Xmas is coming....

Sigh with the car problem i am having and all the GADGET Galore happening over the weekend due to the PC Fair....its just not FAIR....

Oh well...

22" LCD AOC brand for oni RM 498.00

Siao....

Bad bad day....

The song from Daniel Powter seems to come to mind today !

Excerpt:
==================================================
Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
==================================================

The wiring is gonna cost me a bomb so i think i would have to think of selling the car and re-coup or try to salvage any little bit of money that i can....

Sigh.....

Problem with my car !

It's a freaking silly reason for my car to be towed to the workshop.

My internal wirings are having some problems.

Videos will be up later....Sigh.....



Here i am at 6 in the morning getting the car towed to the workshop in Batu Tiga.

The workshop had a minor flood last monday so it was being cleaned from top to bottom that day...so no business / operation for that day.

:P

DSLR

I seem to be progressing a little if not some with regards to the DSLR hobby of mine.

I took some snaps of my cousin's wedding and decided to create a soft cover photo album for her and her husband as a gift.

I noticed that i have a lot of over exposures and also with under exposures with regards to my shots since i dun have an external flash and my pop up flash does not have a diffuser at the moment.

I am looking around for an Hot Shoe converter and a diffuser to set up my gear to at least make some difference for flash shots.

Here .... head over to http://www.flickr.com/jeisern to preview some of the shots i did.



Cheers !

Some shots....

Testing shots of my DSLR-A200

I was driving to work and decided to shoot some shots at the sunrise.

My first shots :)

Sony Alpha A200W DSLR

I've been biten by the DSLR bug...i've been a fan of photography but always thought that the DSLR cams were super expensive.

Some of my colleagues were also into the photography hobby and shared with me some of their thoughts on the matter.

Long story shot, i decided on a entry-level DSLR for my self, the Sony Alpha A200.

I bought it from Studio Zaloon in Pudu Plaza.

I'm having trouble registering the unit though for the extra 6 months warranty on top of the 12 months provided.

Will see how they reply later as Sony Call Center is only from Monday to Friday.

Now...i'm gonna start studying into this as well as Photomatix, Potrait Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Hmm....

Lemme post some shots first to see how it goes from there.

Here are some details on the DSLR :-

Comparison Specifications

• 10.2 megapixels (effective), APS CCD sensor; 23.6 x 15.8mm; RGB primary color filter

• Accepts CompactFlash™ Type I/II

• Includes DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lens (27 - 105 35mm equivalent), 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 compact super telephoto zoom lens

• Scene modes: Portrait, landscape, sunset, night view/night portrait

• Flash modes: Auto, fill-flash, rear flash sync, slow sync, high speed sync, wireless off camera flash (with optoinal HVL-F56AM, F36AM flash)

• Flexible, accurate exposure control, creative style settings

• 2.7" Clear Photo™ LCD screen, function guide display

• USB 2.0 hi-speed port, Video output (NTSC/PAL selectable)

• Anti-dust technology
Additional Specifications

• White balance: Auto, daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, color temperature/color filter, custom), each with +/-3 adjustable step

• Burst mode: Up to 3 fps, unlimited to capacity of media (JPEG L/M/S), maximum 2 frames (RAW + JPEG), maximum 6 frames (RAW)

• Color modes: Standard, vivid, portrait, landscape, night view, sunset, black & white, Adobe RGB

• ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

• Super SteadyShot® in-camera image stabilization

• Bionz® image processing engine (LSI with Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO/DRO+)

• Eye-start autofocus system, 9-point center cross AF sensor

• Index and slide show display, high-resolution thumbnails for PhotoTV HD viewing

• Multi-pattern measuring: 40 segment, center weighted, spot

• Self-timer (10 seconds, 2 seconds, off)

Manufacturer Specifications

• Red-eye reduction on/off (all modes)

• AF illuminator light

• Histogram display (RGB, playback only)

• Auto focus: TTL phase detection, multi-point: 9 area, 8 line, 1 cross sensor

• Shutter speed: 30 - 1/4000 sec., 52-step, bulb

• EV compensation: +/-2.0EV, 1/3 EV steps

• Exposure: Program shift, command dial

• Interchangeable A-mount lens mounting

• NP-FM500H lithium-ion rechargeable battery, CIPA standard approx. 750 pictures

• Supplied software: Image Data Converter SR ver.2.0, Image Data Lightbox SR ver.1.0, Picture Motion Broser Ver.2.1.02 (Windows only)
Dimensional Specifications

Dimensions: 5.19" W x 3.88" H x 2.19" D

• Weight: 1.21 lbs. not including battery, lens, or media
Sony DSLR-A200W Warranty Details

•One-year parts and labor warranty

Juliette Yap

Here are some pictures of my dotter these days :)

My small birthday and how Juliette has growned....

It was a small do at my sister's new apartment in Pee Jay. Uncle Paul came but most of all we spent it in the warm embraces of family.

It was a cosy albeit hot one, since my sister has not installed a ceiling fan or a stand fan to keep the dining area cool...the lights were akin to do used in a "Mix Rice" setup to keep food warm....phew

Anyways....look at how Juliette has grown... :) Cheers !

Sad day...Miraculous

Yesterday my brother in law and his family was involved in an accident. Thank gawd everyone was alright. My sister in law was a bit shaken up but fine.

It was at Kilometer 22.8, the "Polis Bantuan" and "Balai Polis KLIA" gave us a run around on where to report the accident to. We ended up going to Salak Tinggi then to Banting....man it was a tiring trip. I came to help at 5:30 pm only to reach home at 12 am with an MCSE exam to sit for on the next day ( To which i passed \(^o^)/ )

Anyways....here is some pictures....

Leaving for a better place

Well....its final and confirmed. The nail is in the coffin, i have resigned from my now ex-company VOD System Sdn Bhd.

It's been a good 10 years i'd say working for the Dijaya Group. Now i am off in to the big unknown world.

Well more soon when i begin my next chapter in life on the 16th of September 2008.

Next stop Shell IT, Cyberjaya.

Peace !

Acer Aspire 4520 and Ubuntu 8.04 64 Bit

After using the Ubuntu 7.10 64 Bit for about 1 year i decided to format and go Microsoft since i am taking MCSE for this year.

However the itch to go back to the Open Source community was too strong lol !

So i ordered from Ubuntu a 8.04 Desktop 64-bit Edition and away i went.

Now this time, the CD installed everything BUT the Display and Wifi. The last time i had to do it in safe mode.

I hate this about linux sometimes, but it pushes you to find an alternative and also to challenge ure googling skills hehehe !

So anyways as per my initial post at http://jeisern.blogspot.com/2008/01/acer-aspire-4520-and-ubuntu-gutsy.html, i can only follow the basic instructions.

Now for the display, you can basically follow the initial instructions as below

Go to Applications - Add/Remove
Type nvidia and choose : nvidia binary X.org driver ('new' driver )
Click on apply button and wait until the installation finished
Go to system – Restricted Drivers Manager – enable the NVIDIA

BUT you do not need to do the below.

open terminal
type sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
replace the resolution manually from “1024x768” to “1280x800”
reboot the computer

Initially when i checked out the xorg.conf file the resolution line does not appear in the Screen Section.

I manually added and the whole screen went down to low graphics mode, ouch!

Then all i did was re-enabled Nvidia in the Restricted driver and rebooted and all was good.

NEXT for the Wifi....THIS IS A PAIN believe me, took me a night to figure it all out.

First i downloaded the Windows XP Driver from the Acer 4520 CD which was provided at purchased time. Actually, i can barely remember where i got the files from. All i know is that, the folder is named ar5007eg-64-0.2, if you got this folder then it will definitely work. Er...worked for me la...hehehe

PLEASE Take note, that you cannot simply use any drivers for the Atheros Wifi, i tried the Vista version and also the Windows XP from Ronald Soo's blog and it did not work. I do not know if it is becoz i have not installed the acer-acpi or the acerwificontroller package though. But kudos to Ronald for hosting the files. That was a selfless act of kindness.

http://ronaldsoo.com/2007/08/31/acer-aspire-4520/

Then i install ndiswrapper, ndiswrapper-utils-1.9, wicd,

Initially, this will allow you to see the AP but u cannot access it, donno for what reason it did not work, since i am no super techie. I messed around with the settings somemore and re-checked what i did the last time.


Next i installed acer_acpi and acer-wireless-controller since i referred to what i did again. Problem here, last time someone by the name of mumblyworld provided a deb package, but now its no longer available....so i had to download the tar for both package and also the build-essentials to compile both files.

Oh yeah, then i also had to disable the support for Acer HAL and also the support for the Atheros Wifi Lan Card in the Restricted Drivers option tabs.

After that make sure you select Wicd becoz their support for Wext (WPA) is good. Wifi Radar conflicts and only allows for WEP the last time i used it. In 7.10 i had to download wpasupplicant to allow wicd to work, this time it was already there.


Here is also a good site to refer to : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=715187

Small Potluck High Tea in Kajang

Well..having a significant other would entail having to also "layan" her close friends and also joining in the fun.

We were to have a potluck in Kajang, so we decided to cook a pasta. I made a French Dressing Vinaigrette Pasta Spirals with Cheese Cocktail Sausages.

Here are some of the pictures of the food and the do at Kajang. We picked up Juliette's god parents and off we went.

Later we also had some Satay Kajang :)

It was a simple trip which reminded my wife of her Varsity days in Kajang UPM.

The Iphone from Apple - My review with a Fujifilm Finepix F47

Hahaha...don't expect a long technical review on the product as its been done
already.

I am doing it in a layman's point of view. Actually i just purchased a Fujifilm Finepix F47 Compact camera.

I am practicing some shots, and so happen, my boss was jailbreaking 2 ipods and passed on one to me to test. There 2 shots of my colleague oso.

IT IS THE PHONE WITH THE BEST INTERFACE AT THE MOMENT. I don't care what you say and how you argue, but there is not one phone on the market that can match it for speed, smoothness of executing apps, and also the fluidity of changing between Apps and also not to mention the zooming features.

I decided to take some pictures with my Camera and tested some shots with and without the flash function. I think i've made a good buy at RM 698.00 for the camera and also an additional RM 80.00 for the acrylic LCD protector and a mini lens protector.

Comes with a carrying case and a 2 G.B SD Card.

"http://www.fujifilm.com.my/eprint/v3/LatestNews/index.asp#F47fd"

Here's a short specs on the camera

Bukit Tinggi Colmar Resort

(Pictures will be up later)

Well...since it's been awhile since i blogged. I thought i'd do a few in one shot...hahaha el cheapo that's moi`.

So anyways, last Labour Day, me and the family decided to go up to Bukit Tinggi and take a break. We decided on many places and were too ambitious so we ended up with Bukit Tinggi.

It looked good on the website and though there were questionable reviews on the place.
It seemed that the reviews were right....the place there is quite stagnant these days...tourist are the come once and thats the last time they'd go to Colmar ever again.

Accomodations :

The rented apartment ON the other hand was well worth the price. Approximately RM 440 ++ and has 2 rooms with King Size beds and 1 hall. There were 3 bathrooms so it was great not having to fight for rights though.

Food :

The hotel buffet was of more worth then eating at the other restaurants, BUT the biggest peeve was the fact that it was SO FREAKING hot i think hitting over 35'C and THERE WERE NO FREAKING FANS IN ANY OF THE RESTAURANTS. To top it off....some of the Restaurant's Kitchen had their doors open to add to the heat wave as its crazy hot in there. Who could blame the chefs and waiters ? I'd do the same thing....

You see...the food is crazy expensive, 5 pcs of bread/bun if you like, 2 Guava juice, 1 can of 100 plus, 1 mango juice and thats RM 70.00. Can you believe the price?

Mineral water is RM 4.00 per bottle, Soft drinks ? RM 7.00, Ice cream ? RM 2.00

Mad....

Activities :

Nothing much to see...the Rabbit farm was NOT open at 9.00 am even if there were shuttle services to the place.

The Japanese Gardens were beautifull and lush, however, full of people since its such a small place so it can get crowded and your photo shots would have other tourist in the background.

Botanical Gardens we could not make it coz we were expecting the last bus service so we decided to hop back home and rest.

Night time every one is practically room bound since the place is like a dead ghost town.

There was a show, called HOLLYWOOD SHOW???? Why the question mark? Because as my wife puts it, isn't this a french resort, where's the french culture the french feeling, all we get is a bollywood type of macarena mambo cross dressers running around lip synching to "You're Just Too Good To Be True....Can't Take My Eyes Of A You..."

So that was practically the day we had at Colmar Resort, Bukit Tinggi.

WE DID HOWEVER manage to get some pretty good photo shots, Fon my sister-in-law is getting better and better at using her camera to get those great photo angles for Natasha and Juliette.

All it all....it was a HOT but stress free day...hehehe

I lost a phone....

Recently my wife registered for a post paid line and downgraded from a Black Berry to a normal 3G phone.

She wasn't too pleased with the LG KU350's interface and had a hard time using it. So i swapped my N73 with her.

A month haven't even passed by when last Saturday, at 12:30 am, right after i bottle fed Juliette and laid her to sleep again making sure her eye's were shut tight and my tummy rumbled, so I decided to go to the John and let her rip.

During the "Process" i heard a sound akin to a metal spoon clanking on the side of a mug. I tot it must be neighbor's kids since their dad comes home at 1 am they'd be awake and quite rowdy at that. So i ignored it, after completing my mission at the John i went back to discover my little Juliette using my phone to dunk in a mug of tea.

To my horror she was smiling, sigh what can you do? Kid's don't know any better.....

So scratch one phone...

Using a backup phone now....sigh....

A Tear Jerker of a Song....

You know ure getting old if you start to really listen to songs from ages ago....you see...lately i enrolled into night school to further my education.

So i spend quite some time traveling from the office to the class and that back home pass 10 pm at night.

So one day....i was listening to some songs and i stumbled upon a Bryan Adam's track called "When you love someone....". For someone macho like me (cough cough....), it shouldn't affect my mood at all....but after going through a lovely marriage to Jasmin and being a parent to Juliette, it made me blinked. As my lovely colleague would say....."Dude....you've got some hormonal changes!!"

I mean....you know....when i really listened to the lyrics, it made me think of my family. I mean...damn it even affected the way i drive, making me more defensive, taking time out to signal properly, when prior to that, my colleagues tell me i am driving the wrong car (an MPV by the way) and should be driving a Mistu Lancer or an Evo what with the maniac skills i posses.

Phew....feels like an emotional meltdown if you tell me....hehehe well...i guess when you have a wife and kid, and a family to think of, you'd be a bit mellowed down.

Anyways... enjoy




Lyrics...

When you love someone - youll do anything
Youll do all the crazy things that you cant explain
Youll shoot the moon - put out the sun
When you love someone

Youll deny the truth - believe a lie
Therell be times that youll believe you can really fly
But your lonely nights - have just begun
When you love someone

When you love someone - youll feel it deep inside
And nothin else can ever change your mind
When you want someone - when you need someone
When you love someone...

When you love someone - youll sacrifice
Youd give it everything you got and you wont think twice
Youd risk it all - no matter what may come
When you love someone
Youll shoot the moon - put out the sun
When you love someone

Westlife - Something Right

Lately I've been enamored by a song sung by Westlife. It's called "Something Right", it may sound gospel like, but the lyrics are really meaningful if you really listen to it.

Its the current song i have on my car and handphone....oh scratch that....i dun have my phone now since Juliette tried dunking my phone in my cup of tea....more on that later....

Sigh....just enjoy the music....


Westlife Lyrics
Something Right Lyrics

A.W.O.L

Aiya....like most people, i went AWOL for awhile. I've been so caught up with work, night classes and also with my health.

Lately i do not feel well so i had to go in and out of the clinic to have a check up. In addition to that i am attending night classes for MCSE 2003.

From Monday to Wednesday....very tiring at times to go through the work day then straight follow through with classes till 10 pm and reaching home at about 11 pm.

Wah seh....mati katak !

Here are some pictures of Juliette at 1 year 2 months + + lol !

Twinhead Mini Laptops

These days....small and minuscule are the in things. Even laptops are not spared from these phenomenons, here i have 2 to test out and boy are they really small.

Keyboards are so small my whole hand also dwarfs them. I have a hard time installing XP and Vista on it. The resolutions are weird at 800 X 480 and 1024 X 600. So for Linux i have trouble trying to get the proper resolutions.

Battery can't even last for an hour. The screen sharpness is also a bit skewed. If you are thinking of getting it for really portable internet surfing and office documents it should be ok. Ranging from RM 1699 onwards, 1 GB RAM (DDR1) and also a choice of 20 G.B or 60 G.B Hard disk. It is really small.

We tested out Linspire, GOS Rocket and also Ubuntu....susah betul la....

Naked Sandals

hehe....i decided to buy a Naked Sandals just for the novelty of it. There is nothing to hold your feet except the sticky compound at the top layer of the sandals.

Cannot be used in wet or rainy situations as the stickiness would loose it's properties.

Really sticky and weird....wifey hates it....but i just like to experience something weird ma...

Servicing My Livina

Well...its been 1000km already, we just got a Nissan Grand Livina. Its been a nice ride so far. Fuel consumption is suffice to say good i guess. Full tank gets me around RM 75.00 since i drive it till it touches the last counter but without the reserved light coming on.

The damage for the first service is RM 141.20, very weird number :)

I did it in Klang, service was fast i guess and very friendly mechanics. Another fellow Livina driver was there for his first 1000km also, however he had a very BAD experience. Seems that his AT transmission tube was not clipped in properly, at around 75km he experienced a loss of power and immediately stopped at the side of the road. To his dismay he looked behind and saw a trail of oil on the road. He got TCM to tow his car to Jalan Ipoh and screwed the bejeezles of the people over there.

He got it cleaned up and then so far everything is okay till now.

Sigh.... scary ....assembly problems, rust problems, so far so good...i got minor issues only.

Snow in Korea

So here i am in Korea and it has been snowing lately....its been a busy week and i am stressed.

Anyways...nothing better than walking in Zero degrees in Seoul.






We had breakfast early in Sinsa then back to work and later decided to have lunch in Yangson.

Here are some pictures and vids.

Some of the food were extremely super spicy.....arghhh!! I farted fire man....