ringgit.me

I think I'm alone in saying this but I find it incredelous, if not resigned, at the fact that our leaders declared 31 Dec 2010 as a public holiday because Malaysia won football.. and it's not like we won World Cup or anything - it was Suzuki Cup. I'm not a football fan and I don't know how great Suzuki Cup is and would welcome any enlightenment in this regard. But from a layman point of view, disrupting the economies of the country by declaring a public holiday over Suzuki Cup is truly a testatement of our banana republic mentality. Think of the consequences and cost involved in this sudden declaration. If you are going to get your passport renewed and you can't do that tomorrow, you are stuck. Or if your are planning to registered your marriage in RoM in Putrajaya, you, your family and friends are not shit out of luck. Thinking at a macro level, if you have containers of goods to ship and then the government offices are closed tomorrow, your goods will be stuck...

Ringgit blog is now mobile ready. Use a mobile device to view my blog and you'll appreciate a smaller version formatted for your device. Enjoy!

This is a local Mafia like service. What's funny is that the sign said that they offered 'soft' service. What? Are they collecting using 'Please'?

I have added two new and official gadgets to my blog: 1. Popular Post - which shows which of my post that people read the most 2. Page View Stats. Look over to the right ==>

Years ago, when I was in my 20s, I knew a man in my workplace. He's about 35 at that time and living alone. He's a good man and put in a lot of hours into his work. He claimed that he's a gamer although I have not seen him putting time into games. But he buy a lot of games. Each week, he'd grab something and would tell me what he bought. I questioned his wisdom and he shrugged it off, saying it's cheap and he'll get to play them one day. I thought he's just wasting money! Fast forward to the present time. I have a job, a baby to take care, activities in my Buddhist Center and I really do not have time for gaming even though it is my passion. But yet, I caught myself buying games after games during Steam Holiday sales.. This year, I bought The Witcher Enhanced Edition, Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Just Cause 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction. These games should last me throughout 2011, I hope. Upon reflection, I am behaving like my old friend - buying ga...

When I want to blog from the iPhone, I usually use email ie composing a blog in Mail and sending it out. But my friend WSL uses an app. Never occur to me to try one. I cannot believe there is no quality blog app at all! So, I'm using BlogBooster and I must say I like it so far. This is my first post from the app. While it was easy to compose a new post, editing an existing one shows a HTML editor with all the tags instead of a WYSIWYG editor. Dumb. Can easily upload photo too! Edit: retry with smaller size

Am I going to get a refurbished (refurb) iPhone 4 when I sent mine to maxis, which is the telco who has the rights to sell iPhone in Malaysia? This is perhaps the number one question in everyone’s mind. The issue with refurb is that there may be scratches, dents and the most major concern: old batteries i.e. your refurb unit will not last as long as a brand new one. Let me share my experience and observation. Some background – in Malaysia, we don’t have an Apple Store nor a Genius Bar, so we can’t just walk in to get an Apple employee to look at problems with our iPhone. Everything is done through our telco, and the tech support people supports all sort of brands – Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung, etc – their role, based on my observation, is to confirm the problem, open a ticket and pass the hand set to the vendor to repair or replace. Apple’s warranty states clearly that Apple has a right to replace the handset with a new or ‘like new’. I think that ‘like new’ means refurb. I got my iPhon...

My poor poor wallet!

The iPhone 4 starts to give me some weird issues, 6 weeks after using it. It's not a big deal but it is a nuisance. My home button is not very responsive. Sometimes single click will be registered as double click, as such, it opens up the multi tasking tray. Sometimes double click is registered as single. Like I said, it's not a big deal but it is annoying that you don't get what you expect to. My dilemma is should I get it fixed or get it replaced? For replacing, I heard that maxis will give you a refurbished unit, which is not what I want. I am happy with the rest of the phone - no issue with video, phone calls, headphones, display screen etc. Would the refurb unit guarantee that something else will not be a problem? Ah.... decisions, decisions! Looks like I am not alone.

Yesterday marked another great milestone to me as a parent. Little sen has always been pretty shy and soft when she called her father. It's always a soft 'pa pa', as though she wasn't sure of her words followed by a slight blush. But yesterday, was her first time at calling 'pa paaaaaaaaaaaaaaa' at the top of her lungs. She did it a few times and is now always yelling for attention. Ha! I am not sure if this is good or not.. but at the moment, it feels pretty sweet - as her intonation has that adorable and heart tugging sound. It just melts the heart. I hope that intonation stays and not becoming a demanding one :)

The business trip to Bangalore started well. Aside from the exhaustion of 5 full days of back to back discussion and workshop, I have good experience of the city. Granted, there are things I didn't like but my expectation of these were set before I land in the city. So it wasn't a big deal. I knew the city is going to be really dusty. I knew that there will be excessive honking by drivers in the road. I knew that it's going to smell. What I didn't expect, though was these: 1. cool weather - I know, I should check the weather but I didn't realize India has cool weather. Turns out Bangalore is a city 3,200m above sea level and this explains the cool weather. So it is pleasant to switch off the hotel room a/c and just opened the wide French window and get a whiff of the cool weather (ignoring the dust, noise, etc) 2. I didn't expect to see so many American companies advertising in billboards all over the city. As you leave the airport, you will come to a round abou...

It's 10pm and I'm blogging in the plane, waiting for takeoff. This MAS direct flight is very small, cramped and full of Indians. Is this to simulate overloaded and bursting to seams Indian trains??? I should take SG in the future! I hope it's better. Sent from my iPhone

This morning, we brought Little sen to the park beside Bandar Menjalara. She was so thrilled with the slides, swings and generally running around playing with other children. The happy expression on her face is beyond description and it brings a sense of satisfaction and joy that is something money cannot buy. One of Little sen's favorite things is a ballon. When we give her a ballon, she will drop everything that she's carrying and will throw herself at the ballon. But even then, this simple trip meant to the playground beats the joy she gets from a ballon. It's great to see the expression of discovery and wonder, something that is missing in all of us adults as we are just too jaded. I feel sad knowing that Little sen will one day be jaded as well. How to keep this surprise and wonder perpectual? Sent from my iPhone

We return again today because both my parents wanted one after trying ours. Have you got yours?

Wow! Very good sale of Crocs shoes! Bought one for each member of the family: Mrs Ringgit got a Hello Kitty themed one. The very last pair that had her size. The rest are too small (size 4) Little sen got a Disney one. The holes were made of Mickey Mouse logo - very tasteful. Got one for my nephew - Batman Croc. Really nice. Cheap also - about RM 40 for the kids and RM 60 for Mrs Ringgit's Hello Kitty. I remember Roti Telur asking me a few months back if I will buy Crocs for my kids. I said she's crazy! I won't spend RM 100+ for a shoe. But for RM 40, why not? Guess I have to eat my words. For Crocs lovers out there, you Don't want to miss this sale!! I wish I had gone a day earlier as now, not many sizes left. But there are many choices. And we see people putting shoes in huge cardboard boxes. At first, we were wondering why people would buy so many pairs. Turned out we did the same. We carried cardboard box around amd must have put like 8 pairs!! (for my sisters and M...