Sanity… is for the Weak

*Pant* *Pant* *Wheeze*
Just done with IPPT, and home for a quick shower before going back to the office. Not too bad for a 32-year old who can run 2.4km in 12 min 35 sec without any training what-so-ever eh? And doing that right after a month of a monster throat infection.

Speaking of health and exercise, they figured that I’ll kick the proverbial bucket at the age of 76. How about you?

So, please excuse me while I puke my guts out and pass out from over exhaustion.

Cousin Eugene (on Wifey’s side of the family) has a new addition to the family. And this being first month, we went to a baby shower at Merchant Court Hotel’s Ellenborough Market Cafe . That, of course raised the inevitable question of “When’s your turn?” among the relatives; the most pointed of which was an aunt who came by with the baby and jiggled it at wifey with the question. Sigh. I suppose babies are a gift from above, and they’ll come when they come. Anyway, she’s taking it well, so we just have to keep trying… and hope for thebest.

But one thing that struck me though, is that dearie looks great with a baby in her lap. This is yet another baby, by her niece (who’s about 10 years older, strangely enough)… which makes wifey, technically, a great-aunt

Even more shocking, was the sight of the little flower girl and boy who were at our wedding 2 years ago. They’re really big now, especially the girl, who’s Primary 2 and already almost as tall as wifey!

And now, on to food.

Trying to make more Apple Mousse. This stuff is truly wonderous… we can have it for breakfast as an addition to cereal, with oats, as a main diluted in a bowl of milk, as a spread on bread, as a sauce for Pork Chops or even as a topping for ice-cream! Very versatile stuff, easy to make and keeps quite well in the fridge.

Apple Mousse
1) Peel and core apples.

2) Dice the apples into cubes and just chuck everything into your standard slow-cookpot with enough sugar to taste (I figure about one tbsp per apple).

3) Wait till it’s all simmered down to a rich, sweet paste and bottle! Goes well with anything!

Got this piece of spam in my inbox today. Who the hell believes in shit like this anyway? Are people so moronic that they’ll give away personal information just like that?

FROM THE DESK OF MUSA GARUBA
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO

I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK BURKINA FASO. I got your contact address through internet net work search when searching for a good and reliable person that will assist me in this transaction.

In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of 22.85m US Dollars (twenty two milllion eight hundred and Fifty thousand us dollars)in an account thatbelongs to one of our foreign customer who died on 25th
JULY 2000 IN SUPER SONIC CONCORDE plane crash AT CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT IN
PARIS FRANCE along with his entire family.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased
as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and i don’t want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill.

The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclamed after four year, the money will be transfered into the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund.

The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.

I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account and 70% would be for ME;

Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relations or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will be remitted.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer.

You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this mail through my private line. (00226 78 84 41 77).

Your’s faithfully

MR. MUSA GARUBA.
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
OUAGADOUGOU,BURKINA FASO

So folks, help me out here. Spam this moron for all you’re worth with your Penile Enhancers, Boob-enhancement, Holistic Viagra and what-not. I’m sure he’ll love to get some pointers :p

There’s been growing alarm since yesterday about the call by the new Iranian President to “Wipe Israel off the Map“. I mean, the standard morons and idiots decrying the “Zionist” movement and burning flags is one thing, but saying things like this which are pretty much tantamount a declaration of war, especially by a leader of a country is no joking matter. And they’re doing this to what many believe to be one of the best armed forces in the world, and possibly nuclear-armed as well?

On the other hand, the story inside seems to tell a different story - that of a rather incompetent leader and hard-line reactionary who has yet to move from student politics to country government. He has, in fact, removed 4 ambassadors from their posts this week (London, Berlin, Paris and Geneva), and at a time where their influence is much needed before the UN vote on Iran’s nuclear program.

Even more worring, was Britain’s response by the PM, Tony Blair.

So. Now we’ll have to worry if Iran’s nuclear program has really borne fruit for a bomb, and if mushrooms are going to grow in the Middle East. Just bloody wonderful.

More Links:
Ahmadinejad: Wipe Israel off map, Aljazeera
Wipe Israel from map, says Iran’s president, Financial Times
Blair leads attack on anti-Israel remarks, Financial Times
World Leaders Condemn Iranian’s Call to Wipe Israel ‘Off the Map’, Washingston Post

This is what’s left of my PSP after I sent it in to the Sony Service Centre:

The reason? I broke the Analogue Joystick. And it looks like I probably the first guy to do so in the world, because the people at the Service Centre were utterly perplexed as to how I managed to break it… most of the time people just loose the Analogue Nub when it comes off.

Anyway, they said it could be fixed and the total bill would come out to:
Replacement Analogue Nub - $1 (I lost the original in Sweden… been using this oversized aftermarket thingy. Maybe that’s why it broke?)
Replacement Analogue Joystick - $4
Replacement Void Seal - $1 (The stuff that voids the warranty when you break it?)
Service Costs - $120(*&^%$#@!!!!)
GST - $7
Total - $133
Ouch…. my poor wallet.

In Other News:
I received something rather… NSFW video in the mail recently. Apparenty there’s this practice of “Tanking” and “Sharking” that’s going around in Japan. And here I thought that “Happy Slapping” was a bad fad…

We just went out and caught Transporter 2. Luckily, it’s a monday night, so the price of a ticket was pretty much what the movie was worth. Poor in plot and characterization, the only things going for this movie are pretty much the stunts of Jason Statham and the soundtrack. It kinda reminded me of the earlier kung-fu moves of Jackie Chan when the lone hero fights a horde of goons and getting rather beaten up in the process. I think the previous movie was much meatier, and had better camera work as well as a more polished look.

But then again, it’s a Luc Besson show, so I guess it’s you typical leave-brains-at-door movie.

We shall catch Zorro next week!

Visual:Slave
In the PSP:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
In the DVD:
+Appleseed 2004
+Steamboy
+Initial D: 4th Stage
Movies to Catch:
+Initial D: The Movie
+Fantastic 4
+Sin City
+Corpse Bride
+Night Watch Looks like we missed this one too.
+The Legend of Zorro
+Lord of War
+Herbie: Fully Loaded Damn. We missd this one.
+The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
+Transporter 2
+Doom
+V for Vendetta
+Aeon Flux

Finally got around to trying the food from the 24-hr Muslim Coffee-shop that opened down the road recently:

2 Kosong and 1 egg for $2.40 is a little on the pricey side, but it does taste good, and it’s available 24/7 so I shall not complain.

On a good note, Annual Pain-in-the-ass HQ Exercise is finally completed… all I need now is a good weekend break and lots of sleep to catch up on and I’ll be as good as new.

Been a rainy day pretty much since lunch. It’s about 8pm now, and the sky is still drizzling; not that we mind, it’s a great day to stay at home and snuggle up with a book and spend quality time.

Anyway, we dropped by Borders while out in town to get my sunnies repaired (the frame broke…) and I managed t oget my grubby lil’ paws on 2 new books:

1) The new M.Y.T.H. novel by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye, Myth-Taken Identity.
2) One of my fav S.F. authors, S.M. Stirling’s alternate history linked to the Nuntucket series, Dies The Fire

Anyway, the weekend’s almost over, and so it’s back to the grind and 12-hour-shifts tomorrow
I just hope this exercise will wind up quickly… hate to see the amount of e-mail and work that’s been piling up at the office while away these two weeks.

Going to be real busy these two weeks. We’re on a major exercise and I’m dead beat working 12hour shifts. Take away the time to commute to and from work, as well as time for personal hygene and food, I’m looking at about just 6 hours of sleep a day. So, sorry if the posts here are a little erratic and infrequent.

I’m getting too old for this crap….

Got this in an e-mail today:

Many of us are not aware that the petrol kiosk pump has a return pipe-line (in black). When the petrol tank (in the car) reaches full level, there is a mechanism to trigger off the pump latch and at the same time a return-valve is opened (at the top of the station) to allow excess petrol to flow back into the sump. But the return petrol has already passed through the meter, meaning you are donating the petrol back to SHELL/ PETRONAS/ CALTEX……….

So, once the pump latch is triggered, you may want to stop it right there rather then trying to make it look nice in the meter by rounding up the figure. (I notice a lot of people have this habit… right?)

Not too sure what to make of it, but I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. Afterall, fuel prices is only set to rise higher and higher as the years go by and shortages set in

It was just past 9pm, when suddenly a thunderous crash of drums and cymbals, typical of Chinese Lion and Dragon Dance procession came from outside the house. So I grabbed my camera and ventured outside for a look and this was what I saw.

There were so many people walking on the street, that traffic was blocked up solid for a good 20 minutes! I figured that this was some diety’s brithdate or celebration. Can anyone who has any idea what was going on tell me what happened?

Anyway, feeling much much better after 3 days of antibiotics ~ will complete the course (very important!).

We already own a Roomba, the robotic vaccum cleaner that will clean the house without supervision. All we need to do is to charge it and off we go to work, and come home to a clean house. Only problem was, we still had to mop the floor… until now

Introducing, the new Scooba, the robotic mop!

Of course, at USD$399 a pop it’s not cheap. But hey, what’s a price to pay for quality of life?

Been up to KL for a working trip on Wed & Thur… and the sore throat and fever came back again. ~sigh~

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to KLIA and despite the slew of problems they had when they first opened, it now is a throughly modern and sophisticated airport.

Didn’t have much time to go shopping or sight-seeing (it *was* a working trip, afterall) but I did managed to squeeze a little time to take a look at Berjaya Times Square before we left for home. 10 Floors of shopping may sound rather impressive, but the reality is rather different. The place is built on a very large scale, but it creates the impression of emptiness rather than grandeur - walking around, it just seems to lack… soul. Only the first 5 floors were fully filled, with each successive floor seemingly half filled. The up side is that Borders just opened there, taking up 2 floors worth of books, magazines and music, with aisles wide enough to swing an elephant - much, much bigger than the Singapore branch. The picture is of the indoor amusement park inside Times Square. They’ve got a freaking Roller-Coaster inside of the shopping centre, besides other amusements.

Unfortunately, I was too miserably ill to enjoy it. Anyway, got home to see the doc again on friday - this time wifey’s family doctor, a kindly Dr Quek at Bedok - and it discovered that I’ve got a throat infection. Full course of anti-biotics this time roud where the doc just gave me panadols last week.

Got home to see the Sunflower now in full bloom, and a new seedling. Hope it grows up as big as this current one!

Going to take Stanley to the vet later. He got into a seriou fight with Monsieur last week, and as a result we had to send Monsieur back to the Jenssen. Hopefully, he’ll remember the short stay with us, and will bond with me for the show. Funny thing is, when we brought the both of them to the vet, it was the same vet that saw Stanley when he got attacked by the cat. First thing she said when she came in was “What!? You again!?!”

Gonna to take my meds soon. Ta for now!

I’ve been messing around with Google Earth recently. And if you haven’t already, download the thing *now*! It’s simply awesome.

Here’s a satellite picture of my place. Impressive technology, isn’t it?

Sadly, while all this high-tech stuff makes the world a truly “Global Village”, it also strips away some of the mystery and practically exposes all for the world to see. How many would-be terrorists can simply use this to plan their bombings by analysing the map and satellite pictures? After all, the military does it pretty much the same way…

BrainCoder: Aww… so sweet. Thank you! I’m much better now.

Woohoo! Been a while since we went out to a movie. Just caught Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, and while it’s a little short at just 1.5 hours, it was just perfect for a weekday movie. Plenty of time to have dinner, watch the movie and be home for a little quality time.

As usual, Tim Burton’s morbid humor shines through in this delightfully quirky animation. And Danny Elfman’s unmistakable musical style comes across as a strong emphasis to the visual imagery, although it sounded a little like an extension to the score on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Visual:Slave
In the PSP:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
In the DVD:
+Appleseed 2004
+Steamboy
+Initial D: 4th Stage
Movies to Catch:
+Initial D: The Movie
+Fantastic 4
+Sin City
+Corpse Bride
+Night Watch
+The Legend of Zorro
+Lord of War
+Herbie: Fully Loaded Damn. We missd this one.
+The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
+Transporter 2
+Doom
+V for Vendetta
+Aeon Flux

Speaking of spending quality time… we bought an Osim iSqueeze

The thing is certainly powerful! While wifey was using it last night, I could feel the entire bedroom floor vibrating…

It’s not cheap, at $588 a pop, but they take interest free installments with the credit card. So it’s goning to be $49.00 every month for the next 12 months.

Oh well. … At least we *BOTH* get to use it.

Heh.

And here’s the picture of the new handphone. The Motorola V3.

Functionality-wise it a little different from what I’m used to (I’ve been using Nokias pretty much all the way), but the design and interface is quite well-thought out and it’s quite sexy. Heck, at least the software is stable, unlike the made-in-Singapore crap I’ve been force to carry for the last few months. Arrrrgh.

w00t!

I’ve been sick for the last week. Fever, sore throat, nausea, headache that sort of thing… and to make thnigs worse, a colleague of mine was diagnosed with Chicken Pox on friday! Imagine the panic.

Anyway, went to the doc and the guy says that he *THINKS* it’s the flu… *BUT* if I get any rashes over the weekend, then it’s the Pox…. I was like what the %$#@#!???

Anyway, it’s Sunday now, and aside from a lingering headache, I seem to be fine.

Now, on a more serious note:
Bali got bombed again last night. Damn.

At least 25 have been killed, with more than a hundred injured, including tourists.

You would think that people who opt for the suicide bomber career path would sooner or later pretty much erase themselves off the face of this earth and taking that genetic tendency of self-destruction along with them. But alas, like the saying goes, “There’s a sucker born every minute”

Morons.

Have headache. Will stop now.