…my cuppa iced coffee…

I would like to wish all my friends and readers out there a Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, maaf zahir & batin. Hope that you will have a very enjoyable Hari Raya with your family and friends. If you drive balik kampung, please drive smartly. We don’t want you to be in the statistics now, do we?

I was sitting on a bench at Isetan Lot 10 last night while my flatmate was looking for some shoes for his niece and nephew. I saw some sandals on display behind me. Simple and nice, I thought. Maybe I should buy a pair.

I had a look at the price tag and my God! I was really surprised. Guess how much for a pair of those sandals?

Man, they’re expensive! Must be of very good quality and a big brand name. Funnily enough, I’ve never heard of it, though. Not in my circle, perhaps.

I dunno. You be the judge. Do you really think those sandals really should cost that much? They’re not that fancy. Nice, yes.. but personally, I’m not willing to pay RM169 just for a pair of sandals like that. Shoes, maybe. Sandals, no.

Besides, when I flipped it over, it says “Made in China” at the bottom. Hmmm…

I had the best buka puasa food last Sunday, thanks to my good friends Eina and Sarah. Eina is undoubtedly one of the best cooks I’ve ever met so far and she never fails to cook up wonders when we asked her to cook for us. Sarah seems to be quite talented as well, although I haven’t had the chance to really taste her cooking.

The menu was sweet and sour fish (anybody knows what’s the English word for ikan bawal? I can’t seem to remember it. Hehehe…), chicken soy sauce black pepper (my favourite), kerabu sotong (squid salad?), broccoli + mushroom + capsicum (3 different kinds) in garlic and oyster sauce.. man, they were just heaven! Not to mention the dessert afterwards. No less than Viennetta ice cream. It was too bad that I’m not a big eater.

Thank you girls. Really appreciate it.

p/s.. Get in touch with me if you think my friends are cute. They are still single and available. Hehehehe…

Continuation to my earlier post ‘No motorcycles on highways’.

In theSun today: “Many people support banning superbikes on highways,” Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said yesterday. “I have received many calls of support (for the ban) … they support because superbikes take up a lot of the road.”

So.. questions:

1. How many is many? It’s so subjective that I can easily say I have many fingers on one of my hands.
2. Take up a lot of the road??? Okay, this strikes me as really odd. I’m imagining a superbike right now in my mind. Next to it there’s a Kancil, a Waja, a van, a lorry and an express bus. Oh yes indeed.. a superbike definitely takes a lot of the road. How stupid of me not to see that before.

No, really.. let’s think about it. What do you really get by banning the superbikes from the highways? Those bikes off the highways, of course. And outcries from the superbikes associations. Other than those, probably deaths for the bikers. Odd? Think of the federal roads. Do you think they are safe for these types of bikes? Heck, they are not even safe for cars. Forcing them off the highways won’t make things better, believe me.

What’s causing this ire, anyway? Certainly not just speeding. Concern for road safety? Yes, of course.. what else could it be. But I personally think it’s because those bikes and their smaller cousins, the kapcais, do not have to pay toll for using the highways. If that is the case, then simply impose toll on them. And to make life harder, make sure the charges are the same as cars. As stressed by the superbikes associations, their members are professionals, with high profile jobs and such. I’m sure they can easily afford the toll charges. If nothing else, it will definitely force a lot of these motorcyclists to use the Federal roads.

Of all the causes for road accidents, it is my opinion that the no. 1 contributor is really the attitude of the drivers. Not speed, or road condition, or whatever. People can drive fast and still be safe. It’s because of those reckless, foolish, selfish drivers that people got killed. Education is one solution. Although it’s probably useless since those people have really thick skulls. Enforcement? Do the authorities have enough manpower to cover the whole stretch of roads in this country? I don’t think so. In the end, it really comes down to the drivers themselves.

So drive smart. You will definitely be safe.

I came across a blog posting at www.jeffooi.com on comparisons between broadband services in Malaysia and Singapore today while attending training on Oracle (hehehe.. I was bored ). Even though the topic is a bit outdated (posted on 27 April 2006), I still find the issue very much relevant even today.

For somebody whose knowledge on broadband technologies are more towards (1) able to connect to the internet (and stay connected), and (2) get results fast (be it surfing or downloading), it is quite obvious that, despite the progress made in Malaysia on broadband technology over the years, the services still cannot compare to the ones offered in Singapore.

I did some browsing on the broadband packages offered by TMNet (Streamyx) and SingTel, and here’s what I came up with:

I shouldn’t probably compare Maxis with the other two but since I’m currently subscribed to Maxis (the RM 98 package), I might as well put it in.

If any of you are from Maxis, please be informed that the speed I’ve been getting since day one are disgustingly low. They barely reached 500 Kbps. In fact, I just measured the speed and McAfee gave me 20 Kbps. ZDNet gave me 29 Kbps. Like, hello??!!!

One other thing to note, TMNet prices do not include the monthly telephone charges. So that’s roughly another RM25 to add to the prices. I also had a peek at Jaring’s packages and honestly, they’re not worth mentioning.

The comparison clearly shows that Malaysia has a lot of catching up to do to be at par with Singapore. To be fair, please do not convert the currencies when comparing. Otherwise it would not be apple to apple now, would it?

I am not going to go into the reasons for these differences. You know.. geography, economy of scale, technology, blah blah blah… Not that I know exactly what the reasons are.. but I do recommend that you read the discussions following the blog post at www.jeffooi.com. They really really are interesting. Not to mention, quite amusing too. They make me think of going to all those countries and do some research on the issue. But then, there are other people better qualified to do that. So I leave it to them solve the puzzle. Besides, I’m just too lazy. And simply can’t afford it. Hehehe…

AY: Still dreaming of the day when he can surf the internet at the speed of 10 Mbps, without costing him his arms and legs.