Time to start saving up for next year.

Sony-Ericsson P990i Product Page
My-Symbian Review : P990i
Mobile Review SE P990i

Why SE? Better music player + speaker and great camera. Plus, I miss my old PDA. Also, snap pic and instead blogging from a Hotspot location. Ohlala… sadly, not that many interesting places with free WiFi coverage. Other than hotels and airports.

Plus, SE also has a very good download center especially for the games. Imagine being able to download Gameloft games for only RM5 rather than RM20.

User friendly software? I’m not so bothered by that, having tried out a number of phones over the years. It’s just a matter of getting used to the interface although Motorola’s software is probably the one that is the least stable (not sure whether it’s because of the software or hardware, always crashes after the V-series launch).

Anyway, it’s probably near RM4,000 price mark. Gulp. Definitely more than a few months of saving up. Unless I bought an AP set which I’m a bit reluctant to do so. So, more planning and selling of a 13-month-old phone (SE W800i).

Sigh. If only I blog more often, then maybe Sony-Ericsson Malaysia will sponsor a phone for food blogging. ^_^ Yeah, I dream too often. They probably have a publicity campaign or something to launch the phone. Ah well.

Well, it sure was a busy past 3 days that cumulated in about 371 pcs of Fried Chicken Wings being sold off. The earnings from the sale was about RM928, out of which, about RM576 was profit. All in all, it wasn’t too bad and hopefully, our customers didn’t suffer too much from biting into the extremely crunchy coating.

Out of the entire session, all 3 of us suffered from leg pains and muscle aches on the arms. Plus, I have 2 finger sprains, one on each hand from doing all the frying.

Ah well. It was for a good cause and I’m hoping to have a very good rest this weekend. And hopefully, will have a new PC by next week.

So toodles folks! 🙂

3 of us spent about 5-6 hrs yesterday preparing and marinating the chicken wings. All in all, we had about 320-350 pieces of chicken wings where we literally pressed out as much oil as we could from the skins. This was something I didn’t know but it was shocking to see the amount of fat and some white bits coming out of the skin. Well, suffice to say that I’m rethinking eating chicken wings as seems more than a bit dirty.

My cousin’s friend, SA, had a great sense of humour. We ended up laughing a lot more than expected.

These chicken are lucky. They’re getting very good massage.

(Mixing marinade) This is fun. Grind grind grind the salt and bijeng (MSG).

Anyway, today is a round of frying the chickens. Hopefully, we can get everything done by then. 300 pieces is scary.

Yes yes, as per the title, I’m helping out at the Salvation Army’s Sale of Work. I’m helping out my cousin Em to sell Fried Chickens. It would be 3 pcs for RM10 which isn’t too bad considering the fuel price hike. Even before the fuel increase, at Charity Food Events the fried chicken was already going for 3 pcs for RM10.

Anyway, please do come. There will be tickets sold on that day. Plus, we have about 680 pieces of chicken to sell. Yes, a huge number so please do come and help us out. I’m not even sure whether we can get that many chickens sold off but we’re hoping to tempt the children who in turn will beg their parents to buy it. Hee hee!

Date : 31 August 2006 (Yes, Merdeka Day)
Time : 8 am – 12 pm
Location : Salvation Army Boy’s Home, Ban Hock Road

Note that there may be a huge congestion on that day because of the Merdeka Day Parade. So, take Deshon Road and park near Grand Continental Hotel. I’m not sure whether most of Ban Hock Road is open or not, so it’s either come early or come late.

Anyway, do stop by. The sale is for the Salvation Army activities in Kuching where they look after 2 homes for children (orphans or from improvised families), one all-girls, another all-boys.

(AND PLEASE HELP TO GET RID BUY 680 PIECES OF CHICKEN. WE DON’T REALLY WANT TO EAT SO MUCH CHICKEN FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS)

A lot of people think that it’s great to have children who are doctors and that they will earn loads of money. It’s also increases the “social status” of the family as well.

Yet, we all do forget that doctors have a higher responsibility. More than the normal person because he/she would have to serve the community. I never knew this but doctors are obligated to answer any calls/inquiries requested by the public. That he/she cannot turn it down in the eyes of the law. Where is this? In the Sarawak Labour Ordinance as well as the Labour Act. Because they fall under the category of managing life and death situations for the community, they have a huge obligation to serving the public. Even the politicians do not have it this tough.

So, if a doctor has prescribe the wrong medication, who does the checks on the doctors? In Malaysia, we tend to shy away from actual confrontation and just totally do not goto that doctor again. Very few people would actually go and actually voice it out to the newspapers or the Ministry of Health.

I had a similar situation that happened to me awhile back. In 2004, Granny went to see a specialist doctor at Timberland. He prescribed her some medication that did not elevate her blood pressure problem but left her very fatigue and tired. In the end, I took her away from this doctor after realising that he doesn’t even listen to her symptoms and when I confronted him about it, he gave excuses that there shouldn’t be anything wrong with the medication and that why should I believe her, being an old person.

I got mad and decided to ask relatives for another doctor. This other specialist is a lot better, as well as having a more proven track record. In fact, he’s so obliging that even he says that he’s giving us the option to buy medication from him (which he also pointed out would be more expensive) or buying from the pharmacy (cheaper) where he can give us a chit to get the medication. As for her previous medication, the current doctor said that most likely, she just didn’t adjust to the medication well and so he gave her another type of medication. And she is very fine up to today. In fact, better than fine. She is more alert and sleeping a lot better than she used it.

Then, recently, a colleague’s father was struck by stroke twice. By coincidence, she was seeing that same doctor in Timberland (not sure whether it’s before the 1st stroke or after). After the 2nd stroke, she mentioned it to me and I suggested that she see the doctor that my Granny was seeing. Also, I suggested to bring the medicine given by the Timberland doctor to the 2nd doctor. The 2nd doctor was open enough to say that they can also go back to Sarawak General Hospital(SGH) and confirm with the doctor there on whether the medication is safe or not. Apparently, the doctor at SGH pointed out that Timberland doctor’s medicine will not give any bad effect to her father but worst still, it doesn’t give any benefits to her father who is a diabetic! Whether the wrong medication was the cause of her father’s 2nd stroke, it is hard to tell but suffice to say that he’s now in better hands. Hopefully he will see improvements from the 2nd batch of medication. He may not be as fit as he was previously but at least, there is peace of mind knowing that he is now seeing a better doctor than before.

And it’s definitely very creepy that the 1st doctor is still practicing medicine. *Shudder* Makes you wonder whether anyone has died at the hands of this doctor, albeit that it may take awhile to actually die from wrong medication or useless medication. Or any other doctor for that matter. *Shudder* Note that this is not an accusation but a hypothetical statement.

I tried looking for the older blog posting where I mentioned that Granny first had problems with the 1st doctor from Timberland but couldn’t find it. It could be that I have taken it down because of fear of retribution. Well, here’s another one put up although it’s also not so transparent. But, if you live in Kuching long enough, you start to realise that you should only go to doctors who come recommended by at least 4-5 people. Or, goto a doctor recommended by another doctor that you trust.

So, hmm…again, if you don’t happen to see me for awhile or hear that I’ve been arrested or sued, well, do remember that I am reporting this as an outsider and relating to me only what my friend had said to me. Information here are to be verified again by yourself as this is only what I see and hear.

I could be wrong, yes. But nothing will make me change my mind after looking at Granny now, all the more healthy and alert.

Ok, some updates regarding my line connection.

Problem 1 : My house wiring connections

TELEKOM’s contractor came very fast but I guess business is business. The technician came this afternoon and has done the rewiring of the phone lines. So now, for my PC, there’s now a direct line using the recommended phone cable for Streamyx. That is RM50.

Also, the wiring for the 2 telephones in the house also got replaced and are also connected directly to TELEKOM. That was RM40 per phone so in total, everything was RM130.

According to the technician, rewiring of telephone systems is the norm for them. They just did 4 house before mine and all that the same problem.

And, to connect on, I have to disconnect the telephone on the top floor. Bleargh.

Problem 2 : Telephone system in the old Tabuan Jaya phases

Now, this same technician did mention that since I’m still using the old copper wiring system for the telephone exchange, there’s no way the Streamyx signal will be strong. The newer telephone systems are now using fibre-optic so the signal strength is much stronger.

So there you have it. Problem 1 is fix. Problem 2 may not be so easy and it hinges on whether TELEKOM really wants to upgrade their phone system or not. Which probably will not happen for awhile yet. Sigh. IF EVER…