下午茶（完结篇）Tea break: The finale

三个月的下午茶任务终于告一段落了。

这三个月来，从接棒到这星期一的最后一个下午茶，每一个星期都得绞尽脑汁想新的下午茶点子。

第一个月还算是不错的，我们三个人的小组也办了几次别出心裁的下午茶。像印度煎律、咖喱鱼蛋、新鲜豆浆、珍珠奶茶、大苹果甜甜圈都是一些从未出现过的茶点，反应很热烈，很安慰。

好景不长，才第二个月我们的创意茶点开始陷入瓶颈了。原以为可以做到同一个茶点不会重复两次的，结果却因为没有跑腿而被迫重复了第一个月的几个茶点好几次。

尽管如此，还是有数个下午茶是值得一提的。像热腾腾的鸡肉丸粥也获得了热烈的回响。可惜盛粥的大碗不够，煮出来的粥量有限，有好几位同事因为没吃到鸡肉丸粥而抱怨。

每次听到同事们的抱怨，什么不好吃啦、味道不够啦、不够吃、或是分量太多吃剩不少时，心里总是很难受。

第三个月更是个严峻的考验。马来同胞们斋戒月的开始，也让我们的下午茶安排工作处处碰钉子。我们公司的清洁阿姨因为开始斋戒，不方便煮食和外出拿便当。下午茶时间也因为斋戒月的关系提早了一个小时。

好在这个月还满多公定假日的，这样在下午茶费用的分配上也比较轻松了些。有好几次的下午茶可以准备较多的分量，让大伙儿吃到心满意足、大饱口福。

像KFC新的Spice Crunch炸鸡、Bestari的Indomie Burger、芋头糕、京都西饼的鮪鱼Pizza和询众要求再次出场的印度煎律和珍珠奶茶都是这个月的经典茶点。下星期一EV提议的的烧鸡翅想必定能为这三个月下午茶任务划下完美的句点！

有太多太多的人要感谢了：

• 许多热心同事给予的建议。太多人了无法一一列明，不好意思。
• Michael小弟，我们星期三的“职业跑腿”。没有你这三个月的茶点肯定无聊到了极点。你是最好的，你知道吗？
  
• Kevin、小戴Tay、Ian、Andrew和James。感谢你们的仗义相助，当我们的临时跑腿。
• 远在美国的佩玲给予的线上协助。没有你的经验，有几次的茶点可要夭折了，哈哈！
• 负责烹煮及善后清洁工作的阿姨Kak Siti。没有你的烹饪功夫，咖喱鱼蛋和鸡肉丸粥是不可能会成功的！
• 更要感谢组员Adrian和EV。你们不单只是我的好组员，更是好同事、好朋友！

终于到了交棒的时刻了。希望下一组的茶点小组组员可以继续想出更多不同的茶点点子。辛苦了！麻烦了！

我们自由了！！！

Out of stock

Paid another visit to IKEA today, hoping to finally get some basket inserts after a disappointing last visit.

Turns out the basket insert has run out of stock. That explains why I couldn't find any of them in store just six days ago.

I certainly did not expect it to be out of stock this soon, I still saw abundance of them a couple of weeks ago. I guess its one of the hot selling items in store right now, in conjunction with the Hari Raya festive celebration.

A staff told me they are expecting arrival of new stock some time next month. I ended up buying something else instead, at least there's still something to keep the stuff on my desk in place for the time being.

The queue at the check-out was long as usual.

Upon leaving the carpark, I inserted the wrong parking ticket into the machine. After a dozen attempts only I realized I have been inserting the parking ticket from my workplace. What a dumbass I was!

I ended up being 30 minutes late to the futsal game in Sports Planet, Sunway.

A short note on the lunch I had in IKEA: the meatballs are yummy!!!

IKEA replied

With all the attempts of resending over resending, finally one of the mails slipped through and a person-in-charge replied. Here's how it reads:

Dear Yeong,

Thank you for your interest and support with IKEA.

First and foremost, please allow me to apologize for your experience with us on your visit here on the September 21, 2008.

We will continue to remind all co-workers to be more mindful and polite when attending to our customers. We have also taken up your feedback with the respective managers, for them to action and brief to all co-workers .

Again I apologize for your experience. Please also allow me to assure you that we value your support and appreciate your feedback to us.

Kindly do reply us to let us know on the quantity of the Antionus basket insert that you would like to purchase together with your contact number, for us to follow-up and assist your purchase.

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Best Regards,
Meka
IKEA,
IKANO Power Centre.

Thanks Meka! You could have just let me know if there's still stock and exactly where the item is located. I'd always prefer to get the item myself. But still I appreciate the reply =)

Take the stairs, not the elevator

Climbing the stairway of a 12-storey building ain't so tough after all.

It's just my second attempt climbing the stairs of my office building. My personal high: 3 rounds.

Or to be more precise: 2 + 1 rounds. (2 rounds back-to-back, another round 30 minutes later.)

The 2nd round was remarkably tiring and exhausting, as I started jogging up instead of walking.

My legs were sore and I was gasping for air as I reached the roof top for the second time.

I could barely walk down the stairs, my legs were literally shaking.

Then I went back to the office, rested for a good 30 minutes and got some work done.

I thought it was enough for the day. But then on second thought, why not go for a 3rd round?

Put up my wireless headphones and off I went!

This time it was much easier. I tried climbing 2 steps at a time, when I felt tired, I took a step at a time.

I'm surprised to learn that climbing from the first to the twelfth floor or the roof top takes just less than 5 minutes! I barely finished listening to one song.

It feels so great when you reached the top and you know that you can do it for real.

I could have climbed the 4th round but it was late in the night and I had to go home. I guess I have to try again next time. Alex said he can go 9 rounds!

9 rounds is madness! But it's definitely doable.

I was waiting for the elevator as I left the office, and then I thought, "Heck! Why wait for the bloody lift?". As a result, I walked down.

Just for the record, I took 2 rounds on my first attempt, 2 weeks ago.

Miserable Sunday

Morning
Gone medical checking. My first ever medical check, will get my report in a week's time.

Afternoon
Spent over 45 minutes just to buy a meal at the KFC Drive-Thru - 30 in the car, 15 standing in the rain. I could have gotten my meal in 5 minutes if I ordered from the counter. I have to say this, "KFC Drive-Thru" sucks!

Went to a Magnum 4D shop on my way home. I don't buy lottery. I went there because I got FREE lottery tickets to redeem and today is the last day! I got it from taking part in an online contest and it's only for those born on the 8th of August. I showed the ladies at the counter the e-mail I printed out but none of them know nothing about it and no one acknowledged it. Sigh!

Back home
So I was late for the live telecast of the Badminton Super Series in Japan. It started raining cats and dogs and Astro went into coma mode. My dad told me Lee Chong Wei played badly. Yeah whatever! 30 minutes later Astro was back in business and the game already finished. I switched to another channel and watched the Guinness 9-ball tour, also live.

Evening
My Sunday plan continues.

I went to IKEA looking to get some more Antonius basket inserts. I bought one 2 weeks ago but today it's no where to be seen in the store. The staff I asked refused to offer help because they said they are from different department... but that department no ppl there wor!!!

This is silly. My worst IKEA experience ever and I'm going to file a complaint.

What is a basket insert?!!
It's a partitioned organizing unit you put in your drawer. It really helps keep my stuff in place on my desk and it's only RM5.

In Utopia
Source: http://www.ikea.com.my/products/product_display.asp?id=4

In real life

Hair dryers, again!
So I left IKEA empty handed and my next stop was Harvey Norman. I bought this new hair dryer, which happens to be the newer version of the broken one. Check it out:

Left - old. Right - new. Same layout, every view.



One National. One Panasonic. They're the same, so don't panic!



Dual voltage. The new one looks shinier, but lower in power output (1000W to 1200W) yet somehow more expensive (RM74 to RM68)!

等头干

没了个吹风筒真的很不方便。

像我这样一个习惯洗晚澡的怪卡，从浴室出来穿上了衣服之后，就是下意识的随手往桌上的吹风筒方向伸去，结果一抓空，才恍然吹风筒早在前两天就已经挂彩了。

算算当年买吹风筒到现在已有五年了。这五年里我几乎每天都会至少吹头一次，这吹风筒也陪我飞过香港、台湾和新加坡不少地方。五年的时间，一千多天每天不停的使用，这吹风筒也算鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已了吧。

这么晚的时间，爸妈早已睡了，更甭说要到他们的房间借用吹风筒了。

所以我现在只好坐在那里，等头干。

Ultimately, everything breaks.

You can't bank on anything, can you?

I've got 3 things went broken in this very week.

1. National EH5062A Hair Dryer 5 years+
   Do you still see National branded products? Ha-ha now you can tell how old it is. Bought in 2003 if my memory serves me right. (Edited: March 21, 2003 confirmed!) I've been using it everyday throughout the years and it's been traveling with me to places like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
   
   Was blow-drying my hair on Tuesday. All of a sudden, I heard a cracking sound inside the device followed by some loud rattling noise and then it smoked! I guess it'd had enough already so it's time to scout for a new one.
   
   
2. Sonic Gear Tatoo 303 PC Speaker 7 months
   My best companion at work (Was. Now Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones and the Bamboo Fun!). At just RM35, you can't ask for more from this little 3-piece PC speaker system. The tiny 5-watt sub-woofer doesn't deliver the dance floor experience but it certainly does the job on the office desk.
   
   Not sure what caused the malfunction though. I often forgot to turn it off and left it on over the night and sometimes the weekend so maybe that's why. But the fact is my 8-year-old Altec Lansing speaker is still rocking and I never turn it off unless there is a power outage. I'll send it to All-IT tomorrow anyways.
   
   
3. Lexma 7-port stackable USB hub 3 months
   Got this as a replacement for my still-under-repair Belkin USB hub, and it died even sooner! In just 3 months it's no longer working now. The power outage a couple of nights ago is very likely to have contributed certain degree of damage. Thanks, TNB, but no thanks. I'll send it to ALL-IT and will check out the status of my Belkin hub.

Latest updates on the spring cleaning. I'm at 2% after Wednesday.

Broken... and fixed. Or so has it?

I was replacing a CPU fan for my brother's PC.

My brother has been complaining about a noisy CPU fan.

So I bought this CPU fan (with white LEDs) from Low Yat Plaza last Sunday and replaced it with one of the fans on the CPU casing.

The noise was still there.

And then I thought, "Oh maybe it's the heat sink."

Brilliant idea! So I removed the heat sink from the mobo, the processor came off all together as it was sort of 'glued' to it courtesy of the layer of thermal grease.

I'm not really a hardware person and I don't have much experience dealing with processors, heat sinks and mobo's, so I thought everything was just normal.

I took a good look at the heat sink and came to realization that there was nothing I could do about it. Ok so let's put it back.

You can't put the heat sink back with the processor still sticking on it man!

Yeah I learned that a week later.

And so, disaster struck. The PC wouldn't boot.

I removed the heat sink and checked the processor again, a number of pins were bent. I tried straightening them with a screwdriver to no avail.

Failing to eliminate a problem, I created another one.

Sent the CPU to a local PC shop for checkup, this dude (with a bad breath) told me that this line of processors and mobo's have long ceased production, a simple replacement ain't possible. Asked him if he could fix the processor and he said hell no. He checked the processor and too many pins were badly bend so this dude just didn't wanna risk any chance breaking an obsolete product.

I'm now completely on my own.

I brought back the CPU and painstakingly straighten each and every pin that was bent. After a couple of attempts the PC finally boots up normally.

What a sigh of relief.

So I have just fixed something that I broke, but will I always be this lucky?

Many mistakes in real life, once done, just can't be undone. Every wrong step you take comes consequences - some will fade away in time, some will haunt you (and the parties involved) for the rest of our lives.

Be careful of what you are about to say, privately or publically, written or verbally, and do not hesitate to bear the consequence of what you have said, when things turn sour.

A spring clean started in the fall

Finally started to sort out the mess in my room. Boy you can't possibly imagine how cluttered my room can be.

It all began with the desk. Water bottles, CDs, cables, shaver, hair dryer, toilet rolls, books, letters, brochures, anything you can think of, you can find it on my desk, that's how messy it is.

I got my Bamboo Fun a couple days ago, I must make room for it or it will stay in my office for good =(

I put away stacks of CD Albums, had them sorted nicely in a storage box. That's just 1% of the entire mess in the room. I'll need more boxes, lots and lots of boxes.

Years of stuff, trash and dust. What to keep, what to dump. It's gonna be tough and it's gonna be dirty, but it must also be done.

I'm dreaming of a clean, tidy, organized and dust-proof bedroom. Let's hope it's gonna materialize. Goodness knows when that would be.

Well, at just 1%, there won't be much different though.

长袖衣

最近不时翻风下雨。有时候晚上可以冷到非要穿长袖衣和长裤睡觉不行。

昨天，我将长袖衣和长裤洗了。

以为不再需要了，天气也好像开始转暖了。

今天，我又穿起了长袖衣和长裤。

因为，我病了。

放心，是轻微食物中毒，不会传染的啦!

无瑕的中国风

最近中国风狂飚，许多新的旧的流行的不流行的主流的非主流的被遗忘了的永垂不朽的不怎么听过的从来没听过的似曾相识的中国风歌曲都被电台一一拿出来播放。

这样的中国风效应还是满不错的。个人其实也还蛮喜欢中国风的歌曲，优美的旋律与流行音乐天衣无缝的交融在一起，配合绕梁悦耳的传统华乐伴奏，恰到好处！更佩服的是能够写得出中国风歌词的填词人，无奈自己文学造诣不高，写不出这些生花妙笔的文具出来，也只能自叹当初没好好念好中文。

这里想要分享一首我最近超爱听的中国风歌曲——南拳妈妈的《无瑕》。要感谢Berry妹的介绍，让我惊艳的发现一首这么棒的歌曲。

要仔细听哦！听它的主歌、听它的副歌、听它的和声、听它的歌词、听它的意境、听它的无瑕。

别让一时的无暇，埋没了一首好歌的无瑕。

《无瑕》歌手：南拳妈妈 / 专辑：藏宝图 / 词：宋健彰（弹头）/ 曲：詹宇豪

听歌 Play...

（独白：我会永远记得 你曾带给我 这段完美无瑕的日子）

落月下舀一杓天崖
风刮泪无瑕
思念在雨间潇洒

残雪中斟一杯牵挂
曲罢愁无涯
爱恨在心底交杂

怎奈烛火也燃不起羸弱的记忆
爱分隔天地 要怎么爱你

想种一朵无瑕 窗外篱笆 雨要怎么下
离别时的晚霞 风还在刮 谁为谁牵挂
想画一抹无瑕 墨怎么洒 笔该怎么下
我送你的年华 还留着吗 记载我俩的无瑕

小仙女历险记

三年前，小仙女一个人来到了一个陌生的小镇。

小镇里好多的新朋友。起初大家都好陌生，对小仙女还不太了解。小仙女却毫不忌讳，凭着爽朗的个性，逐渐认识了很多好朋友。

小仙女生来爱跳舞，总爱在大伙儿跟前快乐的跳起舞来，逗得众镇民乐开怀，每天更愉快的工作。

镇长机智聪敏，在众镇民的齐心努力下，小镇也逐渐发展成为个大城市了。

大城市发展如日中天，新的居民纷纷涌进城市里。大家开始感觉到城里的人不再想以往小镇时那样亲切热情了。虽然如此，小仙女依旧带着快乐的心情，努力的为这个城市出一分力。

一年后，城里来了个新朋友叫小L的。小L不曾见过这么大的城市和这么多的朋友。兴奋的同时，也多了几分的陌生感。要在这么短的时间内认识所有的朋友，真的有点困难。

在城里生活了几个月后，住在不同花园的小L和小仙女开始说话了。小L觉得小仙女为人直爽，认为小仙女是一个不错的朋友。

小仙女最爱看的电影就是《快乐脚》。看了电影后的小仙女，总爱在众人面前学着电影中快乐的小企鹅跳起快乐的舞步，让众居民也感染了快乐的气息。

可是慢慢的，小L发现小仙女好像有很多心事，也很爱外出到很晚才回家。许多不愉快、不顺心的事发生在小仙女的身上和小仙女身边的朋友，让小仙女不再像以往那样的快乐活泼了。眼看小仙女的身子越来越弱，小L希望小仙女可以尽快好起来。

很快的，两年过去了，小L对这城市也算是熟悉了。这几个月来，小L工作繁琐，也没什么和小仙女联络了。虽然没联络，小L还是觉得小仙女变了。

小仙女变开心了。

听说小仙女结交了一群善良的新朋友，每天热心的到别的城里去帮助需要关心的朋友。这群朋友给小仙女看到了新的希望，觉得人间尚有温情，人间尚有爱！

日子好转了，小仙女也逐渐走出黑影。就在这个时候，小仙女遇上了善良的小仙子。小仙子和以往小仙女认识的朋友不同，也很关心小仙女。小仙子的出现，让小仙女的日子更加的精彩，更加的快乐了。

小仙女告诉小L说，现在她已找到了生活的目标和寄托，也走出了人生的低潮期。现在的她更加积极的面对前面的日子了。小L看到快乐的小仙女，心想自己也要学小仙女一样，尽快找到自己生命的目标，更积极的面对未来的路。

三年的时光，让小仙女成长了不少。现在小仙女要走了，她要离开这里，到另一个城市去学习更多新的东西，认识更多新的朋友。

小L得知了小仙女要离开的消息，心底虽有万分不舍，却认为小仙女的选择是正确的。小L很庆幸能够在这个城市中认识了小仙女，也和小仙女分享了很多开心和不开心的经历。

小L希望小仙女能够找到更适合她的生活方式，做个更快乐的小仙女，也将快乐散播到城市的每一个角落。

衷心祝福小仙女。加油！