Here comes a new challenger...

Cheers

No sacrifice no victory

Sharks...wanna start blogging and my colleagues are calling me to get ready to help for the Annual Dinner....will continue my thoughts back home :-)

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OK here we go...just reached Uni today after a very happening Annual Dinner the night before :-) Only slept for about 5-6 hours but am still sober :-p

So what was I talking bout this sacrifice and victory stuff?? Well, those lines were taken from the Transformers movie actually hahaha thought that they would be most useful to describe the situation that I'm in now.

Basically, for those who are close to me (YW, CS, the rest of the gang and maybe some others), it's been known that my deadline for the thesis submission is cruising in real fast and I'm working about 12 hours a day to make sure that I meet my personal deadline. The actual deadline is in April next year but I'm trying the best that I can to complete everything before CNY...that's like 3 months earlier. And being me, I always tend to have the knack to achieve what many people call 'the impossible', yeah been doing that since my schooling days

~ "Son, go for tuition la...how can you score the As by studying yourself?? You can manage one or not??" - Parents during my UPSR, PMR and SPM heydays :-p

~ "Son, you were not doing so well in Form 4 already, now SPM coming and you still wanna take part in all those competitions??? All the competitions in Form 4 still not enough ar???" - Parents again :-p

~ "Hey dude, finals are coming and you are still going for the monkhood program during the exam week???????!!!!! How are you coming to Uni to sit for your papers??? You gonna come in your monk robe ar????" - I think it was Kai Yuan who said this during First Year at Uni.

~ "HEY!!! What are you doing here being a monk when the exam is tomorrow???!!!! Don't fail my unit!! hahahaha" - Met with Dr Arosha at the temple during the novitiate program...ooopss :-p

~ "Son, you sure you wanna become a monk during exam period ar???" - who else?? :-p

~ "Son, overloading for the semester is really not a good idea leh..." - That was during Third Year when I had to re-sit for a paper :-( But it turned out that it was one of the best sems ever...got an avg of strong Distinction and a top scorer for a unit somemore...I'm amazed myself too hahaha

~ "You know Mark, overloading by taking 7 subjects for the sem is really not a good idea...You'll be having 30 credit hours per week!!" - Prof Demidenko on the same matter

~ "The thesis title is not interesting and Dr Edwin doesn't have much experience...It's all MATHS!!! You sure you wanna do it?? Don't play with your future like that." - From a fellow coursemate who thought that Control Engineering was not challenging at all. Hey, I was among the Top 5 Best Theses for the year (and he's not) and I'm NOW doing PhD in Controls and still under Dr Edwin....what say you???


I managed to go against all odds to achieve my dreams and targets thus far, proving many people wrong along the way. Some had grown to be quite amazed (thought of using the word 'admire' but on second thought....nah :-p) of my feats while a minority had become quite jealous...sad to speak. It's in situations like these that true friends shine through with all the support and help that extend all the way...sometimes given unconditionally, much like family. You guys know who you are and I thank you all sincerely from the bottom of my heart :-)

But I dare to say that I did put in humongous lots of efforts and lots of sacrifices to make those things happen. Not to mention also my 'kiasu' attitude (yeah...I admit that being the 3Ks that I am - Kiasu, Kiasi and Kiamsiap :-p) that I can't stand being the loser and laughed at at the end of the day :-p Well...when I'm set on doing/achieving something, basically nothing can stop me. And I'm gonna do it again this time and I'm confident that I can achieve it. It's been almost a month now since I went out with my Crappers Buddies Gang, the last one being the Alexis outing. Sorry guys, but knowing me for > 10 years, you guys know how I set my priorities :-) But we still can go out once a month la...just to chit chat and relax for a while after some really hard work :-)

Strong willpower, being consistent and persistent, willing to make sacrifices and loads of efforts coupled with great concentration is what I'll do till the end of this final hurdle of mine. And I pray to God for all the courage and strengths that I need, but most of all, good health to get me through to make the impossible possible :-) Work hard, I must. Achieve it, I will.

"Ora Et Labora" - Pray and Work -> True MBS spirit!!

Always abide by this personal rule:

"Talent and Effort Are Nothing
Without FOCUS and DETERMINATION"

Cheers

Geeky afterlife

As usual, I was surfing cnet for the latest news in tech stuff and I stumbled upon this new invention.

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Well, it seems that this company here is very creative indeed, truly suits its name of Creative Coffins. Basically what it does is that it adorns the coffins with creative designs according to the favourite interest of the deceased. Yup, any design can be used as long as the copyright issues of existing logos and brands are settled beforehand. Well, it seems that you can't evade from copyright infringement issues even if you're dead :-p As can be seen from the pictures below, geeks like me can opt for those with the iPhone or the Mac designs on it, or should I stand on Bill Gates side, the Vista look :-) Even gaming controllers are not spared. I know it's wrong to say it but I do agree that they look sleek and modern compared to the conventional plain wooden ones :-p *touch wood x100 hahaha not that I wanna die so soon :-p

There're more designs and artworks on the website: www.creativecoffins.com :-p

Let's see how are these coffins so different from the usual ones beside the aesthetic enhancements. The company boasts that the coffins are environmentally sympathetic and that they are certified toxic-free. And also their Compakta cartonboard (man...they even copyrighted that!!!) is suitable for both burial and cremation. So basically, besides looking nice and modern, the coffins are doing the environment some good also...so that's why I'm gonna categorise this post under my environmental alertness archive - Environmental Scorched Sky :-) Man....the website has a video link too under its Media section hahaha....very interesting indeed.

Talking bout being humourous during a funeral, nothing is up to what this company does...and in a way, I think it's good, not to disrespect the deceased but to make the passing-away moment to be less painful and sad, and that death is just part and parcel of life and everyone has to go through that someday, whether they like it or not.

I guess you can explore the website yourself, so I'm not gonna cover everything here. All that I wanna do was just to share this new piece of 'tech' invention with you guys. :-)





Note: Using a Warcraft DotA design on the coffin won't respawn the deceased after 60 seconds has elapsed :-p




Cheers

Whose idea is it anyway?? :-p

Ever since I embarked on this research work of mine, where the main focus is on safety and the prevention of injuries and loss of life, I had this idea in my head for about a year now. And I actually really plan to make it as one of my major research projects when I've completed my PhD...yeah as I mentioned before I am a thinking man who likes to think about new tech ideas to do in the future to make the world a better place to live in (yeah rite :-p) and also to make myself more famous (seems more like it :-p) haha

So basically here is the idea:

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What cars have now are rear sensors which beep when you reverse your car and it gets too close to an object or a person. Pretty neat piece of tech invention there, but still not good enough...especially when you still read about people reversed, hitting their children/pets/wives/husbands/plants and the list goes on. And all these happened even though the cars are equipped with rear sensors.

So what I have in mind is that how good will it be if there's this screen in your car that provides a 360-deg view of your surroundings in full colour, not just black or white....it's like having a camera on right top of your car, assisting you...GPS won't work well in this case especially if you park your car in a covered porch and all you can see is just the roof of your porch and nothing more.

This idea is useful also when you are parking your car in a basement carpark of any shopping complexes or offices and you wanna make sure that the surroundings are safe before getting out, given the security level in our societies nowadays...definitely another plus point to add :-)

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But unfortunately, was surfing cnet today and it seems that this idea of mine has been implemented by Nissan via their invention, the Around View monitors in their Infiniti models. Quite sad actually, should've finished my PhD earlier so that I can claim the patent for this idea of mine :-p

The system developed by Nissan...still has rooms for improvements :-p

But oh well, am happy in a way that at least there're companies that focus on safety in their products rather than just making money to feed the Board of Directors. And I think that although the system has been out now, there're still lots of rooms for improvements and I hope I can tap on that someday after my PhD :-) Am openly looking for research collaborators to work on this starting in 2009 :-)

As for now, I think I just need to becareful while driving since my car is 16 years old and it doesn't even have rear sensors :-p Maybe I should start by installing a 7 feet long pole on the roof of my car with a camera on it for the 360-deg view for the moment :-p Or I could just start thinking of a new idea and hope that no one will tap into this new idea of mine in the near future, at least not until I start working on it :-p With this 128 IQ level of mine, I'm sure I can do wonders with this gift from God :-)



Cheers for safety and precious lives :-)

Everlast-"ing" Ducati :-)

For those who knew about it...I broke my pair of glasses last week (and for the second time this year) and had since sent it to the optician for a replacement, just wanna get a new frame while keeping the lenses since the lenses were expensive given my cacat-ed vision -> 100 deg of myopia on the left and 325 deg on the right.....yeah super weird man :-p and given the huge difference, my lenses had to be specifically ordered and made to be of almost equal thickness :-/ The optician at the Optical 88 branch in Leisure Mall gave me 2 news:-

Good news: "Your glasses are actually less than 1 year old and therefore, the replacement is covered under the warranty"...which is free :-)

Bad news: "Sorry Mr Ng, your frame couldn't be found in any of our branches and therefore you need to choose another frame to replace your old one"...great, just great...I'm not gonna get those cheapo frames which have a higher probability of breaking apart.

So I managed to get one of those Everlast frames which cost RM279 and after deducting out the cost of the broken frame of mine and some further discounts (brought my mom along and we both have very good negotiation skills :-p), I still need to fork out RM140 for the new frame....oh well, been living a week without my glasses and my eyes are getting real dry and tired due to the prolonged periods on contact lenses...am real blind without any vision aid :-(

I am so happy now that I have my glasses back again :-)

Wooo...camwhore with new specs :-p This one is a little wider but much 'shorter' than the previous one

Yeah...it's even thicker on the sides and I hope that this one won't break as easily as the previous one :-p Aiya...poor camwhoring skills, managed only to get half of sis' face :-p

And a few days back, I managed to get my hands on a pair of Oakley shades :-) Yipppee!!! Being dreaming of having one for ages hahaha Well, before having my contact lenses, I used those clip-on shades to go with my glasses while driving but now since I'm wearing my Bausch & Lomb during the day, I can't even hang the clip-on on my long eyebrows :-p and also it turns out that the sunglasses given by sis doesn't offer UV protection hahaha no wonder I've been so cacat lately, probably due to the exposure to UV while driving :-p

So I managed to contact this seller (which happens to be the bro of an old uni-mate) who is selling Oakley shades at great discounted prices. So I got the Ducati Monster Dog, which is a limited edition by the way ^^ at almost 40% off the retail store price, which is about RM600. It's even cheaper than what I saw at KLIA when I came back from my Korea trip!! Simply awesome!!!

Ducati red emblem on the sides muahahahaha

Even the Microbag has the limited edition red Ducati tag :-p

...ooooo and the laser-etched Ducati on the lens...awesome!!! Definitely a poison!! hahaha

So....since I camwhored with my new specs, how can I not camwhore with this pair of cool shades??? :-p

Gary (my alter-ego) tried it on and he wanted his pic posted :-p

My expenditures this month are all for the good of my eyes...a year's stock of contact lenses, my new specs and new shades....guess I have to put my thoughts of getting the new portable hard disk on hold till I get the accounts balanced :-p Man....glad that I learnt accounting during my engineering undergrad course. Yup, as a then aspiring engineer, I needed to learn accounting too...but it's useful...but then again, it's another story :-p

Good night :-)

Alright...this is Mark :-p Took this photo before going out today...

Cheers

My vows towards Belle...

Read about this shocking 'news' from here :-p

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WINNETKA, IL—This normally peaceful suburban town is still reeling following the news Monday that a local resident, whose name is being withheld by police pending a full investigation, left an iPhone unattended for more than three hours in a car parked in the hot sun.

At this time, police are holding the iPhone for examination and Twittering.

"Responding to calls from concerned passersby, who observed the iPhone sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Westfield Shopping Center, police arrived on the scene at approximately 4 p.m. and immediately intervened to save the device," said Winnetka police chief Douglas Blaine. "Security cameras have shown that the iPhone had been in the car—with the doors locked and the windows rolled up—since 1 p.m. Due to the tragic and highly emotional nature of this case, we cannot say any more at this time."

According to official police records, two officers forcibly broke into the car at 4:07 p.m. and found the iPhone lying face down on the dashboard. The iPhone at first showed no signs of life, but after a tense few seconds, officers were able to wake it and get it to respond to a series of simple touch commands. Police said that if the iPhone were left in the extreme heat for any longer, it could have died.

The abandoned iPhone was rewarded with several new widgets for its bravery.

The iPhone was rushed by ambulance to a nearby Apple facility for careful examination. Miraculously, no damage to its memory, screen, or wireless capabilities was reported.

Upper-middle-class suburbanites from all over the North Shore area have reacted to the near-tragedy with an unprecedented outpouring of concern. Hundreds of cards and letters have come streaming in, and local talk radio shows have been flooded with calls demanding that the iPhone's owner be prosecuted. Many have come forward offering to take the iPhone into their custody, and still more have donated free downloads, ringtones, and MP3s to the victimized object.

Although the device was unharmed, Winnetka residents expressed shock and dismay that something like this could occur in their normally materially conscious community.

"What kind of a human being is capable of such callous disregard for a precious, precious thing?" said one concerned Winnetka resident, tax lawyer Ben Klein. "Having an iPhone is a 24-hour-a-day responsibility."

"This iPhone was less than a year old," said Janelle Mankewiecz, another outraged citizen. "If someone is blessed with an iPhone, especially one of the newer models like this one, they should never take their eyes off it for even one second."

"On a hot day, the temperatures inside a parked car can reach 150 degrees in just 40 minutes," she added, looking up the information on her own iPhone.

Witnesses said that when the iPhone's owner eventually arrived at her car and realized what she had done, she began sobbing hysterically, calling out in vain for her iPhone, and rocking back and forth on the parking lot pavement while repeatedly shouting "No" and "This can't be happening." The owner is currently being held by authorities and will likely be charged with criminal neglect. If found guilty, she will be subject to severe punitive action, including fines and possible jail time, and the iPhone will be placed under foster care.

The iPhone's owner issued a statement through her attorney.

"My client deeply regrets the incident, and wishes to express a sincere apology to the police, the community, and the fine manufacturers at Apple," said lawyer Henry Durst, who was retained by the suspect following her arrest. "My client is remorseful and clearly emotionally distraught. This is her first iPhone."

Nonetheless, local government officials remain disturbed by what they are calling "inhuman" treatment of the iPhone.

"My husband and I have been trying for months, but so far, we've been unable to have an iPhone," town assemblywoman Janet Nuetreer said. "But if we did, we would understand that there is nothing more important. Every iPhone is a gift from God."

"Sadly, this sort of mistreatment of iPhones is more widespread than people think," said Dr. Jordan Heimlich, director of Winnetka Community Services, who is currently supervising the iPhone's care. "People leave their iPhones precariously perched on the edges of counters, they forget to charge them, they even fail to provide them with basic necessities like a decorative carrying case. I've even heard cases of iPhones being dropped."

"But I've never seen anything like this happen here in Winnetka before," he added. "It's sad to see how out of line so many people's basic priorities are."

Authorities added that it was "just sheer luck" that the toddler who was also left in the car was unconscious at the time, as otherwise he could have potentially damaged the iPhone.

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I swear that I'm gonna be faithful to Belle in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow, and to treat her with all my heart and love and will not abandon/dump/leave/neglect her...especially in a car under the hot sun :-p

Cheers

Forcefully tagged...

Being me, I'm not the type of person who likes tagging and being tagged in chain-mails/surveys etc etc But for today the force seems to be too strong and is inevitable...for she is sitting right beside me now watching me filling up the tags. I'm talking bout my sis by the way...so if you ask me am I happy? Well, I can only reply "Yes, I'm not" or "No, I am" :-p

Alright, here it goes...

- tagged by kyan -

Rules and Regulations:
- Each player in this game starts off with 15 odd habits, habits or little known facts about themselves.
- People who get tagged HAVE TO do this tag and also to copy these rules
- At the end, ten people HAVE TO be chosen to do the tag and their names have to be listed.

So, here we go.

Fact 1: i am weird/'fai'/high most of the time. Colleagues and friends who are not that close to me (YW and CS and gang are already used to it :-p) always ask "Mark, you ok boh?? You ate wrong med today ah??" and I always reply "No, well actually I haven't eaten my med yet...so that's why..." :-p

Fact 2: My sis likes to bully me and she treats me like a punching bag and also her art-block. You can see the proofs of hand-drawn tattoos on my hands sometimes...oh well...

Fact 3: I am a die hard Jacky Cheung fan. Been listening to his songs since I was a kid (bout 8 years old) and I think his oldest album that I have is dated back to 1989...and it's a cassette...definitely a classic during this mp3 era :-)

Fact 4: I like reading books by Mitch Albom and Dr K Sri Dhammananda, books that reflect on life and they have changed the way I look at life at different stages of age...yeah I'm getting old :-p

Fact 5: My fav one-liner: "That's for me to know and for you to find out" or simply "Google.com" :-p

Fact 6: I like maths a lot...could still remember taking out the Engineering maths textbook and went through the 700 odd pages to study the maths :-p Some of the crazy stuff that I do hahaha I even used to read the dictionary when I was bored but that's another story :-p

Fact 7: Being influenced by my sis, I like to camwhore quite a lot now hahaha maybe it's a good way to keep track on how I look as I travel the journey of human life and these photos will definitely be something to cherish about in the future :-)

Fact 8: DO NOT GET ME ON MY NERVE!! And I mean it!! Though I look pretty innocent and am usually nice in my usual crappy and happy-go-lucky self, you would not like to see my alter-ego...well as the saying goes (based on Mark's theory): A quiet mountain might look harmless and calm...wait till you see it turns into a volcano...all hell shall break lose...

Fact 9: I dislike people who abuse and misuse my trust in our friendships for I do forgive but I don't forget easily...Once I found out that my friendship/trust is used by the person to gain certain advantages/profits in any form whatsoever, please refer to Fact 8 above...Thanks.

Fact 10: I can crap...oh yeah I CAN crap to the point of the followings:
a) from logic to non-logic
b) from non-logic to non-logic
c) from logic to non-logic to further non-logic/nonsense and back to logic
d) but never from logic to logic...well at least not directly lah :-p

Fact 11: Being a miser that I am, I tend to control my spendings so much (a little too much actually) that my friends say that I lose out some of the fun or pleasures in life, but I'm proud to say that I'm happy with what I am and how I lead my life...thanks for all your concerns by the way :-p Your inputs have been forwarded to my Central Admin and they shall be processed promptly I hope :-p

Fact 12 : Just checked my IQ level yesterday and it turned out to be 128. Wow...that means I lie in the top 5% of the world population in terms of smartness wor....but too bad I think I score a higher point when it comes to blurness hahaha

Fact 13: I like to talk to myself a lot...and I mean physically and verbally talking to myself...whenever I am on the verge of mental breakdown, when doing maths, too much stress, when doing maths, when making decisions, when doing maths...well basically it's automated lah :-p

Fact 14: Man...writing 15 odd habits of mine is indeed tough...and I don't plan to reveal all of them here hahaha OK lah...another one. I like to listen to songs of languages that I do not know or understand...always feel that such songs are more meaningful in a way and I tend to feel the emotion of the songs more this way...but being me I do know that I'm weird lah hahaha

Fact 15: During the beginning of each year where new resolutions are thought of, the first thing that comes to my mind will be "To stay alive" :-p I mean, how can you achieve other resolutions when you are 6 feet underground or when your bones are burnt and your ashes are stored in a jar?? RIght?? So as of today, I'm glad that I'M STILL ALIVE!!! :-)

10 people ! TAG :
Honestly, I am forced into this and I don't want the others to suffer in the same way as I did...so I'm tagging nobody here :-)


Forcefully Cheers hahaha

Bliss...

*From time to time, I try to post about the beauty of nature and the importance of preserving it...being a so-called 'environmentalist' me :-p

Woke up today and I thought that I was in Genting or even Camerons...

Really like my new home, although it's been 2 years now haha No wonder my buddies like to have gatherings at my place, the latest being the Mid Autumn Festival...very cooling walking around with lanterns after the rain and admiring the beauty of the moon :-p

It's very cooling here at 250 feet above sea level and occasionally I'm 'greeted' by mist/fog in the morning :-) But today I witnessed the heaviest mist at my place akin to those in Genting/Camerons. With all the hills around...man...nature rocks!! And I really hope that the developers will just leave them as they are...Save Mother Nature!!

All photos were taken using Belle. Must give credit to my 'wife' mah :-p

Right outside my home...woo cooling :-p No jacket on somemore haha

Although I broke my specs, but I'm sure my vision's not blurred :-p

Couldn't resist stopping my car and take photos :-p Man...couldn't even see the hill la

Icing on the cake -> Cool mist + beautiful sunrise....photo didn't do enough justice...wish I have a dSLR, sorry Belle :-p

Close-up view...well watching it there and then was breathtaking :-)

The apartment nearby kena 'chopped' in half liao :-p

Well, nature never fails to light up my day :-) How I long to go to the beach, listening to the waves hitting the shore and watching the sun sets again...will definitely make it happens after submitting my thesis :-)

Wish you have a great day too :-)



Cheers

Looking back...

I always like to look back in time and analyze my achievements/progress in life. As for today, there're two instances that I'm re-living...

The first is my trip to Seoul....yeah yeah time flies and I've been back to homeland for exactly (even to the count of days) 3 months now...came back on the 12th of July, also a Sunday. Let me see, what have changed since I came back hahaha

1) Well I think the most obvious one is that I'm RM800 poorer after the shopping stint in Seoul, buying things for people who are close to me and nothing much for myself :-( hahaha
2) I had the best birthday bash this year...celebrated 3 times and for the one at Alexis, I was nearly dragged onto the stage to join the band performing that night :-) But thanks to those who took the effort to initiate the celebrations and the multiple SMS-es and the phone calls, especially the 2 hours long one which had successfully killed loads of my brain cells :-p Not to mention also the greeting card from the insurance company. Think they're glad that I'm still alive and paying the annual fee :-p
3) And yesterday, went down to Aunt's place and she commented that I put on some weight lately and I took that as a compliment since I've been trying to grow lots of cells for the past months :-p
4) I'm now nearer to the deadline for my thesis submission and I'm working like a mad dog here 12 hours a day (Curfew mode ON and back to my SPM self-control/daily-quota strategy :-p) doing my research and solving the maths. Tough but yet challenging and really soul satisfying when the solution is found :-)
5) Conversely, there're some things that I thought I would've obtained upon touchdown at the airport but have yet to achieve still. Well, that's life and I think I should be grateful with what I have now and definitely could not ask for more. So I guess I'll just go with the flow...if it's destined to be mine, I'm sure I'll get it someday somehow :-)


Secondly, since PMR is starting tomorrow, I can't help to think back 10 years ago when I sat for mine....how time flies man...a decade liao :-p Could still remember that during that time, I stuck to my daily-quota of 6 hours of study daily without any tuition and was glad that I got straight As hahaha And I could still remember how I spent the day before the first paper watching 'Jaws' on TV2....relaxed bit before the 'war' hahaha So yeah, it's been a long 10 years and I had never thought that I would reach this PhD level today :-) Am really blessed :-)


Hope that you, who is reading this post at the moment to cherish the time that you have and strive for all successes in life :-)


Oh and before I end the post, mom and I were chatting today and out of a sudden she said these
......
Mom: 啊 Boy, 你失恋啊?
Me: No ar...why leh? I look like one meh?
Mom: Yalor....your that 'tali' putus liao ar??
Me: Huh? What tali?? What putus?? Me don understand...hahaha no la...work stress mah
Mom: Hmmmm.....
Me: Hehehe...
......and I took the opportunity to change the topic to the renovation of the fish pond outside at the garden...hahaha mom always has surprises for me...all types of questions :-p Sometimes really beh tahan :-p Gotta be on full alert 24/7 :-p


Cheers

iPhone2G upgraded to 2.1: A Personal Experience

Successfully upgraded Belle from 1.1.4 to the latest firmware 2.1 about 2 weeks back. Was reluctant at first due to the fear of losing all my data on the phone and also the trouble to sync everything back again. Not to mention also the numerous negative remarks about the sluggishness, the extremely long backup/sync time with iTunes and such on the 2.0.1 and 2.0.2. But in the end, curiosity killed the cat and I took the plunge hahaha Man...the AppStore did contribute to the 'lust' to upgrade as well :-p Well...it seems that 2.1 did solve most, if not all, of the problems mentioned. So what is the verdict? Let's do it step by step shall we? :-)

Did the whole thing using the latest Quickpwn 2.1 which works on Windows and it can be downloaded here. This version of the software enables you to pwn your iPhone to any of the 2.x firmwares. But who wants to get 2.0.1 or 2.0.2 now that 2.1 is out?? Well....unless you have tried 2.1 and it gave you a really hard time getting things done :-) Yeah...some users reported that 2.0.1 works better on their phones than 2.1. But that depends on inviduals :-) But I've used Quickpwn to upgrade to 2.1 on 3 iPhones so far and *touch wood*... everything's working well on all 3 phones :-)

Quickpwn 2.1 offers the following 'services' :-p
- jailbreaks iPhone2G, iPhone3G and your iPod Touch (but not so sure about iPod Touch Gen2 though)
- unlocks your iPhone2G...sorry for iPhone3G, you have to get the officially unlocked ones as so far there's nothing available to unlock those yet :-(

So what do you need? Well, you actually do not need to worry too much as this Guide here will provide you with the step-by-step instructions of what to do. Very handy indeed... :-) I didn't follow any instructions/guides though hahaha simply because the Quickpwn GUI is so intuitive and so well done that you'll sort of know what to do at each step :-) Kudos to the iPhone Dev Team for their great work!! All in all, what you need to do can be easily summarized into these few steps

a) Backup your iPhone using iTunes...just a sync will do :-) But if you are real Kiasu, just do a backup using TimeCapsule on your phone if you already have it installed and then extract the backup files out using iFunBox or SSH-style...whichever what suits you :-) TimeCapsule backup files are located at \var\mobile\Library\TimeCapsule

b) Download the Firmware 2.1 IPSW file from the link to the Guide above and hit Shift-Restore in iTunes to upgrade your phone to 2.1. While waiting for the whole process to finish (about 15-20 mins or so), you can download the 2 Bootloader files, again from the Guide page provided. You'll need them when you use Quickpwn later.

c) Once upgraded to 2.1, run Quickpwn and followthe instructions. For iPhone2G owners, you have to tick"Unlock" to unlock your phone to be used with the telco of your choice and also you would want to tick "Cydia" and "Installer" too so that you can install 3rd-party apps.

d) Once done with Quickpwn, iTunes would prompt you to backup from a previous sync or setup the phone as a new device. For me, I backup-ed mine from the last sync before upgrade since I would like to keep my contacts and SMS and stuff... you can choose to setup as new device should you wish to do so.

And yippee...your phone has been unlocked, jailbroken, restored to previous settings and is ready to go!! It's that simple!! Now I have my scientific calculator when I turn Belle to landscape mode and being an engineer and also a part-time mathematician (:-p), this is extremely useful for me :-) But of course, the scientific calculator alone is not enough to like about 2.1. There's the AppStore..YES!!!...and the whole lot of goodies that come bundled with it. Head on to here to see what's new with 2.1.

hehehe...the pride of an engineer :-p

The final verdict: Well, although 2.1 offers much improvements and bug fixes compared to the previous 2.x firmwares, I still find it to be a tad bit slow compared to 1.1.4....although its negligible. Otherwise, I find that 2.1 is a great firmware altogether, but there's still no copy-and-paste function available yet... :-(


Pros
Scientific calculator...hahaha sorry I have to mention this one :-p
Cydia...it's even better than Installer on 1.1.4...trust me :-)
AppStore!!!!!
Faster sync/backup speed compared to 2.0.1 and 2.0.2. It seems that apps installation is faster too.
Repeat alerts for unread SMS.

Cons
No copy-and-paste funtionality
Feels a bit (just a little bit) slow compared to 1.1.4
Playing games on it can seriously drain your battery like mad :-p



Cheers

Nostalgic Past Tense Spoken in The Present...

*Have the tendency to blog using Belle these days haha*

For the first time in months, I'm now back at Setapak. Family came here for a fish-head curry dinner and I can't help recalling the memories of spending my childhood living at Wangsa Maju everytime I come here.

Passing by the famous McDonalds reminds me of the countless McNuggets that my parents bought me when i was a kid via their Drive-Thru service haha and further up is the famous chicken wing stall that I used to like a lot as a kid too...a time when life was much more simple and less complicated..a time when I was not bugged by numerous problems and worries as what I'm experiencing now as a grown up.

Looking at the place now.. It's been 14 long years. So much have changed. It's so developed now that I could hardly recognize it anymore. Really can't help recalling haha the memories of living in a small low cost apartment before moving to Shamelin Perkasa (a mid cost apartment) and subsequently to Segar Perdana (a terrace house)...the memories of watching "Dragon Inn" at the Alpha Angle Jusco with mom haha ...the memories when grandma was still around, enjoying the company of her grandchildren :-) I wish she's still here today. I'm sure she'll be so very proud of the achievements of the Chan grandchildren :-) Sometimes I do miss her a lot...婆婆...

Bday party at Alexis Ampang

Blogging using my Belle hehehe

5 guys here celebrating the birthdays of 3 guys at Alexis Ampang with great performance by Shahrizan :) darn cool haha Celebrated my bday 3 times this year haha

Had some pizzas, drank some tea and beer but still very much sober... never really pushed myself with booze actually. Maybe one fine day I shall try that...after my PhD :-p

Great night :-)

Me and bday boy No 1 - Yuan Wu with my wife 'Belle' :-p

Bday boy No 2 with Henry there busy 'flirting' with the former's iPhone :-p

I think I was quite high on air listening to the jazz band led by Shahrizan :-p
Yuan Wu: Mark.....what were you up to?? hehehehehe
Me: Errrr....nothing....just enjoying the music and songs heheheh

Man...all the late nights recently generated lots of pimples :-( Suddenly feel like a teen again :-p

Bday boy No 2 with Bday boy No 3 hahahaha Cheers mate :-)

Reached home at 2am...the latest in years...hahaha Mom was joking that if I ever stay out that late again she's gonna install additional locks to seal me off hahahaha

Mom: hehehe I'm gonna put up few locks to seal you off... You stay overnight at friend's place la hehehe preferably a female's home :-p
Me: Wow....how I wish!! Wonder who's that lucky girl :-p
Mom: Don't 'fai' la...quickly go shower and sleep!

hahahaha fun mom :-)


Happy birthday to you guys (and to myself too :-p) and thanks for the great night... Amigos para siempre to all of you :-)



Cheers

生日快乐 Gary仔!!

Date: 28th and 29th Sept 2008
Venue: A Thai food stall in Cheras(28th) and Office(29th)
Occasion: Refer to title :-p

Yup Little Gary is grown up liao...big boy already hahaha...old enough to be a dad but not so soon la :-p

Went to this very nice Thai food hawker stall somewhere in Cheras the night before with family and Aunt Jessica with her 2 children (cousins la) for an early celebration for Gary. Reached the place round 6.30pm, sat down and ordered their famous iced cha-cha which was rich with its santan taste :-)

Still trying to promote Monash here. Wonder how much they paid him for the publicity stunt :-p

Then the main dishes came and caused a very dramatic scene soon after....hahaha well they were spicy (though some of them looked quite 'harmless' :-p) so Gary couldn't help it but to melt :-p



But still, he's sporting enough to give a thumb-up...though from the photo it's obvious that it was a reluctant gesture :-p Although he said he enjoyed the food, but he was truly suffering hahaha All the while, he was asking for more ice in his tea and also an air-cond...poor guy haha In short, he enjoyed his suffering...real weird guy Gary :-p


So as to celebrate his suffering (and also the fact of the increase of his age count by 1 hehe), we let him cool down for a while (notice the amount of ice in his cup of tea :-p) before singing him the birthday song :-)

Aiks!!! The cherry dropped out of its place and landed on the name hahahaha

Was he trying to stab us for causing him so much 'suffering'?? haha Nope...it turned that he's just happy...well, as I said...he's weird :-p

Time to make a wish and he took quite a while to do that. Either he's so greedy that he made many wishes or that he's making the same wish over and over again :-p But he was in real deep concentration while doing it...hmmmm...Gary仔, what did you wish for eh?? hehe

"Yeah....though my age increase by 1 but in my heart I'm still 21 :-p"...yeah right haha

So that's the celebration with family. Later in the night, received a couple of early SMS wishes (thanks to all :-) ) and at 12.01, was deeply touched and happy that a friend called to wish him and chatted for almost 2 hours!! Though the gift was a bit too simple :-p



Now let's move to Chapter 2: Celebration with Colleagues....

Started off with the lunch where Darwin said that they were going to Medan for lunch. It turned out that it was a surprise arrangement for a lunch at Sushi Zanmai at Sunway Pyramid!!! Big thanks from Gary to Darwin, Nicol, Jason, Eric, Boon How and Jimmy for the treat...could see he really enjoyed the lunch so much :-) Sorry, didn't take any photos simply because was too busy enjoying the food hehehe but you guys should see the amount of wasabe that Gary took!!!! He could eat them just like that!!! This guy never failed to amaze and freak me....sorry Gary hahaha :-p

So when he thought that the celebration was over for the day, little did he know that the other colleagues in the office led by Eliz and Deborah had another surprise installed for him. Deb and Jason were sent as actors (and man they were GOOD!!) to buy time to gather other colleagues into his office...they came in singing the birthday song with Eliz holding the cake with the lit candle on top of it....very sweet indeed :-)

haha Both YABs (mom and Eliz) got him almost the same cake :-p

So he blew the cake for the second time...hoping that his age won't increase by another count :-p

He looked bit tired due to the late night call the night before :-p

Re-enacting the blow candle moment...simply because Nicol said that the first pic didn't look nice wor hahaha and notice the patch of cake on his laptop mouse :-p

So what's the catch of this surprise celebration?? hehehe he was asked to pull the candle out from the side of the cake with his mouth without touching the cake....yes!! Darwin and Nicol were smart and 'cruel' enough to come up with that idea saying that "You don't do it, your wish won't come true!!" hahaha

Playful and sporting to be played :-p

Yup mission completed!!! So let's hope that all his wishes will come true :-)

Man...he's so happy throughout the day hahahaha all the way home....hmm maybe because the day started and ended chatting with the same friend :-)


Just to pass the message here.. Gary would like to thank all that had made his birthday this year a memorable one and in return he would like to wish them to be Well and Happy Always and most importantly, 家好月圆 with their family members :-)



Yam Seng!!!