Some updates

Okay, just some updates. The Sylphy got crashed, and most probably be written off. On the brighter side, I'll soon write about the Nissan Grand Livina 1.6M and my own Saga BLM 1.3M. Yes, I've finally got a car.

Nissan Sylphy Test Drive

The other car I managed to drive was the Nissan Sylphy 2.0. First impression of the car is that it's kinda roundish. And the rear end still kinda looks odd to me. The front end is nice, and so is the side profile. FYI, there's also a 1.5L unit sold in Singapore, but here, we only have the 2.0L version.

Front end of the Sylphy.
The front end of the Sylphy cannot be said as aggressive, as this car is not a young punk's type of car. I'd say the design slants more towards older customers. The foglight is standard.

Rear end of the Sylphy
The side profile and rear end has a black lower part for the car, which gives an impression that the car is longer. The exhaust is hidden. 2 reverse sensors come standard.

The wheel(s)

The first thing I noticed is the "slightly" undersized wheels. The rims are 15", and IMO, it's 2" too small. To me, 17' would be just nice for the Sylphy. Anyhow, it does offer almost-excellent ride comfort. The other thing is that the rear brakes are not disc brakes, but rather drum brakes. I was like, wtf? Rear drum brakes on a 2.0L car? What is Edaran Tan Chong thinking??

Front Indicator(s)
This little ingenious fella can help the driver to estimate where the front end of the car is, and it also looks kinda cool.

Meter Cluster @ Day time

Meter Cluster @ Night

The meters are simple and nice. Not overly fancy at all. At night, it's not glaring, and it's also very sharp. Well, it may not be Optitron level, but that's good enough.
Center Console
The Sylphy here, has a nicely designed center console. The 2-din HU is decent. Sound quality is good, provided the source is good. The HU is Nissan's own unit, so there's nothing too fancy, and swapping it for a better unit is possible, due to the standard 2-din mounting. The Sylphy is also one of the uncommon CKD cars that offers a heater in the car. Why a heater in such a hot climate you ask? Simple, rainy and nights. Those two can freeze your fingers and those behind. So having a heater is actually a good thing. The aircon's strength is nice and strong, and it's also not noisy at all.
The gear lever
The Sylphy comes with a CVT transmission, and thus does not have a fixed 3-2-L. And the wood grain design throughout the car looks really fake.
Pedals
Nope, no aluminum plated ones, as this is not a youngster's car. The left most pedal is the footbrake, same like how most Mercs have it. It might get some time getting used to, as you will be finding high and low for the handbrake.
The Engine Bay
Here lies Nissan's MR20DE powerplant. The engine is mated with a CVT transmission, which provides very smooth operations. The think paddings around the engine bay keep the NVH levels at a minimum.

So What Do I Think About the Sylphy?
Well, to be frank, I am somewhat satisfied with this car. The ride comfort is almost perfect, and the low noise levels means that cruising on highways won't be a noisy affair. The rear legroom is also very generous. As for driveabilty, I must say this car may not be a drivers' car, but this still can impress. The steering, for example, is variable weighted. This means that the weight of the steering changes according to the speed. For example, when maneuvering in a tight car park, it'll be light, and then cruising on the highway, it'll be nice and heavy. then the power delivery is very smooth and constant. There's no jerk where the car changes gear, which ensures a smooth drive. While cruising in trunk roads at 110km/h, other than looking at the speedo, there's no way of telling that you're going at 110, as the noise level is very low, and the car is very composed at high speeds. Body roll is also kept at a minimum, but the ride is still nice and comfortable. The comfort may also be due to the 195/65 tires. While driving with 5 people in the car, it still has enough grunt to keep going without revving too hard. My verdict is - The Sylphy is a very easy car to drive. Good alternative to the Civic. Generous rear legroom. Comfortable ride. Enough power.

Isuzu D Max Short Drive Afterthoughts

Manged to get behind the wheel of the Isuzu D Max for a short drive.

To be frank, this is not the 4WD version, but rather the lower end FR version. Driftable? Hmmm..
Simple looks, but no fog lights.
Rear view. Yup, it's a 2.5L Turbodiesel.
Meter cluster. OMG, redline at 4200rpm?
Vie of cockpit. Very boring interior. And it's a manual.
Engine bay. Pretty dull looking. Had to be expected cuz it's a workhorse. hey, what's the small words there?
Wow. Turbo. Niceeee~

Well, I must say that this car, initially it's kinda hard to drive, and you need to keep an eye on the tachometer, as the redline is at 4200rpm. And a note to myself, this is not a car to go vroom vroom. The manual shifting is smooth, and the clutch is nicely weighted. Since it's a FR/2WD version, there's no low range box, and this can cripple the D Max off road. It may have a turbo, but no matter how hard I rev, the speed just won't climb dramatically. Anyhow, driving the D Max is quite an eye opener, as the view is so much higher, and it's way longer than the Optra I drive.

A Random Outing with Ji Yang

Went out to Plaza Lowyat with Ji Yang today. He drove his Myvi to fetch me there (thanks man!!). While in Bukit Bintang area, the whole damn place was congested as hell. And best of all, parking at Lowyat was full by the time we got there. ==" Oh well, after spending another 20 minutes or so in the jam, he parked the car in Times Square. No big deal. lol.
Anyway, he managed to get the stuff he wanted, which includes a Cooler Master Infinite, 320GB External HDD (Seagate) and 100 pieces of DVD-Rs. As for me, I finally got this ->
Yup, it's a Microsoft Sidewinder X3. Got it for a mere RM49. Looks like I can finally retire my Razer. lol. Very pleased. ^^

Pro -

- Shape much better than the other Sidewinder, fits my hand better
- Nice and smooth
- 2000dpi + laser @ RM49
- Programmable buttons
- Nice rubber scroll wheel. Also very smooth
- Side buttons not that hard to reach

Cons -

- A tad bit too light
- No LCD (has to be expected, lol)
- Might feel "cheap" (to some, lol)

Anyway, we then decided to makan at Old Town. I took the wheel of the Myvi. It's quite an okay car, really. Throttle response is good, and the brakes are reasonably strong. Engine noise might be a bit intrusive to some, but its fine under normal driving. Acceleration wise, it's good up till 60kn/h or so, more than that, there's not much power already. Suspension is fine for city driving, but when driven moderately hard, it starts to show its weakness. Body roll is also a bit too much, but it has to be expected for a car like this. Anyway, it is a reasonably good car for that particular price range.

While at Old Town, I had some chicken rice for dinner. lol.
Nice and filling.. ^^ Also had their signature white coffee. Total bill came to Rm14.30 each. @@ But since it's nice, I'm not complaining.

Thanks again to Ji Yang for this outing. =)

Using Winamp to Manage your Ipod

Firstly, you need to have WinAmp installed (duh!). If not, head down to "http://www.winamp.com/media-player/download/en-us" to download Winamp.

Then you will need to make sure that your iPod appears as a drive in "Computer (Vista/7) " or "My Computer (XP)" .

Then start to install Winamp. Make sure that iPod support selection in Portable Media Player Support (which is a part of the Winamp Library) checked.

Start Winamp. Make sure Media Library is shown. On the left, under Portables, you iPod should show up there.

You can drag and drop music into your iPod this way. The song list might not update itself automatically, so you would need to click on Portables again.

To remove your iPod, right click on Portables, then your iPod and choose Eject Device,.

Done. ^^

Final Day of, err, Finals.

Yesterday I had my last paper. Was Introduction to Multimedia. The invigilator was, just, sad. First hour into the test, he kept looking the the clock, every 10 minutes.

Then, the last 30 minutes, he started playing with the string (used to tie our exam papers), his fingers and some paper. LOL.

10 Minutes left. He kept looking at the clock like, every 2 minutes.. Poor guy.

After collecting our answer sheets, he was the first to sprint out of the exam hall. Odd guy.

Mandarin..?

我的华语非常差,打不到很长~

觉得有一点怪怪的~

Mandarin And Me

To be frank, I was from a Chinese primary school. And at that time, my Mandarin was quite good. yeah yeah yeah, so I did score an A in my UPSR, but that was like wot, 7 years ago? Fast forward to secondary school. Ended up in some newly formed smart school, which wasn't remotely smart. (Was referring to the students, not the school), and knowing more people from English educated backgrounds. This changed me a lot. Back in primary school, it was 99% Mandarin, 1% English/BM. Here, in secondary school, its the total opposite. Well, not really, more like 90% English, 2% BM, 8% Mandarin. Darn. And due to that, I mingled more with those from SK backgrounds that those who are Chinese educated. Well, I still can mix well with the Chinese educated ones, as I still can speak some Mandarin. So I take it as my advantage. LOL. Anyway, my parents kinda forced me to relearn Mandarin in secondary school, claiming that they did not want my 6 years of Chinese education to be wasted. Yeah right. Reluctantly, I took up Mandarin, from Form 1 all the way till form 5. Results? None too satisfying. Did not fail, but gosh was it boring. Tell me to write an essay or read a Chinese newspaper, chances are, I might have some difficulties. Heck, even using XunLei is kinda hard. Should I or should I not learn Mandarin? I guess I might need to. The Chinese market is growing at a very fast rate, and if my Mandarin continues to suck, there goes my future. Yeah. Looks like I need to read some more Mandarin words. Last week, my sister SMS-ed me in Mandarin. Took me ages to decipher what those words were saying. I can see where is this going...

Win7. Ain't that great?

After weeks of using Win7, here are some more in depth problems.

1) Plug And Play service kinda buggy. I don't know if it's just my side, but every time after using a USB drive (pendrive or external HDD), and I want to eject my drive by clicking on the "Safely remove hardware" icon, it takes a very long time (around 15 seconds) before the pop up message appears. At first I thought it was my USB drives problem, but using it on my friend's laptop, which is also Win7, there was no problem. I noticed that svchost.exe will take up a lot of CPU time when i try to eject the drive. (around 45-50%). I've ran Windows Update to see if there was any problem, but there were no updates as yet)

2) When I launch Media Player Classic to play any video file, the mplayerc.exe process will also shoot up consuming CPU time. I've downloaded the latest the version of KLM, but the problem persists.

3) DCOM launcher occasionally eats up tons of CPU time again, and yes, via svchost.exe again.

4) Is it actually possible for a video to make the video card driver stop responding? cuz I have a video that causes the ATi Catalyst driver to crash everytime i play it. It seems that KLM has a problem, as when I used WMP to play it, it works perfectly fine.

5) While opening folders in Win7, the explorer.exe process again consumes a lot of CPU time.

Kampar has affected me

Ever since coming to Kampar, my body clock has gone haywire. Back in KL, i usually sleep by 12am. But ever since coming to Kampar, my sleeping habits has changed dramatically. Now? The earliest I sleep is 2am. Latest? 8am. Bloody hell yeah, 8am. That does suck. Penning this down at exactly 5:30am didn't help either. I had assignments yesterday, which lasted till 7am. Got home, bathed, spammed /k/ a while and slept at 8am. yeah, then i woke up at 4pm. Damn. Talk about body clock gone wrong. Well, unless I'm working a night shift at McDonald's or 7 Eleven, having my day turned into night is just so wrong. I can't imagine what would it be like 3 years later. Would I be dead by then (literally), or would I have changed all my habits? My mind tells me that is this not good at all, and in which, well, I could be dead before next year. LOL

Introduction : Microsoft Office 2010 Beta

Managed to get my hands on the beta version of Office 2010. Let's see how much improved is it. Alright, here it is when downloading. Love the speed. Managed to download the whole installation under 1 hour 30minutes.

Extracting the files. Took me almost 10 minutes on my laptop running a Core Duo T2450 processor.

EULA. Just click "Accept" to continue..

Options for you to Upgrade, Keep All Previous Versions or Remove other application.

Installation progress. This took me almost an hour to install on my crappy laptop.

Installation completed. A restart is necessary.

Now MS gives you the option to send a ":)" or a ":(" based on ur feedback.

Here's the "new" Power Point. Only minor changes to the menu bar.

Most changes are here. File save menu, printing etc can be found here. Since Power Point's color is orange, it can be found around the file menu.

The "new" Excel. Like Power Point, most obvious changes are to the menu bar.

File menu options for Excel. Notice the green theme.

Lastly, the most used Office component, Word. Users from Office2007 will feel right at home. For those from 2003, things are a little harder.

Blue is used in the file menu this time.

I suppose this is all for now. Will continue using Office 2010 and provide more feedback. Do let me know if there's anything you all wanna see from Office 2010.

Blog...

Darn, has been quite some time since I last updated..

seems like sudah berkarat..

will update when something happens..

LOL

PPStreaming

Yup. It had to happen. I'll happily rant about anything I want.

PPS, or otherwise known as PPstreaming, is a chinese developed software meant to stream videos. Streaming is a process of rapidly getting data and playing back, almost instantaneously. Data only flows through the computer, and does not occupy any disk space.

Initially, the software is used in china (duh!). The internet speed there is actually way faster than what we have here, and so, by streaming, it is a logical idea too, since not many people likes to download movies. And from what I can tell, chinese can stream movies without affecting their download speeds, as they have a much better bandwidth.

Now here lies the problem. Some smart ass chinese who came here to study, tried to PPstream in Malaysia, but failed, as the speeds were atrocious. I bet he/she told some Malaysian that streaming is the future and bla bla bla.

Thing is though, streaming is good, but please do it in the confines of your own house, not in a shared house, or a hostel. The whole house's net will crawl, and people will hate you, your children, grandchilden and 3 generations after that. It is downright selfish to stream in a shared house, as PPstream can really suck the bandwidth. I've seen, in a house equipped with a 2MB/s Streamyx line, PPstream can use up to 1.8MB/s. That is what we all call a leeching program, and not even torrents can achieve such speeds. Sure, you benefit by enjoying your movie, and not wasting any hard drive space, but at what cost?

Conclusion? Stop streaming and get a life. I don't mind people downloading torrents, but PPstream is just way too stingy. To all PPstreamers, you know who you are.

Why I hate Facebook

- Fukken apps that clogs up the whole wall. And you can't see the proper posts by HUMANS !
- Every reply I get, an email comes in. I have to cleat >500 Facebook emails weekly. Ya, I can deactivate it, but how the hell am I going to know when there's an update? Facebook, if you're seeing this, LEARN TO FUKKEN CONTROL IT !!
- Damn Web2.0 coding that screws up in Chrome.
- Flash games that makes systems hang ( Restaurant City, Pet Society etc)

Will add more when "the mood" comes

Why???

Why is life so damn unfair?

Look at this. Me and a few of my friends are carfags. Yes, we do love cars. And like some of them, I don't own a car. Look around at Westlake. All the non-carfags are happily driving their godforsaken MeeVees all over the place. Those are people who drive from point A to point B. But for a carfag, we don't mind driving from point A to point B to point C and back to point A just to enjoy the car. Yes, driving for us is where we release our stress. But what happens if we don't have one? How to release our stress? Fap? Online? Cycle?

And then another one of my friend mentioned that, to be a good driver, tons of experience is needed. And practice as much as you when while you're here. Fine by me, but then, where's my so-called car for me to practice?? Flaws everywhere..

I'm not the only one, I know. my friend, who was promised a car, and now can't get it till next year, is feeling the same as me right now. what the heck, he has a higher chance of getting a ride when compared to me.

but then, life is unfair after all. so from that conclusion, i think my chances of getting a car here is pretty slim.. or maybe i should just give up.. sometimes i just couldnt be fukken bothered.. but at times like this..ranting out is my only way..but for how long can i rant on like this before i go insane??

How to be an a$$ behind the wheel pt2

4. Know your car. There's no point of you shifting early in hopes of 1. overtaking and 2. saving petrol. For 1, you need to see ur car's specification sheet to see where the maximum power comes in. There's no point in shifting early before the power kicks in, nor is there a point in shifting AFTER the power kicks in. If and when possible, just press the accelerator when you feel like overtaking. Don't bother about FC or what not. No one really does bother about that anyway. And if you want to save petrol, call a cab, or take a bus. Don't drive lah ! For what you want to drive AND save petrol? It just won't work.

5. Driving a big car, let's say AT LEAST a Waja sized sedan, should allow you to flash other drivers out of your way. Let's say you're driving on the highway in the center lane, then there's this b@$t@rd in front of you that is going so damn slow. Flash your Highbeam to push him out of the way. No need to overtake from the left or right. Just flash him. Chances are, he will move aside. If not, tailgate him. Be very careful as you tailgate him, as he might floor the brakes and you can guess what will happen. I take no responsibilities whatsoever.

Part 1-3

http://my-life-starts-here.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-be-a-behind-wheel.html

How to be an a$$ behind the wheel

First and foremost, I do not condone being an ass behind the wheel. You are responsible for all of your own actions, not me. And here goes.

1. See the damn Kancil/Kelisa/Saga in front of you hogging the right hand lane? Tailgate it as close as possible. Keep your revs up, and maintain your distance with the nut in front. Flash your lights if possible to get him/her out of your way. Do note however, that this works better if you drive at least a 3-Series or a C-Class. Anything lower means you will need to work much harder.

2. Constantly shift your gears at 5000-6000rpm. Well, if you drive a diesel, max out at 4000rpm. For autos, just press the accelerator. Don't complain to me about wasting petrol, because, if you want to save, you can take the bus/taxi. Do more in small residential areas, just for the heck of it. Those with 3 cylinder engines (Kancil/Viva) need not apply. The noise is horrible. Those with silky smooth straight six or straight 4 should fare better.

3. Defeat the guy next to you at the traffic light. It doesn't matter what he/she drives, just press the accelerator hard when the light turns green. Watch his face, if not, be prepared to get smoked. Would be better if you can smoke those darn Wiralutions or Wajalutions.

Will add more if I can think of more.

2 Horny Dwarfs

A not very well off dwarf wins the $121 million state lottery and he decides to splash out. He calls his best friend (another dwarf) and they take the first flight down to Vegas.

Throwing a hundred thousand around on the crap tables, they soon gather a few admirers, in particular, two gorgeous, mini-skirted girls of easy virtue. The four of them soon retire to the 2-bedroom penthouse suite for a night of champagne, cocaine and general debauchery.

Unfortunately, despite the charms of his new lady friend, the first dwarf, is unable to get a hard-on. His depression is made worse by the fact that, from the next room, he hears his little friend shouting out cries of:

"Here I come again ...ONE, TWO, THREE...UUH!" and the squeaking of bed-springs all night long.

In the morning, once the girls have gone, the second dwarf asks the first:

"How did it go?"

The first mutters:

"It was so embarrassing. I just couldn't get it up."

The second dwarf shook his head:

"You think that's embarrassing? I couldn't even get on the f***ing bed!"

Food !!

wow..has been almost a month since I last updated my blog..i guess people would think I'm dead !!

Anyway, here are some updates on some -> food !!
A friend of mine brought me out for lunch the other day at 36 Stall in Kampar..had this chicken porridge..excellent...
Chicken...yum yum..
Even the porridge is excellent...

Some lame jokes.

Two pretzels were walking down the street.
They were a-salted.

A guy walks into a bar
His alcohol dependency is ruining his family

a baby seal walks into a club...

2 tampons walking down the street. What do they say to each other?
Nothing. They're both stuck up cunts.

I got this awesome knock-knock joke...you start.
Try it, you'll be surprised the number of people who fall for it.

Two fish are in a tank. One looks at the other and says, "I don't know how to drive this thing."

a man walks into a bar.... Ouch.

a pirate bursts into a bar with a ships wheel protruding from his pants.
he says: ARRRRRRRRRRR Its driving ME NUTS!

what did one new zealand statue say to the other?
"statchoo bro"

why does a chicken coup have 2 doors?
if it had 4 doors it would be a chicken sedan.
(rim shot)

The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much

what's a pirate's favorite part of the human anatomy
The ARRRRRRRRRRReola

I just saw a comedian walking down the street, but he was really Harry Potter's godfather.


Two polar bears are sitting in a bathtub. The first one says, "Pass the soap." The second one says, "No soap, radio?"

Three bank robbers are running from the police and run into a potato factory. They each hide in a potato sack. The police arrive and see the bags are moving.
The police kick the first potato sack and the first robber says, "Meow Meow"
Police say, "Oh its just a cat"
They kick the second potato sack and the second robber says, "Bow Wow!"
Police say, "Oh it's just a dog"
They kick the third potato sack and the third robber says, "Potato, Potato!"

So I said to the Gym instructor "Can you teach me to do the splits?". He said "How flexible are you?". I said "I can't make Tuesdays".

what did one lesbian frog say to the other lesbian frog?
gee we really do taste like chicken

A man walks into a bar with a roll of tarmac under his arm and says: "Pint please, and one for the road."

Two elephants walk off a cliff...boom, boom!

A guy is asleep on his couch
He hears a knock on the door, and gets up to answer it.
He looks down, and sees a snail. Pissed that this snail woke him up, he picks up the snail, and throws it.
There's another knock on the door. The man answers it, and it's the snail who says "What the hell was that all about?"

Did you hear about the two antenna that got married?
The wedding was okay, but the reception was Amazing.

Retard goes to ice cream van and asks driver "i'll have two ice creams" van driver say's "what flavour topping would you like?" Retard says "dont matter im gonna drop them anyway"

Nigger walks into a bar with a duck under his arm, the Bartender says "hey you can't have that thing in here" and the duck says "I tried to tell him that, the dumb nigger wouldn't listen"

Michael Jackson and his wife are in the recovery room with their new baby son.
The doctor walks in and Michael asks: "Doctor, how long before we can have sex?"
The doctor replies, "I'd wait until he's at least 14

Why can't Hellen Keller drive?
She's a woman.

What's the difference between a Priest and acne?
Acne comes on a kid's face after he turns 13.

what's the difference between jam and marmalade???
i can't marmalade my cock up your ass.
where does the king keep his armies?
In his sleevies

2 muffins in an oven
one says to the other
"OMG WHERE IN AN OVEN!"
the other turns around and says
"OMG A TALKING MUFFIN!"

What's green and red and goes 1000 mph?
A frog in a blender.

why does the virgin mary look sad?
she wanted a girl

A man says to his doctor, "Doc, I cant stop singing "She's A Lady."
The doctor replies, "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome to me."
The man says, "Is it common?"
The doctor replies, "It's not unusual."

A guy gets shipwrecked. When he wakes up, he's on a beach. The sand is dark red. He can't believe it. The sky is dark red. He walks around a bit and sees there is dark red grass, dark red birds and dark red fruit on the dark red trees. He's shocked when he finds that his skin is starting to turn dark red too.
"Oh no!!" he says. "I think I've been marooned!!"

guy's at the hospital, the doctor says
"I have good news and bad news"
guy- "gimme the bad news"
doctor- "you have three days left to live"
guy - " what the hell is the good news?!"
doctor - "we're naming the disease after you"

What goes 99-clump. 99-clump?
A centipede with a wooden leg.

there's a family of tomatoes walking down the street, a mama tomato, a papa tomato and a baby tomato, and the baby tomato starts to lag behind and papa tomato gets really angry, so he squishes him and says "ketchup."

A thief who stole a calendar got.....
twelve months.
A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became....
a hardened criminal.
The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was.....
on shaky ground.
A dentist and a manicurist fought.....
tooth and nail.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger....
Then it hit me.
Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was....
resisting a rest.
Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off?
He's all right now.
The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a.....
little behind in his work.
The dwarf fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a.....
small medium at large.

Why don't you put a baby in the blender head first?
Because you can't see his expression on the way down.