Dr. Hwang Woo Suk

I really feel sorry to see Dr. Hwang Woo Suk in the spotlight again for the past months, not because of fame, but because of disgrace. I am sure that he is a great scientist, and did not really want to deceive the world with his "breakthrough" reserach on stem cells. And one of 2005 greatest inventions in which Time magazine has given its honor, is Snuppy the cloned dog which will be investigated for its claimed to be the world's first cloned dog. I sincerely hope that Snuppy lives up to this claim, and is an authenticty.

And lastly, I wish Dr. Hwang, who is suffering from stress, all well and not driven to despair.

Christmas time is always a reason to get a present for myself! Here I've got the latest set of multi-tool. 

The pain of Apple dealers in Malaysia

Apple products in Malaysia cost way much higher than their prices in our neighbor, Singapore. For example, the basic iPod 30GB costs 27% more than it is in Singapore (converted to RM, RM1599 vs RM1260). So why the differences? Price Discrimination. It happens to China too. So I think Apple Malaysia will not do good until this goes away.

Visual Studio 2005 Setup Issue...

Here is the log. And I haven't figured out why this is happening:

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition x86: ISetupManager::GetGlobalCustomProperty() failed to find global prop in CGenericComponent::GetGlobalCustomProperty()

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Setup.exe: GetGlobalCustomProperty({BBE1827C-F2FD-4FDA-A6D6-C83B62FFFDCA})

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Setup.exe: GetGlobalCustomProperty({8297A38B-6431-4F1D-9F6E-C3D371CEA383})

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Setup.exe: GetGlobalCustomProperty({8297A38B-6431-4F1D-9F6E-C3D371CEA383})

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Setup.exe: GetGlobalCustomProperty({E0B955BB-9903-4205-9571-38FE435EC256})

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Setup.exe: GetGlobalCustomProperty({E0875D42-A33D-4C64-81C9-167795F29CA4})

[11/26/05,20:52:29] Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition x86: CreateProcess launched with cmd linep:\setup\..\wcu\sse\SQLEXPR32.EXE "p:\setup\..\wcu\sse\SQLEXPR32.EXE" -q /norebootchk /qn reboot=ReallySuppress addlocal=all instancename=SQLEXPRESS SCCCHECKLEVEL=IncompatibleComponents:1;MDAC25Version:0 ERRORREPORTING=2 SQLAUTOSTART=1 /watsongenman=SQL???.mft

[11/26/05,21:56:59] Install_Cancel: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition x86

[11/26/05,21:57:00] vs70uimgr: Entering DisplayMessage() method.

[11/26/05,21:57:00] vs70uimgr: DisplayMessage_START:Would you like to cancel setup? If you choose yes, setup will finish installing the current component and then quit.

[11/26/05,21:57:04] vs70uimgr: DisplayMessage_END:Would you like to cancel setup? If you choose yes, setup will finish installing the current component and then quit.

[11/26/05,21:57:04] Install_Cancel_No:

Treat the printer with respect

Amazing some people just got so impatient with printers. They slam, knock, or even kick the printer when they don't get their printouts. Read the panel dudes...receiving files, paper jam, or they just simply send their jobs to a different printer! Moreover, paper jam can be caused by mismatch paper size. Remember that the tray says A3 and some dudes just try to be smart and put A4 papers in it. How ignorant. READ IT PEOPLE!

Salute to our printers who never complains.

Translation is hard work

Recently I've taken up technical document translation. All I can say is that this is hard work! The amount of time spent is enormous and with my novice experience, I think I'm doing only 2 to 3 pages of translation in an hour. This is not going so well. But I still have to do it, no matter what. Oh sure, yes, and I still have hundreds of pages to go....

Will I be able to complete it before Christmas? I sure hope I will...*sniff*

MyKad...

I must admit I'm one of the last few Malaysians (~2,000,000) that have not applied for the new and advanced Malaysian identity card (IC) - "MyKad" - a Smart Card based identity card for Malaysians. Despite many publications in the newspaper stated that ~free~ applications has been run from the year 2003 to 2005 (I don't need to be reminded since this was announced in the year 2002 National Budget that application would be free for 3 years), I have been thinking: " Well, this is technology stuff...so it's better later than earlier. Who knows whatever problems they have in the earlier versions of these Smart Card system will be gradually and quietly fixed along the way ." I would think that I am right. Security is always getting tighter yet no matter what you do today, there seems to be some way or another for someone to find a way to break it. So guess what, the government then annouced that the old IC will not be valid from year 2006 onwards for many official transactions! Shucks...there leaves me no choice even though in the year 2002 National Budget announcement, it just implied that application will not be free start in year 2006. I figure that the government isn't telling us something now...

Thus, this morning, my sister and I decided visit the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) office in Putrajaya. We arrived at 8.15am, got a number (1038 and 1039) each, and finished our application at 8.45am! That's a record for any kind of official governmental businesses I've ever dealt with. No bad! So I guess we should be able to collect the card two months later, that's what the officers there told us.

Side thought: I actually won't be surprised that the government will want those early adopters -- people that got their MyKad in the early stage -- to upgrade their identifiy card for added security features pretty soon...agree? Just ~wait and see~

The Untold Secret of the Fan

I actually did not realize that when the fan is turned on, it gives a blue glow! Cool looking fan but what's the point when the cover is put on?

p.s. messy wires but don't mind that. I'll arrange them properly I promise (which I reckon should improve air flow so the machine runs cooler and the fans do not need to work so hard which in turns will be more silent...)

The Transparent Big Guy with a Steady Spin

So then I went out and bought a fan that claimed to be less than 24 dBA - Cooler Master Dream III. I took the old one out and replaced it with the Dream III. Ahh...now I can enjoy my music with a better environment.

Bad news is...now either the chassis fan or the video card fan has just climbed to claim its top spot! :( Hmm...what am I going to do next?

The Tiny Little Noisy Fella

The noise from my PC has been given me frustration for months until one day I decided to find out which fan was screaming its lung out. So there are 4 main fans in my system: the chassis fan, the power supply fan, the CPU cooling fan, and the video card cooling fan. Initially I thought the main culprit was the chassic fan. I was wrong. It was the CPU cooling fan which could spin up to more than 4,500 rpm when the PC was busy with activities. This is the one that came originally with the Intel Pentium 4 CPU - tiny little fella but made lots of noise. Grrr.....

It was the birthday of the wife of a friend of mine. The husband got her a cake. Of course we each got to eat a piece of the cake too. Nice. 

Just set up a wireless access point for my house. Now I can network from the comfort of my room, how nice! 

Going Wireless At Last

Recently, I only got myself a wireless access point w/ router. A Linksys Model WRT54G -- although it's more colorful, its configurable settings are not as comprehensive as the Level 1 Broadband router that I used for the past 3 years.

So why did I buy this? Two reasons:
1) It has won quite a number of awards. Just visit their web site to see what these are
2) A friend also has a LinkSys wireless router so I guess it must have been quite good

Great! I'm having a break from work now until next Monday. Hooray!

OBlogger

I’m testing Blogger for Word Add-in.

Yes IT'S my birthday

October 26 is my birthday. While having dinner with some of my colleauges on the eve of Oct 25 (not for my birthday celebration though...), I found out that another 2 colleagues each has his birthday on Oct 27 and 28 respectively! There sure really are a lot of October babies around! Some BIG BANG birthday party for the month of October will be great and why don't we just call it "Oktober Fest" too? Nice!

Holiday

Today is a public holiday for the state of Selangor only. According to weather forecast, there will be thunder storms today as well as for tomorrow. Oh well, I guess we will have to cancel the BBQ celebration party tomorrow…

Cool and chilly day

Just had a quick shower (not me.  the town I'm currently in, Cyberjaya).

Oh my I'm having bad flu :- teary eyes, running nose, hearing loss, sore throat, blocked nose, fever, loss of taste, ....  I just hope that these are not because of Dengue.

Most Expensive Dinner

We were having dinner at one of the restaurants along Jalan Bukit Bintang today.

Cover: 5
Shark's Fin Claypot x 5: RM640.00
Steamed Fish (1/4 fish): RM148.00
BBQ Pigeon (2 birds): RM???
Mixed Vegatables: RM???
Beers x 1 jug: RM???

Fruit Platter: FOC

Total Bill: RM1,059.xx

I didn't pay for it...heh heh. Dad got it on his card.

p.s. pouring rain!

BeMyself: Photo.... -- and a hamburger story

Hmm..I just realized something about the last photo here:
BeMyself: Photo....

That boy on the left looks so much like one of my friends who works with a hamburger company. Since then the hamburger company grows into a 200-store chain in less than 4 years. I wonder...

Alright, talking about hamburger. The receently announced so-called vegetarian burger is oh-so-no good. Taste isn't there, the patty is dry, the bun tastes cheap, it does not fill a stomach, and yet costs more than a char-siew-pao.

The Shoe, The Foot, and The Sock

The shoe says: "Don't push me! My head hurts!"
The foot says: "This place stinks!"
The sock says: "Hold it there! Err...where am I?" 

Yah hoo! No work until next week! Oh no...wait...

How nice! I’m done with this week! I am taking 2 days off from work…so that means no messy morning, no traffic jams, no irritating radio commercials, no worries about early breakfast, no thinking of what I need to do for the day, and best of all, no stress from work, really!

Well…the bad news is: Gotta speed things up a little on some homework now so that will mean also no taking my own leisure time doing shopping or playing with my daughters. No TVs, no PS2, no updating this blog, no snapping photos of my neighbors walking the dog and that bloody dog leaves his poops right at my front gate! Worse thing is that she even let the dog pee at the tires of cars parked on the side. Wait 'til one fine day I'm gonna whip it out and pee at her front gate ~~ heh heh... ~~

Oh my I can’t do much for now, and I don’t want to let this bother me now. What I need to do is concentrate on my assignment.

Bye for now. And God Bless.

This is a 60GB iPod w/ color display 

iPod and my left hand 

What is 流量整形?

So can anyone tell me what 流量整形 is? Traffic Shaper? Flow Shaper? What is it?
I don't have no idea at all!

It's Friday. I must full use of the weekend. 

I've done it for 2 days!

Yes, I’ve kept myself busy for 2 days in the office. And not even taking a break for something unhealthy. It is not too difficult actually because I would have done it for more than a week if I am on vacation!

Well I’m talking about … --===-~~~

Blum!

Alright, I must make a correction. Blum is from Austria (奥地利) and not Germany as I said before. I regret the mistake!

By the way, I'm already obssessed with their hinges and pull-outs!

I can't remember where I took this photo. If anyone can recognize this place, I think I will...err...hmm...uh, forget it. 

Uh? What are you trying to do? 

A visit to a kitchen designer

I was pretty impressed with the drawer sets that are on displayed there. According to Eva, they are from Germany. The name of the company is Blum and you can easily find their website on the internet. Pretty comprehensive catalogue can be downloaded from there.

One set of these drawers of 3 cost me 640 ringgits. I have already ordered 2 sets for my new apartment.

Hayley seems to enjoy it so much. Oh goo...goo...*slurp* 

IBM iSeries Access Program Group

The program group should contain only these shortcuts. The others should not be visible to the users

1. AFP Workbench Viewer
2. Convert Macro
3. Data Transfer From iSeries Server
4. Data Transfer To iSeries Server
5. Internet Information
6. Menu-Bar Customization Utility
7. Multiple Sessions
8. Start or Configure Session
9. User's Guide
10. Welcome Wizard

This should be it. I'm signing off!

Look at the RED's! I don't want to see RED again tomorrow. That's why one of my favorite colors is GREEN :D 

This picture was taken in the afterrnoon at 4, just before I made my way out of the hotel. 

A lake, a bridge, moutains, trees, buildings...all these in one picture. 

Prima Midah Heights Block A - This is where I am going to live for the next...err...5 years? 

Spa...what's in it for me?

Hey hey! I will be going for a spa session tomorrow! This is considered a "team" event. Whatever they call it, it doesn't matter. As long as I will enjoy myself there, relax to the max, and make sure noone will disturb me. I'm all for it!

The security phone has been attached to the wall. But it is not activated yet, of course! 

Bedroom #2 and bathroom 

Kitchen and dining area 

August 31, 1957

Today Malaysia celebrates the 48th national day. It was in 1957 that we heard Tunku utter "Merdeka!" three times (which I saw on TV anyway).

So best wishes for Malaysia:
1. Progress to become a "developed" country by year 2020
2. Get rid of corruptions in some industrial sectors like constructions
3. All ethnic groups live in harmony and respect one another

Shan Yung

Driving 101

Something to unlearn and learn:
1) Do not use the hazard light when driving in the rain - hazard light is for STATIONARY vehicles only. If you have them turned on, how do the other drivers know if the vehicle is moving or worse, is STATIONARY?

2) Traffic light - a flashing amber light or red light does not mean a faulty traffic light. It means "slow down, look, and go" and "stop, look, and go". Get it right!

3) At a cross road or a junction, cars on the right (or left depends on which country you are in) have the right of way. Yield to them.

Are we worrying too much?

Interesting article for pregnant women:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7279844/did/8284167/

Cutting Through the Red Tape

A simple request to get approval is so difficult.

It took multiple follow-ups to ask approval for machine asset refresh, and yet, no reponse from them -- no questions, no acknowledgements. It seems that all messages that match certain criteria just go somewhere down into an abyss, no hope of seeing the daylight again.

Not going anywhere

A day without anything to do. It's purely relaxation in the comfort of the house.
Since Blogger has launched Blogger Images, I'm just going to try it out here.

See that db error there?

All about ports

Ports, ports, ports. All they talk about are the port numbers.

ICA-TCP Port: 1494
License Server Port: 27000
Web Interface: 80
IMA: 2152/2153
SSL: 443

Is that all?

And of course:
Oracle: 1521

fotopages.com is down?

Oh no. Something must have happened to fotopages.com. It gives

db error

Too many connections

And I thought it was because I couldn't access it from the training lab...

Training has been fun! At least this times it is not one of the courses in the Microsoft Cirriculum.

A break from work

Great! I´m going to have a whole week of training next week. And that means one whole week of absence in the office.

Hmm..while I´m writing this, the Ops people are talking about a vacation in Pangkor Island. Hey, I will go!

Who would have known that "DisableUserInstalls" is the answer?

Do this at a terminal server:

Add this value: "DisableUserInstalls": DWORD = 1 to this key below:

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer

And you solve the problem that has been plaguing us for months! Why didn't anyone work on this? Why wasted months of man hours to find workarounds?

The end is the beginning is the end

I've been telling a friend of mine: "The end of one thing is the start of something better to come". What he has been going through is worries about finding a new job since his contract with his previous company ended last month. And things were not going well for him; his mood was going like a roller coaster ride, although what I experienced mostly is low. Surprisingly contagious was that he's affecting everyone around him. Days such as these were dull to say the least.

I hope he will be fine. And hope that all things will go well in the days to come for him.

My World is Less Colorful...

I am having problem recognizing some of the colors. How bad is it? Not really...the only inconvenience caused so far is not able to see some of the laser beam shot from a Sony laser pointer that comes with a LCD projector. Not a big problem, just that when Ravi was explaining things and pointing the screen with the pointer, I couldn't tellwhat he's looking at.

It's REALLY not a big problem...RED GREEN BLUE

I'm "google-able"!

I just discovered something interesting this morning.

Enter "Wong Shan Yung" in www.google.com search box and viola! The first entry shows my photo on KSC Photography Club fotopages.

Do you know?

Do you know how many [traffic speed slowdown] yellow stripes there are in Cyberjaya? Well, specifically on the long 3-km winding road into Cyberjaya.

I can start counting when I pass through them and let all of you know later. So stay tuned...

Mobile Phone

On my way to work this morning, I saw a man driving a Toyota Avanza with both his arms on top of the steering wheel, a PDA phone in his left hand, and a pen in his right hand, eyes on both the road and the phone.

Did I say PDA phone is so much harder to make calls?

Something is amiss...

It's quiet, it's dark, and it's cold~.

天上的小星星说：“不要再闹啦！ 快去睡觉．”

No this is not a riddle but just take it with you.