Thursday 5 September 2013

Naked Turtles

I worked in a place where the definition of human rights is slightly different from the rest. There is an internet monitoring software in place to monitor employees' browsing activities,and also to filter out those inappropriate contents and websites. We are used to the "over-sensitive" software which filter out almost anything and everything. Our Google experience almost always end up in "Access Denied" page, even when we were searching for some technical terms. I thought nothing will ever surprise me anymore, until today......

We were crazy about Sipadan / Mabul / Maldives these few days. One of my colleagues searched for "Semporna" and he ended up in "Access Denied" page again.

When he took a close look, to his surprise, Sem-porn-a Island Project was categorized as "Pornography/Sexually Explicit"!! Classic!

We were joking that Sem-porn-a website must have a whole gallery of naked turtles. We must be protected from the risks of aroused during working hours.

Sunday 25 August 2013

Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper - Dress Up



I can sure relate to Sheldon. I hate dressing up. Dress up to please others is more of animal instinct. I think. Of course, I do dress up once in a while, for the function, not to my liking.

I need only comfortable clothing. That's the primary criteria for selecting my daily wear. Of course, having some geeky / cute / nerdy / funny design gives me extra secret self-amusement.

When I was in my secondary school, I once told one of my close friends that clothing to me is for keep warm and for socially correctness. She was shock, and I rarely use that phrase in making my points in my life anymore.



Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper:




Saturday 24 August 2013

A Secret Introvert

那天在朋友的FB post看见这“23 Signs You Are Secretly An Introvert", 我发出了会心的一笑。我至少中了四分之三(却也偷偷庆幸自己没有全中。小学时候老师爱谈中庸,我觉得那是人性中近乎不可能的事,却也相信这是我穷这一生人必须学习修炼的事。四分之三,过之。)

我小时候对于人生的意义、对于世间一切真真假假想得很多,小学时候还曾经差点儿走火入魔了,特别怪胎。不过,我一生人总是幸运。我没有对任何成人谈起,却在仍然无知的时候选择了对的管道,在书堆中找到了依靠。过后又因为音乐、因为文学、因为前人的一些伟大宗旨,我把钻牛角尖的精力放在砥砺琢磨,这就无惊无险走过青春期了。

我并没有停止追问人生的意义,我并没有停止追逐真理。只是,我学会了平衡,平衡寻觅的步伐及矛盾的挣扎。

我想告诉所有正在迷茫中的青少年,别害怕,你一定会找到笃定的方法。

Sunday 18 August 2013

Steak Frites


Steak Frites is the restaurant of Hotel 23 Love Lane. If you don't pay attention when you drive through Love Lane, you are going to miss this humble little restaurant.

I love the interior of this restaurant. Nostalgic-chic. It is more of nostalgic. It reminds me of some old kopitiams that I visited as a kid. The impluvium and stairs somehow bring back some vague memories at my grand-aunt's house.


This restaurant is not as better known as it deserves, most probably because of its extremely simple menu. There are only 2 items listed in the main course menu: 150g of Australian grass-fed tenderloin steak (RM49), or 200g of Australian grass-fed tenderloin steak (RM60). (I'm alone during my first visit because it is just hard to have friends that crave for steak at the same time, especially most of them don't eat beef!)


All main courses come with salad and fries. The salad is served with French dressing. Fresh and simple, had my tongue ready for the fragrant meat. The steak is served with generous dollop of Chef's special butter and basil. Full of flavour and juiciness.
Even the fries are good too!

They have very friendly staffs and the ambiance is very welcoming.

I'll be back! :)

Address: Lorong Love, Georgetown, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Phone:+60 4-262 13



pathway to the boutique hotel


Penangites' memories

Monday 12 August 2013

Schrödinger's Cat

Look at today's Google home page! It is Erwin Schrodinger's 126th birthday!


Just in case you do not know who Erwin Schrodinger is, he is the one that is famous for Schrödinger's cat Paradox. (Of course, this Nobel Prize winning physicist's contribution is much greater than just the theoretical cat)

I'd like to celebrate the great mind with Sheldon's explanation :)

Sunday 11 August 2013

Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper - Being Accurate

I know how annoying it is to have someone constantly correcting your mistakes, I also know how annoying it is to have someone constantly nagging about the inaccurate facts. I knew this years ago, but it is Sheldon that makes me realize how annoying (yet funny) is this habit and I'm now consciously trying to suppress my urge to correct others in my daily conversation.

However, my colleagues will tell you how I fail from time to time, and how not funny I am when I do this. I just love being accurate. I even love to have someone else corrected me so that I learn another new facts. The only problem I have is, how could I make it as funny as Sheldon?


Example 1: Captain hook's hand was eaten by a crocodile not an alligator. If you're going to insult me at least get your facts straight.




Example 2: Where exactly does the half-sandwich come from? Are you giving me half of someone else's sandwich, or do I have to wait for someone in the restaurant to order the other half? (To be honest, I have the same question when I first visited USA too!!)



Example 3: 
Penny: I give up. He's impossible!
Sheldon: I can't be impossible; I exist! I think what you meant to say is, 'I give up; he's improbable'. 




Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper:




Wednesday 7 August 2013

A Happy Customer

It was all started with Wei Wei bought me a lovely T-shirt on-line.
It was bought from Threadless, and it is named as "Mozart: Decomposing since 1791". It is clever, nerdy and funny, and I love it!
However, this didn't turn me into an on-line shopper. Not yet.

Mozart: Decomposing since 1791

In the beginning of this year, I accidentally fell in love with The Big Bang Theory, and I was crazily searching for the nerdy T-shirt and shower curtain online, and that's how I ended up became an on-line shopper. Threadless is the online store with all the crazy/funny/nerdy designs, and all these designs come with awesome names, just like all the classic art work!


(1) First Purchase
My first purchase was cool. It was separated into 2 shipments because some orders were available while some orders need re-print. The first parcel I received was a great art in a squishy bag :)

My first ever Threadless on-line shopping experience

It contained a very cool T-shirt that is full with spoilers. This T-shirt is named "Spoilt". I didn't want to over pampered myself so even though I love this design so much, I decided to buy for En and not myself.
Spoilt

I also got myself a pack of 3 notebooks, as my future travel journal.
From left: "Thumbper", "Field Study 01" and "Break Free"

The second batch of my first purchase did arrive as planned. I had an extremely bad episode with POS Malaysia. Anyway, due to Threadless' excellence customer service, I was so glad with them (and of course, so glad with all the e-vouchers too), I had my 2nd purchase real soon....
From left: Life of Pie, Hugs Keep Us Alive, Life of Pie, Midnight Snack


(2) Second Purchase
During my second purchase, I was telling myself that it is ok since I'm only going to spend with my 20% discount voucher. So, this time, I decided to spend the voucher on all the more expensive series, including Marvel, Disney and Sesame Street.

To ease my guilt, I bought one each for Wei and En too. En got a very cool Vitruviron Man, while Wei got the one that she previously pointed out as super cute "Bad Hair Day".

Vitruviron Man

Bad Hair Day

I, on the other hand, got myself THREE!!!
From Left: "Evil Dr. Porkchop", "We're Gonna Need a Bigger Cookie", "Infinito"

I bought "Evil Dr. Porkchop" because, you know, who doesn't love the imaginary Evil Dr. Porkchop!? You'd especially enjoy it if you watch Toy Story 3 in Cantonese, where he appeared in a dramatic entrance with Andy shouting "邪恶猪扒博士来啦!"

I bought the "We're Gonna Need a Bigger Cookie" not because I like Cookie Monster, but I think the Jaws-Poster-design is clever and funny. I could almost hear the ostinato bass dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum....

I HAVE TO buy Infinito! It reminded me of the crazy Spanish-mode-Buzz. Just in case you forgot about that hilarious scene, watch this:



(3) Third Purchase
I forgot how, but after all the great experiences I had with Threadless, I ended up with 3 e-voucher that worth USD10 each. To stop myself from the extremely-frequent-on-and-off browsing of Threadless website, I've decided to spend that 3 e-vouchers in one shot and end the short term addiction. (Well, you should notice, I didn't say "final purchase")
From Left: "Penny", "The Three Trials", "The Gaming Revolution"

I wanted to get Ah En a Star Wars inspired design named "Emperor". The Force is strong with this one. However, the die hard gamer opted for "The Gaming Revolution", which I don't quite understand. I mean the design.














I got myself "The Three Trials". Something only the Indiana Jones Fans would get excited about. Besides, it is never easy to find a great Indiana Jones T-shirt. The last time I went to Bangkok night market, they have almost every famous films design, except Indy!













And I just got to buy "Penny"!
Though some people complained that it looks nothing like Kaley, but I think that's the point. You have to guess!
First, of course, it is a penny.
Secondly, you must pay attention to see "In Nerds We Trust" to link it to The Big Bang Theory, and hence, Penny :)
I love it!












I look at my Threadless experience, and I concluded their success as below: 
1) Excellence customer service is the key! 
If Crystal (Threadless Help Ambassador) is not as friendly or as helpful as she is, I might have gave up talking to POS Malaysia, and I might have considered that a loss. Most probably, I will never visit Threadless again, or worse still, totally abandon online shopping FOREVER!
2) DESIGN is the soul.
Threadless have endless cool designs that made it stand out from various on-line T-shirt shops. It suits the needs of huge spectrum of coolness :)
3) Embrace talents
Threadless welcome talents all around the world to submit their art work to various design challenges (with different themes). I bet this is how they get endless sources of awesomeness.

Sunday 4 August 2013

A Short Trip to Bentong

Our driving route : Penang --> Ipoh --> Bukit Tinggi --> Bentong --> KL --> Ipoh --> Penang.

Due to our good friends' wedding ceremony at Bentong and dinner at KL, we had a great 3D2N self-drive trip at the end of May. The bridegroom wanted us to go straight to KL. However, I insisted to go to Bentong.

I love small towns in Malaysia. I always do. And I had great time in Bentong during my last visit. So, when we have chance to revisit Bentong, I, of course, chose staying in Bentong instead of KL!

After our lunch in Ipoh, we planned to go straight to Bentong. However, through Facebook, we noticed that the bride-to-be and bridegroom-to-be were still in Genting. Hence, we detoured to Bukit Tinggi instead.

PH was extremely tired and wanted to pamper himself. He called a few resorts in Bukit Tinggi to check for the spa / massage price and he found some great discount (according to him la~). When he told us that it cost about over RM100, we were 90% sure that he had heard it wrongly but we decided to try our luck anyway. So this was how we ended up in The Chateau Spa and Organic Wellness Resort.

One will immediately notice how exclusive this place is as soon as you enter the premises. The guards are extremely well trained. They speak fluent English, and they followed us to the car park to show us the most convenient spot to park our car, and led us to the waiting area before the spa officer came to serve us.


This was where we waited for the spa officer

Pathway to the spa

We were lead to second floor, and another officer showed us around. We were awed by the facility. They have "heated massage bed imported from German", mineral pool, sauna infused wit herb etc (just named a few that I could remember). While listening to the introduction, besides being super impressed, we were also very concerned about the price too :) Due to their excellence service, we felt terrible to say "thank you very much but we are not interested". Meanwhile, we didn't plan to spend a fortune here too! I'm sure you can imagine our internal struggles.

After guided us around the facility, the officer finally brought us to an extremely relaxing patio facing the forest. The spa manager came to showed us their spa courses, wellness programs etc. We scanned the price list and knew immediately we were in deep trouble. The cheapest 2D1N wellness program cost RM1999 per pax (full board, with fine dinning dinner and various massages and fitness/wellness courses)!! Luckily we found the cheapest on the list: medicure & pedicure. It costs around RM150 if I remember correctly. There's also a introductory massage that costs RM180 for 25 mins!! We prepared for the worst. If none of us have the courage to say "thank you very much but we have to go", we might have to go for these below RM200 items.

View from the chateau
When we were having crazy internal mental arguments and negotiations, the manager said "I'm very sorry that we have only one slot left for today, and there are no slots left for tomorrow either. We do not have enough trained personnel to cope for four of you", you can imagine how relieved we were!! PH showed his "disappointment expression" and requested the manager to send him the details so that we can plan for our next trip. We couldn't help but laughed at ourselves after we left the premises. Definitely the thrill of the trip :)

We did promise to ourselves that when we make enough money from our Plan B / Plan C / Plan D etc, we shall return. The 3D2N wellness program sounds great! This experience also strengthen our belief that price is never the issue (Fully booked!! With this price!!) People willing to pay as long as you provide the experience that's value for money.

After our "adventure", we continued our journey to Bentong. We didn't call the bridegroom because we didn't want to give him too much headache before his big day. We went to explore the town by ourselves instead.

Our first stop was at the street with lots of eatery stalls. Found some tasty looking salted fried chicken (盐酥鸡), deep fried mushrooms etc. We definitely have the "tourist look" because the stall owner thought we were from Taiwan!.


We then went for the wantan mee at Meng Kei (明记). We heard the famous one is Hooi Kee (开记) but that stall is open only in the morning. So we decided to give it a try anyway. My friend's mum later told us that she think this is the worst wantan mee in Bentong, but I think it is not bad at all. Not excellence, but not bad at all.




I wanted to try more of Bentong food but the others claimed that they were too full for another round so we decided to go back to bridegroom's house to shower first before our next round.
 
Around 11pm, after the bridegroom got everything settled and finally free, we went out for another round of food hunting. The one that I have to highlight is the "Hong Kong fried chicken" at BuYeTian (不夜天). Please don't ask me where this name comes from but I'm very sure it's not from Hong Kong. Anyway, this fried chicken is fried with chopped garlic crumbs!! Lots and lots of them! The fragrant was nice and we love the chopped garlic crumbs. We love it so much we actually focusing on eating the crumbs than the chicken.

The next morning, we went to the famous Hooi Kee for wantan mee. The noodle is very springy but the sauce is a bit too sweet for my taste.
The wantans are very good though.





















In the same shop, there's another food stall that caught my attention, the one selling Hakka Yong Tau Fu (客家酿豆腐).

We are pampered with tons of choices that normally we don't see in Penang. Penangites normally do not crave for Yong Tau Fu, most probably because there are very limited stalls in Penang that sells good Yao Tau Fu.

Me, on the other hand, grew up at Ipoh, where Yong Tau Fu is a serious matter and I LOVE Yong Tau Fu.

Yong Tau Fu lovers are in heaven when come to Bentong. There are Yong Tau Fu stalls every where.

This stall that we tried is very good. The minced pork and hint of salty fish mixed so well with the taufu / eggs / eggplant. I wondered if they would open a franchise in Penang to start some "Yong Tau Fu trend" in Penang. (Almost a decade ago, there was almost zero 'ban mee' stalls in Penang. Now 'ban mee' is every where! So, even though not typical authentic Penang food, Penangites will always 'give chance' if you serve good food)















Our final stop before heading to KL for the wedding dinner preparation, was to stop at this extremely humble stall for "ban mee". This IS THE ONE that I've been waiting for.

First of all, you must understand that I grew up in Ipoh from age 7 to 13, and I spent 3 years in Tronoh in my early twenties. I have had all the great ban mee in my youth before the ban mee trend picked up in Penang. And I have to tell you this. So far, none of the ban mee stall in Penang sells excellence ban mee. Some are better than others, but none of them make unforgettable 'ban mee'. They just don't do the "kuih" right.

This little stall at Bentong on the other hand, make one of the best "kuih". It was smooth and springy. You knew the owner had spent hours and great effort in processing the flour (赶面粉) as soon as your first bite. Besides the "kuih", I also love the crunchy anchovies and the nice ratio of sweet leave (mani cai). Their special made chilli sauce go very well with the "ban mee" too!

What a great way to conclude my Bentong trip!





Read also my Pahang Trip in 2011, including Bentong, Sungai Lembing and Teluk Cempedak:
惊喜处处彭亨游(一)
惊喜处处彭亨游(二)
惊喜处处彭亨游(三)

Thursday 1 August 2013

Legally a Cat now

The kitten is finally officially and legally a cat! The "overly awesome" cat!!

OK, OK, I know, I know! I have blogged about him turning into a cat officially 3 years ago. But this is different. This time, he is officially and legally a cat!! He can vote in next GE, he can now go into Genting Casino, and he can now get married without parental consent (Just saying, not like he really plan to do so :p)

I couldn't accept the fact that he IS an adult now. I'm sure Wei has the same feeling too. We always wish that our little brother will never grow up, we wish he can stay cute forever, we wish he can be our 'remote control' forever, we wish he can be our 'technician' forever, I wish he can be my automobile carer forever.....And suddenly, with the blink of an eye, our little brother is all grown up!

Happy Birthday, Ah En!!


Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper - The Need of Perfect TV Screen

"The Big Bang Theory" Season 7 premieres on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. with back-to-back episodes on CBS. While waiting, I'd like to continue my blog about "Why I Can Relate to Sheldon".



*After complaining of dead pixels on Raj's TV, Sheldon says "Oh look, it's Harry Potter and 98% of Sorcerer's stone!"

I myself is very particular about my TV screen too. My hate for Samsung brand started years ago when my dad bought our first ever flat screen tube TV. It was from Samsung. 

It started to have a "shadow" line at the middle of the screen, just a few weeks after we bought it. Since it was still under warranty, my dad brought it back to the store and got the free exchange. 

Few weeks later, this free-exchanged-new-TV had the "shadow" again. My dad brought it back to the store again. This time he didn't get the free exchange (most probably because the store owner couldn't see the shadow as what we claimed) but the TV set was sent back to Samsung for "repair".
The "repaid" TV showed the shadow again, few weeks later! 

My dad sent to the store again, and we waited a few weeks for the second repair.
When the repaired-for-second-time-supposedly-new-TV finally came back to our living room, we still found the shadow!!

My dad gave up complaining, and I hate Samsung ever since. 

That thin darker zone across the screen spoiled all my great movies marathon moments! For years!

So, no, I don't think Sheldon is weird complaining about the 98% of the Sorcerer's Stone.



Why I Can Relate to Sheldon Cooper: