Personal thoughts, uninvited attention

Of late I've had comments made to my posts on how irrelevant my topics were, or that my posts were of no particular use.

To that extend, I thank "lottery winning tickets" for taking the time to place your comments. Perhaps it had not been clear to you that this blogsite is a personal blog site, talking about topics and issues that revolves around my life. I do not blog for the public, nor do I advertise my site on the WWW.

Go ahead and google your topics of interests. If this site is not what you seek, just leave.

Spaghetti in Carbonara @ Creperia

Another set of embarrasing shots from the Zinc II. I really must not be lazy and start carrying the camera with me.

Remember my earlier posts on being lactose intolerant. I tested my body's ability to take dairy products again, albeit on a light scale. The carbonara would have cream and cheese. Somehow, my stomach had yet to turn since this morning. Could be good news. Next test would be coffee with milk. Hmm.... better spend the day at home for this.

Anyway, the carbonara's so so. They obviously had the sauces pre-made, and heated it up in the microwave. I could tell by the way the sauce coagulate, and the oil separating itself from the sauce. Not good.

Grilled lamb in mustard sauce @ Lodge Bui

Image taken using the 2.0 Megapixel CMOS camera of Zinc II. Verdict - lousy on board camera. MWG ought to take a leaf from Sony Ericsson's manual on mobile phone cameras.

The meal was light. Meat was tender, in small cuts without bone and slight fats which gave that distinct lamb scent. Really good sauce, composed mainly of mustard which was a little sweet. I'd say grilled lamb and mustard is a rather complimenting combination.

Assorted sushi rolls and Soba soup @ Nagomi

USD 5.00 for the set meal, comes with coffee and fruits.
Yummm.....

But one of the rolls did not appeal to me. It has something called perilla. Yucks.

People vs Dog vs Gadgets

Six months had given me plenty time to ponder and come up with a winner in this 3-way wrestling bout.

People, the evolved beings that self-learn, change, adapt and has a will that determines their action, had by far been the hardest to comprehend. It is without a doubt, the will given to each individual, could only be influenced to bend by the environment the person survives in. There are the willing, the unwilling, the self-sacrificing, and the selfish, and then there are the stubborn. You would have thought, unwilling = stubborn. It is not so. Unwilling is due to circumstances. Stubbornness, to ignorance.

Dog, the only one chosen over a myriad of choices. It is my biased preference, with others standing by beings that matters to them. I believe in the total obedience, adoration, and fairness both ways. As much as it comes without reservations, these higher beings do have feelings, and will. They behave just like people. They know to be happy, to show excitement, query. Strangely, they understands abandonment, they fear. But they are never selfish. An instinct to survive, only when threatened; never selfish. Stubborn? No. Stupid? Yes.

Gadgets. Why is this in the match? I include this as it represents the reliability that applies to all. The creation of geniuses, out of necessity, and at times out of laziness. For those who had come to rely of these gadgets, they will agree that reliability of gadgets, are as far as the precautions we take. So then I ask, if we know to take precautions for them, do we know to take precautions over the other two?


Who won?



Reliability ~ Gadgets
Simply because we know it's bound to go wrong, we know what to expect, and we know how to fix it.

Trust ~ Dogs
Unwavering. They're there when you need them. They're there when you don't. Just make sure its vice versa.

Intelligence ~ People
Developed mind. They have it. Do they use it? (I know I am part of this category).

The list goes on. The answers depends on the one who grades.



Why do I post this?



A learned person would say I may be disappointed with the human race. But since I am not the leader of men nor cities, then simply I may be disappointed with myself with the fact that I have a companion of unwavering loyalty, that I distanced for long period of time. To find myself in a different part of the world not too different from mine, yet the beings lacking far in the will to be better. Then again, since I am one being in a large, large place I believe I have an opportunity and choices. I have not seen it all yet. In other words, I am looking in the selection puddle. I should be seeking the pond, or the lake, or the sea.

Finishing and wrapping up

The news came.


I'm wanted back. Is that a fact, or a result of my recent voicing of opinion?


I've mentioned facts that were not known. Creates a shock, probably a little ripple in someone's corp' river. Without a doubt, my ability and versatility would be doubted. It takes high independance and resolve to do well in such environment. Or simply, a narrow and straight mind, focussed on that one thing and that one thing alone. I couldn't do that. I've grew much with this business to care and not let the wrongs go wrong.


So now I'm wanted back. Called home. What am I walking back into?

• Excitement and future, bright and glorious?
  
• Boredom and dissatisfaction, poor and dejected?
  
• Fulfilment, contentment, fade into oblivion?

Happy Birthday, Chee Yoong!

Misery comes in waves

Sigh... just when things get a little more hectic, a little busy and fun;




Misery visits again.




My Atom's stylus went missing. The stylus that I paid good money to replace the broken stylus that came originally with the pda.


Mrs. Misery, why doesth thou treat me so?

The near future of current times

I received this source from the internet, kudos to the creator. Ain't it miserable that the human race had grown so dependant on machineries to take us places, that even without fuel, mobility is still confined to the imaginary form of existing conventions.

A likely future, if Change is so hard to achieve.

Je t'aime

Another new phrase. Who said TV is bad for you?

Je t'aime (French) translated as "I love you". No available entry on wikipedia on the phrase, though there's a match to a song titled Je t'aime.... moi non plus.

Apparently, lyrics of song were written as an imaginary dialogue between two lovers during a sexual encounter. Hmmm....



Note: You can hear a short sample of the song at this link.

Vodka Mudshake

Yummy... a chocolate treat with 4.0% alcohol content.
It tastes similar to the Dutch Lady Chocolate drinks, plus a little Zing!

Learning HTML

If you've noticed, the blog layout is now a teeny weeny bit different.

That's because of my itchy fingers, messing about with the templates. I lost my earlier template (which was self modified, ahem!) of 3 columns

So in the past 2 days, I've been researching and seeking online tutorial to change the standard 2-column template into a 3-column template. Truly, not bad for someone without the programming base.

Of course, I've had good help from good websites that guided me along the way. Plus a little good common sense to tweak it to my liking.

Ah, the satisfaction of a job well done.

New toy

MWG Zinc II

This, is love at first sight (for a PDA user). I was shown the actual units of Zinc II, Atom V, HTC Touch Cruise, and HTC Touch Diamond.


This unit won hands down.
Touch Cruise came close, but the graphics turned me off.
Atom V would have been cheaper, but for a unit that came without the keyboard, it's too big, square and cumbersome.
Touch Diamond had similar features, but at the same price, it's still HTC, without the keyboard. Plus it's more like a ladies phone (not that I'm too gender conscious).


It's so new, there's no holster available for it, no screen protector made in it's size (I had to use the XDA Mini's holster and protector), and not even an online manual for downloading.



And the first problem I've encountered, never install a software and allow it to restart the PDA, whilst the PDA's connect to the computer via Activesync, whilst it's about to start synchronising.



That will effectively screw up the system restart in the PDA, and give you an ugly white screen. Which leads to a hard reset, and losing all pre-installed stuffs that I had setup earlier.



Another to grip about is how difficult it is to hard reset (a good feature to avoid accidents). It says power off, and power on, and press the quick menu button as the first image appears. This is a challenge of reflex. In the end, it's not power off/on. It's soft reset, and reflex challenge with the button.



Sheesh.... good think the Lord answers prayers, even with technologies. Patience and a period of rest got me going. The unit's up and working, albeit missing some really useful tools that I had, like SPB Plus, Mapking2007, Lingosoft Dictionaries, IM+, Sprite Backup. All of which I had the installer, minus the serial numbers back home.


So much for backing up the PDA. Now I have a backup file, with no backup software to "back down" it.

2 months wait.






...

Lunch @ Tous Les Jous again

I'm starting to get dependant on this joint. Can't let that happen. There must not be monopoly in bakeries.

Time to venture out to other pastures, find other specialists that could product oven-baked flour just as good as them. Are there?

Friday morning breakfast

Can't get any healthier than this, right?
My stomach diarrhea's gone, but I'm still lactose intolerant (which incidentally is the saddest thing for me)

Doctor said I can experiment with dairy products after I'm recovered. Some do regain the ability to take milk, whilst others have to rely on calcium pills to make up for it. I told the doc, I'm taking fresh milk everyday cause I like the taste, not for the calcium.

"Oh, that will be a problem. Try soya milk" the doc said.

Poor me...

Early Father's Day dinner @ Sun & Surf, Pyramid

These are my feeble attempts at creating a fine-dining dish. Rather bland and unattractive...
Ah, no harm. It'll all fit into place in the tummy... muahahahahaa....




I know I shouldn't be complaining after giving thanks, but a comment had to be made. Sun & Surf had deteriorated. The selection's not much to shout about, the meats' dry and coarse. Dessert's plain and rather common.

Verdict - Passable, unless some improvements are made soon. It's located in a five star Resort Hotel, with 3 star's servings at best. Nikko and One World fared better.

A taste of home...

Images taken using the Zinc II CMOS 2.0Megapixel onboard camera.
Lack of details, poor light adjustments.

Latest escapades of JD

The lazy bugger, sleeping all the time...

Pondering

Hmm... so much food, which should I start on?
This is such a difficult question.... I wonder if papa thinks the same... what'll it be for him?

Ahh... satisfaction. Nothing like some gooey chocolate ice-cream to seal the deal... burp!

Sunday morning Dim Sum

My first time trying a Buffet Dim Sum at Holiday Villa, Subang Jaya.

This is a fried lamb meat, served as Dim Sum for breakfast. Hmmm.....

Happy to be home

Ahh... it certainly is homecoming. Back to the place that I spent a better part of my childhood, growing up day by day.


To be greeted at the door by mum, and JD. For a moment there he couldn't figure out who I was... the next, he's up on two legs - his usual way of happy greeting. Dad's inside watching
tennis.

It is so nice to be home. To walk on familiar ground, knowing where everything is.

Nevermind that the flight was delayed an hour. That I went without dinner, and the first meal I got off the plane was two pieces of cold, soggy "yau char kuey". I'm home. Even if it's for a couple of days, I'm home.

It is so nice to be home.







JD's asleep at his usual spot now. Foot of the bed. I'm up, blogging from my bedroom. My bed. Ahh.... It's so nice to be home.

Flight delayed

Me, seated at the departure lounge. AK 147's delayed by an hour, meaning I'll only get home by midnight, at the earliest.

Funny how this could not dampen my spirit. That look is not me feeling down. I'm just exhausted, hungry and bored with a 3 hour wait.

Maudlin

Learnt a new word today.

Maudlin - excessively sentimental; self-pitying (@ Wikipedia)

Example taken from Wiki:

On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest. But the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it — that disgusts me.
CS Lewis, A Grief Observed, 1961

Most interesting.

Yummy...

I received these in a email attachment - thank you to the owner of the photographs.

Kinda gives a new dimension to the question "Would you like the thigh or the breast meat?"

Interesting insight

Gosh, 16 years of petrol usage to fully utilise the petrol subsidy...
So this is upfront payment. Not to mention the amount of potential interests on that RM50k.

Sandwich and danish

Iced latte, ham and cheese sandwich, and a ham croissant.

That's my Sunday brunch. A nice, quick simple meal, before I head to the salon for a hairtrim and wash. I wonder how long more can I keep doing this?