Category Archives: Recent News
Surrounded by War Machines
It was a long, tiring four days at Defence Services Asia… and here’s a collection of my personal photos of the event. There I was trying to sell the map generator and pilot task management system while surrounded by missiles, rifles, tanks and other things that can blow you up. It was a great experience and can’t wait to get another opportunity at doing it again. Here our neighbour from the UK is trying to show us the peace gesture. Unfortunately the camera exposure foiled him. Colin, also from the Thermoteknix booth, explaining to a visitor how his company’s thermal imaging equipment works. We were looking out for zombies in the crowd from their cold body signature all day in vain. Hans, our neighbour in front of us from Vectronics in the Swiss Pavillion, showing off his binoculars with rangefinder and compass heading display. On the other side of […]
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Check It Out
Click on the thumbnail to see a work related image.
Continue readingA Website I’m Working On
Here’s a website I’ve been working on the past month. It’s come a long way from minimal HTML code, simple CSS, placeholder images (which constisted of the Cylon raider “Scar”) and the words “Text coming soon, bitches.” on some pages. It’s still far from being fully operational. I’m hoping it’ll be 95% ready for public viewing by the middle of April. Comments? Critiques? Tuna sandwiches? No, seriously. I’m kinda hungry.
Continue readingThere’s A Dragon In The House
Half past ten post meridian equals no sunlight or its dim red afterglow outdoors. Thus if lights are out indoors, it’s dark. Last night we were about to go to sleep when Irfan asked for his Dinosaur book (Das Reich Der Dinosaurier. Gee, I wonder where I bought that for him) to read. It was out in the darkened living room according to memory so I told him, “Go out and get it.” He said, “No, I’m scared.” What? That’s never happened before. “What are you scared of?” “It’s dark. There are dragons.” Ain and I both looked at each other. She then asked again, “Why are you scared?” “There are dragons outside.” He doesn’t pronounce it “dragons”, not does he say “dwagons”. It’s more of something in between, like “dr-wagons”, which I find pretty amusing. So, I had to go out into the dark living room, braving against the […]
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Another of Irfan’s Uncles A-visiting
Tonight was the first time Irfan met his Uncle Kok Soon, my former schoolmate from way back when Knight Rider was on TV, and perhaps even before. Irfan immediately took a liking to him, trying to impress him with his dinosaur book, his toy cars and his familiarity to the lyrics of the Firefly theme. We had light meal at mamak shop before that, then headed back to our house for a chat. It was great having Kok Soon as a guest for the night, talking about trials and tribulation of life, perseverance, spirituality, xenomorph facehuggers and such. Before midnight, he had to go home back to Bukit Antarabangsa.
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Asian Aerospace 2006
While I was at work at the Asian Aerospace 2006 exhibition way down in Singapore, I took photos of some of the exhibits. Walking around the corridors, I realised that I needed a better camera. Preferably one with at least 4 megapixel doohickey. Oh, and also one without a broken battery cover panel.
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Stuttgart Pics
As promised here are some images from my weekend walkabout in Stuttgart. I thought I didn’t take a lot of good photos there because of my need to walk quickly to cover a lot of ground, and searching for internet cafes so I could communicate with Malaysia 7 time zones away. Flughafen Stuttgart, interior shot of the check in area, in the departure hall level. The parking lot and main entrance into Flughafen Stuttgart. Hotel Am Wilhelmsplatz, where I stayed for two nights. Cozy, but I prefer the charm of the Ochsen Post Hotel myself. Wilhelmsplatz, looking towards the direction of Holzstraße, immediately in front of the Hotel Am Wilhelmsplatz. I took this when I wasn’t really familiar with the city streets so I can’t remember where this was. Two shots of Theodor-Heuss-Straße early Saturday morning. I’m really disappointed I didn’t get a couple of pictures of the weekend crowd […]
Continue readingSouth of the Border
And I don’t mean down Mexico way, amigo. I’m now in Singapore attending the Asian Aerospace 2006. It’s tiring. I’ve been sweating by the bucketloads all day. My legs are just about to pop out of their sockets. Especially after taking the MRT to various parts of the city sending off my colleagues, having dinner and trying to purchase bus tickets back to Kuala Lumpur for Friday morning. But the best part was seeing the brand new Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 strutting its stuff for the onlookers in an all-encompassing deafening roar above us. Although I did not get pictures of it in flight, witness the monster’s image from its Wikipedia page: [[image:a380.jpg:Superjumbo:center:0]]
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Outbreak
It was all over the news when I was in Germany. The H5N1 had been detected in dead wild swans at the northern coast of the country. The H5N1 virus, as all but those hiding incommunicado in underground bunkers since 1962 would know, is the strain of bird flu virus that can and has infected humans if they consume avians. Now, less than 24 hours back in Malaysia, what do I hear? Gombak chickens within, of all places, the capital city of Malaysia have been detected with the deadly strain of virus, and more have been culled in the immediate vicinity. And I would like to stress about the infection of the Malaysian chickens: It’s not my fault. 😉
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Hotel Ochsen Post
I got back from the airport today from a training in Germany. While there I stayed at Ochsen Post Hotel in the village of Tiefenbronn not too far from Hausen, where I had my training. The hotel is right in the middle of town, where dozens of dummies are placed on trees, walls, lamposts and roofs, which heralds the oncoming Carnival. One thing the hotel has an abundance of is atmosphere. You have to be there to experience it. Here’s the lobby area, with its green walls and old decoration. According to the person at the front desk the building was constructed in 1630. An upright piano in a corner of the lobby, close to the front desk. The door and hallway into my hotel room (14), at the third floor of the building. The mirror on the left there kind of said I need to lose some weight. On […]
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It’s Been Awhile Since I Saw…
…SNOW! Thirteen years. Here we are again. Damn it’s cold. And the Autobahn is jammed up. And Hausen seems to be a really nice, quaint litle hamlet. Pictures will be up when I have the chance.
Continue readingLike a Leaf On The Wind
I’ve been waiting to see Serenity since last September. When I checked the schedule at the time, they said it would be shown February 2006. Yesterday, there I was on the ground floor across the brightly-lit hallway from the video store at One Utama mall, ignoring the school of people wending their way past me. There, with the rest of the new releases on the front shelf, was the Serenity DVD. Which sadly means, I wont be watching it in the theaters any time soon. Or ever./me shakes fist at local movie theaters.
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Returning to Form, but Slowly
I still can’t believe it. I’m getting my passport renewed. I’m buying cold weather gear and one of those new-fangled bags with wheels and a retractable handle (which is pretty neat). I’m brushing up on things like “planetary gear”, “autorotation”, “rotor profile drag” and “combining gear box”. I’m planning how best to absorb the teaching techniques of the course so I can teach others how to operate the avionics hardware effectively. I’m trying my best to figure out how to get the test model installed in time for the Defense Services Asia exhibition in April. And I’m reading the online version of Rotor and Wing magazine. If I can pull this off, I believe I can start buying trade paperbacks again every month.
Continue readingHey, It’s Still February 1st here!
Just a quick little entry to wish my yope (a.k.a. Hisham) a happy happpy haaaaapppy birthday! I realize it’s already going on 5 AM February 2nd in Malaysia, but it is now almost 4 PM February 1st here! So technically, I’m not late! Well… maybe a little… Happy birthday to the best brother ever, from both Ayah Cik and Wan Cik Dik. Love y’alls..
Continue readingToday is the 29th, Which Means…
… it’s Sila’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADIK) and it’s Mak and Abah’s anniversary (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, IRFAN’S OPAH AND ATOK). Yeah, the rumours are true. Sila was their third anniversary present. Which was infinitely better than a card or a gift certificate, so it seemed.
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