ringgit.me

So, AR, our psychologist in training, suggested that I put emotions to the few items I listed in my blog, “ Living In Malaysia ”. In that post, I questioned the viability to continue living in Malaysia as the future looks bleak. He said that once I put emotion to my list, I will be able to bring forth my unconscious mind, thereby, I will be able to tell if I am acting out of past traumatic emotions or that I am clear in my statement. This is so I don’t make a drastic decision based on generalizing and base on emotions. So here goes: Education – emotion – Disappointment – I didn’t do very well in STPM. But it wasn’t shabby either. But I was not offered a place in local University. On the other hand, my chocolate brethrens not only got into good University, some of them have government sponsored scholarship to overseas Universities. Things have not improved for the past 18 years after I graduate. I don’t think things will improved in the next 18 years when ...

Wow.. I just read about a really great app. As a standalone, I think this app will not work well. It is a group app. But even as a group, I believe it may not get the traction it deserves. But I can't imagine what it will value-add to app like Foursquare or Facebook Check In . It would be awesome! The app is called Color, not Colors. No S. Read about it here : An excerpt: "Color uses pattern recognition to figure out when multiple people are photographing the same event or object. In fact, it uses multiple criteria to figure out when people are in the same place paying attention to the same thing or kinds of things, then joins together their content streams within the app. Color picks the best pictures and features them, while sharing all pictures. So if you’re a concert and take a picture of a performer from the 20th row, you might see another picture of the same performer taken by someone in the 2nd row. At a concert, the pictures taken from all over would keep floo...

I think WSL or any photo blogger would appreciate this free app. It allows you to label your photo with masking tape, cellophone tape or those machine created letter protruding tape. Or even a flowery ribbon. And you can write on top of the label so people cannot steal your photos. All this is done within the iPhone itself. Simple and elegant. Take a look!

The photo above was taken at Jaya Grocer. Jaya Grocer is well known for carrying imported goods. They are in the same market as Cold Storage, bringing in imported stuff to cater for the more affluent folks. In the photo above, the Pringles can are of the same height but one of them is thinner. The thin one is cheaper by HALF and it doesn't taste like Pringles at all. It taste like Mr Potatoes. It's a local flavoured Pringles. I don't think it is a fake one but I think P&G decided to make it locally to keep the cost down. Otherwise who would be able to eat Pringles? This shows, yet again, how bad our inflation is and how we end up getting more inferior product - just like our condensed milk. I can tell the difference because I ate Pringles for 20 years. I find it unscrupulous of P&G to repackage Mr Potatoes as Pringles and as such I have boycott them. Sad. I really like the original Pringles.

After all the talk about inflation and education, I need alternative income. And as such, I have enabled Ad-Sense in my blog. Please support my writing (LOL!) Edit: I have also enhanced the blog post. Below each post you will see a "Reaction". If you like my post, please click it. If you dislike, click it also. Maybe I will consider what people like to read and write more of that. Or maybe not.

Back in 2002, I applied and received a permanent residence status to Australia. I still remember the one simple sentence on my visa: "bearer may remain in Australia indefinitely" . During my application, and that was in 2001, AUD$1 is equivalent to RM2.10. Today, AUD$1 is equivalent to RM3.00, an almost 42% increase. Something have gone awfully wrong, somewhere. If someone is a parent in 2000 and saving money for his daugher's Australia education, in 10 years time, this guy is 42% poorer. That means, his children education is almost cut BY HALF! Sure, there is fixed deposit but our FD rate is a measly 3%. So what can he do? His daughter will not be able to go Australia for education. He either need to take a loan (and he can only hope his age allows it) or his daughter will have to settle for .... and I paused in this sentence for almost a minute - because I can't think of a good alternative - is it twinning? ACCA? Local private colleges? Long distance study? Half w...

Over the past three weeks, I have been reflecting on what the future holds for the family. It's probably a phase many parents went through and I am no exception. This is the phase, during quiet moments when the baby was asleep, snoring peacefully, that each parent thought about what kind of life this baby will lead in the future. And I thought about what I can do to provide. And as I go through all the areas, which I will probably discuss in detail later, I become helpless. The future doesn't look that good. At least in Malaysia. And then I realize why we have so many friends/people leaving the country. First and foremost is education . Most parents would enrolled their children in Chinese school. I think there is no doubt in that. The state of our Kebangsaan school is in a shambles. I could attest to it as I reflect all the 'buat kerja sendiri' periods we had. And the blank faces of our teachers when we asked them questions that are out of the norm. And that was at a...

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If you were like me, recently owning a spiffy new and fast SSD drive, you will note with despair that when you sync your iPhone with iTunes, the software will back up your iPhone data into c:\users\ringgit\appdata. This is on a Windows 7 platform. There's nothing wrong with that except that the backup is stored in c: which is the SSD drive. While SSD is a fast drive, it comes in a very small size. My 120GB intel SSD cost RM720. With RM720, you would be able to get a 2TB (2048GB) drive! So speed comes with a price. And as such, you don't want those valuable storage space taken up by iPhone backup files. Typically, a iPhone has 32GB. So, a one time backup would take 32GB of the drive. Two backups would take 64GB and before long, my SSD would be full. Fortunately Windows 7 allows you to easily move your \appdata folder to another drive by clicking Folder Properties and clicking Move, much like how you would move your My Documents, My Pictures or My Music. Do that and your SS...

There are many coffee shops in Aman Suria. It's a good thing. I patron all of them except Sun Ying Loong. SYL is a famous coffee shop serving Ipoh's white coffee. Some said they are the original Ipoh White Coffee. There are two branches in PJ, one in A Suria and the other in K Damansara. The reason I don't drink there is because of bad service and expensive drink. They charged a premium to their teh tarik and coffee. About 30 or 40 sen extra. Why are they doing this and why do people continue to drink there is beyond me. It's not like they are a a/c place. They are just a normal coffee shop. Today I was eating at a new coffee shop. They charged the standard rate. But it got me thinking. Why have we not heard of a coffee shop charging Less than usual. I'd imaging the profit margin of drink is high and if you charge 20 sen cheaper, you should be able to pull in more crowd. But you don't hear of this at all. Instead, people continue to pay a premium. This explains ...

Yesterday I bought a 120GB intel Solid State Drive and my PC is on afterburner! Such amazing speed. SSD is the way to go if you could afford it. Windows runs like an iPad. App launches instantly! No wait time. My Windows Experience Index, a rating system of CPU, memory, gfx and HDD speed, are normally pulled down by the speed of the hard disk. With the SSD installed, Windows Experience Index report my CPU index of 7.1 and my HDD index as 7.5. For the first time ever, the hdd index is faster than the CPU index! This morning, I have also discovered two really cool PC utilities - seriously, they are so cool I want to blog about it. The first is called SpaceSniffer . Ever wonder how come your hard disk is running out of space? Which folder is the one that has huge unncessary files? Do you see yourself going to each folder and right click to check the properties to find the folder size? It's very tedious isn't it? SpaceSniffer is a cool exe (without needing to install) which wil...

They are right. Terrible Two is indeed Terrible. Little sen is just at v1.10, not even v2.0 and she's already behaving like a Terrible Two. Honestly, it's not something she could help it. She just couldn't find peace within herself - either because she fear sleeping, jealous of her upcoming sister or just too excited and too curious about everything that she would threw tantrum if her demands are not met. Sometimes, she doesn't even know what she wants. She knows what she don't want but she can't tell you what she wants. Is this just a baby thing - er.. no .. wait ... EVEN ADULTS ARE LIKE THAT! The only difference - she expressed it out loud while we adults just sucked it down and move on aimlessly. Anyway, she's just wearing all of us down............................. My only consolation - "this too, shall pass" - can't wait till she turn 3!