New discovery I made today. A few days ago, I made a photocopy of myKad. Today I looked at the photocopy and saw the word SALINAN (aka copy). Opps, I thought myKad had the word there, it will be fake if it does. I took a look at it and it didn’t…Phew. You figure it out, how it gets there. Try yours and see.

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When my children are sound asleep, what do I do? Lately I have been watching a whole lot of TV or Internet surfing. Today I came across a very useful plug-in for my blog. The plug-in is called “Clean Archives”. Source: http://www.sporadicnonsense.com/archives/.

Basically what it does is create a page showing the table of contents of my entire blog. Pretty cool. Tada, here is it: http://mybabybay.com/blog/?page_id=363. It is also in my sidebar under Pages called My Archives.

It works for those bloggers who are using WP and have their own host. Sorry, not sure whether it can work for those hosting in blogspot or wordpress.

Ok, enough of computer nonsense, back to bed..zzzZZZ

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Yesterday, my company organized a seminar by Lawrence Walter Ng. It is a very interesting seminar to motivate us. The main objective of this seminar is not motivation but how we should change our ways to serve our customers.

What is so cool about this seminar? Have you been to a seminar where everyone is motivated to participate, one way or another in a game, Q&A or volunteering to go up stage. There were more than 300 attendees. I must say the style of the trainer were very good. He is one of best speaker in Asia and he is a Malaysian. I am impressed by his work. There is just so much energy in the seminar.

If you are stress, depressed, not motivated with work/life or sad, just attend his seminar. He will teach you something that makes you see your life/problems in a different approach.

For example:

No Failures, Wrong Result, Change Strategy

There are no failures in life. We are not failures. However there are things we do that produces wrong result. Therefore we need to change strategy to produces the right results.

Often we hear these negative words:

- There are so many problems…
- I got scolded from my boss
- So difficult, cannot do…
- I don’t know…
- I’ll try …
- No Problem.

Change it to positive thoughts:

- There are so many problems -> There are so many challenges.
- I got scolded from my boss -> I got a message from my boss.
- Difficult -> Interesting.
- I don’t know. -> I find out.
- I’ll try. -> I do my best.
- No Problem -> My Pleasure.

By the way, he also gives out seminars to students who find problems in studying. The seminar is called “Art of Learning”. Pretty cool guy! He made me do a lot of silly things in the seminar itself that I never thought I will do.

More info here: http://www.lwseminars.com/seminar.htm

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When I was in vacation, back in July, my yahoo account was hacked in to. I could not log in. It is partly my fault, because I didn’t really put an unbreakable password. You probably knock me on the head since I am from IT line, I should know better.

Anyhow, the account was open more than 10 years ago. I had all the chat/IM and my old geocities website, link to this account. My yahoo IM friends will be gone. It will mean that it will all vanish if I don’t get my account back. It seems like a total lost of connection, ha, just like your identity. Fortunately I still have MSN IM.

I tried, “forget your password link” in the yahoo login page. Obviously, that will not work, as hackers will change the information of your profile. Next I wrote to the security team, account-security@cc.yahoo-inc.com. One of the admin requested some verification check like security questions and my postcode. It was more than 10 years ago, how would I remember what I put in? Anyway, I gave them a few answers but my postcode was easy, I only stayed with my parents when I was in KL.

After about 1-2 months, a whole lot of emails flying back and forth, finally, the admin send me a reset password. I had given up then but the good news came.

I heard a lot of cases that are in the same shoe as I am. By the way, for those who still can get into their yahoo account, it is time to update your profile and security question.

Here is what you have to do:

Yahoo Help!

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I received this through email. Drool over it. :drool: I will make my way there to locate them. Yum Yum. :good:

Source: AsiaExplorers

Durians of Balik Pulau

In Penang, Malaysia, the best place to get good durians is in the town of Balik Pulau, on the southwest corner of Penang Island. Balik Pulau is a 30 minute drive over the main range and has a lot of durian orchards.

The following is a selection of branded durians which I photographed during the 2004 and 2006 AsiaExplorers Durian Feasts.

D11 “Number Eleven” is a very popular durian in the 70’s. It has creamy yellow flesh with a pleasant taste and a subtle smell.

D604 The D604 was first cultivated by the late Mr. Teh Hew Hong of Sungai Pinang, Balik Pulau. The flesh is quite sweet, and has some “body” to it as the seed is small.

D600 This durian originates in Sungai Pinang in Balik Pulau. The flesh has a bittersweet taste to it, with a touch of sourness. The one that I documented is a bit hard.

D700 The flesh is darker than D600, like chrome yellow. Also slightly hard. Crispy, but the smell is not very strong.

Ang Sim (Red Heart) Ang Sim is a durian with flesh which is quite soft and very sweet, and dark yellow in colour. It also has a nice aroma.

Khun Poh This durian takes the name of the late Mr Lau Khun Poh, who first budded it. Khun Poh has beautiful orangy flesh with a slightly bitter-sweet taste and a heavy aroma.

Hor Loh (Water Gourd Durian) The flesh of the Hor Loh is very soft, dry and quite bitter. It has a sharp smell to it. Hor Loh was first cultivated at the Brown orchard of Sungai Ara. It got its name from its appearance resembling a “Hor Lor” pumpkin. If the durian hits the ground hard when it falls, the flesh tends to be bitter thereafter.

Ang Heh (Red Prawn Durian) Ang Heh originates from Pondok Upeh, Balik Pulau, and has a round-shaped husk. The orange reddish flesh is highly aromatic, very soft with a bitter-sweet taste.

Xiao Hung (Little Red Durian) Xiao Hung, whose name means “Little Red One,” originates in Sungai Pinang, Balik Pulau. The flesh has a bittersweet taste to it, with a touch of sourness. The one that I tasted for this write-up is a bit hard. There are only one or two seeds per section, but the flesh is thick.

Yah Kang (Centipede Durian) Yah Kang is one of my favourite durians. Although its flesh is whitish, the taste is superb, milky, like very sweet, melting chocolate. The name “yah kang” means centipede, and accounts for the number of centipedes found at the foot of the tree, hence giving it the rather unusual name.

Bak Eu (Pork Fat Durian) Bak Eu has a slightly acidic aroma. The flesh is whitish while the taste is quite bitter but nice.

D17 D17 is dark cream flesh. The taste is slightly dry but sweet. It is a tasty durian.

Coupling This durian is gets its unusual name because it looks like two durians joined together, one big and one small. When split open, you almost thought the two halves belong to two different durians. Coupling has whitish flesh which is slightly dry but tastes good.

Ooi Kyau (Tumeric Durian) The name Ooi Kyau (tumeric) describes the colour of the bright yellow flesh of this durian. It is very sweet and tasty.

Chaer Phoy (Green Skin Durian) Chaer Phoy is shaped like a small canteloupe. The skin is bright green, giving it the name which means “green skin”. Chaer Phoy has creamy white flesh which is a bit dry, not too sweet but tasty.

Ang Jin (Red Yoke Durian) As the name suggests, Ang Jin Durian has deep orange flesh. It is very sweet and tasty.

Lin Fong Jiau This durian is named after Lin Fong Jiau, aka Mrs Jackie Chan. I wonder whether it is indicative of the relationship of the celebrity couple, for Lin Fong Jiau is a bittersweet durian, for too bitter for my liking. The flesh is whitish and wet.

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My department arranged for a Fruity Friday as a team-building event. We went to Penang Tropical Fruit Farm. There is not much to see, only if you are interested in looking at fruit tree. I learn a lot about different types of fruit trees. There is a particular plant that the guide explains it can improve fertility and it is called “dukung anak”. You can use it to make tea and drink. It is a common plant that can be found everywhere. The seeds of the plant are beneath the leaves. Very interesting. Half the time the guide tells us that this plant can cure this and that. Not sure how true.

Fertility Plant/Dukung Anak

Anyhow, this place has plenty of fruits to eat. We went at the wrong time. July to August is the best season where there are lots of different fruits. We had banana, jambu, guava, jackfruit, local durian, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, dragon fruit, mango and honey dew. They also serve refreshing fruit juice. If that is not enough, you can also opt to try out their BBQ lamb, beef, fish, chicken, squid and satay. There are healthy salads too. I really enjoyed the healthy lunch to cleanse my system.

The fees, the BBQ lunch is RM28 & dinner is RM38. If you just want the fruits package, it is RM25. You need to call in to make a booking. More information here: http://www.tropicalfruits.com.my/packages.html .

Enjoy the fruity pics:

The BBQ Lunch

Yellow Mangosteen Tree

Dragon Fruit Tree – It is actually a type of cactus.

The red pineapple for deco.

The View.

More Fruits:

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Two month ago, TNB sent me a PINK letter saying they are going to cut my electricity if I do not pay the balance amount (“Tunggakan”). Usually my hubby settled all the bills using the Internet. We have statements to show we pay on time and the right amount. I was frustrated then because I thought my hubby delayed in paying. Anyhow, I asked him to go to the TNB branch and settled the matter. TNB told him many customers have these issue and they are working with the bank on it. How come this sounds so familiar?? :sc:

Last month, I took over paying the bills of the Internet. This month bill came and you see for yourself. What a booboo TNB did? I should send them a PINK letter to cut away the billing. :giggles:

Anyway, I need to cut down on electricity to bring it below RM43 so that I don’t taste the 12% increase. Here are some I can think off.

1. Take the children out to walk more often, cut down their TV hours.
2. Buy a bigger kettle to boil water for whole week.
3. Shower before the sun goes down, no need to switch on bathroom light.
4. Iron all the clothes bi-weekly or buy clothes that do not need ironing.
5. During a hot day, if need air-condition, hang around shopping malls.
6. Put more load into the washing machine.
…..

Anymore bright ideas?

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Seaweed has always been my favourite. I can eat the entire pack, yes few hundreds slices all at one go. My favourite soup is also seaweed soup, the real seaweed kind. In Cantonese, it is called “Kuan Po Hoi Choe”, you can ask the Chinese medical shop. I don’t know about you, but eating seaweed has made my hair black. I seldom get white hair and no need to dye. I never dye my hair too because I cannot stand the smell of the chemical.

Now in the market, brand new Japanese Crispy Seaweed, made in Thailand. Yes Crispy. It is very nice but only thing is, they put a little bit too much salt. It is not very healthy for children. Anyway snacks are never healthy. If you haven’t tried it, go get it from Tesco.

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Yesterday was Dumpling Day. My neighbor made dumpling. My house was filled with the delicious aroma of those dumplings. They gave some to me. It was so good, wanted to ask for more. :giggles: I have been having dumpling for breakfast these few days.

I always wonder how they make it. Usually in the wet market here, they will have a special section that sells all the dumpling ingredients. I am always so tempted to buy and try it at home. If any of you know how to do it, please contribute your recipe on http://cookblog.mybabybay.com

Wrapping Method Here.

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This is a wake up post for all Malaysians. It is nothing new to Malaysian on how bad their driving ethics or skills are. Here is the non-exhaustive list:

1. Some actually thinks indicators are an accessory. Often you find cars turning without indicating. Some indicate but never bother to turn it off after turning.
2. Drive through emergency lane when there are traffic jams.
3. Beat queuing by squeezing in between especially in toll areas.
4. Very creative in creating more lanes on the road.
5. Speeding behind ambulance as they want to beat the traffic.
6. Speeding on the highway, if cannot overtake on the left side, overtake on the right side.
7. Stop on the yellow box. I bet not many know what the yellow box is for.
8. Stop to pick up passenger or wait on the side of the road with yellow line and cause the long queue of traffic behind. The drive doesn’t even care.
9. Speed down residential area. Now I am seeing more and more speed bums, 3 speed bums in a 200 meters road.
10. Double park, triple park and doesn’t pay attention to the poor fellow who park correctly when he horns.
11. Using emergency indicators while driving, especially when it rains very heavily. Sometimes you cannot tell whether the car is moving or broke down. :sc:
12. This is a classic one. :wall: If cannot find parking in a shopping mall, send a passenger down to look for one. When found, call the driver to come and block other drivers who got there first, from parking.
13. Motorbikes who love to beat the red traffic lights, thinking there are racers.
14. There are certain kind of drivers who couldn’t decide where they are going, driving in the middle of 2 lanes.
15. ….etc…

Now when you are stop by the police because you got caught doing something illegal, like one of the above. What is the first thing you think off? Malaysians are very creative in finding many ways to escape from paying the fine. Think again. If you escape the hefty fine, please don’t complain about the above list, and tolerate every single one of them. If you cannot tolerate all the above, do drive with ethics and be considerate to others. :good:

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A very interesting thing I found when I was in KL was that there is a recycle place in Mid Valley. As I was waiting for the sales ladies (30 mins late for work ) to arrive to rent 2 car trolleys, I saw a recycle booth. It is at P1, the car park exit closest to Jaya Jusco. You can bring in newspapers, plastic bottles, aluminium cans (RM2 per kilo), glass bottles, magazines and boxes. Hey its time to do some spring-cleaning at your house. They don’t pay you much but it is a good cause for the environment.

You must be wondering, how am I going to transport all the rubbish there. It is easy, dump everything to the car and go early at 10:00am (opening hours), park near the entrance of Jaya Jusco, at P1. Take some trolleys (20 sen each), filled them up and push it to the booth. After that, you can use that money for parking fees. As I was waiting there for 30 mins, while my kids were trying out the trolley cars, I counted over 10 people came to recycle. :good:

Anyone know of such a thing in Penang? One time I had all the aluminium cans (children milk powder cans), magazines, plastic bottles but I couldn’t find the darn recycle bin. They removed the recycle bin in Green Lane and some other places that was previously there. :sc: I wish the government should set this booths in hypermarts like Giant, Tesco, Carrefour, etc…. Now I can only recycle my newspaper and magazine. There is a lorry that comes around my place during the weekend.

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