Maxis 100MB data plan

Just checked my recent Maxis bill and found out the internet data usage was rather exorbitant. Apparently Maxis has changed the billing block to RM0.10 per 10kb block rather than the 1¢ per 1kb. That means even this simple blog post of about 1kb will count as a 10kb block and Maxis will bill it as 10¢ rather than 1¢. No fair.
So now they have a new simple data plan which allows for 100MB of data per month for RM18/month. Doesn't sounds like much but should be adequate to cover the simple data usage.
I'm basically using my mobile for email and blogging. Not so much for surfing. The small screen of the PDA is just too teensy-weenie to do any serious browsing.
Also to note that this Maxis 100MB data plan is added in addition to any value plan that you have. But I believe I can get cost savings. So going to give this Maxis 100MB data plan a try!

[update 27/12/2012]
Wow! It's been so long since I signed up for data plan for my maxis mobile number. Initially I started with this 100MB plan at RM18/month. It was enough as a starter for my Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro figuring that I would switch it on when needed and swap over to WIFI when in office or at home.
Using this plan is also good if you have a cranky old Sony Ericsson phone which would connect to internet for no reason and there was no way to turn off the data access. Better to pay RM18 than saddled with a RM250 bill! Fortunately nowadays Maxis cap the data usage bill to RM250 max otherwise you may end up paying thousands!
Anyway since I started using data, I have changed mobile phone from Sony to HTC and now to my Nokia Lumia. My data usage was also increasing as I have decided to leave my data connection always on.
For just emails with occasional Whatsapp, Facebooking and Twittering, 500MB at RM38/month would be just enough. But my recent Nokia Lumia Windows Phone, I decided to use more apps as well as Internet sharing to another second spare mobile phone and thus more data was required. Thus I have now up it to 1GB data at RM48 per month. In addition, Maxis has decided not to charge for the extra data usage if one were to exceed the 1GB data plan, (this was not applicable to the lower data usage plan) so it was good to upgrade to this 1GB plan. If data usage were to be exceeded, Maxis would just throttle your speed under the FUP (fair use policy), so I figure this would be the best option for an always on data connection.
Of course the difference between the 100MB vs 1GB at RM18 vs RM48 is quite a lot, but it takes less work to ensure you don't exceed the data usage allotment and being charged on a per kilobyte basis.

HTC Wildfire hangs

The HTC Wildfire hangs! Waitaminute! Android PDA shouldn't be like that. In fact it is one of the stabler platform in comparison with Windows Mobile and Symbian.

My wife was in a hurry to silent the HTC Wildfire for her presentation to her customers. Don't know what she pressed which caused the HTC Wildfire to freeze up like that. She didn't noticed it and the phone flatlined from battery drain.

Now she have to recharge the battery and just to reset the HTC, I instructed her to take out the battery for ten seconds before reinserting it again.

Hmmm... Will have to look see what in the world that she did to make the HTC Wildfire to hang.

Plantar Fascitis acting up again

Ouch! That's how it feels when my plantar fascitis acts up, pulling on my foot sole ligament. The pain was sharp but not a super pain but enough to disable my running and made me walk in a limp. The pain shoots in when I bend my foot. And it came at a time when I was planning for my weekly exercise.

Tried to warm up with stretches but it was still bothering me until I place a metatarsal support into my shoe did the pain goes away.

That meant my foot insole is rather worn out. But I think I can still salvage it. Mind you the foot insole wasn't cheap eventhough it was off the shelf range. With a bit of ingenuity I think I can continue using my foot insole and still prevent any pain from my plantar fascitis condition.

That's the problem with flatfoot people like me. Took me a lont time to recover from plantar fascitis condition and now it just bugs me every now and then.

HTC Wildfire

I guest this HTC Wildfire lower cost Android enabled phone means cutting out on extras. For one, the display is not so sharp with a slight blur from lack of fineness. In fact is less sharp than my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini.

But as far as thier function goes, the HTC Wildfire still runs pretty smooth with its lower spec and lesser onboard memory.

running on Android version 2.1 it has a very good contacts integration between the onboard contacts (which HTC calls it as People), your Gmail contacts, Facebook, Twitter and a few more other social websites. Might be good if they could have included LinkedIn too.

The HTC Wildfire 5MP camera photo resolution was rather poor too and not able to handle macro shots at all with very noticeable pixelation on the colour graduation.

Hmmm... if you are on a budget or not willing to spend on mobile devices it would be a wise entry level choice to a PDA mobile phone. After all mobile do breakdown in a year or two of usage. They are not meant to last. But if you are loaded, you be better off buying a better pricier model than HTC Wildfire.

Phew! Busy weekend

Phew! Such a busy weekend! Before you know it, it's over and next day it is back to the grind.

now it is off to a chinese restaurant for the weekly family dinner.

HTC Wildfire

So now is Lena's turn to go for Android enabled mobile phone. So I went and got her the HTC Wildfire which seems to be rather popular. At a nice price of RM1100 I should think so to given that it was sold out at the PDA gadget shop even at a higher price of RM1199.

It's bigger screen than my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini meant that the display is easier to read and of course easier to type. Plus it has a bigger battery capacity at 1300mAh but I doubt it will much more longer due to a bigger display screen. Will have give a spin after charging it up and see.

It's about time her pink coloured Nokia phone was replaced as the Nokia phone was dying plus her HP iPaq was getting rather dated. I'm sure she extracted more than its full lifespan!

Now just waiting for the HTC Wildfire to be fully charged before exploring it further!

Stuck in office again coz of rain

schucks! looks like I will have to wait itn out coz of heavy rain. but these ramadhan stall sure are working hard come rain or shine!

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Funny Boss Day Saying You Should...

Funny boss day saying you should do this, you should do that, and of course you should comply even if it is just plain inane. And of course at the end of day share it with your colleague, or better yet to the world and have a good laugh at it. Sure fire way to let off steam and reduce your stress!



Just the other day, I sent my boss to the airport and he notice that I have a McDonald VIP drive through car sticker that give some monthly special if I spend more than $15 at the drive through counter. It wasn't very useful for me for I seldom use that service and was planning to remove the car sticker anyway. But to my chagrin, funny boss says that this is company car and I should not place McDonald car sticker for private eating purposes and will check when he returns from his business trip.

Huh?! Duh...

I didn't know eating a meal in company car was such a big issue or is it just the car sticker was the issue or was he just trying to separate business is for business and personal is for personal and that company car is strictly for business and you can't mix and match, oh whatever... If this was the case there were many times when personal private time and equipment was used for company purposes and with no compensation whatsoever. If boss thought I was taking advantage of company, maybe he should also consider about company taking advantage of staff.

Although I'm allowed to bring the car back home for daily commute as this was the precedent for the many years and all the other branches practices this. After all I don't own any car having worked for so many years and the purpose of company was like a benefit and you should be able to use it within limit to simple things like buying groceries, going to church, going to shopping malls, go out for dinner otherwise I am without a transport. But I do find such directive on such small little thing like this car sticker thingy rather like a headmaster telling his students not to do this and that. Oh, well, shared it with my colleagues and have a good laugh. After that comply and peel off the car sticker.

Oh, here's a funny boss day saying that I found online:

If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter – Albert A. Grant.

Ramadhan buka puasa

ramadhan buka puasa is well underway and as usual behind my office are rows of food stalls with yummy Malaysian food. ummm can smell it from my office here. time to make a move and grab some grub!

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Blogger droid test post

just testing out the blogger droid app on my sony ericcson xperia x10. I have been testing a bunch of android application trying to find some good nifty software app to make full use of my android enabled xperia x10 mini pro. shifting over from my palm centro I have to find a better way to post my blogs on the go including posting mobile photos along the way. let's see how this post fares!

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Kuala Lumpur Properties Skyrocketing!

The sudden boom of Kuala Lumpur properties is rather alarming. Although as homeowner you will be glad that the value has gone up, but as long as you live there, there is not much of a difference since you do need a place to stay and thus you do no make anything out of it. But if you are looking for somewhere to stay, the booming skyrocketing prices sure makes it very difficult for any first time home owner. Given the lousy starting pay offer by most company to graduates who has no working experience, good location area is beyond the reach of many urbanites.

And what of the rest of us who are looking to make some retirement income from property rental? Yep, it also a burden to us who are looking for someway to make our little nest egg to feed us in our retirement period. Given the poor bank interest rate which is almost negligible, and not even covering the basic official CPI let alone the true CPI which is much higher than the government given CPI, we need to find a way to hedge and protect our savings! Putting money in the bank although safe is not good strategy. Yet plonking money in bad investment choice is just as risky.

And now I have a tenant who seems to be such a bad paymaster I'm wondering how to ask him to leave and get another tenant who has better cash flow. With so many properties booming away it is a wonder whether there is an oversupply situation or whether the people have no more faith in keeping money in banks and looking for the alternate way of hedging their hard earned savings. Not withstanding the poor governance of our current ruling coalition party has also squandered our wealth away making our currency purchasing power to become smaller, thus hedging it on property asset seems to be the logical way to go about it.

Alas, the skyrocketing prices of Kuala Lumpur properties does make it all the more harder to invest wisely...

Baby Day Out

Baby day out again. This makes it about 3rd time and 2nd time to church. Evrybody dote on him in church and he was so happy. He just loves to reply with coo and ahhh and other baby languange. And his big fat smile just brightens everybody's day!

After that is off for lunch with baby tagging along. Everybody was eating hungarily and baby wants to be carried. Poor dear but he just have to mind himself. Can't spoil him too much otherwise we will have no peace!

When it rains, it pours

When it rains, it pours. It's not too bad at other times as it cools the hot weather in Malaysia. But at rush hour then so sorry-lah! Traffic congestion!

Worst! I have to traverse the out dated traffic circle which cannot cope with heavy traffic. Even now I'm sitting in the car listening to some music and still can tap tap on my mobile phone and spill in a nice little blog to kvetch and bemoan about the unmoving vehicles. That's how bad it is.

Looks like i'll be stuck here for awhile. Half hour at the very least. The problem with traffic circle the cars that want to get out are blocked by cars that want to get it.

End result? No one moves. My policy for traffic circle is get in quick, get out quick coz getting stuck in one is not particularly fun.

More baby stuffs

Lena decided to get another baby stroller. She wanted a lighter weight than the one her friend passed to her. Oh, well... She wants to spend if that makes her happy. Shopping provide a good mood coz it releases some happy mood chemicals in the brain.

The Combi baby stroller is light weight and has good design. Anyway after a few years the baby will out grow it.

Whoops! After buying the Combi stroller we were well on the way home when Lena decided she would prefer the McClaren Stroller instead. The compact folded designed meant that it would save space in the car boot trunk. She was worried the steel frame would eventually rust over that of Combi which is aluminum frame. But in the she decided she would prefer the space saving design. The McClaren stroller actually cost more but the umbrella folding design would save the space.

So back to Baby Kingdom in Kota Damansara to change the stroller. It was the last day of sales so it was still a good buy despite the higher price tag.

Durians galore direct from orchard

Durians anyone? Definately a hit with my church members. This was to help out with the orang asli mission and now with the durian season on the way there were quite a number of durians from the durian orchard somewhere in Jelebu.

There are orang asli people over there and they need a lot of help to alliviate their standing. Aid from government seems to stop whenever the Orang Asli take on the Christian faith. Surely such marginalization based on religion is thriving happily unchecked. Oh, didn't know that? Such things are never published in the mainstream media. If you hear the kind of stories my fellow hardworking Orang Asli missionary friend encounters like the time they were blockaded by the authorities you would have thought such stories were the stuff of Hollywood stories but really such confrontation occurs off and on.

Anyway back to the durians which they brought all the way back from their durian orchard they have the D24 which are meaty and very sweet tasting but has a less yellow colour; and they have the D101 which has a deep yellow with redish tint and has a less sweeter taste and slight bitterness to it. Some people prefer the bitter taste just like those who like bitterness of the Guiness stout beer over the ordinary draft beer.

Anyway I bought two D24 and one D101 just to help out in the charity. The durians were tasty but a little overly ripe. At least you know they are not using pesticide in their durian orchard.

And so it is

And so it is,
sleep beckons and the morrow,
work awaits.

No end to the grind,
for the earth does not yield its harvest willingly

Toil it shall be
wither pleasure be
for the rewards that trickles in

Pray then that fortune comes
but heaven remains silent
for what are we
but mere gnats on the earth

It was once said either you love Thee or mammon
but without the flow of coins
Insolvency ensues

Thus what are we to do?
Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
And all things will be added on to you?

Then why is it not ocurring
That toil cannot bring forth the fortune
For the smooth flow of liquidity?

Why quote Malachi
when it is followed
and yet holes are still found?

So where is the abundance
promised but unseen
for I grow weary of uninspiring toil

To wonder why blessings withheld
For my toil ends up on undeserving charity
Such is my bane that boon eludes me

Enough of sorrows
For tomorrow awaits
For hope and faith be the key to unlocking the floodgates

Bread shop don't know how to do business

Sometime you wonder how this people can survive. This morning I didn't have my usual breakfast as the night I was so busy didn't get a chance to buy bread. I thought I could pop over at King's confectionary near my office to get some breaky.

Hard luck. The moment I stepped in I saw their bread shelf was empty. I recall my many previous attempts to get last minute breakfast was thwarted by people in this branch who is not keen to cater for the morning office people going to work who is looking for a quick breakfast.

Baby is exploring

Baby is about 6 weeks old and he is beginning to like looking at things. According to baby centre this is the time they are more aware of their surrounding. So to stimulate them we need to play with them.

I find that he likes to stare at lights and likes to be carried around to explore the house. My mom-in-law has other ideas about carrying the baby around in that it might spoil him.

I guess we have a difference in oppinion. In order to stimulate baby I need to carry him around to explore new sights, sounds and smell. So baby will start exploring since he is without mobility the parents will have to his legs for now.

Indonesian Massage

My wife found an Indonesian massage. This lady is good and very affordable and was recommended by friend. After my wife delivered she needed to get back into shape and the use of massage to get her tummy flat was one of the methods.

Since the Indonesian massage was already here may as well employ her services for some massage for me too. I liked this style over that of Thai massage becausethe traditional Indonesian massage goes for ligaments and lymph. Breaking up the crystal blockages of the lymph nodes and ligaments may be very painful however it is most effective. it's something like the chi version of the massage but less severe.

By clearing the blockages your blood will flow better contributing to a faster recovery to your ailment.

In fact whenever she feels lumps (which you would feel it too) whenever she presses on certain parts of to your body she knows you have a certain problem affected by your job or daily routine.

Those lumps are considered blockages in your body and further session will reduce the lumps and that would result in your recovery.

Sure, now my body and my legs are aching from the Indonesian massage session but it feels good because she has cleared the blockages. Good massage are like that. Lousy massage cause your more pain and soreness because they injured your body but a good massage although your body is aching you are actually recovering from your ailment.

That's why I like this Indonesian massage

SM Confucian Alumni 104th Anniversary

The 104th Anniversary SM Confucian alumni dinner was a good way to catch up with old friends. Though my memory was a rather fuzzy as some I could recognize their faces but couldn't recall their names. Year of 1986 was some 24 years ago. Faces still looked the same except of course body shape might change, basically still can recognize their faces. Still it was good to meet up again. I guess that's our little legacy. For we leave behind memories of years past and forge ahead into the future.

Baby 1st day home

Mother and child has been staying at USJ house for the pass 40 days or so. Since we got a temporary maid may as well make use of her services and clean up the house in BU. Mother wants to see what things she will need for baby and well baby will tag along. It will be good to stimulate baby with new sights, sound and smell.

It's been many weeks since my last clean up of the house though it was a short few hours, the maid managed to clean up the main places.

And baby has a good time in the house looking at the house. So I gave the baby a quick tour of the house. He really liked the place and was very happy taking in all the new sights, sounds and smell. Good to stimulate the baby development as now is the time to do such things.

Running around trying to get it done

Busy! That's how it goes. Time passes quickly when you have many things to do. All have to be done, no point procrastinating about it. The problem is to find the time to squeeze in the job to be done. I could try to prioritize and make list; done that before but don't quite work as it should. At least it gives a sense of direction on what needs to be done.

Hopefully all this running around will end up productive and get that end result which is a done deal and get some income out from it. With the inflation going up and the government taking away the subsidy, the man in the street is going face tougher challenges ahead to put food on the table.

Work permit for maid from vietnam

When it comes to government matters sometimes the job is best done by an agent who knows their way around bureacracy. The agent that we employed was rather eccentric but does get the job done. We wanted a maid to help out in the daily household chores and taking care of baby. Then there is the need to send baby over to USJ house for my mom-in-law to look after the child. My felt her mom needed a helper so we found a potential candidate maid from Vietnam. The maid's sister was already here working for my wife's friend household. Seems like the maid sister needed a job and we have a vacancy to fill. But the process of work permit application has been a long and winding road. Hopefully with the help of our eccentric agent man we should have our work permit in order to her in and get started as soon as possible. My wife fiery character to get things done asap is not one who could really stand the agent man rather soft approach. Haha, I do meet a lot interesting colourful people
along the way in life some good and some less but this is life, eh?