Make Poverty History

An extract from the One.org site:

“The ONE Campaign is a new effort to rally Americans to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. Each ONE of us can make a difference. Together as ONE we can change the world.

We can beat:

• AIDS
• Starvation
• Extreme poverty

ONE billion people live on less than ONE dollar a day.

ONE by ONE, we can help them help themselves.

Sign up to add your voice to support The ONE Campaign Declaration. You will join the growing number of Americans who are getting involved online and in communities across the country to fight global AIDS and poverty through The ONE Campaign.”

Without sounding pro-American, this is just one of myriad channels utilised by Americans for charitable causes. Being pro-active and “doing something” whether through monetary form, effort and sweat or moral support, can help save lives.

Watch the One Video

Do your bit. Email to a friend. Host a banner. Do something.

It’s hard, but I continue…

I have not lost my sense of humour.

Click the link below:
dinoignacio

Watch Maritess vs The Superfriends. I rolled on the floor laughing. Literally.

Bad Karma

I was going to write about my recent trip to Danga Bay, Johor for the Street ShootOut 1.5 Competition. And also the attempted break-in of my Satria R3 on Saturday morning. The past couple of days has been a mish-mash of frustration, helplessness, disheartenment, adrenalin, laughter, disappointment and anger. Feel free to throw in more adjectives and descriptive words, I might just award you with a prize.

But no, I think I’ll write about yesterday, coz yesterday takes the cake. So yesterday it is, for now.

If you remember, how I remember quite vividly, the “misadventures of a car at a car wash in Bangsar” story, then you would be thrilled to know, that another piece of metal was bent, another part of PU was rippled and dented. Bad karma? You bet.

After some contemplation, I had decided the car wash (*at the car wash…. whoa-oo-whoa-oo-whoa-whoa!) over washing the car myself at my parent’s place in Kelana. The convenience of having your car washed while you exercise your nimble fingers far outweighed the need to lose weight via certain chores, so I dropped the car off before making my way to Starbucks for a wi-fi session.

A couple of hours passed and my eyes grew blurry from the 12-inch screen and the active chick scene in Starbucks, so I decided to pack up and leave.

With my tiny Crumpler bag slung over my shoulder, I plodded along Telawi 3 towards Bangsar Village where I quickly grabbed a nutty cinnamon bun before proceeding to collect my car. Words, at that point, could not describe my disappointment and dismay. I mean, the car was clean. A job well-done, no doubt. But the extras that came with it, I can do without. I have no pictures to show the ‘extra treatment’ I got, but rest assured, it was not pretty. Apparently, a customer driving a big SUV or 4WD had rammed into the back of my beloved Satria R3, which after yesterday’s event, I christian “The Most Banged-up Satria R3 While Stationary Award 2005″.

It’s funny how I can drive fast and frantic, live through a track day and autocross event and not get a single scratch on the car. But when it’s stationary, my god, when it’s stationary, the field is thrown wide open! *Tada!* Someone deliberately scratches it, reverses into it, and etc… How wonderful life is when you are NOT MOVING!

Life, as they say mostly, sucks. If this isn’t bad karma, then I must be in the zone. (hopefully with Britney. Heh) I dunno. You tell me. It’s as if my car is swallowed into a black hole every time I live it alone, immobile.

The-dude-who-rams-Satria-R3s-for-a-living was nice enough to leave his name card though, and I called him to inform him that I will get a quote for the repairs. I hope I don’t have to replace the whole rear bumper as that would be rather pricey. I’d much prefer spending that money on a Stage 2 engine upgrade. The bracket for the right reflector is broken, so that would definitely have to be repaired or replaced. Will pay another visit to the paint shop in Sunway this Saturday.

Darn it.

Unleashing the Tiger

No, this isn’t some sex-related advertisement for some pink-lighted joint in Patpong. Nor is it the latest headline for a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Although I’d wish for both, preferably both in the same sentence. But hey, this is still about something hard. And something soft. Actually, it’s more of a new installment of solid software and hardware integration.

And what do you know? It’s from Apple. The same crazy people who brought you the Mac Mini and the venerable iPod.

Image courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc. (thanks Steve!)

Ladies and gentlemen, straight and otherwise, here’s presenting – Tiger. Or Mac OS X 10.4. The most advanced operating system in the world. Or is it? Hmm… with more than 200 new features, it could well be. Sugar-coated UNIX is what I would describe it. A solid, fast, open operating system. In fact, the MOST open operating system on the planet supporting industry standard protocols.

Come April 29, the Tiger will be unleashed. The question is – Are you ready?

Annoying Things To Do In An Elevator

This one’s really good. Bet some of you have done at least one of the items at least once in your life!

1. CRACK open your briefcase or handbag, peer Inside and ask “Got enough air in there?”
2. STAND silent and motionless in the corner facing the wall without getting off.
3. WHEN arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then act as if you’re embarrassed when they open themselves.
4. GREET everyone with a warm handshake and ask him or her to call you Admiral.
5. MEOW occasionally.
6. STARE At another passenger for a while. Then announce in horror: “You’re one of THEM” – and back away slowly
7. SAY -DING at each floor.
8. SAY “I wonder what all these do?” And push all the red buttons.
9. MAKE explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
10. STARE, grinning at another passenger for a while, then announce: “I have new socks on.”
11. WHEN the elevator is silent, look around and ask: “Is that your beeper?”
12. TRY to make personal calls on the emergency phone.
13. DRAW a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers: “This is my personal space.”
14. WHEN there’s only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder, then pretend it wasn’t you.
15. PUSH the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.
16. ASK if you can push the button for other people but push the wrong ones.
17. HOLD the doors open and say you’re waiting for your friend. After a while, let the doors close and say “Hi Greg, How’s your day been?”
18. DROP a pen and wail until someone reaches to help pick it up, then scream: “That’s mine!”
19. BRING a camera and take pictures of everyone in the lift.
20. PRETEND you’re a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the Passengers.
21. SWAT at flies that don’t exist.
22. CALL out “Group hug” then enforce it.

Thanks Az for your email

Gastronomical Monday : Puke Worthy

First it was some tension in my head, then my eyes grew sore. And it wasn’t due to porn, let alone too much of it. The headache wasn’t due to lack of sex, although it could well have been, for that matter (which reminds me I do need some, like now!). Actually I have no idea. Could be lack of sleep, or too much of it. Perhaps I’m just overworked. I mean staring at the monitor the whole day (God knows I pull a lot of hours!) is bound to strain the eyes. Not forgetting draining the brain.

That wasn’t the worst of it though. I had a bout of gastric. A bad one that. First my tum grew kind of gaseous, and I took that as a sign that I needed to eat, something. And I did have a couple of slices of bread with ham and cheese in the morning. Over the next couple of hours I had nothing. And then it started to get bad.

My uncle called and wanted to meet up for a drink. Good timing, I thought coz I badly needed some food. The acidity was killing me. I gobbled down a roti telor, then a roti canai. Gulped it all down with 2 glasses of teh ais. Whether that was good or not, the effects were almost immediate. I felt really uncomfortable after.

After getting home to my parent’s place, things started getting really awry. Felt extremely uncomfortable as my tummy bloated up and my back hurt. On some occasions, especially on bad gastric attacks like this one, the bloatedness affects my back. It strains and is prickly almost. Very, very uncomfortable.

I burped and burped to relieve the stress on my stomach. Almost regurgitating, I made my way to the bathroom. Then it came. Don’t want to get into detail, but after an explosive burp, what seemed to be a huge pocket of air revealed somewhat less desirable particles from inside of me. The sink in the end, was splattered with my 4.30pm ‘lunch’ of roti telor, canai and teh ais.

There was some relief and I puked some more.

I continued to burp and feel uncomfortable for the rest of the evening. My parents bought a huge pack of Gelusil, an antacid, for me to at least reduce the discomfort. Popped in a pair and chewed. The effects weren’t instant, but there I was on the sofa, just trying to forget that my back was aching as hell and stomach full of gas and acid.

I felt relieved after about an hour, as I watched ‘Dance With Me’ with mom and dad. Most of the pain had gone, and my back seemed to have recovered.

What a way to start the week. Sheesh.

Rabun, Kusut, Distracted…

No this isn’t about Kak Yas’s debut movie. Nor does it have anything remotely to do with movies. But perhaps it should be. I mean look at the people around me! They are so good-looking to the extent that I assume I am watching a movie. Absolutely surreal. This is just too good to be true. I am not exactly bird-watching, I mean, pardon me *ahem*, people watching, but as I type this, there’s this Nelly Furtado look-alike who is sitting right across me, looking as demure as a woman can be. Her very lanky Indian friend is quite a looker too. I mean why would a perfectly single 31-year old man be bird-watching. Heh.

I’d love to take pictures, but that would just be too voyeuristic wouldn’t it? And rude. Where’s James Bond and his gadgetry when you need him? Damn it. Give me one of those minute cameras which zoom, built right into the frame of a pair of glasses. Not only that, the feature to capture high-resolution pictures and high-definition video. All undetected. The Pentagon would be proud. Ahem. Back to reality.

I came to Starbucks Telawi today with one specific goal. Work. And what do you know? It’s been hardly productive with all these good-looking women to-ing and fro-ing. You really cannot not look. Some cute, some model-worthy, there are all types. Too many to mention. All good. Even the girl at the counter is cute. Sigh.

I love Starbucks. (funny how I used to hate Starbucks. I coined the term “StarSucks” some time back. Heh).

Attention to chicks 100%. Work efficiency 0%. Rabun 100%. Kepala kusut to rabun ratio – 1:1.

Starbucks Telawi has certainly become my weekend hangout of choice. Come after 1pm and I swear you won’t be disappointed. For night rendezvous, try Starbucks Mont Kiara. Equally as good, although none better than Telawi, I have to say.

Life is good. Again.

Kinky Harness Anyone?

Thanks to blue_hippo of the K2oC (Kenari & Kelisa Owners Club), I have a spanking new 4-point TRS seatbelt racing harness to keep my butt firmly in place during those fast 2G sweeping corners. Have been looking for a harness for some time, and was actually about to commit to a 2nd-hand Sabelt. Then this offer came along and I grabbed it. Looks trick and works great. The backseat will accomodate one less passenger, but hey, I’m no taxi service!

Have to thank Azudin, one of the R3 boys who assembled my car, for fitting the harness for me on Friday. Sent my car for recalibration of cam-timing and also to rectify some minor ‘Proton’ problems. Car feels great now, more responsive. Adjusting the cam-timing to spec does bring notable gains, as shown on the dyno with car #0006 owned by prozac. During a typical petrolhead Saturday, prozac’s SR3 had previously recorded 117whp, much to his disappointment. Yesterday’s dyno at Links (we were there for a PiperCross Venom demo) demonstrated a different story altogether. Prozac gained 6hp just from cam-timing adjustment alone. That’s a massive gain! Chris from Pentagon, who was there to oversea the demos, was impressed. So were we I’ll elaborate more on the Venom demo later. In the meantime, enjoy the pics:

This is part of the my preparation for the Street ShootOut series to be held in Danga Bay, Johor next weekend. Labelled SSO 1.5 (pronounced one dot five), I will be participating together with my pal Stanley Tai, who drives the baddest, meanest Titan-ed Kancil the motorsports community has ever known. My SR3 would be the car shared between the both of us in the ‘Hung’ class, for cars 1601cc – 1900cc.

It’s gonna be fun!

Unlimited Wait Internet Access

TMNet just updated their Streamyx webpage.

Click for bigger view

6a.m.

It’s six bloody a.m. and I’m still grinding in the office. My body is aching from futsal which ended at 11.30pm. After a drink and a shower, was back at the office. The next 4 hours was spent retouching and colour correction high resolution images for a client. Urgent project to be output to posters in the morning.

Zzzzzzz….

I need sleep. My eyes need toothpicks to keep them opened. My body is slowly crumbling, gradually sinking into my ergonomic office chair.

This isn’t funny godammit. I’ll check in after lunch later. Some nice shut-eye should help rejuvenate this tired brain and body.

Ta.

Now playing: Gabriel, from Volumen Ocho. By Lamb