My two cents worth..

I had received a SMS much earlier (forgot about it liow) and today’s news article reminds me of it again. What’s your opinion on this special event? Do you think you’ll stay up and have a wait for the special time to pass? And even if you do, what will you do then? Open a bottle of wine, pray, party…?

PETALING JAYA: There are just four days more
to the significant 01.02.03.04.05.06 moment when the time and date is
one hour, two minutes, three seconds after midnight on the fourth of
May but most people appear unaware or indifferent. - excerpt from the STAR on May 1st 2006.

Well folks, I’m now safely back in Malaysia for the past three days. Still feeling a bit tired at times (time zone difference). The long duration of flight between LAX and HKG doesn’t help at all, some more with the small cramp economy class seat of Cathay Pacific. Overall, the trip to USA is interesting and fun, minus the flight experience.

In the early part of the trip, me and fren (EJ) reached Hollywood, LA - USA Hostels at about 5PM on 16th Apr. Took an hours nap to relax and then was back out on the road roaming Hollywood Blvd. Clean room and attached bathroom, nothing fancy but then for USD$60 per night - what else can you ask for? Free wifi and waffle (self cooked) in the morning. They also have short walking trips round Hollywood too (at about USD$6 to USD$7). The longer trips such as to Santa Monica beach will cost more. For photos of my adventure in Hollywood, click here.

On the next morning, we took the metro from Hollywood Station to Universal City Station (one hop only) and then hop on a free bus to Universal Studio. Cost of Metro for a per day trip was USD$3.00. Universal Studio entry fee was at USD$59.00 (they have a promo now, buy one day entrance and get it upgraded to annual pass for free, you even get a card with your photo on it). We spent the rest of the day there, ending our tour at about 8.30PM. Then back to Hollywood and have dinner at Burger King. For photos of my fun rides and gila-gila shots in U.Studio, click here.

And darn, we ran out of time in LA. Our next agenda was to fly to LV for our conference. Sadly leaving LA behind (should have planned for an extra day or two), we hopped on the United Airlines flight to LV. Oh ya,take note fellow frens. When taking flights in USA, you need to unlock all your checked in luggage for TSA to check (I’ve heard they at times cut your padlocks to have a look inside). So, be smart the next time and get those locks that are TSA approved. Have a look at the sample here. The locks can be opened with a master key that TSA holds on to, thus you can still secure your luggage with the combination lock. Else, you may never know what may happen to it when it arrived in KLIA. He he.

In LV, we had fun alright. The Sin City of USA. Gambling, girls, smoke and etc. In a city that never sleeps. On average, I think most of us (about 20 from Malaysia) slept only about 3 to 4 hours each night. He he. For the photos, have a look over here. Afew places worth going:
1. Premium Outlet Las Vegas
2. Bellagio Hotel - fountain and hotel interior
3. La Salsa Cantina - Mexican restaurant, Desert Passage Mall at Aladdin, opposite New York New York.
4. The Forum Shops, Caesars Palace - I missed this one even though it was opposite our hotel (Venetien)
5. Lava spewing fountain at the Mirage Hotel.
6. Pirate show at Treasure Island Hotel.
7. Grand Canal Shoppes in Venetien Resort Hotel - you’ll not be able to differentiate day and night in there.

I think that is enuff for now. That’s all about my travel this time round. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do more of it.

The last time I had a trip somewhere was to KK
with my girlfriend, Ken and Lona for Christmas. Prior to that was our trip (me and
girlfriend, or shall I say fiancée) to Perth in Sept. And now, I’ll be heading away to a new place where I’ve never been
before. Partly for work and partly for a short breather.

My entire visa, travel arrangements, accommodations, currency exchange were
settled earlier. Now, my colleague is bugging me to prepare some itinerary for
our two days trip in LA. Did that just now and my my, there are loads of places
for us to go and not enough time to cover them all. Cross fingers and toes that
we will be able to do as much as we planned for – even kira go there, stand in
front of the entrance, take a photo or two and cabut to the next destination. Well,
itu la kira “traveling and sightseeing”. 

On the other hand, I’ve not had time (too lazy in the
earlier part) to check out places to go in LV. I guess, there won’t be much time to sightsee
but hopefully we can spend some money at outlets for cheaper goods. I’m
bringing a large bag there, so that I can carry all those stuff back. Hopefully,
still have money to spend lo after LA. He he.

To all the lovely ladies out there, don’t miss me too much
when I’m away. Plan to upload as many photos as possible when I’m back. Ha ha.
Since I can’t bring u folks with me, at least, I can bring LA and LV back with me to you. As
for the guys, lu orang makan sendiri la. Ha ha.

Over and out…

Ahhh.. American Idol mania is back.. Every wednesday and thursday nite at 8.00PM, I’ll be sitting glued to Channel 70 on Astro to watch the contestant trying to out sing, out dance, out perform each other. There are always those that you’ll love to see going all the way to the end and there are those, hmmm.., you wonder "WHY?" they are still there.

Last year AI4, we saw the final decision made between Bo Bice (my all time favourite) and Carrie Underwood. Well, the cute one won the deal. And this year, we have another Carrie Underwood lookalike on stage. She is none other than the sweet smiling and adorable Kellie Pickler. My my my.. what a FINE one she is.. She looks delicious in the red top she wore tonight. Ehemmmm..

Second contestant I’ll put my bets on is Chris Daughtry, the one that refuses to compromise until tonight. I think he did a good job tonight. He has my vote (that is if I can vote.. hehe).

Hmmm.. Every single time I hear the roar of a siren, I’ll look around for the source and if it is coming from my rear, move aside I will (so does most of the other drivers). The irritating part is, there will be a bunch of KIASU drivers / riders that tails the ambulance (it could also be fire engines and police escorts) closely behind (in their attempt to avoid queuing up like all other decent drivers). This wreckless drivers / riders should have their licenses removed and permanently be banned from driving / riding again. IDIOTS!!

Have they no brains?? Have they not considered the accidents they could have caused??

Many of us
are not fully aware of the implication of having our machine connected to the
Internet. We all know that getting connected is IMPORTANT, but then again, most
of us ignored the fact that with Internet connectivity come security threats,
such as worms, Trojans, screen scrapers, keyloggers and etc.

I came
across this simple but effective article on security myths titled “Revealing
the myths about network security” by Dino Covotsos at HNS. Click here for the article,
a must read. 

Another
good article on what you can learn from being a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).
Have a go at this article from BusinessWeek Online and Sarah Lacy. Click here.

Was at my fren’s place for dinner and while flipping thru the latest HAVEN magazine from theedgedaily publication, I came across an article talking about the multiple uses of the white non-gel toothpaste (other than teeth brushing of coz). The only two other things I knew toothpaste was good for was:
1. To clean jewellery by either soaking them in it and then gently brushing with an old tooth brush.
2. Good to clean your diving goggles with, to ensure clean lenses while diving.

I can remember what else is on the article, but I remembered that toothpaste can help in removing the wax layer off your apples. You just need to soak them in a bowl of water with a squirt of toothpaste. After the soaking treatment, rinse the fruit in clean water and eat lo..

For other grandmother advises aka remedy on other household thingies, click here and have a read..