From WordPress 2.1.1 to 2.9.2

Yesterday, I finally upgrade this blog to the latest version of WordPress 2.9.2. Although I would love to stick to the classic version but I cannot because my web host wants to upgrade the PHP. The new PHP version does not support the classic WordPress version. Secondly, the security for the old version is not as good.

The user interface of the new version looks complicated. I think I jumped from 9 steps up. The tabs on the top move to the left side. The outlook is different. I suppose it has more features. I haven’t made my way in some of them.

Ooh, the way I upgraded it, you can never believe it. I just click a link and it does it for me. I didn’t have to crack my head. It only took 2 minutes.

Now I just have to get use to the new version until it gets really old.

I got some free Hard Rock collectibles from the hotel. The shape of the mineral water bottle is very unique. I took 2 home.

I browse the Hard Rock shop but most of the stuff there are quite costly for my pocket. I am not a fan of Hard Rock. I used to collect Planet Hollywood T-Shirt but not anymore. I love to collect stuff like hotels shampoo, soap bars and toiletries. I still have a lot of those at home. I better not collect too many stuff else I will end up living in a dump.

It was a pretty cool hotel. My family loved it. It was really crowded because of the school holidays. Rooms very fully book. Yeap, there were some walk in guests whom were really disappointed. During the evening, the car park was closed for outsiders.

CheckIn & Check out

Firstly I empathize with the staff working there, the front desk or lobby is non-air condition. Both the staff and the customers have to bear with the heat. It took a long time for check in because there were no rooms available. Funny, the guests’ latest check out time is 12:30pm. I went there at 2pm, still no room. I wonder how long it takes for the room to be clean. Maybe short staffed in the housekeeping area.

Next, while I was checking out, one customer was smoking. No non-smoking sign around, really bad for us non-smokers who has to bear with unhealthy environment. It took long wait for me to check out.

The Room

It has a very spacious room and fun for every age group. I got a room with a good view of the beautiful sea. The room decoration was just ok, nothing to shout about. However the bathroom is a little small and no bath tub.

The Pool

The swimming pool is the highlight for children with 3 slides. For children below 4 feet, it is advisable to wear an arm float. There are rooms by the pool, just like a personal pool. Very convenient for some.

There were dancing at the pool and water ball organize by the hotel. Something to rock their guests there.

Teens Club

There is a teen club room for teenagers or children to have fun with Xbox, play stations and computers. However there is no queuing system. Most children were hogging the stations and left others waiting. I even saw a dad hogging the computer. I saw many disappointed kids there.

TV Program

Lastly, I do wish the put Cartoon Network on. It is a MUST have, especially kids.

Rates

Will I go back there again? Yeah, if they reduce the hotel rate or provide more value for my money!

Cleanliness:

Service:

Facilities:

Overall:

Do you believe it that twice I went to Pizza Hut here in Penang, Malaysia, twice they do not have what I ordered? They are always running out of food. I am very curious how they do they inventory management.

I ordered pasta, they told me no penne pasta.

I ordered salad, they ran out of coleslaw and another time, ran out of thousand island sauce.

I ordered ice-lemon tea, they ran out of ice.

I ordered ice-cream, they ran out of strawberry or chocolate flavor.

Management if you are reading this blog, you better upgrade your food inventory. If not, you are just chasing your customers away unless you don’t bother. I wonder if one day, you will run out of pizza to sell.

I have no experience in choosing mens ties because my partner does not wear them. Therefore I do not buy any. However I did browse through a online site called www.ties-necktie.com. Wow I like the neck ties there.

I am tempted to get some as a gift. They have simple yet elegant design which I like. It stands out with a pastel color shirt. Very chic!

Now coach keep sending me coupons. If you are in the states, here is something for you. Offer valid 3/3/10-3/7/10 in Coach Factory stores in US, Canada and Puerto Rico only. Cannot be combined with any other offer.

Link here: Coach Coupon

A lot of us have bad stories about their maid but for some of us, we may have some good ones but never bother to tell.

I must say I had a maid who drove me up the wall and I decided to let her go back. Then I went for a part time maid. How did I find this part time maid agency? They drop in info to my mail box and I called them up. At first the maids they send to me were not good, one took a long time to clean 1 room, another practically took down all my stuff from the shelf to wipe but don’t know how to put it back and one didn’t have a clue what cleaning was all about. Finally, they sent one which I stick until she went back home. The agency sent another one which is as good. So far, I am sticking with this agency because they trained them well. The rate is RM9 per hour, minimum of 5 hours.

We do have bad impressions of maid, probably from horror stories we heard from people. Or it is us that we set high expectation of them. If they do not meet it, we get angry and scold them. When they are scolded, they perform worst and it is a vicious cycle. End of the day, both losses. Extreme cases end up in newspaper headlines. I can safely say, most of them are not trained at all. Who is to be blamed? The agency and not the maid but the maid kena left and right.

Anyway, I want to say good things about my part time maid. She does her work very well, everything she does is clean and tidy. She is honest, she returns back the money she found in pockets while doing the washing. One day, I had to leave her at home alone because I had another appointment. I know I shouldn’t but I have no choice. When I return home, everything was done accordingly. She didn’t even take the opportunity to be lazy. Only complaint is, often I have to remind her of certain places to clean. She does it when she is reminded. I am pretty please with her. I do reward her with bonus and gifts. End of the day, she is happy and I am happy.

Absolutely love Shabu Shabu at Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park in Klang Valley. After a few days of eating the Chinese New Year food which consist of a lot of meat, my family decided to eat something soupy with lots of vegetables to wash down the meat.

We chose Shabu Shabu steamboat. It is a buffet style with conveyer belt to serve you. You can pick anything from it. It has meat, seafood, lots of vegetables, bean curd (taufu), seaweed, egg and mushrooms. They have pork, beef and lamb for meat. I love them all, it is cut into thin slices and taste superb.

I like it because each individual has its own steamboat pot and soup. They have tom yam, miso and chicken soup. For dessert, they have free flow of fruits and ice-cream.

I will certainly go back again. Let’s hope they open one here in Penang too!

In lay man’s term, I can surf the internet on my notebook using Internet connection from my iPhone. How cool is that? Yeah I am in KL now, no free broadband available. I have to make do with my iPhone internet.

After researching I found a very simple solution using PDANet software. PDANet will make my iPhone into a router. Cool eh?

First step is to create a adhoc wireless network. I am using Win XP wireless. To do that, go to Control Panel -> Network Connections, select Wireless Network Connection & View Wireless Connection. Go to Change Advance Settings -> Wireless Network -> Add. Create a SSID, uncheck “The key is provided for me automatically”, create a network key for security purposes, check “This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network; wireless access points are not used”. Everything else is default. Now connect to the newly created SSID.

Once you have done that, go to your iPhone & install PDANet using Cydia. The phone needs to be jailbreak first if haven’t done so. Next go to your wifi and select the newly created SSID and key in the password. Run PDANet, it should detect your notebook. Finally open a browser and start surfing as you are CONNECTED.

Very cool!

I always wanted to get a GPS but I do not know which model to get. I also do not know whether it will work in Malaysia or has Malaysia map. Thanks to a group of developers, they produce Malaysia map.

Garmin has a lot of GPS models which confuses me. I really wanted one with the minimal features and cheap. Of coz not a old model that will be discontinued. I went to search for a Garmin model chart for something that is right for me. You can Google for the comparison chart.

Before I went to the states, I also search for Malaysia map that can be loaded to the model of my choice. I got the Malaysia maps from Malsingmaps.com. It is very easy to install the map, just drag and drop to the GPS folder when you connect the GPS to your notebook.

I was fortunate when I saw Costco was giving rebates for GPS 265WT, the model I selected. It took me a while to make a purchase. I am glad I did. Amazon sold a little higher. GPS 285W is selling at a very low price.

Now I have been playing with it and it works in Penang. I am going to test it out in Kuala Lumpur which I always get lost there. Ipoh too, to find good place to eat!