Damned Streamyx

December 31st, 2006 at 23:59 · Filed Under Call Me a Geek, Computing, Critiques, General · Comment 

Streamyx, the broadband service was damned slow to a halt due to the east bound fiber optic cables were affected by the recent earthquake off Taiwan. The Internet traffic was rerouted to west bound via Netherlands and UK. It was also partly due to the festive seasons when people are contacting families and friends via the Internet.

I was not happy with such a slow download and upload time. In this Information Age where Internet connection is prevalent, the service provider could have setup a redundant cable systems for the time like this. Apparently, they do not have a redundant system. Even their tech support does not know what is redundant system when I called them about connection problems some months ago. Sadly, these tech support employed by the service provider are local university graduates in ICT (Information and Computer Technology). How can they not know what the hell is redundant system? We can see how bad the local university standards are.

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New Year countdown with crabs

December 31st, 2006 at 23:59 · Filed Under At Home, Days in My Life, Dietrich, Dmitry, Dominik, Family, General · Comment 

After we finished with our grocery shopping at Tesco, we were driving aimlessly on the street and suddenly, LA sparked her taste buds and wanted to have some crabs for New Year Eve’s supper. The regular restaurant at Jalan Bunga Raya where we usually bought crabs from was not opened that night. We went around the town to hunt for crabs. We had to buy from another restaurant at the adjacent street. We bought a can of stout too.

When we arrived home, it was an hour before midnight. We prepared then ate the crabs just before midnight. Nik was sleeping already. D and R were so eager to eat te crabs with toasted breads.

Just before the clock struck 12, I called Michal in Poland to wish him and his mother and girl friend a Happy New Year. Michal, if you are reading this, Happy New Year and we wish you were here to celebrate with us New Year 2007 and have crab party. Do you still remember the restaurant we had crabs party beside a temple?

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Runaway treat

December 30th, 2006 at 19:57 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Dietrich, Dmitry, Dominik, Family · Comment 

LA book a hotel room at Mahkota Hotel to give us a retreat for the end of 2006. She got home in the late evening and told us about it and the kids were joyful to hear that they would be going to the swimming pool the next morning. We got ready and and moved the our luggage into the car and I started the engine. We were out of the house for our 1D/1N holiday in Melaka!

We checked in to Mahkota Hotel at 9th floor in Jasmine block. This was the first time we stayed in Mahkota Hotel. The one-room apartment was not too bad except that D and I had to sleep on the floor. We bought some supper and ate in the hotel while watching TV until midnight.

We woke up at 0700 and had breakfast at 0800 and 0830 we were heading to the pool. The breakfast was quite a hectic one as both D and R were getting excited about the pool and could no longer sit still to eat their breakfast and Nik was starting to make noise. LA and I had to wash down our breakfast with juices.

When we were at the second pool, the water was cold and the morning breeze made us felt colder. But that did not stop the kids jumping into the water. R was shivering and I had to wrap him with two pool towels and to rubbed him to keep him warm. As soon as he had warmed up, he insisted to go into the pool again. We played until the sun came out and we began to feel warmer but we had to go fearing of getting sun burn.

We returned the pool towels and went back to our hotel room and took some hot drinks and hot bath/shower. After the hot shower, D laid down on the couch and fell asleep. Soon, Nik was asleep on my chest followed by me. LA and R took the luggage to the car. When they were back, LA took some candid shots of three of us sleeping.


R got his first mini waterfall bath.


Ooooo…. cold. An gu…. The water was cold. Nik only got his feet wet.


R was shivering.


Teaching R to swim, actually kicking his legs in the water.


D was soaking in the cold water and sneezing away.


R was wrapped in two pool towels and I rubbed his body to keep him warm.


Caught in candid camera having siesta after the swim.


Nik was sleeping on my chest.


R was helping mommy to pack.


R gave D a kiss. Smuck!


And a smuck to daddy.


Daddy woke up and kiss kiss!

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Good training partner

December 29th, 2006 at 10:14 · Filed Under Karate · 1 Comment 

I trained with Jim last night. Jim just joined our training not too long ago. I taught him Seisan and Wansu last night and he picked up both very fast. Being a black belt in Shotokan, it is not very hard for him to catch up. The only difficulties he faces are the Shiko-dachi and its variants which is not practiced in Shotokan.

In Seisan kata, it uses seisan dachi which is similar to yokomuki shiko dachi and there are many techniques that changes from seisan dachi to zenkutsu dachi and forth. This unique technique is distinguished in Shorin-ryu, particularly Shorin-ryu Seibukan.

We practiced both kata together over and over again. It is obvious that my Sanchin was bad due to a nose/throat infection last weekend. So I did not really push hard while I was training with Jim. Almost to the end of the training session, I did Hiragaona Seisan and Jingai-ryu Hakkucho. We wrapped up our training by 2200 and went for a cuppa in Taman Bertam. We discussed some management and development issues there.

I really enjoyed my training together with him last night. Thanks Jim, you are a good training partner.

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What a stupid Digi service

December 28th, 2006 at 18:35 · Filed Under Call Me a Geek, Critiques, Hacking · 9 Comments 

I registered my mom’s Digi prepaid number at Digi’s Melaka Raya office using my MyKad. The man slotted my MyKad to a reader and after a while he confirmed that my line had been registered. Today, when I was trying to make a call from my mom’s Digi number, it said that no outgoing call was allowed. I checked the validity and it expires on 12/31. There are 3 more days before the validity expires. I am going to Digi office tomorrow to make hell lot of noise, for sure.

The prepaid registration drive is really hectic and stupid. The government thinks that it can deter unlawful use but I don’t think so. There are many other ways to obtain a prepaid cell phone numbers without needing to register with true identity. Like in Taiwan, prepaid cell phones need to be registered but they still have lots of problems with “ghost” cell phones. I was able to register one for myself without much fuss. An advanced country like Taiwan can’t even solve the problem and our country is thinking that it can. What a childish assumption! That makes the whole thing looks so stupid.

Another thing which I have observed is that personal information are revealed when someone register a prepaid cell service using MyKad at dealers. The dealers are equipped with MyKad reader and software to read personal details from MyKad and these information including address will be displayed on the computer screen. Women please beware of this. You may be tracked. Perpetrator may use these information to hunt you down. So, everyone, please beware when you are registering your prepaid cell service at dealers. Make sure they don’t copy your personal information. Your information displayed in the window can be easily copied by pressing ALT + Print Scrn. This will capture the current window instantly.
They think it is cool to register using MyKad and IT gadgets but that opens up a whole new opportunity for crimes. Please beware and make the government to change its policy that no one can read and display personal details without the presence of MyKad holder and these reader and software must be properly audited by trusted organization to make sure it does not save these information stealthily.

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What a good start for 2007

December 28th, 2006 at 17:48 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Karate · Comment 

I received a confirmation from a secondary school this afternoon. The school had confirmed to start karate class for its students. Another secondary school had confirmed earlier. The two new schools will start in 2007. I will be teaching 5 classes starting January 2007 including my existing 2 classes.

I believe 2007 will have a good head start and more exciting events will follow. I always believe 7 is a good and lucky number for me. It is at least I have received good news before 2007 comes.

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Black belt papas

December 28th, 2006 at 15:04 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Karate · 3 Comments 

On Tuesday night, Jim came to my house with his two boys, Adam and baby Z. We had a date to meet up with Karl another black belt at the other side of the town to discuss some matters in karate-do. Jim and his two boys went together in my car. I took D and R along. LA and Nik stayed home.

It was quite a fun to go out with another karate black belt friend with kids. He was looking for some karate dojo in Melaka and he found my website and we started to communicate. Soon after that, we became friend and he joined Shorin-ryu Seibukan.

We were discussing about the development of karate. We have plans to develop this association in Melaka for the interest of traditional Okinawan Shorin-ryu Seibukan karate-do in Melaka.

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My birthday cake

December 26th, 2006 at 23:56 · Filed Under At Home, Days in My Life, Dietrich, Dmitry, Dominik, Family · Comment 

Ha! Finally we got settle down for my birthday cake party. Nik was already soundly asleep after D, R and I returned home from a meeting with Jim and Karl for some karate matters. Sorry Nik.

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Christmas in PJ

December 26th, 2006 at 23:48 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Dietrich, Dmitry, Dominik, Family, Travel · Comment 

This was my first time to spend Christmas away from home. LA and I decided to go to PJ to visit her mother and brothers and sisters on Christmas eve. We actually planned to have a day trip and would be back to Melaka to celebrate Christmas and my birthday. Every year we would visit The Portugese Settlement at Ujong Pasir to see some Christmas decoration. But we ended to spend our Christmas in PJ and missed the Christmas decoration this year. When we were back to Melaka last night, we went to the town to find some supper and we thought of dropping by but we gave up when we were caught in traffic.


LA, Nik with cousins Lilian, Vivien and Shane


LY with Nik and LA with Su-An


Strong grandma


Nik with cousins Sharlene, Vivien and Wendy


D and Rich got their Christmas presents from Santa Clause (daddy)


D got this dream Yoyo and R got some play stamps

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Birthday wish

December 25th, 2006 at 0:00 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Karate · 9 Comments 

This is the first time I post my birthday wish on my blog. This year my birthday wish is to learn Uechi-ryu karate from Seiko Toyama Sensei. Why? First, I really like the fluid kata movement of Uechi-ryu. Second, Toyama Sensei birthday is on the same day as me, December 25.

I really wish I can train with him one day and happy birthday to Toyama Sensei.

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Alien crab

December 24th, 2006 at 11:56 · Filed Under General · 1 Comment 

We saw a giant crab in a restaurant where we had lunch on Thursday. I don’t know the name of the crab but it is certainly huge. Very much bigger than the Australian Snow Crab. It is able to wrap its legs around my head just like the baby alien in the movie, Aliens. But this alien will be soon ended up as a delicious dish. I think humans are the most terrifying predators of all. They eat everything mercilessly.

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Winter solstice blues

December 24th, 2006 at 6:40 · Filed Under At Home, Days in My Life, Family · Comment 

It is the Chinese tradition to celebrate Winter Solstice on December 22 every year. On this day, we will make glutinous rice balls in syrup water to pray the Gods and ancestors. Then we will eat the glutinous rice balls to mark one year older.

We were at grandma’s place for the celebration and lunch on Friday. Before the lunch, Nik wanted a nap. LA asked me to check if the mattress and pillows for the baby were clean for him to sleep on. They were not used for quite a long time. I checked by sniffing one of the pillows and there was some smells. Nik ended up sleeping on my chest while I held him sitting down on a chair.

Not long after lunch, I felt itchiness in my nose and I developed some headache and body ache. We went home after our lunch and I straight away laid down to try to get some rest. I knew I was going down with a nose/throat infection.

Yesterday, I had some slight fever and headache due to the infection. I popped some paracetamol and Clarinase last night. I feel better now except I am having dryness and itchiness in my throat. I wake up to gurgle with salt water.

Last night, LA was vomiting due to headache. She had the headache and slight fever a few days ago. We hope our children will not be infected by us.

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Protected: Nik is 4 months old

December 22nd, 2006 at 11:33 · Filed Under Dominik, Family · Enter your password to view comments. 

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Melaka river is flooding

December 22nd, 2006 at 11:27 · Filed Under General, Malacca · Comment 

When we were in town for Nik’s 4 months old ceremony, we passed by the Melaka river at Jalan Bunga Raya and saw the river was flooding into Kampung Morten. I heard places like Taman Merdeka (Batu Berendam) the water was over 4 feet deep! This monsoon season was really taking toll on Melaka people. Many roads were closed due to flood.

I was quite worried last night as the water level in our drains were very high. Another 3 inches the water would overflow. I woke up a few times to check the drain.

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Longing for morning training

December 21st, 2006 at 0:54 · Filed Under Karate · Comment 

The rain has stopped. Hopefully the weather in the morning will be good so that I can go to the park for morning training. My last training was last Wednesday morning and it had been a week since then. It is nice to train in the cooling morning.

I like to continue this morning training, at least several mornings a week if not every morning, as a preparation for the tournament next year. I felt dissatisfying after losing in kata event. My spirit is still boiling and I do not want to let it cool down.

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