Thumbs up!

...I'm good in here Mummykins & Daddykins!

That's our kid! Alhamdulillah coming to 5 months now....notice the thumb is up! KUDOS Baby Achoncho! We cannot really see if Baby Achoncho is a he or a she, but Baby Achoncho is doing fine and developing well, Alhamdulillah.....

FRIED T23!

I have been using my T23 for more than 2 years and have no issue with the machine - hardware part of it. When it scomes to the softwares, fooking microshit windows have always created problem for everybody lah kan? (Anybody who denies this is either a MAC user or have never really used microshit to the fullest.......or use laptops as a show off items probably)

The weekend marks the end of my T23, thank you to fooking microshit instability. Microsoft is a real bastard….the patches and updates is really getting out of hand.

We'll see how it goes with my trustworthy T23. It has been working too hard (hardware, not the fooking software at all) since the lightning took the life of my server....I still need to either rebuild it or cannibalize it, whichever is cheaper. It is time for me to decide - what to have as the workhorse+ main storage device at home and what to have as a mobile working device - this Netbook can do stuffs but for my digital photog I need a real machine - either running on MAC, LINUX (not really?) or (ohh my GOD not this one please!) Windows. As for now, I will be working on my Blogs using my Netbook as always but posting will have to be done using my office machine & connection (read: slow and unreliable). Possibly I'd get a MAC soon.....walking the talk...microsoft can fookoff and die!

Microsoft suxxxxxxx!

I HATE THIS!

Another stupid updates / patches from Microshit.
Ohhh!!! These are for our own good desu ne??
Well, I really have doubts, like millions of others out there too....
One thing for me though, it is an excellent definition of the word "annoying".
I wonder why those who converted to MAC / Linux, vast majority (read: ALL!!) of these bunch never have any regrets.

......think I seriously need to migrate to MAC / Linux / Open Source.

Rain drops

Rain drops on Level 74

Just finished some artworks for Kimster's project and realized the pix I captured above is quite unique (for me lah as an amateur photog). The rain drops actually contains the reflection of the whole city....but I kinda failed to "compose" it perfectly....well, there are some limitations on the d-slr type I am using....not that I am thinking of moving to a proper DSLR range lah!

.....I tried to write something on my Baby Dinosaur today but could not continue. Tried a couple of times but was too sebak to continue. It's nothing much - the contents - but as I wrote it, I felt like I really miss our family members who have left us. The feeling was so strong.

The rain drops reminded me that I have lots more to learn (not just about d-imaging but about life as a whole actually), and everything is just temporary.....tomorrow when I am back in my office, those rain drops would not be there....but those tiny drops left me with something to ponder.

Renault F1 Colors

COLORS of TEAM SPIRIT

That's my gurl with her new wristbands....orange ones to match her funky sandals...blue & yellow ones to hammer the fact that she is a hard-core Renault F1 Team Spirit fan!

Today I am 33

The twins, a year before......and I am the luckiest father in the whole world.

Am a bit sad cuz Naufal is not here to celebrate with us but he's doing fine in kampung....since the grandparents really want to be with him, we'll have to sacrifice a bit lah. Tok Mak said he's eating a lot and never stops playing with the cousins. I'd expect him to gain a few kg in another week!

Today Mama belanja us - Alisya, Baby Achoncho and myself - at her favourite steamboat restaurant. I'll let the pix do the talking!

Mama's fav

Alisya's fav!

Boiling!

Done!

Let's eat!

Happy B-day ayah

Bintulu Revisited

BINTULU REVISITED

A view from my room

Traveling again! I wrote this paragraph while on night the flight to
Kuching. Should be arriving by midnight and the next morning we'll be taking the flight to Bintulu.
It has been years since I been there...(familiar phrase huh?). Last visit was on iP58 ticket (it was not iP58 yet, still incubation mode in the corporate centre).
Had to go to 48F alone and deal with the whole management & working team on certain issue. As I recall correctly, it has something to do with m17c0 insisting on having real-timebroadcast of urea product loading and weather monitoring online, tagged to delivery system and total integration to the back-office environment. Sounds bombastic...but whatever happened after
that, I can't blame it on the system.....

Nevertheless, I did enjoy my stay and interaction with the 48F people, they were the friendly type of people that you can easily work with, if you know how to navigate yourself properly lah!

Bintulu was still a quiet town at that point of time. It's not going to be 48F this time but its mln6, on the other side of the hill. Frankly I do not know what to expect tomorrow but what I do know is I am really missing Alisya!

She sent me to the airport but did not get down from the Scenic. I called Mama while I was checking-in and heard Alisya crying for me! Oh my!
It's going to be a long 3 day trip!

Day 1: 20050706

The Plant

A short stay at Crown Plaza and we are now waiting for our flight to
Bintulu. During my marketing years, I have never stayed in this hotel.
It has always been the Hilton. It was a short night so there's nothing much to say, only that I realized there's a 7-11 across the road, at the Waterfront.

We arrived quite on schedule and I was quite surprised actually, at first I thought we have arrived in Sibu! The airport is no more in the middle of the town. It took about 20-30 minutes from the airport to mln6.

We were stationed in a cabin together with Abdillah the leader of the team that we are supposed to assist. I worked with his twin Abdullah when I last came to Bintulu.
Worked thorough the day and at about 7:30pm we decided to call it a day.
Had dinner at Kidurong Club (thanx to Abdillah!) and then off to check-in at the hotel.

Had to do some McGyver action cuz the lock on the luggage decided to be stubborn and denied the code I set much much much earlier. This is the second time and I can't open it at any combination (1000 of it!). Good thing I had a Swiss Army knife and the set of screwdrivers mentioned in my other posting. Off with the lock and I will have to buy Mam a new bag for that!!

Nothing much to see since it's already dark so.....off to bed!

Day 2: 20050707

Work!

Woke up early but could not convince myself to walk around and take some photos. Maybe later in the day. It's almost 7:30am, sun is shining brightly, a good sign perhaps for another long day.

After breakfast we took a cab to the OPI cabin and work started....the system was slow and the lappies are nothing to be proud of when it comes to
reliability - (I HATE ACERS!).

We had a big lunch - Abdillah's treat (again!) and then we went for a quick tour of his house...big one and got it quite cheap pulak tuh!
The furnitures ohhh my.....we cannot believe the price he paid for those custom made beds, dining tables, study tables etc.....I wanna move to Bintulu lah!!!

The hall

Customized dining set

Che Lie - the unpaid interior designer

We worked until....past 10:00pm! Then we went for a good dinner. Mama called cuz Alisya cannot sleep and she talked with me for a while. Abis dinner, off to the hotel, packed the bag and dozed off around2:00am. What a day.....

Day 3: 20050708

Final hour before departure

Yaayyy!! I can smell the weekend!

Went to the plant for a short briefing to the OI manager with the team then off we go to the airport.

The plane is descending now and insya-Allah within an hour or so I would be hugging Alisya! If only Naufal is at home too!

To conclude, I found Bintulu is pretty much the same quiet town.
Never had the opportunity to lepaks at the town actually, a rather packed - if not hectic - trip.

Well...maybe next time Bintulu!

The Lumix

The Lumix

Panasonic Lumix FZ10-K

The first camera that I ever used was a Kodak Disc that came free with a Yamaha Electone Organ my parents bought for me. (Yeah I took music lessons when I was young, did quite well actually considering I am the only Malay dude who gets to represent the district up to state level competition). As far as I can recall, the Disc was quite "fashionable" at that time cuz while others lug the ordinary bulky point & shoot camera, the Disc is rather small and squarish, pretty much like some Sony models available nowadays, only bigger and less techy-er of course!

Then, after it got more and more difficult to get the film disc, our parents decided its time to get a decent camera. It was and Olympus and it served us well, until Angah lost it if I am not mistaken and replaced it with another one (by now I could not recall what camera it was).

Those were the early exposure to photography for me.

My first ever experience with a SLR was when Bawal let me use his Konica (if my memory serves me well lah). Bawal is quite a good photog, very creative, in fact I can say he was really advanced since his artworks as I can still recall, do seem still rather amazing even since we have the Adobe and other softies.

A real exposure on SLR and photog techniques came about when I was in my one year matriculation. To' Kent taught me a lot. I did quite well especially during one project trip into some remote part of Cameron Highlands. Kent had to be sent out due to dengue fever he caught and being the only photographer he decided to leave all his stuff to me and it was my responsibility to produce good result for JHEOA archive...and take care of the expensive Yashica and lenses Kent bought with his own money!

I wish I was allowed to have a copy of the whole images I captured.

Moving on....I never actually bought a camera until I decided to get a decent 2MP Nikon point & shoot for my wifey as her birthday present - it was about time too since Alisya has just arrived! Before that Nikon, I had a Samsung film with superb zoom and very robust. It costs (at that time) RM800++ but I got it free from a lucky draw on PEMSB family day. Lucky me!

The Samsung served us well, till I bought a Nikon Coolpix P&S 2megapix for wifey. The Samsung is now with my parents, still going strong.

So, when I finally decide to get a digicam for myself, I did the usual “ritual” of searching, analyzing, forums joining etc…so that I will get the correct choice within my limited budget.

To cut it short, after about 3 months of the “ritual” I got myself a Panasonic Lumix FZ-10K, a black one, which is rare in this part of the world (yes, the black ones are available but not easy to get due to the decision to market the black ones to more cooler climate regions).

The FZ-10K is always with me on every trip I go…so far it’s the best digicam for me. Cud have bought a DSLR but I am still a novice in digicam/photog…..and I am happy with the Leica lense of the Lumix!

Baby Achoncho's Movement

The spine

The head & chest

See the fingers?

Baby Achoncho's Movement @29th. June 2004.

On the 29^th June we went for another check up. The images were amazing. So very amazing that I almost shed tears. We can see the baby's hands & fingers moving. At some point, as if Baby Achoncho was waving at us. We can see the spinal cord, brain and of course, the heart beating. Really amazing.

Baby Achoncho is about 15 weeks old now. The expected birth date would not change much, i.e. the last week of this December, 26th is the speculated date by our so friendly & cool gynae. (Spent the first part of the session talking about tech-stuffs, Alfa Romeos & F1 race!)

....and since it's already pretty much stable for Baby Achoncho to travel a long distance drive, we decided to head back to Segamat over the weekend….and it's durian season! We arrived well past midnight on Saturday and then the kids woke up and got excited….it was almost difficult to make them sleep again!

All of their cousins were there.....and it's the first time for them to meet cousin Danish. Cousin Raiyan have been in kampung for so long that he decided he'll be coming back to Sateville.

Cousin Danish

Cousin Raiyan

Havoc started early Saturday morning….Tok Mak & Tok Abah already placed all their toys at the play area made specially for their grandchildren.

Part of the play area

The bunch had a splash in the kiddy pool Mama bought, meant to be “stationed” at the kampung so that we don’t have to bring it to & fro every time!

Splashhhhh! (Checkout those fresh durians on the background!)

Mama had her favorite roti canai from the one particular restaurant. We also had pulut santan in the afternoon (Best giler! My fav!), tomyam steamboat and black pepper ketam Angah masak….cekodok durian….tempoyak…perrghh!!! Alamak! Terlupa! I did not try the aiskrim durian laaa!! Sheesh!!! Terlupa siut...

Can wabbits eat giraffe for breakfast?!

Naufal decided to stay back and take care of Tok Mak & Tok Abah.....together with cousins Danial & Durra! We'll definitely miss Naufal but Tok Mak & Tok Abah has been missing him too much.....so it's really the time to let them be with Naufal.

They had a great time....all of them and saying good-bye was hard. Nothing beats a weekend with the whole family, nothing at all.

Aisehmen…I miss the tempoyak…and Naufal already! Aarrghh!!!

SEE YOU IN 7 DAYS MY WABBIT!