Looks like it's time to upgrade

Been having issues with my desktop lately. I think it happens when I added in a SATA controller card to cope with number of SATA HDD/DVD writer that I have. My DVD writer was giving me issues, and I went out to buy a new one, but then I found that I have no more SATA slots for it! So, went out to get the controller. Since then, the desktop has been behaving very badly, everytime I switch it on, I had to redo the BIOS setting again! Anyone know why this is so!?!?! I had changed the CMOS battery, but still facing the issue...

Since this is a 3 year old desktop, I thought maybe it's time to start getting another desktop with more CPU speed and RAM!!! So, now I am trying to settle the component that I wanted, and then getting prices for it. Now that Intel has announced i7 core processor, I am wondering if I should get that, but the prices has been rather high at the moment. For the entry level, 920 with only 2.66GHz of processor speed, together with the motherboard, it's already $900plus. It's also a good time to get this new comp to be installed with Vista (which I had with me for the last 1 year!!!) as well as the latest MS office (I think it's still the latest, got this for 1 year and have not installed as yet!!!) Based on that, I would need at least 4GB of RAM, but I am thinking maybe I could go for 6GB instead! I don't need the minor accessories, monitor is still doing fine (which is unbelievable as it's more than 10 years!)

Oh well, time to trawl the hardware forums to get this settled. I hope to get this by 31 Dec, to take advantage of the current X'mas promotion on some of the component...

The house looks more live-in

After soon many years, the house finally had this "live-in" look... I know my room is messy one, but now it spill over to living room (had to move stuff out of her room after it was used like a storage area), and because mother has moved in, more things needed to be thrown.. and more things added. I have no idea how many times I had to carry heavy stuff up to the flat (now are the times where you missed having the lift lobby right outside your door!!!), we had bought countless of large storage boxes, I think we had bought like 5 book shelves as well! (The cheap Giant sale ones, too expensive if we were to get from Ikea or some other places)... The fridge seems to be filling up as well - the new one. The old one now contains mostly wines, and a few spill overs like fruits - pear and oranges...

The plates, pots and pans are now regularly used, unlike the past years. Heck, I even started cooking again... :p Yes, I do cook, not often, but I do. Just that I have not done that for a while so it will take a little time to get the rhythm back... Of course the bee hoon with every ingredient in the soup is one of the easiest to cook, but today we tried to steam cod fillet with essence of chicken. We got some cod fillet from one of the places near Jurong Port, and happen to have some essence of chicken bottles (Brands' version if someone wanted to ask) around. I got this dish from one of my previous trips (long time ago) to Malacca, but never did get to try to cook it. The taste was ok, mother say the fish was too cooked, but I thought it was just nice. Not too fishy, but the taste, well, something is still missing from it... Still need some tweaking I know (Frankly it's not too bad for a first try!)

All I could say is it's not too bad for a grill/bbq/fry person, who does not really cook fish at all!!! Well, more to come I am certain, and I am certain I will perfect this cod fish with essence of chicken dish...

OUCH!

If I thought what happen when I see chiropractor was already painful.... Imagine when you see the Chinese version of chiropractor... I literally cry out with the way this guy twist and turn my left hand and pushes at certain points on my shoulder... According to him, some bone (connected to my arm) shifted down by about 1 inch; thus pressing on the nerve and thus causing the issue which goes all the way down to the fingers. According to him, if he does not do it, I will soon have numbness, and because of the pain it cause when I use my fingers, I will stop using my arm/fingers, and cause the muscle tissues to deteriorate and then wasted, etc, etc, etc... Heck, if I had not gone to the chiropractor before this, I think I would have fainted from the pain he induced just to reset the bone structure correctly... Actually, that's one of the reasons why I don't see Chinese version of chiropractor as the method used by them, tends to be more "rough, crude". Yes it works, and it cost less (yes, it does cost a lot less than a chiropractor!), but imagine the amount of pain that comes with it... Even after two days, I am still feeling sore on my left side because of the method he uses - yes, of course the other pain no longer around, although I think I might have hurt my bone around the thumb area as I still cannot use too much pressure there. It's much better than before, just not fully recover I think...

On the other hand... $$ was also spent on an Oppo DVD player (DV-980H) as the first step to change the system I have at home... Have been using HiTB (Pioneer), but now was thinking to change into a Receiver / Speakers system. But to start, I have to separate out the system and DVD/CD player. Since there was a MO which have this at a discounted rate (and reading a lot of reviews on Oppo players), decided to go for it... While it's not their flagship version (DV-983H) which contains the best video and audio quality, the price between the 2 makes it such that I decided to go for this, because it's better than the 981 in audio performance.

So, one part is settled... Still going round listening, etc... Have not really settle at anything - Because I thought I was almost set with Yamaha receiver... Now it's shifted to Denon receiver... Thought almost set for the Def Tech speakers, now... not sure what.... Anyway, now is not the time to get it...

Oh well... Will see... Too many choices... Need to set budget... Etc, etc, etc...

Ouch... Ouch...

It has hurt that bad that I had no choice but to see the chiropractor. It started with some pain the wrist, although I am not certain how or why it happened - Could be due to the amount of weight and stuff that I have been shifting around. The pain was tolerable, so I thought it would just pass after 1 or 2 days... Well, it didn't, in fact, it became worse as time goes on that it affected the entire arm. Started to feel a little sore at certain points of the arm, and numbness actually seeps into the arm after a few days... I guess that trigger off the alarm, to make an appt, not that I did not want to, but the work has been such that once I get into it, I totally forgot about making the appt, so that also drag the days... Finally, the pain was that bad that cannot be ignored, and thus call up and ask when is the next available date/time - thank goodness that the appt was just a day away...

Had about 1 and half hour session of pain as apparently the tissues in the body were so tensed. It was much better after the session, but the event was not over as the body literally aching when I woke up this morning... However, the wrist was much better than before, just that certain points of the arm and shoulder still feeling sore as i can still feel some pain when I press on them. I think she gave me a lecture on this, about not having the right posture, not carry/holding the stuff correctly, etc... She was also telling me about using certain part of the body tissue to hold rather than just the shoulder, etc which I am having issues to understand. Hey, I have not study the body before, so I don't really know the actual terms for certain part of the tissue you have around your back and shoulder ok?!?! More importantly, how to use them when carrying stuff, especially heavy stuff... It all sounded so foreign to me...

Anyway, the body still ache, even when sitting, not done properly, I would find the soreness flagging saying "hello" like an old friend... Sigh... Need more Vitamin B complex to help with the muscle and tissue, along with metabolism. SMS to mother about it, and asking if I should get it in SG or Penang, she immediate got a bottle of them there...

Yes, she is in Penang, and I am flying there tomorrow night to join her and my aunt, for the weekend, since it's a long weekend due to Hari Raya Haji on Monday... Will be back on Monday, while they enjoy another week there...

Meantime, got work to do, and I have to do it remotely. Darn, just as I thought I could make a trip to somewhere (which I have never been before)... The travel freeze has bite off the travel plans... By I supposed in this current economically challenged environment, I should be happy that I still got a job...

Whatever it is... Weekend is coming... Yeah! Assam Laksa, Chendol, Rojak... *Slurp* Food... Here I come!!!! :P Which also means I might be gaining some weight, despite it being a very short trip... I am certain that I would be having lots of food at anytime of the day...

Not Good, Not Good at All!

Times flies and it's end of October... So what happening... Well, I had to make a trip to the neighbouring country as a trainer, and came back with a cough... Well, it start with a little dryness and sore throat due to excessive talking (what can you do, but talk when you are the one doing the training!??!?), and by the time I landed back in SG, it developed into a cough.. Bad cough that I got nagged by mother (who else?!?!?) to see the doctor, in view of my next trip starting this Sat... As she put it... "You want to get well, before your trip to Germany... Very cold, must get well, if not will have more problems when you are there!!!"

Well, I did see the doctor, and got the cough medication, and, today, the day before the trip... I am still coughing... Well, at least the phlegm is being cleared by coughing it out!! However, I doubt it will be enough to get well by Sat morning... So I guess I just have to rough it out...

These 2 trips, in turn, make it such that I could not be part of Ms Clover's Bday party... AND this Germany trip, will lead to me missing Nat's 1st birthday! Sigh... Oh well... There will be more (I hope! :P)

Anyway.. Now I am trying to find out details of where to spend the Sunday, as I will be in Germany by then. Was thinking of Lake Titisee, but then it's a resort town and not sure what i will be seeing there in winter! Then thought of Triberg... But the waterfall will not be part of the itinerary as the path will be close by now... Maybe I should go to Alsace or Colmar instead... Will figure out by then - I hope... Then again, if I am still coughing... I might just wander around Freiburg town centre again... But that would be like my 3rd time doing that!

At least I will get a long time to test out the new Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 noise cancelling headphones that I just recently acquired from US... Took it for the previous trip, but what can you test for a less than 40 mins flight time???? This time, it will be around 12 hours.... Wonder what will be shown on board the flight?!?!? Time to check the airline website...

Till then... Hopefully to be back with some reasonable photos...

Ranting Session

What do a person do when something you faced at work and felt that the other person is not thinking properly and taking an easy way out (by making assumptions) on issues with may affect the company and the system you work on? This person is supposedly trained in the field and have other degrees that "persuaded" the manager to hire. However, in field and work done, even a person who is not trained knows that you should not be doing what the person is doing, especially in making assumptions as some of it may deal with people's life and health.

How do you tell a person who is rather bullheaded, non-communicative and has the tendency not to listen to people, especially those who were in the field longer and with more experience - even if they are supposedly to be reporting to you - that this person should be more careful in the requests and perhaps discuss with the team before making those assumptions? As I learn to be a leader may not be as experienced as required, but you must have that ability and knack to recognise the talent of others and to put them of good use; giving them encouragement to grow and expand; selling them visions and how they can contribute to that vision; empowering them to make decisions so that they can grow; not only areas which they are good in but also other areas; challenge them to do better, to go further.

Then again, I guess that's an idealist thinking... Realistically, 90% of the workplaces in the world is the opposite of what is listed... Nevermind... Just another ranting that I felt need to get off my chest...

What a start to the day...

Sigh... Who would want to wake up to a flooded kitchen? Well, I definitely won't want it but it did happen to me this morning. It seems that the recent change to the kitchen tap has affected the flexible pipe that connects to it that that pipe has burst, which happened when I was still asleep... So, currently I am not certain when it happened, and how much water has flown from the burst area. I do know that the kitchen floor was flooded, given the fact that the drainage hole was somewhere around there...

It's a good thing that it did not reach higher than 5 cm, which is the level which the other cabinets are elevated. The other was that we got the contractor to place in switches during the last small renovation we did, so it was more modular in shutting down the water pipes - only 2 taps were affected by the shutdown - kitchen tap and the water heater tap.

Went down to the stores and bought another pipe and had to fix it in myself. This leads me to think how on earth did those people do it when the piping and the joints are of such awkward positions! I mean the joint for the straight pipe and the flexible pipe is exactly that the corner which leaves little space to maneuver the wrench in either loosening or tightening of the screw!

Oh well, it's fixed... Just waiting for the wet area to get dry, and then having the task of placing all those stuff back into the cabinet below the sink...

Shopping... So unlike me... :P

If there is anywhere in Sg that I don't really know well, then it would have to be the east side. The funniest part to it all is that everyone kept saying that all the good food are found at the east side of the island...

I have spend most of my life in the centre of the island as I was staying in Toa Payoh when I first know my location. Then, changes in my life that lead to moving over to south-west part of the island. I am now staying in the North. So, you see, I have moved mainly around the central region of the island since young. The most time I ever venture to the east was because the airport is there!! Of course, I do have a friend living in that area, but it has been ages since I had visited her place.

So, it was a public holiday, and because of my mother's quest to look for the cabinet (so that she can place her boxes of shoes and stuff into it), that we ventured to the huge Giant Superstore in Tampines (Yes, it's the east side of the island!). Interestingly, the Ikea superstore as well as Courts Megastore are also in that vicinity - directly opposite Giant.

Started with Giant, since the cabinet was actually from their advertisement. However, we were not lucky as the cabinet is not found there. So, instead, we went round the hypermarket, and look at the stuff they had. Of course, it quite similar to what you find in IMM, but just the size is 2 times the size of the Giant in IMM. Can't quite remember what we purchase there, it's definitely not the cabinet - Still waiting for them to restock!

From there, we moved to Courts, which I wanted to see if the Wii console was still selling at the reduced pricing. Alas, it was only for Friday and there isn't any Wii console in the store that day. Instead, my mum bought this Corningware like bowl for her colleague's wedding (I think).

Then we went over to Ikea as I was looking for a cabinet (specifically a solid wood one) for my books & ever increasing DVDs. Walked the entire floor area and finally, after queuing for almost half an hour, we left with a table lamp for my mother's table.

By then it was late, and time for dinner. We had chilli crabs (among other stuff) at Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood at Casuarina Rd. I think that was the best highlight of the day... Oh, and they ran out of tables by the time it hits 6.15pm! Good thing we were early!

That was not the end of it...

On Sat, mother decided to visit Tangs to get the Tanyu claypot. It turns out to be a 3 hour visit, as we were standing, among a large crowd of ah sohs and ah mas... Listening to this man teaching how to cook - using the Tanyu claypot. The most interesting point I pickup from this guy is that he uses coke to cook his braised duck! Anyway, Tangs made 200plus $$$ from me that day as we walked away with 1 Tanyu claypot, 4 cookbooks, 1 set of 3 knives, 1 BBraun blender and 3 white vinegar shampoo.

Darn... Spending $$$ again...

Mamma Mia!

By now you should know that I am an ABBA fan... Why? Well, despite not having watch much movies lately, I still managed (actually make the effort) to watch the latest movie based on a musical which in turn was produced using 20plus songs from ABBA. That was also with a forewarning that some songs could be manged by some actor as he clearly can't sing!!!! (Got a short snip of it off Amazon's page of the Soundtrack album)

So how was it... Well... I would love to go to Greece - someone commented that it's a huge Greece tourism board advertisement, and I guess I would agree to it... :P The songs are there, lovely as it is, there were a lot of stuff to keep us laughing (Ok, I know me and my companions were laughing, not sure about the rest, we were too busy laughing away to take note)... Apparently there were changes from the musical in terms of songs, they took out "Knowing You, Knowing Me", "One Of Us", "The Name of The Game" as well as "Under Attack". in replacement, they had Pierce Brosnan singing "When All Is Said and Done"! You can read all kind of stuff on the movie and the musical on wiki!!! One thing to add... Colin firth is still Colin Firth, how is that they keep placing him in quite similar role (and him accepting it) is beyond my comprehension...

*No, I don't know about all these information till I read it off wiki. I do know that there were some changes in the movie, but could not say what... Anyway I was too busy looking at Greece locations to take notices of anything else, along with the song and all. I cringe a little when someone sang... and to think he had, what, 3 songs to sing!?!??! :O *

So, would I recommend it? Well, if you are ABBA fan, I guess sure why not, if you tolerate some wobbly singing... Others, if you want to leave your brain at the door, this is a nice, beautiful sceneries movie with some laughs and jokes (if you get it), why not? If however, you wanted a little more in depth and relevant movies to pour your brains on... Better not!

Hey, it's only about 2 hours of it, and if you don't mind it at all, you should... Maybe you would go back and listen to all the ABBA's recordings again, if you had bought their albums...

Oh I forgot to add, it was very close, not entirely since the change of some sequence and songs, to the musical... They even added the last section where the gals (and then the guys) sang Dancing Queen as well as Waterloo while the credits were rolling! (It was hilarious, seriously when you see them dressing up in costumes that were similar to ABBA 70's colourful costumes).

Now, the question I have is... Would I be getting the DVD!?! Hmmm... Probably yes, but well, we will have to wait till it is out, then we can talk about it... Maybe in Blue-ray instead of the standard DVD... Hmmm... More decisions when it comes... Till then...

* Oh yeah, it seems to bomb with a lot of reviewers, but the people seems to love it... Based on what is read in the internet...*

After a while...

I think I am in a rather "low" feeling lately that I seems to be "binging" on Jap food... For 2 weeks in a row I have been going to Tomo (Hokkaido Sushi in M Hotel, which is a different focus is open by Thomas as well, and the next one, coming up in Nov, at The Sail, and focus is on cafe style-like food - sandwiches, etc) for Friday dinners. Maybe it's also because my usual Friday dinner partner is busy these 2 weeks - work activities and building castles (or dry swimming as some would put it)...

With all the issues at work - which leads to no enthusiasm for work, and since I tend to pamper myself a lot when I am not happy... by eating! (yes, I noticed that it's a habit - Not happy, eat; Happy, eat; Nothing to do, eat!) Isn't it a wonder that the weight is creeping up the scale and don't seems to be heading downwards?!?!? However, I have to say this - The Uni I had there is simply the best I ever had so far in my journey of Japanese Food - creamy and sweet, unlike those you get in the chain stores like Sakai Sushi/Sushi Teh. I have heard about the great food (including Uni) my friends/relatives had when they are over in Japan, but I have not got that chance of getting there to taste it. So, I guess I have to be contended with the food I get here. One more to log down into the travel wish list...

Maybe it's also that 2 months of traveling, especially the last month where it was Alor Setar which basically means you eat to survive rather than you live to eat, as well, there isn't much variety there for you to chose... It was either KFC, Pizza Hut, Kenny Rogers or Peranakan food; and we had Peranakan food from the same shop for the whole entire week for lunch!!! Dinner was no better as it was either the same Peranakan food shop, Thai food or Seafood (which we had to drive to the next town - Jitra)... The only good part is that of the seafood at Jitra - good food at very affordable pricing... A meal for 9 people, which includes 9 totally deep-fried catfishes (fish bones can be eaten as well! Very yummy!), crab tang hoon, soft shell crab, steam fish, toufu, vegetables and another 2 more dishes which I cannot remember, and drinks (coconuts, ambulah with sour prunes, cans of coke for some; and sometimes 2 drinks per person) - all comes up to only RM100-110!

Ok... With the current economy situation... Maybe it's time to tighten the belt a bit... Especially if I want to travel again!!! My Mar-Apr holidays seems like a decade away despite it being only, what, less than half a year ago? There is still more out there to go.... Canadian Rocky Mountains; Eastern Europe; Other parts of Western Europe which I have not been to, and still a lot to go; Turkey; Egypt (The rest of Middle East is on back burner); Israel; New Zealand; Hawaii, and many other parts of US, including Alaska; Bhutan (although I am not certain if I could take the altitude - I seems to have issues with altitude); Silk Road; All of South America; come to think of it, most of Central America; Iceland (are they part of Western Europe?!?!?); Antartica (if there is such chance!); Uluru in NT, Australia; Safari in Africa (Not sure where as yet); Not forgetting Japan for the food!!! So many places, so little time/money!!!!

Let's see if I will get a chance to see Lake Titsee in Nov... No news as yet...

Turn Back the Clock

Remember I mention about Donny and Marie Osmond show in one of my entries in the blog?!?! Well... I happen to come across a DVD that contains 4 episodes of the show and had impulsively bought it. Just finish watching it... The chemistry between the brother and sister is really there and Donny seem to be nice enough to allow all the ribbing from Marie. Some of them were really good (in those time frame), but after watching, actually, no, even when I was watching the DVD, what came to me was this thought in my head - "You mean I actually watched these shows and like it?!?!"

Maybe it's the timing, I mean it has been what, almost 30 years since the airing of the show series, and I guess our taste changes as we grow older, but you know, some of the shows were really cheesy! I supposed it's does not look like it during that time, but I also realised that I cannot remember anything from the show, except a fragment of one of the shows where they were spoofing from Star Wars! In the DVD, for one of the show, they were obviously spoofing from Grease with The Palace of Sludge. Imagine, this show survived 4 years of airtime! Maybe it seems good enough at that point of time, but I am not certain if they would even survive a year now if they were to have it in this day and age...

Kind of makes me wonder... In another 30 years time, if we are still alive, what would we make of the "in" things at this moment? Would we cringe and wonder what were we thinking at that time? Expanding it further, how would you feel about how you had live your life, if you were to look back into your live 30 years down the road? Would you have, at times, wished you could somehow turn back the time and chose to walk another path? Whatever decisions we made now, it will have an impact in how we live our lives, and how our future will be. It may seem right or even correct at this point of time, however, X years down the road, when everything has settled, would you look back and say it's the correct/right thing to do? Maybe, maybe not.

As I stand on a crossroad, contemplating on what would come next, I cannot help but to reflect on my working life, how it started and how the road twist and turn, and at times it seems to be far fetched, and yet, at times, it seemed right... I kind of wonder what lies ahead - how will it be reveled itself in this latest twist and turn - have I held on too tightly, that the stake has now become too high that my focus is no longer correct?

New Directions required....

It's official... The higher management has, in 1 stroke, has given the straw to break the camel's back... They have given a "leadership" award to a manager who has not shown any leadership skills; and in that act, upset the entire team under that manager. As one of them asked - "What did (the person) do?" (as in what did the person put in to justify the award). The projects has gone live, in spite of no direction, no help from the manager; but to give an award to the person that has the tag of "leadership" was an insult for team. A highly self-motivated team, who in their own principle works toward trying to satisfy customer, with all the appendices they faced; now felt betrayed and no longer felt they need to strive anymore.

Since they are motivated by their own principles, and the environment has no longer given them the mandate and recognition of their sacrifice and hard work, they are now "motivated" to find pastures somewhere else.

Spring (Erm... Late Summer, I mean) Cleaning in Progress

My place is finally no longer "under construction"... The last of the painters has left, the new aircon is in placed... The living room no longer looks cool, but warm... I seems to see lavender, well, if I can find a blank space to stare at, in the rooms... That signals the start of "spring" cleaning session.

The place was done rather quickly and not to my inconvenience... How can it be an inconvenience when you are not in town to be in the middle of it!?!? Yup, I was out of town again for work and during this time, thankfully, my aunt was around to help in "supervising" the work... So, by the time I came back, most of the work is done. I had to endure another 2 days - one to place the new curtain railing and another day for the painters to patch up whatever work that needs to be done...

Now the major task (for me) is to sift through and "shredding" all the letters which accumulated for 3 or more years *blush*... I have not even finish a pack (as in 1 big plastic bag holding maybe a few months of mails), and my fingers are already complaining... I need to get a shredder to do this job... I don't think my fingers can take another 8 or more bags!!!

More things are coming in... New TV table (yes, I am moving my placement of the plasma TV), new study desk for my mum's room and new chairs to replace the broken one in my room... Yes, more $$ spent... See, I'm helping the economy to roll - the marketplace already got almost 6k *gasped, wow, now that I have added the sums up* from me and my mum for the new "improvements"...

Sigh... more $$ to spend... Let's see... A book cabinet, a side table, reading lamp, shredder, new light bulbs, and.... etc!!! Maybe I should look for a side line... I am feeling the case of "Money no Enough"!!

Movies that got my attention: Star Wars - The Clone Wars & Quantum of Solace; No, I don't think I am interested in Money No Enough II...

Eye Opener... Well, at least for me...

I have to say, if I had not gone on aircon hunting... I would not have known what are the technology behind the aircon system. In fact, I had done (what I usually do before even starting to hunt) started reading about the aircons, and lurking in forums to check on what people had to say about aircon and the different brands...

Did you know the difference between the inverter and the conventional types of aircon? The label behind energy saving etc? Well, I did not... But I did learn a fair bit while hunt for one... I have to say, it's quite interesting to know, if you have the time... Actually, I think I only ask around 3 shops and got it from the last one... 2 shops were in the neighbour type of environment, and the other is a larger company, with 1 head office and 3 other offices/showroom around Singapore.

Interestingly, the 1st 2 shops recommended Toshiba, and the last has some award from Toshiba for past few years. Yup, we went for Toshiba inverter system 3, replacing the old (inherited from the previous owner) system 2 carrier that we had.

I was supposed to be able to enjoy the new system tonight, but... Well, it turns out the wood that was supporting the old compressor unit was rotting away, and had to be replaced. So, we finally managed to find out what cause the mysterious "flooding" of the master bedroom during heavy rain. Yup, leakage from this rotting piece of wood. So, the 3 rooms had the smaller unit fixed up, but the compressor is back in the company's office, and awaiting for the wood to be replaced. This, apparently, is by another contractor of the aircon installation company, so tomorrow I have to call the company to see if they could get hold of their contractor and get them to come and replace this rotting wood.

It seems to be a home-fix year, with the changing of the aircon system, as well as repairs on some sprawling ceiling issue we had in the 2 bathrooms, we also decided to, after 13 years, to have a new coat of paint for the entire house! But then the work can only start after the aircon system is in placed.

So, in midst of my hectic work travel, my place is also having some hectic schedule to get it fix up and repainted by September. Which also means I had to do a little packing up after years of not throwing away junk as well as huge piles of letters and junk mails and magazines like Nikon Focus and Highway.

Sigh... I guess any time is a good time to clear junk from the house... How did those junks ever get piled up... Blame it on the travel??? :P

Oh well, with these stuff... I guess the AV receiver and new speakers will have to wait - review in 2 years time?!?!? :P Sigh.. Hope still got cash to upgrade this PC at the end of the year...

This year seems to be spending year... Haiz...

*Head bang against wall* Emoticon

If you have been using some internet messengers like MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, etc or even some online forums, you would probably come across this emoticon that shows a smiley banging against a wall. Well, this is becoming one of the most used emoticon in my office chat program. The other most probably is the emoticon that is in red colour that is gestering madly, in a ranting manner - raising hands, pounding a fisted hand against and open palm, with the mouth moving very rapidly and some steam coming out of the sides of the smiley.

Why am I so fed up or shall we say seemly unprofessional by being coming rather emotionally frustrated, especially in my dealings with some of my colleagues?

Well... That's because sometimes I wonder if common sense is really common at all? Also, if anyone is really using their brains when they work?

Why? Well, let me ask you a question... If you are working, and there were some errors when you ran some jobs or report. Would you just ignore those errors or would you look at the errors, and try to resolve those errors?

Logically speaking, if anyone encounter errors, they would not ignore errors. Right? No? You mean you would let the errors be there and simply ignore them, not even bother to check and retry to ensure that there is really no issues? If so, how do you ensure these errors will not affect your operations/cash flow/etc at a later stage?

So, if you encounter errors, you would start looking at the errors, try and resolve them or if you could not resolve them, you would start asking for help or seek assurances from more experienced persons to ensure the situation is under control. Well, what happens if you had someone else working with you, but both of you when encounter errors, would both of you ignore the errors? Giving it an opportunity to blow up in your face?

Where am I getting at with all these scenarios?

Well... a site went live yesterday, or rather this early morning. However, due to these people who decided not to do anything about the errors, had issues down the road after 2 hours into the go live, and start to call people asking for help due to some other issues they are facing with the system. It took another hour to find out that they had screwed up by ignoring those errors which is very easily resolved within 10 minutes. However, because of these, there were people who had to forgo some hours of sleep and making some other people very angry and fed up with the kind of work attitude, causing more "fireworks" within the team which is already barely holding on due to the projects.

This is despite the several prompting by some to ensure when certain things are done, some checking needs to be done to ensure the work is done correctly... Well, apparent the check is done, but when you have 2 persons who have this working attitude of not bother to ensure all errors are resolved checking each other... You know how this would work out...

So... I had to wake up in the middle of the night to resolve some issues that would not have happen if someone has bother to use their brains, for a change, to resolve issues or at least if they don't know what to do, ask before the entire thing blows up in their face!!! No, they simply just ignore those errors and tell everyone else that the system is ready!

ARGH!!!

Tired.... But some accomplishment...

I am damn tired after that 10 days out of town... Had to fly again for work and doing a 5 day 24-hr shift work is no joke, what more immediately the next day fly to another location and drive 2 hours to the next location. The worst part of it all? I am flying again on Mon early morning, first flight out again!!!

However, I am proud to say I was able to drive from Penang International Airport, out to North-South highway and up to Alor Star without map & GPS! Sadly, it did take about 40 mins driving round the town area to find the hotel as there; in the midst of finding the hotel, I also found the customer site as well, so it was easier for me, the following day to get to the site. So I was driving in Alor Star for about 5 days. It was back to the airport on Thursday to drop off my colleagues who had the earlier flight, then drove to my cousin place for a very, very short visit and having food like Assam Laksa and Cendol. Was feeling good that I managed to get to her place without any map/GPS system, and get back to the airport too! So, kind of feeling good with my accomplishment this week.

I think it was also these driving trips that leads me to start looking for the right GPS car system which I could use. While driving there and back without much detour was good for the system, we had some issues in finding places to eat, that were good and cheap, well, at least it has to be good, price-wise, it should not be issue, since company is paying for it. However, since no of us have really stayed or been to that part of Malaysia, it was kind of difficult. Wonder if the malsing maps would have recommendations for food in Alor Star and Sg Petani.... Meantime, it's a tousle between Holux and Garmin. I have been told to get Garmin as it has more maps than Holux. However, Holux is able to show/simulate a route without GPS, which Garmin does not do. The other plus for Holux is that it shows the list of roads which you would have to take to get to the destination, so, it's easier to ensure you are turning to the correct lane.... Garmin, for the higher models, is able to show the road that you should be traveling, only when you are about to reach it. Another plus for Holux is that Mapking has SLA approved maps which allows to search by postal code, which Garmin is not able to. However, Garmin uses malsing maps which is updated very regularly by GPS system enthusiasts and this ensure the maps they have are very up-to-date. Still weighing the pros and cons, and deciding on which system to get. If course, price wise, Garmin higher models are more expensive, while Holux is currently $499. Wonder if there would be a drop in price during the upcoming PC Show in June. There are 2 other models that I found - Packard Bell (which is using asiagis, and not certain how updated the maps will be and any other compatible maps available) and also Shinco (saw it at the airport. Uses mapking as well, but like Packard Bell, not certain how updated it will be). So, I am still mulling over this. Kind of hard to find good sites which reviews these GPS systems. Most of them have Garmin, but not the rest. Kind of hard to make decisions based on not much information at all...

Sigh... Have to fly again on Monday... ARGH!!!

Flattered...

Got my parcel of DVDs this week on Thursday. So now I have the complete set of Thunderbirds (1 - 6) and for my Robotech collection, I am left with Legacy set 6 (which currently is damn expensive to get, amazon selling at USD45) to purchase. The collection does not include the Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles as well.

Tested with Borderlinx shipping company which was given free registration for Citibank CC holders. Paid about $30 for my shipping charges of 5 different parcels - 1 box and 4 small bags which contains 5 DVD sets and 1 CD. Seems to be ok for shipping charges considering it took only about 4 days to ship over...

Saw my UK photos in print form - No, I did not print it, but my cousin did and placed into an album. She was showing all the photos from the UK trip as well and had some good comments about my photos. One of my colleague wanted to have them as wallpaper as well... Apparently she also printed more of the MU ones and give them out like souvenirs!!! Happy to hear that! Makes me feel proud of the photos... But, well, being me, comparing my photos to photos of people like Ron and the others, still feel there is a huge need to for improvement... Then again, I guess that's why I am still in my day job and they are the pros! :P

Oh well... My cam will be neglected for the next 2 months as I will be very busy at work, and traveling up to our neighbours. In fact, heading there tomorrow... Back on Thursday. Sigh... Maybe I could meet up with my uncle and family while I'm there...

Meantime, there is another load of DVDs that should be coming... I am finding lots of USD10 or less DVDs to get... Hehehehe :D No, I am not turning to BR yet... That's in the pipeline, and since no $$$ to get a BR player as well as a good AVR and speakers for it yet.... Looking at Yamaha AVR-863 and Morel Satellite Stream MkII speakers for the moment, not sure if I should get that....

Blast from the past

Was viewing through some of the DVD titles in Amazon (well, was there to check the delivery of the current order, coz in Hawaii) and Voyagers! TV series came up on the recommendation list... That brought back a lot of memories... It also reminded me that I was a TV kid, when I was young...

You see, I don't get to be out of the flat that much when I was younger. It's school, straight back to home, and then that's it. The only time I do get out is during holidays, and even then, it was rare... Heck, even when we go over to Penang, it was basically the same thing... Mother gets to go out, me and my cousins had to stay at home... Sigh...

Anyway, because of this, I believed I watched a lot of TV, once we had one in the house. The first few shows that I could recall, was Long Ranger, Green Hornet (yes, the one which Bruce Lee acted as Kato, the sidekick of Green Hornet), Maverick, Wild Wild West, Gunsmoke, The Saint, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and, of course, Donny & Marie Osmond Show... There were also the old tv series for Superman and Batman which was from the 60s, the everlasting Sesame Street and Electric Company, Six Million Dollar Man, the spin-off Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Incredible Hulk, Love Boat, M*A*S*H, Fantasy Island, Love Boat, Man from Atlantis, CHiPs, Charlie's Angels, Return of the Saint, S.W.A.T (I am sure I had watch this, but it's a little fuzzy...) and Battlestar Galactica.

During that time there were also some other famous TV shows which I did not caught on - Bewitched, Dallas, Bonanza, Days of our Lives (which is still running!!!), The Dukes of Hazzard, Eight is Enough, The Young and the Restless (still running!!!), General Hospital (is running as well!!!), Happy Days which I watch from time to time, I Dream of Jennie, The Jeffersons, Knots Landing, Kung Fu, Lassie, Laverne and Shirley, Little House of the Prairie, The New Andy Griffith Show, Diff'rent Strokes - remember Gary Coleman?, Planet of the Apes, Starsky and Hutch, Mork & Mindy (remember the greetings "Na-Nu Na-Nu"? This is a spin-off from Happy Days!?!?) and Taxi.

Then it was the 80s, which some of the above series were still running, but more were added to the mix, The A-team (who can forget Mr T?), Cagney & Lacey, B.J. and the Bear, Doogie Howser M.D., The Equalizer, Falcon Crest, Family Ties, Galactica 1980 (spin-off from Battlestar Galactica), The Greatest American Hero, Growing Pains, Hardcastle & Mccormick, Hill Street Blue (1 or 2 seasons only), Hunter, L.A. Law, MacGyver (1 or 2 seasons only), Major Dad, Moonlighting, Murder She Wrote, Murphy Brown, Riptide, Scarecrow and Mrs King, Silver Spoon, Simon & Simon, T.J. Hooker, Tour of Duty, and The Wonder Years. There were a couple of shows which lasted, at most, 1 season - Mission: Impossible (1988), Whiz Kids, Voyagers!, Three's a Crowd, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Street Hawk, Supercarrier, Masquerade, Manimal, The Highwayman, Cover Up, Blue Thunder and Automan. Anyone remember these at all?

At that time, there some which were quite famous then, but not catch my fancy, although I do watch from time to time... 21 Jump Street, The Bold and the Beautiful (still running), The Cosby Show, its spin-off A Different World, Dynasty, its spin-off The Colbys, Fame, Full House, Highway to Heaven, Hotel, Knight Rider, Magnum PI, Married with Children, Matlock, Miami Vice, Mike Hammer (Stacy Keach), Midnight Caller, Mr Belvedere, My Two Dads, 9 to 5, Perfect Stranger, Private Benjamin, Quantum Leap, Remington Steele, Santa Barbara, Seinfield (yes, it started in 1989!), Spenser for Hire, Small Wonder, St Elsewhere, Webster, Who's the Boss? and Wiseguy.

Then it was 90s, which tapped down my watching as it's no longer school days, and time is no longer on hand to watch, except in the night. There were some notable ones, but well, it's not really a lot. Started with Beverly Hills 90210, its spin-off Melrose Place, Babylon 5 (but all these lost interest after a while), Viper, Pensacola: Wings of Gold (off and on, since it's via cable tv), Sex and the City, and JAG. Well, even for JAG, was too busy to follow after 1 or 2 season.

Now, in the 2000s, I think the TV watching habit had died. Most of the time, I am not even in front of the TV, and if I do, it's either for a football match or CSI series. Of course, if I am traveling, chances are I would have TV in front of me, which means, I would watch, other than CSI series, NCIS, Numb3rs and Cold Cases (I think that's what is is called... Not sure). Hmm... Now that's listed, very focus group of shows...

Ok, it's official, I was a TV show junkie... Don't get me started on the Chinese/Cantonese Drama serials that I had to endure during the period too! Yes, I was a "balanced" kid!

Hmm... Should I get that DVD...

Sigh... What to do....

Been feeling frustrated lately at work, and getting questions like "Does the workstation (as in computer) needs graphics card?" does not do very well, especially if the person has been in the industry and was working in IT department before joining this company...

Frustration comes in 2 areas. One is that you have spend a lot of time working to creating materials, which contain almost your entire knowledge of the system (and since you are supporting more than 1 products, you would refer to it when necessary, which is why it was created in the first place - to ensure no knowledge is lost due to too many products). You place it out there and even encourage those who has to be involved, and has to follow what is in the materials, to download it and go through it. Well, they did download it, they follow it blindly and not even understanding what they are doing, and then when things goes wrong, without even referring back to the materials, start sending emails and throw the issue into your hands, or starting bugging you on the phone... When you look at it, it was already clearly stated and noted in the materials that you need to do certain steps and when you start asking if they refer to it, they say "no"! "Why not!?!?" Silence received, if not an excuse of "might have missed out"...

The other would be some work attitude towards the projects... I mean, if you are task to do something, you won't do it 3/4 way and then, ask someone else, who by the way is working on other aspects of the project and is not technically trained, to check it?!? You would make sure it's working fine, at least you had witness and make sure it's working before passing it onto the other person, right?!?!?! No?!!? Well, I had people who would work half way, did not even bother to check if it is correct, especially when the steps and what to take note is in the emails, and then just ask someone to check if it is working... Maybe he is overwhelmed with work, but then again who isn't?!?!?! And if you are overwhelm, all the more you should prioritized and ensure each job is finished before moving to the next! Work with your boss to ensure a smooth transition from 1 job to the other. I am certain your boss is not expecting you to do one job with left hand and another job with the right! If your boss do expect this... I think it's time to talk to him or leave... There is no way you can survive with this kind of demands...

The other frustration comes that while the company emphasis on customer satisfaction, and wanting to be the first to come to people's mind when they want to get a system, it counteracts with the other end of the company's emphasis - $$$$ and it's not just small margins of profits and growth, but huge ones. It can be come oxymoron as how can you sell something and promise to hit a target date, when internally you know you can't; and yet obtain high customer satisfaction?!?!? Especially if the end users of your system is not your customer?!?!? And to hit that target date, you remove all buffers, telling customer that there will be no customization, which basically means "you follow our work flow, not yours"?!?! Do you think that the end users will agree to that? Well, apparently the end users have not even been given that information as yet. So... I wonder... Do they think the end users would just go along with it? I know for a fact that in some sites, with demanding end users, this will ultimately fail. Do you really want to risk it? But of course, what do I know, I am lowly employee, and to some I am not working to contribute to the "bottom line" because of such questions that I raised...

So, now what?! Well, it becomes a ho-hum job, which you start to dread going into the office, because of such situations, and also getting those unbelievable questions... Oh, yes I did voiced out during my review of last year with my boss recently... I think this is the 1st time he is getting whack with all kinds of frustrations we (me and my colleagues in the same team) are having... Although I have to say, I think mine would be the mildest... Being in the same office, he can heard my loud rants at times - Yes, I do that often especially recently, and I think my office colleagues are used to it, although it can be rather intimidating for those new ones...

However, with the turn of the economy, with US having issues with sub-prime mortgage and credit crunch, and the rising cost of commodities like oil and even basic necessities like rice... Is this a good time to change jobs?

Come to think of it... I seems to be looking to change jobs in such environment... Got retrenched once when economy turns bad, and then at height of SARS period got into another job, and now, it looks like economy is also getting bad and here I am starting to look for job opportunities... Something is not very right... But I cannot put a finger to it...

Sigh...

Old Trafford Mar-Apr 2008

Saving the best for the last... Yes, the main point, and the reason why this trip was planned, was watching a match at Old Trafford. Of course, it could be done any time in the future, however, since my cousin would like to watch a match before Giggs retires, it would have to be before his contract ends at the end of next season.

We started to follow the fortunes of the club when Bryan Robson was the captain of the team. I believe it was back in the early 80s, in fact it would have to be before the 1986 infamous "Hand of God" goal in the World Cup, that we got into football, and I guess the only person we knew then was Bryan Robson, and the team he was playing for was Manchester United. So, that's how we started... Me and me cousins, 3 of us, became MU supporters. Will we were not fanatic followers like some, but I think we would be term as true blue supporter as we had stick to the team for so, so long...

So, how the trip got planned? Simply started by trying to find out how to get tickets to matches at Old Trafford... This include sending an email to manutd.co.uk. The sales executive for the Hospitality packages replied with the Hospitality information, but at first we thought it was a little expensive. Imagine spending about $500 on the package... However, to just get a match ticket is not as easy as we thought it would be... You can only start bidding for tickets in which the season holders were not able to attend and gave up their tickets and you can only bid for the tickets through 1 agency and they only start the bidding 1 month before the match. So, if we were to go that route, it's impossible for us to finalise the other areas of the trip, including accommodation and flights... Yes, finally we decided to go for the Hospitality package. This package basically includes the match ticket, the match programme, if you were driving - a car park lot (if I recall correctly), 10% discount voucher at Megastore, a souvenir gift and a 3-course dinner/lunch depending on your selection of pre-match or post-match package. Of course, depending on the package you chose, you might have more stuff added to it. I only based it on the package we had. If you want to, you can see it in their website... I think we chose the cheapest of the Hospitality package... Can't help it as we had to factor in the exchange rate which was almost 3 times - so if the price is at 100 quid, it will be 300 SGD!!!

Anyway, it was a good game that we had witness, we trash Aston Villa 4 - 0!!! My cousin was so excited that she had "videoed" one of Rooney's goal, although it was not that clear and it was shaking a little (what do you expect, taken from her brand new P&S digital camera)... It was certainly an experience... With us jumping and celebrating with the crowd when they scored... Only chagrin point I have is that there were no close-ups, so we could see the goal, but we could not really see how it got there, like Ronaldo's back flick which resulted in the 1st goal... I only managed to catch it in the Sky sports news on Sunday morning...

So... Did I enjoyed it, YES! Will I do it again... Well... Er, not in the near future... I need another 5 years to save up for another trip... This is the most expensive trip I ever had!!! The Spain trip I was on last year was only half the amount!!!! But seriously... If I can, I would really like to go again... And I would also like to visit Lake district again, this time... More time to be spent there, as in stopping and walking about more than what we did on this trip. This time, I will definitely research a bit more than what I for this trip... Then again, I was practically busy from the start of the year, and I was not even in town for the month of March, kind of hard to do the type of research that I want to...

So, my last leg of photos is, of course, on Old Trafford!

This is the view of the stadium from the place where I was seated for the match... Now you know why I could not get a very good close up on the players!!!!

This was taken when the match was about to start...

Despite the weather was holding well at the start of the match, soon, it started to rain, and by this time, it was pouring. You could see a little on how heavy it was... It was still raining when I left the stadium 2 and half hours after the match ended!

The exterior of the stadium.

A different angle of the Sir Matt Busby statue, he is the most famous manager for starting the road to fame for Manchester United. I believe Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager for MU, next to him. Maybe next time they would have something to commemorate Ferguson, after he retires.

The stadium tour, and the "must-have" shot of the interior of the stadium.

They hang the players shirt in the dressing room for the stadium tour, so that you would be able to know where the players would sit when they are in the dressing room. These are 2 most sought-after place to take photos with... Oh, and next to Rooney, after the bend, is Giggs'.

The team... Well, from 2006/07 season... This should be the most photographed wall, as it is found in the entrance of the Megastore, and it is on the slope from the entrance to the merchandise display area. So that's why it looks tilted!

Oh... Just something to tease the Liverpudlian supporters that I know, and had not been to Anfield... La La La La... I think they know who they are...

Why am I there... Well, to buy the list of stuff requested by the Liverpudlian supporters!!!!

Oh yes, just for the record... I could go to Old Trafford with my eyes closed by the end of the trip... Why? Well, I had taken 5 trips to Old Trafford from City Centre!!!

Being anxious about my match tickets as I had not received it by the time I left for UK, we decided to visit there, familiarise ourselves with the route, and to collect the tickets. I guess we felt better if we had the tickets in our hands... So that was the 1st trip. We came back to hotel empty handed... The tickets were not ready, and since the package includes a 10% discount, we decided not to buy any merchandise yet...

2nd trip was right after we got back into Manchester from Lake District on Friday. We were at the hotel, watching the Sky sports news and they featured the pre-game press conference and the newscaster was mentioning that the game was tomorrow!! We were shocked and confused, so we decided to make the trip to find out, as well as collect the tickets and do the stadium/museum tour. Well, we did find out that it was on sat, at 5.15pm, we did not collect the tickets as it seems that we can only collect it on the match day itself!!!! So, we proceed for the stadium/museum tour - it was fully booked till Sunday 4 pm! So, we paid for the 4 pm stadium tour on Sunday and left.

The match was our 3rd trip.

Our 4th trip was the stadium/museum tour, and we were told to do the museum tour at 3 pm. However, what we did not know is the trading time in UK is only up to 4.30pm on Sunday, so we only got to Old Trafford at 3pm, did the museum tour which was followed by the stadium tour. By the time the tour ended, the megastore was already closed AND we had not bought our merchandise as yet...

The final, and 5th, trip was the next day, which basically to buy the stuff...

Oh, and because of the 5th trip we had to make, we had to cut short our time in Liverpool. Had wanted to go around the town, photo session, but... we could only managed to get to Anfield, buy whatever stuff requested (apparently, my cousin had a longer list of stuff to buy from there!!!), get back to city centre, have lunch and took a bus ride round the city center area and then take the train back to Manchester so that we can finally get our stuff from Megastore!!!

Well... That's the end of it all... I really enjoyed the trip, took lots of photos, but it seems only about 52 of them managed to made the cut... I had only a single call from work and that call would have been avoided if only they were diligent enough to plow through the installation slides that I had made as everything I knew about the installation and technical setup of the system is in the slides!!!! Sigh... Don't start me on this topic... Anyway, I had also spent about say, almost 200 quid on (DVD) shopping... another 200 on souvenirs, and stuff for mother, friends and colleagues...

I guess there will not be anymore trips till I could save enough... Sigh... Either that or go on tours instead of free and easy (gasp!!!)

Lake District Mar-Apr 2008

Finally... After long hours of selection and processing... The 2nd leg of the trip is done. Of course being in such a picturesque area (and spending the longest time there for this trip), the number of photos selected is also large. Without any further comments, here are the photos :-

This flower is found in the small garden outside the B&B we were staying. It does look a little like Thistle, but I cannot confirm. It also looks very nice against the snowy background.

A very playful dog, who grab the plastic bag which my cousin used to bring her clothes to the laundrette and was relying on the bag to bring back the clothes to the B&B, but it did a sneaking thing by getting close to us, allowing us to pet it, and then quickly snatch the plastic bag away before anyone of us could react... Refuses to release the bag, even ignoring the bribe the owner placed on its nose bridge... Naughty, naughty dog!

"I wandered lonely as a cloud:
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."

The famous poem by William Wordsworth, who was born, bred and died in Lake District. How could we not have a snapshot of the daffodils?! However, this is not taken from the lake which he mentioned. Instead it was taken at Dove Cottage which is the house he stayed for a while before moving to Rydal Mount.

Sheep feeding off a haystack. Not sure why, but somehow, one of the sheep will climb up and proceed to eat off the haystack from the top, and usually, it can only support 1 such sheep.

One of the most visited spot in Lake District during Summer. Looks a bit more deserted during early Spring...


Stop by this lake to get some snapshots... Rarely I could get such a clear view of the lake. Most of the other lakes do have some limitation, from the places we stopped.


Honister Pass is most famous for the mine slate which you could visit, but were not interested. You have to pass this to get to Buttermere, using the Borrowdale route. Very nice drive in Borrowdale valley, but to really see it, you need to spend more time there, rather than just 4 days... Because it's better to drive and walk!! We just do the drive... So, no fantastic photographs from the peak of the pikes surround the area!:D (Google the places and see what I mean...)


To show what kind of road conditions we need to drive in... long, winding, uphill and downhill - sometimes at angle of 30 degrees slopes, and yet, like in this shot a plateau...


As mentioned above, this shows the road which we was about to drive down!


Buttermere. Interestingly, if I recall correctly, this was taken from the car, which my cousin was driving.


My first IR shot shown. We stopped at this cross junction to take pictures - requested by my cousin and I really have no idea specifically where in the map we were, except that we had to be near Elterwater, heading toward Great Langdale.


Sigh.. Weather was not co-operating, so there were clouds that covers the peak of the pikes, and the valley is not shown properly. Taken from one of the winding road that is heading down towards the valley...


One of the more challenging drive, see how the road drops at the end... No wonder you might see some road signs for some drives says it's not possible to drive through during winter!!!!


2nd IR shot for this selection. Interestingly, even with such weather conditions, I still managed to get quite a couple of IR shots during this trip.


You see sheep everywhere... This lone sheep was resting at Wrynose Pass... Only it knows why it stop there to rest...


A shot which follows the "small bridge, flowing waters" chinese idiom or something as quote from my cousin.


Another IR shot, this time of Cockley Beck, which is the stream passing through the bridge in the above shot.


A view of the Hardknott Roman Fort from Hardknott Pass.


As you can see from the above photo, to get to the Fort, you need to walk up that hill. As I progress towards the fort, I found plenty of sheep poo to avoid. In addition, I also had to avoid the marsh area, wet from the constant rain/snow it had. Once I reach it, I found out why there were so much poo around... Sheep also graze in these areas! Some were outside the entrance, and some were inside the walls. This sheep happens to be heading toward the flock outside the entrance and I happen to walk in on the opposite side of the wall... So, we stop, face off to each other, trying to figure out what to do next (well, I was basically busy taking shots of it...) and it took the opportunity to run when I was changing my lens (from wide to zoom, so that I could get a close up shot of it... Darn).


View of Windermere from Ambleside. I had to zoom in a bit to reduce the infringement of the jetty boardwalk, etc from the picture.


Another IR shot, this time of Windermere. Taken from the same area, within 100 metres apart.


This is the waterfall that I was talking about in my previous posting. We thought it was Aira Force, when in fact it was High Force, Aira Beck.


An IR shot of Aira Beck. I like the water flow...


Ullswater. The lake which William Wordsworth was inspired to write that famous daffodils poem, where he and his sister had walked, except that I don't see any daffodils around.


A crop shot, cutting out the others in the background, which turns out quite well...


Taken from Bowness-on-Windermere. This time, the swans was happy to swim among themselves and created this opportunity to take this snapshot... If only the bird beyond them would have stayed away... I could have taken a shot with more water on the background... But this still works (I hope).


The only sunset I was able to take pictures of with lake as its foreground...

You can never do enough research....

Am currently working on my Lake District photos, and was trying to figure out where I took those photos, since there is no GPS on my cam, neither did I really write down (how to do that when I am the driver?!?! Hmmm...), I mean it's in the middle of the drive, and frankly sometimes it's hard to figure out where we were exactly. On the hindsight, should have borrowed Teh Peng's GPS thingy which he brought along for his Spain trip and use it to record the location every time we stopped! (Well, then again, his GPS thingy may not be working anymore!)

This little anecdote may help you in deciding on whether a slightly more indepth research is useful... Now, it's not that we just go around the area without aim... We had google on places to go via internet in terms of what car route we could take, etc. I had brought the (borrowed from NLB) Rough Guide to Lake District book along during the trip. Aira Force waterfall was a highlight of Ullswater area (but not certain if they had a picture of the waterfall in the book). It sounded good, so we made a point to go for photos.

We went, but what we did not know is how it looks like, and I did not remember the instructions well enough (surprisingly we did not check the guide to confirm!!!) and so we thought the car park we stop was near it. It was somewhat there, but we had to walk down the area to get to the waterfall. There was, apparently, a tea room at the car park for the Aira Force. Well, the car park we were at, does not have that... And there was a small waterfall near where the car park is... Turns out, that's actually High Force, Aira Beck!!! There we were, thinking it's Aira Force!

So, how did I discover the mistake? Simple, googling the places that we had been to and trying to pin point the places so that I can mark my pictures... And started to look at Aira Force pictures that are on the net... Oops! Looks like I got the wrong waterfall!!! Boy, oh boy, oh boy...

Sigh...

Not sure if my coz had read my sms on this!

Edinburgh/Loch Ness and Highlands of Scotland Mar-Apr 2008

Next the series of photos comes from Edinburgh and the Loch Ness & Highlands of Scotland 1 day tour that I did. Edinburgh is still the same as I had seen it almost 12 years ago; Nothing has changed much, except maybe more people? Anyway, the Loch Ness & Highlands of Scotland was something new. The last time I was in Scotland, I had only spend half a day in Edinburgh and then journey onto Dundee. Spend most of my time in Dundee, in a conference room during the day, but managed to have a traditional Scottish dinner (if I recall correctly), did some shooting at the range (arranged by the company) and even spent some late evening hours in a Dundee club (Was dragged there by my colleagues). Anyway, here are the photos from the Edinburgh leg of the trip.

Hound dog, Maya (IIRC), belonging to the B&B owner.

If you had gone on the guide day tours, you will know Hamish.

Rancoor Moor (Taken from the bus)

Somewhere near Pass of Glencoe. Spotted a RN helicopter. Every tour buses and others passing by this area, stopped to take pictures with the helicopter. At this time, it was starting its engine and was about to lift off.

Taken very shortly after it took off. I had to squat and angle up to avoid all cameras/hands of the people surrounding me - All taking photos of the helicopter.

Reason for the helicopter to be in part of this area - Mountain Rescue team was having some exercise. Maybe in anticipation of the upcoming Summer crowd !?!?. (Taken from the bus)

On the way to Inverness, we pass a lot of hills/mountains and Lochs, this is one of the river which we passed, but not certain where except that it's after Fort William and on the way to Inverness. Taken from the bus.

On the way to Pitlochry, as you can see, the scenery changes, even the ground is now covered with snow. Taken from the bus (again!)

Was walking pass Brunsfield Park on the way to the Edinburgh Old Town area from my B&B on Sunday morning, they were one of the few people out in the park. This girl and the father (I think) was throwing the ball and the dog was trying to catch it.

Another shot of the dog, this time when it was running from the girl to the father.

Saw this King Charles Spaniel pooing in a bed of flowers. Could not resist in taking a snapshot.

Boer War Memorial Statue along Princes St, Edinburgh