Friday 29 December 2006

Internet slowdowns

Ok, the rest of Asia is running slowly and the absence of cybergames are apparent thanks to reports via reporters saying that cybercafe operators are facing a slowdown in customers because a lot of people rely on fast speeds to play their MMORPG games.


Well I wanted to try out how fast World of Warcraft (WoW) was at this moment, according to my colleague, he mentioned that it was pretty good.


Yeah right! Oh well, sometimes I even managed to get a 20,000ms latency. Not too bad but after playing at relatively smooth latencies, I guess this is a stretch. I can already see the withdrawal syndromes from all of the WoW players, especially with all the ranting that they do online just to find a proxy to play WoW on.


Oh well, I guess we have to resort to other things, such as exercising, meeting up with old friends and going out and partying. Oh my goodness, have I fallen to the dark side? And it only has been like 5 days.

Vincent, I blame it on you!

p.s. I hope to be back online again soon!

Tuesday 26 December 2006

Christmas, it came and left

Christmas is a time to celebrate for everyone, for me it all started last week when I was compiling a video for my cell members who got married over the weekend. It was a compilation of their stag night videos which we took. Looks like I managed to grow a small passion to edit videos and combine them to produce some wonderful clips.

Of course there were plenty of ups and downs when I tried edit those videos, one of them was that my computer was a little too slow to work with the newest video editing software and it took plenty of time just to edit a few shots. Then because it was slow, it took forever just to import in videos and caused my computer to crash and corrupted the software. Working around those errors I keep getting was a real pain. After that, I guess I was a little too adventurous by not censoring any part of the video, thanks to that I had to remake it again.

But when you actually sit down and see the final product, I guess all that effort was so worth it. Of course there was plenty I could improve on and plenty more I can add in but I guess that was where my creativity touch can reach.

To me, the big satisfaction would be to see the bride and bridegroom's face when the video was played and the whole incident of him standing up and pointing to me saying, "You guys, are next!". Now, that was totally a Mastercard Priceless moment.

One thing I learned especially on Saturday when we were helping out during the wedding, chairs are pretty heavy and it takes strong men like us to move them. But overall, I think I overate on both Sunday and Monday thanks to all the wonderful food at the wedding dinner, and of course my ex-colleague's Christmas open house on Monday and Chuen's family dinner on Monday night.

I just ate lunch just now and I couldn't finish my half naan, thats right, half a naan and I couldn't eat anymore. That shows how much I ate yesterday. But what Keat-Seong told me just now, I better start training for my 21km run in March.

So my New Year's resolution is to lose at least 10kg this year and to complete the 21km run coming up in March.

Monday 18 December 2006

Sigh...

If images can show the exact nature of my feelings right now, I guess the image below should be able to speak for me. Well of course, you would happen to know or be a student majoring in astronomy.

As deep as the seas may be,
There is a cavern to hold,
A secret place ever so dark,
Might be where I want to hide.

A gloomy sky hovers above,
With the sun no where to be found,
It is dead silent around,
Not even a single chirp or sound.

Oh where, oh where can hope be? The very foundation of men who looks forward to or have trust in. Maybe it is there, maybe not, it could be shattered or hidden somewhere. Alas, every bit of my hope has been shattered, there is no future to look forward to.

Thursday 14 December 2006

And when you thought you were good



If only I could play like he does....

Wednesday 13 December 2006

And when you are hungry....

The weird things that people come up with sometimes just crack me up. Well for one thing is this toilet themed restaurant located somewhere in Taiwan. Not too bad considering that the customers actually have the appetite to eat at a location like this.

Look ma, the seats are soooo cute!

Well I guess when it comes to food and when you are hungry, I guess we can just about eat anything anywhere.

Hey, why doesn't my bowl have a back support?

Interestingly, in a restaurant themed in such a manner, how would one differentiate between a real toilet and private room in the restaurant? I guess maybe they might have a properly marked room to say, "Pee here only, not at your table".

Now I am guessing the ones hanging on the wall dispenses drinks?

From the looks of it, it seems like the bowl chairs are movable, well, if I ever wanted a nicely decorated toilet bowl, I would know where to look for.

Wow even the bowls are bowls

Besides just the chairs and tables, they even have toilet bowl shaped bowls to eat from, now I wonder how would a chocolate fudge would look like served in one of them bowls.


Well I guess the picture above explains it all. Yummy!

Tuesday 12 December 2006

Weekend in Penang

Ah, the wonderful Island of Penang. Such a great place to be at, well, to be I guess for a couple of days because being bred in PJ and near the KL area, I would be pretty bored over there rather quickly. To be honest, if it wasn't for my manager's wedding, I wouldn't even be headed towards Penang as I am rather comfortable here in KL, but I was wrong.

The day began extremely early for me, wake up at 5.30am, get ready and head over to Chuan's house to pick him up. After driving out my house at about 6.00am, I was totally blur and the drive to Subang was rather peaceful thanks to the clear roads. After getting Chuan on my car and politely asking him to get me a couple of Nescafe tins from the 7-Eleven near his place, I headed down to Cyberjaya to pick my colleague Passara up.

By the time everyone had entered my car and all geared up for a fun road trip, it was nearly 7am and I thought, how could I ever make it to Ipoh by 8.30am and meet up with my other colleagues. Well I was right, I didn't make it by 8.30am because by that time, traffic was already building up and there was a constantly flow of cars. So I reached Ipoh by 9am and went into town for a lovely Dim Sum breakfast.

Trying to navigate through Ipoh town that early in the morning was not easy because everyone seems to wake up at the break of dawn there and ate breakfast at one dim sum shop, Ming Court. The crowd was crazy and finding a seat meant standing next to a table whom you think is finishing quick and give them a "If you don't move after you are done, you are dead!" stare. Well that is how the custom was over there.

After a huge breakfast and a cup of coffee from the mamak across the dim sum shop, it was time to head to Penang. Driving out of Ipoh and heading north, I made the mistake of not reloading my Touch'N'Go card which caused me problems when I arrived at the Penang Bridge. Well for one thing, that bridge is super jammed up on a Saturday morning and secondly, I had to wait in line to pay RM7 for the toll whilst the rest of the convoy sped through the Smart Tag lane.

By the time we arrived at the hotel where the wedding was held, it was already almost 1pm and trying to get changed (8 of us in a room) before the bride and groom walked into the hall was a big challenge. Thank goodness we made it just in time, well we did bump into the bride and groom at the door before they entered.

Lunch was great and still being full from a heavy breakfast, it was rather difficult to eat an 8-course meal for a table with only 4 people. Talk about overeating, to be honest, I felt that I totally overate. By the time the last dish came, I was so bloated up.

Ok enough about talking, we shall wait for part to arrive. Hopefully with pictures :)

Wednesday 6 December 2006

Have DOTA will travel!

Last week was a pretty fun week, why? Well I managed to play in a DOTA tournament (and gotten 3rd place) as well as met up with my friends who returned from Australia. Well to start off with the DOTA tournament, it was pretty eventful as I learned that I do not react well under pressure, I wasn't the leader I meant to be and I couldn't carry the team as well as I would have hoped for.

The image may say one thing but the results don't

Anyway the entire competition wasn't meant to really pit skills versus skills but more of a way for us to relax after a long week of work and enjoy ourselves by meeting up and socializing with other colleagues from different projects.

There was a good crowd

As the night began, my team's first match up was a rather easy one where we beat them before time was up but our second and third matches showed our true skills. By that I meant that we lost to two other teams. Well that is our true skill especially with players who just started playing DOTA for the first time, I guess that getting 3rd place was a blessing instead.

Team Resources hard at work

With so much going on around us, I guess we can be considered lucky to be able to make it in one piece to the cafe, Clutch Gamers to be exact in SS2. Imagine trying to travel from Cyberjaya all the way down to SS2 on a Friday evening when it just rained heavily.

OMG! Who is that?!?!

Of course, every team in any game would require a mascot right? Our own little Dinghydog who decides to grace us with his presence all the way from Australia. To be perfectly honest, I was pretty touched that the whole gang was there to help cheer me on, Heng Leong, Lay Min, Adrian and Boon. Thanks to your support, our team managed to win a couple of close games.

Team Resources, RM50 vouchers?

The final game was quite close with us just beating the other team by a couple of points. Well thanks to the 35minute timelimit and our luck of draw, I guess we managed to reach 3rd placed because we did not face FS (who got 2nd) and we beat the Combo team by just 2 points.

The next time, I better start trying to get my game in place for the next DOTA match I undertake. By the time everything ended, it was a little close to 2am and I was extremely tired. Of course not without a burger at the SS2 mamak, delicious!

Sunday 3 December 2006

Tiring day

Finally I am back home in front of my computer resting. Well it doesn't really help that it is already 4.30am in the morning. I doubt that I can wake up for futsal tomorrow morning but tomorrow is the wonderful barbecue which will be held at Boon's place. Will try to take photos for tomorrow's event so that everyone can remember it.

Completed a 9-4 leaders planning session and there will be another one next week but I can't make it as I would be in Penang for my manager's wedding. Oh well, maybe I could try a teleconference call? Ok my head is buzzing and my eyes are about to close. I am so so tired but my feet stinks, I think I was wearing my slippers for way too long.

Thursday 23 November 2006

MAS does it again!

Just about 20 minutes ago, I decided to plan a trip to Adelaide sometime in the middle of next year, maybe around June. In order to plan things out, the first thing that comes to mind is that how much must I save for the airfare. Being a patriot and loyal to Malaysian companies, the first website I visited was the Malaysian Airlines website.

Upon doing a quick search on Google, I came upon the Malaysian Airlines website, it looked great and very professional with plenty of web adverts around but easy navigation. So I keyed in the destination, date and, of course, economy class. And behold, my results? Well a picture is always worth a thousand words. So see it here for yourself.

Now I know why MAS is losing money and customers

Look at the price they are charging me for! RM10k for a ticket. Oh well, being the extreme cheapskate I am, I decided to go around bugging my colleagues asking them for good prices online and finally I came upon Singapore Airlines' website. Now this is the proper pricing for a ticket.

The real price? RM2.7k?

So much for efficient or reliable data obtained from our flagship carrier, I wonder if AirAsia ever face this kind of problems in regards to getting ticket prices correct. Unless this is just the air hike which MAS did mention earlier.

I am just worried that if this is the kind of service we would get from our local companies, how are we supposed to compete internationally on level ground where they have no one but themselves to rely on? Too much spoon feeding for MAS? I think so.

Friday 10 November 2006

Eat less pork??!?!

Usually every morning I would love to glance through the newspapers or read some news online before starting my day. Being based in Cyberjaya isn't exactly my perfect area to work in due to the fact that the food in this area suck extremely badly and, oh yeah, its pork-free. Fine, I would take my time to drive to the neighbouring towns (Sri Kembangan and Dengkil) to indulge myself in a little "bak kut teh" and "char siew siew yuk" rice.


Now as stated in the newspapers today, Mr. Chua has advised all of us to eat less pork because some farmers are injecting super poison or hormonal drugs into pigs so that they can grow faster and be extra fat in order that people like me can enjoy the crispyness of "siew yuk" everyday. Well according to facts, we consume about 3,500 pigs a day in Malaysia which I was totally shocked.



I think the curse is continuining for me because previously I was cursed with eating in my factory's canteen for over a year with no chance of getting out to taste some delicious pork but alas, here I am, back to square one all over again.

Anyway I should stop complaining about my pork diet, and start concentrating on my training for the next 10km run which I am unsure of when it will be held. Hopefully I can beat my previous time during the Subang Jaya run.

Monday 6 November 2006

Ok, my legs are killing me right now but it was all worth it. I can now finally say that I ran 10km in the recent Subang Jaya run. I would say marathon but my Dutch colleague told me that 10km is definitely not a real “marathon”. Oh well, in my mind it definitely was yesterday.

Image taken from TheStar

Being my first marathon, I was rather excited but rather nervous as well before the run. Thoughts kept flying through my head wondering whether if I might end up last of the pack or die halfway during the run. So what I did was to pace myself slowly throughout the entire run with the hope of being able to make it back in time to get a certificate.

Unfortunately that did not happen, total overall time was about 85minutes (according to my Dutch colleague who ran with me during my last 100m of the race to cheer me on). It was pretty good according to my own standards, as I am not totally fit. To be honest, I enjoyed every single minute of those 85, which I took, I truly did. Either that or my endorphins were kicking in thus causing me to cloud my own judgment. But if you ask me to attend another 10km run, I will definitely sign up for it.

The funniest thing about it during the run was that not everyone was serious about it. It was all about having fun while living a healthy lifestyle. Why do I say that? Well for one thing, I saw some people on roller-blades with the 10km tags on their shirt. Of course they weren’t seriously competing but just to have fun with friends I guess. Next I saw a couple of couples holding hands while slowly jogging and walking throughout the race. To me the best thing I saw were families joining the race as one, well not the 10km one but the shorter 3km one. Mothers were carrying their babies or pushing them on their trams, fathers guiding their sons throughout the race and brothers and sisters were running around having fun. It was an amazing moment, well personally. The babies were rather cute as they even had the running tags with numbers on their clothes.

I knew I ran rather slowly, well for one thing, there was a point within the race where there is an intersection where the 5km mark of the 10km route would meet with the last 300m of the 10km route. By the time I reached the 5km mark, I saw the first runner running towards the finish line, man, he was extremely fast. My next target for the next 10km run would be to run it within 1hour, which would allow me to earn a certificate.

The weekend was a real blast, namely because Liverpool beat Reading and Sheffield United beat Newcastle. Other than that, Chelsea and Arsenal lost so that is good math for me. I hope these kind of results continue the rest of the season with the exception of Manchester United losing more.

Thursday 2 November 2006

Bad carbonarra

Yesterday was a good day, why? I guess it was because I ate my favourite carbonara pasta twice, once for lunch and again another time during dinner. Well during lunchtime, the rest of my colleagues decided that we should try out the Italian restaurant at the Street Mall in Cyberjaya. My comments? The food was not even worth taking a photo of and the prices were incredibly high. What do you get for RM20? A plate filled with pasta and some salty carbonara sauce that did lack cheese and had extremely little portions of mushrooms and bacon. Enough about that crap though, don’t even consider coming to Cyberjaya and finding any sort of decent food around here.

The second carbonara dish that I ate was at Modesto’s in Desa Sri Hartamas. Having been there a couple of months back, the place had a total makeover. Where the restaurant used to be is now turn into Chinois and where the bar used to be is now remodeled to the new Modesto’s with a fancier set of furniture and design. Unfortunately with all those changes, the level of service you would expect from a place that high class would be decent but to me, they were totally appalling. For one thing, the waiters were extremely blur, it took them a while to get a cup of water and let alone bring our orders. They had to carry the dishes around hoping that a table would recognize their order and then wait for the customers to shout out, “I think that is ours”, before going to that table and giving them.

I should have just said that everything was mine, since I was rather hungry then. The next beef I have with them is that their main waiter, who was this rather old looking Chinese man, (I presumed that he was the manager or something of high rank) had totally no manners whatsoever. We could be extremely polite to him and even thanking him plenty of times but not even a word of “You’re welcome” or “Hope you enjoy your meal” or any sort of response. The only respond you can make out from his extremely soft voice would be, we offer a 20% discount to all Citibank card users here.

But hey, as a Chinese I guess that you would probably have money floating all over your mind and head all the time. So forget being polite, forget having manners, just flash cash about and everyone will grovel at your feet. Oh my, where are we going, honestly?

By the way, the carbonara I had at Modesto’s was really good but the helpings aren’t as big or great as that you would get from Fasta Pasta or Itallianies from 1Utama and the Curve.

Friday 27 October 2006

Cyanide and Happiness, a daily webcomic
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Wednesday 18 October 2006

My Eyes are really open, really!

Ok, I am sitting at my desk typing this with my eyes practically half closed. Why? That was because I couldn't connect to my company's virtual private network last night, well, theoretically I did manage to connect but it was extremely slow. Because of this, I had to drive 40minutes all the way down to Cyberjaya and log in from there. Cursing all the way while blasting my music on my car stereo, desperately trying to concentrate on the road while navigating my way through the haze which provided a visibility of less than 200m, I managed to reach the office in one piece. I quickly logged on, completed my work, sent a couple of emails to my esteemed colleagues in the US and logged off. At least that was how it turned out to be, what I summarised in a line actually took about 2 hours, not including travel time.

The story began when I tried to connect from home via my Streamyx connection, which evidently was too slow for me. So I went out to the local Starbucks to leech off their free Wi-Fi service, which was a little better but still slow. It was so slow that it actually took me about 5-10minutes just to open an email. After that, I went over to Chuen's place and after that I finally caved in and headed out to Cyberjaya, our intelligent city.

So it was a pretty interesting night for me, here I am sitting at my desk with my cheeks all red from blushing. Why? Well the first thing I did when I arrived earlier just now was to log on to my laptop which by the way, took about 15minutes to boot up. Then my smartcard got locked out and after a quick call to the Helpdesk, I managed to get it unlocked. By then my patience level was running thin, and I bet my next call to the Helpdesk to complain about my VPN connection wouldn't be very pleasant as well. So after all the hassle and finally logged on the network, I gave the Helpdesk a call and they were very courteous and directed my complaint to the remote access team. This is where my superbly skilled engineering cum IT skills came into true sight; it was oblivious that I didn’t have any.

The call only lasted 5 minutes, the cause? I was logged on to the wrong VPN gateway. Being here in Malaysia, I was supposed to log on to the Asia Pacific gateway but little did I know that I was connected to the Europe gateway instead. Very good, Mark, very good indeed! Oh well, so much for irony today, time to get on with my life!

Thursday 5 October 2006

Ahh, peace and relaxation

To be able to spend an entire week here just to relax would be just perfect. I think I need a break but once I am finally done with all my work this month, I think I shall take a nice break and maybe catch up on some things that I have been meaning to do.

Of course, one of those things is to train for a 10km run which I expect to come in last at. I wonder how fast I can complete the course in if I rolled all the way?

Wednesday 4 October 2006

IQ Test

Ok what is the final value after multiplying all the numbers from 0 to 25?
Come on, I know it won't take long. Try not to burn your calculator out ok?





































If you answered anything other than 0, means you are wrong!

Thursday 21 September 2006

Avillion Port Dickson

Finally uploaded the pictures I took over the weekend at Avillion Port Dickson. Check them out at my photoalbum by clicking the link below.



For more information about the hotel, read it all here.

Wednesday 26 July 2006

Kiara Flea Market

So what do you usually do on a Sunday? If you are up for it, head over to Plaza Mont Kiara and check out the local flee market of there. You will definitely see plenty of interesting things there.


There is plenty to do there, from shopping to having a nice cooling cup of coffee whilst surfing the web. Check out all of the clothes below, guys beware, your girl might just burn that big hole in your pocket.



It's a great place to bring your loved ones to shop, kids will love this place and things aren't that expensive at all. I mean look at the prices below, RM10 for 5 pairs of earrings? Talk about a bargain!



Check out those t-shirts below with the cool label Black Sheep. Not too shabby for some of my friends trying out their own business. Like I told them, you always start small and later on, move on to bigger things. I believe that they do have a great entrepreneur spirit within them.


Posted by Picasa
So head over to the Plaza Mont Kiara in Sri Hartamas this Sunday. It's open from 10.00am till 6.00pm. I am sure you will enjoy yourself there. If you want to even participate by selling stuff in this flea market, head over to Plaza Mont Kiara and head to the office there. The price goes for RM60 for rent. Not too shabby if you ask me.

To check out more photos of the place, click below.


Edit: Oh well, my spelling sucks big time so I had to change the title of this post. Anyway, I would like to thank whoever pointed out the mistake to me. I do need a little guidance once in a while.

Wednesday 12 July 2006

Torn between two teams



What do you do when the team you support is playing the first match of the EPL against the team you experienced during your university days? As the logo suggests, Liverpool’s first match would be against Sheffield United. If you all could remember the last encounter, Sheffield United once beat Liverpool 2-1 in the league cup semi-final which cost me a hefty fine in terms of a Sheffield United jersey.

After 3 years of studying in Sheffield, I always had a sort of glimmer within me hoping that Sheffield United might make through to the Premier League but for 3 years without fail, they would lose out in the playoffs. I had my money all ready, waiting to purchase that season ticket with hope to see the stars of the Premier League at Bramall Lane. So much for that, now that I am back in Malaysia, guess who makes it to the Premier League?

Anyway, I am eager for Sheffield United to perform well this upcoming season, well enough to avoid relegation that is. They play with a very brutal style under Neil Warnock but let’s see if they can maintain their class against the big guns. This will definitely be a big test for them.

My prediction? Liverpool 2, Sheff Utd 0.

Tuesday 11 July 2006

Is there anymore Justice?

Recently there has been big discussions over the whole issue on having to pay a RM20,000 fine for not carrying your MyKad around. Now that is definitely a hefty price to pay for not wanting to risk the hassle of being mugged or pick-pocketed. But in all seriousness, why should Malaysians be charged such a high price for being victims? Would you expect a guy going for a swim in the sea to carry his MyKad around? Or how about fisherman who go out to see everyday?

Next, snatch theft victims. Reporting a lost MyKad is one thing but paying another RM100 fine for losing is just rubbing more salt into the victim’s wounds. The fact that they lose all of their belongings in their purses, experience the trauma of being mugged and next they have to fork out a RM100 fine because they were being unlucky? So much for justice, the thief gets to steal cash and the victim gets to pay more cash.

Ok fine, our MyKad has quite a number of useful features such as TouchNGo functionality and even acts as a cash card so not carrying it may be an inconvenience for certain people. RM20,000 is definitely a lot and I can definitely bet that many people around are not carrying their MyKad thus quite a fair bit of money can be collected and used to subsidize MAS. So much again for fair play since AirAsia seems to be hanging on to the shorter straw.

Recently a friend of mine got her hand bag snatched in Damansara Jaya. A housing area with their so called DJ Roa which proved to be rather unsuccessful because a single guy going around in a motorbike can’t really spot snatch thiefs hiding in the darker areas of the neighbourhood. But things like these do happen and they happen rather frequently. Learning from this incident my friend mentioned that they like to prey on people who are either entering their vehicles or exiting their vehicles because at those two moments, the victim usually has other things on their mind.

For example, if you are walking along a street and you know that it is getting dark, your senses will be aware of your surrounding and precautionary maneuvers will actually fill your mind. But at those two moments, there can be a mind lapse whereby you might be concentrating on getting your stuff out of the car or you are just relieved that you reached your car and you let your guard down for that minute.

In conclusion it is better to be safe than sorry, prevention is better than cure so ladies, please always be aware out there.

Monday 3 July 2006

Weekend Craze

Three extremely tiring days went by and I am glad I took the day off to rest. Although I had so much fun I guess my body just couldn't take it. Anyhow before I can post anything else I have to head over to Lot 81 for FLARE practice.

Check out my new photo album on the side bar. I only uploaded the nicer ones, the other ones were pretty crap. Goes to show that I still can't handle a digicam well enough.






Tuesday 27 June 2006

Tiring Weekend

The weekend came and went by extremely fast but it was filled with fun activities such as a 6 hour band practice on Saturday in Setapak for the company's upcoming trip and dinner with my old JVC colleagues in 1Utama. The practice in the afternoon was great as I get to jam and sing along with some of my colleagues and friends and also take a lot of photos while I was there.

Dinner on the other hand was also fun because firstly, there were 12 of us and secondly, it was Saturday night and every restaurant was packed with people. So we ended up in Arena, yes Arena the food court because that is the only place that can accomodate all of us. Food wasn't that great of course and my ramen set shouldn't have cost me so much.

Early the next morning, I had another meeting at 8.30am somewhere in the heart of KL, Lake Gardens. The park was very nice and it has been a long time since the last time I've been there. Would definitely want to bring my camera along there the next time trying to take photos of the area. Maybe I can try to fiddle around with some exposure and shutter speed settings to get a nice effect.

The awaited England match that night ended in dissapointment for me as it was extremely boring and uneventful except for a wonderful Beckham trademark free-kick which decided the match. There were too many fouls which halted the flow of the game. Both teams played equally badly and England looked a tad bit too tired. I really do look forward for the next match but my confidence in them has dropped from low to nil.

Also I've added a couple of photo albums on my sidebar so go check them out.

Tuesday 13 June 2006

More LCD Monitor Updates

As I mentioned in my last post I will post more pictures which I took of my monitor up here. Right now they are rather blur as I tried to keep my hand as still as possible but I think the next attempt I try to take more pictures of it for a review I plan to write up, I am going to use a camera stand.


From the picture above you can see that monitor is pretty huge but I still managed to get it to fit below my center speaker stand (made by my dad). Having a widescreen helps a lot especially if you have to deal with spreadsheets in your daily work or for your passion of surfing through forums on the internet.


Anyhow I love watching TV series on this screen and I noticed that I have been missing so much content especially when viewing on a normal aspect ratio of 4:3 instead of the wonderful 16:9. In conclusion, I would gladly recommend this monitor to anyone who wishes to improve their computer experience!

Friday 9 June 2006

The dark side

Yes I have finally fallen through to the dark side. I went ahead and bought myself a treat to enjoy when I release my stress after a hard days work. Well you can’t really blame me because Dell was offering a really good deal for it. Now all I can say that I am truly enjoying my TV series moments on a proper widescreen.


Currently I haven’t taken any photos of it yet and I can’t do a full review on it due to time constraints. Of course it will be rather boring and technical but I can always try to give it some good points since I bought it and of course the colour banding issue will also be there.

Two of my colleagues also bought the Dell monitors which were on offer but theirs was the 24” size which to me cost a little too much. Imagine you can actually buy two 20” monitors for the same price of a 24” monitor. Oh well the scenario is pretty much the same with getting two 17” monitors instead of getting a 20” widescreen.

But hey, here I am drinking a nice cool drink sitting in my room having to look at an Excel spreadsheet in full view with no hassle of scrolling through the pages to find the information I need. Even reading forums became much more easier for me right now.

Tuesday 6 June 2006

Frustrated about frustrations

Since I started work at my new job, I hardly have any time to actually update my blog but last night I so wanted to update it only to be frustrated by how long it took for the page to load up. It was so bad that I couldn't even load some of the pages properly. After trying to log-on countless of times, all I get was the same error message.


To me that was a surprise as I knew that Google was extremely reliable hence for a few instances when I couldn’t access my Gmail account. The page would load sometimes but the most important part when entering a post via Blogger is that now we have to key in the verification code, the image of that code wasn’t loaded.

Now how would you post something if you can’t see the verification code? Well anyway all of that is done already, it all happened last night but as I am trying to enter in a post today, it is taking extremely long for the page to load.


Look at that? To be honest it is still loading right now. At least I can still write this on a word document while I wait for the page to load. Don’t even get me started on trying to insert in the images to this post.


All in all I do understand that Blogger has been getting so much publicity and that everyone has a Blogspot account nowadays, I guess that after seeing a documentary whereby Google showed the film crew their server farm and mentioning that they had over a hundred thousand servers running, I guess my expectations were rather high.

Anyhow by now the problems would have been solved but deep down I feel extremely frustrated. Am I just blaming poor Blogger on my own personal issues? Who knows? But I don't want to feel this way but no matter how it seems to hit me back. I tried doing things today but I don't get a reply so it makes me even more frustrated.

Could it be my own fault that I am like that but shouldn't I deserve something too? Am I wrong to ask for things sometimes instead of trying my best to give out everything? Am I wrong to just rely that it is always good to give rather than to receive?

Who knows?

Sunday 28 May 2006

The long weekend

Finally, it is 11:52pm on a Sunday night and I am going bed soon. It has been a week since I last stepped into my workplace and not because I was on leave but I had to attend a training session downtown which I thought was a real highlight in my current career right now. I wonder what lies ahead this week? Will I have so much work to do? Am I on call this week? Everything will be answered in less than 10 hours.

As I count the final minutes before I rest my head and doze off to dream land, I had the great pleasure of catching the final trilogy of the X-Men series and I thought it was wonderful. My only complaint that the movie was a little shorter than I expected. I am the type of guy who would love to watch action movies like that which lasts extremely long. If only it were for 3 hours.

The weekend was good, managed to get a little bit of exercise from my weekly futsal session and today's game was extremely fun. Ok I can feel the weight of my eyelids closing down on me. Its time for bed.

Tuesday 23 May 2006

Say no more to dead batteries!

I can finally say no more to sudden battery deaths or that’s what I refer to when I am playing some computer game and die/lose/humiliated because the batteries on my mouse died on me. It has finally reached a point where I can no longer tolerate being defeated due to “technical” issues. The age of dawn has finally reached me and I can only whisper sweet goodbyes to my old wireless Logitech MX700 mouse. Farewell old friend, you have served me well for the past 4 years.

Behold my new mouse cometh. The all new (well to me it is) Razer Krait!


Back in the days when optical technology was but a myth and games such as Quake filled Cybercafes, Razer was a formidable brand that creates mice that were meant for gamers. Their first mouse which was a huge piece operated at 1000dpi (dots per square inch) and it cost a whopping RM300 then. Nowadays. 1000dpi almost come standard in any branded optical mouse which you can buy for RM100 but what makes this Razer so special is that it is rated at 1600dpi. Since most people are a sucker for ratings, they even print it on the box!


Yes, it is optimized for Real Time Strategy games! Does that mean that my already leet Dota skills will improve? Well I tested out the mice right after installing it and guess what? I lost! Hoorah I can blame it on noobs this time round.

Anyhow, let's talk about the mouse. It looks great, it is smaller and lighter compared to my heavy MX700. Here is a picture to prove it!


Look at how big the MX700 is and how small the new Razer Krait is. The weight is a huge difference mainly because the MX700 had two AA size batteries in them which caused the entire mouse to be heavier. At the beginning I wasn't used to the weight so mouse movement was a little quick for me. Right now, I feel as if when I hold my mouse, I am holding my phone as well.


The entire package was pretty nice, there was a CD for the mouse drivers, a certificate of ownership and authentication and finally a window sticker which is the same as those you would stick on your car window. I guess Razer was thinking that since most of the PC cases now have side window panels, it would be nice if someone stuck their sticker there and show it off at some LAN party.


In conclusion, it's nice to have a mouse that just doesn't die out on you. Oh yeah, the cool orange glow is pretty awesome except when you want sleep. I needed some sort of paper to fully cover it so that the light doesn't bother me when I sleep. Trust me, I am a light sleeper alright!

Tuesday 9 May 2006

Passwords

Did you ever have a very simple password protecting your system? Or do you have a super password which follows all the rules such as having both capital alpha numeric passwords with symbols? The funny thing is that if your password is as good as it gets, what stops your own self from revealing it.


#244321 +(14698)- [X]

(Cthon98) hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars
(Cthon98) ********* see!
(AzureDiamond) hunter2
(AzureDiamond) doesnt look like stars to me
(Cthon98) *******
(Cthon98) thats what I see
(AzureDiamond) oh, really?
(Cthon98) Absolutely
(AzureDiamond) you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2
(AzureDiamond) haha, does that look funny to you?
(Cthon98) lol, yes. See, when YOU type hunter2, it shows to us as *******
(AzureDiamond) thats neat, I didnt know IRC did that
(Cthon98) yep, no matter how many times you type hunter2, it will show to us as *******
(AzureDiamond) awesome!
(AzureDiamond) wait, how do you know my pw?
(Cthon98) er, I just copy pasted YOUR ******'s and it appears to YOU as hunter2 cause its your pw
(AzureDiamond) oh, ok.


Source:
- Bash.org

Monday 10 April 2006

Pre-U Getaway

Pre-U getaways have always been fun and ever since it started about 6 years back, I never failed to enjoy every one of them. This one in particular was the most tiring one I have been to, well due to the fact that I am severely overweight and I can't really play basketball and futsal with energetic youths because I lack stamina! What made it fun was that I could still kick some ass, literally because of my size and clumsiness I did manage to accidentally swing my leg in such a reckless manner.

Being the “hardworking” guy I am (notice the quotes), I had to drive down to Port Dickson on Friday night, enduring the heavy traffic and trying to reach there in one piece, the drive really wore me out. Of course the usual busy day at the office took all of my energy away (I guess eating a heavy lunch at the Marriot didn’t help one bit). Before I could even try to meet some of the new guys at the Pre-U getaway, I was knocked out on the bed.

The next day (Saturday) was good as the morning started out fine with eggs and sausages for breakfast. After that I had to play the guitar for the morning session which made my fingers totally raw thanks to the strings being extremely high from the fret-board and my own lack of super hard skin. Sharing continued on after the first session on Friday night and lunch came pretty quickly. A quick meal with some fried fish and veggie, I felt a little hungry even after lunch. Trying to allow my poor fingers to get a break from the ever torturing strings of a Kawasaki guitar, I made myself to endure more pain for the afternoon session.

Plans were made that there would be some beach-side games happening at 3.00pm which was perfect as it allowed me to go out and grab a quick bite at the local mamak as well as buy a birthday cake for one of the happy camper whose birthday was around the corner and also withdraw some money from the ATM to pay for camp! I managed to share a plate of rojak with Grace and Andrew where the three of us had a good chat on old times.

Back at the camp site with a full stomach and roaring to start playing some sports, I quickly took the first opportunity to play some futsal which I later found out that I am totally lousy at ( a which I clearly denied although I was outpaced and out skilled by everyone else ). The good thing was that I managed to work up a good sweat. Of course there was a statement which Lemuel did say to me after I showed him a thing or two about basketball. “Mark, how you could lie to me and said that you were fat!?!?!” he shouted at me after I took a three pointer shot.

Sunday came and Sunday ended pretty fast with everyone having had a chance to share their thoughts and lives. The drive back was going to be a weary one since everyone slept late on Saturday night. By the time I got home, I went straight to my room and fell asleep. The weekend was a terribly tiring one I might add but I am very grateful for the public holiday on Tuesday.

Wednesday 5 April 2006

The funniest things that happen

I am sure there is a point where everyone gets stuck in their usual work cycle where everything becomes mundane. Then there are those funny moments where it just really makes your day. Today was one of those days for me, everything was running on as usual, there weren't any special problems or work for me to handle and it was becoming a little more mundane for me. That was until after lunch when suddenly my boss comes out and say, with the bird flu epidemic floating about we can't eat chicken, beef is a no no because of mad cow desease, pork is out of the question because of JE, fish has mercurial poisoning and vegetables have insecticides. We should all stick to chocolate!



Another funny thing happened was during a netmeeting with people around the world I had to attend. As usual netmeetings are just people meeting up online under aliases and nobody can actually see who is on the other end except by hearing our voices. The funny thing was when a person with a women's name began speaking in a low manly voice, I just burst out laughing. Man, I think the day was pretty eventful.

Note:
- Image taken from http://www.godiva.com

Monday 3 April 2006

Worst of 2006?

How many countless of lists do we get every time? Lists such as the best of 2006 or the best company in the world and others fill the void of cyberspace. Well apparently there is one list which actually gotten my interest peaked, so much so that I decided to write a post about it.

If you head over to CNet.com and looked at one of their headlines today, you would notice a list that says the Worst Tech of 2006. Now wait a minute, 2006 just started and there is already a list up? Well believe you me, when you take a look at it you couldn’t but agree with them. The funniest bit was the tech which achieved position number 10, Kazaa 3.



I think the comment given for that software was priceless, “Worst product that can get you arrested and ruin your PC

Now how true is that? For those of you who are avid p2p users would remember when Kazaa used to introduce countless amounts of spyware to our precious computer systems. Well it has reached position number 10 but honestly I would prefer it if it was at the top.

Thursday 16 March 2006

Time is precious

As you can see over the recent weeks, updates on this blog have been reduced to only occasionally instead of the daily postings which I said that I would. This is due to the fact of reduced time on my part to spend writing out my thoughts. Over the past few weeks, my head has been bombarded with so much information that it makes me wonder what went in last week. It probably came right out the other ear. But the problem is that I have to remember all these information and have it ready at my fingertips which I am sure worried about.

The phrase “with great power comes great responsibility” has been running amuck in my head. Actually it’s more like this, “with great salary comes greater responsibility…..and oh yeah, longer hours too”. Not that I am hating it or anything, I am just grateful of all the extra time that I have to rest during the weekends and the times at night I get to relax.

Just a simple reminder that we should all cherish our time, time for reflection is important and I am slowly coming to realizing that. Now with much gratefulness in my heart, I shall slowly pack up my things and head on home from work. I do hope that the rain has stopped.

Wednesday 8 March 2006

Paid Off



After working for over a year at JVC here in Malaysia, my hard work has finally been paid off. I finished a full design cycle creating the latest mini-DV camcorder and I am proud of being a part of that particular design team. Previously it was released in Japan but I was waiting for the US release and after checking out some websites once a week, it is finally out!

The next bit of waiting is for the Asia release which I think would be around March.

Check it out here or just do a Google search.

Thursday 2 March 2006

Ponder on this...

The greatest love that anyone could ever know
That overcame the cross and grave to find my soul
And till I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in You

With all I am I'll live to see Your kingdom come
And in my heart I pray You'd let Your will be done
And till I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in You

I will live to love You
I will live to bring You praise
I will live a child in awe of You

You are a voice that called the universe to be
You are the whisper in my heart that speaks to me
And till I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in you

You alone are God of all
You alone are worthy Lord
And with all I am my soul will bless Your name

- Till I See You
- Hillsongs

Wednesday 22 February 2006

Manglish

So I wonder which guy went up and gave Wikipedia the heads up on our wonderfully crafted english.

History

Theoretically, English as spoken in Malaysia is based on British English and called Malaysian English. British spelling is generally followed. However, the influence of American English modes of expression and slang is strong, particularly among Malaysian youth.

Since 1968, Malay, or Bahasa Melayu, has been the country's sole official language. While English is widely used, many Malay words have become part of common usage in informal English or Manglish (also means Mangled English). An example is suffixing sentences with lah, e.g. "Don't be so worried-lah", which is usually used to present a sentence as rather light-going and not so serious, the suffix has no specific meaning. Although Chinese dialects also make abundant use of the suffix lah and there is some disagreement as to which language it was originally borrowed from. There is also a strong influence from Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Tamil, which are other major dialects and languages spoken in Malaysia. Manglish also uses some anachronistic British terms from the era of British colonization (see "gostan" and "outstation" below).

Manglish Particles

1. "lah" - Often used at the end of sentences, used to affirm a statement (similar to 'of course'), usually ends with an exclamation mark. Eg. "Don't be an idiot lah!"

2. "mah" - Used at the end of sentences, used to affirm a sentence, but not as strongly as "lah". Eg. "She's like that mah.."

3. "nah" - Derived from the Malay expression, "Nah!". Used when giving something to another person. Eg. "Nah, take this!"

4. "meh" - Used when asking a question, especially when one is skeptical of something. Eg. "Really meh?"

5. "liao" - Means 'already'. Eg. "No more liao."

6. "ah" - Used at the end of sentences, unlike 'meh' the question is rhetorical. Eg. "Why is he like that ah?" Can also be used to when asking a genuine question. Eg. "Is that true ah?" Besides that, some people use it when referring to a subject before making a comment(often used to make a negative comment). Eg. "My brother ah, always disturb me!"

7. "lor" - Used when explaining something. Eg. "Like that lor!"

8. "leh" - Used to soften an order, making it less harsh. Eg. "Give me that leh."

9. "one" - Used as an emphasis at the end of a sentence. Eg. "Why is he so naughty one?"

10. "what" - Unlike the British/Americans, the word 'what' is often used as an exclamation mark, not just to ask a question. Eg. "What! How could you do that?"

11. "got" - Used as a literal translation from the Malay word 'ada'. The arrangement of words are often also literally translated. Eg. "You got anything to do?" ("Kamu ada apa-apa nak buat?"). This particular particle is widely abused in Manglish, mainly because of the difficulty for the Manglish speaker of comprehending the various correct uses of the English verb 'to have'. Therefore, 'got' is substituted for every tense of the verb. Eg. "I got already/got/will got my car from the garage."

Evolution


Speakers of Manglish from the country's different ethnic groups tend to intersperse varying amounts of expressions or interjections from their mother tongue - be it Malay, Chinese or Indian - which, in some cases, qualifies as a form of code-switching.

Verbs or adjectives from other languages often have English affixes, and conversely sentences may be constructed using English words in another language's syntax. People tend to translate phrases directly from their first languages into English, for instance, "on the light" instead of "turn on the light".

Due to exposure to other languages and dialects, particularly within the national school system, members of a particular ethnic group may be familiar with phrases or expressions originating from languages other than their mother tongue and may, in fact, apply them in their daily speech, regardless of the ethnicity of their audience. This is especially true in the case of interjections and vulgar slang.

Of late Malaysians have been more creative, and more Malay and Chinese words have been converging with English words. It's very simple, just find a Malay verb, and add the word "-ing", "-fied", "-able" etc.

Words and grammar

Manglish nouns:

* "barsket" - derived from 'bastard', general derogatory term. May also be derived from 'basket case'
* "bladibarsket" - derived from 'bloody bastard', profane derogatory term
* "kapster" - a talkative person
* "maluation" - embarrassment, from "malu" + "-ation"
* "outstation" - out of town (i.e, going outstation)
* "terrer" - (pronounced as the English "Terror") Refers to someone or something being awesomely amazing or good. (i.e. "Bloody hell, that guy is terrer!")

Manglish adjectives:

* "aiksy/lan si" - arrogant, overconfident. Possibly derived from 'acting up'
* "blur" - confused, out of it

Manglish verbs:

* "gostan" - reverse a vehicle (apparently from the nautical term "go astern" (Mostly used in Kelantan))
* "jadi" - happened, succeeded (derived from the Malay word 'jadi', and may sometimes mean 'so' as in, So what?)
* "jalan" - to walk
* "kena" - to get caught, to get punished; often used like a noun ("I sure kena if I cheat")
* "kantoi" - to get caught
* "cabut/cantas" - to run off, flee or to escape ('Cabut' is a Malay word meaning to pull or pulling out)
* "makan" - to eat
* "minum" - to drink
* "on/off" - to activate/deactivate something, respectively
* "pengsan" - to faint
* "pon" - to skip school (from "ponteng", meaning the same)
* "saman" - to issue a traffic ticket, from summons
* "tahan" - to stand, to bear ("Cannot tahan her perfume! So strong!")
* "tumpang-ing" - riding in someone else's vehicle or lodging at someone else's house, from the Malay verb "tumpang" + "-ing"
* "any Malay word + ing" - doing a certain action ('Tengah makan' or 'I'm eating right now' is shortened to 'Makan-ing')

Manglish exclamations:

* "best/syok" - indicates the object as superlatively good
* "die/finish/gone/habis/mampus/si" - generic exclamations to indicate trouble, used like the English 'damn it' or 'to face the music'

Manglish grammar:

* "(Subject + predicate), is it?" - this is often used as a question. "It" doesn't refer to the subject, but rather to the entire preceding clause ("Is it so?")


Now everyone knows what the heck we are talking about. So much for our secret english code.

Source:
Wikipedia

Monday 6 February 2006

Thank you!

I would like to take this time to thank everyone for making this 24th birthday of mine so special. A special thanks to Su Chuen who bought me a wonderful dinner and present. I would like to thank her parents for that nice shirt, and my parents for getting me a wonderful shirt as well. To my Pre-U cell members, thank you so much for that wonderful surprise you organized even though Tat Ren didn't contain me away from the staging area. Lemuel, thank your mum for that wonderful cake she baked. It was totally awesome and delicious, I am savoring every last bit of it, which is unless my dad finishes it before I can.

I would like to thank Su Chuen’s entire MAG group for that wonderful surprise call in the morning as well as to Uncle Jit and Aunty Karen. My personal thanks and appreciation to those who remembered and sent me text messages email messages and shouts on this blog, thank you so very much. I am so touched that so many people remembered about it and I thank God for all of you, I truly pray that God will bless each and every one of you in your daily life and your future.

Another year has gone by and it seems that time really flies. I can remember the great times I had in secondary school all the way until my university days and now here I am in the working world with almost 2 years gone. As each year come and go, I have learnt to cherish all my friends and relationships. I strive to want to rebuild some of my long lost relationships with my old friends as well as build new ones with people around me.

Finally, I want to praise God for all that He has given me and that after all these years He has been faithful to me even though I have not been the best I could have been for Him. As I look back, every fall and mistake has been a learning point and an experience that I can learn from and I do hope to use those past wrongs to improve on the future.

Tuesday 31 January 2006

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Chinese New Year has always been a happy occasion for me, spending time in my hometown, Malacca, playing with my cousin and sister as well as savors the great tasting Malacca food. With great appetites come great responsibility to control my ever increasing waist-line and whatever I have been doing isn’t helping me one bit. I think it is definitely time to get back to the basics and start working hard at it.

Malacca on the other hand has changed. When I mean changed, I do mean it. The streets are filled with red lanterns and the traffic is getting worse everyday. More and more people throng the streets where once the sea stood and clubbing music fills the once quiet salty air coming from the sea. The place that was once lit up by the shining moon in the dark is now illuminated by the blinding fluorescent lights that light up discos, pubs and bars. I am not one to complain, it is evident that Malacca is thriving economically but I can’t call it a place away from the city anymore.

I once stood on the beach looking towards a broken down freighter on the beach about ten years ago. The sun was pounding on my ever pimply face and I let the breeze fill my hair. People were running around going about their business but that care freeness has been replaced by the hustle and bustle of a thriving community of commerce and business.

Gone are the days whenever I head back to Malacca, an internet connection would be as rare as I could find but now, here I am sitting in a fully packed Starbucks in Mahkota Parade drinking my venti sized caffe mocha enjoying the cool atmosphere of the air conditioner and the buzz of coffee grinders and blenders. If you are wondering why I ordered a caffe mocha on a blazing hot day (34 degrees celcius), I missed the good old times when I was sipping on hot coffee at the local coffeeshop in Sheffield.

But before I start talking about the good old days, I just want to wish everyone a very happy Chinese New Year!

Thursday 26 January 2006

Keyboard Mania

Now since when did our computer keyboards become so complicated and expensive? I still remember the good old days when I can get a sub standard Logitech keyboard for less than RM30. Now we get keyboards that come with OLED and extra keys to enhance our gaming experience. Aren't we getting a little out of hand?


First on the list we have here is the new Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard. It comes with a foldable LCD panel which allows you to display chat messages during games as well as crucial system information while gaming. This has been made to truly enhance our gaming experience. So what happened to just remembering what we have or the items we are carrying. Also with additional programmable buttons, this is truly a new experience for gamers to enjoy whilst winning USD$150,000 tournaments.


Next on the list is the upcoming Razer Tarantula OLED Keyboard. In case you do not know what OLED is, try searching it through Google. It's basically stands for organic LED (Light Emitting Diodes). Anyhow, with these two companies competing for that place in the niche gaming market, Razer are veterans when it comes to creating and designing precision mice and keyboards to enhance a gamer's gaming experience while Logitech is slowly trying to move in on Razer.

For me, I can't afford any of those keyboards so I shall be sticking to my nice black Logitech multimedia keyboard.

Image Source:
- Everything USB

Tuesday 24 January 2006

Expressions

It has been a while since I last posted here. Time has been robbed of me recently, much of it lost to the ever continuous form of public transport which roams the pathways to KL. Strength has been seeping away from my very core, lost to the crowd which pushes me around from dawn till dusk. By the time I arrive at work, I am nothing more than an office worker, sitting at my desk punching the keys on my laptop. Things have really changed recently for me.

There are no more camcorders lying around me, there are no more oscilloscopes blinking away in front of my face, and there are no more television sets showing me grainy pictures coming from a half opened camcorder set. Gone are the days of standing in the hot sun shooting at still objects while trying to find every possible shade to cover under. Gone are the days where I burn my fingers trying to solder micro components onto miniscule circuit boards. Gone are the days of my 3 breaks a day, morning, lunch and tea. Gone are the days where I have to dress up like papa smurf.

As the new environment seep into my very being, I enjoy the subtle breeze of the air conditioner whilst sipping hot coffee. I don’t have to bust my brains out figuring how to work with Windows NT Japanese Edition nor do I have to figure out technical documents that are all in Japanese. Lost are the days when ex-colleagues act irrational and irritable. Lost are the days of school shoes and magnetic card slots.

I miss the prices of cheap food; where else can I get “nasi lemak” with a piece of fried chicken drumstick for the price of RM1.50. I miss traveling for only 25 minutes to get to work. I miss the great company of friends’ chit chatting around in the office. I miss the opportunities to learn from my technical wizards and I miss being able to sit in a meeting room and notice that everyone is asleep.

As time comes and goes, the only constant thing in this world is change. Ironic isn’t it. It is now that I bid farewell to my life dealing with camcorders, I never once regretted it and I still feel proud of having to have been part of the team which designed the JVC GR-D340EXM series plus other sub-models. I will never forget that time.

Wednesday 4 January 2006

Preparing for an Interview

Here is an article which I posted on the Lowyat Forums to help people prepare for an interview. Its a long read but I do hope that it will help everyone out there who is in the midst of looking for a new job. Also I will continue to update this article as well as the one in the forums.

Preparing for an Interview

What to bring:

1) Copies of your resume
Bring a few, because sometimes there might be more than one person interviewing you and you could distribute a copy of your resume to them right before the interview session. I have personally seen three interviewers sharing a copy of my resume and then trying to pass it around to another interviewer.

For more information on resume writing, click on this link.

2) Copies of your degree, certificates, transcripts, reports, thesis
Bring copies of your degree, certificates and academic transcripts. I would advice that you make a few copies of them and staple them together. Then it would be easy to give it to HR rather than you trying to sort it out in front of them.

Another option is to bring a copy of your thesis or report from your university days. Most employers may not be bothered with it but you never know. The best I have seen was someone who binded her report nicely with hard leather covers and had gold coloured letterings printed on it. It looked really professional.

If you are in the media and art line then a portfolio of your work would be more suitable. Maybe even video presentations.

3) Original documents
Do not forget to bring all original documents to allow the HR recruiter to verify the authenticity of your copies. Keep them in a clear folder for easy viewing. Try not to jumble them up together and put them in the same order as the copies you passed to HR. It shows a little bit of organizational skills you might have and a exhibit a little professionalism.

4) Passport sized photo & Copies of your MyKad

Prepare a couple of passport size photos. You will most probably need to give the HR recruiter for your application. Since the proliferation of digital cameras it is quite easy to get passport sized photos so please bring a few just in case. Sometimes they might require two. One for application and one for a company badge if you are selected.

Don't forget to prepare a few copies of your Photostatted MyKad in case the company requires it.

5) Pen and notebook

You would need a pen to fill out the application forms and also a notebook to take simple details or do simple calculations if you were asked IQ questions. Bring a couple of pens in case one runs out of ink.

6) Bag
With all the items mentioned above, you definitely need a bag to carry your stuff around especially if you do not have your own means of transportation. Believe it, its not easy juggling 3 folders while being cramped up in the LRT at 7.30am in the morning. Bring along a smart looking bag, nothing too fancy and nothing too rugged and out of place. It depends on the environment of the company you are applying to.

What to wear:

For any interview, an ironed out shirt and tie together with slacks and formal work shoes should do. If you are very particular, make sure that your belt matches with your shoe colours. Refrain from wearing bright colour socks. Oversized clothes are not preferred especially pants. It’s good to bring a comb to the interview because you never know when a strong gust of wind might just mess up your hair on the way to the interview. Also try not to wear a jacket or coat as it may be too formal here in Malaysia. If you are attending one overseas, then it might be necessary.

Since I am a guy I would need some feedback in regards to women's clothes worn during interview. I know for sure that smart looking work attire such as a business suit is well suited especially pants and a jacket. You should refrain from wearing those super short mini-skirts. You never know if the interviewer might be a guy or a girl biggrin.gif

Ladies, remember not too much make-up. You are not auditioning for a play at the local kabuki theater.

What to prepare:


Read up about the company before attending the interview. Find out as much as you can about it, its current financial situation, locations around the world, work culture, company aims and objectives, the company vision, values and more. A good way is to ask people who are currently working in them or another alternative is to use Google. Most companies might have a company website which provides all of that which is good. Try learning and remembering about the company's history, it helps to impress your interviewer that you took the time to learn about the company. Sometimes you can check the company's latest press release and bring it up as a conversation piece with the interviewer.

Usually if you are applying for a technical position, then prepare yourself by reading up some of your past lecture notes and try to recall what you have learned in university. Of course that would be almost impossible to remember everything so just study the ones that are related to the job you are applying for. For example if you are applying for a position that is related to marketing, then reading up on your marketing notes would be the first priority.

Even if you are applying for a position that is not related to your field of study, there are plenty of libraries out there as well as the internet to learn as much as you can. It’s better to be prepared than not to be at all. A good example would be engineering students who are applying for a management trainee position at a bank. You definitely didn't learn any banking skills during lecture so do your research!

Most interviews would require you to give them a brief explanation about your past experiences in extra curricular activities and this is a great opportunity for you to shine with your previous involvement. Some of the very standard questions would be, "Explain a situation where you were in a tight spot" or "Explain a situation where you showed leadership skills". The answers to these questions should always be ready in your mind and by giving out a detailed account of your experiences, it would greatly help you to show your leadership skills as well as give a good impression to the interview as you had prepared for this interview.

A good way to answer these types of questions is to first slowly map out the entire situation first and then identifying key incidences such as when you stood up and led the team in certain situations or when you took charge of part of the project or even contributed ideas of change.

Some interviewers would just ask the question and then let you answer them but I had experienced some who kept asking in detail about the situation. For example, I mentioned that I called a certain someone to discuss about the project. The interviewer then asked me, "How was the guy's reaction when you called him?", "Did you think that he had confidence in your judgment?" and "How long did the conversation last?". It was that detailed. So don't try and bullshit your way through it.

Be honest and always tell the truth, interviewers will know when you are trying to bullshit your way into the job. It is ok if your situation is not as spectacular as how you would imagined it would be, sometimes it just about how you present yourself or how well you can communicate it to your interviewer is what that counts.

Lastly, find out simple things like who is your interviewer, what position does he/she holds, how many interviewers will there be, how many stages would you have to go through in order to obtain the position and ask. Do not be afraid to ask.

What to do while waiting:

Arriving around 15minutes earlier should be enough time for you to settle down and relax a little. Some HR recruiters will then ask you to fill out some application forms or even provide you with some questionnaires or tests. Another time the interviewer might be late because he/she could be caught up with some important work.

How you spend your time right now is crucial before the interview. The first thing you can do right now is to calm your mind and relax. A calm mind allows you for quick thinking and answering. Another thing is to be as observant as you can. Look around to see if there are any company posters or posters that try to encourage people. These posters, believe it or not, can help give you that extra edge in the interview.

For example, I sit in the HR waiting room waiting for my interviewer to arrive. I see posters such as "Company Motto: To strive for excellence" or "There is no I in Team" or even the company vision or tag-lines such as "Excellence, Performance, Efficiency" and more. Instead of just looking at them, I can use them in my interview. I could tell my interviewer that I work hard and strive to excel in anything I undertake. Also I could say that team work is extremely important and that it brings out high performance and efficiency.

Another thing you can do is try to evaluate the working environment and observe as much as you can. Another example is that I noticed one company was using VoIP phones and I started a conversation with the interviewer about that after the interview session and we had a few good laughs and thoughts regarding the technology and all.

While waiting for the interviewer to arrive or if you are waiting in the hall or at the reception, take this time to go to the toilet to relieve yourself as well as check your outward appearance. You can also practice your smile while checking your teeth to see if there are any unwanted stains or food leftovers lingering about those gaps. Take a breath check as well, it is good to have some gum or mint candy handy especially before interviews.

This is also a good time for you to turn off your mobile phone.

What to do during the interview:

During the interview, you should always remember to shake your interviewer's hand when entering and always have a smile on your face. Creating a pleasant outlook of you is important. If there is more than one interviewer, take the time to shake hands with each of them and introduce yourself to them. Do not sit down until the interviewers tell you so or ask them politely whether if you could take a seat. Most probably the interviewers will ask you to have a seat upon entering the room.

Always keep eye contact, sit up straight and be attentive. Eye contact is very important and for those of you who cannot talk to a person and look them straight in the eye, you better start practicing. Make eye contacts not stares.

It is also important to switch between the interviewers (>1 interviewers) so that none will feel offended. When making eye contact, try to focus on one eye, switching between eyes of that same person gives a nervous impression. If you are the type that is afraid to look someone in the eyes, you can always look at the areas near the eyes, such as the nose. Practice with friends before the interview.

On the hand shaking part, gives firm and powerful grip. However on some occasions, initiating a hand shake with a future employer might be bad by giving an aggressive impression.

QUOTE
If you look away when speaking to someone, you're viewed as lacking confidence or interest.



When answering questions, answer in a clear and easily understandable manner. Try not to beat around the bush, get to the point straight. For example, you can take about 2-3 minutes describing a certain scenario, once explaining the key points you can always ask, "would you like to hear more?" or “Did I give you enough detail?”. Good interview sessions are all about giving and taking. It’s never easy to just constantly talk about yourself all the time while the interviewer is busy doing something else. Asking questions will draw the interviewer out to speak a little which is good.

Its good to ask questions, ask about the company, ask about the interviewer and how his view of the company is, ask about the job position, ask about the work environment, just ask. It shows that you are very curious about the company and that you have the initiative to ask questions. Most employers would prefer employees that ask a lot of questions and not the type that just sit down quietly being dumb.

When taking the time to think about an answer, try not to just keep quiet and still. Instead portray an appearance that shows you are thinking and trying to remember. Observe how your interviewer carries himself/herself and try to pick up a few good points from it.

Think of the interview as if it were your first date. Sometimes it is human nature to defend ourselves and during interviews, when bombarded with "killer" questions, we might come up and be all defensive about ourselves which could cost you the job itself. On your first date, you would never want to offend your date would you? Instead you are trying to sell yourself, about how good you can be in a relationship. This works the same for an interview.

Remember, be natural. When you perform unnaturally, it gives the interviewer a feeling that you're nervous and not confident.

What to do: post interview:
After some comments by people and my friend who works in the HR line, it is good to leave a thank you message either by email or maybe a simple message to your interviewer. Its the same as a smile, a simple gesture could really make someone's day and wouldn't you want your interviewer to be happy when evaluating your application?

Mistakes Made During the Interview:
1. This happened during my interview with a semiconductor company based outside of KL. They asked if I applied to other companies based in KL and they asked if I were offered a job in KL would I take it. Being my first interview and being naive and honest, I said yes. Thanks to that I didn't get the job.

2. Some interviews are in a few stages, 2-3 interviews. I didn't really give a good answer during my first interview but although I managed to get a second one, I answered the 2nd interviewer differently to the same generic question (Why this particular company?). I didn't get the job and I have a big feeling its due to the fact that my answers were not consistent.


Article Contributors:
- DeathWing
- hans.excel
- SincerePrayer
- =--ChoonG->>
- samurai1337
- spanker
- yingchai