1.00 MYR = 1.04677 AED

Yeap, its my first time to Middle East region. Slightly excited but I'll be there for 3 days only. Since this is an emergency trip, I was not able to contact my 2 friends who's working there. I'm sure one of them wants me to bring liquor to him, haha.

I still owe you guys a blog on Chicago and now it'll be another one on Dubai.

A touch of class

A sweet close friend of mine knew that I've always wanted a name card holder. The last time around when I went back, she gave me a surprise by handing this to me.

The usual card holder you see will either be metal or PVC This is different, I liked it the moment I saw it. It'll be the house for all my foreign currency and the plastic which is being sent to my house. The previous plastic didn't really served me that well although I've used it extensively

Back to the card holder, it's better than what I've expected and it gave me a touch of class. You can buy everything in the world but you can't buy good taste

Thanks dear

PS. It's Labor Day here so I'm not working today. Happy Dewali to all Hindu friends.

Opps, I did it again and again

After just arriving from Sydney yesterday, today the gang wants to go to factory outlet. Oh well, I went there once so I brought them there today. Bought a nice Nike shoe, 1 shirt and a cap.

For the shirt, the Esprit storekeeper is a Malaysian I knew the first time I went there. On top of the factory outlet price, we got another 30% discount. There are many ways to use charm, hehe.

May be we'll go to an island tomorrow. It's hard to find 5 Malaysian colleagues in NZ, soon they'll all leave me alone here again.

Opps, I did it again

Like a true Australian, I went to shopping today. Aussies are paid weekly on Thursday. So effectively, they have 13 months salary (52/4=13).

Today's bill came up to RM300ish. Before mom starts jumping on me, most of it went to supplements for my knee and pills to boost my energy level as I always suffer from jetlag.

I reached on Monday morning from an 8 hour flight from KL and straight to the office for a presentation to the CTO and gang. Fell like a log on to the bed when I reached home late at night about 11pm.

Next day, I woke up at 6am due to the FREAKIN' sun. I can't sleep when there's light. After a few days here, the jetlag has gone but the cycle begins as I'm flying to Auckland tomorrow. The story doesn't end there.

I'll fly to China next friday, the cycle begins again!

Ok ok, to be fair I bought a Kathmandu sling bag which I don't need but it's damn cheap. Even the cashier said that it's lower than staff price.

Who wants a souvenir?

P&C

Sorry for not updating for a long time, been busy the moment I step foot in Bolehland. Tried to arrange every session of lunch, dinner and supper with different gang of friends.

For the first time, half way through yum cha (Asia Cafe) with high school buddies, the sugar cane and fruit juice became beer. A bit like old uncles drinking at food court. The hot and humid environment didn't help at all.

Mom said she don't plan to bake cookies for sale this coming Chinese New Year and asked me to give her ang pow of RM2000. Lesson learn, do not disclose to your parent how much you make every month.

For me its quite unavoidable as they will open all letters meant for me including my bank statement and credit card bills. For the CC bills, she saw that I spent quite an amount on clothes when I'm overseas and she kept nagging me for wasting money.

I usually buy when I see a bargain and me being the typical me, I'll only buy it when it's on sale or from warehouse sale.

There you go mom.

May be I should open another bank account where the bills will be sent to my office rather than my house.

My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

This post is reserved for the convention. I’m sure I’ll learn and hopefully improve from this convention.

It’s amazing how a picture can tell a story and I’m glad that I have an Alpha to tell my story, including some interesting ones (s) (s) (s).

Wish me luck in the contest!


My α Journey Uno – Baby steps
My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light
My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar
My α Journey Tres – Fall in love
My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention
My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention

Learning is a continuous process, other than the basic photography and photo editing workshop conducted every month. Sony also has arranged a series of FREE activities for Alpha owners to hone our skills. Having always on business trip away from Malaysia, I’ve already missed out 3 events below:-
Explore Malaysia With Sony Alpha – Malacca
Sony Alpha 9th August Seminar @ Le Meridien Hotel
Explore Malaysia With Sony Alpha - Sungai Congkak

Not only these events are free, they give out goodie bags, free meals and not to forget it’s very rewarding in the sense where you get to improve your photography skills. To top it off, there are always heaps of gifts to be given away.

When Sony staff hinted about a convention, I’m all for it. The registration opened and I registered regardless whether I can make it or not. If I really can’t make it, I’ll just pass the chance to other fellow Alpha owners.

Being the first 400, my registration is confirmed. So can I make it? I’m drafting this mail 39999 feet in the air slightly south of Jawa island. Yes baby, I’m flying in from Auckland!

On catching up with buddies, sorry guys, ma’ boss is asking to fly to Sydney on Monday to handle another problem. Most of you would be thinking I have a cool job but it ain’t cool when you have to fly so frequently to solve problems other left behind.

It’s funny that I registered for 2 events and I manage to make it to both of them. Yeah, so my plan on coming back worked slightly too perfect where I’ll fly in for the convention and then fly to Sydney after that. May be next time I’ll be more precise with what I wished for, something like “I really hope I can make it to the convention and a bit more time left for family and friends”.


My α Journey Uno – Baby steps
My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light
My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar
My α Journey Tres – Fall in love
My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention
My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

My α Journey Tres – Fall in love

After learning how to use manual mode, it opened a wide door for many creative photography. My Alpha will always be in front of my belly or at my waist no matter where I go. Since Sony is new in DSLR scene, you hardly can see any Alpha around. When I do see another Alpha, I will walk up and say hi! Not to forget Konica Minolta users as well because Sony bought them over.

After getting the hang of Manual mode, the fun doesn’t stop there. Kelvin WB gave me another space to play with. Have you seen a beautiful sunset photo which the sky is orangy and all? It’s WB working its magic.

Although I started of with the determination to have a minimalist gear with my kitlens only. I failed, period. Being able to scale is dangerous, did some research and I got myself Sigma 70-300 DG APO to add some range to my arsenal. Out of all the types of photography that I shoot, I like candid the most. The Sigma gave me the advantage of being obscure when preying for a candid shot. The innocence of children is priceless.

The wireless TLL function that comes with the body is killing me now. I’m try to refrain from investing more into gears but the new HVL-F58 flash is so yummy. This new found love-hate hobby is driving me crazy and depleting the numbers in my bank account. Now I can understand how a person can spend tens of thousands of hard earned money for a handmade top range lens.


My α Journey Uno – Baby steps
My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light
My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar
My α Journey Tres – Fall in love
My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention
My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar

Decided to post ala Ring 0 style, now for the prologue.

Initially, camera serves as a snapshot device of my life. 2 years ago, I bought a P&S camera. The camera served me well and I started to love photography more. Came the day that I left it in the company car. Well, that’s another post.

Extensive research on the net (dpreview, CNET, etc) is always part of the process when I want to buy something. If you were to ask me which model of P&S to buy, I can tell you the pros and cons about a few candidates. The thought of getting a DSLR came to mind and I started to look at them as well.

Since I love photography, why not buy a camera that allows me to yield better results? I was clear with what I want – a beginner DSLR which gives the best deal right out of the box.

I lined up a few models from different brands and the choice is obvious on paper. The anti dust sensors, the eye-start auto focus (everyone says that this is uber cool), and the Super Steady Shot (SSS) makes perfect sense. Any lens (including 3rd party) that is attached to the Alpha will have image stabilizer whereas for other brands, you need to buy lens which has some sort of IS technology in every single lens that you buy.

A200’s price sealed the deal; it was also the cheapest in the market. As I said, the choice is clear but there’s something that stops me from buying it. I’m NOT in Malaysia. Sigh, it’ll be 1 month before I’m scheduled to go home. I went to Hidalgo to look for A200 but it seems that the launch date of A200 in Pinoyland is no where to be seen. The guys back in Malaysia were showing off their joy with the A200 in LYN. This gave me to read more to find out the pros and cons of the Alpha.

When I reached home, I went to Sungei Wang to get the Alpha. They salesman tried to coax me to get a Canon instead. He let me played with 2 models and the macho Alpha strengthens my choice. The grip of Alpha is perfect and the mirror flap/shutter sound is just plain manly. To be honest, one of the reasons I decided to buy DSLR is because it looks cool and Sony wins hands down in this department.


My α Journey Uno – Baby steps
My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light
My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar
My α Journey Tres – Fall in love
My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention
My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light

After getting back to Pinoyland, I was a lonely ranger with my Alpha. It’s only the buddies in LYN and AMC (now Alphanatics) which can help me out virtually. The temptation of going Manual is getting stronger but whenever I try, I would be disappointed as I wouldn’t know what combination of ISO, Aperture, and Shutter speed I should be using for different situation.

It really did refrain me from enjoying photography, its like a spooky closet which you’d avoid and ignore. I want to be a proper DSLR user rather than using a DSLR as a P&S. Sony provides Basic Photography with Alpha DSLR every month. I dived into the 12-6-2008 registration not being sure whether I can make it back to Malaysia or not.

I’ve planned the timing (visa) right, sped some of the task so that it would seem that the workload will not be high and they won’t be asking me to extend my visa. Everything worked perfectly, although there was still anxiety when I was heading to Ninoy Aquino Airport. It’s only when I boarded the plane that I feel relieved. I’ve heard of a case where a colleague was asked to go back into office from Soekarno-Hatta Intl Airport for some urgent matters.

Long story short, I was in the workshop learning about the basics all over again the right way. There’s nothing like straightening out all the basics, after all it was very much of a self-taught/exploration journey all these while. When John the instructor started explaining the exposure meter in Manual mode, I saw the light that I was looking for. It was empowering indeed, I now can shoot in Manual!


My α Journey Uno – Baby steps
My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light
My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar
My α Journey Tres – Fall in love
My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention
My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

My α Journey Uno – Baby steps

When I took the Alpha home, I’m so excited! There’s always a kid in every guy when it comes to gadgets. Straight away I charged the battery and started to flip the manual. Imagine the agony of learning steps to adjust some settings but not being able to try them out!

It was dinner time and mom asked me to have dinner together. After being away from home for so long, there are a lot of catching up to do but I was distracted by the manual. After writing this down, I feel a bit guilty that I wasn’t paying 100% of my attention conversation over dinner.

Having owned a Point&Shoot camera before the Alpha, I used the Auto mode on the Alpha extensively. From the encouragement (sometimes jeering, haha) of other Alpha males (pun intended, we are cool!), I’ve started using Program AE, Aperture-priority AE, Shutter-priority AE modes. Then there’s Multi Segment, Center-Weighted, Spot metering and White Balance to learn.

It was a trial and error kind of thing in the beginning. The flexibility of a DSLR means there are so many things that could go wrong. Slowly I understand the cam and photography more, hence less of shoot-review-delete.

As time goes by, I’m tempted to use manual mode but I had no idea what to do with it. I need some light!


My α Journey Uno – Baby steps
My α Journey Dos – And there shall be light
My α Journey Cero – How I became an Cinnabar
My α Journey Tres – Fall in love
My α Journey Cuatro – Alpha Convention
My α Journey Cinco – Infinity and Beyond

Erm..... I have a Bachelor Degree in E&E.......

This industry is very competitive, casual chatting will always end up with

A: I did my Masters on Radio Frequency

B: I wrote a paper about Air Interface Protocol for my Masters

C: Everyone has a Masters Degree in China, so I did one as well

D: She's Dr. Kiki to you. She did a PhD. before joining the company

E: We address him as Teacher Daniel because he was a university lecturer

F: I did a Bachelor's Degree in E&E from a small uni in Malaysia.....

Shall I go back to school?

Leaving on a jet plane

My mom always tell me that I'm a kampung boy because she remembered the first time I was in a car, I kept crying and crying and crying non stop. It's funny that some incident will stay in the mind for a long time.

This kampung boy was excited the first time he was on the plane. The airport, the seat, the sudden acceleration, the meals...... Due to my job nature, I no longer have anxiety when going to the Airport. The food and wine could be better.

After the long flight to and fro Chicago and Auckland, finally I found the determination to calculate the total journey that I've traveled on a plane. Below is a list of the flights that I've been on.

Flight distance obtained from http://www.world-airport-codes.com/

Subang > Pangkor
Distance between Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (SZB) and Pangkor (PKG)
9184 kilometers (5740 miles) < Siao liao lor
166 kilometers (103 miles) X 2 = 332 KM (using wikimapia)

Kuala Lumpur > Kuala Terengganu
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Sultan Mahmood (TGG)
332 kilometers (208 miles) X 2 = 664 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Kuching then Miri > Kuala Lumpur
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Kuching (KCH)
969 kilometers (606 miles) X 1 = 969 KM

Distance between Miri (MYY) and KLIA (KUL)
1376 kilometers (860 miles) X 1 = 1376 KM

Marudi > Mulu
Distance between Marudi (MUR) and Mulu (MZV)
56 kilometers (35 miles) X 2 = 112 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Sydney
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Kingsford Smith (SYD)
6580 kilometers (4113 miles) X 2 = 13160 KM

Sydney > Gold Coast
Distance between Kingsford Smith (SYD) and Gold Coast/Coolangatta (OOL)
678 kilometers (424 miles) X 2 = 1356 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Penang
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Penang Intl (PEN)
326 kilometers (204 miles) X 2 = 652 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Jakarta
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Soekarno-Hatta Intl (CGK)
1128 kilometers (705 miles) X 2 = 2256 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Manila
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL)
2488 kilometers (1555 miles) X 16 = 39808 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Macau
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Macau Intl (MFM)
2509 kilometers (1568 miles) X 2 = 5018 KM

Manila > Singapore > Colombo > Singapore > Manila
Distance between Manila (MNL) and Changi (SIN)
2373 kilometers (1483 miles) X 2 = 4746 KM

Distance between Changi (SIN) and Colombo (CMB)
2748 kilometers (1718 miles) X 2 = 5496 KM

Manila > Cagayan De Oro
Distance between Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL) and Cagayan De Oro Domestic (CGY)
783 kilometers (489 miles) X 2 = 1566 KM

Kuala Lumpur > Auckland
Distance between KLIA (KUL) and Auckland Intl (AKL)
8697 kilometers (5436 miles) X 2 = 17394 KM

Auckland > Sydney
Distance between Auckland (AKL) and Kingsford Smith (SYD)
2158 kilometers (1349 miles) X 4 = 8632

Auckland > Los Angeles > Chicago > Los Angeles > Auckland
Distance between Auckland (AKL) and Los Angeles Intl (LAX)
10480 kilometers (6550 miles) X 2 = 20960 KM

Distance between Los Angeles Intl (LAX) and Chicago O'hare Intl (ORD)
2800 kilometers (1750 miles) X 2 = 5600 KM

Total Distance = 130,097 KM



The airlines that I've flown with and my comments


Pros: Very polite staff, newspaper, delicious peanuts, plenty of entertainment, nice pillow, announcement of baggage carousel
Cons: Apple juice is meant for business class only


Pros: Nice cocktail (Singapore Sling), many specific diet meals, printed menu
Cons: Lousy mixed nuts


Pros: Ice cream, thick magazine, announcement of baggage carousel
Cons: Relatively slow service


Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Unorganized ground staff, lousy meals


Pros: Crew that can speak 9 languages
Cons: Crappy entertainment


Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Food need to buy separately


Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Bread like rock


Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Trying to squeeze profit in every way


Pros: Play games with kids in the air
Cons: Nothing special


Pros: Nothing special
Cons: Nothing special

As for plane type, I prefer Boeing for its smooth flight and headrest. When Airbus deploy its tires, it will give a loud and hard "tuck" sound but the interior looks better.

Buai Buai

The guest are happy go lucky people, 1 of them has been to Chicago a million of times. Didn't really do any excursion with them but at least I did some myself.

Bye bye Windy City

Snippet 1.1

Snippet

Things that popped into my mind here

1. I need to follow the US bailout news more, every single high level exec is talking about it.

2. I need to control my spending big time.

3. I left a few dollars on the table and it's gone when I came back. I thought only money on the pillow is tips, didn't know on the table counts too.