北行MOHAT车载手机支架

最近网购上瘾了，友人们每次看我兴奋地口沫横飞，总会禁不住说“下次你再买些什么东西的时候一定要告诉我”，所以我写评语也上瘾了。

话说友人在我车上看见这玩意儿，觉得有趣，大家都说下次必须帮他们多买一份。

这玩意儿究竟是什么呢？这是北行MOHAT车载手机支架。我贪它简便易用，手机可以横置、直置，再加上我不喜欢其他的吸盘设计、或挡住空调出口的设计，这设计简单精美，而且只不过RMB36,买的时候倒没有丝毫犹豫。

至今用了近一个月了，不曾遇上什么问题（大山脚到居林的道路这么颠簸都不曾掉呢！）。

我喜欢它设计小巧，不占位置。而且旋转臂设计确保家里人各款手机都用得上。座架底的PU粘性很好，挪动重粘却又不留下痕迹。

中国本土设计确实不错。

挪动几寸以迁就我弟弟手机，不留痕迹哦！

LIEQI telephoto lens

I ordered 2 sets of LIEQI telephoto lens from Lazada Malaysia on 13th January around 8:30pm, and I received them on 15th January afternoon. I'll say their service is pretty impressive for Malaysia standard.

The packing design is simple and nice for a RM49 zoom lens :)

This is how the lens look like after mounted on the clip:

The clip-on telephoto lens look so cute when paired with my iPhone 3GS:

The left photos show the picture I took with my phone. The right photos show the picture I took with the 8X optical zoom lens, standing / sitting on the same spot.

Is it fun to play with? Of course!! However, the photo quality may not be as good as I wish because my hands tend to shake a lot when holding my phone with the relatively heavy 8x lens. Besides, to clip this lens on the phone, the alignment is slightly difficult to get correctly as compare to my previous 3-in-1 clip-on-lens.

Still, I will not complain about these images quality of a RM49 (with 5% discount some more!) 8x optical lens. I'll say it's a great toy, especially now I have a telephoto, a macro, a wide angle and a fish eye. Better range of lens than my DSLR now. Haha!

Experiment: Cultivate Moss

You know I'm crazy and you know I'm crazy enough to buy moss from China. Suddenly, I decided to cultivate moss. At least, no harm trying :)

XT is kind enough to get me some moss today. Clean. Not those beside longkang but those at her roof :) It took me less than 15 minutes to get the following experiment set up after I reached home from work.

the condition of moss I received

Very unhealthy

Since moss reproduce with spore, I decided that I can easily cultivate them. I added some water and shake them well, hoping that the spores spread out to the whole body of water. (Internet guides say mix them with grinder but I'm not asking for trouble. Must keep my mum's apparatus out of this experiment!)

put the moss in a container

add in water

The spores spread well in this container (at least this is what I hope)

Mixture 1

I prepare another container for soil

Pour in the Mixture 1. Unfortunately I wrongly estimate the ratio. This is too watery.

Pour in Mixture 1

So I decided to get another bigger container with more soil, and pour the mixture 1 into this bigger container to become mixture 2.

Mixture 2 still a bit watery but I hope Malaysia sun can help me solving this problem tomorrow.

Mixture 2

Now I just have to wait and hope for the best. Will update once I success :)

My Favorite Pulut Udang

I love pulut udang! Pulut udang is one of my top 5 favorite Malaysian kuih for afternoon tea. No, not Chinese- / Nyonya-style sweet pulut, but Malay-style spicy pulut panggang rempah udang!! It is good eaten hot, fresh from the charcoal fire.

My favorite pulut udang stall is the one along Jalan Baru Butterworth. Driving from Butterworth to Bukit Tengah, this stall is on your left, after Shell Petrol Station, before Masjid Jalan Baharu. (Google Street View for the location.)

I love their well flavoured spicy coconut shrimp filling, and their steamed glutinous rice is with the right amount of santan. After barbequed, the slight crust on the rice with the banana leaves aroma is exactly the way I love it.

panggang-ing :)

The pulut udang is RM0.60 each. Cheap and satisfying :) All our family members agreed that their pulut udang is the best!

They sell nasi lemak too @ RM1.20

Disney Baby

My nephew loves Disney!! Not that we intentionally brainwash him with Disney characters / songs, but he just loves his Mickey. He chats with Mickey every night!

One day, when browse through youtube for children songs, I accidentally found out that he gets super excited to most of the Disney songs. "Just Whistle While You Work" particularly can calm him when he is grumpy, can entertain him when he is bored.

So when I got to babysit him, I just have to make sure that I have my phone or tablet with me so that I can use this magic anytime necessary. Hum a merry tune really works :)

Just whistle while you work

And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place

So hum a merry tune

It won't take long when there's a song to help you set the pace

And as you sweep the room

Imagine that the broom is someone that you love

And soon you'll find you're dancing to the tune

When hearts are high the time will fly so whistle while you work

创意微景观

话说我妹夫迷上terrarium并传染给我，我因而“不小心”在淘宝买了“几样”饰物。由于中国货运agent出错，我痴痴地等了好久才终于在上个星期收到我们购买的微景观饰品。

可恨的是我的沙石终究还是没运到。我空有饰品却没法子给我的空风们一个新家。我筹措了几天，终于决定改定方向，今天弄个小小的混合微景观。

我在玻璃瓶里放了泥土（原本想放沙石的，比较干净），在院子里拔了几棵带花的小草种在一角，希望它们可以茁壮成长天天开花。

在瓶子的另一边铺上小石子，插上一棵樱花树，再把两只小绵羊安在树下，我的小小空风就有个新家啦~

很有生气的感觉

What Assurance Does a Consumer Have?

I've blogged about the good experience I have with Lazada Malaysia, Taobao and Threadless. Of course, I do have bad online shopping experience too.

On 18th Nov 2014, I helped my friend to buy a Xiaomi Mi4 16GB smartphone for his son's Christmas present from Groupon Malaysia. Groupon promised that they will deliver the product within 20 days from date of purchase. 

On 5th Dec 2014, Groupon sent an email saying that “due to unforeseen packaging and delivery issues , Groupon is currently in the midst of proceeding with deliveries, and you will be receiving your purchased item(s) latest by 18-Dec,2014”. 

Until 17th Dec 2014, there's still no sign of the Mi4 so we sent email and called to check the delivery status. The girl on the phone seemed clueless.  

On 21st Dec 2014, finally received the official reply from Groupon saying that “I just wanted to get in touch to let you know that we’re in the process of following up your query. We haven’t found a solution to your case yet, but we hope to have something for you very soon. As soon as we have some news, I or one of my senior colleagues will get back to you.”

On 23rd Dec 2014, I received another email from Groupon saying “Because the product you ordered will be distributed by one of these third-party companies, it could take a few days for all of the orders to be fulfilled. Extremely popular products may also take a bit longer to ship than others. Please be informed that we have escalated this matter to the relevant department to investigate from their end. As soon as we get a resolution we will update you accordingly.” 

On Christmas eve, at 5:43pm!!! Groupon announced that “Unfortunately, we weren't able to get enough inventory to deliver your Groupon Goods order as promised. Also we aren't able to offer exchanges or replacements at this time due to limited inventory. I have now cancelled your Groupon and our partner has already been informed that this Groupon is no longer valid. I have also sent request to our payment service provider to refund the amount of RM1,199 back to your method of payment. Please allow up to 14 working days (excluding Sat, Sun and PH) for the amount to reflect in your account statement.”

Customers have to pay on the spot when they make any orders on Groupon Malaysia. When Groupon Malaysia failed to deliver as per promised, customers have to wait for 14 working days (More than 3 weeks!!) for the refund. What is the logic? Why do customers have to suffer because of the blunder Groupon Malaysia made? Who is accountable in this case?

I would expect a company as big as Groupon Malaysia would control the 'deal' subscriptions, where it should be capped in advance to a reasonable number that they can handle. I still cannot believe that they have to wait until Christmas eve 5:43pm to announce that they are not able to get enough inventory to deliver!

Worse still, when I check for “Xiaomi Mi4 16GB Smartphone” on Google on 30th Dec 2014, I can still see this good available on their website (see print screen below)!

Why Groupon Malaysia still selling goods that they do not have enough inventory to deliver to their customers?
Why do they collect money from consumers for products that they knew they cannot deliver within 20 days from date of purchase as per promised to consumers?

I have a very bad feeling about this. What assurance does a consumer have if this company shutdown?

DIY 红包扇子

农历新年近了。

去年我想DIY新年装饰，但上网找寻资料时却难以找到详细步骤说明（我的艺术天分比较低，若步骤不够详细，我可做不出来）。

而既然我已经学会几个比较基本的，这就来造福人群啦～（哈哈，syok sendiri）　

今天我要教大家制作的是红包扇子，我个人觉得是相当大气的新年墙饰。

我家２０１４马年ＤＩＹ红包扇子墙饰

办公室里的ＤＩＹ红包扇子墙饰

DIY红包扇子材料：

扇面：同一款长方形红包封至少十个（扇面越大所需红包封越多，因个人喜好而异）

扇柄：同一款长方形红包封，数量=(扇面用的红包封+1)/2

握柄：同一款长方形红包封，数量=(扇面用的红包封+1)/3

DIY红包扇子制作方法：

A. 扇柄制作

1. 把长方形红包封对折剪半
2. 把已经剪成一半的红包封再对折，然后再把两边往中间线折，成了四个长方形如图（一）

图一

 3. 图二就是我们的扇柄

图二

4.为了整齐，可以在扇柄上做记号，把扇柄分成三个部分如图三

图三

B. 扇面制作

1. 取两个红班封，把有设计的那一面往内对齐，如图四。

图四

2. 这两个往内对齐的红包封对着刚才在扇柄上做好的记号（图五），用stapler订好（图六），如图七。

图五

图六

图七

3. 继续B1和B2的步骤直至把扇面的红包封用完，如图八。

 

图八

C. 握柄制作

1. 把红包封折成8份如图九

图九

2. 把图九折好的红包封塞入制作好的扇柄，staple即可。图十是正面图，图十一是扇柄和握柄背面图。

图十

图十一

D. 最后步骤

把握柄黏在一块儿，扇子就完成啦！

要让扇子更漂亮，可以在握柄黏上适合的装饰。

面对恐惧

我还以为自己真的勇者无惧，这一次倒是真正面对恐惧了。

话说放工后我们一行人到吉打州西岭吃晚餐。晚饭后我决定不原路返回，而是随朋友走山路上高速公路。

由于我知道我们一行人路线不同，于是我在看见第一个高速公路的牌子后便决定离队直往。小妹妹打电话来问我怎么这么快离队，应该继续尾随她们前进。我见两旁完全没有转向的空间，开了Waze又说我在正确的道路上，于是我决定继续前进。

那是雨后的夜晚，没有路灯，马路两旁是一望无际的黑暗，偶尔风吹过，浓浓的雾便柔柔地把前路给覆盖了。我想起其中一位小妹妹曾经说过那么“一条大白天我也不敢走的公路”，这样的荒山野岭，想来必然对了，硬着头皮勇往直前。我翻山越岭地在森林里孤独地穿梭，在能见度不到50米的山路上开始自我怀疑，直到Waze叫我转左……

我的车子转入一条从油棕园穿过的小路。由于是黑漆漆的夜晚，车子开高灯能见度也低于50米，我只看见路上积水的坑坑洞洞。我停顿了很久。我开始想象车轮跌进泥坑进退两难的窘境、想象突然有强盗出现、想象我横尸荒山野岭、想象亲朋戚友的哀伤、想着那些未完成的事……两膝开始酸软……

过了几分钟吧，我恢复理智，掉头走回头路吧！恐惧的基础是无明，回头路是“已知”，心里必定比较踏实。

在回头路上为了自我安慰，我开始想着自己的人寿保险可以如何让父母安享晚年、想着弟妹应该可以坚强面对、想着一切存在着的事物的不生不灭、不增不减……

恐惧的基础是无明，面对了，就释然了。

Having Fun with Clip-On Lens

Mid of December, my brother shopped online and found himself something nice on Lazada Malaysia for RM50. However, he needed another RM30 of purchase to get free shipment so he turned to his sisters as usual.

We had nothing particular in our mind so the first thing we did is to browse for toys and baby gears. While browsing, we talked about our mutual friend's latest posts on FB where he took marvelous photos with his newly bought clip on lens. Eureka! We shopped for universal clip-on lens for our phone and totally forgot about the baby in the house :)

We placed order on 15th Dec and got our new toys on 18th Dec. Pretty good service from Lazada I'll say.

My LIEQI Universal Clip Lens comes with a clip, a wide angle / macro lens, a fisheye lens and a pouch. (The wide Wide Angle / Macro Lens is a 2-in-1 device, where the Macro lens available by unscrewing the Wide-Angle lens.)

It fits well on our phones and iPads. What I love about this new toy is that it is light, easy to carry around, and most importantly, the quality is not bad at all (for the price of RM29 per set)!

The wide angle lens has nothing to shout about but I have no complaints! (reminder: RM29 per set!)
Fisheye lens is fun to play with but my favorite is the macro lens.

Here are some photos for your reference:

Normal phone camera

With clip-on wide angle lens

With clip-on Fish Eye lens

macro - strawberry close up

macro - grass1

macro - grass2

macro - grass3

macro - flowers of pegaga

macro lens - airplant baby

macro lens - wild flower

macro lens - flower bud

macro lens - 煤炭屎鬼

This set could replace my bulky DSLR on normal days, and I can still have fun with photography.