I don’t really know what you call this bridge, it is a bridge over the Penang big drain (aka longkang). It was completed a while back but it took years. The purpose is the ease the Penang Bayan Lepas Phase III Free Trade Zone traffic. I guess it did what it was built for.

Getting on it definitely thrill me but only for a short while. What do you expect? It is a very short distance. As I said, it is only to go over the big drain.

That drain is filled with dirty water, at times it is black with lots of garbage flowing on top. I wished the gomen will clean it up. It will be nice to see clear water in that drain.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I always wanted to get a treadmill for myself but I was afraid that I may not use it frequently. Knowing me, I am not a very discipline person when it comes to exercise. Now the desire of having one is stronger as the latest high tech treadmills are in the market.

Treadmills that come with a 7” entertainment flat screen TV with theater quality sound system and iPod compatible. Wow, I can exercise why watching movie. On top of that it comes with a 20 year motor warranty. Now where can you get such high tech treadmills? Hey now it is half the price too. Check it out!

Popularity: 3% [?]

If you are a delinquent credit card user who cannot seems to make ends meet and pay your credit card bills, you better hear this. If you keep your debt in the credit card, you will suffer a high interest rate. You will end up with more debt.

A good tip is to transfer your debt to a lower interest rate loan. There are no balance transfer fee credit cards out there. It helps you in saving some money there. Be Wise!

Popularity: 6% [?]

I am really happy with Penang Vivahill Honda Service Center as I can see improvements, every time I go service my car. First they have these comfortable sofa chairs at the lounge for resting and reading. You can also get a cup of hot drinks like coffee or tea free of charge and no limit. Water dispenser is also available.

Next there are 2 glass rooms for people like me to work with Internet connection. I can connect my notebook to my office network and work while my car is being serviced. I wished they can install a telephone so that I can do conference too.

Today I saw a small area with small chairs and tables for children play area. They do know how to satisfy customers with children. Previously when I went to the Sg. Pinang Honda Service Center, I was really frustrated because the sales people were smoking in the place. I saw children playing in the area too. I wrote a letter to Honda GM and the government. I wonder did they ever improve the service center there. I won’t know because I do not go there anymore.

However with Honda service, they charged an arm and a leg. It is fairly expensive even after they give me VIP discount. Their mechanics are very young and they cannot fix my car problems. They have a lot of explanation on the cause but no action to fix it. Now I need to find a good mechanic.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I created a public forum for new mothers using PHPBB. It has been running for a few years and last year it started to get registration spam. Bots were creating accounts maliciously. However they cannot spam the forum because they can never get themselves activated. The forum still needs an admin to activate it.

I am not sure why they want to spam a local forum. They really have nothing better to do. I constantly get email, 30-40 emails per day on account creation. I was too lazy to look at the php code to fix it.

Today while I was sick of working, I took a look at the code and fix the spam problems for good. It took me 30 minutes to fix it. Now the forum totally block out spam for good. I haven’t received a single email on activation of account now. They can leave my mail box in peace.

If you want to block out spam in forum, try writing the simple registration form yourselves. It is not that difficult with php. The bots will be clueless on how to spam your forum and they do not want to spend extra time on it. You will be left alone.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Everyone wants their home to look more spacious. For me I like my home need and tidy. In order to make it spacious, you can mount your huge LCD TV on a lcd mount up the wall. Now the wall mount comes with adjustable hinges where you can adjust it left, right, upwards or downwards. It is pretty need.

The wall mount can hold up to 52” LCD TV. Now you can have a home theater system in your own home with the large LCD TV and speakers mounted. Let the movie begins!

Popularity: 16% [?]

With prices hike, we really have to live simple life. I heard a lot of tips on how we save petrol while driving, such as

1. Pump up your tires to the right pressure.
2. Drive at moderate speed. No speeding or changing speed rapidly.
3. Clean the air-filter regularly.
4. Use thinner tires.
5. Start up the car properly.
6. Avoid traveling with unnecessary weight in your car.
7. Be smart and take routes with less traffic congestion.
8. Avoid strong acceleration. No Mat Rempit style of driving.
9. Do not let your engine idle.
10. Use air condition sparingly.
11. Car pooling with your colleagues.

I must say the last tip would be move nearer to your workplace. You certainly can avoid the traffic congestion. If you cannot do that, maybe find work nearer to where you stay. However, one has to sacrifice to make it work. If you cannot, maybe you do not need the savings or you can afford the rise in petrol. If you can, stop complaining.

If you cannot save petrol, maybe you can save on other things. Buy what you need and abstain what you want. My favorite toast with butter and sugar only cost me less than 20 sens. I should eat more at home.

Popularity: 23% [?]

At lunch time, a bunch of us was talking about the petrol station not accepting credit card in the northern region. Reason given was the petrol station owners claim that they lose nearly 50% of the profit to card transactions. Keywords are “lose profit” not “lose money”. If you read it correctly, they want more profit. In actual sense, they are not losing money but just want a bigger chunk of the profit.

In carrying out those actions, consumers like us are the victims as always. We need to carry cash to pump petrol.

One of my colleague said, if the owners are not happy, they can always surrender their license. I am sure other people will like to buy it from them. If you think hard, these station owners do not need to do much to earn a profit. Most of the work is done by the big oil company like marketing or advertisement. All they need to do is to oversee the station.

On top of that, these stations are asking for trouble because trading in pure cash will attracts robbery. Some of these stations are open 24 hours and believed me, no one want to work after midnight if they know so much cash is in the station. They better get good security guards.

Was it a wise decision? You tell me.

Popularity: 51% [?]

You can steal my notebook but you cannot steal my data. Recently my company bought the encryption software called PGP to protect the data in the notebook. The data in my notebook is not encrypted.

Even if you steal my notebook, you cannot get to my data. It is encrypted with a security password. It is a powerful tool and it encrypt the whole hard disk.

It is very simple to install, in fact I didn’t know it was installed until it asked me for a password. It is advisable to defrag the hard disk before installation, it will speed things up.

After it is done, it will ask you for a password.
Now every time I boot up my notebook, it will request for a password before loading the operating system. I heard with this software you can even protect your mobile phone.

Let’s hope I don’t have amnesia and forget my password.

Popularity: 45% [?]

I heard over the news that paper price has gone up. It is a good thing because people will pay attention to reduce paper wastage. It also promotes recycling of paper.

Last week I received a CD from my life insurance company. I thought why they send me a CD. It is their annual finance report. It is pretty need because it will not waste a book of paper. Usually finance reports are thick and no one reads it. It is a policy to send finance reports to share holders. Another of my share company will only distribute finance report upon request.

It is no point in wasting paper and I have a hard time throwing those finance reports away. I usually throw it into a recycling bin. Please do not waste paper.

Popularity: 50% [?]