Mangoes, Mangoes, Mangoes

Today I am back in Batu Gajah, Perak to visit my in laws.

It is  mango season and naturally, we plucked and harvested more than a few :)

Yummy!

Selecting A Tablet

I have been thinking about getting a tablet for my kids for a while now. My rationale is to provide them access to online learning materials whenever they need and to get on video conference call with me whenever I travel.

We do have a PC at home for them to use. But they have been banned from using the home computer for quite sometime now. Reason for the ban is because they will spent too much time on YouTube and online gaming. There was no way to control what they can do on the PC.

Hence, the tablet. With an Android tablet (not sure if it is possible to do that on an iPad) I can set a PIN for each app to lock and prevent it from launching.

So, my idea is to lock all the apps with a PIN and only allow the apps I choose to launch without the PIN.

That way I can lock the web browsers but allow them access to the Wikipedia app or any other educational apps I install for them.

So, the question is which tablet to get for them. Right now I am leaning towards the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Plus 7 inch version. Alternatives are  the Nexus 7 or even the Samsung  Galaxy Note.

Still can't decide yet. Will wait and see.

Btw, that app to lock other apps is called Perfect AppLock. Go check it out.

Samsung Galaxy S3

Bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 in June for the wife. Got it at a very good price.

Of course, I got to test it out first. It was only just recently that I got myself the S2. I really liked it. Especially the Android OS. I found it to be so much more flexible than the iOS. IMHO, the S3, like the Galaxy Nexus, has the perfect screen size for a smart phone.

But most importantly, my wife loved it.

Camping At Jerankang Waterfall

April was a pretty busy month. I took the boys camping at Jerangkang Waterfall in Pahang state together with my friends. Suffice to say that is was part of my annual all-male friends trip to somewhere. (Last year's was to Terengganu for sotong or squid fishing.)

It was a fun trip for Joel and Jordan. It  was their first trip camping and  hiking. Build their first fire too. Posted some photos of the trip here.

Dr Who Sonic Screw Driver

Woke up late today.

Was up till 4 am this morning on my PlayStation 3 checking out the new Skyrim update. Had to delete the game data and reinstall the game as the latest patch seemed to cause the game to freeze and hanged the system whenever the character entered water.

After the reinstallation, my quests went pretty well.... lol. And as usual before I know it, it was 4 am.

Well that was why I got up late. Now back to the Dr Who sonic screw driver. When I came downstairs, Joel was excitedly telling me that he made a sonic screw driver. I must say that it looked pretty good considering the fact that it was made from paper and cellophane tapes. I decided to spray it with silver paint to give it a metallic look.

Joel, Jordan and Jodene have been Dr Who fans for the longest time. I introduced them the show a couple of years back. I myself have been a fan since I was a teenager when I watched a couple of episodes on the television broadcasted by the Brunei TV station. I used to stay in Miri, Sarawak, where we could received their broadcast; and then continued with the series on PBS when I studied in Canada.

Anyway, I interviewed Joel in the following video.

I am actually looking forward to see what my kids will come up with next.

Maybe I will give them some additional art and craft items to see what they will fabricate... lol.

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DIY Paper Toys

Here are some of the paper toys made by my kids.

Armed with cellophane tapes, papers, scissor and their creativity, they will fabricate items they see in the movies like Indiana Jones hat, PS3 Uncharted game items, X-men, etc.

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3 Rooms Apartment Made From McDonald Happy Meals

Last weekend, my wife decided to give a treat to our three kids.

Yup, McDonald Happy Meal is considered a treat in this part of the world.

The next morning when I got downstairs, I found a three bedroom house with a pool made out of the happy meals.

LOL... after they were finished with the meals, with cellophane tapes and a scissor as their tools they went to work.

I have always encouraged them to be creative and this is just one of their many projects.

Cheers.

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Trying Out Mobile Blogging

Have not been updating my blog for so long. Thought I will start blogging again from my mobile phone.

Recently, I got a pretty good deal on  a Samsung Galaxy S2 and decided to dump my five years old Dopod D810. Yup, that Taiwan company that was bought over by HTC years ago.

It has been almost two months now since I got the new phone. The Swype feature is really superb!! And the number of apps available from Google Play is amazing!

I found this blogging apps for Blogspot.com called Blogger-Droid and this is my first post using the app.

So far the user experience is pretty good. With this app I hope to be updating more often.

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Joel and Jordan Catching their First Fishes

After watching several episodes of Extreme Fishing with Robson Green, my two sons were inspired. To top if off, they have been playing some fishing game on their mom's Ipad 2. They have both been bugging me about taking them go fishing. And I did just that two weekends ago and here are the results :-)


You can see the disappointment of not catching anything.


Joel with the fish he caught.


Jordan holding up the the fish that Joel caught.


He was worried about not catching anything... after he caught one, he was relief and pretty proud of himself.


A close-up of Jordan and the fish.


Caught four fishes. All tilapia of the cichlid fish family.

Check out the following videos:


First time for everything, Jordan trying to hold a live fish in his hand.


Joel so happy to have caught his fish.


Jordan finally caught a fish too.


Letting all the fishes go.

Now they are constantly bugging me to take them fishing. Unfortunately, the last couple of weekends have been pretty busy. Maybe this Saturday... LOL.

Fruits Season in Batu Gajah

April this year, the family went on a weekend trip to Batu Gajah and Ipoh to visit the relatives and for my wife to catch up with her aunt and sisters. For me and the kids, the highlight of the trip was a visit to my wife's aunty's farm around Seputeh in Batu Gajah.

We went there at the right time. It was the start of the durian season. When we arrived at the farm, aunty had already collected 10 durians for us.

Check out some of the photos below.


Durians that ripen and dropped the night before.


The durians still on the tree waiting to ripen. During this time, it is customary to visit the orchard early in the morning to collect the fruits.


While visiting the orchard, we found some more durians that had ripen and dropped.


Serai or lemon grass.


Joel and Jordan had never seen a pineapple plant before.


Pineapples that were ready to be harvested.


A giant pineapple, that aunty kept for us.


What better way to enjoy rambutan than freshly plucked from the tree.


The rambutan fruit was really of the best quality. See how small the seed of the fruit is in comparison to the edible part.


Papayas waiting to be plucked.


Joel and Jordan with their cousin checking out the fish nursery.


These containers acted as water aeration and filtering system to keep the water fresh for the fishes.


Each of this container contain a baby fish.


The name of this fish in Malay is called, "ikan hantu", which translates to "ghost fish". I believe the English name is Marbled Goby. This fish is highly prized for it taste and can fetch a high price in the market.


The adult Marbled Goby were kept in the larger tank.


Bananas for the picking.


Freshly fell coconuts.


Took me a while to get this bunch to fall.


Using a special rod with a saw at the end to cut down the coconut fruit bunches.


Jordan complaining that he cannot carry the coconuts... LOL.


Needed a ladder to reach the coconuts.


The saw used to cut down the coconuts.


Pandan leaves (Pandanus amaryllifolius) right at the backyard of the house, ready to be used anytime for cooking.


Found a bird nest in the pandan leaves.


Uncle with his shotgun getting ready to go wild boar hunting.

It was great day for the kids and the family to be able to visit the orchard. We were told to go there to collect the durians, but ended up with all kind of fruits to bring back home.

We will be back next year when it is durian season again :-)