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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Samsung Omnia SGH-I900 Latest Firmware

Just a few days ago I was considering selling off my 16GB Samsung Omnia (a.k.a. SGH-I900) and buy myself a brand new phone. Somehow I'd gotten bored with it for some unknown reason. Craving for new gadgets, I'd been scouring the web for hopes of finding a worthy replacement. I considered a few *cheaper* options, namely the Nokia XpressMusic 5800, Sony Ericsson T700 and Sony Ericsson G900. Was looking at the hyped up Sony Erisson Xperia X1 as well but I didn't feel like going for another expensive phone *regardless how smart it is* at this present time.

My Omnia and everything that came with it including the Samsung screen protector.

But here's the thing. I was already thinking about scaling down and ditching my Omnia when I stumbled on this blog called My Samsung Omnia *thank you!* which totally saved my Omnia from being sold off. All of a sudden my Omnia was revived! I called up the Samsung CareLine to enquire about new firmware and how it would affect my warranty and all that *I know.. I'm such a square* and they informed that there's no problem with my warranty so long as I upgrade the firmware from the official website. My Omnia's original firmware version was DXHG4 (G4) and today I can happily say that I've upgraded to DZIA5 (A5) which is the Malaysia/Singapore January 2009 version 5.

Noticeable changes:

Left: Audio controls in G4 (Photo courtesy of GSMarena).
Right: Audio controls in A5.

As you can clearly see, the new audio control outlook is HOT! Not to mention so much easier to select with your thumb or fingertips. I love this change. It's just a lot funkier. The widget bar is also more customizable than before which is fab although I usually have my Today screen set up with the regular widget-less Samsung Today screen presets anyways.

Left: Scrolling with G4 (Photo courtesy of GSMarena).
Right: Scrolling with A5.

I didn't quite like the scrolling function previously. The letters were tiny and you really had to use your fingernails or the stylus for this as you can see on the left screen capture. Of course you could just use your fingertips in an up-sweep motion to search through the phonebook or programs list. The new scrolling mechanism helps a lot. It makes scrolling just so much easier. As you scroll up or down the list, the respective alphabets are shown in huge fonts as well.

Here's another something new that came with the upgrades. The Favourite Settings screens. Tap Menu > Favourite Settings and Ta-da!! I love that instead of the power bar labelled "0" and "100" at each end of the bar signifying the levels 0% to 100%, you now get actual percentage of the battery in this convenient screen. These shortcuts to the most common settings options (the regular Settings page can still be accessed at 'All Settings') is pretty nifty. I like. When you tap on the right arrow, you get yet another set of shortcuts which unless you're using the WM2 template you'll have to do it the long way is now conveniently available under One Click Settings. Simple.

What can I say? I am a girl after all. So a lot of the changes that I've noticed are more cosmetic than hardware related. But what I'm really looking forward to is to see if the camera bug has been fixed with this upgrade. The thing is after some time, you can't access the camera function and the phone tells you there's not enough memory to launch the camera so you'll have to do a soft reset to get the camera to work again. But I heard that they fixed that bug in one of the previous upgrades *yes!!* so I'll have to wait and see. As far as battery performance goes, it's definitely much better than my Motorola V3x that I was using a few years back. It was relatively as lasting as my Nokia XpressMusic 5610 which I'd been using prior to my Omnia. Not to sure how long the batteries last with the new firmware though. Can't really gauge that yet since I've only upgraded it this afternoon.
I've read some users complained in forums on the download size of the A5 at about 280MB. Fortunately I'm on unlimited broadband so for me it's not a problem. Using a download accelerator didn't hurt either. But it still did take a little while to download. I'd say about 30-40mins. But the upgrading process in itself was pretty easy and fast. Just remember if you're planning to upgrade your Omnia, make sure you backup your phone data. I used the MITs Wizard 3.0 that came with my Omnia packaged CD which I find a lot easier to use that the WM Device Manager and ActiveSync. Additional "useless" items that came with the upgrade were the trailer videos of Kung Fu Panda, Transformers and a couple Omnia music and video. The new upgrade did come with a couple new games in addition to Solitaire and Bubble Breaker: Asphalt4 *uber cool race game utilizing the phone's accelerometer to move the car left or right* and Dice. Shozu is now gone. But I've never actually used it before and I'm not quite sure what it's for either.

For a detailed review of the Omnia, click here.

All in all, I'm liking this feeling of falling in love with my Omnia all over again. Wish they'd used a better display screen than the WQVGA. It just doesn't do it justice especially coupled with a relatively good 5.0MP camera with functions comparable to a dedicated digital camera. The flash/photo light is not desirable but I don't quite use it anyways. I'll just tinker with the eV settings and use my Ixus for proper photo taking.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

back to normal...

woohoo.. looks like streamyx is up and running and fast as usual now. glad the broadband nightmare is finally over and everything is back to normal.

ah... time, where forth art thou, time? aren't we just always in a state of not having enough time. or maybe we just have too much to do for our own good? haha. anyways, i'm still trying to squeeze in time here and there to accommodate all the things that i need to do. time for myself, family, friends and work.

and i'm still trying to find new ways to generate more income. gotta figure out how to get to be financially independent. i mean let's get serious. you'd be lying if you said that money is not that important. costs are going up, even basic necessities like eating is getting more and more expensive. i'd like to be able to buy a house and not have to finance it for the rest of my living years. real estate property is getting really pricey these days. what costs rm200k a few years back might cost more than half a mil today. so that's a big jump and i doubt wages get that big a jump. so there's really a disproportionate scenario going on here. car i already own *which i'll be paying for the another 8 years* so i'd really like to be able to get a home for myself of my choice. truth be told i am a city girl. so you can imagine how much higher the standard of living are for city folks. haha. so yes, my dream house *not that i've found it yet* is gonna cost me an arm an a leg for probably the rest of my adult life. *sigh*

it's amazing to look at people with so much money, they actually help the real estate economy by jacking up the prices. i've noticed that a lot of people buy property *and i mean just snap up property* like nobody's business and before or as soon as the development is complete, they'll sell it off and make another rm30k-50k *if not more* off it. so as these funny people get richer, you end up with a bigger hole in your pocket. *mucho bummer*

but we can't really be all obsessed about money now can we? even though money does make the world go round in today's world *and many more years to come*, there is a bad side to money. money, or rather the obsession and desire for it can make people go crazy, literally! some people rob, steal, extort, blackmail, kill, manipulate, marry, sell their bodies/wife/children, kidnap, lie, backstab, etc just for the sake of money. in fact, money can even make people take their own life. the world is a sad twisted place to live in if you think about it. but the thing about an obsession is, you can never get enough of it. say for instance in this case, if your world revolves around the every essence of money, it doesn't matter how much you have, even if you have a multimillion dollar account, you'd still crave for more. it may start out to be a noble effort *like in the movie 21* but then what with the adrenaline rush that comes with all this excitement at getting money, especially if it's not that hard *fast cash*. thus why robbers keep robbing *with increasing danger i might add* and kidnappers keep kidnapping.

sometimes i find it mind boggling at how creative and smart these people are at tricking or extorting people for the sake of money and yet not be able to make an honest living themselves. is because of the employment system? or judicial system? or bureacracy? i don't know. but it really amazes me. take for instance cable thieves. sesb and telco staffs and contractors have to undergo training and fulfill safety requirements to handle these cables and other equipment and yet thieves have no training whatsoever and they get away unscathed? *say what?* it's scary how law breakers have this insane brain that churns out ideas to reap benefits of what other sow. amazing, simply amazing.

haha. this was actually supposed to be a short post about streamyx back to its normal speed and look where it's taken me?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

the wait is over... but still riled up..

*yes!!!!* my camera arrived today. sooo happy!! cute, simple and practical. just the way i like it. i haven't quite test drived it yet... or rather test shoot it. got back late from work today so this was a pleasant surprise. and i did tinker around with it just a teensy bit snapping away with the 32MB card that came in the box. i haven't taken the 2GB card out from the package yet.

as much as i am uber excited with my new toy, i'm still incredibly annoyed at my streamyx connection quality that's been killing my patience these past few days. the worse thing is not knowing why the darn thing is in snail speed! *ggrrrr* funny though it's fast as usual when i'm checking out some sites and crawling when viewing others. yesterday i tried opening tmnet's website and can you believe it?!?! it just went to an error page and won't open. was hoping to get some kind of explaination to why the connection isn't what it usually is. but there goes that hope. haha!! or maybe i missed the service interruption notice in the papers. *hhmmm* maybe.

don't you just hate it at work when someone who just joined the team and supposedly asks you for help to catch up on how things work, process flows, etc and then tries hitting on you?!?!? i do. you see, as much as i'm a team player and always willing to lend a hand whereever i can, i really don't like it when someone just doesn't even have the decency to get to know you and just because you're a girl/lady/woman whatever and they just start distastefully flirting with you. and to think that some of the things that i've been asked to teach or explain are in fact things that he should know in the first place. how the heck does one become and engineer in this field without knowing the difference between a monopole and an aesthetic monopole?!?!? i mean that's not even the techie part yet. seriously, i doubt that one can be well versed in the technical aspects and not know. and i'm pretty sure all of us have internet connections in the office *duh!* and there's this awesome thing called googling (read: Google). hel-lo!! the best part of it all is, the other day he was "updating" his list to update our project manager and he made it look like he did this thing we call 'request to share' in the system when in fact i was the one who did. what a prick!! i mean, we had a meeting all of us and identified some of the items to be done and stuff. so after the meeting he seemed like he was actually doing his part with the registration in the system and requesting. me being me, i double checked on the requesting part *you can't really check on the registering in such a short timeframe* and he did NONE. i'd even forwarded the list to him on which ones needed action. and yes, i repeat, he did NONE. it was something i'd used to do prior to him joining the team so i just went on and did it again. after all, it's not my fault he's slow.

ok. enough ranting cos it's not even worth it. *haha* back to the original purpose of this post -- my ixus -- i'm just so excited that i can now start with my 1st project. the background work is pretty much all set up already. so now i'm just preparing for the launch. haha. nothing fancy really. but it's still my baby. *wink* and i seriously can't wait! so watch out for trove by elixelle cos it'll be up real soon. *hugs*

Sunday, February 22, 2009

anticipation and ideas...

although we do have digital cameras *yes, plural.. thanks to my gadget addiction* at home including my last purchase -- sony cybershot t20 -- a year or two ago, i've decided to get myself a camera to call my own *again*. haha. my mum borrowed the t20 during her trip to perth last year and loved the huge lcd display screen. so the camera is now hers. in a way it was another chance for me to satisfy my gadget shopping hunger so after much contemplation and consideration, i'd originally set my eyes on the canon ixus 860 is which had an even bigger lcd screen. haha. i'm a sucker for the huge screens as well. but after having seen and held the camera in real life, it just didn't click with me.

coincidentally nyn had just gotten herself a canon ixus 80 is in pink. so while checking out the 860, i had a look see of the 80 as well. now i liked the fact that the 80 comes in 5 different colours *yay! choices!!* and well, the design was pretty simply and clean cut. size-wise it wasn't too big either and the feel of the camera was good enough for me. so i continued to weigh my options and read up on reviews online *ahem.. research* and still couldn't shake the 80 out of my head. it's cute that it has a viewfinder as well *just like the konica minolta x50 we have at home* which could be fun to use at times *aahh.. flashback to the days when all cameras needed viewfinders*.
so at the end of it all, i've made up my mind and went for the ixus 80 is after all. it is after all a cheaper choice and yet practical and serves my needs for the camera which is all i can ask for really. well, originally i'd wanted to get one in camel colour. but luck has it was contacted by the seller informing me that they only had it in silver *nooooo!!!!*, blue *in a shade i'd get bored of easily.. we wouldn't want that now would we?!?* and pink *my 2nd choice*.

now i sit here in anticipation for the arrival of my brand new camera which i expect to arrive next week. excited. with the camera in hand, i can get started on my work-in-progress projects. *beams*

so many ideas yet so little time and resources. especially since i do have a full time job and my ideas requires quite a significant amount of my time. but as soon as it's ready, i'll let you guys know. ooo... so much to do. i've already hinted on the first project in a previous post and the second, well, it has something to do with this year's resolution. *smiles*


on another note, the fossil watch i've been saving up for has already been sold. was so disappointed to go to the store and the watch not being displayed anymore. *sob sob* and i was really looking forward to getting it. i'm planning to head up to kl early march so hopefully i can find the watch there *crosses fingers*.

Monday, February 16, 2009

price tags...

there must be something wrong with the watson's outlets in kk. seriously. for instance during lunch break i went to the centre point outlet to buy some deo (i like to keep extras at home) and glanced at the price indicated. rm11.50. so went to the cashier and stood in line. first thing that annoyed me was after serving the lady in front of me, without informing me, the girl just stepped over to the other counter to help out the other cashier. *dumbfounded* bewildered if you may, i looked on as she proceeded to help serve another lady after that (who by the way, lined up after me). so i took an annoyed look at her (and she noticed timidly) and lined up at the counter she was assisting at.

if that wasn't annoying enough, when they scanned the deo, it showed up as rm12.05 instead.

me: isn't the price rm11.50?
*cashier keeps punching the cash register then looks at
me like she wants to say "can't you see the register says
rm12.05?!?"*

cashier: rm12.05.
me: *still annoyed* you're price tag over there
is wrong then.
*cashier stares at me while i take my wallet out of my
bag to hand her the cash*

cashier: do you have 5 sen?
me: lemme check.
*hands the dumb cashier 5 sen*
cashier: thank you.
*hands me the plastic bag and turns around to continue
her chit-chat with her colleagues*

me (thinking): isn't she gonna do anyting about the wrong price
tag?!?!?!

so you see. not only was the price wrongly tagged, the staff are ignorant and too lazy to care as well. and to think this wasn't the first time i've come across a pricing error like this in one of their outlets here. don't get me wrong, i love watson's. but they've seriously got to get their staff to be more aware of these things and have better interpersonal skills. whatever happened to quality control?

Saturday, February 14, 2009

singledom and v-day...

being single for a good 25 years and 2 months of my life is, well, not such a big deal for me. you know what they say, you don't know what you're missing until you've been there. so no, i don't have any of those lovey-dovey or heartbreak experiences. but i do know a thing or two about celebrating v-day in the land of singledom. lol!!

i suppose if you've been in love before, then v-day would be a lot hard to go through without the beloved significant other. i mean seriously, couples are at large everywhere you turn your head. but then again, times have changed and these days it isn't just about the love between boy-girl or man-woman. valentine's has evolved into a celebration of love in all it's glory. this current era of v-day celebrations has even engaged card makers to produce v-day cards for sisters, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, friends -- you name it. so there's really no reason to not celebrate.

for those of you interested to know more about the history of valentine's day, click here.

now here's what i think. a display of the appreciation of love towards the people around you shouldn't be dependent on that one day of the year. love is developed and nurtured through time and pooling all that effort into one day is just not sufficient to show how much you care. after all, it's just one day.

so it doesn't matter if you're single or in a relationship, valentine's is just a day. if you want to celebrate and appreciate 'love' in every sense of the word, you have 365 (or 366) days in a year to do that. if you care about someone, anyone at all, i believe that those random acts of kindness and TLC can happen anytime, anyday. don't wait until it's too late to tell someone you care for them. if you're the type who just can't find the right words to express your emotions, there's no need to say it with words. like they say, action speaks louder than words. at times, even words lie. just remember that even small gestures of compassion can go a long way.

don't get me wrong. it's not that i've never been in love (or at least that's what i'll call it for the purpose of this text). i was once smitten with a guy and found myself dumb enough to sit alone in a corner of a bookstore, book in hand, glancing at other couples sprinkled all over the mall with the hopes and faith that he hadn't forgotten he'd asked me out just a few days earlier thinking it would be my first v-day experience. luck has it, i almost cried then and there because he seemed to have no recollection of it (not that i asked directly) at all. realizing my stupidity, the subsequent v-days, i've never waited for anyone to sashay into my life and supposedly to light up my being. why waste time on something like that? if you're gonna love me, be there for me whole heartedly as i would for you. otherwise, don't waste my time and yours.

as much as it puzzles me how some people can move on from one person to the next with what seems to be such ease, going from one mad love to another, i've been more reserved. somewhat conservative i suppose. if you know me, you'll know what i mean. *winks* anyways... the lovey-dovey kind of love can be confusing and sometimes misleading. although i know my friends are eagerly waiting for me to announce my debut into coupledom, i've still not met "the ONE" (if that's what you call them). haha. don't worry. i still have faith that i won't be single forever. lol!!!

so here's another interesting twist to february 14. i've come to know that some have also fondly referred it to as single's awareness day. a lot of magazine publications these days are featuring fun things to do for those sans their significant other. so if you're single or have just recently joined the team, don't fret. embrace the day like any other. it's not the end of the world. like i said, there are 8,760 (or 8,784) hours in a year (inclusive of sleep) to appreciate and love the important people in your life and to remember those who have passed.

so what did i do today? let's just say i had a good much needed rest and while my parents and brother was out celebrating v-day, i was home with some burger king take-away with my two baby bros sitting in the living room happily munching and laughing away at george of the dragon.

to everyone, have a happy valentine's and single's awareness day!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

LOL!!

as a child i've always watched a lot of tv. if you're an 80s kid, then you must remember cartoons like he-man and the masters of the universe, she-ra, jem and the holograms, transformers, woody woodpecker, smurfs, teenage mutant ninja turtle and more. another one of the many cartoon series i used to watch was of course, pink panther -- albeit a rather mute pink panther those days.

so today, after a filling lunch at dream food in palm square (yummy dory nizakana with garlic rice) with the whole family, we went to watch the pink panther 2 at 2.55pm.
when the first pink panther movie came out, my stomach hurt from laughing so much just watching the trailer on tv. so you can imagine my anticipation to watch the movie itself. needless to say, i found it as hilarious as the trailer if not more.

second time around i didn't get to see the trailer. in fact, i didn't even realize it was already in cinemas. *shocked* anyways, the entire audience in hall 6 was laughing out loud throughout the whole movie. despite his obvious stupidity (or so it seems), inspector jacques clouseau is an extremely entertaining officer/detective with unorthodox methods of deduction. ponton has a much less prominent presence in this sequel compared to its predecessor however but is still an important character in the movie. andy garcia, alfred molina, aishwarya rai bachchan and the lesser known yuki matsuzaki work well together forming the rest of the "dream team". it is interesting to see how clouseau's alternative point of view and outrageously funny antics actually helps solve the whole puzzle at the end of the day. watch the movie. you'll not regret it.

on another note, bit3lips was on again this weekend with their 'sawan 4 fashion extended' garage sale. i couldn't make it yesterday and after a long day today could only make it there around 8pm or so. being in the xl size range at the moment, most of the stuff that i was interested in were either a size s or m. stumbled on a few pieces from my own collection as well. lol! after browsing through the goods, i bought a simple giordano pink floral button-down shirt short sleeve shirt to wear casually. it's not my usual size (it's an l) but i figured if it's a bit tight, i could always take out all the darts to make it a straight cut shirt. haha!!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

yummy food sampling..

last thursday while having lunch in kolombong with a few of my officemates, i received an interesting call from shan inviting me to attend a cny promo menu sampling session cum micro blogger gathering at the coffee bean and tea leaf, waterfront at 7.00pm that same night. i said ok on the spot considering i didn't have anything planned out for the night and i haven't been on a social outing in quite a while. haha.

so there i was around 7.10pm while it rained outside *brrrrr....* seeing only two familiar faces (fara & serena) in the room. no matter. even though it seems that everyone else seems to know each other, at least i knew someone there so that was comforting enough. my biggest social problem is not knowing what to say to new people. (i'm such a boring person.. haha!)

without further ado, we were all served the star of the night: red bean ice blended priced at rm12. nobody touched the drink/food before snapping shots of it first despite being hungry. i can tell you, camera flashes were everywhere! passerbys outside must think there's a celebrity there or some photoshoot going on. lol!!! anyways, this promo drink will only be available while stocks last. being a rather conventional cafe goer, i'd usually go for my usual drink (i.e. pure vanilla frappe or a pure choc frappe -- yes, i'm one of those people who don't drink coffee or any of it's variants). normally, i wouldn't try out promotional items so this was stepping out of my comfort zone. the verdict? well, it was surprisingly good. haha. incorporating red bean powder with low fat milk (soy milk for those who are lactose-intolerant) and whip cream sprinkled with whole red beans, the only way to describe this drink is it tastes like those red bean ice cream potong. honest!!

before sampling the mandarin (orange) cheese cake, we were further delighted with a nice food spread consisting of some chicken pasta, salad nicoise (tomatoes, lettuce, anchovies, chunky tuna flakes, light dressing) and 2 types of panini sandwiches (chicken chipotle and cheese & tomato).


everything was delish!! considering i came on an empty stomach, and we were eating from ~5" plates, i was pretty filled up by the time it was cake time. i didn't manage to try out the chicken sandwich and couldn't even make second helpings. lol!! after some chit chat here and there (and camera flashing everywhere still), serena, fara and myself shared a slice of the cheesecake. the cheesecake was simply delicious with its rich moist texture with a tinge of the mandarin flavour to it. if you're not a big eater, this is really a cake to share with family/friends/loved ones 'cos it's really rich and filling on its own. if you're thinking of trying out this treat, i'd suggest you get a move on it 'cos it's only around til mid-march. and if you're wondering, it's rm8.50/slice. *wink*

now i wonder how much that chicken pasta is. me thinks me gonna get some more. oo and the salad too. i love coffee bean's salads (especially the one that comes with the breakfast menu).

Thursday, February 5, 2009

bali here we come?!?

now my girls and i are dying to go on another vacation together and we might be settling with bali for the very idea of relaxing in a foreign country (cuti-cuti... indonesia?!?) as all of them are aware, i'm quite the shopaholic (albeit on a budget... gggrrr...) so my babe girl was a bit wary of the suggestion at first. considering i'll be in bandung in july anyways, a not so shopping centred trip won't be such a bad idea *girl gasping in shock* to me (at this particular point in time). hehe.
here are some random bali-related stuff that i've stumbled on:

accommodation
bamboo legian bed & breakfast
internet rates ranging from usd26 (~rm94.80) nett to usd39 (~rm142.20) nett per room per night (rooms: twin, double, triple with or without ensuite bathroom).
located 10mins from airport and 500m to kuta beach.

from what i've read so far on the net, it seems that kuta is the place to be. here's an excerpt from traveladvisor.com:

Kuta Region : Bali Kuta is the most happening tourism spot area among the rest region. The Sunset in Kuta is very breathtaking. Accommodations in Kuta range from a modest homestay for a few dollars a night to luxurious, five-star, international hotels costing several hundred to several thousand dollars a night. You will easily to find interesting places around Kuta such as shopping center, pubs & bars, restaurants, theme parks, budget hotels and many others. Best place for active travelers.
night life & beaches
the night life in bali is also centred in the kuta/seminyak areas so that should also be interesting with no cover charge too! haha. just a thought. *wink* ahh... and don't forget the beaches too (or specifically kuta beach -- ahem). wonder if i'll be bikini ready by then. haha. doubtful. extremely doubtful. lol!

shopping & spa
i've read that kuta houses a lot of funky clothing (beach inspired i reckon) but they don't quite cater for bigger sizes. am i that big? *note to self: exercise! exercise! diet! diet!* for handicrafts and such, generally the ubud region is the place to head over to apparently. but north of kuta there's a 4-floor warehoused type handicraft place called geneva handicraft centre at kerobokan. quality-wise it's obviously not high end but is supposedly cheap. hmmm.. spas? they're pretty scattered everywhere in the different regions. i wonder if it's worth checking out with the escalating prices in bali itself over the years. haha. who knows?!?

other activities
ok so i managed to slip in a bit of shopping into the trip idea (haha. can you blame me?!?). on a cultural note, we could have a look see at the kecak and barong dance performances. and there are the trips to see active volcanoes *cough-sulphur-cough*, water sports, something for the adrenaline junkie *squirms at thought of being shot 52m in the air in a sec with the 'slingshot' at adrenalin park -- yikes!!*, temple hopping *choke* i mean visiting, and a whole lot more. due to my never-ending list of things i fear, nature excursions aren't really my thing. lol!! which goes to show why i haven't talked about the wonders of nature in my post (or any other posts so far for that matter). don't get me wrong, i'm no anti-nature or anything. it's just a phobia thing which i can't exactly explain and i don't think i quite comprehend either. haha. i'm weird.

with so many things that can be done there, will there even be enough time?!? haha. so girls, how goes the plans?!?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

why is labuan airport so... empty?!?

yesterday was a somewhat manic day if you may. prepared and faxed through the necessary correspondences for work, read my e-mails (and reply). the usual. then came the call from my kl colleague informing me that they won't be able to make it to the meeting in labuan and i have to go on behalf of the company. can't really blame him though considering a lot of people were on leave last week for the cny festivities (i.e. hardly anyone replied their e-mails). coincidentally my kl colleague in charge of making travel arrangements for the department was out of office on course and the only other person who can help with the necessary processes (i.e. preparing the purchase requisition, liaising with budgeting and travel desk) was knee deep in work and couldn't help me out. again, can't really blame her since it was extremely short notice.

fortunately since i needed to be here (labuan) for the meeting, i managed to get approval from travel desk to make the arrangements myself from kk. good thing the mas office was open til 7.30pm so i still had time to make a mad dash to the airport and get my ticket. was practically shivering from fatigue by the time i got to the airport cos i forgot to eat at work. haha. i had my brunch at around 10.30am consisting of a small bowl of dried shrimp fried rice at home and a lil home made bingka ubi before casually going to the office. don't get me wrong, i sometimes do some of my work at home because the home pc is much faster than my office laptop which helps (all hail webmail). hehe. if i had a fax machine at home i'd prolly be home even more! LOL!! but then again, there are a few things that can only be done in the office considering i don't have vpn. anyways... although i know i have my chicken soto waiting for me at home, i just had to have something to eat. so thank you mcd for being fast and ever-ready to feed. hehe. can you imagine a return trip to labuan costs rm424?!?! fortunately i'll be claiming that from the company (ahem.. business trip). i can't believe airasia no longer flies the kk-labuan-kk route anymore. *disappointed*

*fast forward* so here i am sitting near a power socket in labuan airport opposite the only populated spot in the building (or at least at the arrival level) opposite mcd (how reliable) and riding on free wifi. hehe.


seriously. see how empty the airport is. no hustle and bustle at all. fyi, i walked all the way to the other end and i'd rather stay at this end. i'm beginning to think that there aren't any international arrivals too cos that end is dark and gloomy and deserted.

i didn't have much choice but to take the 7.05am flight (arrived around 7.45am). the next available flight was at 4+pm and my meeting starts at 2.30pm. good thing i checked in right after buying my ticket yesterday so i don't have to worry about that. and thanks to mas' reliability to not depart on time, i didn't miss my flight. haha! i honestly thought i'd already miss my flight considering i arrived at the departure lounge only 5mins before the flight was supposed to take off?!?!? never gonna do that again. almost panicked!! hehe. but when i got to the gate, they haven't even boarded the plane yet. *pant pant - phew - pant pant* grateful too. as i was walking (erm.. running) to the gate i managed to glance at the screens and was pretty puzzled that the status indicated boarding instead of final call or gate close. *run, forrest, run*

thanks to the free wifi, i'm a lil less clueless as to what to do while waiting for my meeting. i might end up doing a quick mall tour here like i did when i was attending a meeting in kuching (another day trip). not quite sure what time the meeting will finish but the only flight back that i could get was at 9.50pm so needless to say i'll have ample time to even have dinner here. hehe. let's see if i can get my hands on some chocs while i'm here. that's what people usually buy here right?!?! apart from liquer that is. hehe.

hehe. to be honest, even the mcd is pretty empty save a few tables that is. hhmm.. i wonder how much my parking fee will be when i get back? *wondering* haha.

okies. let's see if there's any work i can do for the time being.