Spinosum Diary

Change of Blog Address

2008-04-15T15:45:00.001+08:00

I have changed my blog to Spinosum Diary.
( http://spinosum-diary.blogspot.com/ )

In fact everything is maintained the same way it was, just a new address! Its a new blog, but old me! :)

Most Beautiful Queen?

2008-04-14T14:07:00.003+08:00

And I thought the late Princess Diana was the most beuatiful queen-to-be; my friend from Bahrain, sent me a photo of Queen Rania of Jordan. Do you think she is the most beautiful queen on earth?

How Much Do You Worth?

2008-04-02T14:45:00.002+08:00

I am worth $2,636,264 on HumanForSale.com

You should give this a try, and see How Much Do You Worth? ;)

3G Internet Surfing

2008-04-02T13:47:00.004+08:00

Received my Huawei E220 HSDPA modem today, and tried out immediately. The set up was really hassle-free. And since I only subscribed to 3G speed, for RM68 per month - this is the speed I get after testing it with Speedtest.net.

Overall I feel the speed is just tolerable for normal net surfing, like checking some emails, updating blog and do some internet banking. I am amazed that using GTalk with this speed is also very acceptable in terms of its quality and smoothness of conversation! However, if you are a YouTube addict, you will definitely be a little disappointed with the speed - furthermore if you have always been pampered by the Streamyx 1Mbps or higher speed! ;)

It will be very useful for me to carry along my Dell XPS laptop, to places without any WiFi; and also if my wife needs to use it for assignment in university/library, this combination of a 13-inch lappy and a 3G connection will prove very useful indeed!

Google Wake Up Kit

2008-04-02T00:39:00.002+08:00

Every year, especially on 1st of April, Google will introduce something new to the public. Never fail. This year, there is something called "Google Wake Up Kit"

The "wake up" notification uses several progressively more annoying alerts to wake you up. First it will send an SMS message to your phone. If that fails, more coercive means will be used. The kit includes an industrial-sized bucket and is designed to be connected to your water main for automatic filling. In addition, a bed-flipping device is included for forceful removal from your sleeping quarters.

Haha! Yeah rite... It's another April Fool's joke for sure! :)

Celcom 3G

2008-04-01T12:03:00.002+08:00

Just signed up for the Celcom 3G package, costing RM68 per month. Received a USIM for it, but so far my Huawei E220 HSDPA modem is still on its way (probably arriving tomorrow). Therefore, I still can't try out the 3G connection using my laptop.

I would upgrade to the HSDPA 3.5G if I find the 3G speed too slow. But since there is no contract with the Celcom package, it is easier to ditch it if the speed is not up to my favor! ;)

RIP Kong Liong...

2008-03-31T18:52:00.002+08:00

I was shocked to know that my good ol' pal Mr. Wong Kong Liong, passed away suddenly on 27 Mac 2008. Last night, a few of us who were very closed to Kong Liong, attended the funeral service. It was a very sad and depressing moment.

It is a very tough moment for his family to go through, and I wish they be strong. My deepest condolences to his family.

Life is just so unpredictable.

May you rest in peace, my ol' fren, Kong Liong.

Unbelievable!

2008-03-29T11:24:00.002+08:00

I was reading the Star today, when I came across this:

School blocks invitation to non-Barisan elected rep
WHILST we the rakyat amuse ourselves over the post-election mud slinging and airing of dirty linen in public by the political parties, here’s something else to ponder over.

We are a PTA of a national-type school and being neighbourly and courteous, we decided to invite our newly-elected member of parliament for the Segambut constituency for a function.

Being politically polite, we sought the blessings of the principal of the school. We were told point-blank that because the MP was not of Barisan lineage, neither the school nor the PTA were to even think of such a thing.

Shouldn’t schools be apolitical where the soul of democracy is being taught to the future generation? The amusement continues. What say you?

URBAN MALAYSIAN VOTER,
Kuala Lumpur.

I am really speechless. Talk about Democracy!

Sammy i780

2008-03-28T15:57:00.003+08:00

I was trying out the Samsung i780 pocket pc phone few days ago, and was really amazed with the form factor, and the speed of this little gadget. It resembles my current Treo 680 a lot, in terms of the size and QWERTY keyboard (something I can't forego now ever since using the Treo!), although they keys are slightly harder to press compared to that of the Treo. It's thinner and much lighter in hand.

It boast a 320x320 square screen, hence sharper and nicer display compared to all other PPC phones which only have 320x240 resolution. But this also means it has an unconventional screen, therefore might risk 3rd party software incompatibility! Already there are people who have tried it out saying program like Skype for PPC ain't looking nice and malaligned when used in this i780.

The speed is very much faster compared to any ppc phone to date. Partly due to the latest processor chipset, and partly also because of the 128MB ram it has! The camera is a 2.0MP one, but it is quite sharp taking an indoor picture; and there hardly is any shutter lag (my previous ipaq rw6828's camera is painfully slow in terms of shutter speed! gosh!)

Didn't have a chance to try out its 3.5G capability, but I presumed it should be ok. And also I didn't bring along my iTech clip BT headset to try pairing with this Sammy.

All in all, I like this ppc phone a lot, and will be getting it quite soon - once Samsung can figure out how to do a hard reset in this unit (a well known issue currentl)!! :)

Streamyx's Best Effort

2008-03-25T13:37:00.002+08:00

This is the Screamyx ... ooops, I mean Streamyx's best effort speed. Paying RM88 a month for a 1000kbps package, but only getting 650+kbps speed 95% of the time. I hope the new Science, Technology and Innovation Minister can do some positive changes to the current broadband services in Boleh-land!

The Aftermath

2008-03-10T17:07:00.002+08:00

After the political tsunami yesterday, it is the KCLI which is facing the little earthquake today. The Star read "Bursa Malaysia halts trading after KLCI falls 10% limit".

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia halted trading at 2.58pm after the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) fell 10%, which is the maximum limit.

Trading will resume at 3.58pm.

The KLCI fell 130.01 points to 1,166.32, the biggest one-day percentage loss in recent years.

I hope the political tsunami is actually turning Malaysia into a new dawn, and not a new doom! ;)

Time For Change

2008-03-09T15:01:00.004+08:00

A New Dawn For All Malaysians. It's time for change!

Quoted from the Star today

The coalition suffered some of the greatest defeats in its history. Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in accepting the results, said this was clear proof of democracy at work in the country.

Among the results yesterday were:

The Barisan lost Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor,
PAS strengthened grip on Kelantan,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting won in their seats,
Among ministers who lost their seats were Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin,
Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon lost to Dr P. Ramasamy in the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat.

Well, like what Doc said in his blog, "The People Have Spoken". No Representation, No Voice... And that's NOT the price of wiping out the component parties in BN, warns the People.

Voted This Morning

2008-03-08T14:11:00.002+08:00

I was at the polling station this morning at 8:25am and cast my vote wisely. I have fulfilled my responsibility as a citizen, and that I hope democracy and equality are continued to be upheld in Malaysia.

Disappointed

2008-03-07T16:37:00.002+08:00

Read this in the headlines of The Star today, just barely 24 hours from the polling day. I am utterly disappointed with what our PM has got to say.

PENANG: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reminded the Chinese community that if they gave the DAP their votes, they will end up not having any representation in the Government.
“You have to decide if you want a louder voice in Parliament or representation in the Cabinet where they can be more effective in representing all communities,” the Barisan Nasional chairman said.
He said if the Chinese did not have representation in the Cabinet, their requests would not be heard.

C'mon Pak Lah, is this a threat or a reminder? I was putting so high hope in your government ever since Tun Dr Mahathir stepped down. And now you uttered such statement just one day before the voters make their decision - I really wish you all the best, Pak Lah... Let's hope the BN win tomorrow's election (if this statement really was a reminder)! :)

Sick Joke!

2008-03-06T16:20:00.002+08:00

I used to play Roller Coaster Tycoon on my computer years ago but I have never thought of such sick joke the game can be! ;P

Who Will U Vote?

2008-03-05T16:28:00.003+08:00

8 Mac is drawing nearer. It's our national polling day. With all the news and propagandas we read in the papers and internet, every politician seems to be the right person to lead our country. Every party will come out with all sorts of promises so that they are elected to be the MPs and leaders of our nation. But who is telling the truth? Which party is the right one for us in the next 5-10 years ahead?

We have experienced and gone through whatever BN has to offer for the past few decades. Do we still want to give BN another opportunity this round to bring Malaysia to another height? Or should we at least let the opposition parties a chance to prove that they are more capable ones?

The choice is in your hand. This 8th March will determine our future. Vote wisely! :)

Samsung 32-inch LCD TV

2008-03-03T11:38:00.002+08:00

I ordered a new Samsung 32-inch LCD TV yesterday, and it was delivered in the same evening. It was really a very slick and sexy TV to start off with its outlook, and the display is gorgeous too! I was initially comparing among Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, LG and Haeir. At the end, I took the cost, aesthetic and display quality into consideration, and chose Samsung. I didn't go for a plasma TV because I read many negative feedbacks on plasma technology. And the display isn't as crisp as the LCD screen.

It has an 8000:1 compression ratio, and a response time of 8ms. The outlook of the Samsung LCD TV is aesthetically appealing to our eyes. The Panasonic and Sony have good display as well, but the looks are just too old fashioned! There are 3 HDMI slots, and I purchased a HDMI cable as well at a very special price. Immediately after I connected my Dell XPS laptop to the new Samsung LCD TV, via the HDMI cable, the display on the screen was gorgeous! I tried surfing net using the 32-inch LCD screen, and it was a nice experience! I also tried out playing the RMVB videos using Codec Media Player -- watching Ice Age 2 -- and I must admit the quality of the display is just superb! :)

Well, another new toy added to my collection! Need to work harder now to earn more $$$ for my next gadget! ;)

My Indon Maid

2008-02-26T14:14:00.003+08:00

After a long wait, finally today my Indon maid arrived. So this morning went to settle all the final bills with the agency, and then brought her back home. This is her 2nd time to Malaysia working as a maid, and she was lucky to work in Singapore for a year before this - but lucky for me, coz with her experience in Singapore, now she could speak very fluent English! I was surprised too, as I think her English is as good as my relative's Filipino maid!

I hope she could adapt well working in my family, and that she enjoys her stay in Malaysia.

My New Nuvi 200W

2008-02-21T14:39:00.002+08:00

During the Chinese New Year break, I gave my ol' trusty Nuvi 200 GPSr to my father-in-law, because he was just too impressed what the gadget could do to save time and patrol while driving in Johor and Singapore. And he was astonished how accurate the map (from Malsingmaps) was, despite it being slightly outdated (unlocked public map - June 2007). Initially I thought of coming back to KL first before buying a new unit for him, but his gesture at that time showed that he wanted that unit, even though not a new one, very eagerly! And so that gave me a good reason to hunt for another new GPSr after I came back to KL.

At first I was thinking of the more expensive range, like Nuvi 310, 660 or the latest 710. But after consulting a few GPS "sifu" and Google around; my conclusion was that I don't need the Bluetooth, FM transmitter, TTS etc. functions -- all i need is just a simple straight forward GPSr! I thought the previous Nuvi 200 had a tad small screen, and that I hope the new unit I am gonna buy will have a bigger and wider screen.

So I came across the Nuvi 200w, and it has a 480x272 pixel WQVGA TFT screen. I bought it from the previous eBay seller I purchased my Nuvi 200, and he was kind enough to give me another RM50 off.

With this new Nuvi 200w, I personally feel that the cold startup time is very much faster than my previous Nuvi 200. And now with the new unit, the wide screen is so much nicer to look at, and so much clearer. Driving in KL is very much comfortable with a GPS on board! ;)

Plastic Surgeon As Psychiatrist?

2008-01-28T20:08:00.000+08:00

Spotted another amusing typo error (I hope!) at the Putra Medical Centre's website. According to their site, the Consultant Psychiatrist Dr A. Brito is apparently holding a Diploma in Plastic Surgery (UK), instead of a postgraduate degree in psychiatry! ;)

Witch Yoo Hee

2008-01-27T15:55:00.000+08:00

Recently I just finished watching the Korean Drama "Witch Yoo Hee" 《魔女幼熙》. And I must admit that it is really a nice and touching love drama (and who said guys don't like Korean Love Dramas?!) i am particularly attracted to one of its soundtrack. Thought of sharing with you guys here. If you have watched the series, the song is even more meaningful!

Malaysian English?

2008-01-23T22:20:00.000+08:00

This is probably the best English standard you will get from our MMC.

Bomoh

2008-01-23T14:33:00.000+08:00

With the recent shocking news of the missing girl Sharlinie, I really feel that our society's safety is at stake. Today, I read in the Star paper with the headlines "Sharlinie alive and will be found, predicts bomohs".

One thing really makes me ponder a lot: as far as I know, Islam discourages (or is it prohibits?) its followers to believe in bomoh and all those ilmu sihir. Then how come bomohs can come into picture amongst these muslims in our country?

Thaipusam

2008-01-23T14:22:00.000+08:00

Glad that this year's Thaipusam is declared a public holiday for KL and Putrajaya, and not only for Selangor and the other 3 states. This means that my wife has holiday as well. So early in the morning today, my wife and I woke up pretty early and brought our 5 month old daugther to Kota Damansara for breakfast. My brother and sis in law joined in as well. My daughter usually wakes up around 10-11am, but whenever it is a weekend or public holiday, she will automatically wake up between 7 and 8am; without needing us to tell her (as if she could understand us even if we'd told her?!) This is something quite consistent over the past 2-3 months, without fail; even my nanny also realises this fact too! ;)

I really enjoy weekends or public holidays nowadays, not so much like in the past when I enjoyed going for movies or makan; but now I enjoy taking out my wife and daughter for sightseeing, as well as breakfast at places like Jom Bali cafe, Burger King etc...

Relaxing Time

2008-01-13T17:00:00.000+08:00

This is how I relax in between study time. :) How about you?

8GB SDHC

2008-01-13T12:52:00.000+08:00

I bought an A-data 8GB SDHC few days ago, and happy to know that my "new" x50v with WM6 ROM is able to recognise it. And with Softick Card Export installed, I don't need to purchase a SDHC-compatible card reader for the moment. It is really great to now have a total of 10GB in my x50v (8GB SDHC and my old 2GB CF card)! ;)

My Ol' Faithful Axim

2008-01-13T12:41:00.000+08:00

Recently I flashed my ol' Dell Axim x50v with the unofficial A03 WM6 ROM (courtesy of XDA developers), and revived the "brick" into a whole-new gadget!

With the new ROM, I have so far been very satisfied with the speed improvement and attractive GUI - more so with the VGA display of the x50v. The only worry initially was whether the Thinkoutside Bluetooth keyboard driver was compatible with the WM6 ROM - but luckily after installing the driver, the bluetooth keyboard works like a charm - so much so it is better and more stable than during the WM2003SE era! But you must remember to turn off the built-in HID option.

I even tried out the RealVGA for WM6 - although the display is greatly enhanced, especially during surfing net with PIE (or Opera 8.65), the speed is tremendously slowed down. I did a hard reset because I was unable to tweak the setting back to the original one.

The Treo 680 is indeed a great PDA phone, and when we compliment it with the x50v (WM6) - they are the best companions a gadget-freak-doctor can have! ;)

Braun Oxyjet

2008-01-06T21:09:00.000+08:00

Last Christmas, my wife got a gift from her mom - the Braun Oxyjet - it's essentially a powered device utilising high pressure water jet tooth cleaner! It's not any ordinary electric toothbrush, but a fine piece of equipment, to really clean your teeth right to their base!

All this while, I thought I am really satisfied with my rechargable electric toothbrush plus the dental floss, but after I tried on the Oxyjet, I am just overwhelmed by the result it gives! My teeth look so much cleaner than before, and the best of all, you could clearly see food particles dropping out from your oral cavity, as the water jet is in progress - sounds gross, but the after-effect is just marvellous! This is especially useful for those people with malaligned teeth, giving rise to deep seated cavities which could potentially hide food particles which are impossible to be removed during normal toothbrushing.

It has a container to place water in it before you activate the waterjet system; if you like, you could even add a cupful of mouth rinse (eg. Oral B, Listerine etc.) in it -- it feels so much better!

The price could be a little steep for most of us, but if you care much for your teeth, it is a worthwhile investment! You have to try it to believe it! :)

Fall Sick

2008-01-03T23:05:00.000+08:00

This morning I woke up feeling very dizzy and throbbing headache; to make it worse, I even had diarrheoa. I was so lethargic that I couldn't even go to work - gotta sms my consultant to spare me from work today.

Towards the night, I am feeling slightly better, but still feverish. I hope I can get back to work by tomorrow.

Chua Soi Lek In Sex DVD

2008-01-01T19:26:00.000+08:00

What a way to start in 2008. I was utterly shocked to read this in The Star today, in my on call room.

I am the one in the sex DVD, says Chua
LABIS: Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek admitted he is the politician in the sex DVDs
circulating in Johor.
In a press conference here Tuesday, Dr Chua said the girl is his “personal friend”.
He apologised to the Malaysian public, his supporters and colleagues.
He said he did not make the tape himself.
More...

He is quite an out-spoken health minister, and has fought for quite a few benefits for the doctors and paramedics. I wish him all the best, and may luck be with him.

Goodbye 2007

2007-12-30T22:15:00.000+08:00

OMG, time flies. I have not been regularly updating my blog lately, coz ever since I am back here in KL, it's been busy every day working or doing calls; and if weekends come, there are just so many programs queing up in my diary!

2007 has come to an end. Before I wave goodbye to the piggy year 2007, it's nice to recap what I have achieved or done so far:

1. Moved in to my new house
2. Arrival of my cute lil' baby girl
3. My wife entering Master program
4. I am trasferred back from Sarawak to KL
5. My new HOD in Selayang passed away
6. Adjustment disorder in the new working environment
7. Got my new car
8. Hired a nanny who is so caring for my baby
9. Booked an Indon maid but still yet to arrive
10. Meet up with so many old friends, whom I have not seen for years
11. Attended so many wedding receptions in these few months
12. Bought a new Treo680 and still liking it so far
13. Bought a new XPS laptop for my wife - she loves it!
14. Best of all - enjoying all the delicious food in KL, which I didn't have the chance in Sibu! ;)

So, consider it a fruitful year - though in life, there are always ups and downs. Looking at the bright side, I am now near my parents, my siblings, and with a beautiful family I have now, what's more can I ask for.

Wish for 2008 - pass my exam (I dont care how many attempts or years it takes!), and venture into some business to earn more money! ;)

Till then, it's a Goodbye to 2007!

Taxi and Visit Malaysia Year

2007-11-17T12:25:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-11T21:26:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-05T13:38:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-03T10:49:00.000+08:00

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...

Difficult Parents

2007-10-31T12:23:00.000+08:00

Sometimes in Paediatrics, the most troublesome part does not lie in the patients, but in their parents who think they know a lot, but in actual fact, they know nothing or the wrong thing.

Take for example today, my colleagues and I had difficult time explaining the importance of CBD urine sample, as part of the prolonged jaundice investigation. After getting consent to proceed with inserting the CBD -- luck did not side us. It was a hard time looking out for that tiny little urethra opening in that chubby little baby girl. And so, the parents who were outside the treatment room, rushed in and started blaming us for "torturing" their baby -- and they asked "is it necessary to have that CBD afterall?" ... "can't you all just use the urine bag for collection?"

Well, mister and missus, your kid has tried a clean catch urine for the past 4 times, and each time was a lousy catch -- heavily mixed growth urine sample. So how many more times you want to take leave from your boss just to come here to the clinic and learn that you need to repeat your kid's urine sample?

Sometimes, parents think very superficially. When it comes to a sick child, they think the doctors are God, and with a magical touch, their kids will recover without any invasive intervention. They will only want some oral medication -- anti-tussive, anti-diarrheoa, anti-fever, anti-vomit, anti-biotics, anti-viral ... and anti-almost-everything-under-the-sun. But when it comes to a hospital setting, they are defensive, they are suspicious, they are ignorant... some are arrogant.

Blood taking time -- they ask "why are u taking so much blood, my child will be anemic!"
CBD insertion time -- they yelled "hey can't u just ask the nurse to collect the urine using a bottle?"
Resetting IV lines -- they frowned "u all didn't set a good line earlier on, huh?! unnecessary suffer for my kid"
At the A&E -- they asked "why are u not admitting my child?"
But in the ward, less than 24 hours -- they asked "can my child be discharged today?"

It is easy for others to say -- well, who ask you to do paeds? who ask you to take up medicine as a career? you should be more compassionate as a doctor... blah blah blah

But all in all, I think I have not chosen the wrong career. It's just the public education needs to be strenghtened and the public needs more guided education by the medical staff, rather than letting them to read info over the internet.

Finally Into My New House

2007-10-27T22:41:00.000+08:00

After a long one year of preparation and hard work, finally my wife, my baby and I moved into our new house few days ago. Really satisfied with the newly renovated house. With the whole house fully air-conditioned, I think this is one the "wishes" I ever wanted since childhood days -- whenever I stayed in hotels, I had always told myself I wanted my house to be "hotel-like" one day! And now my dream has come true! Breezing cold staying in my house! ;)

And today, me and my wife went shopping at IKEA -- well, to tell you the truth, this is my first time buying things from IKEA. Previously I had always window shopped at this place, but never bought a single thing before. Possibly because last time I didnt have a house of my own, so no point buying things from IKEA -- afterall its a place for home reno and deco stuffs!

The whole afternoon, I spent time with my wife in the family hall -- sitting on the newly bought Rozel leather sofa set -- drinking coffee... hmm, this kinda weekend enjoyment has never been as good before this! And with our nanny taking care of our baby on the second floor -- we were relieved from the parental job for the time being! Haha...

And oh yes, with the newly bought Indesit tumble dryer, there is no more drying laundries in the sun -- we can do the laundry at night, and within 1-2 hours, the clothes will be washed and dried and ready to be used the next day! Wow... marvellous technology.

There are of course so many more things to buy and add on to my new home -- but for the time being I am just overwhelmed by this new home -- just perfect! :)

Another Month Passed By

2007-10-13T09:15:00.000+08:00

Time flies... another month has just gone by. I was so occupied and just so busy over the last one month. My baby, my new house renovation, my new Treo, on calls ...etc. Everyday 24 hours just seemed so inadequate for me.

My baby has grown a lot since birth -- well, otherwise all my hard-earned cash buying her the milk would have gone in vain! (Oh please, don't criticize me why we are not exclusively breastfeeding our baby... haha!) I haven't been weighing her regularly, plotting it on the centile chart -- no, I am not obsessive -- but by my clinical judgment I know she is growing well! ;) She has been rather naughty lately, as she loves to sleep in the day and wakes up in the night (maybe she loves to be on call too!) -- Luckily I managed to persuade my wife's confinement lady to continue as a nanny to my baby girl!

My new house is almost ready, and I will be moving in end of this month. From a simple and original house when we first bought over -- now it has been transformed into a beautiful house with all the renovations in place -- my wife and my dream house! :) I am also currently contemplating to look out for more locum posts to replenish my bank account!

My new Treo 680 has been a great gadget so far. I have no regret getting it afterall. Although there is no WiFi, the GPRS has served me quite well all these days -- I mainly use it during on call time, when there is no case, I will update my Facebook, read some newspaper and run through my RSS feeds using Google Reader. Initially I was thinking of changing to DiGi EDGE, but then after checking on my monthly Celcom bill, the GPRS usage is usually just around 20-30 bucks, so it's still not worth while changing to the 99-unlimited package.

The Treo's keyboard seems a little small, but after nearly 1 month using it, I am so use to it now. I can type pretty fast now. And with Mundu IM installed, I can IM with my family members using GTalk or Yahoo messenger. The other program I use a lot in my Treo is Backup Buddy VFS, which I think is one of the most important software in my Treo -- a few crashes on and off (due to software incompatiblity) has been saved by restoring my whole Treo using the backup software.

Well, there is a lot to write up on my Treo. But probably I will do it when I am free the next round. AS for today and tomorrow, it's holiday for me and the whole nation, and I hereby wish all Muslim friends and bloggers -- Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! :)

My New Toy -- Palm Treo 680

2007-09-04T16:52:00.000+08:00

After contemplating for a long time, I finally give up my existing iPaq 6828 and go for a Palm Treo 680. I am quite sick of the lag and hang of the WM phone. Taking advantage of the recent offer, organized by Palmdoc, I received my Treo 680 today -- delivered by C2O rep (Desmond) to my doorstep.

The first impression I get when I open up the box is -- Treo is beautiful. When I turned on the unit, the screen is gorgeous. Even better than my Palm TX's screen, I dare say. And immediately I try out the camera (coz the iPaq phone camera is driving me nuts -- crazily slow!) -- not bad at all! Of coz I am not expecting a 3.2MP camera picture quality, but I must admit, in normal lighting, the pics taken are very decent and nice!

The only problem I need to overcome now, is the small QWERTY keyboard, which I need some time to get use to. I am so far a stylus-person, and not so use to keyboards -- whatsmore such tiny keys! My thumbs are big.

My wife saw the Treo 680 and she immediately gave me that smile on her face -- must be trying to tell me "can I have one too?" -- and so I told her,"If you like it, you can have it, and I will take your TX." But she said I will get to use it first, and if I dont like it, then she will not hesitate to have it! ;)

Charging the unit now, and for the next 8 hours, I will be eagerly browsing through the internet, to look for any Palm softwares for my Treo -- my new toy!

Happy Merdeka!

2007-08-31T10:08:00.000+08:00

It's 31st of August. Happy Hari Merdeka, Malaysia! :)
I wish all Malaysians a prosperous and fruitful year ahead!

Fatherhood So Far...

2007-08-28T19:37:00.000+08:00

I am supposed to be on call today (if you read my last post), but surprisingly today I received a phone call from a colleague, and he is willing to take up my call today; so that I can enjoy my paternity leave! I am glad to have such understanding and considerate colleague, in this new place of work! :) Thanks pal!

Few days have past, and it's indeed nice to be a father; well, at least every morning, I don't get off bed yawning or lying down a little more just to catch that few more minutes of sleep. Now, I jump off bed, and can't wait to see my cute little daughter -- then snap a few photos of her, in various postures; be it crying, smiling, making funny faces etc. Just awesome! :)

My life is now in a new chapter -- full of hopes! Sometimes people do think that marriage and having children are just burdensome, but for me and my wife, we both think it's a gift; and we will cherish every moment that we have!

My new house is almost done. Can't wait to move in. I will probably hold a house warming party, in conjunction with my baby's one month old celebration! ;) Hope it will be in time!

Arrival Of My Baby

2007-08-24T01:33:00.000+08:00

My baby was delivered last night at 1120pm, at Damansara Specialist Hospital. She weighs 2.7kg, term and Apgar of 9 in 1 minute. The O&G specialist, Dr Guna, who delivered her, was really skillful and slick in his management. I have to thank him, as well as to all the labour room midwives, who were all very nice and helpful. Well, it could be because it's in private, and I am paying thousands for that. But I can tell you that it's well worth paying the money!

The only problem is that, although my paternity leaves start from yesterday (for 7 days), I still have 2 on calls in between which none of my colleagues willing to change with me. So I still gotta go back to on call! That's something very different in terms of working culture here in Klang Valley, compared to where I was back in Sibu! But I think I am adapting quite ok so far -- at least I know that my baby and my wife are fine! Happy enough.

Time Flies

2007-08-09T14:35:00.000+08:00

Time flies. It's been a month, and I haven't been updating my blog. Today, I get pm off after a rather busy on call yesterday.

My work
I am slowly adapting to the new hospital I am in. With great colleagues (so far) and nice specialists, really makes a lot of difference for a newbie like me adjusting to the Klang Valley working environment. I must admit that my "Sarawak sentiment" still follows me in my new work place, but overall, I am getting on quite well here.

My house
My new house renovation is about 70% done so far, and everyday without fail, I will drive past my new house to take a peep at the progress. Very exciting indeed. Today you see the empty balcony, 2 days later it's bricked up and becomes part of the top floor.

My friends
A few friends are getting married end of this year, around October till December. So nice to see all my friends finally settle down with their own soul mates, and move on to the next chapter in life. I wish I can attend each and every wedding reception held, or at least I can send the angpow right to their doorsteps. Congrats all my friends!

My baby
I am eagerly waiting for the arrival of my first baby, sometime in early Sept. Just signed up with CryoCord and that cost me RM4500! ;)
(oh please, I don't want to start a debate on the usefulness of cord stem cell, or why CryoCord and not StemLife... you decide what you want to do with your own money anyway! Haha!)
Although I already know the gender of my baby, I am not going to publish it here! Soon you all will find out.

My gadget
I am hoping that the rumour about HP coming out with new gadgets Sept this year, is true. I am hoping there will be a VGA display pdaphone, which doesnt cost me a bomb! I am really a gadget enthusiast; every now and then, I have the tendency to change a new pda or phone. I am still undergoing "behavioural therapy" by my wife (she is pursuing Psych anyway!)

My car
Currently there is only one car for me and my wife; we have booked a new car months ago, but it will not arrive till sometime in Oct. Good also, because by then my new house will be ready and the new car will be just right on time to come -- otherwise no place to park in my parents' house now!

My dream
Will try to finish up the membership exam as soon as possible.

Arrival Of My Cargo Stuff

2007-07-10T10:06:00.000+08:00

Finally after a long wait of 15 days, the shipping company called me up today to inform me that my belongings from Sibu will be sent to my doorstep later this afternoon.

Coincidentally, I am at home today, not because I knew that the cargo is arriving, but essentially my food poisoning condition is worsening; had been up since 2am purging away and throwing out undigested food particles (non-bilious, no blood seen)! I think by now I have taken in at least 9 packets of ORS to replace the ongoing losses.

My sister is also having the same problem too -- now I start to wonder if it was the sashimi we took at Shogun on Sunday that has caused all this?!

Anyway, I really hope I can get back to work tomorrow; it's really boring sitting at home being a jobless man! ;( And I can't wait for my car to arrive at my doorstep today!

Life In KL So Far...

2007-07-09T11:46:00.000+08:00

Barely one week after reporting duty to my new hospital, I am down with a very bad food poisoning today. Weak I am, but still manage to update my blog in my bed, thanks to the WiFi router (a farewell gift from my Sibu colleagues) and the old-but-faithful laptop.

There are lots of things to learn from my new working environment. Colleagues are so far very nice and helpful. The only one thing that bothers me a lot is the computerised system -- driving me nuts! But what the heck, I still gotta learn up whether I like it or not; and my first call is coming up real soon this week (hope I will be well by then!)

Toll is another issue which I have never encountered back in Sibu. It's really costly to travel everyday, paying not only the petrol, but also the toll fees. My credit card usage has shot up a lot ever since I came back.

Food, on the other hand, has been great in KL. So far, I have been trying out a variety of food, be it Japanese buffet at Shogun, Italian dinner at Pizza Uno and Marco's; Lunch at TGIF, and breakfast at Burger King -- this is something I miss a lot when I was in Sibu. And not forgetting my beloved de-caf Mocha at Starbucks! ;)

I am looking forward to every weekend for a nice dine out with my wife or family members. Now, would my credit card company please increase my credit limit? ;P

Streamyx Speed

2007-07-03T10:46:00.000+08:00

Using the Speedometer from TM website, realised that the Streamyx speed in my area is more than 1Mbps! :) I was using the same package back in Sibu, but the best was only around 760kbps. That's quite a lot of difference especially when it comes to loading YouTube or browsing other online videos.

Great Time

2007-06-30T07:58:00.000+08:00

Really having a great time these few days, after coming back to KL from Sibu for good. Enjoying big and nice meals everyday; movies in excellent cineplexes; parents and siblings to chit chat with... think of it, really should have come home earlier! ;)

Will be reporting to the state health office on Monday to find out which hospital I will be placed in. Hopefully they won't give me hospital faraway from home! Well, till then, keeping my fingers crossed.

And I think I will change my blog title description to "KL Doc in Sarawak, Now Back In KL" !! :)

Good Bye Sibu

2007-06-22T17:38:00.000+08:00

After the horrifying incident lately, I have managed to settle it and revert everything back to normal. And so my transfer letter was processed and given the green light by KKM to transfer me back to Selangor, starting on 2/7/07.

One week of packing up stuff, and yesterday the forwarding agent has come to collect all my belongings. I have managed to also settle all the bills, rental, cancellation of Astro, Streamyx etc... earlier on.

2 days ago, I even gave a lunch for my department colleagues and nurses. Thanks to all the gifts they have given me. Although I felt very sad (nearly tears coming out) during the speech, I could luckily control my emotion and went on till the whole function was over.

Sibu is a fantastic place to be in. Although u might say it's a bit backward compared to where I come from, it is still a nice place to live in and to work as a doctor in the GH. I miss Sibu alot... the kampua mee, the gong-pneah, the less hectic traffic, the nice people around. :)

Nevertheless, it's come a time when everyone needs to move on. I have to come back to KL for good. Have bought a house here, and my wife is already in the Master program.

Maybe someday, I will still go back to Sibu, just to say hello to all my fellow colleagues, nurses and also my most beloved specialists and HOD there in Sibu Hospital!

Good bye Sibu, the town of swan, till we meet again some time in future.

Horrifying Truth (Part 4 - conclusion)

2007-06-22T16:28:00.000+08:00

And so the night before meeting up with Dr Mazlan, I was really depressed and in the state of shock, that I needed to pay back the govt the whole lump sum of money which I was apparently paid over these years! Just calculate and u will know how much the total amount is!

As I was thinking and thinking... I was staring at the computer screen hoping for some clue. Then a bell rang, I fired up FireFox and went into Google to try my luck -- I typed in the doctor's name (which was on the letter I saw that morning), and then hit the enter key.

Holy gracious! There was a doctor by that name, and best of all, his handphone number was also on the search page! Thanks Google! Immediately I called up the doctor and explained to him what had happened -- just sheer unbelievable but he was also very stunned to hear such thing could happen! But anyway, long story short, I felt such a relief that the whole situation was slowly shedding some light at the other end of the tunnel.

The next morning, first thing at 8am, I called up the SB and the officer in charge to explained to them I have found the error which had possibly been unintentional. They were puzzled to hear that as well, and they promised to call me back in a moment after they check with KKM and JPA side.

Moments later, I got a phone call from the officer from KKM human resources, stating that everything seemed to be under control, and let KKM settle this whole mess. They advised me to return to Sibu to resume work, meanwhile they will issue letters to all respective depts to clarify this whole problem.

With this, after being a detective myself for 2 long weeks, I finally found out that it was afterall an unintentional (or was it intentional?) error. At least now that I have resumed my position as a medical officer under KKM. What a narrow escape.

I received an apology letter one week later from KKM.

Lessons I learned from this horrifying incident:

1. Do complete your 3 year compulsory govt service before resigning to Master program, otherwise u will be in deep shit later on.

2. Never trust what the govt sector officers tell u over the phone, u still have to be a good detective urself to find out the truth.

3. It's still hold true in Malaysia, as the saying goes,"It's not what you know, it's who you know."

Horrifying Truth (Part 3)

2007-06-18T11:51:00.000+08:00

I met up with Ismail, and explained the whole thing to him from the beginning till the end; he was speechless initially, but then he delegated this case to the Human Resource section head, ie. Setiausaha Bahagian (SB) to take over this matter, and he did emphasise to the SB that this is of top priority and urgency.

And so I made an appointment the same afternoon itself, skipping my lunch, to meet up with the SB. I was, and in fact I am, very surprised to know that there are still such dedicated and helpful govt officer in the MOH; with smiling face throughout, good patience and knowledgable in her field, and on top of all these -- she had a vast network of contacts which helped me through this shit this time. (I really hope this is herself, and not because I was introduced to her by Ismail...)

She then summoned another officer in charged to bring in my MOH personal file to run through with me the whole scenario. I demanded them to show me the so called "black and white" which MOH received and subsequently cc to the respective depts about my resignation.

To my surprise, the name on the letter of approval of resignation, was NOT my name, although at one glance it actually spelt out like my name!! The IC number was indeed mine and correct though. Date of approval was printed 1/4/05, but then I only did send in my resignation/transfer of service application in mid Feb; with a cancellation letter of my resignation in April. Everything seemed in place, and valid for the resignation (although I doubt MOH and JPA were so efficient in processing my application!)

According to the MOH officer who was summoned in by the SB, that his team had confirmed with JPA and SPA that my name was no longer in their list; and that although there is typo-error in the letter, everyone will follow the IC number instead. Therefore, my resignation is valid.

Stunned I was, and almost accepting the fact and fate that I am no longer in service, and that I have done a full 2 1/2 years of free service for the govt, coz I need to pay back the amount of salary I received over this months! Shocking and depressing it was...

But the SB consoled me that her team could help me out to meet up with MMC personnel to work out something for my 3-year compulsory service. And so an appointment was made to see Dr Mazlan the following day...

To be continued...

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T23:30:00.000+08:00

Amidst my blog to uncover the Horrifying Truth, let's not forget to wish all fathers or fathers-to-be ... a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! :)

Horrifying Truth (Part 2)

2007-06-17T22:59:00.001+08:00

I touched down in KL the very same day I was "suspended from duty", and because it was a very last minute purchase of air ticket, it cost me RM299++ for that Air Asia one way ticket! And with a little delay taking off from Sibu, I reached LCCT almost midnight.

The very next day, I was full of hope that I could meet up with someone in the MOH to settle this issue; but as usual, in Malaysia govt dept, it is never easy to meet up with anyone. So one day just passed by like that.... without any advancement.

And because my compulsory years are "incomplete", therefore I don't comply with the Medical Act article 71, and so I cannot practice in this country. Goodness. My mind was just confused and in the dark... helpless. At one point, I thought of flying to Singapore; and at another time, I thought if UK/Ireland/Aussie was a better choice -- just pure torture.

I couldn't even do locum or join private GP practice, just because I am not a doctor at this point of time; I am neither here (MOH) nor there (private world). Depressed I was. Can't imagine my parents spent their whole fortune including EPF money, just to get me a degree in medicine, but now, I am not better than any uni drop-outs! Jobless was the word at that time.

2nd day... 3rd day... nothing.

Then weekends. Yeah... Great!

Ismail Merican was my only hope that time. Because he is not only the DG of health, he is also the MMC president -- who can resolve my 3-year compulsory service issue. I wasn't too sure if he could resolve my reversal of resignation involving SPA and JPA etc.... But at that very moment of time, I told myself to be strong; and that if my resignation couldn't be reversed, I must find a way out in private, either to join GP practice or go Singapore, leaving behind my expecting wife ...*sob*.

With some contacts with the high ranked personnel in the govt body, I managed to bring this issue, finally, up to Ismail Merican. He was very upset with this issue and promised to see me personally to rectify whatever shit that has happened, or rather he wants to know how could this shit happened in the first place!

But luck was not on my side initially. He was then in Boston for a while, and then came back with function in Sunway, and then hundreds and hundreds of meetings/issues etc. to attend to. I don't blame him, as he is afterall a busy man holding this post. And so, I could not get any appointment with him.

After another few days of waiting patiently, jobless staying at home helping out mum with dishes and gardening, I finally found another high ranked insider with contact, and managed to book a 15-minute slot over lunch time to be with Ismail Merican. I thought that was it! But...

To be continued...

Horrifying Truth (Part 1)

2007-06-17T20:23:00.000+08:00

And so a little about the background story:

Back in 2005, I was indeed invited by UNIMAS to join their trainee lecturer program, and hence I needed to transfer my service years to MOE; so a letter was sent to MOH but the content included a phrase that I needed to resign with permission (in order to do the transfer of service). That time, I hadn't completed my 3 year compulsory service.

However, later I found out that UNIMAS medical faculty and human resources couldn't come to certain terms and conditions (it's a long story, but probably confidential and not suitable for me to publish here), and so I was so angry at that time I revoked everything, including sending another letter to MOH to cancel my resignation .

That time, the MOH person in charged told me that since my case had not been brought up in the MOH meeting, my resignation was actually not processed. So everything went back to normal. I continued to work in Sibu, and I continued to get my monthly payroll, including my yearly increment. Everything seemed smooth sailing, until...

When my wife started her Master program this June, I asked for a transfer back to Peninsular. And this was when the MOH found out that I had resigned according to their record! :O

But the big question mark is: If I had resigned 2 years ago, then how come I didn't receive any letter to confirm my resignation? Not even my hospital or the state office received any black and white on this. But MOH insisted that they had sent out to all the respective depts, including SPA/JPA!! (When you know SPA is involved, you are in deep shit!)

And so, with that phone call, I was immediately "terminated" from work, and I flew back to KL to start looking for clues to solve this mystery.

To be continued...

Long Silence...

2007-06-16T10:19:00.000+08:00

It's been a long silence since I last blogged in April. These past two months had been really happening! And of coz, really busy!

Attempted my part 2 written paper in Singapore, but didn't make it thru this round; official result was out today, and I realise I missed by 1 mark! Sigh, probably will try harder next time! And of coz to pray for more luck next round! ;)

Then came the most horrendous news mid of last month, when my hospital received news from MOH that I was no longer in govt service since 2005 -- ie. resigned! Unimaginable! That news came about, and I was immediately "terminated" from service in my hospital. Everyone from top to bottom were shocked, but clueless. I was myself stunned by the news too!

Stay tuned for the true horrifying tale uncovered...

Upgrade To WM5

2007-04-12T17:55:00.000+08:00

Few days ago, I tried to upgrade my Dell Axim x50v from WM2003SE to WM2005 ROM, and after a heart-pounding 30minutes, my x50v had turned into x51v-like pocket pc!

However, after installing all the necessary softwares which I use everyday, I fired up a few programs, like Spb Finance, Resco Pic Viewer and Pocket Informant; to my disappointment, my PPC now crawled like turtle speed, or probably should I say, snail speed! Can you imagine after clicking on the Resco Pic Viewer icon, it took me 10-12 seconds before I am in the program. That's just way too slow, and totally unacceptable.

After googling around for solution, I am surprised to see that I am not alone; many people have also experienced the similar problem -- slowing down of performance. Looks like the x50v is not meant for WM5 afterall!

And so I decided to revert it back to WM2003SE ROM, which could be downloaded from the Dell Support website. But the disaster came -- I could not flash my ROM properly back into my x50v!! And my PPC hanged after the ROM flashing completed!! True disaster!

Now my itchy hands have caused me a bomb... I was really thinking of immediately purchasing a new x51v, as the PIKOM offer is still on (RM1218 inclusive of delivery), and my x50v warranty was no longer valid. After calling Dell, the support team gave me a very good suggestion -- ie. to renew my x50v warranty, which will only cost RM100; and immediately they can do a one-to-one exchange for me, and I shall get a new x50v!! ;)

Now, I am still waiting for the Dell Warranty Dept to give me a ring, in order to proceed with my renewal of my PPC warranty.

Lesson of the day: When it ain't broken, don't fix it!

RM5 Off Next Pizza

2007-04-12T15:12:00.000+08:00

I was at the Pizza Hut over lunch time, and decided to purchase the Lunch Combo Special. It was clearly stated on their pamplet that if the pizza was not served by 15 minutes, they would give a RM5 off voucher for the next visit.

I started counting down right from the time the bill reached my desk; it was printed 13:40 and I started waiting eagerly for the pizza. The clock started ticking away and there was no sign of my pizza. 1:49pm... 1:54pm... then 1:56pm!! Yesss, the pizza wansn't on my table yet, and I could see the waiters and waitresses were walking around, not busy at all! (I would have given them more grace period if they were busy at that time, but they weren't!)

And so I waved at one of the waitresses and demanded my RM5 off voucher. To my surprise, she passed on to her colleague (possibly a more senior one) and the waiter tried to brush me off by saying he wasn't aware of such thing (although it was CLEARLY printed on their advertisement all over the tables and walls).... I pointed at my iPaq rw6828 on the table, with the Resco Audio Recorder running, and told him,"Sir, u better watch out what u r saying, as i am recording down whatever u r saying right from the beginning..."

I could see his face suddenly turned pale, and with a smile, he told me he would get his supervisor. The pizza came at 2:01pm, and while eating, I could see the whole bunch of waiters and waitresses gathering around the cashier counter, whispering to each other.

Few minutes later, the supervisor came, and politely she apologised to me (meanwhile, I could sense that she knew my gadget was still recording the whole conversation) and she explained to me why the pizza was late -- I told her I was not interested to know how the pizza came late, but just wanted to know if she would honor Pizza Hut's claim about the RM5 off voucher.

She smiled and said,"Of course!" And there she handed over to me a RM5 off voucher.

I think if I hadn't got my PDA doing the magic of turning the waiter's face pale, I wouldn't have possibly got my RM5 voucher (knowing Malaysian mentality -- they would have given me all sorts of excuses!)

I think I have to use my PDA recording feature more often in the future for potential legal actions and to protect myself. I even plan to use it during my conversation with my patients especially sensitive issues are being discussed.

Addendum:
I came across this comment by the public in The Star dated 6/7/2006, whereby the Pizza Hut refused to compensate the RM5 voucher.

Medical Specialty Aptitude Test

2007-04-08T23:13:00.000+08:00

After reading Tauke Fooji's blog about the Aptitude Test he tried out online, I gave it a try as well to see if I was in the correct field so far... And true enough my result turned out to be Paediatrics ranked number one! Well, so looks like this is the field I must continue to strive hard on! ;)

Special High Intensity Training

2007-04-07T10:46:00.000+08:00

Here is another joke I kept in my diskette since 1990! But I think it's a really innovative one! :)

TO: All Employees
From: Management
Subject: Special High Intensity Training

In order to assure the highest levels of quality work and productivity from employees, it will be our policy to keep all employees welltrained through our progrom of Special High Intensity Training (S.H.I.T.). We are trying to give employees more S.H.I.T. than anyone else.

If you feel that you do not receive your share of S.H.I.T. on the job, please see your manager. You will be immediately placed at the top of the S.H.I.T. list, and our managers are especially skilled at seeing that you get all the S.H.I.T. you can handle.

Employees who don't take their S.H.I.T. will be placed in Departmental Employee Evaluation Programs (D.E.E.P S.H.I.T.). Those who fail to take D.E.E.P. S.H.I.T. seriously will have to go to Eployee Attitude Training (E.A.T. S.H.I.T.). Since our managers took S.H.I.T. before they were promoted, they don't have to do S.H.I.T. anymore, and are all full of S.H.I.T. already.

If you are full of S.H.I.T., you may be interested in a job training others. We can add your name to our Basic Understanding Lecture List. (B.U.L.L. S.H.I.T.).

Those who are full of B.U.L.L. S.H.I.T. will get the S.H.I.T.jobs, and can apply for promotion to Director Of Intensity Programming (D.I.P. S.H.I.T.).

If you have further questions, please direct them to our Head Of Training, Special High Intensity Training (H.O.T.S.H.I.T.).

Thank you,
Boss In General, Special High Intensity Training (B.I.G. S.H.I.T.)

3-Minute Management Course

2007-04-07T08:51:00.000+08:00

I have actually read these jokes long time ago, but recently my friend emailed me again, and I think they are worth being posted here to share with those of you who need a quick 3-minute moral education! ;)

Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up
her shower, when the doorbell rings The wife quickly wraps herself
in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you ?800 to drop that
towel." After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and
stands naked in front of Bob.

After a few seconds, Bob hands her ?800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When
she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"

"It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies.

"Great!" the husband says, "did he say anything about the ?800 he
owes me?"

Moral of the story : If you share critical information pertaining to
credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a
position to prevent avoidable exposure

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs,
forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident.
After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed his
hand.

But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun
once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak." Arriving
at the convent, the nun went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm
129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you
might miss a great opportunity

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to
lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie
comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the
Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world."

Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii,
relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply
of Pina Coladas and the love of my life."

Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I
want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small
rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do
nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of
a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be
sitting very, very high up

Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get
to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the
energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the
bull. They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him
enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next
day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the
top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: BullShit might get you to the top, but it won't
keep you there

Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the
bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was
lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to
realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He
lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of
cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

And so, this ends the 3-minute management course. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Good Friday & Kuan Yin Birthday

2007-04-06T11:13:00.000+08:00

Today is 6 April -- a public holiday in Sarawak. It's Good Friday. Co-incidentally, it is also the 19th day of second lunar month, which is the birthday of God of Mercy (Kuan Yin). It's therefore an auspicious day for both Christians/Catholics and Buddhists.

Snack Attack!

2007-04-02T20:57:00.000+08:00

I just came back from KL after a 3-day break. It was rather refreshing, and of coz it was a home sweet home experience.

Took AirAsia on the return flight, and despite some 20-minute delay, everything was rather tolerable. My wife and I didn't take any meal at the LCCT, becoz we arrived almost around the boarding time, so we feared that we didn't have enough time for a meal at the fully packed McDonald's.

We decided to go for the inflight meal, Snack Attack, instead (which is the usual way we fill our tummies during the 2 hour journey!) However, this time, we did a big mistake for not eating something before boarding the flight.

As the stewardess approached us and asked in the usual friendly manner,"Sir, what would u like to have?" And I replied,"Nasi lemak for me, and a fried mee hoon for my wife." But to my horror, she explained,"I'm sorry but there is nothing left, except for biscuits and Mamee vegetarian noodle!"

Gosh! Instant noodle left?! And yet the in flight stewardess just announced earlier that "AirAsia practises no outside food"... they don't prepare enough food for the passengers, and yet prohibit us from taking outside food on board?! WTF?

As I was still hesitating for a few seconds, the stewardess made a funny face, and whispered to me,"It's the last cup of instant noodle, do u still want it?" And right away, with my tummy growling, I responded,"OK! I TAKE IT!" (kiasu!)

And true enough, that was the last cup of noodle. The few passengers after me, were left with only biscuits and cup cakes. No more hot meal available! I could imagine how they salivate looking at me and my wife sharing that hot and nice noodle! ;)

So, the RM5 instant noodle had instantly become the most sought after food on board! What an irony... I still have those similar cup noodle at home, which most of them already approaching expiry date, and yet I have not even touched them! :)

Money For Nothing and Chicks For Free?

2007-03-26T19:29:00.000+08:00

I received an email today, entitled "A Young Malaysian MILLIONAIRE Reveals Internet Secrets". Right away, I could sense that this is another spam... but just out of curiosity, I wanna know what kind of spam this is all about.

Here's the content:

Hi,

Good day to you. My name is JoWong from Selangor. I would like to share a proven money making techniques with you which I have already making money using this techniques!

This concept will help you to make A Full Time Income On The Internet Making Unbelievable Cash In Ringgit Malaysia From the Comfort Of Your Home Using His Time-Tested Techniques That Work in Malaysia!

This young Malaysian millionaire, Jason Tan reveals his secrets on how he makes millions on the Internet working only a few hours per week.

For the first time ever Jason Tan is revealing his never before told secrets.

Jason’s Only In Malaysia Mah has been rated the number one opportunity by numerous online reviews and has been seen in Entrepreneur Magazine.

You too can start making RM100, RM500, even RM1,000+ every day working at home fulltime or part time from your computer.

I have recommended the site to my family and friends and they all have started to receive pouring income.

Wishes You Success In Internet Business!

JO WONG

And so, do you think u wanna give it a try? Money for nothing? Is there such a thing? Sometimes, although we laugh at such spam mails, there are still many gullible people around who fall prey to such scam; and the next thing they will do is to cry for help in front of our infamous Mr Micheal Cheng from MCA! ;)

Car Polish

2007-03-24T13:47:00.000+08:00

It's weekend. And so I decided to "give a treat" to my 1 year 8 month old car. Took her to the nearby newly opened car polishing company for a spa treatment! :)

Ever since I bought this car, it has been always me washing her every week. However, after last week's car wash by those professional people from that car polishing company. I finally decided that the RM10 is damn worth it (plus vacuum and waxing the dashboard!). And I will not do that donkey job myself again. And it is also after their persuation last week, that I decided to bring my car for waxing and polishing today. Cost me Rm150 after discount.

But I must admit one thing for sure -- they did a damn good job. Now my car looks just as new as I first bought it. I just hope when I drive out tonight for dinner, it doesn't rain... or else, my car will be due for another car wash in few days time! ;)

Viagra For Ancestors

2007-03-22T10:15:00.000+08:00

Cheng Beng (tombsweeping festival) is near.

Read this piece of news in The Star today, and thought that some people are really innovative in the money making business nowadays! Imagine viagra (in paper replica form) to be burnt for the deceased ancestors during the Cheng Beng festival, as a wish for satisfying their sex after-life! :) They even sell images of condoms and heavily made-up bar girls.... The usual items the chinese have been burning for their ancestors are things like cars, handphones, pagers, paper money, houses, maids, diamond rings ...etc.

And I wonder if there is any one ever tried burning images of doctors, lawyers and bodyguards for their ancestors; lest they fall sick, need legal advice and extra protection by Gurkha bodyguards (bcoz having big cars, big house and big money, can risk being kidnapped or robbed!)

Having said all that (well, it was just a joke anyway, whatever I said above), becoz of multi-racial and multi-religion in this country, hence there is multi-beliefs from every ethnic and society member. We cannot therefore say this practice is right or wrong; neither can we judge other people's belief using our own perspective or religious belief. I hate people who condemn other people's belief, no matter how weird or funny the practice is.

Everyone has his or her right to believe in whatever, so long as not harming the harmony of the society and that of the world.

Malas?

2007-03-21T20:55:00.000+08:00

On call today.

Got a call from labor room. The MO, with her strong chinese accent "chinglish", said over the phone,"We've a baby out 45 minutes ago, now still blue facies... "

"Gosh... 45 minutes ago?! Is the baby crying now?! How is the baby NOW?!"

"Yeah 45 minutes ago... Still malas... "

"Pardon me?"

"Malas"

Took me few seconds to register,"U mean still weak looking? Any cord round neck?"

"But moving limbs... but malas... yes, loose round neck" (WTF is this description anyway?!)

"Ok...ok, I come now!" hung up the phone and ran to LR.

At times, i do get such referrals, and dunno to be angry or to start laughing.
And why the hell did she call me after 45-long-minutes anyway?! If the baby was flat since birth and no resuscitation was given adequately, it would be already another CP child in the making.

Anyway, the baby was fine, just congested face; observed for 4 hours and sent back to mother.

KKM Search For Doc

2007-03-14T21:01:00.000+08:00

I came across the KKM new website today, and am surprised to find out that there is a search function, which my name could be found on their database! I tried a few more names of my friends, and my wife... all are in their database. And that they are also providing the email add for the doctors of KKM, ending with @moh.gov.my.

So is your name in there too?

World University Ranking

2007-03-05T21:45:00.000+08:00

If you would like to know where our local universities stand in the World University Ranking, you can take a look here. To be more specific looking at the Top 100 universities in south East Asian countries, take a look here. The picture above just illustrates a few universities in Malaysia, with their respective world ranking. It doesn't show the ranking of UNIMAS, and looking through the list at the website, I found out that it's at the 3542nd place.

Differences Between Police and Ah Long

2007-02-28T20:26:00.000+08:00

Read this in China Press, it's really humourous but true to a certain extent! :)

Bye Bye Palm TX

2007-02-24T13:06:00.000+08:00

My sister called me up yesterday begging me if I could give her the Palm TX, as she needed a PDA badly. She has been using my O2 mini but she thinks that Palm OS is easier to use and it overall serves better as a PDA! Well, another Palm lover!

And so as a brother, how can I say no. Now that I have so many softwares installed in my Palm TX, and that it has become my laptop replacement, which I blogged about here... Now I have to painstakingly give it to my sis!

So now comes the important question: should I go get a new TX (since I love it so much now)? Or should I purchase a Treo 680 as a convergent unit?... but my iPaq rw6828 is not even 3 months old! Gosh... tough decision! :(

Probably I will stick to my old Dell x50v again temporarily, while waiting patiently for any new and cheap (dream on!) gadget coming up next!

Thumbs Up... Dell!

2007-02-24T12:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I realised that my PC keyboard was not as responsive as it used to be. Whnenever I hit on the "+" or "=" button, it took me at least 5-6 hits before the screen would display it. I knew something was wrong about the keyboard. Without delay, I went to town during lunch time to look for a cheap keyboard replacement. And to my surprise, keyboards sold here are pretty expensive; and the tactile feel wasn't great too.

Disappointed, I thought I would call up Dell about this problem. At first i didn't know that even the keyboards and peripherals are included in the 3 year warranty. And so Dell made my day! :)

I called them up at around 2pm, and they were so helpful. No nonsense. They promised to send the replacement keyboard on Monday by noon. But today, at 11am, I got a phone call from the local courier service company -- my new replacement keyboard is here!!

And now at 12:30pm, I am already updating my blog using the new keyboard!

Thumbs up to Dell. You will continue to have me as your loyal customer.

Back To Sibu

2007-02-22T13:42:00.000+08:00

Time flies whenever it is a holiday! :(
Today I am back in Sibu, and because AirAsia is full, I have to take MAS again... stopover Kuching for 1 hour. It's been a while since I last visited Kuching. The airport is so nicely built that I dare not even take photos of Sibu Airport and place them in my blog! ;)

This is a spectacular view from up above the sky. U can see the small little vessels and ships cruising elegantly beneath.

This is also another view of the Rejang River... something we don't get to see often (or at all?) back in West Malaysia!
Well, time to get back to work tomorrow.

CNY At In-Laws' House

2007-02-20T13:30:00.000+08:00

My wife and I flew down to JB on day 2 of CNY for celebration at my in-laws' place. We took MAS as AirAsia was already fully booked! We had a few nice meals at local restaurants, and I think I really put on weight after this trip. And this year is also the first year I need to give out angpows... sometimes it is so malu because forget to give angpows to the kids around (not used to it mah!)

Here are the nice koi fish which have grown so fast since I last saw them months ago! My father-in-law is a koi lover, and so there is this little pond in his house which he will sit by it to read newspaper... truly relaxing! :)

CNY Eve Dinner

2007-02-17T13:24:00.000+08:00

Every year my family will have the Chinese New Year Eve dinner at a Chinese restaurant. However we always think that the environment is noisy and over-crowded. The food quality is almost always compromised because of over-worked waiters, waitresses and the chefs. Therefore, this year my family made a change, and we had our reunion dinner at the San Francisco Steak House at Damansara Kim area. The environment was so cosy and elegant, and the food was excellent! We really enjoyed it so much this year!

Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T13:20:00.000+08:00

It's Valentine's Day. My wife and I had a great meal at the Sushi Tie Japanese Restaurant. It was a nice dinner! :)

iPod and Stethescope

2007-02-11T15:58:00.000+08:00

What wonders can these two gadgets do when paired up together? See the pic above which I found at DoctorGadgets, and you'll know!

Frankly, I really wish that all medical schools should equip with this similar "toy" in order to let the medical students appreciate what the cardiologists hear! I really had a tough time back in medical school years during cardiology posting! ;)

Doctor Next Door

2007-02-09T20:32:00.000+08:00

My next door new neighbours just moved in about 1 month ago, and they are actually a few bachelors working as timber camp supervisors (that's why the company pays them to stay in a double storey house!).

Few days ago, I got a ring at the doorbell, and to my surprise, one of them approached me and asked for my help to look at his colleague's body rash. He was standing behind the fence dividing our houses, and there I could take a clear look at the rash, and also to ask a few questions to elicit the clinical history. Then I gave him reassurance that he was just having a heat rash, and nothing more.

Before I left, I was curious and asked them how come they knew I was a doctor. And the answer was really out of my expectation -- one of them told me that when the house agent approached them to introduce this house, she told them that it was a good choice to take up this house, because their neighbour is a doctor, and if they have problem, or emergency, they can get help fast!!

WTF... how could the housing agent gain the business, at my expense! I wonder whether she told them also that opposite my house stays a high rank police officer, and that if they get caught for something, they can ask him to help bail them out?!

Terrible!

Water Purifier

2007-02-09T20:26:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a while since I last "backwash" my water purifier at home. I installed the water purifier since I moved in to this new home in Sibu. Although it cost me Rm2000+ to install it initially, I have no regret at all everytime I cleanse my purifier monthly. Looking at the two photos, before backwash and after backwash, one can easily claim that the RM2k is afterall worthwhile!!

My Laptop Replacement

2007-02-09T19:55:00.000+08:00

With the recent discussion about how Palm is dead in the PDA market, I feel rather sad to know that one day this might come true (if only Palm starts doing something to buck up its reputation). Nevertheless, I have recently move back to using 2 devices -- one PPC phone, just for phone and SMS functions; and the other one, the Palm TX mainly for PDA usage!

Pairing up with my Thinkoutside Bluetooth Keyboard, I think the Palm TX makes a good laptop replacement. There are two softwares I feel that as Palm users, they come top into the MUST HAVE list --
FontSmoother (latest version 2.06);
CJKOS (latest version 4.63)

Although they seem to cost a lot (coz in USD!!), they are the most worthwhile softwares in my TX now! I can have crystal clear and sharp display -- almost like VGA screen; and also I can read online chinese newspapers like SinChew and China Press.

Now that Palm is back to life again, I wonder I should move on to get the Treo680... or should I just keep to the TX and iPaq rw6828 combination! So far quite happy...

Gamat?

2007-01-26T21:19:00.000+08:00

I came across a patient of mine -- a 12 year old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia -- who is undergoing chemotherapy at the moment, drinking something from a cup; out of curiosity, I asked her what she was taking, and to my surprise, she showed me this shampoo-like bottle containing 350ml of a liquid named Gamat Emulsion! I have never heard or seen this health product before, and quickly I did a search using Google, and the first result in the search page showed Gamat products by Healwell Pharmaceuticals (M).

Dose/Direction
1 or 2 tablespoon, twice a day. For children below 12 years old, 1 or 2 teaspoon, twice a day.
Advisable to take before meal.

Advantage
A unique health supplement naturally rich in protein, mineral, omega-3, mucopolysaccharide and vitamin which proven to stimulate cell regeneration, enhance body well-being and accelerate external and internal wound healing.
Helps in body refreshing, wound healing, regain healthy muscle, bone, nerves and skin.
Restore energy, boost immunity and reduce cholesterol level.

Cost
West Malaysia : RM59.00
East Malaysia : RM66.10

I initially thought of stopping her from taking it; but later I tried to put myself in her position, and I thought I might have done the same too in desperation.

HFMD New Treatment?

2007-01-16T18:45:00.000+08:00

Post call today. During lunch time I drove to town with my wife for a nice meal. As we were heading back to the carpark, I came across this advertisement glued to the wall of a shop lot. I really hope that this is not one of the contributing factor to the many deaths of HFMD outbreak in Sarawak months ago! The public needs to be educated (again and again...) that all this crooks (I dont even think they are fit to be called bomoh) in town in search for "quick money" will do whatever to gain the monetary benefit, and yet the lives of those HFMD patients are at stake if no proper supportive management given promptly.

Animax

2007-01-06T00:37:00.000+08:00

Have been very addicted to the recent Animax Astro @channel 25. Me and my wife love animation movies a lot, especially those from Japan (well, mostly are from Japan anyway!). I have been watching the God (?) Save Our King! (kyokara_maoh)... very nice and interesting animation movie to watch! Another one which I have great interest in is Dragon Ball Z, though an old movie/comic, I am still very fond of it!

Turtle Speed (Internet Outages)

2007-01-02T15:42:00.000+08:00

With the recent internet outages due to the Taiwan earthquake, may Asian countries including Malaysia have been affected greatly. Despite the effort of restoring the internet connection, there is still obvious slowing down of the internet surfing experience.

Many sites which I must go to everyday, eg. PalmAddicts, myPDAcafe, TheStar and GMail are no longer affected, very fast connection indeed; however, sites like Yahoo Mail, LimKitSiang blog and emedicine are still connecting at turtle speed, most of the time showing signs of "Time Out in Connection" (really frustrating!).

I really hope that the internet connection will regain its usual speed ASAP; as internet is one of the daily necessities nowadays, no longer a luxury thing like in the past.

Happy New Year 2007!!

2007-01-01T00:01:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year 2007! May this year be a prosperous and harmonious year! :)

Last Day Of 2006

2006-12-31T16:50:00.000+08:00

Time flies. It's the last day of 2006. Deja vu... I thought I said the same thing last year too! ;)

Covered A&E for the morning shift, as there are many people taking leave for the Xmas and New Year season. Well, my department is famous for being the "kind-hearted" one, and so if any dept needs relieving, the Pengarah knows who to contact! So much so that my own department is down with scarce of MOs, and yet we are still covering other department or districts. Can u imagine we also need to cover Bintulu Polyclinic? Just imagine spending hours of bus ride to Bintulu, and work at the polyclinic; whereas in actual fact, the Bintulu Hospital can just easily fork out 1-2 MOs from their side to cover, just minutes away from the PK? So, talk about efficiency in the govt service!

Well, enough of my ranting. It's the last day of 2006, I should be recollecting all the nice memories of this year long, and summarize them here... What have I achieved this year?
1. Passed my part One exam
2. Got married and had a nice honeymoon trip on cruise
3. Visited Taiwan during the CNY holiday
4. Bought a new house
5. Covered 3 districts (namely Daro twice, and Kapit once)
6. Helped out in the Old Folks' Home
7. Attended Paediatric Refresher Course
8. Fully sponsored trip to Sabah by a drug company (for cardiology update)
9. Bought a new PDA phone (iPaq rw6828)
10. Bought a new Dell over-killed desktop
11. And last but not least... my first Blog on April Fool's Day! :)

Many more, but I think this year is a really fruitful one. I cherish every moment throughout the year, and I think I am satisfied and happy with 2006! What about you guys then?

Rainy Season

2006-12-29T15:22:00.000+08:00

It has been raining a lot lately, and the worst fear is that my laundry won't dry in time, and load after load coming its way; no more place to hang my clothes!

There is a very good mobile site for weather forecast -- Weather Underground. So far it has been pretty accurate for my place here in Sibu. I hardly find a weather site which includes Sibu; most of the time it will be the major cities in Malaysia, like KL, Penang, JB, Kuching and KK.

As we can see in the forecast, there will be rain everyday from now on... let's hope there won't be a flood here though!

My Next Dream Car

2006-12-28T20:28:00.000+08:00

This will be my next dream car in list... :)
Seriously, I love Toyota cars!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T15:24:00.000+08:00

It's 25th Dec again.... Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! :)
Can I have a light saber this year as my Xmas present?

DongZhi

2006-12-22T12:05:00.000+08:00

Today is DongZhi (冬至), and it's raining heavily here in Sibu. According to the ancient belief, if it rains on DongZhi, there will be no rain during Chinese New Year! :) Looks like quite true for the past few years I observed.

According to Wikipedia, the traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms and DongZhi is 22nd solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 270° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 285°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 270°. In Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around December 21 (December 22 East Asia time) and ends around January 5.

In China, Dongzhi was originally celebrated as an end-of-harvest festival. Today, it is observed with a family reunion over the long night, when pink and white tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) are eaten in sweet broth to symbolise family unity and prosperity.

I am really craving for tangyuan... but it's hundred miles away from home. Mom, could you please courier the tangyuan to me? Any of you enjoying the tangyuan at the moment? Nowadays, there are many types of tangyuan with different flavours; I still prefer the traditional ones, pink and white, plain tangyuan cooked in sweetened juice! :)

Busy Day

2006-12-20T19:57:00.000+08:00

Post call today... my brain could barely work properly. But Murphy Law always holds true in my department; when the rain was in the midst of flooding Johor, the workload was almost toppling all the MOs in my department today! To compound that further, one of our MOs had a bad accident yesterday while going home (raining day, slippery road, eyes ptosis), and so gotta take emergency leave to settle the police and insurance thingy (luckily he escaped unhurt, that's more relief!) And another MO down with very bad flu, but few days away from her wedding day (hence, the importance to be resting at home and minimize work stress! Need to be well prepared for the BIG day... so she takes emergency-cum-sick leave)...

And when you think it should be ok to have just adequate MOs to cover each ward, more premature babies will come out; with 4 in one morning, 3 of them intubated at birth for RDS. Then, there have to be another 2 duodenal atresia with one of them Down syndrome and severe polycythemia! Hell... one MO to do the venesection, while another one arranging for the Paed Surgeon to fly in for the op. Then another 2 severe pneumonia patients just have to arrive at the same time at A&E, and so another MO although not on call, gotta rush to intubate them at A&E.

You think that's all? Well, not quite... just at lunch time, another baby sent in from postnatal ward for exchange transfusion... but heck, no fresh whole blood! (rather common happening in this place) and so gotta reside to using packed cell and FFP.

Lunch at 4pm. Most of us nearly pengsan... including the specialists, even clerking the cases which continuously pouring in! Luckily I am happy to have such a non-calculative team, and the on call doctor is the luckiest today to have so many helpers to ease off her workload.

She promised each of us a kari-pap tomorrow! :) Shall see...

Are PDAs Overpriced?

2006-12-19T11:25:00.000+08:00

I was reading the blog by Dr Chan ("Doc") about PDAs being overpriced nowadays, and that the question is "Is the PDA more useful than a laptop?"

I still think that as a doctor working in a hospital, PDA is still one thing which is indispensible. Can't live without, in other words. For me, at least, a laptop is not quite that essential, becoz whatever I need to do at home, I will use the PC desktop, then save the whatever files in my handy drive (mostly only Word doc, Powerpoint kinda files) to be used in hospital the next day.

As for a PDA-phone, I know it's expensive, so for those of us who can't afford one, I would recommend to get a basic handphone -- just for phone feature; and then to get a cheaper PDA (probably without WiFi) like Zire 72 or a second hand palm TX for its full PDA functions.

PDAs are very essential nowadays. There are so many things we can do with it. It used to be just a PIM diary; but now, it has grown to be a laptop replacement. With a wireless keyboard attached to it, like the ThinkOutside Bluetooth KB I have, my new PDA phone (the rw6828) has largely become my mini-laptop!

Twelve Ways To Mark Up A Book

2006-12-18T21:55:00.000+08:00

Came across this interesting article, although many of us are already practicing it, I still think it's nice to put it systematically in bullet form.

Twelve Ways To Mark Up A Book

Books are a fantastic way to gain knowledge. With books, one can learn new techniques, gain new skills, and learn from role models who have been to where one wants to be and can show the way. There are many different ways to read books and just as many ways to remember their salient points. One of the most effective ways to get the most out of a book is to mark it up. There is no standard way to mark up a text, but below are a few ways that students have found effective in marking up a textbook so that one can see the important points quickly, make it more memorable, and make it easy to pick up years later and re-acquaint oneself with the major concepts.

What Not To Do

Don’t use a highlighter – Quality marking isn’t done with a fat-tipped highlighter. You can’t write, which is an important part of marking the text, with a large marker. Get yourself some fine point colored pens to do the job.
Don’t mark large volumes of text – You want important points to stand out. Although we all know that everything can’t be important, we often highlight all of the text on the page. You want to find the 20% of the text that is important (remember Pareto?) and mark that.
Don’t take the time to mark up items that you read on a daily basis – (e.g., magazines, newspapers), unimportant or irrelevant items.
Don’t mark the obvious – Don’t waste time marking up things that are already in your knowledge-base or skill set. If you already know it, you don’t need to mark it.

What To Do

Mark the text with a pencil, pen, or, even better, colored fine-tipped pens – Remember, you are not highlighting, you are writing.
Know your preferences – Some of you have an aversion to mark directly in the text. Books are precious things to many people and they want to protect them from damage and even the wear and tear of everyday use. If this describes you, grab some Post-It brand notes and do your marking and writing on them. This also gives you the advantage to move and reorganize them should you see fit. As for me, I like to mark directly on the page. I find that my books become more valuable to me when I add my contributions to the information that they contain.
Underline the topic sentence in a passage – Remember, each paragraph has one topic sentence. The rest is supporting information and examples. Identify the topic sentence to find it easier.
Use codes – Flag text with codes (e.g., Question marks to indicate disagreement, Exclamation marks to note agreement or to flag a strong statement, triangles to indicate a change in thinking, or a star for the topic sentence).
Write the passage topic in the margin as a reminder – Just a word or two.
Write questions in the margin – When you don’t understand something or when you don’t understand the author’s thought process on a particular topic, write the question in the margin as a reminder to settle the question.
Circle new and unfamiliar words – Look them up as soon as possible.
Add your or other author’s perspectives in the margins – Other authors have surely written on the same subject. What do they say? Do they agree with this author? If not, what do they say. Add these ideas in the margins.
Add cross-reference notes to other works on the same topic – Use the author’s name and a shortened version of the other book’s title.
Add structure to a narrative text – Use 1, 2, 3, 4…or an outline format I. A. B. C. 1, 2, 3, a, b, c…to add a structure that you understand.
Draw arrows to related ideas – Or unrelated ideas…
Summarize – Add your own summary after the last paragraph. That simple exercise will crystalize your thinking on the topic. If you can’t write it, you don’t understand it.

Extras

Post-It Brand Notes are great ways to also mark locations within books, much like bookmarks do. With Post-It Brand Notes, however, you can mark on them so you can see where you are turning before you start flipping through the pages. One can also use colored paper clips to identify pages or chapters that are important.

Free KFC Treat!

2006-12-18T19:23:00.000+08:00

Christmas is near. KFC surprised my ward today with a free meal for everyone -- patients, patients' parents (coz it's Paeds ward!), nurses and not forgetting the doctors too!

Each of us got a 6-piece nuggets, and a cup of regular sized Milo Ais! Although by the time I received my share, the nuggets were already cold, and the Milo was already warm (ice melted!) -- should be the reverse though! ;) Nevertheless, I still enjoyed eating it together with my oncology patients! Nice moment!

Thanks, Colonel Sanders!

No Teh Tarik In Space

2006-12-18T14:05:00.000+08:00

Felt better and more relieved after reading this piece of news update in the Star today:

No space for teh tarik

MOSCOW: There will be no teh tarik-making or roti canai-tossing experiments in space for our Angkasawan when he blasts off in October.
Instead, he will carry out at least 10 laboratory tests for serious research designed by 10 universities, institutes of higher education and government science agencies.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis said the experiments were important as “they will have an important impact on our local food and medical industries”. ...more

I really hope that the multi-billion ringgit spent in this space project will bring progress and advantage to the nation. Frankly, I don't mind who the astronauts are, as long as they are chosen wisely and carefully under the stringent criteria. Well, hopefully it's another round of Malaysia Boleh! :)

Voluntary Service For The Old Folks

2006-12-16T23:21:00.000+08:00

Today, it's me and my wife's turn to carry out the voluntary medical consultation at the Sibu Benevolent Society, for the old folks. This is a monthly basis voluntary service that my hospital is involved. There will be 2 doctors sent to the center every month, and will review all the old folks there. We mainly help them in medical problems, and to pick-up any new and acute illnesses, followed by necessary intervention/medications or referral to the hospital. Most of them are actually healthy generally and young at heart, but just for some reasons, they end up there. It's always nice to lend them your ears, once a month, and let them vent out all the stories, anger and frustrations... but of course, the saddest story is always about them being left there by their kids, who have grown up and moved to other places; totally forgotten about their aging parent(s)! Sigh, just can't imagine some of the human beings are so cold-blooded afterall!

Well, I look forward to going there again the next round, probably next year (rotational basis). Doing something good today -- Good Karma! :)

Another Convert!

2006-12-15T22:18:00.000+08:00

Just realize that another colleague of mine (working in medical dept) finally bought a Palm TX for herself. Another convert, I say. Previously she was one of those who thinks that having a PDA is something useless and unnecessary. But now, look who's talking ..."Wow, having a PDA is really nice and make life easy!" That's what she said to me today!

Hmm... Having PDAs nowadays are not geeks anymore; this is exactly what was written here in PalmAddict today -- "We Are Not Geeks Anymore". Having said that, in my place of work, PDAs are still scarce, although there has been "improvement" for the past 3 years (more and more people are being "converted" to PDA geeks!). Now my role here is getting tougher, when it comes to the need to teach those newbies step-by-step to PDA usage. Probably I should conduct a half-day course in hospital seminar room, for every PDA newbies to grasp some basic in handheld knowledge. Cost is RM50 per person, how about that (better pay than doing a night's call)? ;)

Incompetent Public Health Service? Or Exaggerated Story?

2006-12-15T20:21:00.000+08:00

Read this in LimKitSiang blog today:

This is Zara’s terrible story of an incompetent, unprofessional and even inhumane civil service:

On the 13th of December 2006, at approx 1.30pm a road
traffic accident involving a driver driving a dark
blue proton saga and a highway road sweeper of Malay
descent, male, approx mid 20s (the road accident
victim).

The location of the accident was about 150 – 200
meters from the Batu Tiga toll booth, elite highway in
the direction towards KLIA.

I chanced upon this accident which had just happened
while on my way back to work (Ampang via KESAS).

As I approached the accident site it seemed the victim
was already dead, the driver who had knocked him down
was standing near-by and nobody dared approach to lend
assistance to the victim, almost as if this was one
time were an invasion of privacy was taboo.

I stopped my vehicle and approached, upon examining
the accident victim I found him to be still alive but
heavily concussed, his pupils were completely dilated.

Suddenly the victim grabbed my hand and tried with all
his might to raise himself to his feet. I tried to
calm him and asked by-standers if an ambulance had
been called. I was told it had not.

In a firm tone I told the driver of the car that hit
the victim to call for an ambulance. He dialed 999, it
rang until it could not ring anymore. He rang again,
again it was not answered, he rang again and passed
the phone to me. Finally someone answered (a man).

I informed him that I am reporting an accident a few
hundred meters away from the Batu Tiga Toll in the
direction of KLIA. He asked me my phone number and my
name and which hospital was nearest. I gave the info
and added that the nearest hospital to deal with this
kind of trauma is probably Klang.

At 1.57pm I received a call from 03 3371 7989 the
ambulance control center at Klang Hospital. The guy in
charge of the control center asked to speak to me and
asked for the location of the accident, which I gave
adding that the victim was dying and that this was an
extreme emergency.

The guy manning the control center did not know my
location, so I repeated it clearly and concisely. It
seemed that he needed to understand it for himself
otherwise he could not pass on the information and
dispatch the ambulance. It was a frustrating
conversation. I repeated the details of my location
and he asked me if I was sure that Klang was the
nearest hospital. I repeated firmly, yes!

I told him the injuries of the victim hoping he would
feel the urgency, instead he wanted to know whether
“dia jatuh motor ke…?” I told him politely that his
question is completely irrelevant and hurry up with
the ambulance plus I have to hang up and attend to the
victim.

I called back at 2.06pm to ask if an ambulance had
been dispatched. The same guy told me “belum”. He
asked me the same questions…I answered them.

I warned him that the next time I make a call will be
to the Menteri Besar’s office to complain about his
shoddy professionalism, so he’d better send out that
ambulance immediately. I called Salamat Dollah at
2.08pm and he helped call Klang Hospital on my behalf
to request they send out an ambulance immediately.

I waited and called the emergency control center at
Klang Hospital at 2.36pm and asked the same guy if an
ambulance had been dispatched, same answer, “belum”.

He requested me to repeat the accident location again
which I did. This time I told him that he need not
understand it just write it down and give it to the
ambulance driver along with my hp number.

I waited again. The victim was rolling in pain on the
road, his head had a gash about 10cm long on the back
of his head, the skin on his head was beginning to
peel off. His left leg was completely broken and
hanging by the flesh but the main artery was not
severed, he was not loosing much blood. His workmate
was cradling him in his arms and asking him to
mengucap kalimah syahadah.

I tried to stop further damage to his left leg by
securing it to his right leg. I told the few people
around that he is going to die if we don’t get him to
hospital. Everyone was reluctant to put him in there
car, all kinds of excuses… ada barang, kotor la,
berdarah la… Meanwhile the victim was grabbing on to
my clothes and body in pain, unable to talk possibly
due to his head injury.

Finally the driver who knocked him down allowed us to
use his car to send the victim to the hospital. But he
was too shaken-up to drive. Another gentleman offered
to drive but did not know how to exit the Elite
highway to get towards Klang Hospital. I asked him to
follow me and so we drove off as fast as we could head
towards USJ - Federal Highway – Klang. We had to go
through so many toll gates, some paying, some after
explaining briefly, let us through.

On the Federal Highway despite our attempts to notify
motorist that we were in a state of emergency many
blocked our path and only relented to give way when I
practically sat on my car horn.

We arrived in Klang and I called the emergency control
center guy for directions to the hospital. I was by
this time quite distressed and pronounced the name of
the hospital wrongly. The guy in the control center
told me there was no such hospital in Klang, so I said
to him. “Have you sent out an ambulance to the Batu
Tiga toll accident site ? No, right? So since you
cannot understand were the accident is we are sending
the victim to you. This is an emergency can you give
me directions to your hospital or not??”

Finally he did.

When we arrived at Klang Hospital I had a hard time
looking for the staff to bring a trolley to remove the
victim from the car. I asked for assistance from two
nurses but did not receive a response. I took a
trolley and pushed it to the car, suddenly a hospital
aide appeared, then another, as we tried to remove the
victims body from the car, it was then that the
co-worker who had been cradling the victim in the car
said that he has stopped breathing.

The hospital aides rushed the victim into the A&E room
and I followed, as he was wheeled in there was no
immediate response from the doctors, it was obvious
this young man with his whole life ahead of him had
died in the car on the way to the hospital.

I was so angry, my words were simple –
“Kecuaian pihak hospital menghantar ambulance membantu
mangsa ini telah mengecewakan rakyat.”

The aide asked me to be calm. How could any human
being be calm when face with such stupidity and total
lack of regard for human life? The aide showed me the
IC and asked me to confirm if this was the victim. I
confirmed. I briefly saw the name Mohd Yusry and his
age was somewhere in his mid- twenties.

As I walked away from the A&E room in disgust I saw
the control center. A guy was sitting in it with a
female nurse looking at a computer (very close and
comfy).

I approached him and asked if he was the person who
took my calls, he knew my name and I asked him for
his, he declined. I asked him why he did not dispatch
an ambulance to which he replied something brash.

I asked him if he was happy as the victim was
unnecessarily dead and that I am going to ensure that
his lackadaisical attitude to his job was brought to
the public attention. I asked him for his name again
along with the nurse who was sitting next to him
“playing” with the computer. He refused to give it to
me. Feeling very frustrated I called Salamat Dollah
and informed him that regretfully the road accident
victim a young Malay man had died in the car on the
way to the hospital and that no ambulance had been
dispatched.

This is not the first time I have called for an
ambulance and used the 999 services. Every time I have
called for an ambulance it has never arrived, never.
Why??

This is the first road accident victim I have helped
who has actually died. Everyone else I have helped
before this has survived.

THE ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED ARE:

1) The strategic location of a free government
hospital able to deal with serious road accident
trauma in Shah Alam (densly populated area with much
traffic activity).

and/or

1.1) Emergency response centers created where the
Balai Bomba have special ambulances and police squad
cars for dispatching purposes only to accident /
incident locations and to the nearest hospital / balai
police (ambulances need NOT be parked permanently at
hospitals).

2) Road signs giving clear and proper directions to
hospitals (there are hardly any such signs).

3) Special Emergency Exits through toll gates. And
signs declaring their existence + a phone number to
call ahead so that they can be opened.

4) The name of the Highways, Elite, Kesas, Federal etc
clearly advertised so that road users are able to
identify their location under emergency circumstances.

5) Professionally trained personnel with various
languages who have true empathy and value the human
life, manning emergency response centers. Who
consistently answer calls on the first or second ring.

6) An emergency station located at the emergency
parking lot with a big sign above it (similar to the
car jockey service at hotels) to receive patients.
That is manned 24 hours a day, never ever left
unattended.

7) An ISO reponse time from the time you send out an
sos call to 999 you will receive the assistance you
need within 15 min.

These are my simple suggestions. Life is precious and
should be preserved above all else. Without regard for
one another what kind of country are we leaving for
our children to inherit ??

Is this yet-another-incompetent-govt-service highlighted in the media? Or is this just an exaggerated story?

I personally think that there should be two sides of the stories heard, and a thorough investigations done to reveal the truth; if there is negligence in the A&E service, by all means, sack that "dungu" receptionist! However, if this is not the truth, I wish the media will clarify this to the public, and that the businesswoman Zara should apologize to all of us -- this indirectly reflect how bad the public hospital service is, and since I am one of the KKM employees, I am indirectly affected too.

I need to know the real truth, all truth and nothing but the truth...

My New 6828

2006-12-09T10:28:00.000+08:00

Hoo-ray! Just received my long awaited iPaq rw6828, replacing my O2 mini. Since my brother got it at a cheaper price (thanks to HP's CAP pricing), and therefore I only paid RM1888 for this brand new unit. So far tested out for one day, and I must admit that the iPaq is much better than the O2 mini. Whether be it the built, the aesthetic look, the speed, the screen or the weight! Everything iPaq wins hands-down!

I bought a anti-glare screen protector from Brando, and it is really working as advertised! Thanks Brando. And I got myself a 2GB Apacer Mini SD from Lelong, and so far it is fast and stable.

Well, let's have a quick look at the pros and cons of this rw6828.

Pros:
1. Light weight
2. Gorgeous screen!
3. Nice plastic screen cover
4. Classy
5. Speedy
6. Stable
7. No issue on stylus drift
8. ROM upgrade is easy
9. Speakers in front (hence, louder and stereo effect)
10. Good and fast WiFi connection
11. It's an iPaq!

Cons:
1. Plastic-feeling (compared to O2 mini)
2. Camera is awfully slow!
3. Mini-SD slot (why can't they just make a normal SDIo slot?)
4. Slightly thicker compared to O2 mini
5. So-so battery life...
6. Ringtone is soft!
7. Need to remove stylus first, before opening up the plastic screen cover (otherwise it will block the way of the stylus silo)
~~8. Not fully compatible with my iTech Clip II Mini bluetooth headset~~ --> Correction: Its FULLY compatible with my iTech Clip II Mini!

Well, but overall, if I rated the O2 mini 4 out of 5; this babe I'll give her a 4.9 out of 5! :)
No regret having it!! Love it.

Spam Mail

2006-12-05T14:49:00.000+08:00

Saw this news in the Malay Mail's headline yesterday:

"Cheap prescription drugs on-line - BAD MEDICINE"

And I am pretty shocked to know that there are actually people who purchase pills like Viagra or other so-called-health-products over the internet! I always think that people will just swear or curse whenever they see such spam mails in their mailbox, and the next action will be deleting all of them. I have never opened up any of the spam mails or mails from people whom I don't know, in fear of getting unnecessary viruses into my PC. And furthermore, I think it's a waste of time looking at those spams -- I seriously think these people who spam, should get on with a more meaningful life, as life is short and precious; seize the day, and make it an extraordinary one.

Another Myth...

2006-12-04T14:59:00.000+08:00

After blogging about Human vs Cow, here is another myth greatly affecting majority of the Chinese population here. They think there is a NEED to feed all newborns with plain water (sky juice) -- preferably alternating with each milk feeding; for they fear that if they don't give them plain water, and just give them solely milk, the babies will get dehydrated and become heaty! Then the consequences will be constipation, followed by abdominal distension, vomit, poor oral intake, jaundice blah blah blah.... A long list of complications!

It's pretty hard to convince those young mothers to just give milk and no other plain water -- even the young mothers are convinced to do so, there is always a great force behind her to go against all these "western" advice -- the infamous Mother-In-Law!! So far i have encountered many young mothers, especially Chinese, have difficulties and in great dilemma because they are sandwiched between their personal thoughts, and that of their MIL's!

I even encounter jaundiced babies with serum bilirubin as high as 19mg/dL at day 3, but refused to get the babies admitted -- because the MILs have some "traditional herbs" to cure that "disease"! They refuse phototherapy, because they think that when babies cry a lot in under the photoRx, it is heartbreaking; if they bring the babies out of it, they get scolded by the nurses... So when some of them, according to my consultant with >15 yrs experience, end up in the cerebral palsy clinic, they beg the doctors to do their best.

The Simpsons Movie

2006-12-03T23:19:00.000+08:00

The Simpsons cartoon series -- one of my all-time favourite, especially when I was still studying in Ireland. Even skipped revision one day before major exam, but just couldn't miss a single episode of Simpsons! Next year the Simpsons will be in the theatre... and I really hope it will be a great one! :)