Close of Week (CoW) Rambling

Phone rang at 12:50, my moTher needed a driver to IpoH as my grand aunt passed away. Usually, I would be very hesIStant and especIally on a wedneSday afternoon (normAlly we have management meeting on thiS day). No, Today I packEd my thinGs, told my boss thAt I have to take half day eMergency lEave and away I went back to DamanSara to pick my mom and Sister.

We left PJ At about 1:55 pm and reached ipoh about 3:35 pm, with all the rain between TanjunG Malim and Bidor, I thot I made Good timE to reach Ipoh. The surprise is that I was awake and lively all the way (especially for those who knows me) rather then passing out or feeling sleepy round about afternoon. What with two police car tailing behind with lights flashing - but they didn't stop me though. What was even more of a surprise to me, was that I was ready to drive back at about 5:00 pm back to PJ. We reached PJ after making a brief stop in Tanjung Malim to relieve outselves.

The next surprise was that I had the cheek to drop my mom and sister of and left for the Curve to catch my usual RPM Gym class. I was not feeling tired from all this activities. I was thinking to myself this morning, hmmmm...this is an interesting testimonial to excercise.

I am also using this posting to test a message within a message.
Oh, another thing, before I forget, don't miss the event....

At 2 minutes and 3 seconds past 1 in the morning of 4th of May this year...... we'll get....

01:02.03 04/05/06...

never to be repeated in your lifetime!

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Song Lyrics that bothers me

I guess I have reached the ultimate low for this month, when I am starting to quote lyrics of Song. But I have not heard nor really listen to the actual meaning of this lyrics until one of the radio station played it this morning. The Song is "Eye in the Sky" by Alan Parsons;

Don’t think sorry’s easily said
Don’t try turning tables instead
You’ve taken lots of chances before
But I’m not gonna give anymore
Don’t ask me
That’s how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you’re thinkin’

Don’t say words you’re gonna regret
Don’t let the fire rush to your head
I’ve heard the accusation before
And I ain’t gonna take any more
Believe me
The sun in your eyes
Made some of the lies worth believing

Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don’t need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind

Don’t leave false illusions behind
Don’t cry cause I ain’t changing my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain’t gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the signs are deceiving

I need to switch station in more ways then one.

History of Computing - Lesson Learnt

My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81. The thing I remembered out of this was, that I bought it from the shelf of a Magazine shop called WHSmith in 1979. I also picked up a magazine and learnt programming in order to use this Sinclair. This was my first encounter with the Programming world. I also remembered that 1K or RAM is not much becoz, as I was typing the listing in, the cursor sort of didn't want to move further.

My Second computer was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. This came with a 48K RAM (Whoooohh, lotsa RAM at that time - mind U this is a 8 bit machine), and there are lotsa of listing of games. I learnt to create characters out of block figures and it was also my first introduction to gaming. Sprite was only available on "higher"end computers like the ATARI. I think the rubber keyboard gave away within 6 month.

I later "upgraded" to a BBC Micro with 32 K RAM because it was suppose to have a more "superior" BASIC which had structured Procedure calls. This was my first serious Computer as it had Disc Drives as opposed to the Sinclair which depended on Audio Tape Cassettes for Storage ;)

Early on in my working career, I then moved on from desktop computers to Minis and Mainframes. This was my first encounter with Prime Computers and Fortran. I need to learn Fortran to run simulation and analysis on engineering problems. As the programme were run on "batches" (phantom mode), I kinda picked up cracking at this stage as I needed a Super User ID. I used to leave simulated "Login screen" created with CPL scripts just to capture Admin password. The other thing that I picked up during this time is programming dicipline. I had a mentor who had a ruler beside his monitor screen to unsure that the Subroutines and Return statements were aligned for ease of debugging.

My annoyance with the IBM Mainframe and the costly price required to upgrade the DASD (Disk Drive to you and me), drove me to revamp the IT Division to use Novell. This upgrade saves the organization half a million Ringgit. I also remember the stress in trying to churn out application within 3 month, till I discovered a neat 4GL application Builder called Clarion. I was churning out simple apps at the rate of 2 for every week.

Tinkering with the PC, I got wise to its memory management at that time, trying to squeeze every bit of available memory in order to fit the Fat Novell Client. I also saw the war between the Emm386 and XMS386. It was also at this time I picked up assembly language trying to make use of the extended memory area of the PC. I was and still am continously amazed at a programme called Sidekick, (which had a calculator, notepad and a few other utilities) all written under 48K and fits nicely inside a memory space just above the 640.

My most memorable time was the availability of Tools made by this brilliant guy called Peter Norton. I survived and live by his Diskedit and DiskTools having to use it dwell into File Allocation Table and copy protection at that time.

It was also this time that I got myself my next computer which was a PC with 386@33Mhz/387 Co processor and with 8 Mbyte RAM(woooohhhh and Ahhhh) becoz I needed to run AutoCAD. That did not last long as Intel had immediately launch the 486 Chip which revolutionizes computing as we know it. RAMS got bigger and cheaper, programmes got fatter and more complex. The change of pace and rate of change also kill my appetite in chasing technology in so far as keeping up with the Super Chips for my Desktop/Notebook resource. It is also during this time a ran a Bulletin Board and later discovered the Internet.

I remember the Internet nearly drove my life to the ground. I live, eat , sleep on the Net. I also remember stalking and tracing someone on the net at 3 am, while emailing to and from with an acquaintance by the name of MAL (Dr Mohamed Awang Lah).

Looking back, it has been a memorable 27 years of history with the Computers. So much lessons, so little time.

Hectic - Hectic - Hectic

This weekend has been a hectic one for me. For someone who is fairly quite unorganized (though the sequence of event looks organized), there seems to be a flurry of activities but it was more out of necessity of trying to fill the time up rather then really in a busy situation.

My Sunday morning began with my sending the wifey of to KLIA. She has to go to Brunei for a week on conference (yooo-hoo leading to a Huuuuhuuuu). She also chose the opportune time to tell me that her car was due for service. Trying to be an obedient husband, sent the car duly to her normal garage.

While waiting for the car, being bored, got back to the house to pick my car up for a spin, and for breakfast. Lo and behold, a nail decided to crash into my car tyre and causes it to be flat. Not to be outdone by the nail, took the car to the nearest tyre shop to have both front tyres changed. Funny that a set of car tyres cost the same as your "Nike" that you use in the Gym (I thought to myself)

After sending back my car, went around to pick up my wifes' car which nearly emptied my pocket. That nearly finished half my day. Got out immediately at about 1 pm to rush for my Gym class in KL, when I bumped into a traffic jam which totally cheeses me off. The cause is a broken traffic light near Subang Jaya. I do not mind that it hasn't been fixed for a day or two, but 4 days. This is utterly ridiculous. I am lucky that I cross that traffic light early morning at 6 am normally, but on Sunday at 1 pm, the tailback was horrendous.

While on the subject of Traffic Lights Management, I don't understand the apportionment of time given to the traffic signals. What is the objective of giving more time to the flow, when there is not flow in the first place. In the morning, traffic is outbound from Subang Jaya to KL, why are there more time given to lights coming into Subang Jaya?

On the subject of road design, why are there negative camber design at the exit of Subang Jaya to Federal Highway. This is a bad Design Flaw which can cause car to skid coming out of Subang Jaya. Don't all these design get vetted prior to approval??

Participated in my normal Body Pump class. Tried to participate in Body Jam, Conclusion - Geeks like me have no rhythm. I am out of synch most of the time and the pace is too fast. By the time got back from the Gym, (luckily Menara AXIS Gym was closed due to power outage) was so darned tired, dropped by the Mamak's stall to have late lunch/early dinner. Was nearly asleep at the table and struggle myself back to home by 6:30pm. God , that was one tiring Sunday.

My Six Month Poetry of Life

In trying to Celebrate my 6 month on the Net, I thought I might want to look back at what had inspired me for the last half year and though how yucky it can be, relook at some of my sentimentalist poems.

a) The month that I discovered that my fren JATT had leukemia. I wrote this as a dedication to him ( Poem for a Fren)
b) I was introduced to new frens and my admiration to their skills (programming and other talents) and how they had given me social support. (Celebrating Friendship)
c) My bump into the Security Specialist Space - Formal and Informal Training/Certification (Ode to Security Specialist)
d) A heart wrenching moment to see my close friend fell out of love (Scarred Tissue)
e) End of the Gregorian Calender, Christmas is approaching - Looking forward to the Holidays (Christmas Carol)
f) Managing mood swing, a reminder to me (Moods)
g) Reflecting on 2005 - Moving forward (2005 in Reflection)
h) The daily sacrifices that we go thru, Celebrating Aidil Adha - We all have our "Korbans". (Korban)
i) An observing friend - a lonely fren who is now about to change her Life (Lonely)
j) A reminder and motivating poem for me to excercise (Journey Towards Health)

I hope in my next six month, I don't write this kinda of yucky and monotonous poems anymore.
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Weekend Rambling - Boys and their Toys

Sometimes offers comes at a time when you don't really have cash to spare,but becoz of "nafsu", you just can't pass a good offer. I got a pair of these for a scream of a sum (almost 40% of market price). Not wanting to enjoysuffer alone, I tried to coax close frens to enjoy suffer collaboratively,by smsing them the offer. there were no takers, hence I got myself two phones, one Nokia N70 and the other being the cheaper model, the 6680.

The excuse I gave myself, testing out 3 G service from two major Cellular provider - yeah right. Who am I kidding.

This weekend also was the day I paid my specialist Doctor a visit. The good news is that my glucose level has subsided and my blood pressure is only marginal. The doctor was quite surprised at the results. He took me off the Reductil and just ask me to continue with the Glucophage.

Also went to Starbuck/Borders to catch up on frens after which I drop by PC Fair in my attempt to buy my notebook. All I got to see were the back of peoples head for half an hour. That was one disapointing PC Fair, which puts me off buying my replacement notebook - AGAIN.

All in all, it was a mix weekend, some joyous moment and some not so interesting events. Looking forward to next week.

Correspondingly Tagged - Sil Vous Plait

Aiyah...I was tagged by Nadio to fill up this school related questionaire. It is not that I feel reluctant to do it out of laziness, it is just that I cannot remember my time in school. It has been that long - more then 25 years ago that I can't even remember how my teachers look like. However, in respecting her wishes, below is my feeble attempt to fill up what ever I could muster out of my deranged nuerons during my school life.

How many school did you go to?

3 ,
Standard 1 to standard 4 (Sekolah Iskandar Alor Setar),
Standard 5 to Form 5 (St Michael Ipoh) and
Form 6 (Bukit Bintang Boys School PJ).

If you include Llandrillo Technical Collegue, North Wales for A-Levels, that will be 4. Did my Degree in University Collegue of Swansea, South Wales, UK.

Was I a studious nerd or last minute hero?

I was a studious nerd up until Form 3. I then discovered Tae Kwan Do, Tennis and Tuition Study Group ;). After Form 3,my moto is, "Keep a cool head.What ever you learn, with a cool head, you will outperform other stressed out class mate - or so I try to tell myself". I also depended on funny systems to memorize what I learn (eg - bone in Hand is called Humerus - as it starts with H and Femur s for Feet etc , in history - I just memorized one date 1511, then add 130 for end of Portugese rule and 1641 and add 150 for 1791 end of Dutch Rule etc)

In university, i was a last minute hero. I had hoped to fail the final year, playing hookie 75% of the time, but due to unfortunate circumstances, I passed with a General Degree.

Was I a taiko or a teachers pet?

I was neither, having to choose to sit in middle of class room, bland and inconspicous. I was a follower rather then a leader, very shy and always getting into trouble and getting caught by discipline teachers for being mischevious and getting caught out for not knowing how to lie. In fact in Bukit Bintang Boys School, I was frequently ragged ie having to propose to dustbins and flagpoles.

Best 3 subject

Math (Modern and Add) - I also had to become teachers tutor (Mr Wilson) to teach other A-Level student (other Mat Salleh and Iranian Student)
Chemistry (had a chemistry Lab in the house compliment of my late father)
Physics (Though how I hate Applied Mechanics and memorizing all the equations)

3 Teachers I remember most.

Miss Josephine Wong (English Teacher and Miss Malaysia) - I can't remember what I learn in her classes. All I remember of her was her signature, that has a prominent "W" in Wong. We used to add two additional dots to the "W".

Miss Ho (Math Teacher) - Teacher who gave us sneak peak into adulthood and can sometimes forget/careless that wearing short skirt and reaching or trying to write sentences on the top of the blackboard is a no-no.

Mr Ung Khek Chow (my Math tuition Teacher) - always featured in LAT's cartoon and a mean stomach pincher. He taught me the meaning of doing Math on the fly. Under his tutorship, I not only learnt how to solve Maths problem quickly, but I could solve it in many ways and in the fastest time - lest I wanted a black belt in my stomach.

Ok...cukup le tu....don't wanna prolong suffering on others, hence I won't tag anyone. ;) Gotta watch TV now.
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An eventful Last Quarter

Let see, what have I achieve this past quarter. I have set a few goals late last year, perhaps its time to revisit those goals.

a) Regain Health
b) Find more time for self
c) Explore other interest

Positively....I might have almost achieved most what I had set to do (albeit with support and help from friends), though the journey is still far away. I had enrolled into a gym and last two month progress has been very encouraging. My stamina and strength has gained a fairly bit and I now do not have the "lack of breath syndrom" that often. My blood pressure and glucose level had subsided thus I am now looking forward to seeing the specialist to confirm the results. Indirectly, this coupled with other alternative treatment has resolved some of my behaviour that has lead me to be in a depressive state. I don't pass out during driving anymore (fingers crossed) . I now have a fresher outlook of life.

The offset of it is that I now get too addictive to excercise that I tend to spend an average of 3 hours in the gym. Though I do have off days from Gym, I tend to start my cardio and later go into group excercise classes (which can be back to back). This reduces my time for other social activities. I don't think I gain any brownie points with some of my friends either.

However, in exploring other interest, I have made quite a few new friends, online and offline (especially in the Gym). This has diversified my interest other then just excercise and photography. This has lead me to rekindle some interest in literature and charity work.

My only negative update is the lost of my dear friend, my Thinkpad T41. It took me a bit of time to accept this lost and to date I have not acquired a replacement notebook. I suppose that notebook has many meaning to me and I blame myself for the lacksadisical approach that I had in managing this friend. It is only this week have I accepted closure to this case and will be shopping for a new notebook this weekend.

Looking forward to the next quarter, I am about to start a new project with a new acquiantance. Will provide updates as we go along. Until next review.....

Of Prejudices and StereoTyping - A way of Life

People tell me Islam is the way of Life. I ponder on that statement, not becoz i do not belief in it but more to variance that I see in the execution in living the life in Islam. People can sometimes be so judgemental in the way of how they see how Islam should be lived (especially in Malaysia), but I sometimes wonder "Is there another alternative way of living Islam rather then conform to the normal sterotype"

I am also at fault and find myself sometimes very judgemental on others and can sometimes also stereo-type people in very fixed categories. Everytime I find and know someone who wears a "Tudung Labuh" or "Sarban", I tend to think that he/she is, and should be pious. More often then not, I find that the reverse could be true. The more I get to know these gentlement/ladies, I find that they harbour the same (if not more) negative behaviour then I would like to see or hear in a Muslim way of Life.

I also came across other ladies/men who may not be projecting a piousness in a Muslim way of Life but practices mediocrity, has noble intention, yet fulfill the requirement of Islam subtlely but more often then not is seen to be secularist.

Who is to say that one is better then the other. But ironically in this current society, there seems to be a need to conform and comply to the herd mentality. It seems that if you want to be accepted this "club" of "piousness", you will have to conform to these certain way of look.

The reason that I brought this matter up as a matter of background, is that I sometimes question myself as to whether, is this the only way to go about practicing to be a good muslim? Question that I often have are:-

a) Is there another way of coaching and tutoring (in a fun manner) as oppose to the traditional syarahan and the "I am holy then thou" attitude.
b) Can learning about Islam be done in a non traditional environment - such as in an photographic/art studio?
c) Can we infuse buffet learning environment and Casual Group activities in mosque?. After all historically the mosque use to be community center?
d) There are other components of science and art that the Holy Koran speaks that are never elaborated and documented, rather then always focus on the rules of the do's and don'ts

I suppose, we live and learn, and we lead our live how we feel best while adhering to the commandments laid out.

The Week that was

I am not sure whether we really believe the saying "You are what U eat". Recently, I am begining to revisit this saying and belief there is a lot of truth in that. How did I come to this hypothesis?

I was told that much of the human behaviour and attitude rises from the fact that our bodies are made of chemicals. Most of the time, these chemicals are in harmony and hence you are ok. However, if there are any areas of the bodies which are in distress, then alarms are triggered. Manifestation of these alarms are rise in blood pressure and rise of other chemical attributes such as blood sugar level. Though some people go even farther to theorise that this will affect mood swings and your feeling of well being (positive or otherwise), I feel that there are credible scientific evidence to support this.

After 6 month of being treated in a specialist hospital to gain control of my high blood pressure, there does not seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. During this time depression also got the better of me and I have been a lousy friend to have around. In fact some told me that I have been an annoyance to them. I don't blame them really, you really have to dig into yourself for self discovery.

Recently I went in to try an alternative medicine and found out that after just two treatment, my blood pressure came down and my glucose level came within control. In fact, I felt more energetic and colleagues in office remarked how different I was. Having thought this could be a placebo effect, I kept quiet and pursued the treatment further and monitored my blood pressure and glucose levels. I noticed incedental improvements to my skin, dandruff and water retention problem. I enquired from the practioner and was told that he was mere treating the source of problem which causes my hormone to be out of whack. Hence , if that is solved, the body will recompensate and get back its own chemical balance and thus rectify its own problem. I was also reminded on proper way of eating to get back my health (tho he is not the first to remind me - my gym coach being the first)

All in all, I am happy to regain my health (fingers crossed) and look forward to a more positive outlook and enjoy life more. I also weigh myself recently, I lost 17 kilos in all for six month and 7 kilos is attributed strictly to gym classes (2 month) . That really made my week.

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Aik U puncture Me

In my quest to resolve my runaway high blood pressure, I was recommended treatment using acupuncture. Yeah, yeah...I know, people have many theories and stories behind this method of treatment. My take on it is that, do not knock it until U try it.

Having made and appointment to see this gentlement, I went in for a half hour diagnosis and another half an hour of treatment. He did a before treatment and after treatment measurement session. Although I am not a great fan of needles and being pricked all over the place, my fear was eventually laid to rest as the sensation was not that bad. It is all in the mind.

However, since this particular session was only preliminary and I have to undergo further sessions, I will blog about this when I finished the final session. However, just basing on the preliminary session, I went out of the treatment room rejuvenated and fresh.

It is an alternative to treatment that I sought in Specialist Centre. But I suppose, its horses for courses.

Ode to a Great Dad

I have never really talk about my dad. I attribute it to perhaps my inability to accept closure on the subject of his death, as I have never really told him how thankful I was to all his silent contribution. Even in my early working years, having graduated with a degree (and suppose to be matured) I did even make any attempt to give the ole man a simple utterence of thank you.

His character is one that works and plod on making an earning tirelessly without ever seeking recognition nor wealth to send us to school as my mother does not work and he is the sole bread winner. He also has this obsession with work and research that some of this attribute seems to rub off and infected some of us. Being a Veterinarian, and a researcher, his fellow workers use to joke that he has more degrees then a thermometer.

Not only did he developed the Veterinary Department to a certain stature, he also contributed greatly to the Veterinary Research Institute (Ipoh) in the development of new vaccines. After retiring from the Vet. Department, he then took office to teach and assist in nurturing many new Veterinarians at UPM. My only regret is that the country never did bestow any honour for all his contributions, chosing to reward other lesser minions. I only realize how many people heart he must have touched and how many students he must have taught,when we were overwhelmed with hundreds of graduate veterinarian that turned up during his passing.

Only recently was I made aware that a Japanese Researcher in recognizing my dad's effort has named a fly in my fathers name.

Thinking back, I begin to appreciate his nudges and silent contribution and arrangement that proded me to be independent and self sufficient in many areas. In my early years of school, he would at that time would invest in two sets of Encyclopedia (Britanica and the Book of Knowledge). Remembering that this was pre Internet years, and I had been instilled the spirit of learning as early as 7 years old. By 11 years old, I was accoladed the nickname "KnowAll" much to my dismay though.

For all his effort, I would like to record my thanks to a great DAD. I miss U.

Therapy from Watching a Weird Movie

I have been having quite a bit of a challenge lately, that I thot a change of scenary and maybe a distraction will do me good in relieving my stress level. Pop in at Mid Valley having taken half day EL to watch a movie. Reaching there inpromtu and having to select movie that has tickets available can be an interesting process. Not wanting to watch any serious (need to digest) type movie, I settle in for this movie titled Date Movie.

After watching the first 5 minutes of the start, I knew this is a ridiculous B-type category movie that has an almost stupid storyline with crazy and gross attempt of humour. Having resigned to that fact, I can't help but enjoy the overall movie in watching the amount of parody that the movie tries to potray of more then a dozen of Hollywood's churn of love story in the past decade.

Well, what can U expect from writers who has worked on Scary Movies? Parodies of movie like "Meet the Fockers","The Wedding Planner","How to loose a guy in 10days" and even "King Kong" can be seen within this movie. Though it may not be worth as a DVD collection, i think it has done my stress level a bit of good.

Must do this more often tho..

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RFID - Surrendering my Privacy to Information Collectors

Having attended the launch of the RFID event at the MCMC, I was left bewirlded as to what benefit these new fangled technology is going to bring the average Joe Consumer. As I understood, RFID is nothing new and has been used by the US Military for quite sometime to track their assets (soldiers, guns etc).

I understand the need to promote the use of such technology but I am of the opinion that you need to present both side of the case. The seminar started well, but in the end went into a product marketing mode, which I don't really appreciate. A lot of the guest and audience still came out not able to digest nor comprehend the benefit that can be capitalize from this technology since the real benefit or value either of cost benefit or otherwise could not/have not been presented.

What I do see the benefit of this technology is the ability to use the tag (throw away or reusable) to track concurrently items and assets using RF antenna upto 100 m in radial distance. The immediate benefit highlighted is the ability for shoppers to go out of Superstore (such as Wall Mart) with the bill and reciept immediately presented at check out.

My paranoid take on this is that, it is another technology (if wrongly used) can be used to track item, people and asset and thus invade consumers privacy. There could be privacy issues in the data mining of the information especially for cultures with lacksadasy attitude to managing information. Imagine these tags are embedded in under garment of man and woman. Since the tag is unique, one can identify what brand, type and flavour that the man/woman is using and how many times it is being used in a week.

Someone might come up to U and ask, why are U wearing NXXX Boxer shorts three times a week only??

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Project W

As I was perusing some blogs during this weekend, I came across a blog operated by someone familiar. It is not common to see youngster organize something for a worthy cause. I think my fren wouldn't mind me putting a link to his daughter's blog.

Its for a Woman's Aid Organization.

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My Broken Hearted Car

Sometimes you think the car has feeling and a soul. My Citroen ZX16V seems broken hearted and spill out its guts (or radiator water), I suppose upon hearing that it is to be sold. It kinda left me stranded for about an hour and a half in front of Curve and IKEA. It seems that the AAM got their instruction a bit confused. Nevertheless, the car had to be towed back to the workshop.

I need to liquidate some of the unnecessary assets for future endaevours. I suppose upon hearing this discussion, the car must have sulked and decides to throw tantrum right in front of Curve. Though it nearly went close to overheating, there was ample time to have it quickly parked by the roadside for it to cool down sufficiently.

At that time, I was still a bit in a dazed trying to comprehend the results of my monthly visit to my Specialist in Damasara Hospital. Seems that the result left him(the Doctor) a bit perplex, my sugar level went down but my blood pressure went up to 140/95. The last time he put me on "Micardis", I nearly fainted due to the blood pressure going too low. Ah well, need to re-examine the lifestyle, diet and health and keep it under close supervision. Maybe some form of celery juice maybe of assistance.

It pays to change your landscape

It is sometimes good to go out and about to have a change of scenery. Being clogged up with stress and work can be depressing. In your daily life, you tend to be a conformist and loose the edge to be different. Going to Genting Highland, you suddenly realize how much fun it was to re-live your childhood days and be a kid again. Coupled to the park having new theme ride, it was fun to live sightly on the dangerous side.
We were there early in the morning and it was fun to skip all the long queue and going for some of the ride repeatedly was good. In fact it was exhilirating. Though we finished almost all the rides by early afternoon, it was my stamina that gave way rather then the rides itself. I went into to the indoor theme park which was a bit of a letdown.

Driving down Genting can be challenging especially in an autobox car, since you need to use the engine to slow down the car lest you want a siezure in your braking system. This is not easily controlled in a car that has Auto gearshift. Nevertheless, it was a relaxing journey back especially when we use the stops as a breath taking and brake cooling exercise.

Overall, a good day of outing.
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One of Those days

Ever had days when U go insane. I did, last evening. Reason???----Traffic Jam.

I was driving from Cyber Jaya down to KL for my usual Gym Class. In seeing rain had come down and I am still stuck at the Seremban Highway, I text a friend to book me a place. The point that drove me nuts was that, I managed to battle traffic upto KLCC and was in the vicinity with ample time, but I can see the building where the Gym was but I couldn't move( U know, the feeling that U wanna just leave the car in the jam and its faster to walk.) It took me a stupid 30 minutes just to move half a kilometer. Coupled to that, I just missed the class by 15 minutes.

With all that anger, I went in and enrolled into the next "Challenged Class". Now that was the dumbest move that I did this week. Halfway through the class, my chest felt like bursting and I must have sweated gallons and was screaming my way just to finish the class.

Lessons learnt, take deep breath, before any impromtu decisions.

Have we looked into our Rights or are we Left? - Long Post

Watching some discussion on the Blogs and monitoring recent events got me into thinking, how does one protect copyrights of printed material especially on the Net.? I was also being hinted by a journalist acquaintance on this issue. How does one protect writings and copyrighted ideas when the culture of the community maybe inclined to take the easy way out of copying without acknowledgement.?

In the olden days, ideas and thought processes were written and later published as journals, books or magazine and this was distributed in exchange for wealth through the sale of such materials. Leakage of wealth and reduced sale were managed through the management of intellectual property and infringements were dealt either through licensing or suits.

Though simplistic in its description, but what is clear is that in the traditional method, every start of the process is backed by clearly defined documents (legal or otherwise) and hence responsibility and accountability can be traced.

With the invention of the photocopying machine, this technology then poses a big challenge to the protection of copyrighted materials and its distribution. With the proliferation of the internet, this infrastructure just brings distribution to a new all time high (positively or negatively).

ISPs are now being roped in to assist authorities in shutting down sites hosting files infringing copyrights issues in the form of mp3 and movies. This is becoming a prevalent issue and is being taken seriously in the music/movie industry fraternity. What will be more interesting is to observe the community come together to police the abuse of intellectual property rights of journals, news and ideas put forth on Blogs.

Now then, what are the challenges of protecting and distribution of ideas or writing on the Net.? Perhaps one way to explore this,is to look into issues and challenging in operating a Blog. In its simplistic form, a Blog is a journal of the writer published on the Net. The Journal can consist of ideas (new innovation or observation), hypothesis and/or photograph or any other multimedia files published in an electronic form.

The Author of the Blog does own some if not all of the Intellectual Property of the Blog if the writing and ideas put forth are original, of his own minus the acknowledged referrals and quotes. Unless and otherwise stated or claimed by the author, theoretically anything published on the Internet/Blog maybe deemed Public Domain and thus distributable. Recently there are initiatives of claiming IP rights on materials written by author under the banner of Creative Common. These are sets of terms which set forth the claim to rights and simplify the conditions on what and how the materials can be distributed.

What makes the Blog further entertaining is the ability for the Author to source comments from the Net community. The comments put forth are generally accepted as being owned by the commenter and thus is not part of the Blog author. However, there are other school of thoughts that implies that the comments forms part of the content and thus the Blog owner owns some part of the Blog and thus responsible for some of the Content. This can be quite challenging for the Blog owner.

The challenge is now extended, if the content posted does not comply with the law of the country ie if the content is sexually abusive in nature and the law in this country prohibits the publication of such content whether in print or otherwise.

The question pose to me is which Act and Legislation (if any) covers the Protection of Copyrighted Materials on the Net and which Act covers the regulating of Content published on the Net? How many of us are aware of our rights to claim and to pprotect our ideas. For those concerns on the issues of content, how many of us are aware that the content on our blogs is still subject to regulation under the Publication and Printing Act?

I think the general public may not be aware of their rights and responsibility of the content of their Blogs in relation to Law of the Country. I think there is a lot of work to be done in this area of educating the Malaysian Internet Community.

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Journey towards health - POEM

Exercising in the Gym is so much fun,
Walking and Cycling it can be done,
To begin the routine the start of a day,
Stretching and Limbering in the proper way.

Begining the routine warm up on a cycle,
Strengthen your stamina, your knees and ankle,
Followed by treadmill, your jog for the day,
Improve your cardio, every step of the way.

Toning your muscles, use the weights correctly,
Overstressing yourself, causes pain in your body,
Reminding ourself to start oh so gently,
Proper supervision, is recommeded wholeheartedly.

For those who feel group exercise is best,
Enrol yourself in it, but don't expect no rest,
Theres RPM,Pump,Balance,Attack,Combat and Jam,
Be selective in choosing lest you get the cramps.

Focussing on Fitness, do not be distracted,
Heavenly bodies and hunks is to be expected.
Showing their attributes, so that we can see,
Theres still some hope for you and me.

Exercise is best done at the correct places,
Eating healthly and correctly at the right paces,
Not to expect changes ever so drastically,
What takes years to put on, cannot be removed quickly.