Swordie Bloggie

Last year, I ordered an aquarium thru a friend who went to China… I guess he went there for business trip. Buying stuff from China can save you some money… not little but a lot sometimes… probably you only have to pay a third of what you have to pay here.

After a couple of months, the aquarium arrived, but I did not pick it right away, so it was kept in their store until last week. I wanted to collect it a few times, but most of the time our timing was not right… furthermore the aquarium is quite big… a three feet aquarium, which needed a bigger transport like a van.

At last I manage to bring it home last week. I was looking forward to assemble the aquarium… it came with a cabinet which need to be assemble. It’s quite easy to assemble the cabinet… I did the same with my previous aquarium. The cabinet is a DIY kind of design… you won’t make mistake coz all are measured to fit accordingly. My nephews were eager to help to assemble the aquarium and I told them we are going to do it on Saturday… which was yesterday.

Early morning of Saturday, they already calling me about the aquarium… at first I was lazy to do it and was planning to go to the gym that morning. But since they were eager to help, I decided to do it. I text my friend to inform that I’m not going to the gym that morning…

So, my two nephews helped me to remove the aquarium box. There are two boxes… one holding the cabinet and another holding the aquarium. The cabinet box is very heavy… the cabinet’s woods must be very strong, that’s why it’s heavy. The aquarium box is lighter…

We started with the aquarium box coz we want to see the aquarium before we start assembling the cabinet. Removing the aquarium box was quite easy…first remove the wood cage… then tear the paper box… after tearing and removing some of the paper box… the shocking sight appears!… OH NO!!!… The aquarium is broken!!! At many parts…

Oh craps… waited for it for so long, and now we can’t use it at all… if it was purchased with kmart promotions for the whole family from the local aquarium mart, then I won’t be so disappointed coz I’m sure I can ask for a replacement… but this is a one off purchase from thousands miles away mart… 🙁

I can’t do much… we can’t do anything… so we pack it back… donno what I’m going to do with it… if there is acrylic aquarium maker around, I might be able to ask them to build one with the same design so that I can use back the frame and cabinet… or if anyone know if it possible to fix an acrylic aquarium or know a place I can fix it here, please let me know… I will appreciate it very much…

Some more photos… . . . Continue Reading »

I actually spend quite a lot the previous and this month… basically they all went to my car. Well, I’m not really complaining… spending on my car is very important… coz if I don’t spend on my car then I will not have any transport… and when I don’t have transport, I can’t go to work… and when I can’t go to work, I can’t have money…

So, spending wisely and where necessary is a good habit… some people likes to spend on unnecessary things… well, I do that sometimes… yea, in fact I did that last week… I bought something which I don’t really use… but lucky I’m still in control of my spending… else I will end up fixing bad credit every month…

So now, I need to start saving again to replenish what I’ve spent the last two months… coz in couple of months, I’m gonna need a lot of it for my two trips… Philippines and Korea… emmm… hope I can save enough so that I don’t have to worry when enjoying myself there… 😛 else I will have to use my credit card or cards… which still have some unpaid balance… but like I said, I’m still in control on my spending… 😀

SL1M… spelt like SLIM…well that’s the name of the new composite Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder by Faidhi Holdings Sdn Bhd. and launched by the PM on 21 March 2012. This new composite cylinder is 100 per cent explosion-proof!… sound unimaginable…

According to the facts, the composite cylinder will not explode when put into high temperature like fire while it is full with LPG. Rather than keeping the LPG inside the cylinder when exposed into high temperature, the cylinder’s inner-gas tight PET (polyethylene terephthalate) liner will melts within minutes. Once the PET liner melted, the LPG will rush out slowly and burn till the cylinder is emptied. This will prevent the LPG trapped inside the cylinder from boiling and break the cylinder which will most likely cause an explosion.

Other than explosion proof, the composite cylinder is also very light… much lighter than the existing steel cylinder we currently use. But I and many other out there have some concern about this new composite cylinder. My concern is its durability and lifespan.

You see, usually the LPG steel cylinders we currently use are exposed to heavy abuse… the cylinder consistently receive loads of shocks like being dropped on the hard ground or even knock each other while being transported… under the hot sun or cold rain and snow. I will not agree if they start enforcing it to replace the existing steel cylinder before it receive any safety standard certification from the major petroleum companies like Shell and Esso.
Usually composite are very strong, but it can rot… it will rot after being exposed to sun, water, chemicals, etc… and with the heavy abuse, it will get hairline cracks… compared to steel cylinder which will only dent when knocked.

So the best place for this cylinder before it gets its safety certification from all the major petroleum companies is laboratory. Yes, laboratory coz it will get less abuse there and it’s suitable to be paired with the laboratory furnaces.

The new cylinders design are cool… they looks much futuristic compared to the old steel cylinder… but I still trust the old steel cylinder… 😀

OK, my last posting was like more than two weeks ago… as usual I’m too preoccupied with lots of stuffs… mainly work thingy.

So, my last post seems to be waiting for an answer… well, I called them the next morning, 2nd March, to enquire about my car coz the day before, they told me I have to pay extra somewhere RM800 for some parts which were damage… I was mad when they told me that… coz when I sent my car in the morning, I drive it without any problem… but when I went to pick it in the evening, it was no longer safe to drive… the car was jerking… misfiring… as if one of the spark plug is faulty.

Anyways, when I called them the next morning, the service advisor said he will not say much for now coz his boss is handling my case and they have taken photos of the broken parts and send it to their HQ in Kuala Lumpur for decision or advice… I donno how true was it coz that really makes my case very serious. I said fine, but keep me posted…

About a couple of hours later, the service advisor called me to inform me of a good news… he said, since I’m a MERIT customer… hahaha… meaning a member of their ‘VIP Customers’ club who spend a lot of money servicing at their service center, I don’t have to spend extra for the fixing. Of course I’m not supposed to be billed for something not caused by me… I already spent almost RM900 the day before for the schedule maintenance… 😛 Lucky it was a good ending, else it could have end up in the tribunal court. Anyways, the Toyota MERIT membership is by invitations only… one gets invited after spending certain amount of money for car servicing and other stuffs. I was invited a few years back and the benefits include discount for servicing, priority for next purchase of Toyota cars and a few more.

So it was a blessing in disguise coz without the case, I would not have spend my time to come over to watch the Prius C launching. I went to pick my car around 1.30pm and all are good except they did not wash and polish my car coz not enough time… 😛

In my last posting, I said there is only one Prius C test drive car… but I was wrong, there are actually a few… and they did not only launch the Prius C, but also the New Prius… the ‘upgraded’ original Prius. Taken some photos… but will insert them here later… 😀

Tomorrow UMW Toyota KK will be launching the new Prius C Hybrid car. I was lucky to get a closer look at the new Test Car at UMW’s compound on Wednesday when I was there to service my car. There is only one available for test driving, so I guess it’s going to be a long queue starting tomorrow.

Well I might have a chance to test drive it since I have to be at UMW tomorrow coz my car was not serviced properly so it has to stay there until tomorrow… which really sucks… if they can’t fix it properly tomorrow, I’m going to write the whole story about it here… so they better fix it properly or it’s going to be nasty… 😛

Anyway, let’s forget about the servicing for now… it’s time to talk about the new Toyota Prius C Hybrid car which was showcased in KL on 20 February 2012.

Toyota is the leading hybrid car manufacturer in the world. Over here we have two brands available… the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. If I have to choose one, I definitely pick the Prius… furthermore I like Toyota… I’m not a fan of Honda.

Toyota Prius technology are much more advance since Toyota has been there much longer than the rest in hybrid car manufacturing. Prius can run on electric alone, fuel alone or combination of both. With fuel pump like Autobest electric fuel pump, Toyota Prius has good fuel efficiency and with its super-efficient electric motor Prius really a great saving. With hybrid car, you are not only able to save petrol but making the environment cleaner with less or emission-free drive.

So, if you planning to get a new car, get the Toyota Prius C… over here, it’s only RM98,936.80…

Toyota Prius C Photos . . . Continue Reading »

Why is it every time Microsoft acquire something, others will get very uneasy?… The recent one is the acquisition of Skype. Microsoft announced its plan to acquired Skype in May last year and European Commission cleared Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition in October the same year.

But others especially video or web conferencing players are not happy with the acquisition. They are worried Microsoft will make the video conferencing technology closed… proprietary to itself. Cisco especially, wants the European court to impose tougher conditions on Microsoft Corp’s acquisition on Skype. Citing example, Cisco chief executive officer John Chambers said that when the Cisco acquired Norway’s Tandberg in 2009, the EU approved the deal under the condition it stick to open standards… Cisco wants the same condition applied to Microsoft.

Analyst said the global videoconferencing market will hit US$5bil in 2015 compared with US$2.2bil in 2010. Well, let’s hope Microsoft makes Skype video conferencing an open standard and not proprietary so that other video or web conferencing players such as Polycom and Citrix will be able cross-interact with each other’s and makes all consumers happy… 😀

Imagine you have to stand under the sun for hours… with little breaks in between… Well this is what we have to go through when we need to cover events on the field… 😛

So while I was standing under the hot sun during the recent SPL 2012, how I wish I can have a small chair with me… even a two step stools will be nice… or a bucket which I can turn upside down to sit on it will be good enough… but none of these are there at that time.

Last week, I searched for a super portable stool on the net… light and small… And I found this unique chair… it’s not what I’m looking for but this chair is cool… coz it can be folded completely flat to a depth of just 3cm 😛 The chair was designed by Jake Phipps… and it is the current wold’s thinnest and compact folding chair.

OK, that was not what I’m looking for… so I search more and found this super strength stool… it is called walkstool and it can carry up to 250kg or 550lbs load… believe or not, when four of these stools are loaded with a car with each on the cars’ tyres, it stand still… won’t break apart… amazing. I like the design too… it fold into a cylinder… just like a camera monopod or tripod… so when carried with backpack, people will think it just a monopod or tripod… nice… and it is very light too… less than 1kg… 😛 I really want to get this stool but the only problem is the price… it is quite expensive… about USD$130 including shipping… 😛

Last week the office requested a ‘special display’ for the meeting room… a display for the chairman coz the 12 feet screen in front is not good enough. Can’t blame the chairman or the projector or the large screen… everyone eyesight are still good… the projector is bright enough although it’s 3 years old… the screen is huge enough for the room…

So what’s the problem?… You see, sometimes the presenter present their papers especially numbers on the excel so pack making the letters and numbers so small even on the 12 feet screen… 😛

So to make sure the chairman gets what are presented on the condensed excel spread sheet in future, a solution is required… such as special display. The first thing came across my mind was a TV stand… not like the amish furniture for the living room… but just a TV stand… a futuristic display stand.

So, I asked around… then decided for something like the one on the picture… but I think it’s not available locally… can we custom make it?… I don’t think it’s hard to find a furniture factory around and ask them to make one… sure they can build something similar…

Then came the funny part… when I saw the warning diagram for the design, I can’t avoid not laughing… well, it’s funny to me… probably I did something similar when I was small… but I’m sure everyone did something similar right?… kids are adventures… 😀

Tomorrow I might visit the acupuncturist again, the Rakyat and Medical Hall at Beverly Hills, Bundusan… my back is hurting since Chinese New Year… actually not exactly my back… not the spine… it’s the muscle at the back of my left shoulder.

The reason of the pain is something you might not believe… it is caused by eating too much duck during CNY… unbelievable right?… well, I love eating duck before… I usually eat noodle or rice with duck once or twice a week before… during breakfast or lunch. But ever since I was adviced by the acupuncturist not to eat duck about two years ago coz duck can cause ‘air’ to go inside the body, I stop eating duck… and it was indeed true coz after I stop eating duck, I feel my body especially my back muscle no longer get ‘pain’ for no reason… amazing right?… but it’s true…

So, during the recent CNY, I ate duck… and I ate loads coz I said why should I not eat this time?… only this time… so I eat and eat the duck during the CNY eve… and man… coz I stayed late that night… when I woke up in the morning, I felt the pain at the back of my shoulder muscles… although it was quite painful… I still manage to hold it till today… well sometimes it’s less painful and sometimes it’s very painful… so hopefully it will go away when I meet the acupuncturist  tomorrow… 😛

But back pain especially the spine is not only caused by DUCK, it can be caused by the mattress you sleep on every night… that’s why there are mattresses which are designed to take care your back or spine… this type of mattresses are easily available even at mattress stores los angeles… 😀 The price is a little bit on the high, but I’m sure it’s worth with the good sleep and a healthy spine you gonna have… 😀

This year, I hope I can do ecommerce on the net… I’m not hoping to be able to attract loads of customers but at least able to make it work… 😛

So, yesterday I discussed with a friend how to make eCart… emm… if you are not sure what is eCart, well it is not the correct term by the way, I just made it up coz all the systems’ name we build always comes with the ‘e’ in front. The cart we are building here is not a physical cart like hospital computer carts or the go cart… errr… is it ‘go cart’ or ‘go kart’?… ok, never mind about that, let’s go back to the cart we are building…  The cart or eCart we are building is similar to the actual supermarket trolley… but you can’t touch or feel it… it’s not physical… it’s virtual… that’s why I want to call it eCart which stand for ‘electronic cart’… 😀

Anyways, almost all sites selling stuff online will have electronic shopping cart. You use the cart to put the stuffs you want to purchase online before you check out to pay for the stuffs you pick.

OK, I don’t want to talk too much about the stuff I’m going to do with the eCart yet… but will talk more about it once the prototype works… hopefully the next few weeks… 😛 I hope we will be able to make this project works… 😛