Good Bye My First PC!

I had my first ever personal computer in my life which I had been dreaming for long time after my form 5, in year 1996 or 1997. It was an AcerEntra series with Intel Pentium processor, 16MB of RAM and about 2.0GB of hard disk. The pc also came with a 14" AcerView color monitor. That was the latest technology at that time and that was the first time in my life I had a computer at home! You can imagine how excited I was at that moment.

[My first ever pc set in life]

[AcerEntra CPU with Intel Pentium inside]

The PC was a gift from my 4th aunt who was staying in Kuching. She was using her company's special loan payment scheme which allowed her to pay the pc by loan with very low interest rate. In view of pc usage getting common in daily life and company's given benefit, she bought us this pc as at that time buying pc was a burden to average families and she wished us have chance to expose to computer technology. Beside pc, she also bought us a NEC PinWriter P2000 dot matrix printer. This set of pc and printer costs her more than RM4k! You can imagine how expensive pc was at that time. Bare in mind we are talking about RM4k in 12 years back and not RM4k in 2008!

I really wanna thanks my aunt for her kindness to buy us this pc. Without it, I won't be knowing pc so well. Without it, I won't build my interest toward pc. Without it, I won't be an IT graduate by now! Thank you auntie! This pc is very meaningful to me and family.

[NEC Pinwriter P2000 dot matrix printer]

However, when the time passed by and the computer technologies keep expanding, the pc slowly became outdated. When I bought my 2nd pc when I was studying in university, the old pc had been put aside.

Until last two weeks, I saw in a newspaper that there would be PIKOM PC Fair in Sibu from 28th to 30th Nov and in conjunction with this, an e-waste recycling program would be held, I made up my mind to send my old pc there. Although the pc has some historical value in my life but I have no choice as there is no space to accommodate the pc anymore. Unless I can buy a space to be my personal museum to keep old things, otherwise I can't keep them forever, can I? Furthermore, it is better to dispose pc in this way rather than throw it into the rubbish bin as some computer components can release toxic which can pollute the environment.

So this morning, after breakfast I started to pack up pc components which wanted to be disposed including a AcerEntra CPU, a AcerView 14" monitor, 2 keyboards and a NEC Pinwriter P2000. After that, I brought them to the place where the e-waste recycling program is with my car.

[Computer hardware that were ready to be disposed and recycled]

When arrived at the place, which is at Sibu Exhibition Centre, with my heavy heart, I carried them out one by one and placed them with other computer hardware which had the same fate. Sorry pc, I hope you understand that I really have no choice but to leave you here.

[E-Waste Recycling site at Sibu Exhibition Centre car park]

[My poor pc and friends were placed at e-waste recycling site]

I asked the person-in-charge how are they going to manage such a huge amount of unwanted computer hardware, he told me that they will be sent to China for component extraction such as gold or silver then the remaining parts are unusable and will be disposed. So pc, you will be travel to China soon, so wish you have a save journey!

[Other computer hardware waiting to be disposed or recycled]

Good bye my first ever pc in life! I will be missing you and I hope you will enjoy your new life in China!

[Good Bye pc and friends!]

As a reward of taking part in this e-waste recycling campaign, old pc owners will be given a t-shirt sponsored by Computer Sales and Services Association of Sarawak. There were 2 colors to choose from, striking green or white. I chose striking green as it looks better than the white one.

[The reward t-shirt]

Red Alert Three

For strategy game lovers, I think by now you should know already EA had released the latest Command & Conquer game series, Red Alert 3. I not really into playing the game yet as I spent most of the time on NBA 2k9 - my most favourite game!

Anyway, I couldn't stop myself from trying out Red Alert 3 after I saw the reviews and screenshots from the web. I was quite impressed especially by the graphic.

After I tried it out, well... in term of gameplay, Red Alert 3 is just another strategy game on earth. As far as strategy game is concern, it is mostly about building your base, train armies, upgrade technologies then attack your opponents to get the victory. RA3 is not an exceptional.

However, in term of graphic, I would say it improved a lot if compare with Red Alert 2. Of course, don't forget RA2 was released in year 2001 which is about 7 years ago! Imagine how much technology as well as computer hardware had grown over this long period of time.

[Comparison of RA2 (upper) and RA3 (lower) in term of graphic]

RA3 graphic is more 3D-like and very detail. The game itself supports high definition display, thus the graphic could be very clear and sharp.

[Sharp RA3 graphics witch nice colour]

One thing which is new in Red Alert game is that you could build some of your building on the water! Now not only land battle is important, you should as well dominate and control resources in the sea in order to have better advantage to win the game. You can even gather resources (mineral) in the sea!

[Soviet buildings on water!]

[Gather resources on the water!]

Then, most of the vehicles are now amphibious which mean you don't need a special transport vehicle to bring them across the sea. The vehicle itself can function on land or water. Well, maybe this is what our future vehicle will look like? As the strategy on water is equally important as on land, therefore you will have more option of water vehicles or weapons to choose from.

[Allied forces on water!]

[The Empire of the Rising Sun forces on water!]

[Allied's water weapons]

In RA3, you will have a new force to choose from apart from traditional Soviet Union and Allied forces, which is called The Empire of the Rising Sun. By the name, you should know which country it is referring to. Yes! It is the Japanese - one of the technology giant in Asia! Therefore, its forces are futuristic and the unit designs are from combination of science-fiction, martial arts and robot culture. Some of the unit can even transform to alternate form so that they can have different function when operating.

[High-tech Japanese forces with robot technology]

[Human army fighting with Japanese robot, who will win?]

As the graphic is great, therefore the drawback of this game will be you need to have a better graphic card to play the game. I am using ATI Radeon EAH3650 series of graphic card and it supports the game quite well. However, if you want the highest graphic with the best performance, I suggest you to get a graphic card much better than this!

[Soviet base]

Happy gaming!!!


++++++ More screenshots ++++++

[Allied forces prepared for battle!]

Local Specialty From Malacca

Recently a buddy of mine just went to Malacca for a visiting. He brought back a very famous Malacca specialty for me, the coconut dodol. Coconut dodol with Tan Kim Hock's brand is one of the most famous dodol in Malacca.



As stated at the bottom of the box, coconut dodol are made with the mixture of gula melaka, coconut flower water, coconut milk and glutinous rice flour. It also said that "Dodol was used in the ancient Malay community as an excellent gift to build good relationship. The lingering aroma of gula Melaka and the smooth creamy texture of this famous Malaysian delicacy were produced from the combination of traditional recipe and modern technology. "

Is it so? well, you judge yourself. Anyway, I care more about its taste. I can tell you that it really tastes nice! Just that it is a bit too sweet. The dodol really has very strong gula Melaka and coconut aroma and it's smooth on eating. Perhaps, you should try one if you happen to go to Malacca next time!



Thanks friend for bringing me such a nice food.

Attending a Friend's Church Wedding

Attended a friend's church wedding this morning. He's my secondary school's schoolmate and now we used to play badminton together every Saturday. The ceremony started at 9.30am.

[The church]

[The red carpet and church deco]

[The stage]

I attended quite a lot of church weddings but this one was quite a special one. Why I said so? Because usually the ceremony will start with wedding processional song, but this one it started with the bridegroom sang the song "我愿意" (I do) before the actual wedding procession started. It was quite touching and romantic. I guess the bride must feel that she was the happiest woman on earth at that moment!

Then while the bridegroom was singing, there were few dancers lining up and dance along the red carpet at the church entrance. The guests were cheered for this surprising performance especially for the charming voice of the bridegroom singing the song.

[Dancers along the entrance]

For the church wedding ceremonies previously I joined, there was only a pianist playing music accompany holy songs singing. But this one is special where there was a group of live band playing the music including piano, keyboard, electronic guitars and drum! I just like it so much especially the drum beat sound.

[Live band]

Apart from these, others were just normal church wedding routine like prayer, scripture reading, exhortation and solemnization of marriage by pastor, wedding rings exchange, lighting of unity candle and so on.

[Exhortation by the pastor]

[The guests]

The ceremony ended after about an hour. It was a very happy and romantic moment. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my friend, Eric on his big day and may happiness will always be with him and his wife, Joyce. God bless both of you!

[Happiness Forever to the new couple!]

Farewell Lunch For Trainees

Having farewell lunch for 2 trainees from UNIMAS who had being working in this office for the past 6 months. Both of them were having internship here since May. Tomorrow will be their last day here.

The lunch was held at New Capital Restaurant - an old-brand restaurant which already existed about 3 decades ago. I realized the existence of this restaurant since I was still very small as my parents usually bring me to a clinic just next to this restaurant for treatment when I was sick. The clinic was closed long time ago and the doctor I guess already in another world, yet the restaurant still at the same place. The restaurant and the clinic left me a lot of nostalgic memories.

[New Capital Restaurant]

We pre-ordered the foods by phone call earlier so that we could have faster serving. Thus, we didn't wait for long before the foods were served to us. The appetizers were boiled salty peanuts and preserved sour vegetables.

[Appetizers]

The first dish was restaurant specialty bean curd covered with preserved eggs and special sauces poured onto it. It was a very special dish which I never saw before. It tasted not bad.

[Bean curd with preserved eggs and sauces]

Then we have fried mini kailan with mushrooms and carrots, sea cucumbers soup, stir-fried bidin with garlics, lemon chickens, steamed prawns with wine, deep fried spicy spareribs and also the most famous restaurant's cooking - fried kampua mee. Oh ya, forgot to mention about the rice. It was oil rice cooked with unknown ingredients and it tasted like chicken rice.

[Fried mini kailan with mushrooms and carrots]

[Sea cucumbers soup]

[Stir-fried bidin]

[Lemon chickens]

[Steamed prawns with wine]

[Deep fried spicy spareribs]

[Fried Kampua mee]

[Rice tasted like chicken rice]

For dessert we have tiramisu (sponge cake) ....

[Tiramisu?]

Gotcha! HAHAHA!! That's not tiramisu.. but it was a special cold and wet towel roll for cleaning hands and faces after the meal. It was very comfortable putting it onto the face as it's cold and smell nice! This is a very unique service provided by this restaurant.

[Cold and wet towel roll]

The lunch ended about an hour plus later with laughters and stomach fulled. I would like to wish the 2 trainees who are going back to University soon for their final semester of study all the best in their final year project and also future undertaking. Best wishes and good luck from all of us in this company and is nice to have you with us for the past 6 months! Thanks also for Sibu branch management team for the treat!