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!!!

It's Saturday...

... and I'm currently in the office with my beloved. I'm here on account of a colleague of mine. She has requested that I coach her for her presentation this Tuesday. So, here we are. I have finished coaching her, and am now waiting with my beloved in the office. And while I wait, I thought I might as well write something in here.

Tomorrow, am going to BSC to celebrate a couple of friends' birthdays. My old uni friends. We haven't seen each other since August. A couple of nights ago, went to Uptown to meet up with my best buddy. I haven't been to Uptown in ages, and it still haven't changed a bit.

There were a couple of MPPJ lorries, just waiting for the first VCD stalls to be put up, so that they can tear it down again. My beloved and I was quite looking forward to browsing through the stalls, in search of Chicken Little. But alas, it was not meant to be.

In the end, went to a DVD shop nearby and browsed through the selection. Didn't buy anything though.

Was away in Melaka for five days. Attended the compulsory BTN course. Although now they call it SSM. The place was in Alor Gajah. There were 93 of us. The first day was in anticipation of what will happen to the 93 of us. Well, suprise, suprise, but I had fun throughout the five-day course.

We had to do some physical exercises. We had to run 2km in under 18 minutes. Running uphill and downhill. It took me 14 minutes and 20 seconds. Yes, I know that's pathetic, but I'm not that fit to begin with. After about a 10 minute break, we had to lift a participant in a fireman lift and walk 10 metres, I think it was.

My partner was someone I thought was about my weight. But apparently wasn't. He lifted me just fine. But when it was my turn to lift him, I could barely walk. Luckily for me, the coach called a much smaller guy for me to lift.

The next day, we were forced to abseil from a four storey tower. It was a first for me. So, I was quite nervous about it. After wearing the harness and the rest of the gear, I went up the four flights of stairs, and was shaking in my Adidas-All-Star.

Honeymoon in Sabah

Welcome back to Kuala Lumpur!!! I was on leave for a week. The reason? I was in Sabah!!! With my beloved!!! Arrived last Sunday around 1.00pm, after experiencing a delay in KLIA. Apparently, the runway was full of planes. So, we had to wait our turn. My cousin was waiting for us at Sabah's old airport, and we went straight to my aunty's house in Kepayan.

That evening, we went to the beach to see the sun set. It was beautiful, to say the least. We ate some snacks while watching the sun set. The next day, in the morning, we went to Monsopiad Village, where they have this kind of tour thing going on. It was interesting.

Legend has it that Monsopiad, a warrior from 300 years ago, used to collect the heads of his enemies and placed them in his hut. Our guide said this was to discouraged further retaliation from his enemies. After walking around the place, we went to the main hall, where we saw their traditional dance. And we participated in one of the dance. It was fun.

After lunch the same day, we went shopping at The Phillipines Market. We emerged from the place a couple of hours later, with less money in our pockets and a couple of plastic bags full of stuff.

During the week, we went to Kundasang, the foot of Mount Kinabalu. We went to Timpohon, the entrance to the track to go up Mount Kinabalu. Then, we went to the Dairy Farm, where New Zealand-kind-of-cows were being bred. In other words, they were black and white.

We even managed to stop at Nabalu to do some shopping. Yet again. We stayed at Pines Resort, and the following morning, we sat up after dawn to see the tip of Mount Kinabalu. The morning air was cool, there weren't many people up and about, it was quiet and peaceful.

The few days after that, we went to Gayana Island, near Kota Kinabalu. We stayed at a chalet in the middle of the sea. Well, not really in the middle, but it wasn't on land. It was on the water. The chalet itself was nice.

It was sad to leave Sabah the following Sunday. But leave it, we had to. It was fun. Hope we can go there again.

My beloved just got a phone call from her school a couple of days ago, and they told her that she just received a letter stating that she has been transferred to school very near where I work. We'll be surveying the area soon to determine the exact location of the school.

Today, had lunch at home, since it's so near. Well, at night, it takes around 7 minutes to get from my house to my office. This is without traffic jams, and with just a couple of cars on the road. But during lunch break, it could take up to almost an hour. Seriously.

I have to work this Thursday night. And as usual, we start after midnight. Hope we don't encounter any unforeseen problems. That's basically why sometimes I work till dawn. It's because of these unforeseen problems cropping up at the least expected places. Dang those problems.

Next week, the ISO auditors are coming to my office to audit our procedures. We had a pre-audit just the other day, and I was called into the meeting room to answer some questions. Luckily it only took a couple of minutes of chatting with the auditor. This coming audit is the real deal. This is where we either make it or break it. So, everyone in the department would have to be ready for it.

The first audit was done a couple of months ago, by the company employees, but from different departments. I had to sit in for my boss, since she had to audit some other department. That was quite scary. Until I found out what it was they would be asking. Then after that, it was only routine question and answer.

I hope we bag the certification. That would be something. Well, do wish us luck, kay. Thanks!

Am currently reading Mr Murakami's Kafka On The Shore and Mr Block's A Walk Among The Tombstones. Mr Lawrence Block, by the way. The former I bought at Kinokuniya's with the help of my cousin. Thanks, Girl. And the latter, got it from my bro. Thanks, bro.

Both books are good reads, but I'm going to finish Mr Block's book first. Because, as usual, I like to read Mr Murakami's books slowly. Very very slowly. It's the same when I'm eating something delicious. Sometimes I would just take time eating it. That would usually mean dessert. I remember eating a chocolate-icecream-cake-thingy at TGIF with my family. It was huge. Extremely huge. And extremely delicious.

By the way, I saw Bewitched the other day. The movie Bewitched. And it's quite ok. I mean, it's not that funny. It's just sweet. Yes, just sweet. And I saw The Longest Yard. Now, that's a good movie. Actually, I generally like movies with Adam Sandler. He's fun to watch.

Am now wanting to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Narnia, Doom and AeonFlux. About Narnia, I've read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe a couple of times when I was little. And it was a really good read, or I wouldn't have read it that many times. I think it was my sister's, since my brother didn't admit it was his. And I really can't wait to see it on the silver screen. It looks promising.

I'm currently reading Scott Adams' God's Debris, A Though Experiment. He's the guy who does the Dilbert comics. And the book is quite interesting. It's about a delivery guy was suppose to deliver a package to someone, and ended up talking about everything under the sun with one old man. The topic of their discussion ranges from Delusion Generator to Physics of God Dust, and everything in between. Its an interesting read. And it's free. You can get a copy of it here. I printed a copy and got it binded, so I can take it anywhere with me. Neat, huh.

On another note, Haruki Murakami's Kafka On The Shore is finally out on paperback. Fantastic. So, I plan to pick it up this Friday. I asked a cousin of mine to keep a copy of it for me, since she's working in Kinokuniya. What are cousins for, right!

We went rayaing to a couple of my beloved's relatives' houses. And on the second day, we went to our mutual friend's house. So, mostly, we just ate and ate and ate. It was fun. But tiring though. On the fourth day of raya, we left for KL. We left around 8.30 in the morning. And arrived in KL around 6.30 in the evening. Luckily for me, my beloved drove half way, so wasn't so tiring. Although it still was.

During the following week, went to my relatives' houses. And some relatives came over. It was good to entertain and to be entertained. Then, one night, I suggested to my beloved that we go hang out at one of my old haunts. And so I invited my best buddy and my brother's sister-in-law to join us. And in the end, there were eight of us there. My beloved and I, my best buddy with two of his female friends, my brother's sister-in-law with her Aussie friend and her cousin.

I was on leave for two weeks. And for the past three days, I was at Putrajaya for a workshop. So here I am, again. Lots of things have happened. And I hope I can get it all out on this blog. Firstly, I spent raya with my beloved at her hometown. It was a first for me. We left KL on Monday after sahur, around 6.30am. This was on the 31st of October, 2005. The road was quite empty. Meaning, there were some cars on the road, but it wasn't the heavy traffic kind of thing. I drove the first leg of the journey, and my beloved drove the second leg. We finally arrived at her mother's house around 2.30pm.

The raya celebration there was quite different from the ones I'm used to in KL. In KL, open houses would mean, people coming in droves. Non-stop. But in her hometown, people would come in very small groups. So, the atmosphere wasn't hectic. Unlike the open houses in KL.

To be continued...

Had dinner with my family at a nearby shopping mall last night. We had something to eat at home to break fast, then we went shortly before 8.00pm. As we were deciding what to eat, I had a sudden craving for spagetti. As I was quite famished by then, the small plate the spagetti came in was quite a disappointment. But, luckily for me, it was very tasty. After that, shared a plate of french fries with my mum.

After dinner, took my dad to a clinic to check his blood pressure and his sugar level in his blood. Because he's been complaining of a severe headache. The doctor said that its gas. So the doctor gave my dad some medication and told him keep his sugar level steady, without being too low nor too high.

Then, shortly after arriving at home, I had to prepare for an exercise that night. Meaning work. My colleague and I had to update the pharmacy application. And as usual, all the exercises pertaining main applications has to be done after midnight. We managed to complete it successfully around one in the morning.

Got back home around 1 something, and slept around 2. Woke up around 5. And went to work around 6.30am. And had a deparmental meeting at 9. Luckily didn't fell dead asleep in the meeting room. And luckily the meeting only lasted around 1 and a half hours.

Went to Danau Golf Resort yesterday to break fast with my colleagues. Went with four other people in my red automobile. Was caught in the jam on our way there. But finally arrived at the appointed place around 6.05pm. The place was in Bangi.

It started raining around 7.00pm. After having eaten almost everything served to us, we chatted while the rain kept pouring. And around 8.00pm, we left. The co-pilot in the car suggested we used the Kajang route, as there won't be any traffic that way, so she said.

But even before we reached Kajang, we hit tremendous traffic going towards Kajang. So we avoided going into Kajang by taking the Silk Highway. As we were driving along a stretch of highway, we realised that we were the only ones on the road.

Then, my co-pilot sheepishly said that that was the first time she's been on that highway. I was like, what?! But then, since we had more than half a tank of petrol, I wasn't worried. Sent my co-pilot to her house first, then proceeded to sent another girl to her home, and the other two passengers to a nearby LRT station.

Arrived home almost two hours after we left Bangi, feeling knackered. Had a shower. Then sleep overtook me.