Mr. Haxa Does The Blogs

Malam | Part 1

Dinner at the Selera Sejati 555

A dining night out with a company of dikir barat performing or shall I say rehearsing for a competition with a team from Seremban on 6th of March at 8.30pm was quite an experience. The restaurant serves some really good Kelantan cuisine. I must say that I love the Nasi Goreng Kerabu that was f#!%ign damn hot. I mean if you can't stand hot, you will probably scream your lungs out begging for cold Coke, gotta tell you that even the cucumber was damn hot.

Anyway, the Western selection kinda awful. The fish and chip was overcooked which I suppose the chef used the wrong oil. The fries were too crunchy. And for crying out loud, where was the mayoneise, would you believe that they serve fish and chip with chilli sauce. It's localization at worst, okay, hello, mr. chef, i hope you hear me out, OK!!!

Nevertheless, the grilled chicken chop was good. I mean it is so much better than Kenny Rogers or Nandos for that matter.

There were just so many people at this Sejati 555 restaurant, and we anticipate that with the election campaign that will start out soon, this place will be packed even.

Oh, before I even forget, the Lai Chi Kang was awesome. Well, I ordered watermelon juice, which was so-so, but after tried out my brother's Lai Chi Kang, I ordered one and enjoyed every drop, bits and pieces of it.

There was this other eating joint besides it, named the Frizz. It got this big screen display where they had karoake. I don't know, we might give it a try one day. Till then, happy eating.

Review: The XBox | One Versatile Machine

For some reasons, I have never fond of gaming, be it on console, arcade, cartridge, memory card, PC; but I did got hooked up to Bejeweled and Insaniquarium on my Clie. Other than that, my gaming skill sucks.

So, if I were to be given a controller to race on a Nascar track or and F1 circuit, you probably see me hitting edges and got left behind the racers. Or if I were to enjoy a role-playing game, I'd probably end up watching people playing it, and I have got to admit it that it is so much entertaining to watch people play strategy game. It have this feeling, that there's much you can tell about a person from the decision he or she makes in the path and route of the game. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. So, I might have to check out any literature that either supports or deny this relationship. Anyone care to explain?

So, last night after I got myself full with two sumptuous servings of pasta and a plate of rice with curry and veggie and serving of cheesy blueberry ice cream, I felt bloated, and wearing a 31-inch J Crew khakis pants didn't help much. So I was uncomfortable over conversation with great host who were kind enough to invite to a one-nighter at their place after I failed to come over to their place on few earlier invitations.

So, after dinner, dessert, and a full stomach, my friend opened up his XBox console and begun to set up the machine. And being an ardent fan of SONY for all things electronic, I was quite skeptical about XBox, but my friend sure has got some ways to convince me on this and also his three other friends who have switched their decision to get the PS2 for the XBox. Let me tell you why.

1. Firstly, the XBox a one versatile machine!!!

2. See, Bluetooth is an old technology, it is Radio Frequency (RF) given new name and marketing aura, and so does the XBox, it is built on Celeron as I was informed by my friend, and despite Celeron failure on PC line, it works real fine on this game, so, you can say that Celeron has found its killer apps.

3. It is also equipped with DVD-combo that allows you to watch DVD or probably open your mp3 collection from your CD-R

4. And with 10G of storage capacity and my friend's brilliance of transforming one of the box frontal outlets into a 4-USB hub using his self-assembled cable, the machine has been used extensively to store their photo’s collection from their full loaded 128Mb SD card on few vacations. And I thought that this is a cool solution that for one you can carry the XBox on vacation and plug it to any TV box in the hotel room. So, there you go, a machine to view, a machine to store, and a machine to back up your precious moments. Besides, with 10Gb of storage, that means you don't have to buy memory card like what PS2 (really?).

5. But how does the XBox is able to do that? Well, this is what I thought the highest selling point of this machine, well maybe I have been ignorant or lacking in gaming technology, but this machine is hackable. Let’s see there are emulators for PS2 and Linux. And my friend got this box installed with DYNEBOLIC or you might want to also try Knoppix 1.3. But he got the DYNEBOLIC boot and ran straight away from the CD … WHOA. What a turn on!!!!

6. So, as you can see from the picture, the box USB hubs are connected to the USB keyboard and USB mouse, making it the one of the best replacement for a laptop. Because of this computing capability also, it makes it an easy target for major tweaking. You may replace skins or even change some of the games’ awful tunes or songs!!!!

7. And with network card pre-installed inside the XBox, you can get hooked to the Net from any LAN/T1 point, or given the scenario that there will be hack that can display multiple windows e.g. one for the game, one for DVD, and one for the computing, this is a one cool multitasking box, so versatile, so sexy!!! Microsoft, I hope you are hearing me out on this.

8. Now comes to the gaming part, so I tried on Beach Volleyball, Rallisport Challenge, and Magic. And love them all. Magic is so full of mesmerizing image, fascinating shots, and almost perfect anatomy of sexy Japanese girls playing beach volleyballs in bikinis. Didn’t play all the game all throughout, got to tell you that there’s so much also in planning the girls live at the beaches. I was also told that the graphics are so much superior compared to American games. Being developed in Japan this game gives you so much of graphics and animation awesome factor that will get you hooked up to it.

9. And in Magic, the first role-playing game that I enjoy, I merely got myself into the training modules on getting the aura, attacking the elves, shielding myself, releasing goblins, and casting the spells, I must say that I have finally understood why some kids who are good at games end up with very good analytical skill. It is the long term planning and contingency decision making that have to be made over some controlled parameters that have made their brains process a lot of information at once. With hand or leg control, physical coordination with the brain is so much efficient.

So, am I going to buy this machine? Well, maybe after I have got my new CLIE and my dreamed laptop that I will buy this. I seriously can’t wait for Cobalt to makes it debut on CLIE and if I ever can afford it, getting myself a really good notebook. For now, I drool over the Fujitsu P5020 and the powerful PowerBook. I hope one day, I will able to have all these, and a house with my self set-up Wi-Fi connection.

And if I ever get filthy rich, I am inspired to become a Wi-Fi philanthropy doing noble cause for my community. Well, I hope that will be sometime soon J And if you want to get some help or assistance to change your XBox machine, I might be able to help you to acquire the service from my friend. As for how am I gonna rate this machine, I can't give any honestly since I have never tried the PS2 and other games' console.

Till then, enjoy whatever you have. Live your life to the fullest!!!

Central | Part 1

Review | SATC: The Show

I googled the news last night to read the earliest postings by major news syndication that will for sure review the finale of SATC, and at about 2 in the morning, there you go ... 365 related news already writing and commenting on all the happy ending to the show ... days before most papers like USA Today already built up the anticipation to the finale ... and 350 others did the same thing.

And since this one says goodbye as well as Friends too this year, and we are now left with The Sopranos and Six Feet Under for that really good drama (comedy) shows.

There are lots of things that we all should learn from Michael Patrick King (SATC producer) as well as the writer team that made this show successful. So, minus the formulaic equation of sex sells, the leaves us with character development, how strong each character was, how well was each developed, how wisdoms has developed over the six year on nearly 100 episodes, i.e. from being naive to being matured, from being single to relationship and commitment, and being from heavy comedy show to a serious one.

And credit has to go to fashion really plays a big role in this show. Success like this will become testament to new marketing strategy that synergies branding and an array of lifestyles that sometimes can be too imaginary. Last night Cat Schwartz on TechTV introduced that new black NOKIA phone that has cool mp3 player that was produced as part of the campaign of promoting a singer, JayZee (I have to verify for this).

In all, let's wait for the movie of which the script will be ready by may this year. Till then, let's hunt for all the DVD boxes for collection. Seriously, I can't wait for the second season of Six Feet Under!!!

Selamat Tahun Baru 1425H | The New Year Prayer

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful!

I pray for your forgiveness
I pray for you to show me righteous way
I pray for you to give me all the courage I need

So that I can be a better Muslim and change my life for good. Amin

"Allah SWT berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad SAW, ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabat baginda dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka.

Wahai Tuhan, Engkaulah yang kekal abadi, yang qadim. yang awal dan ke atas kelebihanMu yang besar dan kemurahanMu yang melimpah dan ini adalah tahun baru yang telah muncul di hadapan kami. Kami memohon pemeliharaan dariMu di sepanjang tahun ini dari syaitan dan pembantu-pembantunya dan tentera-tenteranya dan juga pertolongan terhadap diri yang diperintahkan melakukan kejahatan dan usaha yang mendekatkanku kepadaMu Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha Agung dan Maha Mulia.

Wahai Tuhan Yang Maha pengasih dari mereka yang mengasihi dan Allah berselawat ke atas penghulu kami Muhammad. Nabi yang ummi dan ke atas ahli keluarga dan sahabat-sahabatnya dan kesejahteraan ke atas mereka."

Conspiracy Theory

What do you know, first the Asian and the African countries boycotted the GATTS Round in Cancun and few months later Asian countries especially the farmers are badly hit with by the bird flu.

Was this orchastrated?
Has this been a new form of agro-terrorism?
Is this an indication that if we never agree on full liberalization, open market, the state of our regional economy will be in jeapordy?

I may have no proof yet but i do feel strongly about this. Although African nations, India and Malaysia were vocal in opposing the round have not been badly hit yet, the worse might just be around the corner. Let's wait and see what the developed nations might be doing next.

I'd Rather Be Here

Loneliness | Part One

I need vacation!!!!

I am so excited right now. It's been days without writing here and work have kept me really busy and been such a lazy bum in finishing my paper. I guess, one tends to compromise between career and studies when doing it part time. Anyway, that one is about to get done soon and I can't wait to finish my MBA. After this, one of the best option to me is to apply for doctorate placement and that will keep me busy till half of this year.

Whatever it is, I am so excited right now and I have no idea why I should be. Well, for all that it matters, I am riding high on the wi-fi connection at the KL Central. Yes, my first time on wi-fi ... or better yet, first wireless blogging. Hmm ... maybe this one gets boring soon. Man, I hope not.

So, for the past four days we have been busy reviewing this document, me running around organizing an event, calling up people, faxing letters, writing up stuffs, raising procurements, reviewing quotations, comparing prices, negotiating deals, awarding this and that, getting new partners, so in all, I have to admit that I have never been busy at this magnitude before. Maybe this is all I wanted all these while. A busy life with hectic schedule and all time motivated to get things done faster and better, not in conventional way, but through my thoughts and rationale.

So maybe this wi-fi from KL Sentral is like an escape for me that I have not been on vacation for a long time and I do think that I need to be out of this city or this country for a change. Maybe work and live somewhere else for good. I don't know. And the fact that this train interchange is an exchange for travellers getting in and out of Kuala Lumpur gives me that feeling. Maybe after all, vacation is just there waiting for me.

Gonna log off now and seriously this wi-fi thingy is so addictive. For 19 bucks I can travel everywhere I wanna go.