maybe they are ignorant...

Today, I decided that I'm going to do a few of my friends a favor and write on this irritating and annoying, but could be a taboo topic of BO. Or otherwise known as body odour.

I was happily walking through a long corridor on my way back to my office when one of the door opened and out came a waft of air. And along with it, an unpleasant smell. The distinct type that was easily identified as BO. Ew! shucks!

Haven't these people heard of such a thing called deodorant?

I remember in my previous company, two of my close friends, AL and LO had the misfortune to be sitting next to an immaculately dressed (and nice) man who has/had (he may have discovered this and rectified it) a BO issue. And although I stayed away from having to visit them, I had to endure stories of this over lunch and breakfast for nearly two years. yucks! Ofcourse there were stories to tell because AL happened to be pregnant and had morning sickness which were not helped at all by the BO.

BO is universally unpleasant. But why didn't people who are suffering from this do anything to overcome this? Could it be that they are unaware? Hmmm.... it makes me wonder...

Would I want to go through life being smelly? Would you? In this situation is ignorance blissful?

Of working life...

The past few days and the week before were the epitome of exactly how I do not want my life to be. Worked late, and too tired after work to be social, hence stayed in (although I did enjoyed playing scrabble over facebook), and the cycle started all over again the next day.

Ofcourse, having a position where I'm a lone contributor gives tremendous job security. Which I do appreciate. And I appreciate having a challenging job. But it's never good when there are too much to do.

However, the plus points here are:
1. I have good+fun colleagues.
2. I have a good boss.
3. I have a certain amount of flexibility in arranging my work. (when there is no emergency)
4. I still like what I do. Lots of things/areas still to explore and learn.

Two grouches:
1. I still need to learn a lot of stuff! Some stuff I don't even know I don't know. No time and probably no budget.
2. Ofcourse, I could use more dough... who doesn't?

Shopping Mania!

OMG! Thanksgiving is coming. OK, not that I celebrate the event... Anyway, it's a good thing I'm NO LONGER in the US. I opened my mailbox today and there was an email from the outlets announcing the BIG thanksgiving sales end of the month. And I swear I could feel my blood flowed faster through my veins and the excitement started my heart palpitating a bit faster and I feel energized. OMG! OMG! How I missed the shopping there! How I missed the outlets.

P/s: I really really miss the shopping!

Change...

Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. Such a mouthful! I've been doing this for the past two years! O ya, it's two years already. Time certainly did fly.

It was a momentous and monumental move for me two years ago, jumping from the academic world to the industrial world. Many people asked me why I did it. I've given many facets of the answer depending on the situation. The only truthful answer is, like so many occassions in my life, I just felt like it's the time to do it. In my mind, the pros outweighed the cons. And I always love a challenge.

Just do it.

I Googled Me

Now and then I entertained myself by google-search myself. This time around I was pleasantly surprised to find that I am acknowledged in a book called From Silicon Valley to Singapore by David McKendrick, Richard F. Doner and Stephan Haggard. Apparently Stephan Haggard had collaborated with the Anna, a consultant, and Ms. Lim, the boss at the firm DCT Consultancy Services where I had worked as a research officer back in '97-98 (my field was environmental conservation). Anyway, both me and another RO, Wei Seong (I think he mainly did socio-economic work) were acknowledged to have provided research assistance! That was fun.

Another surprising element is that the book touches on the hard disk drive industry and US's leadership and concentration of manufacturing in South East Asia. Atleast that was what I gleaned from reading the acknowledgement pages. Sorry to say, I have not read the book. Anyway, at that time, I didn't even know what a hard disk is. That was still the floppy disk era.

And now, I'm working in this industry! It's as if it was pre-ordained! Strange how the universe works...

Roma, Italia - The voyage...

After reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci's Code, I really, really wanted to go to Rome. There may be a Da Vinci's Code tour, which if I had known, I would definitely join. But since I did not know of any, I joined the Italy tour instead.

The flight there from Penang was awesome (so not!). Our agent had arranged for us to fly Qatar Airways. An airline that I have not been on before. Which turned out to be ok since they had also arranged a short city tour during the transit in Doha. This is my first foray into the land of the Middle East and left on my own devices, I may not ever be here.

We reached Rome at about 6+pm and proceeded to a chinese restaurant for dinner. It was dinner and nothing to shout about since we all hail from the haven of food. After which we were so ready for bed. It had been a long, long voyage.

Coming next, the tour begins...

Flying on a budget - not very pleasant sometimes

I've been a staunch supporter of Air Asia for a few years now. I believe in its good and sincere efforts to enable everyone to fly. So, for my previous European trip flying out of KL, I took the AirAsia's Penang to KL and back flight instead of MAS. To my surprise, the Penang-KL flight was early! Goody! But a couple of shocks greeted me in the plane. I had to untangle the seat belts which were all tangled up and after having done that and buckled myself in, there was a pink colored chewed chewing gum on the seat belt! Yucks! And then, looking at the magazine on the pocket of the seat, guess what I found? A used-up vomit bag! Double yucks! What is this?

On the way back from KL to Penang, after a long and tiring journey back, the flight was re-timed from 7.35 pm to 9.15 pm without any notice to us. Apparently it was a last minute thing. But to tired-old-me, a text message to us immediately after they have re-timed the flight would have been nice. Instead we had to rush over to the LCCT at 5 pm only to see on the board that the flight has been re-timed! I had to spend the remaining of the evening hearing the whines and dissatisfaction of my companion. And that's not how I envisioned the end of an incredibly lovely week!

To add to that, after boarding the plane and seated. I noticed that there was a whitish stain on the side of my seat! Urgh! Not to mention the wet seat infront of me that I managed to avoid because that could be clearly seen.

I know that they are working with a packed schedule, but hygiene, I think is not something that can be sacrificed. At the very least, before landing, the flight attendants should make an announcement and go around with rubbish bags to collect the wastes.

Anyway, I've emailed AirAsia's call center (on the hygiene) and hopefully they will not let the situation deteriorate any further...

My dreamy week...

That's the only way I could describe my week in Europe. It's a fulfilment of a dream. Throughout the trip, I had the occassional lapses of disbelief that I was there, breathing the cool crisp air. My favorite kind. And marvelling in the achievements of men from decades/centuries ago. Hoping that we've learnt from them and march onwards to better days...

The image is of The Pieta by Michelangelo in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, which is a country by itself. My photo is not the best, if you were in its presence, it is really breathtaking and magnificent!