4th Dell PC

After blogging about "Dell Boleh" back in May, the nightmare of my Dell PC crashing didn't just end there. For weeks, ever since I purchased my first PC from them, it has always crashed upon me, for whatever reason I never understood. But luckily, Dell has been very patient with me, and for their extremely commendable service provided, I have been getting many replacement units, whether be it parts like speakers, processor chip, memory chips; or even the whole CPU getting replaced for me.

The funny thing is that, ever since I got the PC, it's been like a curse that I shouldn't own one of these superb machine! The PC will crash, and crash and nothing but crash in front of me, even if I havn't installed anything in it yet (so this ruled out any conflict in softwares). The whole PC would just go in a loop of booting-and-rebooting... endless! Occasionally it can go into Windows, but there won't be any sound. Other times, it would say my thumb drive is faulty (but in actual fact, my thumb drive is not at all the problem!).

So finally, the fourth replacement unit arrived at my doorstep yesterday. And of course, it is also an upgrade from previous model -- so imagine I am having an even more overkill machine now -- Intel Core Duo 3.2GHz! And true enough this time, I am the lucky star -- my machine works flawlessly till now (still keeping my fingers crossed!)... and it is so speedy and smooth -- never before I have played with such a perfect system! :)

Dear PC... Please don't let me down anymore, ok?

But anyway, thanks Dell. You're still the best!

MC For FootBall Fans

I received this interesting picture from a friend of mine: Doctor's MC for all football fans out there, during this world cup season! So go get one if you are too tired to go working the next day! :)

IT technician

Of late, my colleagues have been taking for granted, that I'm the gadget-man around whenever needed.

When they need to take pictures of either X-rays, CT films or clinical signs of the patients, they will look for me, as I carry with me an iXus 40 digicam everyday.

When they need to look up detailed information about complicated topics like Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia, during the departmental CME, they will all stare at me, while I flip out my x50v to search through Nelson Pediatrics!

During ward rounds, when my consultants forget about the exact dosages for ciprofloxacin or aciclovir -- they turn to me, and say,"Can you look up in your little computer for the dosages?" In fact I am just using the Frank Shann DrugDoses!

When they need to use the calculator while discussing about a patient by the corridor, no one has one in the pocket (coz the calculators are in the wards) -- they turn to me and ask if I could calculate for them the body surface area of that patient, again using my little computer!

When the projector is not projecting the images from the laptop PowerPoint, they turn to me and ask for my help "Err...how come no image ah? Need to press what button on this laptop?" is the usual routine question asked, to indirectly request me to help them get the images projected on the wall! ;)

So once I joked with my boss, "Besides on call claim, can I also claim extra for the IT services I provide for the department?"

Portable Apps

Recently I have been quietly enjoying the Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice softwares installed in my hospital ward computer, without the admin people knowing it -- thanks to PortableApps making it possible. Most of us who work in big hospitals, will have access to the internet using IE, which is pre-installed. Many of us don't have the admin rights to install new softwares into the computers, because they are usually server based, ie. unless you have the admin password to do so! So even if you are a Firefox addict, you won't be able to install it to use in the hospital computers. But now, thanks to the PortableApps, we can surf net using Firefox anywhere, anytime. Very simple, just download and install the Portable Firefox into your thumbdrive, and bring your thumbdrive everywhere. Plug into the computer, and run the firefox from your thumbdrive. That's it, just so simple!

Some of the computers in my hospital do not have Microsoft Office installed, and the IT team is not willing to take the effort to install the Portable OpenOffice (which is a freeware) in them as well (strange people...) So again, with PortableApps, I successfully install the OpenOffice (inclusive of Word, Excel and PowerPoint equivalent) into my thumbdrive and use it in any computer with ease -- can even detect the default printer and print documents too! ;)

Try and you will enjoy it!

Da Vinci Code

Just watched the most controversial movie of the year "Da Vinci Code" last night. Actually I am surprised to see most people and papers rate this film "C-"! After watching it, I think it deserves an "A" or at least "B+". In fact I am thinking that those who give a low rating to this movie are people who are already "pre-judgmental" and bias of this film. They think that this movie is somehow "degrading" the Christianity as a whole, and also twisting the facts from what is documented in the holy bible. Well, it's just fiction, folks! I always think that if people are to be so naive in differentiating fiction from facts, then these people can't be the leaders of the future. These people are not firm in their teachings and faith. They need to re-read the whole bible! ;) There are even blogs which I read, about people condemning Tom Hanks for acting in this movie, aiyoh... c'mon lah, guys, be more sensible a bit! Come back to the real world!

I salute Dan Brown, not only because he writes great novels, but also he makes people believe that his fictional world and thoughts, are "facts" to many people -- causing unnecessary turmoils! Goodness gracious! Gullible humans! ;)

Minister Above Law

Sometimes when you see the double standard policy our country is practising, makes us really fumed and frustrated. The other day my friend called me up, telling me that he just got a summon from the police officer, for parking along the yellow line because his mum was sick, and he needed to get some medications from a pharmacy outlet. He couldn't find a proper place to park his car then. And upon returning to his car in less than 5 minutes, he already saw the summon clipped under his car wiper!

Now if we take a look at this picture posted by the public at the Hall of Shame Gallery... this is what I call Double Standard!!! ;(
Do you think the police officer dare to even go near this car?

Skype Phone

Saw this cool VOIP phone at Doctors' Gadget. Now I start to daydream... if one day there is WiMax in my area, I will no longer have to pay the Telcos for the fixed line or handphone charges! It will be the true free calls then! :) Just flip out the phone from my pocket and dial to any friends anywhere, then chat for hours -- exchange gossips and catch up with all those friends whom I have not met for the past few years! How nice would that be! But on the other hand, I might get warning letters from my boss for that! ;)

Cool Call

It is in fact true that on call during the Gawai celebration was cool... :) Yesterday marked a record of zero admission rate! And I really slept well throughout the night! Easy money! Now it's time to go for my breakfast -- my favourite Pak Jab's Roti Canai!

How High Is Your Phone Radiation?

Came across this article in Cnet about Handphone Radiation. The SAR rating(W/kg) which is considered safe is anything less than 1.60 W/kg. My handphone is the ol' faithful Nokia 3100, which scores 0.98! Actually rather high radiation... (ahem, a good excuse for me to change phone?) And surprise to see that Palm Treo 650 is among the Top Ten Highest Radiation Cell Phones of the year!! 8 of the Motorola handphones have already topped the list, and luckily I am not a fan of the Motorola phones anyway!

So what handphones are you guys using? Better check out, and have a great excuse to change a new phone! ;)

Selamat Hari Gawai

Today is 1st of June, which is also the Hari Gawai celebration. There will be 2 days off here in Sarawak. Hari Gawai is celebrated on the first of June by the Dayaks or Ibans of Sarawak for a week marking the end of the paddy harvesting season and the beginning of the new planting season. There is singing, dancing and considerable drinking of tuak (rice wine) in the local longhouses. The Ibans working outside their villages will return for the grand celebration. There are plenty of food and certainly not shortage of entertainment and wine in the local way.

Last year, I went to a few nurses' home for those nicely baked cakes and biscuits, also tried out their tuak... but frankly, I don't like the taste! ;) But afterall, I don't drink much alcohol anyway!

It's the best time to be on call during the Gawai celebration, coz the wards are usually extra-ordinarily quiet. Most patients will try to tahan... and not come to hospital, despite being very ill. They will all come after the Gawai. So luckily I am not on call the few days right after Gawai! Haha!

Every year after the Gawai celebration, the Paeds ward will be filled up with acute gastroenteritis cases; the Surgical wards with all the UGIH (after bottles and bottles of tuak); the Medical wards with stroke and hypertensive crisis patients (drinking and eating, but forget to take medications!); Ortho wards full of RTA cases (fracture hands and legs after drink-and-drive); Radiology unit will be packed with all the forms in for URGENT this-and-that, be it X-rays, CT scans, or USS. Every medical staff will be working double hard to cater for the needs of the public after such grand celebration!

Nexus Karambunai

Just came back from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, for the East Malaysia Atherothrombosis Meeting, sponsored by Sanofi and BM. I stayed in Nexus Resort, Karambunai, which is 30km north-east of Kota Kinabalu town. From the airport, it took about 40 minutes to reach the resort.

The beach view from my room is just magnificent. The breeze caressing my face and the sweet chirping sounds of the birds are just making me feel totally relaxed! Truly an escapade from the urban lifestyle... The buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner were all sponsored by Sanofi and BM too, and if you were there yourself, I bet you wont even pay for those meals! Coz the breaskfast alone costs RM45++, and the dinner RM74++!! ;) But I must say I really enjoyed the stay there, besides getting updates from the prestigious speakers, among those were Prof Sim KH from Sarawak Cardiac Centre (SGH), Prof Soo HH (Neurologist, Normah Specialist Centre) and Dato Seri Dr Robaayah (Head, IJN).

And best of all, on my returning trip, my friends and I were all upgraded to the Business Class seats! We really enjoyed the 1 1/2 hour journey back from Sabah! :)

Dell Boleh!

My Dell overkill machine which I blogged weeks ago, has finally given way... for whatever reason, I dunno! The speaker is no longer working, and it crashed earlier on needing a total hard reset (too much PDA jargon -- I mean it needed reformatting!) And the technician has come a few times to my house to troubleshoot my problems, but to no avail! :( Dell has sent me a new sound card, a new set of speakers.. but still they don't get my problem solved

Finally Dell called me up and apologised to me about the recent "mishap" I have been going through! And they willingly do a one-to-one exchange with me! Becoz the current system I have (ie. Pentium 630 with 3GHz chip) is no longer in production, they have willingly upgrade my system to the Intel Core Duo 820 running at 2.8GHz!! Hurray, now I will not only have a brand new computer, but also a free upgrade to the Intel Core Duo technology! They also promise to deliver it within 5-7 days! That's really efficient of Dell!

So, Dell Boleh! :)

VeinLite Demo!

I was blogging about the VeinLite product few days ago. See here. Today, I was surprised that the VeinLite company rep came to my ward, looking for me to demonstrate to me the VeinLite product! In fact he is also the CEO of the company based in KL.

He only brought along the VeinLite, and not the pocket-sized VeinLite set (coz its not available in Malaysia yet). But after trying out the unit on a few of my patients, age ranging from neonates to 4 years old, I realised that it is not so useful afterall! ;( Firstly, the C-shape LED illuminator is a bit too big to place properly on that forever-agitated-and-struggling pediatric patients! Secondly, the light is just too bright, and when tilt a bit (or when trying to adjust the position on the skin) the light emitted from the unit will cause temporary blindness to the operator or the people around. Therefore, after that it is even harder for us to concentrate in looking for the tiny vein which we have just located, becoz of the "ghost images" we are seeing due to the light effect!

Each unit is priced at around RM6000+!! And the coming-soon pocket unit is around RM3000+!! So do you think it is worthwhile to purchase it? ;) I don't think my boss will even think about it! Our nurses are just too good in setting lines... we don't need one yet!

China University Promoting Warez?

I came across a prestigious China university website, and I was shocked to see that its online library has a whole lot of iSilo files (from Harrison's Medicine to Nelson's Pediatrics) for free download!! As far as I know, this is not legal! ;) But I am sure with this, many of the Chinese in this particular university have gain lots of benefit from having these iSilo files in their PDA or PC for reference, and save lots of money not needing to purchase those expensive books!

Veinlite LED

I was reading DocFiles today and saw this interesting device called Veinlite. It is essentially a powerful LED transilluminator, useful in finding veins in children and old people. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I get calls from the ward nurses "Doktor... line bumped sudah, tak dapat set-lah, u boleh tolong-ah?!" And with my squint eyes, I really find it difficult at times to get another peripheral venous access. So I am really interested to know more about this gadget! Perhaps the next time, I can boast to those nurses "Set line? Haha... BOLEH... senang aje!" ;)