Taxi and Visit Malaysia Year

I came across the news in The Star today, where traders and taxi drivers lamented their losses due to the mass peace parade on 10 Nov.

The most striking paragraph was this:

Taxi operator Leong Aw said taxi drivers lost much business because of the illegal gathering, saying it drove tourists away when they saw thousands of demonstrators in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

“The Government is promoting Visit Malaysia 2007 which will help us make money, especially during this festive season. Such a gathering is not part of the Malaysian culture,” he said.

Well, the other day after attending the Annual Metabolic and IEM course in Grand Season hotel, KL, a few of us decided to go from GS hotel to Petaling street. It was a little heavy traffice that day (well, tell me what day KL is not having traffic jam, anyway), and 4 taxis refused to take us there -- then there was finally one taxi driver who offered to take us there, but we gotta pay RM30!!

After boarding his taxi, we told him that taxis should use meter instead of acting like illegal cabs, and furthermore it's Visit Malaysia Year 2007, taxis should lead good examples to abide by the laws and regulations of the country. And to our shock, the taxi driver replied," Well, the officers are lazy and they won't come and catch us taxi drivers, coz we are united. Furthermore, even if we get caught, our boss will settle it."

He paused a while, and then added," And looking at you few guys, (I) don't think you are from those agencies, so why should I be worried. It's jam here, and if you don't want me to take you there, you can always get off the cab and walk there yourself!"

WTF, damn bloody cocky and arrogant.

That's why when I read about the mass parade which caused losses to those taxi drivers -- I have two words for those (not all of them though) taxi drivers who have been so arrogant -- "padan muka"!

My new XPS

I just received my newly bought Dell XPS laptop 2 days ago. Initially I was contemplating to get a eeePC which is the most "in" gadget lately, but after thinking twice, I went for a proper laptop. I think when I have more time in the future, I will get a eeePC to explore further. But for now, I need a laptop to do work, and my wife can use this portable laptop to do her assignments in college as well.

Vista is something very new to me. And also there are quite limited softwares which support the system OS. The microsoft office 2007 is very expensive, and hence I have opted for the OpenOffice suite -- after trying out for 2 days, I can conclude that for normal usage, the open office is more than adequate!

Since my laptop is preinstalled with McAfee internet suite, I dont need to get any firewall and antivirus for it -- but should the subscription period ends, I will go for PCTools as my firewall suite, and possibly AVG antivirus as well.

Then I have also loaded it with FireFox browser, Adobe PDF reader, GTalk and also Media Player.

Whether you have realised by now, I have only freewares in my new lappy.

So far so good.

As for the Dell XPS system, it is a fabulous and eye-catching near-ultraportable laptop. It is just so sleek and sexy. Vista has added very nice GUI to the system as a whole. And with my 2Ghz processor, and 2GB ram -- it is so far stable and speedy.

The screen is just gorgeous. You need to really play with it to appreciate it. Keyboard is nice and almost full sized, with very positive tactile feel when doing typing. Touchpad and both its buttons are very positive as well.

All in all, this laptop is just fantastic. I have read so many reviews about this XPS system, and finally I have got one in my hand. And again, I am updating my blog with this new lappy in my couch, with a cuppa coffee next to me!

I will rate this XPS 4.5/5 stars! :)

A Sad Day For My Department

It's indeed a very sad day for my department yesterday. Our most beloved Head of Department, Dato Dr Lim NL, passed away peacefully, after months of sufferings and putting up a great fight with her cancer.

We were all at her funeral service last night, and the weather was as gloomy as our emotions and feelings. It was as though heaven was weeping for the loss of a great doctor too. Although I have just joined the department not long ago, and merely had a few occasions only to meet up and talk to Dato Lim, my very initial and lasting impression of her is that Dato is a very nice and sensible doctor, as well as a HOD. When I first joined the department, I had trouble adjusting myself into the new working environment; and through emails, Dato has given me encouragement and pieces of advice to make me feel at home when I am in this new place of work.

I hear many nice stories about her from my colleagues who have been with her longer. After I met up with Dato, I strongly believe what they said are true. Not an exaggeration.

And now Dato Lim is free from all sufferings, and may she rest in peace.

House Warming

It's been already nearly 2 weeks since I moved into my new house. In conjunction with my sis coming back from Kuching for a short break, I threw a small house warming party yesterday -- but only my family members were invited! ;)

We had very simple dinner for this unique occasion. Only fried rice (from one of my family's favourite shops) and KFC as the main course; then we had Apple juice as the beverage and finally Baskin Robbins ice cream as dessert! Although it was really a simple celebration, the togetherness of all my family members (of course the nanny and Indon maid are around as well) was what I cherish most.

After the makan, instead of turning on Astro as the after-meal entertainment, my 2-month-2-week baby girl became the spotlight of everyone around. I think she brings so much joy and happiness to me, my wife, and also all my family members.

And with the whole house aircond turned on, it's so enjoying and comfortable staying indoor. Home sweet home...