Joel's 9th Birthday and Some Cherries

Here we go again... this time it is Joel's birthday. Joel and my birthday falls on December. Joel's on 28th and mine in early December. As usual, the debate on whose birthday starts first goes into another cycle... LOL.

A couple of days before his birthday, Joel had been reminding me to buy him a birthday cake. On the day itself, I would have forgotten if my wife had not called me in the morning to remind me... heheh... phew! And so on the day of his birthday, we went to Giant in Nilai to choose his birthday cake... which was a family favourite... cheese cake... yummy... LOL.


Joel was so happy to celebrate his birthday.


Jordan, Joel, my wife and Jodene.


Jordan enjoying the cream.

Joel had wanted a cheese cake with strawberry but the bakery we went to, did not have any cakes with strawberry toppings. And so I used my charms to convince him that cherry is a type of straw"berry"... LOL and that cherry taste very nice too. Obviously, none of the kids were convinced.

That night after blowing out the candles, the kids got to try the cherries for the first time in their life... and here are the results... LOL.


Cherries forever... not.

Happy 7th Birthday Jordan!

Every year, the family will be celebrating 5 birthdays month after month starting from November through to February, and then in April for the 6th one.

And Jordan's birthday is the one that kicks off the monthly birthday celebration. Of course, when you talk about birthdays, my 5 years old daughter will be asking why Jordan's birthday always starts first... LOL. And that will start a debate among her siblings about which one is first, then counting down to the one in April.

I tried explaining to them that technically, the year starts in January and therefore the first birthday should be in January, which is their mom's. Deaf ears I tell you! In the end, I just let them "figure" it out, and decide among themselves which one "starts" first.


My kids, Jodene, Nicole, Jordan and Joel, or Feb, April, Nov and Dec... if you like... LOL.


Jordan and Joel eager to cut the cheese cake.


Cute little Jared.


The family, my wife, Nicole, my mom, Jordan, Joel and Jodene.


Jodene, my mom and Nicole.


Lets see who gets to cut the cheesecake.

After much ado about nothing, the children's conclusion is that Jordan's birthday on November 14th is the first and Nicole is the last in April. Who wants to argue with that? Not me!

From Push and Glide To Cycling

Its been a year since they picked up cycling. All of them learn how to ride using the push and glide technique, which I blogged about back in August in 2008.

Since then, Joel, Jordan and Jodene have their own bikes now, albeit used and old. Now they are so fast and daring.


Jordan, Jodene and Joel, each their own bikes.


Jodene and the old hand-me-down bike from Uncle Joe.


Look at them go!

Pathetic Wings Fan

After about 4 years, 7 out of 8 of my 5-blades Wing ceiling fans had problems with the speed control (no LOW or MEDIUM control, only HIGH).

I called up Wing and they sent a technician. He said that he needed to replace the electronic portion of all the fans (before he even check or take a look at a single fan). Looked like they knew it all along that the problem would be the electronics.

To replace the electronic part, I need to pay RM60 for each replacement, and I need to give them back the old electronic part. I asked him why need to give back the old part, he says it is their company policy. WTF!!!







In the end, I only replaced 1 fan and decided not to replace the rest. Lets just say, I will NEVER ever buy a Wing ceiling fan again or any Alpha products again. Ptui!

See You Later My Friend

A lot of things have been happening since my last blog post in June. Actually, the day I was writing a post here, I received news that a friend had passed away in his sleep. He was only 42 years old. After that, I just could not bring myself to continue.

We mourned his passing. All of us dealt with it in our own ways. The night before the wake, I dreamed sitting in my truck with him. He was showing me where to park my truck to attend his wake... LOL, yah, that would be his weird sense of humor. The spot was next to playground. And during the night of his wake, I had to circle around two rounds looking for a parking, before parking exactly on the same spot next to the playground just like in the dream.

I did not attend his funeral. I had to go to Indonesia to do some work. Can't remember exactly when, but when I got back to KL, I had a dream again. This time, I saw my friend walking towards me in a night market. I asked him if he had any message for us or his family. He did not answer a single word. And then I got a distinct feeling that he was slowly loosing his memory of us. He looked blank. And then he walked through a door and left.

I guess, it was his way of saying, "See you later."

Yes, see you later, my friend.

How To Assemble a Billard Table

TMS Sports club decided to get a billiard table for the office to let everyone chill out after work. It was an exciting day for all. The club was planning to rent the table, but after some quick calculation, it made sense to actually buy a second-hand table... LOL.

So, I help them to negotiate with Mark of Billards Direct and he allowed payment by installments. That week itself, they came and installed in our office. See the following photos :)


The legs were installed to the base of the billiard table first. It had to be brought into our office in several large pieces.


After installing the legs, the table was placed upright in the allocated space ensuring enough space to cue the balls.


The interior mechanism of the billiard table, seldom view by all, collecting the pocketed balls and directing them to the proper tray to be reloaded again.


Another view of the billiard table's interior.


The mechanism were aligned to ensure that no pocketed balls would get stuck.


Damien looking on as the table was being adjusted.


View of the billiard balls and the coin-slot.


The heavy slate playing area was aligned and laid on top of the table.


The final piece of the pool table, lining and side cushion, being brought over to the table.


Took 4 person to carry and position the cushion on the table.


The cushion top being align to the billiard table.


The cushion lining's hinge were screwed in place.


The covers of the cushion lining were removed and the top was fastened with screws to secure the top to the table.


Finally, the covers were placed back on the cushion lining and ready for play... :-)

Fresh and Strange Longan Fruits

What? Never tried the longan fruits before? You dunno what you have been missing! The longan fruits are sweet and absolutely delicious! It is one of my favourite fruits. But the thing is... I have never seen a longan tree before.... :-) In fact I have been walking pass a longan tree day in and day out and I did not realised that it was a longan tree!

Yesterday, I was handed a bunch of longan fruits and I did not even realised what it was... LOL. The fruit's skin was green and the skin was hard and felt thick. The longans that I am used to seeing are brown in colour and the skin soft and easy to peel to get to the fruit inside.


Photo of a bunch of longan fruits I am used to seeing in the fruit market stalls (linked from Wikipedia).


The fresh longan fruits, which I did not even realised was longan.


The longan tree was very tall and the fruits was hard to reach.


A branch of longan fruits.


I packed some to let my colleagues try.

When I had finally gotten to taste the longan, it was not what I had expected. The skin of the fruit was thick and tough to peel. The meat of the fruit was fleshy, but lack the sweetness and juiciness usually associated with the longan fruit.

In any case, it was an experience to remember. Maybe the fruit had not yet ripen, hence the green skins... LOL. Maybe next year when longan is in season again, I will wait till the fruits is properly ripen :)

Motorbike Ride in the Wasteland of Batu Gajah

Two weekends ago, I took the family back to Batu Gajah for "Qingming" or "Ching Ming" Festival. My wife's family members were gathering for Qingming. Qingming is essentially the honoring of ancestors or ancestors memorial day, where family members gathered together to visit, sweep and clean the tomb and grave sites.

During the visit to the grand parents' kampung (a small village), I took the opportunity to take the kids motorbike riding around the old tin mining "wasteland", which practically surrounded the whole kampung.


The "wasteland" of Batu Gajah. Made me feel like I am playing my Fallout 3 game... LOL.


Another pix of the "wasteland" that only scant of vegetation can survive.


The boys (Jordan and Joel) happy as can be to be able to ride on a motorbike... Hahah.










The kids had a grand time. They wanted more but unfortunately, it started raining and we had to head back. When we reached the grand parents' house, we managed to catch an ice cream seller on motorbike. Needless to say, they two boys were screaming for ice creams.


After the ride, back at the grand parents' house, Jordan and Joel had a popcicle each as a reward for behaving.

In the end, it was ice-cream for everyone.... including the grand parents... LOL.

Family Fun at Hutan Lipur Lentang

Exactly 10 days ago, a group of friends together with our families went to a waterfall somewhere in the remote foothills of Genting in Karak to celebrate a friend's birthday... sort of... LOL. The place is called Hutan Lipur Lentang.

Actually it was a prelude to a fantastic lunch at a famous restaurant sponsored by the birthday boys, yeah... two birthdays... LOL. We got our families together to let the kids (those of us with kids) experience the "wild". My kids were very excited. They were freaking out when they saw the giant ants foraging in the forest path. Out of impulse, Joel could not help trying to stamp his feet on the ants! I managed to calm him down and got him to appreciate what the ants were doing... i.e. searching for food... LOL.

I had to take this picture... the rocks looked ideal for trials... LOL.

The river was flowing very rapidly... not safe for swimming.

My two boys mesmerised by the flowing river.

Thanks to Uncle Joe, my kids had the paper binoculars to purvue their surrounding with. Blurred as hell!

The guys pointing to the tiny tree growing out from the shadow of the giant tree... :-)

There they go again with their binoculars...

The rain the night before made the river unsafe for swimming.

Fast moving water.

The river, muddy and clouded with sediments.

There they go again.

A view of the picnic site from high above on the paths.

The river flooded, almost overflowing the banks.

The picnic site. Nice and clean.

George, the birthday boy, getting rid of a leech... LOL.

The tent was set up for the kids... but too hot for them to stay inside long... LOL.

All the kids going after the food... LOL.

All in all it was a fun trip. My kids definitely had fun and so did I... :-)