Swordie Bloggie

I’m not a fan of Apple… I know I’ve probably said this thousands times before… I just don’t like Apple coz Apple is something what I call ‘Island by itself’… ‘Apple by itself’.

But I REALLY amazed and impressed with its graphics performance… YES, on any Apple… be it Apple, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, or whatever…

My first encounter with Apple was somewhere in 1985… it was with a Macintosh… the small all in one little white box with 9 inches of color monitor… . It was my School Computer Club visit to Sri Komputer… Sri Komputer is computer house doing computer sales and systems development… Sri Komputer at that time was at one of the block next to Kinabalu Emporium… near Wisma Merdeka. Today, Sri Komputer is located at Wisma 2020, Karamunsing… the building is owned by them… and the building was the first… and the only one until today I  guess… which uses ‘car lift’ parking system here. They have a tight parking area under the building… so to increase parking space, they use car lift… one car will park at the firs level of the lift, then it goes down… underground… then the next car will park at the second level of the lift… which mean the 2nd car is on top of the 1st car…. basically they double their parking space.

Anyway, during the visit, they showed us animation on the Macintosh… it was an ice cream on ice cream cone… it was pink ice cream, but can’t remember the cone color, but it could be brown or yellowish… and it is tilted… with dripping melting ice cream!!!… we were like WOW… we were so amazed with the animation… it was so real… just imagine, that was somewhere in 1985!!!… it was like something from the outer space… Then they showed us some other animations with Yayasan Sabah Building on it… 😛

I don’t really know why these whole experience still stuck with me…… yea, I really don’t know why I still remembering all these… and yet I don’t like Apple.. 😛

Then during my university time, I tried avoiding any project or assignment related with Apple… I don’t know, I just can’t accept Apple… probably the biggest reason is I can’t see how the OS work coz they are all in graphics… I can’t see the command prompt… so I just like DOS on PC… 😛 then Windows 3.0 came… and bla bla bal until today… 😛

Right now, I don’t know why… but I feel somehow sad with the loss of Steve Jobs… I should not feel anything coz I don’t really like Apple anyway… probably coz everyone are sad, so I feel sad too… But truthfully, I’m really amazed with this guy, Steve Jobs… his visions… his charisma… he is amazing, genius, brilliant… his life can be sum up by… first he build Apple which created technology wave with Macintosh… then he got kicked out from Apple by none other than the person he groomed… outside Apple he build NeXT computer which supposed to be more powerful than Macintosh, I’m sure not many of you know NeXT, I do… then he was brought back into Apple again… then he made another technology wave, but this time he created technology tsunami with all the i… iPod, iPhone, iPad… and now, he is gone… sorry to say but I guess this gonna be the starting of Apple downfall… I don’t know… RIP to you Steve Jobs.

When someone advice you to calculate your potential winnings before placing your bet… that someone can be a mathematician who likes statistics or probabilities… or professional gambler… or just the usual conman walking around taking advantage on gamblers… 😛 But most people gamble or place their bet by following their guts… advice from the fortune teller they just met… or simply follows what they dream last night… 😛

Numerical prediction is one of the biggest gambling games in the world… here at home, there are three legal and licensed operators… Sports Toto (TOTO), Sandakan Turf Club (STC) and Lotto 88 (88). Other than that, there are many more black market operators… and some of these black market operator are civil servants… who don’t want easy money right?… they get paid through commissions… and buyers or gambler are not hard to find… they come to you… you don’t have go to them… 😛

Last year, there was a big issue about legalizing or bringing the sports betting to the country… especially the soccer match betting like the English Premier League… unfortunately  it did not make it… yes, legal sport betting are not allowed here… but at the same time black market sports betting are all over the country… and there are also online sports betting which are easily accessible… all you need is internet connection and credit card… So the question is, is it OK to allow legal sports betting here?… In my opinion, if it is allowed, the black market will be reduced and at the same time government can collect tax from the legal gambling house… which they can’t collect anything from the illegal gambling house… or izzit that legalizing gambling house will affect the income of some big shots who are connected to the illegal gambling house… 😛

The impact of Typhoon Nesat on Monday evening and early morning of Tuesday brought down lots of trees, billboards, houses, etc… according to some believes, that Monday which is 26th September 2011 is the actual 2012… did I hear someone asking what is 2012?… well it’s about the end of the world… 😛

The fallen tree next to my house

According to reports, Typhoon Nesat was one of the most powerful tropical cyclone to directly impact Philippines this year and the wind speed reached 95 knots (176 km/h; 109 mph). Imagine, place was only hit by the typhoon tail… but the damages are visible everywhere… I feel bad for Philippines which was hit directly by the typhoon 🙁 Watching the videos shared on Facebook is like watching scary movies… it looks so unreal yet they are real… the flood which was caused by the large number of rain water made it worse… people just can’t run away… water and wind are everywhere.

The sky seen from on top of Bukit Padang today.

Now that Nesat has calm down, debris left by the typhoon and floods will continue giving hard life to them. Houses which still standing are not safe coz its structures are no longer stable… its going to be massive work to do demolition, clearing and cleaning… without tools or machinery like the JCB backhoe, it will take a long time to clean up the affected areas… and the longer it take to cleanup, the more dangerous it will get… disease outbreak can happen anytime… the people need clean water, electricity, food, blankets, cloths… I just hope the typhoon will continue to calm down… coz they expect more typhoons are approaching… 😛

Damaged awning roof… building along Penampang Bypass Road.

Telekom contractor clearing the fallen trees near Sabah Museum.

Fallen scafolding at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Fallen tree branch along the hiking trail at Bukit Padang.

Up-rooted tree along the hiking trail at Bukit Padang.

I’m crossing my fingers right now… I really hope my Nike Utility Duffel Bag will reach me before 14 October 2011… I need it for my cloths and stuffs for photomarathon… and for my gym after that… 😛

About Nike Utility Duffel Bag (Black)

Cool bag designed to be carried with the handles/shoulder strap as duffle, with the straps as a backpack or single strap as a cross-body bag.

Large main compartment with zippered hang pocket.

This duffle has a large end pocket that’s ideal for wet/dry storage.

Also has a small end pocket and zippered front pocket.

Water-resistant Tarpaulin bottom. Tough 600 denier polyester.

Size: 25″ x 13″ x 11″

Last Friday evening, 16 September, I helped my nephew to buy his scout stuffs… he was a bit upset coz he couldn’t follow his grandma who went to Servey Hypermart with his two brothers in the afternoon… I pity on him coz he don’t have a lot of the stuffs he supposed to bring for the next day for his schools scout camping. So I took him to get some of the stuffs… we went to Servey Hypermart and the stationery shop near it.

Some of the stuffs he have to buy are black shoe, dark blue trousers, knife, salt, sardine and many more… when come to the part buying sardine, I suddenly feel hungry… there are many types of caned sardine displayed and they really look tasty… sardine with anion… sardine with chilly… sardine with tomatoes… and not only sardine but there also anchovies, prawns, tunas, ham, beef, chicken… wow… they really looks tasty… at the end I picked a caned of sardine for myself… 😀

Although I seldom buy caned food, there are times when the feeling of wanting to try them just pop up when I see those packaging… their labels are so inviting… just like a poster of Crawfish Boil Invitations… and they are easy to prepare… just open the can and heat them… that’s all… ready to be eaten… the tasty are just fantastic… 😀

Do you know how difficult it is to download YouTube videos when you need to download it immediately?… It’s bloody irritating… 😛 There is a YouTube video I wanted to download today but unfortunately I don’t have any YouTube download tools installed on my notebook… I do have one before but I’ve uninstalled it long time ago… I can’t really remember why I uninstalled it, but it could be it was a trial version or it was full with advertisement or something like that… 😛

What did I do then?… Well, I called my friend Google and asked him to search the best downloader for YouTube video. A couple of seconds later, he came back and presented me with a bunch of links. I glanced through and pick one… I downloaded and installed it… unfortunately every time I download the YouTube video using the tools, it cut off after 30% or so… You see, the YouTube video I want to download is 57 minutes long… 😛 I need to download this video coz it seems this video is being deleted from YouTube… when I searched for this 57 minutes video last month, I found about 3 of them… and there are many shorter version too. But today, I can’t find any of the 57 minutes… even the shorter versions are so few… There must be some conspiracy to delete this video… they don’t want the public to see it…

Then after sharing one of the shorter version with my friend this evening, I accidentally found the 57 minutes versions… that is why I want to download it before ‘they’ delete this one… Anyways, since the first downloader did not work well, I tried another… and this one is called The Best Video Downloader and it’s working fine so far… in fact it is downloading right now… and it’s already 80% completed… the 57 minutes video is about 240MB… 😛 and the video I’m trying to download is about the Elenin or Nibiru or Brown Dwarf… about the earth quake catastrophe going to occur on 26th September 2011… it said with magnitude 12 to 15 earth quake, the whole Pacific Rim will go… New Zealand will disappear… Japan will disappear… Indonesia will disappear… China will disappear… Korea will disappear… Russia will disappear… West Coast of America will disappear… 😛

Should the authority impose a limit to the number of houses each individual can own at one time for a certain period?… I think they should, so that the properties price can be stabilized and not keep on increasing every month… 😛 If not, those can afford will keep on buying houses and sell it later at a higher price or rent them out to those who can’t afford buying house since properties prices keep on increasing every month. Renting out properties like Calgary rentals is a very lucrative business… 😀 But why am I talking properties rental… well keep on reading…

Buyers Complain of Prime Units Being Taken Up Before Launch… that’s what in the newspaper headlines today… what’s the issue here?… Well, it seems that properties developers are ‘cheating’ genuine buyers during their property launching… I think it’s not exactly cheating, it’s more like the properties offered to the public are not in totality… meaning some part of the properties are not offered to the public… mostly the hot properties like the corner lots which has bigger land or surrounding areas.

Buyers complained that although they came early during properties launching, the hot lots like the end or corner lots are all marked taken or sold. It seems that the developer has given the hot lots to their family members, staff or friends before the launching date which according to them is unfair. To be fair to all buyers, they want the authority to intervene and they suggest ballot system should be used for these hot lots.

But according to National House Buyers Associations secretary-general, prime lots in new housing projects were usually offered to selected groups of people before the launch… so, it is true then that hot lots are given before launching… now, is this fair or unfair?… Those can afford will collect the hot lots to be sold later at a higher price… and this will make the properties price goes up… which is bad to those who can’t afford and end up only able to rent house instead of buying. If this is the case, I might as well start doing properties rental business… 😀

So what is the solution?… Should the authority impose a limit to the number of houses each individual can own at one time for a certain period?…

On Monday, I took a day leave… and I did take a day leave the previous Monday too. Probably I have Monday sickness or Monday blues… nahhh… not exactly… I just feel tired and a little bit sick when I woke up on both Mondays… no, not a little bit sick but probably a worrying sickness…

You see, I have been having this wheezing sound on my chest for sometimes but it usually not very serious… but it getting louder and I’m worried I’m getting asthma or something… The first time I seek for medication this year was somewhere in February… I went to a private clinic near my office. The doctor seem to be very experience… he gave me few advices regarding how to take care my health… like he was giving me a crash medical consultant interview course… 😛

The wheezing sound usually appears in the middle of the night or early morning… the funny thing is, I don’t have breathing problem with the wheezing… I can breath just as usual… how do I know it getting bad?… well, first the sound getting louder, but it don’t really worries me coz it only happen during the night. Then the worse feeling comes… I feel like my lungs full of water or bubble… I still can breath properly but I feel drown or chocked with the water in my lung… I don’t even know if there are water in my lung… I just feel like there are water inside… probably I should get medical teaching course so that I can explain better… 😛

I get better after taking some medication… a week supply of antibiotics. But then somewhere in May, it comes back again… so I went and seek medication from the same doctor. The doctor said, if I still not cured after I complete my medication, then I have to get an X-Ray… I was worried… is this going to be very bad?… After a week… which means I finished my antibiotics, the wheezing and ‘water’ inside my lungs gone…. But it came back again!!!… This time it started when I was in Tawau last month, end of August… I guess it was caused by the bad air quality inside the hotel room… I was sneezing and coughing one night… I have to make hot tea at 3am just to calm my sneeze… After the journey, I tried to hold on to myself although the wheezing came back… but it getting louder and the ‘water’ came back… So last Monday I have no choice but to seek medication… but this time I did not go to the same doctor coz that clinic do not have the X-Ray facilities.

This time, since I took a day leave, I went to my regular clinic at Donggongon near my home… Hilltop Clinic. Why regular clinic?… Well, ever since I started working, I only go to this clinic… but I rarely go to clinic coz I rarely get sick… but this year I went to the clinic near my office instead of this… the reason I change clinic was not of the distance or convenience, but becoz I don’t like to see different doctors. Previously, when I go to Hilltop Clinic, I only saw 3 doctors… which happen to be the owners… They have 3 clinics I think… and they rotate taking care the clinics I guess 😛 But after sometimes I don’t see these 3 doctors anymore… well, I usually go at night or after office, around 6pm. The doctor during those time are locums… I believe they are from the government hospitals and doing part time there. I really don’t like it coz they seem to be not experience… ok, I don’t know anything about medical management course but I don’t like it… I prefer to see the same doctor, the doctor who knows my medical history.

Anyways, this time I decided to go back there. I went there around 12pm and the ‘original’ doctor is on duty… yeahhh… Unfortuntely the Donggongon clinic do not have the X-Ray machine… but their main clinic at Luyang has. I asked the nurse what time the Luyang clinic close for lunch, she said 1pm… so I rush to Luyang and reach there around 12.40pm… I approached the counter and asked if I have a chance to see the doctor before lunch time coz there a number of patients waiting. She said should be no problem… and I told her I should have my record here since I came here once a long… long time ago… and it turn out that first visit was somewhere in 2003… 😛

I told the ‘original’ doctor about my predicament… by the way, there are only 2 ‘original’ doctors left since one of them no longer partnered with them. When I told about the history, I tried my best not to tell him which clinic I attended before… but somehow he know the doctor at the end… 😛 The doctor check my chest and back using stethoscope… then gave me a worried look… he said I might be forming asthma!!!… arrrggg………………… then I only can take X-Ray at 2pm coz they X-Ray people are going for lunch since it is already 1.20pm… I came back at 2.15pm and took my X-Ray… after the doctor examine my X-Ray, he said my lungs seem to be fine… but a little bit of infections at the bottom of my lungs… emmm… he gave 5 tablets of special antibiotics… he said it is special… and two other type of tablets… I told him I need to be cured fast and do not want it to come back since I need to climb Mount Kinabalu next month… he said he can give me an injections… I don’t know what type of injection but I took it anyway…. it way on my left hand. And so far, I feel ok… I already finish my medication… we see how after this… I really hope the infections or what ever they are, are gone for good… 😛

After the exciting 6 hours journey on 24th August at Kalabakan road, we decided not to return with that road to Kota Kinabalu… furthermore the weather was cloudy and raining. We returned on 26th August through the common old road which is much longer… I think about 600KM or so and more hilly paths where it will pass Mount Kinabalu.

We reach Tawau around 4pm on 24th, and booked into Heritage Hotel. And this is the first time I have to change room. Before we went out around 6pm for dinner and ‘work’, I checked the windows to make sure it is locked, and it was not… and I can’t lock it. The latch is locked but not hooked… 😛 I decided to report it later when I come back coz need to rush for dinner… ‘buka puasa’ actually since my two colleagues are fasting for the Ramadan. But we were only back to the hotel around 10pm something… coz after dinner we actually went to install and configure the server and troubleshoot the network that night at our branch office so that we will not be rushing the next day… after all we are still excited with the journey I guess… and it is ‘puasa’ month, easier to work at night.

I called the room service and reported the window problem, and they sent two maintenance guys. They tried and said, they can’t unlock it coz they don’t have the key and the person in charge of the key has gone home for the day. The other guy assure me nothing will happen… it’s safe he said. I scolded him… I asked him what happen if someone kill me tonight?… the other guy was more professional and said, they will find a solution, they need to talk to the manager or something and they left. A few minutes later, the reception called and inform they can’t unlock the window, and the only way is for me to change room… 😛 So change room from 312 to 212 😛 . . . Continue Reading »

On 24th August 2011, I went to Tawau for official duties… for the second time this year. The last one was on 10th May. As usual, we travelled by land… with our office four wheel drive the Toyota Fortuner 2.5D.

Although I can use airplane to Tawau, I prefer to travel by land coz I can enjoy the scenery along the 400km journey. Furthermore time is on our side if we use our own vehicle… we don’t have to rush… we can drive slow or fast… We can stop anywhere we like to relieve ourselves.

Not like travelling by air, have to be on time to catch the flight… I really hate it when the schedule is tight… that’s why I usually take flight in the afternoon if I have to fly… coz I hate getting ready early in the morning. Travelling for official duty and non official like travelling for Las Vegas holidays are two completely different loads… yes loads… for official, the loads like the garments must be neat and well taken care… but for holiday, I can simply chunk my cloths into the luggage without worrying if they get crumple or not… 😛 . . . Continue Reading »