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