Teaching teaching..sleeping..zzz

Posted October 17, 2005 at 10:56 pm in General Nonsense

Well I have to say I am quite adverse to teaching, although I will admit I have gotten 1000 times better than I used to be.

When I joined this company I was almost immediately thrown into a teaching position in Singapore, I had never taught anyone before, and honestly had never attended any professional classes so had JACKSHIT idea what I was supposed to be doing and how I was supposed to conduct myself.

As of now I’ve taught in Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and
That’s what I call baptism by fire. Straight in at the deep end. As it turns out I managed, ok, I wasn’t great, but I didn’t totally fail, and my technical knowledge allowed me to keep the class interesting and varied, rather than the courseware, which was rather poor at the time.

Public speaking is a daunting thing for many I know..teaching is a form of that, although often in a smaller more personal setting.

I know many people who claimed they would curl up and die if they had to speak in front of a crowd, and there’s me, I volunteer to do it 😉

Not the teaching part, that’s forced upon me, but I’ve spoken at conferences and stuff.

I don’t mind teaching smart, like minded people about hacking, because that’s what I love, and to be honest I’m into sharing knowledge, I’m not some elitist asshole who won’t tell you how to do because it makes me feel superior, but if you are a dumbfuck, I will get irritated if I have to tell you more than twice..

I am teaching from now until the end of the year, and sadly I’m destined to go back to my least favourite place in SE Asia, if not the World, yes BRUNEI, OMG I hate that place, but at least I have a couple of friends there now (that I almost managed to kill jajajaj!)…But Ramadan is not the time to be there.

Anyway I may have managed to get out of it for a couple of weeks by doing a web application security project instead, but it looks like I’ll be there from early December until the end of the year.

I’ll be in Mid Valley every day now anyway till early November, so if you want to meet me at Chili’s or something for happy hour, drop me a line!

I’ve had a pretty shit week otherwise at it goes, I’ve been feeling crappy, I might be hyperthyroidic, my hard drive on my PC at home just died and well bleh. I can’t boot my PC with the HDD in as it just hangs at the BIOS ‘Detecting IDE drives’ I think the controller has probably gone, I’m wondering is there anywhere round here that can recover it..

Also I didn’t sleep Sunday night because I was scared I couldn’t wake up on time Monday, bad idea what that…I expect it’ll take me till Wednesday to recover!

Continue Reading · 21 Comments · General Nonsense

I LOVE Banana Leaf Rice on Sundays at Kanna

Posted October 16, 2005 at 8:21 pm in Food/Eating

Well there’s not many things I love more on a Sunday afternoon than having some GOOD banana leaf rice.

Apologies for the lack of pictures, there are relatively few for me, being a camera-ho and all..

I was just too freaking hungry and as it was banana leaf, I was sticking my fingers in and eating, rather than taking pictures so my hands were in no state for taking pictures.

So I piled over to Kanna, one of my favourite places for banana leaf rice in SS2 (near the new Paris if you know where that is).

And got me some nice clean and clear banana leaves!

Got the normal rice and gravy with some vege etc..and went a bit mad ordering other stuff, including prawn curry, mutton curry with gravy, deep fried fish eggs, fried chicken and fried squid. The fried stuff at Kanna is very good!

Even friendly personalised delivery service, the squid is a good portion, and daym it tastes good!

It’s a nice looking scene, you get to sit in the fresh air under a bunch of trees.

Of course I ate much more than I generally should…but well, it was REALLY good.

And finished it all of with a Lychee dessert, nice and light to cleanse the pallet!

All in all, a VERY satisfying mean, but well not cheap due to ordering an excess of additional dishes, but I really enjoyed it, so for about RM20 per person I think it’s worth it.

Continue Reading · 34 Comments · Food/Eating

Authentic Hiroshima Okonomi Yaki & Gyoza

Posted October 13, 2005 at 10:37 pm in Food/Eating

Well there’s this little place in Ikano Power Center I love…it’s a kind of strange concept, it’s 2 seperate Japanese eateries within one shop, they share the space, and you can sit in either half and get food from both.

One called Daimon (Serving Okonomiyaki noodles).

One called ChikuHo (Serving soba, gyoza, fried pork and other Japanese treats).

I am a HUGE fan of Gyoza, so I order them everywhere I go, sadly I am usually quite disappointed, but not here, cooked to perfection and tasty!

The Japanese style fried pork is fantastic too.

And then of course when you are there you have to sample the famous Okonomiyaki noodles, they aren’t cheap coming in at about RM20++ per plate, but they are big enough to share between 2 people, with some Gyoza from ChikuHo.

There are 2 bottles delivered with the noodles, normal and spicy, very unique sauce which hits the spot.

The taste of the noodles is great, very wholesome, fresh and natural..loaded up with squid, prawns and loads of cabbage, all wrapped thinly in egg. Something like Japanese mee pattaya I guess 😉

I heartily recommend it anyway and suggest you all go there immediately and EAT IT NOW!.

If you want to find the place, it’s near the post office, A&W and Manhattan Fish Market in Ikano.

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Designer T-shirts With Mad Asian Styles

Posted October 11, 2005 at 11:35 pm in General Nonsense

So there’s this company in Hong Kong, they make T-shirts.

Standing tall among the masses on the teeming streets of Hong Kong, GMTEE T-shirts come at you with the impact of a Shaolin thunderkick and the power of a one-inch punch! Get the chin-high self-belief of a GMTEE!

GMTEE is fusion fashion created with a cut and thrust attitude that mirrors it’s principal designer, Dickie. His unique designs celebrate Asian style and iconography from samurai to kung fu fighters, dragons to Godzilla.

Nice T-shirts as a matter of fact, why? Because they have t-shirts of Shaolin and Tiger, so they must be awesome right? Just like me!

Yeah!

They are called GMTEE[/url].

https://www.gmtee.com/

And they stock only high quality shirts.

We have manufactured your T-shirt in a heavy (240 gsm) combed 100% cotton interlock that is warm and comfortable. Your T-shirt is pre-shrunk and colorfast and will wash well. This durable cotton fabric will wear well for years to come. For comparison, your T-shirt is 30% heavier than the Hanes Beefy T.

They contacted me because I have an aswesome name, like their awesome products, so they thought we made a nice couple and sent me a T-shirt of my choice.

The service is excellent and it arrived in only 5 days well packaged and in perfect condition

Number 14 of 218, limited edition!

Design: Shao lin Kung Fu

It is indeed a good quality t-shirt, with front and back print, apt for doing ninja moves:

And other things..

As you can see it looks exactly like the product pictures, which are actual pictures of the t-shirt, not computer generated images like CafePress or something.

The print is very good quality and the shirt washes well due to the type of heavy cotton used.

I’m impressed and I’d recommend them!

I was tempted by quite a few of their shirts and was hard pressed just to choose one…the Shaolin design, Dragon Lust is awesome!

They also have some nice womens shirts too like Suzie..

If you want to buy one of their shirts, or a few! You can do so with discount, because you read my blog you must be awesome and deserving of $5 off a shirt.

As you proceed to check out, you should enter this code word to redeem the discount: tiger.

The discount offer expires Saturday 22nd October. Anybody can use the code as often as they wish, but the system will only allow the code to be redeemed once on each transaction.

The T-shirts are mostly around $20-25USD.

Go buy now! No I don’t make any commission, I just think they are cool.

Continue Reading · 26 Comments · General Nonsense

w800 or k750i

Posted October 11, 2005 at 1:54 am in General Nonsense, Internet & Tech

Really in a quandry..

I’ve had this OLD ASS SE T610 for more than 2 years now, and it’s starting to conk out.

I’ve been lusting after the w800/k750 since before they were relased and the preview models were reviewed..

Sony Ericsson w800

This one is more like a media player, funky orange and white look, high quality headphones, 512MB memory card, ability to function as a media player with the phone turned off..

Nice eh?

You can see the trailer and stuff here.

Full feature here.

Sony Ericsson k750

Slick black, nice looking phone. But Suan has one, so well that’s pretty gay.

Full specs here.

So which is it?

Feature wise they are both around the same, it’s just an issue of peripherals and looks mainly.

The k750 can be flashed with the w800 firmware to give it the same functionality, and you can buy the duo memorystick and probably the better headphones too.

Kinda leaning towards w800 at the moment, what do you think?

Continue Reading · 48 Comments · General Nonsense, Internet & Tech

Buka Puasa – Come eat some ayam muda!

Posted October 9, 2005 at 11:17 pm in Food/Eating

It’s that month again, time for all those yummy buka puasa bazaars!

Saturday I was really lazy and barely went out the house, so I didn’t manage to get the Bazaar, and I rushed off to Subang for Jo Jo’s birthday, then went to watch England narrowly beat Austria (Thankfully Beckham steered clear of taking the penalty, although he did get sent off..).

Sunday however I did get my lazy ass to the bazaar to endulge in some treats!

Of course the famous ayam, this one had some fantastic sauce which was kind of like Satay but more tangy with a little citrus zest!

2RM Murtabak! Very tasty indeed with nice curry gravy.

Nasi Kerabu..

Eaten with tender beef rendang, which was a little overpriced.

Some beautifully tasty roast/bbq chicken, this stuff was fantasic.

Half a chicken was 6 bucks.

Of course all washed down with Mata Kuching.

I’ll be visiting there again soon, that’s for sure!

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Rain Rain Go Away, Come Back Another Day..

Posted October 8, 2005 at 3:29 am in Deep Thoughts

Looks like Monsoon season has started already, perhaps a little early this year.

It’s rained torentially 4 times in the last 30 hours or so, super heavy rain man, it’s just started again.

So nice to sleep.

Not much good for doing anything else though.

Been kinda depressed lately, or ill, or both? Not really sure.

Keep oversleeping, late for work, wake up feeling drowsy, slightly dizzy and groggy..

Feel very lethargic..when I wake up my limbs have zero will to move themselves off the bed.

It kinda sucks, no well it really sucks actually.

Perhaps I should go to the Doctor, problem is…is my mind or my body?

Do I need a body Doc or a head Doc?

The thought of the latter worries me, the thought of the former I can tolerate.

Anyway I don’t really have much to say, I just wish I can sleep till the sky is blue again.

Happy Birthday Jo-jo![/url]

Continue Reading · 13 Comments · Deep Thoughts

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Pretty sweet!

Posted October 5, 2005 at 10:53 pm in Movies

Charlie Bucket comes from a poor family, and spends most of his time dreaming about the chocolate that he loves but usually can’t afford. Things change when Willy Wonka, head of the very popular Wonka Chocolate empire, announces a contest in which five gold tickets have been hidden in chocolate bars and sent throughout the country. The kids who find the tickets will be taken on a tour of Wonka’s chocolate factory and get a special glimpse of the wonders within.

This is classic book read by many of us in our childhoods, Ronald Dahl wowing us all with his magnificent tales. The 1971 version of this film[/url] also featured in my childhood, but it wasn’t so faithful to the book, it was a very nice and ‘sweet’ film. Gene Wilder was far too nice as Willy Wonka, where as Johnny Depp was perfect, crazy mad and eccentric!

The cast was good and the new remake was very faithful to the book, Charlie did remind of the original Charlie, and his family were portrayed excellently. The special effects were very well done and there was ample use of CG although it wasn’t too obvious is most part. The brats were played very well along with this parents, and all totally obnoxious as they should be.

It was directed by Tim Burton, so of course it was pretty dark and twisted, this was played perfectly by Depp who probably freaked out any kids who happened to watch this movie. Especially freaky was when they all arrived at the factory and the main doors opened, I was like WTF?!

All in all I found it to be an entertaining movie and I would definately recommend it.

I’d give it a solid 7/10.

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Nike Air Run Dual-D & Body Glove – THE PWN!

Posted October 4, 2005 at 2:43 am in General Nonsense

I’ve been wearing the skankiest old, brown stained shit arse 150rm cheapo Reebook trainers for what seems like ever..

So I decided it was time to get a new pair.

I did previously have a mad pair of special edition Nike Air Max Extreme from the UK, which were sweet as, but I left them in the shoe rack outside my old appt and they got stolen (it was inside the grill on the 4th floor..but well).

So I thought Nike Air it is, now I’ve got some money to buy some.

I went for the Nike Air Run Dual-D.

Yeah these are some bad ass treads.

Stylo Mylo!

They set me back RM299 IIRC.

I also bought some bad ass t-shirts as all mine are pretty boring, I’ve been going shopping crazy this month.

Body Glove had a nice discount, buy 1 get the second at 40% discount, which is pretty good, the first had 10% discount I think. Got 2 very nice quality shirts for about RM70.

A couple of those are from Wild Channel, they have some nice designs too.

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Continue Reading · 20 Comments · General Nonsense

ShaolinTiger is Making the Curry

Posted October 3, 2005 at 12:23 am in Cooking/Recipes, Food/Eating

This is true…check it out:

https://www.googlism.com/index.htm?ism=shaolintiger&type=1

Back in UK I used to be known as king of curry, I haven’t made a curry for a long time tho, so I was having some kinda cravings, so I decided to see if I was still up to making a mouth-watering pot of spicy love.

If you follow this, you should end up with about the same results..This is a healthy option curry with no coconut milk.

First up preparation, chop up your chillis (depending on how spicy you want it, can also use whole chilli padi if you like).

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Plenty of onions, any kind is fine, big french onions or the smaller red ones, whichever you can get.

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Diced garlic, normal rule is around 1 glove per person, plus a couple more. So the 4 people would be 4 diced and 2 whole, the whole ones just make some slits in them to help the flavour get out.

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Then 3-4″ of roughly sliced fresh ginger.

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Fry it all up in your curry pot with some oil and a little chilli powder, tumeric, cumin seeds, whatever you have lying around. put some sugar on the onions too to help then soften and brown. When frying the order generally would be, garlic, ginger, chillis, onions.

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After that add in the chicken and give it a good stir. At this point you can sprinkle a little curry powder in the mix. I prefer chicken thighs as the bones from the chicken gives a nice flavour.

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While you were doing the above, boil the kettle, in a jug or pot or whatever mix one chicken stock cube with 3/4 of a pint of water, make sure it’s dissolved, add in half the pack of curry powder and the 2 whole garlic gloves, give it a stir and leave it to sit while you continue (if you want to use chili padi, add them into the stock mix now).

Next add a whole tin of diced plum tomatoes (the plain ones without the herbs) and whatever veggie you fancy, this time I used ladies fingers, which is generally a good choice. Because tomatoes are naturally sweet, whenever you cook with them you have to add a good dose of salt, so do that now.

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Also add in a few diced potatoes.

Then simmer on the lowest heat for an hour or so, really depends on how hungry you are and how’s your patience, the longer you simmer it, the smoother the flavour gets and the thicker it becomes. So after the hour it’s up to personal taste. I like around 1.5 hours. Just before it’s ready, perhaps when you put the rice in, throw in some aubergine.

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Another 20 mins or so it’ll be ready to eat, and should come out looking something like this.

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And yes I’m so pro, I don’t use a rice cooker, I cook my rice in a saucepan!

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You might well have some left, so keep it in the fridge overnight, the next day heat it up in a pan and buy some nice roti canai from your local mamak, instant dinner!

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Continue Reading · 41 Comments · Cooking/Recipes, Food/Eating