Swordie Bloggie

Today, 22 August, me and two colleagues, Disney and Malcolm, went to the Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre (KKWC) at Likas. KKWC was formerly known as Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary. It covers 24 hectares of mangrove forest and it has 1.5km or so of boardwalk spanning across the mangrove forest and swamp.

We had planned to visit this place since last week and at last the plan was confirmed the day before. But this morning, it was raining… and it has been raining since last night… We almost cancel our plan coz we are not sure what to expect at KKWC during raining day, but we decided to go anyway… and who knows, the rain actually stopped before 8am. The center registration counter is open from 8am.

Before proceeding to KKWC, we took our breakfast at Taman Cantek. We arrived at the KKWC before 9am. We registered and paid RM5 each for entrance fee. When we entered the mangrove jungle through the boardwalk, it started drizzling but we still went ahead. The water level is quite high… looks like not much chance to see mud creatures… and probably will be great if we can use a small boat or an All Terrain Vehicle… but of course ATV riding is not possible here… too muddy… but I still think if they provide small boat or some kind of light hovercraft during high water, it will be great… better view and angle away from the boardwalk… 😀 The boardwalk is like 2km long … it was quite tiring at the end… but great experience… and this is my second time here… the first was like 3 or 4 years ago.

In the middle of the jungle, we were greeted by a group of ‘senior citizens’… they are having picnic or outing for fresh air… they thought we are tourist… Japanese or Korean tourist… not surprise coz in our previous outings, some also think that we are Japanese tourist… 😛

They invited us to have some food… we tried to resist coz we just had our breakfast… but I end up eating a packet of their ‘original fried noodles’, some ‘original chun-ken’  and banana… 😛

After that we proceeded with our birds watching… but I guess we are on the wrong season and day… not much birds… more like no birds… lol… only one unique bird… and we said ‘we only have one model’… coz that’s the only bird we can photograph… the bird is Pucung Keladi or Little Heron or it’s scientific name is Butorides Straitus… and basically this bird like to be alone and very shy… 😛

Wish there are more ‘migrating birds’ today… we were there till 1pm… if you have a chance, do visit this place… not just to see birds or ‘weird creatures’, but to enjoy the fresh air… you can actually have picnic like the ‘senior citizens’… 😀 but make sure you bring back your garbage… don’t litter please… we want to keep this place as natural as possible… although there are some garbage floating here and there… 😛

Here are some of the photos I manage to snap… 😀 Hope to go back there at the right season… . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday, 19 August, I sent my car to UMW Toyota for 65k service… the previous service was like 5 months ago and it was for the 55k kilometer-age servicing… meaning I actually skipped the 60k servicing… car servicing supposed to be conducted at every 5,000 kilometer or at every 3 months. But I don’t like to follow the month schedule, I prefer the kilometer-age… coz I’m using a fully synthetic lubricant oil which can stand at very high temperature and I read somewhere, it said it can be used up to 100,000km at normal driving condition… 😛

Anyway, it was not a normal servicing… do you know that you have to service your air-cond system in every 30k km?… well, that’s the recommendation by Toyota. But I think it is true coz my car seem to be hotter since the past one month or so… the air coming out from the air-cond is not ‘cozy’ sometimes… but still consider cool but it feels a bit warmer… it makes you stress… it feels like the hot air from outside is entering the cabin… as if there is an outdoor fireplace lighted-up outside and the hot air from it are entering car… something like heater…

So, I included air-cond servicing to solve the problem… I also included washing and polishing… but forgot to ask them to check my brake system… but luckily they actually checked my brake system and replace the thinning front brake pad…. and the result is great… the air-cond is cozy now… but that did not come free… the air-cons servicing alone was RM480… 😛 but it worth it…

Last Wednesday, 11 August, attended the IBM Meet The Experts Workshop at Hyatt Kota Kinabalu… 😛 Out of the 6 topics presented, only 2 woke me up… I was struggling with my eyes for the other topics… non-technical thingy… just about business… 😛

The workshop ended a little bit early… coz no one ask question… 😛 So, me and colleague decided to watch movie next door… at GSC Suria. We watched SALT… but as you all noticed lately, the in-thing nowadays is 3D…   3D movie, 3D LCD TV, 3D video camera… everything also 3D… even 3D porno… 😛

But what we encountered in the cinema is something you never seen in any tv reviews… yes, I don’t think it was ever mentioned in any of the Hollywood tv’s channels… ok let’s cut the craps… what we encountered was 2D movie!!! We were like… what the heck!!!… so all this while are we watching 1D movies??? how about the one in the televisions??? izzit 1D too???

The thing is, the cinema is showing two types of SALT movie… one is with 2D and one is without… so we have to choose SALT or SALT 2D… 😛

We asked the ticket counter what is the difference?… he said the 2D is slightly expensive… well it was RM2 more expensive the one without 2D… and the 2D is much more clearer!!!… boommmm… that’s what you called 2D???… shoot man… why can’t you just call it HD or something other than 2D??? since it is only RM2 difference, we venture into trying it out… 😛

So, was it worth to pay extra RM2??? Our personal answer is YES!!! The movie is much sharper and rich in color… no blurring.. no fading color… it was just like watching DVD on LCD TV or plasma TV at home!!! So, it was worth-it… but I just can’t accept the term they use… HD will be more suitable…

Today, 7 August 2010, is the bowling competition for the finance ministry sports carnival… it was held at Centre Point Bowling, KK. Went there around 10am… slept late last night and woke up this morning feeling walking on air 😛

Today, Karnival Hari Belia’s paintball match is also held at Likas Sports Complex… got a called from fren asking me to take their photos… unfortunately I’m committed with this bowling thingy… maybe I go there tomorrow for their final…

I was there at CP Bowling untill noon taking photos… then went to McDonald to have my lunch… 😛 had the Big N Tasty 😀 it is 100% beef but it was not enough for me… 😛 McDonal supposed to have a new menu called GCB… I’m not sure what it is… my coleague tried to order it… but it is out of stocks 😛 not sure how it taste coz never tried it before… 😛

Anyways, here are the actions I captured during the tournament… . . . Continue Reading »

During the 5th Sabah International Folklore Dance Festival Competition recently, 24-25 July 2010, my duty was to assist the jury from India, Mr. Ashish Ramesh Tanjorkar, with the jury system. We the IT people have to sit with the juries… meaning we are sitting close to the stage… my place is the 2nd most end on the left side of the stage… so not really a good view to snap photos compared to those sitting in middle section.

Anyway, here are the photos of the Tanjore Dance Music & Art Research Centre from India… 😀 . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday, the Finance Ministry sports carnival for table tennis or ping pong event was held at the Foo Chow Hall at Luyang. I went there to support my department and to capture some moments… our department manage to get the 2nd placing 😀

The hall is quite pack in the morning and it was getting warmer and hotter towards noon… can’t use the fan around the hall coz it will blow the table tennis balls. I was sweating so much… and luckily there is a canteen at the back of the hall… I bought drinks and ate fried noodles there 😀

Anyways, here are some of the shots… 😀 . . . Continue Reading »

Going back for a 2nd acupuncture treatment tomorrow… went there last Thursday for my back treatment. My back was hurting again last week… and I would say I’m very lucky for going for the treatment… if not, I will not be able to help in the Sabah International Folklore Competition last Saturday and Sunday.

I was not confident with acupuncture treatment… but I was wrong… so, thanks to the girls who introduce me to the place 😀 The place is called Rakyat Acupuncture & Medical Hall located at Beverly Hills, Jalan Bundusan. To go there, just take the first junction after the round-about at Beverly Hills… Beverly Hills, great name 😛 … it is at the first block.

Anyway, the place is simple, one nurse or clerk to take registration and two treatment rooms… one for female and one for male. On the female side, it was the old man, the father… and on the male side it was the young man, the son… either the father don’t trust the son or the father wants all… lol

The treatment is simple too… I lie on my stomach and he started checking my spine… I wanted to tell him where is the pain, but he said no need coz his hand has an x-ray… 😆 So he check my spine… pressing on each of the spine bones… and more pressing… then he put some accupuncture needles… not sure how many coz I can’t see it… before that he put some oil on my back which burn my skin like hell… i told him it was too hot, and he wipe off my skin… 😛

Then after like 10 minutes, he pulled the needles… and that’s it… when I stand up and try to bend forward… holly cow… the pain is gone… the pain was there since April… in fact the pain was there a few years ago… and now, they are gone… he told me that my spine is quite bad… he said I could have fall or injured when I was small… but he said it can be fixed with 2 or 3 treatments… but boy… 1 treatment and it’s gone already… not really gone, but I have the confident to bend forward coz the ‘spiking pain’ is no longer there…

Then he gave me some pills… he said I must take 3 in the morning after breakfast and 3 in the afternoon after lunch… for one week supply… he said the pills are special herbs but of course not herbal diet supplements 😀 He said I must not miss taking the pills… and he looks really serious about it… and the bill is only RM60 😮 Man!!!… just compare that with what I paid at Damai Specialist last April… about RM400 with some modern pain killers and X-ray… with an option for RM20K spine operations!!!

If you like to try acupuncture treatment, you can visit the place any time… the details are on the photo… and don’t forget to mention you found out about the place from here… 😀

The opening of the Sabah International Folklore Festival last night encountered some technical glitch… the stage went black-out for about 10 minutes… 😛 The participating countries were introduced where the dancers of each countries will dance into the stage and line up there… but after the fourth country entrance, suddenly the stage went black-out and also the sound systems went dead… 😛

Luckily the traditional musical are not using any of the sound system… so, it was the only thing that save the night… if not the whole stage will be in the dark and dead silent… 😛

The people in charge were running around trying to fix the problem… it was the IT having some little network problem in the afternoon during rehearsal… but this time, it was live with the VIPs… those who are in charge of the sound systems, lighting system, the stage, the power supply… etc… are going to face someone after the event… hope they don’t get screwed so much and end up looking for acne pills… 😛 But everything went smoothly after the power restored until the event was over around 11pm…

Anyway, here are some of the photos of the night… will post more later… need rest for tonight final… those who are interested to attend, tickets are RM30 and for those below 17 years, tickets are RM10… . . . Continue Reading »

Tonight will be the start of the Sabah International Folklore Festival 2010 Competition at Pusat Kebudayaan Sabah, Penampang (Kasigui) or Sabah Cultural Center, Penampang (Kasigui)… it’s going to be held for two days, Saturday and Sunday… 24th to 25th July 2010. Fourteen countries will be competing.

I will be there as IT Technical officer… more than fourteen of us will be assisting the juries and judges with the judging system. I will be specifically assisting the jury from India. Luckily the jury from India is speaking in English not like some of the countries where they required a translator 😛

Today we started at 9am for the rehearsal… it was quite tense when the network was having problem… the system was running damm bloody slow… but manage to solve it… it was caused by the faulty network adapter in the server… lucky the server has 3 network adapters 😀 else someone gonna need pronexin to kill all the acne stress popping up 😛

It was fun wathching all the countries doing their rehearsals… we break around 1.30 and will be back at 5.30pm for the competition tonight… hope everything will run smoothly tonight… and tomorrow… 😀

Here are some of the rehearsals photos… . . . Continue Reading »

It’s Apple turn to struggle with technology glitch… previously, news about technology glitch usually goes to Microsoft, but this year it is Apple’s turn 😀

When Steve Jobs launched his newest… or should we call it the smartest PDAs or smart phones on the planet, the iPhone 4… it immediately shows a sign… too bad it was a bad sign… he can’t surf the internet during the launching to showcase how fast is the phone when on the net!!!… so he has to plead the audience to switch off the WiFi connection on their notebooks, phones, PDAs…Come on Steve… that really doesn’t make sense at all!!!… why can’t you have your own AP… your own WiFi Access Point to connect to the internet… by connecting it to your telco???… I really did not buy that…

Then, after a few days the iPhone was out in the market, supposedly new happy iPhone 4 owners turn reds… the cellular connection gets drops badly… the iPhone 3gs is much more reliable than this new iPhone 4!!! Then Apple came out with an excuse… it was caused by software glitch… but they still can’t solve it coz the problem is caused by the antenna surrounding the phone… when someone hold the phone and the left thumb touched on the left side of the phone… double bad for lefties… the cellular signal will dramatically drops… dropped dead 😛 … but Apple never admitted to this antenna technology glitch… although it was proven by many techies and technology testers…

Now what?… well, I suggest Apple must recall all the phone and replace it with new one… hey, automaker sometimes do that… but actually I don’t care coz I hate Apple anyway… you don’t see me laughing, did you see me laughing?… 😆