Dewan Perdana Felda

Went to Dewan Perdana Felda yesterday to break fast. Courtesy of a vendor. Thanks vendor-person. Went with my beloved and three other office mates. Met up with some old faces from my previous job, and got to know some new people. The food there was excellent. Despite my sore tooth, which gave me a splitting headache, I managed to eat a tremendous amount of food. Had to chew slowly though. But once again, the food was great. Since that place was a jam-prone place, we left early from home, but still managed to get caught in the jam. Luckily we arrived there slightly after 6pm.

As we were trying to find a parking space, I suddenly saw a face I haven't seen since form two. I lowered my window and shouted out his name. And he looked at me and said my name. Apparently we haven't forgotten each other. He hasn't changed a bit. After getting a parking space, met up with him and introduced my wife to him and his future wife. He told us that Bank Rakyat invited him for the event.

At first, I sort of panicked, because I thought I might have gotten the wrong date. But as it turned out, the whole place was full of people, from lots of organizations. I was relieved when I saw the banner for the vendor who invited me there.

We were one of the earliest, so we sat at a table nearest to the food. Hehehe. A very strategic place to be, actually.

In the Night Room

I've finished reading The Teeth of the Tiger. The ending is quite crap, actually. The storyline building to the climax is quite good. But the ending, how the so-called heroes actually defeated their arch-enemy, is quite boring. Wasted my time reading that. Now I'm reading Mr Straub's In the Night Room. Looks promising. Hope it won't be a disappointment.

On Saturday, actually went shopping. Had to leave my daughter at my sister-in-law's house. Bought some stuff for the house. Then, had to rush back to the pasar ramadhan near my house to grab some food. Had mutton beriyani, while my beloved had char keow teoy. The beriyani was excellent. Seriously. The mutton was huge. But I did finish it, anyhow.

On Sunday, took my daughter to the clinic, since she wasn't feeling very well. After that, washed the car, since it was covered with dust and dirt. Just couldn't take it anymore, so, around 11am washed the car inside out. And felt better, though a little tired. Then, proceeded to clean the house. That evening, we went to another pasar ramadhan near our house. Bought some stuff and went to eat at my parents house.

Had an appointment with a clinic with my beloved this morning. The appointment was at 9am but we finally got to see the doctor around 9.50am. Luckily I brought my book along. The appointment went well. But as usual, whenever I have a doctor's appointment, there will surely be a problem with the system I'm handling. Today was no different. I had a call from a vendor saying that the users can't access the system, and that the server can't reboot. But as I was in the clinic, I couldn't really help. But it all worked out in the end. Even managed to liased with the vendor from Australia to get his opinion on the problem.

Dark Tower

I'm currently reading Tom Clancy's The Teeth of the Tiger. Mr Clancy's works are quite good, actually. And this book is one of them. I'm reading Peter Straub's The Black Room as well. Just finished Stephen King's Dark Tower - The Gunslinger. Have to look for the second Dark Tower book - The Drawing of the Three. The book reminds me of The Eye of the Dragon by Mr King. I can't really explain the similarity, but the atmosphere is somewhat the same. Very surreal. Though not as surreal as Haruki Murakami's books. No sirree.

Tribute

Been busy and haven't had the time to blog. Well, actually, I just hadn't thought about blogging in a long while. And I even stopped reading other people's blogs. Just stopped. Weird, huh. Now I'm trying to start writing again. And start reading blogs again. The reason I'm starting all this again is because of an old friend who has a blog of her own. Thanks 'd'.

Someone once told me, or I think I read it in a blog, anyway. The person wrote, or said, when you think things can't get any worse, they will. And I know exactly what that person meant. Seriously. When I get a bad news, I usually think, I can handle this, because this is all there is to think about. Then immediately after that, another bad news hits me. And even before I can think of what to do next, another one lands right in front of my face.

And it sure does not help that other people are making me panic. I prefer to think about it quietly, and find a solution, no matter how slow it takes me. I would ask for advise, and I would try to find the middle ground. I do not like to panic. Because, once I panic, I can't think straight.

I'm so not in the mood for anything right now. One of the things that are keeping me happy in the office is Jack Black's video clip called 'Tribute'. Jack Black rocks, man! I love the song and the video clip. He's so funny. I'm even listening to it now. Hehehe.

Tired and worn out...

I'm currently at work, in the lab, waiting for the simulation to start. We started since 9 this morning and it's now 9 at night. We are about to implement our own Hospital Information System and we are now undergoing the testing phase. If everything goes well, we might launch it by the end of this month. It has been a tiring few weeks for us and for me especially, since I've been travelling to and fro from KL to KB to see my wife and daughter.

Darn the Italians...

Oracle's Real Application Cluster 10g has been successfully installed in two servers!!! Woohoo!!! It took us (the three of us) 3 whole days to make it work. And today we have managed to import the data from the old database to the new one!!! Hoorah for me. Now I can sort of relax a bit. But I can't really relax. Because my boss just gave birth to a healty baby boy. And I'm the one that has to do all her work for these two months. And with great power, comes great responsibility.

This Wednesday, two internal auditors will be coming to our department for our annual ISO auditing. After they're done with us, the real ISO auditors will come. And I haven't updated our files. Will have to do that later today. And will have to actually clean out my desk, because that's part of the ISO thing.

I'm currently reading Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. And it's quite a good read. From A Buick 8 is a really surreal read. And the ending just blows you away. Seriously.

I saw the game last night. France against Italy. And I must say. I'm very disappointed with the way things turned out. It was funny to see Zidane head-butt the Italian guy. But it wasnt's funny when the referee gave him a red card for that.

Back At Last...

I'm currently reading Stephen King's From A Buick 8, and Patricia Cornwell's Postmortem. I heard about From A Buick 8 from King's On Writing. At the time he wrote On Writing, From A Buick 8 was still in production. So, when I saw From A Buick 8 at my office library, I grabbed it. The book is about a strange car that looks like a Buick 8. But it's not really a car. But if it isn't a car, what is it? Well, I'm finding that out at the moment. And I still haven't found the answer. You have to read it to find out.

At work, I'm currently trying to install Oracle 10g with Real Application Cluster (RAC). A cousin once told me that his friend charged RM15K to do a RAC. Might charge my office the same amount. I wish! If I actually manage to do it. The thing about RAC is, you have to configure lots of stuff for it to work. And since this is my first time, I'm having some problems with it. And it doesn't help that the bosses are waiting for it. Hope I can pull this off.

Yesterday, chatted with my brother's colleague on YM. It was the first time we chatted. And she called me 'my-brother's-nick' brother. It was fun chatting with her. And after a while she threatened to show our chat to my brother. I really wonder how different I am from my brother. I mean, when we talk to people. I really do wonder. Do we sound the same to other people? Hmmm....

I've stopped reading Brad Thor's The Lions of Lucerne. Because I am currently reading Dan Brown's Deception Point. It's not as good as The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, but it has its moments. My brother's short story has made it into a collection of short stories. Congrats, bro! This is the second time, if I'm not mistaken.

Yesterday, sent my mum to the hospital for her operation. The admission went smoothly, and as we were waiting in the room, chatting, a few doctors came into the room and discussed about the operation. Then, they decided to discharged my mum because apparently they'd forgotten to ask my mum to stop taking her medication. Since I had a meeting at 11, I drove my dad and niece back to the house, and my brother drove my mum back a while later.

On Sunday, went out with my beloved and my best buddy. Bought an audio cd for my best buddy as it was his birthday. We ate at Asean Flavours and went window shopping afterwards. We went into a store which had weird / cool stuff. I can't really describe the items, though there was one fridge magnet that resembled a cartoon speech bubble. Cool stuff.

Have been busy this past few weeks. When have I ever been not busy. I even came to work last Saturday. Luckily, my beloved came along, so I wasn't bored. She was shocked to see my desk. Shocked would be an understatement. So, she cleaned up my desk while I was doing my work. Lo and behold, I can finally see my desk. Heheheh.

I'm currently reading Brad Thor's The Lions of Lucerne. I got this from the office library. After I'd finished reading The Algebraist, I didn't have anything else to read, so I went to the library and got a couple of books. So far, The Lions of Lucerne is quite a good read. Though I'm still itching to read Mr. Banks' books.

I've been really out of it for a couple of weeks, really, and that's my excuse for not updating my blog. Went to KB for a week during school holidays, then my mother-in-law stayed with us for a couple of weeks after that. Then my sister-in-law came with her family and my wife's aunt, and stayed for a couple of days. We went shopping like crazy for two days in a row. My sister-in-law's idea of a good time is shopping. She was tireless. Seriously. And she was 6 months pregnant. An amazing woman. Even I felt exhausted following them shopping. Her husband managed to skip a shopping trip by sleeping in the car with their youngest daughter. Smart bugger.

I've just realised that I'd forgotten to get a birthday present for my brother. I was planning to get him a book, but after being so busy with things with my family, in-laws and work, I completely forgot. Will get him a book by Mr. Banks, or Mr. Murakami. Not sure yet. Will see. Or will just ask him what books he has his eyes on.

At the moment, my wife's cousin and aunt is staying with us. The cousin is graduating from her class this Friday, and the place is literally in front of my office. Well, slightly to the right, but close enough. Since both her parents had passed away, this aunt has been taking care of the cousin and her siblings.

The Algebraist

I just had my first taste of eel. We had eel soup and eel in padprik sauce. It taste somewhat like fish. But a very delicious fish. I can't really explain the texture, but it's nice. Seriously. My brother in law gave me a url to surf. It might interest those of you with a passion for cars. Or for those who just likes to surf. It's http://www.verdictoncars.com. Check out Proton Gen2. Now, it is time to sleep. Though I will probably continue reading Iain M. Banks' The Algebraist. A birthday present from my brother and my best buddy. They both bought the same book for my birthday. At least I have two copies of the same book. Like all the other sci-fi books by Mr Banks, it is truly a strange and bizarre alternate future or past, whichever way you look at it. A really fantastic read.

Kelantan

For those of you who actually reads my blog on a daily basis, I apologize for the lack of update. In defence, I plead not guilty, due to stress at work. It's not stress actually, because I really do enjoy my work. No, seriously. I'm not just saying this on the off chance that my boss is reading this. Anyway, I won't go in details on how I worked from 9pm till 5am for four straight days. What I will do, however, is to write about what I am currently doing.

I am currently writing this entry in Kota Bharu, or more specifically, in one semi-d along Jalan Raja Dewa. That is where my sister-in-law is staying with her family. My beloved and I are here along with my mum-in-law and my other sister-in-law with their respective kids. We are about to leave to have dinner outside.

We are going to eat eel. Will know soon enough how it tastes.

A Rainy Wednesday Morning...

Got in to work around 6.45am this morning. Left home around 6.30-ish. My beloved dropped my off at work and drove to her school. And she arrived about 45 minutes later. With the traffic jams and all. Her school is only about 10-15 minutes away. It must be due to the rain.

Yesterday was hectic. Seriously. Started doing my database thing in the morning, and before I knew it, the clock on my computer was displaying 12.02. I thought it was showing the wrong time, but alas, as I looked at my watch, it displayed the same time.

If that wasn't shocking enough, I suddenly got a phone call from the Director's office. The person on the other line said that they wanted me to translate something, and someone would be coming to my office to pass the text.

When the text arrived, I was quite suprise to see three full pages of text. And they wanted it back before 2pm. They wanted the whole text in english. I thought, wait a minute, this can't be right. So, I phoned the guy who was suppose to be doing it, but he went out for lunch.

Can you believe that. So, I dug right into it, and managed to come up with a decent translation. But, there were some words I just couldn't, for the life of me, translate. So, I went straight to his office to show him what I had done.

As I arrived at his office, he said that there were some changes to the text, and he gave me an even longer text than before. I managed to finish it before 2, emailed it to him, and passed him the hard copy of the text.

Then, I exhaled.

ExploreRace

The previous week, I went to my second cousin's wedding with my family. I don't think I've ever seen my cousin. He is my mother's first-cousin's son. Anyway, apparently, he was in ExploreRace, and that was where he met his wife. No wonder the wife looked so familiar. For those who watches ExploreRace, the wife was one of the twins. And my cousin was the guy with the shaved head.

The wedding itself was nice. But. It wasn't on time. We arrived around 8'ish an sat waiting for the event to start. We were assuming, rather naively, that the wedding would start at 8.30pm. But, alas, it didn't. It still didn't start at 9pm. And by then we were hungry and bored. It finally started around 9.30pm.

The bride and groom looked lovely. When they finally arrived. And after the renjis ceremony, we actually started eating. By then, everybody was starving. After dinner, actually, after dessert, they had a short movie about the couple. It was fantastic. And after the show, someone told my mother that it was done by Fly FM. Seriously.

After that, they did the cutting of the cake thing. And I thought it would be over after that. But no. The groom sang for his wife (which wakinda cool, but we were really tired by then). After that, the groom's sister gave a speech. Finally, after all that, the wedding ended.

It was a remarkable and memorable wedding, no doubt about that. But the timing was definitely out. It started late and it ended late. And we were working the next day. So, it wasn't fair to the guests. I'm sure the couple and their family had a great time. But they should consider the other people in the hall.

I, for one, was dead tired by the time we reached home.

Two Thousand Six

Happy New Year!!! Welcome, 2006. Good bye 2005. Usually, people would reflect on their life in the previous year. So shall I. What have I accomplished last year? Well, I got married. I managed to gain weight, although that's not a good thing, is it. I went to BTN. Went to Sabah. Got books that I wanted. Watched anticipated movies. Among other things...

Usually, my best buddy and I would be out celebrating new year either at KLCC or Bintang Walk, Sunway, or any other places of interest. But this year, we stayed at home. Me with my beloved, and him with his family. We have grown old. Met up with my best buddy and chatted about the usual stuff. It was good to hang out like that. Like the old days. We should do it more often.

Today is the first day of school. And my beloved's first day teaching in the new school. Good luck, dear!!!