Red Cliff Part 1

I am an avid fan of the "Romance of Three Kingsdoms", back since the day I bought a Taiwanese comic book about the title.

After watching countless war movies, such as Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, and other English titles, I have been waiting for the day Romance would be shown on the big screen.

As such, when "Red Cliff Part 1" is out, I went to watch it straight away.

However, the movie is a major letdown.

Sure, some of the battle scenes were very intense, such as the part where Zhao Yun went to save Ah Dou.

But, in the last battle of Part 1, the battles involving Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were atrocious, to such an effect that it looks like some kids wrote the script for that.

Instead of using his trusted snake-headed spear, Zhang Fei rushed out to face countless enemies, and resorted to headbutts and punches?

In another scene, Guan Yu threw out his big sword, so that he could fight unarmed, using his enemies' spears instead?

Both of these scenes doesn't make sense, given that any self-respecting martial arts practicer would never leave his/her weapons behind.

Another thing that annoyed me is the dialogue for Xiao Jiao.

Gems such as "You are better than Chao Chao, because he does't have friends" not only pained the ears but also made my hairs stand.

For the main characters, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, the portrayal is different from the "Romance", which I guess is due to that it is based on the more factual "San Guo Zhi."

Anyway, overall, I would rate this movie at 2/5.

For avid fans of "Romance", avoid this at all costs.

I hope Part 2 will be a lot better. :|

IEEE citation style for Word 2007?

I still remembered I made a complaint about Office 2007 a few months back, especially about Powerpoint and Groove.

Anyway, I have been working on a paper for the past few weeks, and it's the first time I have used Word 2007 to write it. Previous papers were done using Word 2003.

To my pleasant surprise, Msoft did get something right this time.

Word 2007 has several useful features for writing papers. One of the major cause of headache when writing a research paper is the need to keep constant track of the references made, because we have to number the references according to their appearance on the document.

Eg. I have put paper A as reference [1], but suddenly I found that I need to quote paper B before that paper A. This means I need to renumber paper A as [2], and paper B as [1].

Now, when I have 20+ references, the changes are going to get ugly.

However, in Word 2007, under the "References" toolbar, there's all sort of tools to help in this bibliography. It can even auto-generate the table of content.

The only problem now is, we can only choose a few citation styles which is built-in, and that list of styles does not include IEEE's style.

I found a page that teaches how to create our own citation style, but I find it a chore now, since I wanted to finish my paper a.s.a.p.

Hopefully some good soul out there can help. :)

I signed up for PayPerPost!

I had signed up for PayPerPost.com, which pays bloggers to post reviews about their customers’ products. It’s fabulous, considering that it pays good, and opportunities are aplenty.

I had joined lotsa online ads companies since my undergrad days. Back then, Starcraft was "the game" and I devoted a website totally for that game. I put it on geocities, before it was took over by Yahoo. However, it's gone now, but that was my first website, coded using plain HTML and that was what got me started in web programming.

Since I started the website, I then searched for ways to earn from online ads by joining several pay per click and pay per lead companies. It was the height of the dot-com craze then, and companies were paying big bucks for any clicks and leads to their site. I still remembered a certain free webhosting company was paying USD2 for every signup at their site. At first, money was slow, but as my traffic picks up, so does the money.

However, as we know, the dotcom bubble burst, and basically that meant the slump of online ads as well, I mean at least for small-timers like me. However, now that blogging has become mainstream, opportunities to make money are growing once again. PayPerPost is one such chance for us bloggers to make some money, especially since we are paid in USD. A simple example: once you signed up, and make a review like this post of mine, you will get USD 20! (note: this is subject to their approval, of course :)

The things that I loved about PayPerPost (apart from the $) are its great customer service and not to mention the simple and clear-cut interface once I logged in to the system.

In a nutshell, if you are blogging, and wants to help reviewing and get paid for it, join PayPerPost now by click on the image:

blog reviews

Happy blogging! (and earning :)

Diablo III

Diablo 3 is finally announced! It's a long time since Diablo 2, so hopefully it will be ready soon.

It has already been developed since 4 years ago, but as usual, Blizzard's games will only be ready, when "it's ready".

I just hope for two things, that it won't be canceled like Starcraft: Ghost, and the graphics would be in-line with the current technology.

Ok, the graphics have to be compatible with my GF6600 GT. :)

Source:Diablo III First Look - PC News at GameSpot

Petrol price increased

Source: Petrol to cost RM2.70 from midnight (updated)

Yesterday they said the subsidy is going to be reviewed, but only changed by August.

Now, they are going to increase petrol from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre by midnight!

When I was coming back from Melaka Raya, the whole road near Bukit Baru was jammed, due to the long queue of vehicles waiting to pump in petrol and get some "savings" before tomorrow.

The Petronas in Bukit Beruang had one of the worst queues, where it starts from the traffic light, and ends near the end of road near pasar malam.

With the increase of 40%, I dread to think of the prices for all the food and commodities tomorrow.

I hate the way they always suddenly announce prices are going to increase by midnight.

Can't they announce it like a few days beforehand, so that there won't be any rush?

KLCI is going to drop greatly tomorrow.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Source: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm56923648/tt0367882

I have just watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull yesterday night.

I am a fan of the Indiana Jones series, since I watched them in RTM2
when I was a kid, and played the LucasArts Indiana Jones' game as well.

However, I would rate this movie a 5/10.

I find that the plot of the story doesn't make sense.

The old man (friend of Indy whom became mad) was said to have been to the temple where there are the crystal skulls.

He supposedly reached inside and saw the alien there, but then managed to return back to the place where he found the skull originally.

However, towards the end, when the Ukrainian girl placed the skull back to the skeleton, she was instead incinerated by the alien.

So, this brings to mind, why didn't the old man replace the skull back to the skeleton when he reached the temple? If he did, why wasn't he killed by the alien?

All in all, the movie's plot had too many loopholes that it made the film seems childish.

Melaka Land Office Mistake again?

"Some 36 property owners, whose buildings' back portions on the Malacca River’s reserve along Lorong Hang Jebat have been earmarked for demolition, want the state to spell out its plans.

One owner, Ken Lai, 55, said the 30-day notice calling for the demolition was unreasonable.

“The Malacca River project has been going on for two years and the authorities never mentioned anything although measuring the area six times,” he said here yesterday.

In February, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam had degazetted acquisition of 143 properties in Lorong Hang Jebat, Jalan Kampung Pantai and Jalan Kampung Hulu.

He admitted that the land office had made a mistake as the Jan 17 notice of acquisition was for abandoned or derelict buildings only."

Yeah right, it's just another "mistake" on the land office part.

Source
Property owners: Spell out plans

ESOS Tax Calculation

I had just completed my income tax online remittance. I wanted to submit earlier, but there was a problem, I do not know how to calculate tax for my Employee Stock Option Scheme's gains.

After consulting blupi and googling,I found the following page in FPAM:
When exercising your ESOS, consider also the tax implications.

Key points of the ESOS tax calculation:

1. We are not taxed for the gains made when we sell, since we normally wait until the price is high enough for us to make a profit.

2. Instead, we are taxed for the difference between the price of the stock option and the market value of the stock at the date of the stock option's offer.

3. The gain is not taxed for the current year, instead it will be counted as taxable income for the year the option was offered.

Man U 1-2 Chelsea

Manchester United had just been defeated 1-2 by Chelsea in the EPL. Goal difference is the only thing separating them now.

However, the performance of the referees' were abysmal. First of all, replay could not show whether Carrick did or did not handle for the penalty, so I will wait until I can get a clear replay of the "offence".

Now, after Ballack converted the penalty, there was a Nani pullback for Carrick, but one of the Chelsea player clattered into Carrick and clearly did not touch the ball at all. This was a clear penalty!However, nothing was given.

zzzzz.

If we lost the EPL, this will be the key incident.

AMD Athlon64 3000+

My PC, a 2006 purchase, with AMD Athlon64 3000+, Asus SLI motherboard(aka mobo), and Geforce 6600GT, has had its 'unfair' share of problems.

Back when I bought it, I was already made to wait for 1 month plus for the Asus board to arrive at Stygix.

Then, after a few months using it, the mobo's fan malfunctioned, where it refused to cool my mobo.

I sent it for warranty, which took 3 months plus(!) before I get the the replacement However, the new unit's fan also died after just one month plus. :|

Refusing to wait another 3 months, I decided to use it without the fan, and thankfully, the PC met no problems without it.

Around the stat of 2007, my beloved 19" AOC Flatscreen monitor, which served me faithfully since the last year of my undergraduate(circa 2001-2), began to show signs of its age.

The displayed screen shrunk from 19" to only around 8-10".

As such, I changed to the Viewsonic VA1912WB LCD monitor, which was fine until 3 months later, where the its power unit went on strike.

Since I bought it from PC World over here, I sent it for warranty thinking that I would get it back a few weeks from then.

However, 2 months passed, and there was no news from them. One day I went over to see Steven, and checked with him about the status of my monitor.

Steven made a few calls, and promised me that my LCD would be back soon. Anyway, a week passed, and again there is still no news of my LCD.

This proved to be the start of my countless trips to the shop to ask about the LCD. Each time, Steven's technician would help me to call to the supplier to inquire about the LCD, and each of the call would end with "it would be back soon".

Noticing my frequency of visits, Steven then decided to make a full inquiry into the LCD, and found that all along, my LCD was already fixed, but it 'disappeared'.

The disappearance was due to that back when I sent my LCD for warranty, it was sent to the supplier, which subsequently did not sell Viewsonic monitors anymore, and passed its operation to a second supplier.

As such, this second supplier, which the PC World's technician called, did not know about my LCD at all, and thought it was lost or something.

Anyway, at the end of the 4th month, I finally got my LCD monitor back, albeit with a few scratches here and there.

My latest problem with my PC is the Geforce 6600GT. The fan(again) of the GPU had malfunctioned. When I opened it, I found that the fan's base had melted.

Anyway, since I had 4 fans for the casing, I took 1 off, and placed it directly below the heatsink of the GPU.

Thankfully, my PC ran without a problem for the past month.

That is, until now.

Yesterday, just after I had transferred my research work to the thumbdrive, the PC suddenly rebooted.

My first thought was that it was the GPU overheating, but to my dismay, Windows XP would not boot. It would continue displaying the Windows XP booting screen with the progress bar running, for hours.

In fact, I powered it up - hoping that it would boot normally - before I went to sleep (around 12.30am) yesterday.

I was awoken around 5am just now when I heard the main door being opened, and some loud laughter followed by sounds of "shhhhh".

The status of my Windows?

Still loading.

I have tried Safe Mode, System Restore and Chkdsk, but it still failed.

I am running a final chkdsk, and if it still fails to load, looks like I will need a reformat.

ZZZZZZ.

Dell's Prices

Since my PC is now AWOL, I am thinking of buying Dell's laptop. I am looking out for 17" laptops since I love big screens AND they can accommodate two harddrives (who knows, I may get a SSD one day).


I checked the Dell's Malaysia website for the 172o. Current price is RM 3,399.

Hoping that Dell Singapore will offering it for a cheaper price, I found that the opposite is true, 1720 is selling for S$1899. Current exchange rate is S$1 = RM 2.3249, which means the price is RM4414.

Looks like I am better off buying PCs in Malaysia.

DIY SSD in Laptop

I have been reading up on articles on which laptop to get, on a budget.

This article from tomshardware on how to DIY solid state drive (SDD) into any laptop is great news.

However the current cost of SSD is around USD700, so it wouldn't be cost-optimal, yet.

Wireless router for streamyx

Since my house needs a new wireless router, I have been searching around for a better one with QoS.

Google helped me in finding this great article on how to turn a normal modem into a great one.

I am thinking of getting a Linksys WRT54G and upgrade the firmware to DD-WRT.

MDBPB

I am back in BP, and I had enough of the countless mosquitoes feeding on my blood. I googled for MDBPB, which stands for Majlis Daerah Batu Pahat Barat, and found the e-aduan. I filed the following complaint:

Untuk makluman tuan, longkang di Taman Makmur telah sumbat untuk beberapa tahun, dan telah menjadi tempat pembiakan nyamuk.

Walaupun ada beberapa kali longkang-longkang tersebut dibersihkan, namun keadaan tersumbat masih berkekalan.

Saya berharap tuan dapat membetulkan keadaan ini, kerana nyamuk-nyamuk di kawasan ini telah mencapai tahap yang membimbangkan.

OK, my BM standard has deteriorated a bit, but I think I can get my message across. Today is Saturday, 12th April 2008, let's see how long will I get my response for the complaint.

Samy going for his ‘last term’

Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu will defend his presidency for the “last term” in the MIC party polls scheduled for March next year.

On the statement by Selangor state executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar that he would resolve the problems of the temples in the state, Samy Vellu said: “It would be better if they can allocate land for the over 2,000 temples in the state.”

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/5/nation/20860568&sec=nation

So, now that he's not a minister anymore, he is suggesting others to get lands for temple. Why didn't he try to get the lands before this?

For better, or worse?

Finally, a Pakatan Rakyat is formed. The only regret is that it is formed after the elections, and not before. It is a good start, and hopefully can help to improve our country's affairs.

However, I am not particularly impressed by the fact that they are forming a coalition, instead of merging. I know due to some ideologies which are different, a merger will be hard for all the three parties, but I do hope that there would be a single party instead of three in it.

Multiple parties means there will be conflicts, even though Anwar said "The agenda is clear. Whoever is the Mentri Besar or Chief Minister, it makes no difference as they are tied to policies determined by the Pakatan Rakyat." Hopefully, I will be proven wrong.

1 cent in Malaysia

Come April 1st, all bills will be rounded to the nearest multiple of five sen in Malaysia. 

I just know that it doesn't mean that 1-cent coins are useless, but that it is still legal tender for payment. 

"According to Bank Negara, the introduction of this mechanism is to reduce the demand for the one sen coins. However, the coin remains legal tender for payment of goods and services."

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/30/nation/20795547&sec=nation

Hong Leong Foundation Scholarhip 2008

Hong Leong Group, through Hong Leong Foundation, awards scholarships on an annual basis for Diploma and Degree studies to help promising Malaysians realise their full potential through education.

Successful applicants will receive financial assistance to pursue a Degree/Diploma course in :• IT, Computer Science & Creative Multimedia• Accounting/Finance & Management• Hotel Management• Acturial Science• Science / Applied Science • Business Administration • Mass Communication • Law
• Engineering –
Aerospace & Aeronautics, Electronic, Electrical, Computer, Communication, Mechanical, Mechatronic, Chemical, Environmental
at recognized IPTA universities, Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman, Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology, Taylor’s College, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology, Monash University (Malaysia Campus) and Multimedia University.

Undergraduate studies at local public universities
RM 7,000 p.a.
Undergraduate studies at local private institutions (“3+0” twinning programmes on full-time and on-campus basis)
Up to RM 20,000 p.a.
Diploma/Advanced Diploma courses
RM 5,000 p.a.


• Between 17 to 25 years old
• Excellent academic achievement

SPM
-
at least 5As and 2 passes from a minimum of 7 subjects
STPM
-
at least 3As and a pass in the General Paper
CGPA
-
at least 3.5 for Diploma or Matriculation.
• Outstanding leadership qualities, matched by notable participation in extra curricular activities
• Is not on bond or receiving any form of financial aid from other educational institutions or organisations
• Obtained or awaiting an offer of admission from local universities/Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman / selected private universities. Scholarships will only be offered to successful candidates upon enrolment into the institutions mentioned in the "Courses" page


Application forms may be obtained:
- from all Hong Leong Bank Berhad branches in Malaysia during banking hours
- by downloading from here.
- by sending a stamped (50 sen) self-addressed envelope to :
Hong Leong Foundation Scholarship ProgrammeLevel 8, Wisma Hong Leong18 Jalan Perak50450 Kuala Lumpur

* Date for submission of application is 18 April 2008* Only shorlisted candidates will be notified for an interview. Incomplete and late applications will not be considered.

PSP Slim and Lite aka PSP-2000

I am looking around for a PSP Slim and Lite aka PSP-2000.

In ebay, the cheapest I have found so far (24 March 2008) is RM758 with the following items:

SONY PSP Slim & Lite console (3.80 M33-5)

4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo

ORIGINAL AC Adapter (100v-240V~0.3A 50/60Hz)

ORIGINAL Battery Pack (3.6V 1200mAH)

User manuals

Accessories:

Crystal case

Screen Protector

Earphone

Wrist Strap

Cleaning Cloth

Pre-loaded games

However, it is missing a USB cable, which I presume will cost a few tens of RM.

I am pondering whether to get an 8GB Sandisk after I read this comparison between Sony and Sandisk.

Reasons for getting PSP?

Games, multimedia, wi-fi, web-browsing, GPS, and now Skype. :)

Mayhem in Terengganu

PM: Appointing anyone else is against Constitution SEPANG: The appointment of anyone but Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh as Terengganu Mentri Besar is unconstitutional, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. “Most of the state assemblymen support Datuk Seri Idris. This fact remains unchanged. They are in agreement,” he told reporters after attending the 10th Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday. Therefore, appointing anyone else is not right constitutionally,” he said.

Expert: Sultan’s discretion not absolute
Universiti Teknologi Mara Law professor Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi said the position of Kijal assemblyman Datuk Ahmad Said would not be safe even if he was appointed the Mentri Besar by the Sultan of Terengganu. “The Sultan has discretionary powers but this discretion is not absolute. The Sultan is not bound to listen to the advice of Umno divisions or the Federal Government but he has to listen to the state assembly,” he added.

First, BN said LKS did not show respect to the Perak Regent.

Now, they (BN) themselves are not showing respect to the Perlis Sultan, and now the Sultan of Terengganu.

They even had their supporters march to the palace holding banners, with no watergun or police stopping them.

'Patient' uncle

I just finished lunch with Maureen, and on the way back, I went to fill up our 3 bottles with the reverse osmosis (RO) water at the vending machine in front of Hup Heng.

It's cheaper than the others right now, with 10cents for 1.5 liters of water.

When I reached there, a Malay, mustached uncle was filling up water with around 8 bottles of 1.5-liter bottles.

He told me, "I still have a lot of bottles, you better use the other machines" in a slightly unpleasant manner.

"OK, I only have 3 bottles..." I said, wanting to continue with "can you let me use it first?", but he was not listening and went towards his car to fetch another 4 bottles.

All right, I am patient, I can wait for him to fill up his 30-40 bottles, since he didn't had the courtesy to let me fill up my bottles in less than 3 minutes.

So, he went to and fro from his car to the water vending machine, carrying 4 bottles each time, with each trip taking around 30 secs.

It took him around 15-20 minutes to finished filling all the bottles. (I didn't bother to calculate, since he arrived there, he did had the priority to use the machine)

Now, once he has filled up the last bottles, he went back to his car to put his bottles, with another 3 filled-up bottles left on the machine.

Since he was walking to his car, I went up and filled up my 2-liter bottle, expecting it to finish just about the time the uncle came back.

He came back for the bottles, and I was still maintaining my good mood even though I was slightly irritated by the lack of courtesy of the uncle at that time (imagine waiting for 20 mins for a 3-mins task).

However, the words that came out of the uncle were really out of my expectations.

"Be patient lah. Wait and be patient."

WTH?

I was already being patient for him to walk to his car and fill up his bottles for 20 mins, and now that he's not using the machine, I can't even fill up until he has finished taking the last 3 bottles?

Come on, he is the one with no patience to wait for me to fill up just half a bottle of water!

If he had patience, he would have let me fill up my 3 bottles in 3 mins, but instead made me wait for 20 mins!

And he even had the nerve to come out with words like this.

Pure classic.

Powerpoint and Groove 2007

I have been using Office 2007 for a few months, and I can say is that it is very poor.

Sure, the GUI has improved, but the usability (or ergonomics) has deteriotated.

For example, in Powerpoint, I am always using the insert textbox command, which is located under the "Insert" toolbar.

Only one toolbar is visible at one time, so if I had to insert a textbox, I had to choose "Insert" toolbar first.

Once I had finished adding the textbox, I would normally need to create another textbox to label another part of the diagram.

However, Ppoint decided that instead of having "Insert" toolbar visible, "Home" toolbar is there instead, which means I had to re-click "Insert" again, and repeat the whole process.

This is annoying, and the fact that my office's mouse is not really that precise, a lot of time were wasted just for this.

Another annoying feature of Office 2007 is the Groove 2007.

I would say it is not useful, and is better uninstalled asap.

I have found the following steps for uninstalling Groove in the Microsoft website:

How to uninstall Groove 2007

1. On the File menu, click Exit, and then click Yes when you are prompted to confirm. If Groove stopped because of an error, open Task Manager to confirm that Groove is not running.

2. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs. In the list of installed programs, select the 2007 Microsoft Office suite that you are running, and then click Change.

3. Click Add or Remove Features, and then click Continue.

4.Click Microsoft Office Groove, click Not Available, and then click Continue.

5. When the Setup program is finished uninstalling Groove 2007, click Close

6. To remove all data files, delete your Groove data folders. These folders are in one of the following locations, depending on the operating system that you are running:

• Windows Vista
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Groove\User\Accounts
• Microsoft Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\groove
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Groove

Samy: Who will stand up for Indians?

KUALA LUMPUR: The time is not right for a single party system in Barisan Nasional as suggested by Gerakan, MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said here. He said in today’s political situation, such a move would dilute the rights of the Indian community. Samy Vellu said a smaller community like the Indians have to fight for their rights and that could only be done through MIC.

Source: Thestar (Samy: Who will stand up for Indians? )

"Indians have to fight for their rights"? "Could only be done through MIC"?

Are malaysians really so vicious that we will ignore other races' plight?

I think if a similar thing is spoken in US/Europe, well, it would not go well at all.

We don't see anything like Obama saying, "Vote for me so that blacks' rights are protected", nor Hillary saying, "If you don't vote for me, whites will not have a big say in government".

Death Note?

I know this is old news, but for those un-informed, a certain infamous politician in Klang has died of heart attack, as reported by The Star.

This brings to mind a certain Japanese manga(comics)/anime/movie called "Death Note".

In the comics, the main character, Raito, was a very intelligent man whom happened to obtain a Death God's notebook, whereby by writing one's name on the notebook (Death Note), the man will die of heart attack within a few minutes.

Determined to use this book to create a world without crime nor corruption, Raito proceeded to use the Death Note to kill all the criminals daily using the name "Kira" (which is the direct translation of Killer in Japanese).

His arch-nemesis would be a detective with the codename, "L", whom somehow managed to link all the clues together to identify Raito as Kira. However, he (L) did not have proof of Raito's doings, and therefore L and Kira were engaged in a long but intense battle of wits.

Somehow, I think there the story is similar to the real life hacking battle story between Mitnick and Shimomura.

Penang Mega Projects

I am glad that Koh Tsu Koon has helped to appeal for the mega projects in Penang. It would be best if the projects are kept going since they had already been planned and approved before the elections.

I hope the gov know that cancellation of the projects would mean that they are just election gimmicks, which they emphasized are not.


‘Keep all mega projects’
PENANG: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng found an unlikely ally in his political foe Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon when both leaders urged the Federal Government not to scrap all major projects in the state.

Lim urged them not to “cut their noses to spite their faces,” adding that if they wanted to punish the people for voting in the Opposition, “then you may end up punishing Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Kelantan and the Federal Territory as well.”

“They should also understand that the Prime Minister is not the prime minister of one political party but the prime minister of all Malaysians,” he said.

Dr Koh, who is Gerakan acting president, appealed to the Federal Government to continue with the implementation of mega projects in the state although it was now ruled by Opposition parties.

“These infrastructure projects are crucial for the future economy and quality of life for Penang and our neighbouring states,” he said in a press statement.

Among the projects he mentioned were the Second Penang Bridge, Penang Outer Ring Road, monorail and the public transport system.

“Successful implementation of these projects will also ensure that Penang will continue to grow as the hub of the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT),” Dr Koh said.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/election/story.asp?file=/2008/3/15/election2008/20651540&sec=election2008

NEP under threat?

DAP decision will affect all Malaysians, says Hisham

Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin said The DAP’s decision to abolish the New Economic Policy (NEP) could cause national instability.

“Such irresponsible actions from DAP will only worsen the economic disparity of our multi-racial country.

“All the while the NEP has served to maintain balance in such issues.

“We cannot allow a large part of the country's economy to be ruled by the minority races while the majority race is abandoned without representation,” he said.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/14/nation/20642620&sec=nation


Police disperse protestors in Penang
A big group of protesters, mostly Umno members and supporters, took to the streets around Komtar after Friday prayers to protest against Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's remarks on the New Economic Policy.

Chanting “Hidup Melayu” (long-live the Malays) and “Allahuakbar” (God is great), the protesters marched towards Komtar in Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong at about 2.30pm.

Ahmad Ibnihajar denied that the protest was led by the state Umno but claimed that the Malays had gathered in response to an SMS circulated on Friday.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/election/story.asp?file=/2008/3/14/election2008/20080314153313&sec=election2008

Call to scrap mega projects

The state Umno will “persuade” the Federal Government to scrap all the mega projects in the state in view of the people's clear rejection of Barisan Nasional.

Since Penangites do not want development, the Federal Government should not force it on them, said state Umno liaison committee secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim.

He said that this was not Penang Umno taking revenge “but we are actually giving the people what they want”.

Source:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/14/nation/20641797&sec=nation

Is NEP really that important? Has it really helped all the Malays? Is this really good governance? Does voting for opposition really mean that we do not want development?

Malaysia's direction?

Source: http://business.theage.com.au/malaysian-voters-open-the-door-for-anwar-ibrahim/20080311-1yrf.html

As written by Michael Backman:

"The nightmare scenario for Abdullah is that Anwar's wife, who was again elected on Saturday, will resign in the coming months, forcing a by-election at which Anwar will be elected. He might then help to coalesce the opposition parties into a more unified and effective voice. If he were to lure the Chinese-based MCA and perhaps the Sarawak-based United Traditional Bumiputera Party away from the ruling coalition, then the opposition would have precisely half the members of parliament. And if just one more government member were to walk — Tengku Razaleigh perhaps — then the Government will fall after 50 years in office. The current 13-party ruling coalition would be replaced by a five-party coalition. Whether or not this happens, there will be constant tension from the fact that it might."

Perhaps MC* can really change its image, by doing the right thing this time. Too many times have we seen they defend the undefendable, and did not speak up for everyone.

New Malaysia (hopefully)

BN lost heavily in this election. I expected BA to get some seats, but winning 5 states is surely the beyond the wildest dreams of even Lim Kit Siang.

With BN forming government with a simple majority, it is hopeful that the national w*sting and c*rruption can end, with the opposition having more voice in blocking things that are not beneficial to Malaysia.

However, I am still in doubt as to whether DAP, PKR and PAS can form an effective partnership.
Case in point is Sarawak and Sabah, where they are not able to reach agreement on who to field against BN.

Anyway, I am hopeful that with this result, Malaysia can grow stronger.

My sentiment is that everyone regardless of race and religion, should be able to enjoy peaceful life.

In my opinion, in terms of secular country's governance, we should look at Turkey, where the country's is secular, with not much conflicts between Muslim and non-Muslims.

Scam email

I have just received the following email from stegroup@streamyx.com. Looks like I have won 516,778 UK Pounds. No doubt that this is another scam, but the fact that it was sent using streamyx.com email account meant it is just a spoofed email.

And the thing is, the scam letter was so badly written that it looks more like a primary school pupil's letter. It was stated that the email was written by Mr.CLARKE DAVIS of webdraws_101@hotmail.com, but at the bottom, it was signed by another Mrs. Lucy Baines
Co-ordinator. Who should we contact then? It looked like this Mrs. Lucy Baines just copied the Davis' poorly written scam email, and then just added in her name and some fields. Great, even scam mails can be plagarised now.


Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:48:28 -0800
From: stegroup@streamyx.com
Subject: Batch: 074/05/ZY369

Your email account has been picked as one of the ten winning email address in 2008. You are therefore been approved to claim a total sum of 516,778.00 (Five hundred and Sixteen thousand,seven hundred and seventy eight pounds sterling only)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68 ,
Batch: 074/05/ZY369,
Lucky No:- 07-13-31.54-640

All participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa?and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.
Mr.CLARKE DAVIS
Email:webdraws_101@hotmail.com
1. Full Names: 2. Address: 3. Age: 4. Sex: 5. Marital Status: 6. Occupation: 7. Phone numbers: 8. Fax number: 9. Country:

Best Regards.
Mrs.Lucy Baines
Co-ordinator

Post Surgery

Some asked, why did you put up all those pain and suffering in a blog?

Others said, my so-called sufferings pale in comparison to others, like kidney infection, lung diseases etc.

First of all, I know I may have over-dramatized the pain, but so far, I had countless sprains, a mis-located thumb, and 6-ulcers in the throat, which all provided me with pain that I would never wish happened to others.

I used to go through entire sessions of my dad's uncle's "tui na" (urut or massage) without even a shout, and the most serious time was when my ankle was bruised like a pig's leg.

However, the current illness is the most unbearable of the lot.

I will describe more of it later.

For now, my intention of creating this blog is to let others, whom have experienced the same illness, to know what happened, is it similar to their pain, and to create a reference for me, in case I need some notes on this problem later on (who knows).

When I went back my hometown during Chinese New Year, a friend of mine from high school told me that he also had fistulae too, before he went to London for work, so we are like, "fistulae-mate". :

Anyway, for fistulae, the surgery wound cannot be sewn back, and have to be left open. This is so that the pus would not accumulate inside, and can go out through the wound.

I have read from wikipedia that there are other treatment options for fistulae and I will discuss this with Dr. Ravi later. The anal fistula plug looks like an attractive treatment.

"Anal Fistula Plug is a recently developed method known as AFP. This treatment requires placement and fixing of a plug in the anal fistula by a special technique. The plug is made of highly sophisticated absorbent material; it provides a scaffold over which body’s collagen gets deposited and closes the fistula. Comparative studies have shown this method to be very effective. One advantage of this method is that it involves no cutting, so there is no post operative wound and pain. AFP plugs can sometimes be inserted under local anesthesia. This method can be used successfully to treat high fistula without colostomy. It does not carry any risk of bowel incontinence. As opposed to the staged operations, which may require multiple hospitalizations, AFP requires hospitalization for only about 24 hours. The success rate of AFP is better than the other procedures. AFP was approved for clinical use by the FDA in May 2005 and hundreds of procedures have been done since then. "

Now, back to yesterday, when I first went back for dressing. I need to do dressings on the wound to clean the wound up.

I expected it to be painful, but since the last two days were largely painless, I don't think it will be as painful as the previous times.

Boy, am I wrong.

When the nurse first cleaned my wound with EUSOL, I let off a small scream. The dressing was terrible.

But that is not all, the nurse then had to insert a small gauze into my wound, so that it would soak up the blood and the pus. I didn't really see how the gauze is inserted, since I haven't attained the master level of yoga.

I think the most painful part is actually the tweezers, because she had to use a tweezer to push the gauze in, and the tip of tweezers will definitely touch the wound.

Surgery No. 3: Completion (Part 2)

Now, just after I managed to pee, I started having stomachache.

The stomache is terrible, and I shudder at the thought of having to pull up the gauze that was inserted into the wound of my anus.

However, the ache is too great, and I have to definitely go to the loo.

I pull off the gauze, which is longer than the previous time, filled with pus and blood.

Surprisingly, I did not feel much pain this time.

I hypothesized it is due to that this was the 3rd surgery, and that the previous wounds have already healed, while the current operation had cleared the inner part of the problematic region which had no pain sensors.

Anyway, I passed motion, and I asked the nurse to prepare a salt water bath for me to sit in, since this is one of the general recommendations for anal fistulae.

The nurse went to get some salt, and returned later with a bag of salt, and a huge pail, which is big enough to put 4 of my asses (my ass is already quite big).

Anyway, beggars can't choose, so I have to squat and soak my anus into the big pail, while balancing my body in order to avoid falling over, and avoid my anus touching the pail, because who knows what bacteria/micro-organisms are there (a recommendation from my uncle).

Now, when I am soaking in the salt water bath, I felt a pain in my stomach again.

Great, now I have to pass motion again, and the repeat the 15-minute salt water bath again!

That was just the start of the seemingly endless numbers of time I shitted, because once I finished my salt water bath, I would get stomachache once again, which lead to salt water bath again, and again the stomachache, repeat, repeat and repeat.

I tried eating some bread, drank hot milo, put some medicated balm, but none worked, I was still feeling the stomachache, even though all I shitted was just blood and some pus. (I borrowed the medicated balm from one of the nurses, but in the next morning, the balm was gone, and I assumed that the nurse has took it back. )

The thing is, since I was going to loo all the time, the nurses were unable to do my dressing on the wound, because if they did, I would need to pull out the dressing each time I go to the loo, and repeat the pain of doing that.

Anyway, I decided to bear with the stomachache in the end, and kept my mind busy instead by watching ESPN's college basketball, and sudoku.

Luckily, it worked, and I managed to get some sleep, albeit at around 4am.

Around 6-7am, I was woken up by the nurse, because it is time to do dressing.

I was expecting the worse, because I still remembered the first time I did dressing, the pain was excruciating.

However, once again, the pain of the dressing this time was bearable, compared to the previous dressings.

Dr. Ravi came over around 9am later, and basically approved me to go back home.

I asked him about the antibiotics since I was given antibiotics after the previous surgeries, and he told me that I shouldn't need any.

I assumed that he had actually forgotten about it, because when I checked out later, I was given antibiotics at the medicine counter.

Total bill for the surgery plus additional 3 weeks of dressings?

Around RM3500. (Previous bill was only RM2700, but is without 3 weeks of dressings.)

Surgery No. 3: Completion

Yesterday morning, I went to get my GL from the HR at 8.30am, and went to Pantai straight away after that.

The journey was took with a heavy heart, as the last surgery had caused severe amount of pain and discomfort.

I registered for admittance at 9am, but was made to wait until 3pm before I went in the operation theatre.

The operation was actually a brief and minor one, but the most painful part is the anesthetic, administered by Dr. Tan Kim Hock.

I just noticed that he has the same name as the famous Tan Kim Hock when Maureen told me so. "No wonder we didn't see him in the shop last time."

Anyway, the thing is, I am to have half-body anesthetic, which means the anesthetic is to be administered into the spine.

The pain was terrible the previous time, but somehow this time, it is still ok.

The operation took around 10 minutes, and I was sent to the heater before being sent back to the ward.

I was originally given a single ward, since there is no available twin-sharing room at that time.

Since the half-body anesthetic would last for around 6 hours, I couldn't move my lower body at all.

Then came the agony for the night.

Around 3 hours after my operation, two nurses came and told me to shift to a twin-sharing room, else I would be charged for the single room.

However, they did not have the strength to carry me from one bed to the other, and they did not have a slider for the shifting purpose.

Thus, they asked me to shift by myself, which is impossible because I can't move my legs at all!

So, I shifted my upper body, while they dragged my legs over to the other bed, which was a cause of concern for me, because I was instructed not to raise my head, or bend my spine due to that there is a small risk that it may cause problem to my spine.

Luckily, nothing came out of it.

The next agony was with pee-ing.

Since my lower body was paralyzed, I was, um... unable to use my 'thing' for pee-ing.

In fact, when I grabbed it, I could not feel that it is attached to my body, it felt more like some otherworldly thing.

Believe me, it almost lead to a nervous breakdown.

Now, at the same time, my urine kept accumulating in my bladder, and I could feel severe pain inside it, but I am unable to pee, causing the accumulation to get worse.

In the end, I had to bear with it for 3 hours more before I could finally pee.

By the time the anesthetic effect went away, I was feeling an urge to pass motion.

This proved to be a major problem...

Surgery No. 3

I got the letter from Dr. Vasanthy yesterday for the recommendation to be inspected by Dr. Ravikumar of Pantai Hospital.

Previously, I have used my medical card from Prudential for the claims, which is faster compared to claiming from MMU.

However, this time, I have decided to claim from MMU instead, since medical benefit is part of the employment benefits.

Before I can go to see the specialists, I would need to obtain a GL (guarantee letter) from MMU's HR department.

So I sent in my request at 10am, but I was told that I need to wait 3 days for it to be processed.

I explained that it is an emergency, since Dr. Vasanthy had suspected that I had a recurrence of fistula.

The clerk thus helped me to process the application which would be ready after 2pm.

I waited in the office until 2pm, but when I went over, the GL is still pending approval.

I only obtained the letter around 3pm, and I rushed over to Pantai Hospital with Maureen.

As usual, Pantai Hospital's frontside parking was full, and I had to park at the back.

Arriving at Dr. Ravi's clinic, I was made to wait once again, since he is supposedly busy.

When it's finally my turn, I went in and told him that there is pain near my anus, and that I could feel a 'boil' on the left cheek of my anus.

Customarily, I then took off my pants, and lied at the bed, waiting for him to inspect the wound.

At that time, all I could think of is the utter terror of having to undergo the surgery ordeal once again.

I do not feel ashamed at all now of having my asshole being examined, it's already been exposed to various kind of 'viewing situations'.

Dr. Ravi then broke my train of thought by poking at my wound, asking if it is painful.

"OOWWWWW!!!" is my answer.

He was as puzzled as me, because the wound has already healed, but there is a small blister near the wound, which is the cause of my pain.

"It's only a small blister, which maybe caused by the wound healing and closing prematurely, so I would open the wound up, and see where it leads to." Dr. Ravi said.

For the previous two operations, my uncle, Dr. Goh, told me to get the surgeons to talk to him before the surgery, but both times, the doctors MIA before I can get him to talk.

This time, I was determined not to make the same mistake, and phoned Uncle, passing the phone over to Dr. Ravi.

After their brief conversation, Uncle told me to proceed with the surgery, and to get Dr. Ravi to call him again after the operation.

As such, I was scheduled for surgery tomorrow, at 9am.

I was famished at that time, which was around 4pm, because I did not eat anything since breakfast as I thought that I would be operated on in the evening.

......

Anyway, wish me luck.

I shall get through this anus hell by tomorrow.

......

Hopefully.

Anal Abscess 2

I just went to see Dr. Vasanthy, whom I frequented very often to do my dressings after my fistula surgery.

There is still pus coming out from wound, even after almost 3 months from the day I did my first incision and drainage procedure at Damai Medical Center in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Dr. Vasanthy told me that it could be a recurrence of the fistula, and wrote me a letter to see Dr. Ravikumar of Pantai Hospital once more.

I came back home after that, and checked my anus.

Shitty, there's another soft and tender 'boil' on the left side of my anus!

This means most likely, I will need another surgery.

I shudder at the thought of going through all the hell of surgery once more..