auyongtc’s blog

… coz McLaren’s back with an excellent car, the MP4-19 that’s able to go a full grand prix distance and break lap record at Valencia, Spain. Best of all, this 2004 season’s challenger is already running so well, just a day past Thanksgiving!

DC was almost two tenth of a second faster than JP Montoya in a Williams-powered car. Ferrari and Williams, be afraid, BE VERY AFRAID!

Okay Schumi, you can piss in your pants now…

… was out on track in Valencia, Spain for its first test today:

Isn’t it gorgeous?

Hmm, they opted for the triangular shaped air intake above the driver’s helmet for this new car, previously the MP4-17D was using a round/oval shaped air intake… unless I’m very much mistaken, the MP4-16 was triangular shaped, going back and forth with the intake design? Hmmm…

… been doing some thinking regarding Bluetooth’s capabilities on mobile phones. Well, by now, some of us would’ve heard about Bluejacking (the act of sending a message as a namecard entry on the mobile phone to another phone using Bluetooth technology).

The idea I’ve come up is a further extension of what Bluetooth can be beneficial in the mobile phone. I’m not sure if anyone came up with something similar, but for sure, it’s not in our mobile phones yet. So here goes…

The ability for the mobile phone to use Bluetooth signalling to call other Bluetooth-capable mobile phones within the range (normally 10 metres without obstruction). The system would be like a call made over the cellular network - phone will ring, will show (this time, the Bluetooth mobile phone’s device name instead of the phone number) and allows the receiver to accept or reject the call. How the caller can identify who s/he can call on the Bluetooth phone would be to Discover for nearby Bluetooth-capable phones and then choosing which one s/he wants to talk to… and that my friend, is what I would call BlueTalk.

Of course, some of you would be concerned with privacy and also the idea of strangers calling you up within 10 metres radius of you, no problem, just turn off the Discoverable mode and no other Bluetooth phone can discover you. Alternatively, for a select group of people, you can have the pairing made between the 2 phones, and even without being in Discoverable mode, both can talk as long as within range (and a call being initiated first of course).

As for talking while there’s an incoming cellular call - simple, just use the same feature of Call Hold/Waiting or even multi-party conferencing since the phone can process both Bluetooth and cellular network’s signalling simultaneously. Isn’t it cool?

Imagine the marketing possibilties and hype that come with this idea. It’ll definitely attract the attention of teenagers and young adults. It’ll definitely attract the attention of typical Nokia users (yeah, those who fancy a FM radio feature more than a Bluetooth capability, those who wants more interchangable covers available for them, and those who were willing to try out cameraphone even though it’s a bricksize )…

I think I’ll go pitch my idea to the Sony Ericsson peeps

I’ll be damned if Nokia does this first…!

… here’s a shameless plug for the so-called funniest doctor alive in Malaysia…

Dr. Liew’s blog - he’s really a wacky fella… a good friend as well…

He blogs a lot about the funny life of his clinic and his RPCNs (Rolly Polly Clinic Nurses) and works 7 days in the so called RPC… he wouldn’t give out where his clinic is, coz doctors are not supposed to advertise… tee hee…

Go check it out…

… hmm, I finally realised that my pool cue butt design is a clone (Taiwanese-made I suppose) of Earl “The Pearl” Strickland’s pool cue design after watching his defeat to Tony Drago in the World Pool Masters 2003 semifinal match on ESPN (dai sei… )

Earl uses the Cuetec Starlight 6 Prong #99259 and mine’s the same design, except without the Cuetec logo at the butt’s forearm:

:: Click for a bigger picture ::

Now, when I first bought the cue off Gavin back in 2002 (I think), I fell in love with the butt design instantly, the cue’s of 19 oz. in weight, and suited my playing well…

However, Earl Strickland is the only pool player that I really hate (well, and Karen Corr too in the female section… ), in terms of his attitude during the game… lotsa people in the game know what I mean, him arguing with the referee, scolding the crowd for making noise, argued with Takahashi in a World Pool Championship match last year (I think) against using jump cue…. he’s a great pool player, no doubt about that, but his attitude towards other players and fans of the game disgust me…

I still love the design nonetheless, except now got a bitter feel that Earl uses it too…

I’m gonna look for a new tribal design pool cue soon… and relegate this cue to being my break cue…

P/S: Or better still, a Calvin & Hobbes design one…

… and I still can’t sleep! What the fuck is becoming of me? I know I always turn nocturnal during holidays and weekends, but it has never been until so late (unless I have a reason to stay up) - it’s normally until around 3 or 4am, but now 6? This is bad…

Some people tell me that if I’m bored, go to sleep… but now, I’m bored, really bored and can’t sleep… so I ended getting off my bed, turned on the lights and my monitor and started blogging this piece…

Today (or rather, yesterday) been a pretty mundane and boring (nothing new really about boredom in my life)… let’s see what I did… I was still pissed at Holland’s thrashing of Scotland 6-0 in the Euro 2004 playoffs… yeah, coz I lost a football bet… damn, there goes my brand new pool cue I wanted to get…

Besides that, I read the book I bought yesterday (started reading yesterday already… nothing better to do mar…) and now I’m over 1/3 of the book already… really nice piece of autobiography by him, with added dark secrets of the food business and his wicked sense of humor… I’ll probably do a review on the book later…

Then I chatted a bit with Julie (sigh, time difference really sux, daytime here, nighttime there in US for her…) and then a lot with Tsewei (no, not my godsister, but someone else with the same name…) about hanging out when she’s back from Singapore for holidays…

Played a bit more of FIFA 2004 in Career Mode… got so bored of the commentary in the game that I turned it off… the game’s starting to get boring and repetitive already… there’s a few quirks about the gameplay and the lack of certain features, but I’ll rant on that another day… they’ve packed some great soundtracks from all over Europe and US though!

Guess that brings us back to my boredom here now… sigh… why I can’t sleep? Perhaps I shouldn’t stay home so often and go out more, but going out generally means spend more money… I’m trying to be really thrift here now… sigh… what a holiday for me… Perhaps December would be more happening when more old friends are back from abroad… yeah, I think I should go out more in December… and get laid too… been on dryspell way too long already

Or perhaps I should go get myself drunk now so that I can get some sleep… geez, I really can’t remember when was the last time I wasn’t sober… hmmm, the last time I had any alcohol (beer doesn’t count, I generally don’t drink beer nowadays anyway) was in Genting, with a bottle of wine, think it was a Beaujolais Villages wine… didn’t even get drunk also, don’t think I ever got drunk with wine before…

Oh yeah, of late I was thinking up a new business to venture into… it’s not IT-based, so probably can’t get venture capitalists to invest on my business, spoke to my dad a bit about it… he’s still a bit skeptical about it… but I’ll study and research further to see its feasibility and all… I wish I could tell you what this new business idea is about, of coz, if I did, I’ll have to

you

…hehe… so CheeV, keep it quiet ya?

I really think I inherited a lot of my entrepreneurship skills from my dad… I totally respect him in his courage and dedication to go into uncharted seas of unfamiliar business industries… he was from the construction industry… had a small partnership back then that did housing projects, bridges, highways, and anything that needs construction I guess… and then a few years back, economy started going downhill, the construction industry was not spared as well… construction projects were still available, but getting the payment was an even bigger issue due to the economic slowdown, so he was doing lesser and lesser work…

And started going fishing on a regular basis… not from ponds or rivers or the open sea, but rather those man-made pond made for sports fishing… those that normally charged RM 10 per hour… he was hooked into it, but instead of being suckered into the fishing fever and going for it countless hours in the day and night, he looked into starting his own fishing pond business instead… and so he did, at a piece of land beside the industrial area in Bukit Kemuning, Shah Alam.

He had a lot to learn prior to opening his own business, and he had to learn fast, coz once more ponds open up in the Klang Valley, the market would be even more saturated. And he built the pond on his own (or rather, with his own men) and started everything from scratch… business was swell, we even get fresh seawater fishes like siakap and prawns on a regular basis on our dinner table…

But alas, the downside of him having that business was that he had to take care of it (in shifts, with his other partner) and he’s gotta take care of the graveyard shift… during the day, he hardly come back or if he does, only for a few hours of sleep and rest coz he’s always needed over at the pond or improving the pond, after all he was the architect and technical support in one

So there were lesser and lesser time of us having dinner at home… mom started to cook less too, since she also joined the team, running the canteen at the pond… sis would always follow mom there, and I had no homecook food to eat for quite a long while… which is kinda sad… coz back then I was working in ASTRO still and you know, after a hard day’s work (not so much physical, but rather brainwork), I come home and gotta buy my own dinner, and sometimes, gotta put up with that useless sister of mine who is a bitch when it comes to buying her food… typical conversation goes like this:

Me: What you want for dinner?
Sis: Anything lar.. cincai lar…
Me: Okay, wantan mee alright for you?
Sis: Eee… don’t want!
Me: Then, hmmm, fried rice or hokkien mee?
Sis: No, don’t want!
Me: Like that ah, (insert-another-food-here) okay?
Sis: Nolar, don’t want lar!!!
Me: Then what do you want to eat?
Sis: Anything lar.. cincai lar…
Me: (WTF???!!!!!)

Stupid isn’t it? Sigh… but nevermind ler, those days are already over… he sold his share of the business to his partner and left the fishing pond business for good, and now doing some immigration work with some of his brothers. So now we all get to see more of him, so much more that he’s at home most the time that we’re constantly fighting over the ASTRO remote

Wow… I really wrote a lot here… I started at 6am, and it’s now 6:37am… perhaps I’ll write more next time yea?

I think I’ll stay awake until afternoon nap I guess… I think I’ll take my mom to Taman Megah for dim sum breakfast… she’s leaving late tonight for a tour of South Korea with some friends and relatives… lucky her… and sis’ going for Energy concert this weekend… lucky lil’ devil her…

Oh yeah, that reminds me… gotta give a call to my ex-gf who’s back in Seoul… perhaps she’ll meet up with my mom there…

Anyone wanna go for dim sum with me?

… normally, I wouldn’t go out shopping on my own, except if I have things I really wanted to get. Today, I went to Midvalley at around 1.30pm, normally at this time I should still be sleeping. Especially since yesterday (or rather, this morning) I slept at around 6.30am. Went to play pool yesterday night with CheeV, Calvin and Su Yin until 1am, and then for teh special at Restoran Lotus (Wisma MCIS, next to PJ Hilton) with CheeV…

:: pic courtesy of Paul Tan’s Journal - he mentioned on the teh here ::

Okay… back to my shopping trip… I reached there, took me 5 minutes to search for a parking space… darn, it’s Wednesday and the carpark was packed! Oh well, must be due to the holidays and lunch time… sure indeed, Midvalley Shopping Mall was full of people (though not as bad as weekends), some shopping for the coming Hari Raya, some out for holidays, lotsa “cuci mata” for me… though I saw some serious contenders for the Ah Lian of the Year award (dressed ridiculously, summore with parents, sigh, must be from out of town.. teehee )

Went to see my other housemate who’s working in Little Vietnam restaurant… after that I had my lunch at Delifrance (mushroom soup, Seafood Croissant… yum! )… After lunch, I went to MPH and looked for this book:

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
I bought the paperback version for RM 34.90 - though mine is of a different cover… regional difference I think… I will only read this book I think after my hols, to fill up the mundane life in Timbuktu Nilai, a life without pool

Then I went on to ACE Hardware in hopes to get a 3M Scotch-Brite Abrasive Pad to polish my pool cue, but alas, they don’t have any, so I bought a super fine grade steel wool instead. Feeling dissapointed, I drove to Jaya Supermarket in Section 14, PJ to search for the Abrasive Pad, there’s a hardware store there that sells things that you can’t find at sissy hardware stores… this place is the only place I know selling Dremel MultiPro rotary tool… hehe… but sadly, that place also don’t have… damn!

I’m gonna e-mail 3M in Malaysia to find out who stocks their Abrasive Pad… Gonna go polish my cue shaft now (its’ getting rough and not smooth gliding anymore - but nowadays I play with glove on anyway, sweaty hands >.< ) - perhaps later take some pix of it and put here

… summed up my day yesterday… it was Jasmine’s birthday (Happy Birthday! ) and we celebrated it at Red Box Karaoke, Sunway Pyramid at 3pm. ET bought a big blackforest cake from Secret Recipe (dunno why, we only finished a quarter and ET and Jasmine gonna eat cake for breakfast/lunch/dinner for the next 3 days to finish it for sure!) while Ehlant and I were the guests. So there were 4 of us and we had a swell time singing for 3 hours. Sigh, I’m a banana so I only sang English songs … but nevermind, my soothing voice of mesmerizing (not as good as michaelooi’s golden voice of mesmerizing yet, but close!) silenced the crowd, especially when singing Nobody Knows by Tony Rich Project - hehe, perhaps nobody else in the room knows how to sing that song, that’s why… LOL

Click Continue reading below to see the pix
(more…)

… and the Reds come marching home home home!

Yeap, Manchester United sees off Liverfool with a 2-1 win at Anfield, Liverpool. Ryan “the Man-of-the-Match” Giggs scored both goals for Man Utd while Harry Kewell scored the consolation goal… it was a boring 1st half, but the 2nd half was packed with action, with a controversial penalty kick claim by the Fools, but I strongly believe that it was no reason for a penalty kick from that incident anyway… and the Fools missed a couple good chances to equalise, or even a winner for the match… oh well, Glory Glory Man United…

And I just stopped watching the Chelsea vs Newcastle United match after Chelsea led 3-0 over a 10-men Magpies by halftime… hehe, guess who was Roman Abramovich’s guest of honour? Bernie Ecclestone, the owner of F1 himself… bet he’s trying to get the Russian “lots-of-money-naire” to invest in his field of sports… tee hee

Glory Glory Man United, and I got my allowance yeah!

… right, after killuminati, natasha, smallmoskito and God knows who else, I managed to find my very own postcard from fel (thanks yea!) in the mailbox this morning after having dim sum breakfast with my parents…

Actually, I was pretty busy yesterday and didn’t check my mailbox downstairs (I stay in a flat apartment and the mailboxes are all downstairs). Late last night (or rather, early this morning) I came into PPS and saw that killuminati and natasha already got their postcards from fel… so I bet mine’s just lying there lonely and cold in the metal mailbox… really wanted to just grab my keys, go down and grab it, but was too lazy, since I don’t think I’ll take a pix of it until this morning…

Right, so this morning after dim sum (at Taman Megah, PJ - best dim sum in town, and it’s freaking cheap too… if you dunno where, next time spend me and I’ll take you there), I opened the mailbox… so I was wrong, the postcard didn’t lie there lonely, it was accompanied by a tmnet stream-my-ass bill, my Maybank account statement, some other statements for my dad, a pink card from Pos Malaysia telling of a registered document for my mom (should be car loan repayment statement or something), a soft toy, accessories and novelty catalog for my sister and a bunch of colourful namecards from Ah Long, Ah Beng, Ah Chu and dunno who else, who apparently got too much money in their hand and would like to lend us some (they’re moneylenders)… and the whole night I felt bad for not going down and pick up the postcard… LOL!

Anyway, can see that the postcard been thru some tough times travelling by air, all 4 corners of the postcard are now bent a bit or damn rugged liao, must be having a hard time fighting for survival with other postcards by fel and God knows what else inside that bag of airmails (Anthrax perhaps? *gulp!*)… oh well, here’s the postcard image…

Thanks again fel!

I’m getting on this postcard bandwagon too… but this is what I’ll do… send me a postcard, and I’d be sure to send you one in return, fair? To get my mailing address, please e-mail me for them: auyongtc@theuseless.com and do let me know who you are, where you’re from, your blog site (if any) and how you found me in the first place