Jan Leow's Blog Page

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.

HTC WildfireIt'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!

McDonald VIP car sticker

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...

Place your car sticker here, or rather in this case DON'T place your car sticker here!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

Traffic jam during rain at the Rothman circle in Section 19, Petaling Jaya

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 on the pickup for sale!



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.

Durians galore!



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.



Durians look yummy, yes?



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?

Running under the weather

Need to do my weekly exercise but the weather here today was not coorperating. It stopped then started again. And while I was making run around the park it began to drizzle heavier. 15 minutes into my run I have to give up my exercise routine as I was beginning to get soaked. Well better than nothing.

Pivot Blog

One thing about script list in the webhosting software section, they have a list of interesting software for content management, blogs, forums, online calendars, and other interesting software. Some of which you never think about searching online for it. So I happen to bump into this Pivot blogging software that don't even use SQL database management! Intriguing. Will install it and have a look see. Of course my ultimate blogging script is still Wordpress, but there are a lot of CMS cum blogging script software out there to experiment with.

In case you choose something not so well known, do note that some project actually died! So don't choose a less well known project for your main or major blog website. Because when it loses support, you won't get the needed updates especially to clog up any vulnerabilities against pesky hackers attempting to break into your website and deface your contents!

Making website

I guess for newbie when making website may be difficult to grasp certain concept. But if got soem guidance better than none. I may not be expert but having maintain one for 5 years and several others for many years there is indeed a lot of things to learn. Mind you, you can't just learn them overnight. It takes time to understand why some ways are better than others.


The most basic concept that I learned was from the SBI system. Using the long time tested C-P-T-M idea it has nevered failed and works just as well on a non-SBI hosted website. Although it may missed some amout of automation process I still get interesting results.

So learn the SBI system for making website. It sure works and gets good returns!

Weekly family dinner

It is good to have this weekly family dinner to have this family closeness. If one were to follow the empty nest syndrome then all family relation would be lost. Even though parents and sons / daughter may not be living together (for good reasons too like avoiding the usual parental nags) a weekly family gathering is good for fostering good family ties.


Seniors need something to look forward apart from having a grand child you know the usual "when you will have a children to pass on the mantle" thingy.


so a weekly family gathering is something good to look forward.

Assembling the baby cot

Assembling the baby cot is sure ain't easy. Dismantling it was quite a jiffy. But putting it back together single handedly is really tedious.


My brother-in-law has no more need of the baby cot and we could use a hand me down to save some money. At about RM600 is not cheap! Sure it is a bit worn but it saves so no need to complain about it. Baby will outgrow it soon enough and you will wondering what to with it when you don't need it.


For now I need to wrestle with parts and they are coorperating. Don't have any help as the missus is at the in-laws house. But when she comes back with the baby we going to need it. So have assemble it and get the baby cot ready for precious baby.

Make website to scout for business

Can't be denied. Make website for yourself is good in that it helps you to secure new inquiries. Then after that it is entirely up to you to follow through to secure the business. If your company is not keen to make a website, it is to their detriment. So what can you do? Of course company policy is to be followed but that's on their side. There is nothing saying that you can't make your own website for your own self promoting your personal services to sell company's product.

Make a website for your own personal career success. If the company you work for are run by timid managers who are afraid of this and that, better look for another dynamic company unless you find the work is relaxing or no other place to go. Or else think out of the box make your own website to promote your products and service indirectly selling your company products. I think it should work too.

Heavy Rain! Stucked in office

Must be the tropical monsoon. Well I'm stucked in office. Can't get to my car unless I want to be wet. With this kind of tropical thunderstorm even with an umbrella, you will still get wet!

No choice but to wait it out. Such heavy thunderstorm will blow itself out in an hour or so. Just have to sit tight and look for something to do while waiting it out.

What to eat

What to eat... What to eat? Sometime when you are on your own you may end up at a loss on just what to have for a meal. My wife is still my in-laws house for her maternity and it is quite a distance to travel over. I wasn't sure if they prepared anything for me so might be better if I go find my own dinner. Oh well, will just settle for a plate of fried rice with egg.

Black Apricot

Black Apricot
Decided to get some fruits after dinner. Got this delicious black apricot fruit. Doesn't look like black apricot to me but that's what the sign said at the fruit stall next to Jaya Grocer in Jaya 33. Looks more like plum. Not cheap too going for RM7.50 each!

Took it back, chilled it and after peeling it, ate it. Tasted ok, not too sweet, not too sour. Value for money? Not really. Just giving it a try. Many of the imported fruits are really expensive here in Malaysia.

Black Apricot

After free McD time for car wash

Car Wash in Bandar Utama

Not bad, not bad. McDonald gave a free Fish-O-Fillet set. I just top up with applepie for a dessert to complete my lunch pack. So that's my lunch meal for the day.

While having my munch may as well queue up for a car wash. Weekends is not my preferred date for a car wash as the queue was rather long. But I needed to have my lunch so may well go for it!

I haven't washed my car for more than a month, been that busy! And not only was it dusty, it recently acquired some bird droppings too!

So may as well now than who knows when! Since I got some grub I can munch some and blog a bit in between. Haha, my car interior got a fair bit of food crumbs from rush hour breakfast in the car and now McDonalds too! Yep, time to clean the car!

McDonald Drive Through free burger

McDonalds in Bandar Utama

Having done a little job now time for some grub. Guess what McDonald is having somekind of drive through promotion. Some free burger. We'll since I haven't got lunch yet and was thinking what to eat may as well give this a try.

Full Moon Baby Shower

Baby Aiden is fast approaching a month old. Hence the full moon baby shower celebration done by us Chinese.

Aiden is growing well. A little chubby on the cheeks. Must all the goodness of mother's milk. He kinda active little fella when he's awake. He will look here, look there, crane his neck to see I don't know what is it that spook his curiosity.

That's a good sign of healthy growing baby. A baby that is making so much movement or even making noise is always a relief for us parents. I remember a pastor once said restless children though disturbs the peace is much better then if they are quiet which would make you worry as that is a sign they are not well.

so come this weekend is happy full moon day and a little baby shower for baby Aiden!

Using blogger layout

Using blogger layout system is a little bit more difficult but it has added features the old template style do not have.

I finally came around to switch my CH website blog to the new layout system and it took me the better part of a day to get the look and feel similar to the previous template.

I could try making it 99% similar looking it would take too much work. I guess an 80% similarity is good enough. The color theme still matches as per the nav menu. I opt for a wider right side bar after all quick blogs tend to be short so a narrow body might be better suited. Besides it is using a fluid width template so it doesn't matter if my right takes up more space.

The Blogger new layout is a little tougher to get working but I was able to do it much faster than before by using this go blog layout template and modify from here. Just a matter of changing colours and alignment adjustment and there you have it!

Always updating stuffs

I'm always updating stuffs on my website. Sometimes it is just minor, like correcting a little typo here and there for those more important articles and pages. And other times to create meaningful links between related post so that visitors to your website might want to read further after landing onto one of your pages. Seems like a never ending job. But that's how it goes if you want to make website that is useful and the best perhaps even rival against your competitor for the coveted top spot in SERP.

Just like now I'm thinking how to use Google Blogger new layout, so how do I port over the old tabled web page design to the CSS tableless template? This might require some thinking about, and there may be some layout that may not fit. But as long as the general look and feel is there, I should be able to cobble up a web page template that should look similar to the previous one.

If I managed it, my SBI site would probably start using the tableless CSS template too. But I probably be unlikely to update my 250+ pages one by one like I did previously. Just way too much work!

And why should I port over? To take advantage of Blogger's new features not available in the older HTML template style. And ya, it may be a pain to code XML style, but it would certainly be worth it to gain the additional features!

Domain Expired

Oh, dear! Bluehost sent an email saying my domain would be renewed for free by giving me a free coupon. But I noticed they didn't renew my domain at all it is already 1 day pass expiration date. Bluehost support couldn't do anything and said I should check with the billing department. Since it was Sunday I will have to wait till Monday for a reply. No choice but to send in a ticket and hope they will set the correct expiry date. I think any moment now my website will be down. Let's hope they can do it on time!

---
[update 21/6/2010]
Thank goodness! Bluehost managed to resolve this issue quickly! My domain was not down at all. Bluehost is not too bad when it comes to customer service.

Bluehost prices has been increasing lately. Probably cost has increased. For example if you take a yearly web hosting service, it is now $8.95/mo, up from previous $7.95/mo. And if you want to take up their $6.95/mo offer, it used to be for a 2-years period, now it is 3-years. Well, since I'm going to be with them for a long while, I went for the 3-years webhosting and save some money.

And they use to give whois privacy for free, now it is chargeable, just like godaddy, exabytes, etc. Oh, well, this service is nice, but not necessary. Just use a stonger anti-spam for that public email.

What Makes A Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea.

The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight.

The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need.

Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it ... Dad.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

Today at church we are celebrating father's day and the children church gave a nice Father's day presentation.

And of course we have the Father who is in heaven who look out to us.

Father's day celebration first started in June 1910 in honour of fathers though mother's day had been celebrated for a longer time. It became very and spread throughout the world

Happy Father's Day!

Streamyx is down yet again!

Welcome to boleh-land where nothing works right. Malaysia is vying for high income develop nation status and yet the simplest of things like a decent broadband internet connection still cannot achieve. Yes, I'm kvetching again at the lacklustre Streamyx service.

I was having off then on connection whole day long. At first I thought it was my PC, but then I realised it was TM/Streamyx fault. The connection sputtered on like a lame duck. I have to force click several times on a link to get a web page to refresh. Trying to do some work was a slow process.

And finally this evening while trying to update a web page, TM/Streamyx finally died out. And no amount of forcing the line would get me a connection.

Hurmph! Where's the competition to force Streamyx to improve their service? If this is the way TM is going about their broadband connection, you have better think twice about signing up on their UNIFI service. It ain't cheap and Malaysia broadband service is one of the expensive one around this region due to lack of competition. Monopoly is no good. It just shows it can't improve its services when the competition is sleeping with their promotion.

So where is that garish potong wayar ad to spur Streamyx to improve its broadand service connection?

Windows Messenger Error Code 81000306

Again I got Windows Live Messenger Error Code 81000306 in my Windows Vista. Which means I could not connect to the Windows Live Messenger server. There was this fix that I did some many months ago, and it still works.

 

- Click start
- Type: cmd (but don’t hit Enter)
- Right-click cmd.exe when it appears under Applications
- Click Run As Administrator
- Type the following: netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
- Press enter

 

It should work without rebooting. I must have turned on the TCP during one of the Windows update or something. But this didn’t help me on my office new Ricoh Aficio 2027 Multifunction copier printer scanner. Though I could send print jobs to it, but the scan jobs would not send to my PC. Still trying to figure that one out.

Lots of things to do today

It's good to take the day off. Yesterdays short run 7km race has left me with very sore muscles. So I can take it easy for a short while anyway and wake up late for a bit of rest.

Baby and mom is doing fine and today tried my hand at changing diaper. It was a good change and there was a few points to note when changing diaper. Should be able to do it correctly after a few more tries.

Decided to get back my blood test report from BP Lab which I took several weeks ago. Everything was basically alright except for higher LDL, but the HDL / LDL ratio makes it still ok. Bone density was at borderline so must cut back on my coffee intake. And strangely they detected possible gastric bacteria. Hmmm this is strange. May need further check on this or just go straight for medical treatment. And finally my liver show some unusual result. Could be an inflammation or fatty liver. Since BP Lab found they still owe me a scan I decided to do it today about 4pm and get it done with the test.

so while in between, I brought my dad-in-law for his dentures fitting. He will need a proper denture for eating. All this while I wonder how he eats with his current imbalance denture. it seems this dental clinic in USJ is cheap and good. So it is going to be a long wait in clicnic before it will be our turn and the aircon here isn't efficiently cool for such a hot weather.

Looks like I have to leave him behind while I go for the scan and retun later to pick him up.

All done and well done!

Made it! 55 minutes for 7km. Didn't hit the qualifying time of 50 minutes for my category but finished the race nevertheless. Well done!

MPSJ Carnival Run

All ready for the run! Hope to finish within my qualifying time! And I don't even know the timing required! Haha

Why Israel stormed the flotilla

Here is some intriguing info about why why Israel stormed the flotilla. As I suspected there must be a reason why Israel did what they did, just like why they invaded Gaza because the Hamas kept firing 20,000 rocket launchers into Israel. So here is the other side of the story that the media has kept it away from us. That's propaganda to you to paint Israel as the ugly enemy when in fact the real enemy is using the media to fight against Israel. Just like in WWII where the Brits and Germans used propaganda to either boost the morale of their own people while playing down on their enemy.



Shalom from Israel

Dugit Messiaic Outreach Centre and Adonai Roi (The Lord is My Shepherd) Congregation, Tel Aviv

Dear friend,

Following the incredible amount of negative press Israel has received in the world media, we felt compelled to write something to you from our hearts as we see events unfold from this side of the world. If you love and support Israel, we understand that you may be feeling confused by the accusations against Israel and wondering if there is some truth to the horrific stories. Did Israel really initiate unprovoked violence against a peaceful attempt to take humanitarian aid to Gaza? The world media were quick to send this headline around the globe but it was far from the truth!

There is a legal, legitimate maritime blockade in effect off the coast of Gaza. It was imposed with the agreement of Egypt when the Hamas terrorist regime took over Gaza. The Hamas regime has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.

"If ships were allowed to sail to Gaza without inspection, as flotilla organizers have demanded, nothing
could stop Iran from sending high-level weapons to Hamas in Gaza" said Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.

From the beginning of this situation the 'peace' activists have stated their intention was to storm the blockade. Thousands of tones of humanitarian aid is transported from Israel to Gaza by road every week through legitimate relief organizations like the UN and the Red Cross. Israel offered to transport the aid brought by these boats via the usual over-land routes once it had been inspected for weapons. The organizers refused to follow the legal path and intended to force Israel's hand by ignoring all warnings from Israel not to breach the maritime blockage.

After repeated warnings were verbally rejected over the radio by the ships captains, the Israeli Navy boarded the ships in order to re-direct them to an Israeli port in order to inspect the cargo and then transport it on to Gaza.

The Navy was unprepared for the level of violence they experienced on the lead Turkish ship, the 'Mavi Marmara'. "We prepared for an operation involving light resistance," said one navy officer, "We did not expect that the soldiers would be met by a mob armed with bats, knives and metal pipes." The soldiers were armed with paintball guns to minimize harm. Another officer said "We thought there would be verbal and passive violence, but not to the level we encountered. Everyone who came towards us wanted to kill us. We encountered terrorists who wanted us dead, and we used all the means at our disposal so that those who shouldn't get hurt would not."

The truth is that this was a politically motivated attack disguised as a humanitarian initiative by those who want to bring harm on Israel: Either through violence or through media propaganda.



A Personal response from Chaya

A letter from my heart;

When the Navy commandos repelled onto the ship from the helicopters, the terrorists on the Marmara were divided into groups and were organized and ready to attack. The Israeli authorities were taken by surprise at the violence of this attack. The soldiers were not prepared for a vicious mob.

Our Israeli soldiers were very restrained and careful, equipped with paintball guns to minimize harm. They were only given permission to fire their personal side-arms once the situation was out of hand and their very lives were in danger. Their aim was to disperse the rioters not to take lives.

One young Navy seal now has brain damage from being beaten so badly when he boarded the ship; another was thrown 3 stories to the deck below and then stabbed in the stomach. Another was hurled from the deck into the sea; others had serious injuries from being attacked. These were well trained navy seals - the attackers where not innocent civilians, they knew how to attack soldiers.

This was not a humanitarian mission - the motive was always political with violent intentions; they even refused to deliver a package to Gilad Shalit, from his parents. (Shalit is a 24 year old Israeli soldier who was kidnapped on the Gaza border 4 years ago by Hamas. Until today Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to visit him.)

The terrorists that were killed were carrying thousands of dollars in cash and had no Passports or I.D. It is suspected that they are connected to Global jihad affiliated organizations. Known Islamic extremists were identified as passengers on the ship. The intent of this ship was not to bring humanitarian supplies to the people in Gaza. (The organizers had been told by the Israeli authorities that the supplies would be delivered to Gaza once they had been checked for any illegal weapons.)
The intent was to stir up political pressure disguised as a humanitarian aid project to the people of Gaza. Thousands of tons of food and supplies are already being transported into Gaza through Israel every week.

The U.N. condemned Israel. The world showed their disapproval. People may say: we don't hate the Jews but we do not like Israel or her policies. I say to you that is deep rooted anti-Semitism.

Israel is a nation in shock after hearing all the lies that are being spoken against her all over the world. It is interesting that no one condemns the terrorists, who knew that Israel could not allow them to sail to Gaza because of the blockade and therefore came prepared to attack any Israeli who would stop them from doing so.

Today I am wearing a Navy Seals T-Shirt in honor of our brave soldiers, who were doing their jobs, boarding a ship that was challenging Israel's sovereign right to protect her borders.

Where does our help come from? Israel's help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth and our Messiah Yeshua!

Please pray for us - the nation of Israel needs your prayers. Pray for protection against all who would come against her and for her people scattered all around the world.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)


In our Messiah,

Chaya Mizrachi

Baby is home!

Baby jaundice is down to 8.5 considered as normal level. The normal level for bililubrin is below 10 or so according to paediatrician. So baby had good care for 3 nights. Finally the long awaited home coming!

Initially the paediatrician wasn't keen to release baby and wanted further observation, but the results looks rather stable with the day before results at 8.9 and today's at 8.5. Besides I'm getting burned in the pocket and since it looks normalized may as come on home! Everybody is anxiously waiting for baby so may as well be today.

Just need to make sure baby gets a little morning sun everyday to build up the liver strength.

Got my parents help to carry baby back to my in-laws house where currently mommy is having her confinement period. Way too much taboos about her confinement and recovery from child bearing. No aircon and no fan! And weather in Malaysia now is oh so hot! Not easy to endure.

Finally baby is back and both my parents and parent in law dote on him. No wonder he got such a charming smile when he was born!

Enfalac A+ baby milk

Incubator and intensive care for babies.


Bought enfalac A+ baby milk. Mummy decided this would be superior than the Nestle Naan brand. I should think so too when I went to shop for it. Enfalac A+ was also expensive in comparison. So off I go to hospital with baby milk in hand.

The prognosis was good too. Jaundice level has come down to about 10.5 so by tomorrow baby can be discharged.

Everybody is looking forward to seeing baby and rather anxious of his current condition. Mum already send home for confinement recovery.

And me? Rather knock out from all the running around! Haha! That's parenting for me!

[update] Enfalac Price last checked August 2012

Enfalac A+ DHA+ Step 1
650gm = RM$71.60
500gm = RM$48.60

Enfalac Regular
650gm = RM$46.30

Related post:
Enfapro A+

Baby Jaundiced, uh uh

Apparently it is common for baby to be jaundiced soon after birth. I guess my baby is no exception. My wife and I were looking forward to bringing baby home but looks like baby will have to stay a little longer in the hospital. He will need a nice little sun tan in the nursery care ward to reduce the jaundice level. Hope it won't take many days. Hopefully his liver will be strengthen enough to overcome the jaundice condition.

In addition his glucose level was very low too. Probably mother's milk has insufficient nutrition or insufficient quantity. So looks like have to supplement with infant formula.

Meanwhile need to bring back mother home for maternity confinement care.

So looks like it is going to be a very busy week for me with many trips to and fro.

Baby Night Two

Everything is going fine although the paedatrician noted that there was some slight jaundice which she considered normal. The liver is still young and was just starting its filtration of the yellow pigment from the blood and will take about a week to function fully.

Anyway its about time for us to check out. So come monday morning we would pack our luggage settle the hospital bill and off we go to my in-laws place.

There are still many things to do and many things to learn. Definately an on the job hands-on training. You can read only so much but in the end you have to do it; practice makes perfect.

The timing of the birth was just perfect timing. Everyone prayed for God's timing and baby came at a time when the delivery fees are still considered weekday rate for a saturday morning. Were it to be past noon and it would be considered double charge. The weekend resting period was good timing too, where friends and family could come and visit coz it was not a working day.

Every timing was just simply superb. Despite some anxious periods everything fit out quite snugly I should say.

Day of bundle of joy

It was such a wonderful day. Anticipation and excitement on the arrival of baby has come. It has been a long wait, with the final anxious week wondering when exactly the due date would come. In fact the doctor suggested to induce the arrival of baby for fear that the placenta was way past due. Placenta that are "ripe" would mean less nutrients to the baby thus the suggestion.

But it was with much fervont prayer that natural birth process proceeded. In fact when the contraction started my wife wasn't sure it was an actual contraction and bore with the labour pains starting from 1am that early morning when I have just completed doing the laundry. I was a little tired, but had only fitful sleep as my wife was trying to determine whether it was an actual contraction.

Eventually by 5am she was rather sure, and we got ready to go to the hospital.

By 6.30am the midwife checked and there was dilation of 4cm. So it was finally coming! And time to admit her in. She was wheeled into the delivery room while I went to ground floor for registration. It took awhile to get it done so by the time I went to the delivery room the dilation has reach 8cm. My wife opted for epidural as she couldn't stand the pain anymore. Although it was considered a little late for such a procedure it still did its effect of numbing the pain. I guess the anesthesist was very good in his dosage estimation. I heard one instance where it was given too much until the mother do not have feeling at all and was not able deliver until it wore off. And took several hours! My wife case, the dosage was just right, enough to numb off the pain and yet still have some dull feeling.

By 7.30am the dilation was 8cm and by 7.50am it was at full dilation of 10cm and it was time to deliver. The gynae has just arrived for initial check. Then the midwife took over for the natural birth procedure. Try as my wife might, somehow she couldn't push properly. The midwife has to teach on the spot the technique of delivery to push from a certain set of muscles and push during the contraction. Somehow with the use of epidural there is always the chance of not doing it right because of lesser feelings.

So in the end, doctor has to step in and switch to using suction method of delivery. A slight incision had to made too to widen the opening for baby to come out. The doctor had to tug a bit to pull the baby out while my wife pushed on one of the contraction. Finally the baby head pop out and it was all over!

Baby came out with a cry as the nurses drain away the fluid necessary for breathing. Soon the cord was snipped off and baby was placed on mother for initial bonding before taken away for cleaning, while the doctor cleared away the rest of the placenta.

And of course I am now the proud father of a new born baby son and starting texting to get the word out on the good news! Such a biological marvel and how wonderful God in his creation! And of course the advances of technology meant I could tell not just my friends and family of the wonderful event, but the whole world too!

So happy birthday my dear child and welcome to the brave new world!

It's a boy!

Well we already know that. It is a healthy baby boy of 2.43 kg. A bit below average nevertheless a healthy baby boy. Has a nice smile and likes to blow bubbles! Awww he is so cute!

Mother is feeling a little hungry but otherwise alright. It was a fast delivery. Took about 20 minutes. Quite fast too.

Baby coming soon

The awaited day is now arriving. It has been a long 9 months wait but well worth it. Bundle of joy, coming into this brave new world. May God have favour upon baby. Mother is prep and now just awaiting the time when cervix dilate to its full proper size for actual delivery. Already hooked onto the CDG and the baby heartbeat is going pretty fast. The epidural is having its effect and mother is now able to withstand the labour pains. Just a little more longer for the full dilation as we wait for baby to come round.

209.126.254.214 hacking attempt

209.126.254.214 is trying to hack into my Wordpress website. Well whoever it is, ain't getting in! I seem to be getting lots of these hacks lately. What do they hope to get from hacking in? Besides my website is not a very high ranking, heavily trafficked website. This abuser seems to be hacking a lot of site based on a quick search on that IP address. Also noted in a blacklist site, this IP was sending spam, phishing emails and virus emails. There is no website hosted on this IP 209.126.254.214, so may as well blacklist this IP

Streamyx is slow again!

Again the Streamyx service is getting slow and laggy again. Does this ever end? How can Malaysia become an informational hub if even the basic network infrastructure is in such a shamble? I guess the school holidays is near and many people must be scrambling to do some research on where to go for their cuti-cuti vacation getaway travel destination. But why TM / Streamyx didn't take into account of the heavier bandwidth load during this period? So they felt they are more secure ever since P1 WIMAX had a bit of a tangle about their "potong wayar" promotion and also insufficient coverage on certain geographic location. During that time Streamyx service did improve and that sort of stop me from defecting over to P1 WIMAX. But now Streamyx is up to no good with their laggy slow internet connection yet again!