Brain Ooze

You remember Ted? Ted d’ Bear? He is the teddy bear that I bought for the wife when I was in US for a week on business trip. He has been sitting on the bookshelf since then cause he was too irresistible for the bed. Well, we have a new use for him.

Testing diapers!

Wife bought some reusable cloth diapers. Those nice expensive ones that acts as good as disposable diapers but re-usable. Wife got these diapers as a “tester package”, a set of 4 diapers that we can try then decide on what brands to get. I vote for the cow prints, but wife will be the final decision maker.

We bought from Baby Pit Stop. She is based in Penang and does COD. Which is a good thing cause you can go to her place and talk to her, get some tips on how to use these things.

From Happy Heinys. With those “prings”, any daddy would be happy, not to mention the heinys..

This is rumparooz.

The famous gro baby.

Bumgenuis

No review on the performance, comfort and quality of the products till we get a suitable and reliable tester.

Dusty old bear.

The in laws came to Penang over the weekend with the nieces and nephew. Cheeky little devils. We brought them to the usual places. Botanical gardens, which I was surprised was doing through some massive renovations. I almost did not recognised that place.

Monkeys in youth park because it was too noisy in the botanical gardens, the monkeys ran away.

butterfly farm.

monorail iguana.

Normally when we head out to KL, we tend to stick to the malls. So we eat in the mall, especially the outlets that we cannot get in KL. Chilis was a usual spot till they have one here in Penang. But in KL, there are constantly new eating outlets opening up that Penang cannot catch up.

This time around, we could not make it to the mall in time. Well, we prefer to hit the mall before 11.00 am when the crowd is still bearable. So we decided to stay away from the malls, for once.

Wife found out about Betty’s Midwest Kitchen from some blog and she said there are ribs and juicy lucy. We had just watched man vs food at that time and the thought of a juicy lucy is just salivating.

This place is strictly non halal and it is so rare to find a non halal western food these days. Go to the malls and it is always halal. I have nothing against halal food, just that I want to know how pork ribs taste like when they are cooked the right way.

My baby back rib sauce was good, the ribs were so fall-off-the bone tender that I think my grandma can eat it. Just that it has a lot of the soft bone parts that may not be appetizing. But I sucked t he bones clean.

Wife’s juicy lucy was good as advertised. Stingy on the cheese but the meat was really thick. If you hate cilantro, like the wife… well you may want to eat something else. The cilantro was a bit overpowering the meat.

We had something called “dog food”, fries baked with cheese and gravy. It was good by itself but it killed the appetite.

We were expecting the place to be full and we were worried not to get a place to sit or having to wait hours outside. We were surprised for a weekend, it was just nice. We got a table and while the restaurant was full, no one had to wait. The customers came in and out quickly.

Finding the place was a challenge as it was a new unexplored area for us and the map on the internet was good till the turning from LDP. We just followed our guts and kept driving. The shop is actually facing the ELITE highway.

As with out luck, we found the place in the first try. Will get the wife to update the location of the place and link to some blogs here.

We also went for kolok mee. The sarawak favourite. People keep telling us there is this kolok mee place in Puchong that taste JUST LIKE Kuching. Then I have to go.

As with out luck, we found it the first try. Wife to update the location

As for the noodles, the taste is JUST LIKE Kuching. But somehow the texture of the noodles was a bit off. It is a but crunchy, I might say. Maybe overcooked or under cooked or maybe the noodles were stored too long. Wife says she read somewhere that the noodles were imported from Sarawak.

Think yong tau foo and you think Ampang. I wanted to meet up with some old classmates and they recommended me to Puchong Yong tai foo which they swear is better than the Ampang one. That is a tall order but I thought it was a good place to start, since it is near where we were staying. Less time traveling, more time chatting.

My friend was trying to tell me how to get there and his directions made no sense to me so wife decided to google the place and found it. Apparently the place is so famous, it is on the top of the google list. Try it. It is in Batu 14.

Again, found it in the first try. Wife can really read maps.

Wife loves this place and so do I. They put pucuk manis in the soup. What you call the vege in pan mee. Wife loves those stuff. The fried yong tau foo, very crispy and light. Not hard like the ones we normally get. Fluffy is another word I would use. The place is PACKED. Six of us wallop 80 bucks worth of yong tau foo, sat there and chat from 7 till almost 10.. when they are closing.

When you arrive there, take a seat and know the table number. Head down to the counter and pick the vege or things you want stuff. They will stuff the vege / tofu AFTER you pick them. Also, knowing cantonese would be good as I have no idea what they were asking. Apparently they were asking how many tou foo or how many wan tans I want. Not sure what I ratted but who cares. Food came and we stayed on.

I call this my jinx shelf. It was bought from IKEA in December, two IKEA trips ago.

The installation of the shelf is simple, 4 screws and we are done. The real problem with this shelf is after installing, it weights 16 kilos and is about 5 feet long. That length and weight is the main cause of the jinx.

But after assembling the shelf, comes the hard part about installing the shelf into the wall. The shelf needs to be held up by just 4 screws into the wall.

Sounds easy. To mark the holes in the wall, I held up the cabinet and the wife makes the markings on the wall. Well, it is easier said that done because the shelf is HEAVY and the holes for the screw on the shelf is deep and small, We cannot use a pencil or pen so we had to improvise by trying to make indentation with nails.

The indentations were hard to find but we found them. I made 4 holes. Then we looked at the holes and noticed that “maybe” it is too small to hold the shelf. The holes were made using the normal no.10 bit and the regular red color plastic wall plugs. The holes have to take 16KG of weight in 4 points.

We thought lets give it a try anyway. Then I raised the cabinet up and guess what, 2 holes did not line up and they are diagonally with each other. Great.

The shelf lay by the bed while i figured out what to do and waking up to 4 holes in the wall which was of no use.

Then second trip to IKEA couple of weeks ago. Went to ACE and got a much more stronger plugs and a bigger drill bit. This time, we made a template of the holes on the cardboard that the shelf came in. So instead of raising the shelf and making markings, we made holes on the cardboard where and mark the wall using the holes. It is easier than hoisting 16KG of shelf and marking holes in it.

This time it works. With a larger plugs, I think it will hold the shelf.

On the way up, we had to mark 3 walls. First we thought the shelf would be good where the TV is. Then using a device that I have, we found wires all over the wall where the holes were supposed to be.

Then we marked another wall at the corner of the bedroom and there too, were wires.

Thank god I checked.

While trying to raise the shelf once, it dropped but before I manage to rein it in, it snagged my plastic towel rack and broke it.

But after seeing the shelf on the wall, I am glad the jinx is finally over. Or i hoped.

Was in KL last week and took a day off on Monday to meet up with the PIKOM pals. Well, one of the main reason I went down to KL was to meet friends. Saturday was meeting up with the ex MMURCS friends and Sunday was with the coursemates, or whatever that is left of them. Before you start telling me how dedicated I am, just enough for me to say that I was feeling guilty. Some of them came down to Penang during chinese new year and I could not be around to meet up with them. I get calls that they are in Penang when I was in Kuching. I felt that after all these years, I should at least go back and meet some of the friends.

I do now know that Puchong has a yong tau foo shop and I think it is better than the ampang one.And we can argue this till the cow comes home. But I feel that the crispies (fried yong tau foo) is much more lighter and crunchy, not hard, light and crunchy. Need to know how to get there? just google puchong yong tau foo. Wife likes it because they have the pucuk manis in the soup. She likes the vege. Actually when my old classmates asked me to meet him at Puchong Yong tau foo, wife googled it and it is there in the front page.

Since I am taking Monday off, people in the office are curious why I took one day off, or why I bothered to go to KL on such an odd timing.

I told them I am going down to KL to get baby stuff. See the shock on their faces and then told them that the wife is due end of June. Yup. I am going to be a daddy soon. Most people are shocked because my wife works in the same office and they did not notice anything different.

The main reason I go to KL is to hit IKEA for the cot bed. We looked around for cots and Ikea’s SNIGLAR is the cheapest at RM165. There are also things like high chair which are cheap in IKEA.

While reading the papers in KL, the KL edition, we stumbled upon a baby product warehouse sale.. in PUCHONG! What a co-incidence. The brand is “My Dear”. It is not common but I see it in the Kimberly Street shop that sells baby stuff. It was a mad house but because a lot of preggies, it was very organised. A lot of people not no shoving around. People were polite, they give way. Just not Malaysians you know.

It is My Dear’s warehouse. You see what you like, tell the staff what you want and they will give you a chit for the item. Once you are satisfied with the purchases, pay at the counter and they will give you a receipt. Take it next door and someone will collect your receipt, tell the workers the item that you wanted and slowly, they will bring it forward. Assembling service provided

Got this for RM188

Car Seat for RM190

Brand new.

After stacking it in the car, adjusting the seats, with the IKEA stuff, it was JUST nice to fit in the small Smart Car. I should have taken my mum’s offer to use their bigger VIOS but I was stubborn. Well, it almost didn’t make it back but it did. So we are happy.

I cannot remember in details what happened last night with my anger management but I certainly scared a few people. Last night was tua pek kong procession. We were split into groups to follow a certain chariot along the route.  After assembly, we were briefed and then brought to Chulia Street to wait for our floats.

Not sure if it was a hindsight of the commanding officer, but we were asked to cross the road and stand in front of people, who are already lining up.

Well, if I were the bystanders who came early to take the front row, only to be “invaded” by this punch of people who came from no where, I would be pretty pissed. So I took the noble path *ahem* and stood behind the row of spectators. As long as I can catch a glimpse of the float contingent numbers, which are prominently displayed, I should be OK.

And that is what happened. It started with a lady asking if the guys in front can squat down. Then this guy, middle age skinny fellow with a boy, started to shout at the members in front. They guys in front pointed to the commanding officer and the officer just waved the man away.

Of course he got more furious and started to shout more. Remember that I was standing behind everyone else and at this time, just an audience to the whole charade. I thought I want to be a hero and told him that we were leaving soon and the space will be reclaimed.

It is at this point of time, he turned his anger at me. And it is at this time, when anger takes over, details became blurry. I remembered clearly telling him to calm down and we will be gone soon. Every time I told him, calmly and softly, he kept shouting at me. I remembered on the 3rd time he shouted at me, I shouted back.

Yes, it was at this time, uniform, in front of hundreds of people, I literally blasted him back (to use a more subtle, child friendly word). No profanities, I just shouted louder than him. I can shout, ask my classmates. I don’t remember what I shouted back at him for, but it was loud and I remembered my body language was rather aggressive.

It accumulated to him dragging his son out to the middle of the road and asking what would I think if he stood in front of is. I told him to go ahead as I walked forward. I am no small size and with the crowd, he finds himself in the middle of the empty road.

At that time, he stopped shouting and made his way back to the crowd.

I remembered after his “retreat”, I was still shouting, god knows what I said. After that, I also stopped and we never made eye contact after that though he stood near.

Frightening? Yes. Do I think I am in danger at that time? Yes. Why did I do what I did.. well a little soul searching later on, I think it was because I was pissed at something else that happened earlier. I cannot pinpoint what. But I was so charged up with anger, I just laid it out on the first person who I think “deserve it”.

It was a holy day, a good effort on my side to earn karma points. And I just had to lose it.

After the 10KM walk, as we reached back to base to pack up and leave, one of the members said I really lose it on the poor man. No one dared to tell me off at that time. They are smarter than that. I am the only stupid one there.

I got a confession to make today on an incident  that happened on Monday. I started the day driving to work feeling like every Monday, sluggish, dreading, expecting the worse, missing my bed, dreaming of my sleep. I need to make a U-Turn along Yeap Chor Ee road, in front of the Petronas station so that I can drive down south.

Things happened too quickly.

The traffic on that day was clear, I presumed that a lot of people were still on leave.

In front of me, as I approached the U-Turn, was a slow Iswara. I braked. The Vios behind me honked and overtook me from the left and cut in between me and the Iswara. Unfortunately, we were both approaching the U-turn and the Vios could not cut in front of the Iswara.

When I heard the honk, I already anticipated some stunt by the car behind so I left some space in front of me for him to squeeze in. Up till now, everything was cool on my side. Just after making the turn, the Vios took the left and overtook the Iswara.

Out of no reason, I gave chase. Pedal to the metal. Engine RPM went up to 6000. I only had a glance of the meter because I was concentrating on the car in front. As I chased up beside them on the left, I can see that there were a couple in the car, quite old say around late 40′s to 50′s. The roads were still clear so I went ahead of them, still on the left and quickly swerve to the right, like I want to hit them.

Then I heard a screech.

Not sure if it was me or if it was them. But it was the most eerie screech that I have heard in a long time. It was not a long screech, it just felt near. I looked back and they were still on the road, driving slower now while before that, they were speeding along.

When I stopped in the next light, near Pekaka.. it dawned to me what I have done. Wife, sitting beside me was already to pounce on me. She hates being in the car when I act all angry, who does not. It was dangerous, what I did.. and unfortunately through some bug in my system, it did not dawn to me that I could endanger myself (to hell with other people) by doing what I did.. BEFORE I did it. For the first time, I felt mortal, knees felt wobbly and swear to god I will not do that again. I think I have gotten away with stunts like this far too many times. I think I might have used up my 9 lives.

Wife told me to let it go while I was making the U-turn after the stunt the Vios pulled on me.  She said they probably did not see the car in front, some people just don’t see what is beyond them and reacts to what they see on front.  I am not sure if that “speech” triggered me but after the turn, I felt like teaching them a lesson.

Wife was probably right, those old people in the car probably did not see what is ahead of them and just assumes that I brake for fun, on an empty road, making a U-turn, on an Monday morning (BTW, that is a sarcastic remark).

Am I proud of what I did? No, I was not. To the old couple in the car, drive safe and look forward beyond what is in front of you. But if you did intentionally do what you did, overtaking me from the left on a U-turn, then serves you right and count your blessings. I have counted mine.

These are the night shots of the goddess of mercy at Kek Lok Si Temple. Getting there is a challenge. The road up to the temple is mighty steep and because of the traffic jam, I need to stop the car on a slope and get it going again. A lot of handbrakes. When I arrived, the car smells of burning rubber. In fact, most cars smells of burning rubber. When I smelled burning rubber, I thought there goes my clutch plate. But when I smell burning rubber on most cars, then I am a little bit more relieved. A little bit because there is the challenge of going down after the shoot.

We arrived around 7.30pm and the jam was still tolerable. We were able to drive into the temple compound before the jam starts. When we left around 9.30, the traffic heading up starts from Air Itam town itself.

Took the chance to pray there too. Stick a few josstick and light a candle for world peace.

And I can say, the place is magnificent.

Talk a walk around Georgetown and like me, you will find a lot of sights that are interesting. I have always liked to walk around town, since my form 3 history project taught me that I see more when I walk. Still up to this day, I see a lot more things when I walk around town then when I drive.

Here are some pictures as I walk across little india (King Street) from Esplanade to Chulia Street for the Chinese New Year Open House.

I never knew there was an indian butcher around. Wife saw the meat hanging and quickly an animal came to mind.. pork.. nope.. beef.. indians don’t eat beef.. lamb.. close.. mutton! Yup. Goat..

Typical indian sundry shop BUT a lot more cleaner, more open and easier to see the goods on display

A house that is going to crumble at any time.

shopping at little india

drying out the tnee kueh. Not too sure why they dry it though. Maybe it fries better after drying.

Georgetown.. take a walk down history.. literally.

If you are new to English idioms, upping the ante means that you are increasing your “bet” and the value of something especially when there are risk involved (http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/up+the+ante.html). The idiom is taken from poker game.

Have you heard of the 24 chinese drums? A team of 24 people will beat 24 chinese drums, those used in lion dance, to create a loud beat. The trick is that all 24 people need to have some semblance of syncronization.

Now up that 4 times, make it 88 drums. 88 is a good number according to chinese and 88 drums takes up a lot of space. 88 drums will be what they played in the Georgetown Chinese New year celebrations yesterday. I missed the show, but I would assume it is awesome.

Look at the amount of drums.. you will know why.