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Happy Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

philin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:55:16 +0000

This is to wish all my Muslim readers a Happy Hari Raya Adil Fitri tomorrow and thereafter. For my non-muslim readers, Happy Holidays to you too. I am in a holiday mood already looking at the photos and in a mood for some satay or ketupat. Incidentally, I have been invited by one of the company staff for a Hari Raya celebration in his house and he has given out Hari Raya cookies baked by his enterprising wife to most of the office workers in the office and one for me too. Of all the staff around, he has the best personal relations, remembering us during this festive season. I hope the balik kampung rush will not see too many accidents and fatal deaths like last year.

The Love Guru (2008)

philin — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:34:53 +0000

With The Love Guru, you can tell Meyers is trying to create another success along the lines of Austin Powers, but failing miserably. The thing about Austin Powers was despite being a dumb comedy, the movie had a likable, fun protagonist. In Meyer’s latest outing, we get the Guru Pitka, a Charles Manson look-alike who has an obsession with penises. It’s somewhat fitting that he resembles Charles Manson, a notorious cult leader, as by the movies end I had a strange urge to kill myself. Not only is the Guru creepy, he’s also very unfunny. Whether he’s making lame puns about “life” or talking about penises, he never manages to elicit any laughs whatsoever. It could be that his jokes are just bad. Certainly using jokes straight out of a children’s joke book isn’t a recipe for success. It could also be the fact that Meyers is so desperate for a laugh, he himself laughs at every joke and continuously looks at the audience, attempting to entice them to laugh along with him. You get the sense that he realizes the jokes are unfunny and the glances at the audience are his last failed attempts at getting a few laughs. Guru Pitka’s character development just adds injury to the insult. One minute Pitka is being hailed as a spiritual healer who lives to help people and the next minute he’s insulting a midget for no particular reason. There’s no consistency to the character at all, which is what this movie is missing in comparison to Meyer’s last few. Wayne Campbell and Austin Powers felt like real characters, where the Guru doesn’t really have any character; he randomly does whatever moves the plot along forward.

To Apply for TIN

philin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:43:38 +0000

To receive payment from a USA company for writing articles, I need to apply for a Tax Identification Number (TIN) from the USA. I cannot apply for SSN or social security number as I am not a US resident. As a foreigner, I can only apply for TIN and I have emailed my US company yesterday to help me in the application but until today, I did not get any response email from them. Looks like I have to apply by myself alone and I am checking up the web sites and printed out the application form last night. I still don’t know who to approach to certify my identity card and driver’s license copies as true ones. I may have to look for a Notary Public to help me in this or worse come to worse, just sent the copies without being certified to the USA address for the TIN application. This is a hassle to get payment from the states.

Freelance Web Designing

philin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:35:06 +0000

As a freelance web designer, getting jobs for web designing is not easy. You have to actively post in forums, chat with potential clients and do email marketing to look for prospects. I have worked as a freelance web designer since 2002 doing only front end designing. I leave the backend database configuration to my webhosting company to settle for a fee. You also need to look for available domain names to register and host in your web server. With the help of a friend, I can also offer setting up blogs using wordpress. Installing Wordpress has many advantages. You can add custom plugins that are ready made as Wordpress script is an open system and not chargable. You can also change the themes to suit the season such as Christmas or Chinese New Year. It is better to have your own personal domain name than using free ones like Geocities which will put up their banners and is slower with less server space.

Could not Publish my Post Earlier

philin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:01:33 +0000

My 3 wordpress blogs from the same hosting company were down recently and since then, I could not publish a single post. This explains the lag of time taking several days. When my hosting company checked my sites, they were able to publish a test post in KL. So there was nothing wrong with my wordpress files. By the way, my olive green t-shirt by Wordpress is coming soon. I have ordered via liewcf who graciously will pay for the postage fees to Penang including the postage cost to order the t-shirts from UK. This is my little support for Wordpress. And only today, after emailing my hosting company again, am I able to publish my post as you can see here. Otherwise I was contemplating of switching to Blue Host in USA.

Japan may face recession

philin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:19:58 +0000

USA was in recession some time ago recently and now Japan may face recession. With prices of oil skyrocketting high and cost of loving increasing, many people are finding it hard to cope. The middle class and lower middle class are tightening their belts and trying to save whatever they can. They eat out less often, and car pool to save cost on gas. People need to change their lifestyles to suit the bad times in order to get by with their same income. And in the recent news, pirate in Somalia have hijacked 2 Malaysian ship and demanding millions of dollars for the release. Even a French yatch got hijacked with 2 French men in the latest incident. And USA is helping Malaysia in negotiating with the pirates. Thanks for the goodwill help.

Online Presence for You

philin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:04:49 +0000

When I left Singapore to come back to Penang due to work pressure, I rested for about one and a half years. Then it was time for me to work and my second sister bought a personal domain name for me to host my web designing services for a start. I had to begin from scratch learning HTML on my own. I did spend many hours by the computer to find customers and managed to find about 3 customers who hosted with me and let me designed their web pages. Marketing was not easy and sometimes there are many months I don’t even have a client. I also surfed many web sites to learn about designing web pages and compare web hosting reviews for the best deal. I also went through webmaster reviews to learn up more information for my freelancing job at home.

When you work at home, you need to have an online presence to reach out to the masses that is global and borderless. It is a form of advertisement for you, showcasing your products and services from a web site to the world. Freelancing from home is not for everyone but if you can survive earning a moderate income doing web designing then it can save you money on travelling and using up gas.

Times are Hard

philin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:50:49 +0000

My father’s church friend got kidnapped in the car park of her apartment and was blind folded for 2 days. She was driven to the ATM to withdraw her money, at a maximum of RM5,000 per day. Therefore, never keep too much money in the bank that can be withdrawn. And yesterday, she called my dad in a very weak voice to call the parish priest to pray over hear. The ordeal of the kidnapping made her a total wreck. She is now warded in a private hospital. One of her eye is swollen due to the very tight blind folding. She was captured by 3 indian guys in the carpark and while being blind folded, she could hear malay and chinese conversation of her captors. People are desperate and will do anything to get money - whether legally or illegally. This kidnapping was mentioned in the local press too to warn the public and not to be alone when going out.

My Vacation in USA

philin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:38:14 +0000

Above is a shot taken in Grand Canyon, one of the 7 wonders of the world, during my trip to USA.

I visited USA in 1998 on my own expenses during in between jobs. I went to the West Coast of USA visiting Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and San Francisco. It was a trip well worth the money. The most humourous time was visiting Disneyland with plenty of themes for each section. There were many tourists attractions and many roller coasters and adrenaline pumping rides for the adults and simple yet fun rides for the kids. I took many photos and compiled them into 2 big albums for posterity sake.

There are also other attractions in USA with discount such as Kennedy space center discount, San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, architectural buildings, Hollywood, Universal Studios and the like. You can also sign up for Atlanta tours, Boston tours, Chicago tours and many more.

The entrace to the Riviera Hotel that I stayed in Las Vegas.

My trip to USA was very enjoyable and I went alone with a tour group. I also took a humourous photo of bronze statues of women holding hands together with naked bums as shown in the photo above. It was a nice shot, something which I cannot find in my country. The statues were dressed as cowboys wearing boots. There are many moments of awe when visiting USA for the first time. I must say that it was a trip well worth every penny. At least I get to tell people that I have been to USA.

There is a special promotion Trusted Tours are having where a person can win a $150 Magellan’s Gift Certificate by signing up for their newsletter.

Today is Merdeka Day

philin — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:34:40 +0000

Today is the 51st anniversary of Merdeka. We have been independant for 51 years. We have seen progress in terms of more mosques being built and Malays getting richer by the day while the Chinese and other races are left out in taking a slice of the cake. Our own churches have to be self funded while the government spent public money including Chinese money to built big mosques for their own kind. We are governed by a racist government who promotes the well being of their own race calling themselves bumiputeras while marginalising other races as Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew mentioned. The Chinese are marginalized because they are hard working, diligent and richer. The only hope for our non-Malay kids is to send them overseas as there are hardly any place in the local universities for them. But then, not everyone has the financial means to send their kids overseas for studies. Even I had to take a bank loan to finance my tertiary studies in Singapore for 4 years. Not smart enough for a scholarship then

Do you need to protect your computer from viruses that steal personal information?

philin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:43:04 +0000

Here is a portable identity theft protection card that protects your computer from malware, adware, viruses, etc. It has won an award recently as shown above. Just click on the embedded video to see the features and securities of the nifty card. This is a great solution for you when using the scan on the go card. Basically, it protects users from viruses where ever they use a computer, such as a personal computer or those in the cyber cafe. Always feel safe with this identity theft protection card! Easy to use, just plug it in and go!

This identity theft protection card is convenient to use. Just keep it in your handbag or even a wallet and use it where ever you travel. It is portable and compact form that allows you to store it in a small place such as your hand bag. For the users, they get 10 dollars off when they use this code: KASALES5. Buy scan on the go on amazon to use the discount code.

When you purchase the card, it comes packed in a nice box with instruction sets that are easy to follow. If you like to know more, simply click on Scan on the go. This is a tool that you need to have especially when using the computer.

Make money from the internet

philin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:41:35 +0000

From my experience, there are a few ways to make money on the internet. One is to write articles and become a freelance writer. You can bid for the writing jobs online through various web sites. Do note that there are also dozens of other freelance writers bidding for the same job at very low rates or below market rate. But if the US dollar conversion rate is good, like 3.26 in my case in Malaysia, then it may be worth the time to bid for them. The other way to earn from the internet is through your blogs by writing sponsored reviews by signing with the many programs online. Craigslist is a useful web site with plenty of opportunities for you to earn some pocket money from the worldwide contacts.

Saw Incredible Hulk recently

philin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:41:12 +0000

I was in Gurney Plaza to see this amazing movie in Golden Screen Cinemas or better known as GSC. Here is the synopsis. Marvel has done it again. Early this summer it was the surprise hit Iron Man that had moviegoers buzzing. The good folks over at Marvel followed up with another installment of The Incredible Hulk. A lot of people, including myself, were skeptical of this film because of the last failed attempt at this franchise. This Incredible Hulk is nothing like what we saw in Ang Lee’s Hulk.

The movie opens as Bruce Banner (Edward Norton)a fugitive on the run who is living in Brazil, hiding from who he is, and trying to find a cure. Banner is quickly spotted by General Ross (William Hurt) and is on the run again. With no cure in sight Banner returns home to find some answers.

This movie reminds me of the old TV show that I loved so much. There are only going to be a few scenes with The Hulk. It was important that whoever played Bruce Banner could carry the film. In this film Norton does such a great job of playing someone who does not want to be the Hulk. A man who is not happy with what he’s become and wants to find answers. Because of the Hulk he has to isolate himself from other people. You get the sense that he’s not sure he can control the monster within.

One of the great performances of the movie is Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky. An old soldier who wants who is obsessed with the power the Hulk possesses. His obsession with this power only grows stronger as the movie goes on. Blonsky reminded of the steroid issues in our sports today. A person who is past their prime who will inject themselves with anything for the opportunity to “win”.

My suggestion: One of the better movies I’ve seen this summer. I don’t think this movie disappoints at all. If you are a fan of the comic book, it is a must see. I enjoyed every minute of it. Good script, great action and even a few laughs to keep the movie going. I loved what I saw out of this movie and I hope to see more. Not to mention there is a cameo at the end of the movie that had the whole theater buzzing. Can’t wait to see what Marvel does next.

Happy Father’s Day to all Fathers

philin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:41:30 +0000

This is to wish all fathers a Happy Father’s day. Being a father is the most important decision in your life. You are the perpectual banker and head of the family. This is a very important role that any child needs to complement the family. Fathers need to work hard and provide financially for the family while mothers stay at home to mind the house and brood. Being a father is a priviledge and God sent gift. So do your responsibilities as a father conscientiously and don’t take advantage of your position.

Going to Kuala Lumpur in 1 hour’s time

philin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:26:35 +0000

Now it is about 2:10pm and my colleague will come fetch me to Kuala Lumpur in one hour’s time at around 3:00pm or so. I have finished writing 4 articles of 500 words for USD10 this morning and got paid immediately through my PayPal. This co-writer is from USA and writes articles full time at home. He sleeps at 4:00am and wakes up by 8:00am to continue writing articles. Just how hard working he is to earn money. And whatever extra work he has, he passes them to me. We have been chatting online via Yahoo Messenger. His payments are very prompt, immediately after I sent in my work. So far I have received US dollars from him for the few articles I have written so far. This is a very convenient arrangement as I work in my home office every day and get to write articles on a part time basis.

Buffet in Dorsett Hotel

philin — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:40:33 +0000

I was sifting through old photos when I found cakes taken in Dorsett Hotel buffet. It was a treat by my youngest sister when she recently joined Oriental Rewards as a member. With this membership, you can dine at half price and stay in hotels in Asia at discounted prices. Above is a strawberry cake on a nice pretty plate.

Here is a fruit cake set on a glass plate. Since we were early, I took the opportunity to snap as many nice photos as possible before the cakes are cut and eaten.

Mango pudding and other dessert are served on small glasses that are cute.

Here is a blueberry cheese cake with generous topping of blueberry sauce.

This is my dessert with tiramisu or coffee cheese cake on the top left corner. It was simply delicious but I did not take too much of the dessert to watch my weight.

Some cakes on the dessert corner of the buffet in Dorsett Hotel in Penang.

In Kuala Lumpur

philin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:52:30 +0000

I am now in Kuala Lumpur for the third day already. I will only be going back on Friday which is in two days time. This is one of the longest trip to KL. And it has been raining heavily almost every day with thunderstorms. Even as I am blogging here, I can hear the thunder in the distance. I need to log off soon and switch off the modem to protect it from lightning strike. I better end here before the lap top is ‘fried’ and need to send to the technician for change of components. Have a good week.

Came back from Kuala Lumpur

philin — Sun, 25 May 2008 09:47:26 +0000

I came back from KL a few days ago. Was there for 3 days 2 nights in KL. We drove down by car to attend to business and then drove back to Penang which took about 5 hours per trip. This time, we did not stop in Tapah to buy fruits as it was raining heavily. It is dangerous to drive fast on a rainy day because the brake may not work so well on wet roads and slippery floors. The rain came to a drizzle when we reached Penang at about 7:00pm. The rain is good for the car because it cools down the engine which may be heated up for long drives. I might need to go back to KL next week, but at the moment, it is not confirmed which date.