Teck Sim's Wedding Dinner on Christmas Day

It is a good day, especially for my old friend, Teck Sim, as today was the day of his wedding dinner. As it was also a good day for the rest fo the world, being Christmas Day, that is, I was determined to make it to the wedding dinner no later than "on time" (meaning, early, if possible).

I've said it before and I'm saying it again - it's an honor to be invited to a wedding dinner / lunch, so in utter respect of the bride and groom, make every attempt to arrive on time. Regardless of the local cultural practice of *rubber time*, which is just plain rude. If you're expecting heavy traffic and / or difficulty finding parking, by all means, start the journey EARLY!

Now, it normally took me approximately half an hour to get from my place to the restaurant, Pei Zing, which is situated in Melaka Raya. It was a Sunday, it was Christmas, and it was dinner time. All three combined lit up a warning light in my brain that prompted me to leave at six o'clock - exactly one hour before the dinner was scheduled to start.

The location of my residence made it a wise choice to take the route via Ujong Pasir, which I expected to have a lighter flow of traffic compared to the "other" route which is from Klebang / Melaka Town (Jalan Ong Kim Wee). My gamble paid off, as there was just light traffic all along the way to Melaka Raya. Even the famous Portugis Settlement, which I had to drive by, was relatively void of traffic - perhaps everyone was avoiding this in expectation of the worst, or perhaps I was just very early....

Regardless, I made it to the restaurant with more than a quarter of an hour to spare. As I drove pass the entrance looking for a nice spot to park, I spied my colleague, Chong Wee Kiong, standing at the front of the restaurant, some distance from the main entrance, apparently waiting for the rest of the friends to arrive.

I joined him and engaged in idle banter to pass the time, and soon thereafter, our group of friends (well, most of them anyway) arrived. There were 2 tables allocated for our "company", even though some of us were already ex-staff.

At my table sat Chong Wee Kiong, Chong Fook Chiew (neither 3 of us Chong's were related), an elderly lady who I guess was either the mother of Chong Fook Chiew or his wife, Sim Bee Ling. Further round clock-wise were Florence and Kam (who just left Vishay last month), sans their 2 sons, Cho Lye Yin, a familiar supplier whose name eludes my frail memory (sorry!) and Lai Chiun Yin.

The adjacent table was populated by Lo Chea Thin (who left in 2008 but has since rejoined Vishay) and her little girl, Amelia Low, Tai Hwei Chuan, Tee Sie Yen, Koo Wei Han (who I last met at Kek's Wedding, arriving so late we thought he wasn't coming), Tan Hwee Chuan (frequently confused in mention and e-mail with Tai Hwei Chuan mentioned above), a familiar guy who again I seem to forget, Low Chung Lee, and last but not least, Dennis Tan.

Elsewhere, seated at the "Infineon" table, were my old mates from Product Development, Sean Lee and Lim Fong. Phew, hope that I didn't forget anyone (my memory just isn't what it used to be).

Giving the benefit of caution any of the guest who might have been caught up in the horrible traffic jam that kept my friends who came via the Klebang / Jalan Ong Kim Wee way stuck for half an hour, the actual dinner started around 8.30pm.

For those of you who are not familiar with "local customs", this is somewhat a norm. Though you can't control the actions of others, you can only do your part to ensure you are not fashionably late....

Well, as per the standard operating procedure, the bride and groom marched in as announced and the food was served. The first dish was an assortment of 5 cold dishes, which, frankly speaking, disappeared faster than deer at the sight of a cheetah. A sure sign that everyone was really, really hungry by then. :)

As the dinner progressed, the few of us took the opportunity to catch up with old times and old friends, some of whom I've personally not met up for more than a year. It was a bit hard to talk and hear above the sound of the singers over the speaker system (free flow karaoke, that is).

Thinking back to the "good old days" a decade ago when all of us we younger and single. Back then, we used to organize our own outings. Oh, how time and married life has changed things....

Well, at the end of the wedding dinner, my friends headed off to the house of Clement Fernandez (top guy of Sensor / IRDC Operations) for a second round at his annual Christmas house party, which I usually attended each year. This year, however, I'm making an exception, as it has been quite a hectic day for me, so I wasn't so keen on braving the expected traffic deadlock heading towards Klebang (and also on the way back, should I have decided to go). Perhaps next year, then....

All in all, another old friend ties the knot, and on such an auspicious date - there's no way he can forget his anniversary...! :)

To the newly wedded couple, Teck Sim and Chooi Mei, all the best in your marriage, Merry Christmas, and may you live happily ever after!

R.I.P. Teresa Hsu @ Mother Teresa of Singapore

Today, an article in the local newspaper, The Star, caught my eye and brought a tinge of sadness to my heart. It seems that Teresa Hsu, the kind and long-lived old woman of Singapore, had finally passed on from this world....

According to the article, which can also be found online at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/15/asia/10097120&sec=asia, Teresa Hsu died peacefully at home last Wednesday (7 Dec 2011) and was cremated on the same day without any ceremony, as per her wishes. She was 113 years old.

Sigh, time really flies. I still remember when I managed to meet her in Bukit Jalil some 2 years ago : http://bit.ly/uNvnwA

Way back then, even though she was ONLY 111 years old at that time, accompanied by her Brother Sharana Rao, the soft-spoken small old lady commanded the attention of a roomful of people, who listened attentively as she told here tale and life story.

Well, I am sure that in her many, many years of doing charity work, she has helped a countless number of those in need. All of which I am sure sincerely mourn the loss of such a kind, charitable and selfless being. I guess that she, like Mother Teresa, are proof that there "angels" walking among us....

25 November - World Meatless Day

Yesterday, 25 Nov, was World Meatless Day & also 初一 (first day of the lunar month). Anyone going vegetarian, at least for one day?

People go vegetarian for a variety of reasons, some do it for religious reasons, others due to health. Some people are full time vegetarians (like my dear wife), while some observe it only on certain days (most common being the 1st and 15th of the lunar calendar).

Personally, the hardest thing about adhering to a vegetarian diet is the availability of non-meat food. Especially here in Melaka, Malaysia, where we are famous for an assortment of local dishes. Until even those from Singapore know of them....

Just drop by any restaurant, cafe or diner, and you'll be hard pressed to find a main dish that is vegan-friendly. Frequently, the vegetarian dish has to be a specially-prepared one, off the menu, and that might not fall within the chef's repertoire. Once, I attended a wedding dinner at an apparently famous restaurant in Nilai (I won't say which one, to avoid any potential for a defamation lawsuit), which has the worst vegetarian specially prepared table I have ever sat at. Needless to say, after the dinner, I went home and filled my stomach with some bread sandwiches, as I did not really eat anything there.

There are a quite number of vegetarian restaurants these days, usually paired with the term "organic" as well (to denote vegetables grown with natural fertilizers and no pesticides). However, these can sometimes be more expensive, so it is not "economically viable" to patronize these establishments daily. Amusing trend here is the appearance of "simulated meat" where chicken and fish and even prawns are made up, usually with tofu. For those of you who can't fully let go of the meat yet, this helps with the transition.... :)

Well, these days, there seems to be a slow acceptance of vegan diet spreading, so you can start to find some suitable stuff on the menu. My lunch friend, Loh CK, observes a vegetarian diet on some days - and on those days, we don't go to a vegetarian restaurant, but just plain old economy rice (just choose the veggies and stay clear from the meat). 

So, thanks to my wife, and the fact that I am at home on leave, I managed to keep yesterday a 100% vegan compliant day. Well, you know how these things are, just 1 day in a lifetime won't change anything, but with the increased awareness, perhaps there will be more days like this in my future....

Anyone else thinking to go partial or full-time vegetarian?

There's a good article on The Star Online which you can read up in your spare time : http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2011/11/23/health/9927049&sec=health

Farewell to Kam CL

11th November 2011 is a good day for some. 11.11.11. For my old friend, Kam CL, that would be his last working day in our company.

Towards the end of the year, things are picking up the pace down in the office, so I only discovered on Thursday, 10 Nov, that the following day would be Kam's last day at work.

Kam was from Production, so our dealing in the past were always centered either on borrowing resources for our R&D activities or in phase-in to mass production. Finding the spare machine time and people to run our stuff, while still meeting the production weekly cut-off is a fine art in resources balancing indeed.

Kam leaves for a better offer, I hear. Which should be really good news for me, every time anyone leaves, a new doorway of opportunity awaits. Still somewhere in Melaka though, so I look forward to meeting up with him again (as well as his wife, Florence, also formerly from this company).

Well, as the end of the year approaches, invariably there will be more departures, so goes the annual migration trend! As for my old friend, best of luck in your new job, and may we meet again soon!

CEL (Check Engine Light) on my Honda CIvic FD2 [FIXED]

It was the end of another long day at work. It had been raining heavily almost every evening for the past couple of days now. Fortunately, the roads that I travelled were relatively free from puddles that made driving dangerous by causing hydroplaning (at high speeds) and masking potholes (like my recent disaster at Penang). Speaking of disasters, the latest one to knock at my door came about as I turned my ignition key that evening.

The check engine light came on, along with the VSA and one more indicator. I shut off the engine and restarted a few moments later. The other lights were gone but the check engine light remained. The K20Z2 under the hood purred softly and smoothly as normal, idling at the usual 600-700 RPM with no sign of engine trouble. The exhaust hummed normally as well, with no sign of smoke or sputtering. Driving off slowly, there was really no sign of abnormality, other than the glaring orange triangle of the CEL indicator in the dashboard display. To be safe, I made sure the revs did not rise above 3 kRPM, which was not that easy, given my FD2 could easily rev to redline, especially in the lower gears.

I made it home without any drama. The next morning, the CEL was still on, thus I decided to drop over to my Honda Service Center of choice, GS Tay Auto Muar, to check it out. Don't want to wait until the REAL cause of the CEL shows itself....

There was still no sign of any mechanical trouble as I took a slow drive to Muar, some 45 minutes away from home. Upon my arrival, the friendly staff greeted me as I calmly and clearly explained my predicament.

They started to check out my car, as I sat in the waiting lounge, typing the first part of this post (up to this point, actually).... :)

Fast forward a couple of hours. They finished checking my car. Unfortunately, they couldn't figure out what was the actual root cause. All they could do was reset the ECU (which turned off all the warning lights). Sigh. I guess I would have to wait and see if those warning lights come on again.

I didn't have to wait that long. The next morning, the family CEL and other warning lights lit up again. I shut off the engine and popped the hood. I scrutinized my engine bay, not really sure what to look out for, but the Engineer inside got the better of me....

Out of sheer luck, I noticed that the metal ring that sealed the air intake hose after the MAP (or was it MAF) sensor was loose. This was the hose where the other end was connected to the throttle body. I was skeptical that such a trivial "screw loose" case could be the actual cause for this. Anyway, no harm in fixing this, so I tightened the ring and started up my engine once again.

I was half-expecting to see the warning lights once again, but they never came on. I repeatedly switched off my engine and restarted several times - still no more abnormality. That was it - I solved the problem! [UPDATE 26 Nov 2011 - still no recurrence up to now, so I guess this was the actual root cause]

Somehow or rather, the poor seal caused by the loosened air hose must have let in additional air than the sensor could detect (since the loosened coupling was after the sensor). That must have confused the system, and thus generated the slew of warning lights. I have no idea how the VSA and "!" systems are affected, but for whatever reason, they are now gone as well.

Kolam in VSM for the upcoming Deepavali celebration

A "Kolam" is a form of "Indian floor art" that is usually drawn out and left for days, synonymous with the Deepavali celebrations here in Malaysia. A testament to our multi-racial culture, you don't find these only at homes or temples but also at public places. In our factory, the staff took the opportunity to set up a Kolam in an alcove between the canteen and Room 3.

Looks very nice, don't you think? These colorful patters are made with nothing more than flour, limestone and other powder, and of course a healthy dose of artistic creativity!

Kolams are believed to bestow prosperity. They are not only for decoration. In the days of old, kolams were drawn using rice flour, which ultimately attracted birds, ants and other small creatures, which symbolizes welcoming others to one's home and living together in harmony.

May look simple and easy, but is really takes a lot of patience and artistic talent to draw these kolams - especially so if you have kids and others with "itchy hands" nearby! Though patterns are usually geometric, occasionally one can find depictions of animals and other symbols.

Not only for the auspicious Deepavali celebrations, but also drawn out during other happy occasions such as weddings and other religious festivities.

Durian season again at Jackson's Plantation

I got a call from my generous old friend and ex-colleague, Jackson Goh, to drop by one fine weekend. Yes, once again, it was durian season. Jackson retired recently, and from the looks of things, seems a much happier and stress-free person! :)

Though much of the land in Jackson's plantation was now occupied by palm oil trees, he still maintained a small orchard of durian trees which, though small, still managed to yield a sizable amount of fruits to treat friends to.

Getting to the right spot required a short drive off the main road, down a gentle slope. There was just a simple open gate along the road - easy to miss and overshoot if I weren't paying attention. Though Jackson got around in his 4x4 (he was the Secretary of the Puma 4x4 Club, after all), most normal road-going sedans did not have difficulty traversing the unpaved path that led to the clearing where we gathered.

With two kids, getting anywhere on time proved to be a challenge in its own right, so by the time me and my small family arrived, there was already a small group of my colleagues on the scene.

While Charmaine liked the taste of durians, in stark contrast, Christopher seemed to avoid it (much like most of my European acquaintances). Ah well, I guess there will be variations even between siblings. Anyway, my two kids seemed more excited about running around this big natural area of trees and grass. My other colleague, Goh NK, brought his kids too, but they were a little older, so it was just my two kids running and jumping around while we started to dig in to the pile of spiky fruits.

Well, it was good to see Jackson once again. Till next durian season!

KT Kong offering some durians from an opened shell

Jackson has no doubt mastered the fine art of safely splitting open a durian

Jackson's trusty 4x4, able to go where no ordinary car (especially my FD2) can even dare to dream of going

Charmaine with "dessert" after having her fill of durians

Christopher in the fine company of Lo CT and Sim BL

A new Sinfoni 45.2 amplifier for my Honda Civic FD2

Some time recently, upon starting my Honda Civic FD2, the speakers greeted me with a loud "POP", instead of the sweet melodious voice of Teresa Teng. Instinctively, I immediately turned off the ignition and checked my audio amplifier under the passenger seat. A little hair-raising to see a bit of smoke coming out from the side of the Epsilon ESQ-215 amplifier, that I have had for a couple of years now. Well, fortunately, a puff of smoke and the smell of solder was all there was to it. I pulled out the fuses and cut off the power supply to the amp - I wasn't going to take any chances.

A quick call to Desmond of KL Auto, and an appointment was set up. I have not met up with him for more than a year, more over, he did not attend the recent 8GCC Annual Dinner at Saloma Bistro earlier this year.

Out with the old....

And in with the new!

With my emphasis on sound quality over volume, I was braced for the gargantuan task of finding a substitute amp to replace my poor Epsilon. Desmond saved me the trouble and recommended a Sinfoni AMPLItude 45.2, that had been laying dormant on his shelf for the past couple of years. As it turns out, the improvement in clarity and sound definition was already apparent in the initial set up phase - even with just 1 left-side speaker connected!

Installation and tuning was a painstaking affair, and when it comes to taking apart the delicate panels to work on the innards of your car, you'd better have chosen a team of trusted and skillful worksmen. The team at KL Auto, specially trained and supervised by Desmond himself, delivered excellent work as usual, so there was nothing to worry about. They were really careful with my car, so that's why I especially trust them to perform such delicate tasks. Before I could snap a some decent photos, the amp was in and powered up.... :)

A little tweaking to the soundproofing was done to complement the new set up. As I'm not an acoustic engineer, I'm not the right person to describe accurately and in detail the mechanics of the modifications. Only as one who appreciates good sound and music, I'll let me ears be the judge. Additionally, the new amp nicely complemented the Blaupunkt ODsb8000A active subwoofer that sits in my boot, neither system overpowering the other, but both working together in harmony.

My new Sinfoni amp has a lower wattage rating compared to the retired Epsilon, but the sound quality is much, much improved. Just as there is no co-relation between "megapixels and image quality", there is no reason to assume that having a higher power amp automatically means better sounding music.

Another job well done by the Desmond and the team of KL Auto. Yes, pricing might be relatively higher compared to others, but to me it is fair and justified, in return for good quality of products and services.

Charity at the Bukit Baru Home for the Disabled

One fine Saturday afternoon, I joined my old friend and colleague Kanagarajah and his family, at the Handicapped and Mentally-retarded Children's Center Melaka. My kind friend offered the occupants of this center lunch, as a form of charity from himself and his family. My wife and kids could not make it, as I would have also brought them along.

The Center itself was located in the center of the Bukit Baru district, right next to the busy Jiki food court, across the road from the Bukit Baru Police Station. However, many drive past without knowing of their existence. Like many similar homes and care centers (as I have written about in my experience with the Puma 4x4 club earlier this year), the signs and banners are almost non-existent, so the majority of the populace might not know that there are really many of these homes sporadically located all around.

It is good to note that in spite of times like these, where the whole world has gone materialistic, there are those with good hearts like my friend Kanagarajah, who still do their part and spare a thought for those who are less fortunate. Though to ordinary folks like us, even RM1,000 is dearer than USD1,000 is to people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump, charity that comes from the heart is true and sincere.

Though the hall and kitchen were quite spacious, upstairs and in the rooms, it was quite packed. There are a total of around 52 occupants in this center at present, and comprise not only children, but some adults too. 

If you have the means, do spare some change or old clothes / toys from places like these, as majority of their funding comes from donations from kind and charitable folks.

Contact information for the Handicapped and Mentally-retarded Children's Center Melaka:

Contact: Mr Thomas (013-6913240)

E-mail : ppkktam@gmail.com

GPS Co-ordinates : 2.225674, 102.276760‎ or +2° 13' 32.43", +102° 16' 36.34"

Website : www.handicapjb.org.my (Headquarters in Johor Baru)

The Melaka center is just 1 of 6 centers under this organization. Map above (green arrow) indicates it's location.

More photos:

Trying out telecommuting (working via "remote control").

Telecommuting is a concept that seems more at home in the Western world, rather than over here in Malaysia. I tried to explore the implications and practicality of this concept as applied to my own poor self as a guinea pig, and this post sums up my personal observations.

Before proceeding further, especially if any one reading this is somehow related to HR (of my present company), don't make assumptions. This is practically a *simulated telecommuting experience*. As HR policies dictate, we're not able to carry forward our balance annual leave infinitely over to the following years (ironic, as I would have thought that giving it your 110% generally leaves little time to use up annual leave in the first place). I am challenged to devise a method to drop below the top management radar, from the list of employees with high balance annual leave, and at the same time keep the important stuff (objectives and targets, department goals and projects) moving onward. So happened that due to a minor accident by a careless Kancil driver which left me car-less for a few days recently, by taking annual leave to stay at home, and at the same time staying in constant contact with my fellow colleagues at the office, I try to see if I can get things moving on at a comparable pace while physically being away from the office, so to speak.

Some jobs, by nature, are highly confidential, and are also unsuitable (not allowed even) to work on outside the office. Perhaps if you work for the FBI or CIA this applies to you....

* Infrastructure

Most of my daily work is spent working on a computer, mainly communicating via e-mail (MS Outlook) and working on data and reports (heavy use of MS Excel and Word). Of course, what I do is basically oversee and ensure that our New / improvement product / package development projects are moving and meet the pre-defined schedule (otherwise, plan out a recovery plan and re-define the schedule). That's as much as I can safetly say without violating the P&C policy and getting myself into a nasty predicament.

1) Laptop - Must have

For this, I have the benefit of a company-issued laptop, to do homework (or, depending on how you look at it, a device to extend your enslavement to the company way past office-hours...!). My previous *weapon* was a Dell D630, but recently, I have been issued with a replacement Dell E6420 (whether or not this makes much of a difference will be the subject of a future blog post).

2) Broadband Internet Connection - Must have

Of course, our project files are all parked on the company's internal servers, so to access them (via secure VPN) at reasonable speeds, you will need a fast and stable Broadband connection. Still anything can go wrong, so the best practice is a create a temporary working folder on your Desktop and copy over the file that you will be working on. Not only does this save you from a broken connection (when you anyway have to save the file locally), but it will speed things up quite a bit, especially if your MS Word likes to "Auto-save" from time to time.

3) Printer - Optional

The "paperless office" is still far, far away. Ironically, though it takes longer to find a physical printed document, it is much easier to refer to a piece of paper by your side, rather than flipping back and forth between different windows / virtual desktops. I try hard to resist printing out something for temporary reference, only to send it off for recycling after I'm done. Working around this in MS Word, I can view side by side with another word document, or resize the windows accordingly so that both documents are in view. Of course, this requires a rather large screen or monitor. My company issued laptop has a 14.1" screen with a horizontal resolution of 1366 pixels, but a vertical resolution of only 768 pixels, so working side by side is still manageable.

4) Phone - Must have

Communication is key to getting things done in a team. Unfortunately, getting the right message across in writing relies on both your ability to write down clearly what you are tring to say, and the ability of the receiver to correctly understand what you are writing. And of course, the message only has a chance to get across once someone actually opens up and reads your e-mail. For my case, having the ability to call up my staff is an invaluable tool and greatly helps. Through the phone, you can get real time feedback on whether your message got across correctly. I try to remember to ask for someone to explain back to me what he or she understands, to gauge their level of understanding. If the message comes back totally different, clearly we have to work on our communication skills!

5) Instant Messaging - Optional

Whether it's something as consumer-based as Yahoo! Messenger or specialized like Microsoft Office Communicator (OCS), instant messaging is another facility to enable real time communication. Of course, you need an internet connection for this. Nowadays, IM is not only restricted to typing - many support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and even video conferencing (for which you'll need a really fast internet connection and a webcam). I use OCS frequently in my communications with my counterparts overseas, mostly for desktop sharing (where you can show someone your desktop so you are all looking at the same file). Formerly we used a similar web-based online conferencing service called WebEx, but there was a terrible lag, especially when viewing PDF files, for some strange reason, so I could be looking at page 10 now, but my counterpart in Germany would still be looking at page 8!

* Experience

So, with the infrastructure set up, what was my experience like?

On working with others, most of my team are quite seasoned and thus we work together like a well-oiled machine. Save for some new people, who have yet to work as efficiently as us "old timers", most of the time, a short concise instruction is all I need to give, and it would be worked on with the necessary degree of efficiency. Of course, this does not work unless you have strong team support and good communication, even then, miscommunication and lag might set in once in a while, even among old players. I would say this is plausible, given the current set up, and can be further improved.

On working alone, example, generating reports, analysing data and creating test plans for reliability qualifications, this is a good place to work, as I'm free from the frequent distractions that crop up while in the office. Of course, some might argue, at home there are even MORE distractions, but generally, those you can control, you can cut out and keep focused on the task at hand.

Working at home is an unnatural thing for some. Some people even believe, because you are at home, you should not be working! Children (especially mine), seem to operate under the thinking that because Daddy is at home, they can play the whole day with him! So, telecommuting only works when you are effectively isolated from others.

Any real savings on commuting costs?

Well, not having to drive to work does save fuel, but for this to work you have to reduce the overall distance travelled per week. Going on "half-day" does not save fuel, since you still have to go to work for half a day. The farther away you live from office (and the less fuel efficient your car and driving technique), the more you will "save" from telecommuting.

of course, there are somethings that I cannot do, because I have to be physically present at my office, such as set up a tester or physically verify some devices using bench equipment. As I'm very much working as an engineer more often than most, there is no real alternative than going to work. Perhaps some day, we can have an "avatar" like in the movie, where we can perform tasks remotely (tele-presence). Until that day comes, though, tele-commuting might be a viable option sometimes, but for some, it would be impractical. I am sure if the company sanctions it, the nature of the job and required infrastructure would be well taken care off beforehand.

Do any of you out there have a similar working experience via telecommuting that you can share?

My Honda Civic FD2 Bumper Repair

After the recent "close encounter" with a white Perodua Kancil, my Honda Civic FD2 was in need of minor repair to the front bumper.

As chronicled in my previous post, the damage was, fortunately, restricted to only the bumper. These days, the bumper of a car functions to cushion the force of an impact, absorbing the energy so that less of it spills over to the rest of the car. In fact, modern cars are designed on the principle of "crumple zones", to increase the safety of the occupants inside. This is a radical departure from the traditional school of thought a long time ago, when cars were built just the opposite - like a tank!

Anyway, my trusty bumper did it's job, deforming upon impact so that the actual metal body of the car was completely unaffected. The impact zone was dangerously close to the right headlamp, but thankfully it was spared. From the photo above, you can see how close the headlamp and foglight are, relative to the damage.

As my car was stationary at the time of impact, as it should be, my airbags did not deploy. I would expect the designers of a car to factor this in, but I'm not sure if all cars are designed equal (to this day, there are still some cars on the Malaysian roads which don't have airbags, as this is not yet a legal requirement). A side note on this - the ruling that cars have to be fitted with dual air bags starting 1 Jan 2012 only applies to new cars, not to those already sold and on the road. See : http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Airbag-ruling-only-for-2012-cars.aspx

In all honesty, there was no functional impact to my FD2, so at first glance, it looks to be more of a cosmetic issue. My concern was that the bumper was hanging free (the screw / clip was broken), so at high speeds, the force of the wind MIGHT push the bumper into the front wheel. So, there was a potential safety risk, thus, justified the need for repairs.

Who do you call when you need to fix up your ride? Well, between "3rd party" workshops and the official channel, I decided to go for the latter. A bit on this before continuing. Even the "Official" Honda Service Center does not do repairs in-house, but sub-contracts the task out to their panel. I chose to go through Honda instead of directly to an external workshop as by going through Honda, as now the liability is on them. So, any issues with the car, I can deal officially with Honda, who have reputation and credibility to uphold. Going directly to, say, Ah Beng's Car Workshop, it would be difficult to resolve any issues that might arise.

Another plus point is that by virtue of being on Honda's panel workshop, they would already have met some requirements, and would have lots of experience with cars such as mine. It would be difficult to work on a car you rarely see (good luck repairing your Ferrari), as even a trivial task such as removing a dashboard to install tweeters can result in damage. An inexperienced repairer might do more harm than good - "seperti tikus membaiki labu" goes the Malay proverb (loosely translated as "like a mouse trying to repair a pumpkin").

Well, when it comes to Honda, I looked up my trusted Honda service center branch in Jalan Bakri, Muar (not the closest to my home, they have been very good to my ride all this time). Again a note / disclaimer, I am not affiliated with them in any way, so here is just my honest tale and experience of dealing with them. Your own impressions might vary.

I explained my requirement (repair and respray the front bumper), and immediately I was asked to send in my car that afternoon. Since I would definitely have to leave my car there, I told them I would come the next day, otherwise I'd be stranded in Muar (which was close to an hour's drive from where I lived).

The next morning, I drove down to Muar and got the damage assessed by the Service Advisor. Good thing that the guy from the panel workshop was around too, so he did the assessment on the spot and quoted the price for repairs there and then. Unfortunately, according to him, the workshop was full (many accidents that week), so they could only start working on my car the following Monday. Well, it was nobody's fault, so I resigned myself to driving back home and only on the following Monday did I return to drop off my car for repairs. Due to the nature of metallic paint, I chose to respray the entire bumper (including the Modulo front skirting), to avoid any uneven appearance. Luckily they still have the correct paint, as today's FD2s are now offered with a different color.

So, at the start of the next week, repairs were estimated to be completed by Thursday morning. My wife was with me to ferry me back home after a short stop at Mister Coffee for a cup of, um, coffee (what else?).

For the rest of the week, without my trusty Civic (don't get me started on public transportation in this part of the world), I took the opportunity to "clear annual leave". It was during this time that I further explored the potential of "telecommuting" via simulation.

Well, my car was actually ready on Wednesday. According to the Service Advisor, it had been hot and sunny every day that week, so the "paint dried very fast". When I went over to take my car, it was thoroughly washed and polished (even my new Nexen 6000's were shining with a coat of Tire-shine). The bumper was back in place, secured with the bolts just like the original ones, not like the ones you get from off the hardware shelf, or cable ties. From the looks of things, relative to the age and other parts of the car, it is unlikely that any one would realize that my car had ever been hit and repaired.

Another satisfactory service associated with the Honda SC in Muar (GS Tay Auto), who also made a follow up call the following day to check if I had any outstanding complaints. If any of you are on the look out for a good place to service your Honda, I strongly recommend that you give this service center a try.

Einstein's quote on genius, and how it applies to my working life

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, more often known for his General and Special theory of Relativity and the famous equation, E=MC^2 (sorry, doesn't seem to be a good way to write the "2" superscript for "squared").

However, he also said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." And that is the quote which I draw a parallel to my working life.

Thanks a lot to "Pro Blogger" Darren Rowse, from whom I learned this!

In today's working environment, many of us report to someone, and I'm sure a handful of us have staff or direct reports working under our organization. In an ideal world, most of us, as employees, seek to become the best in our own field, and receive the just recognition from our superiors. From the other side of the looking glass, those of us, as employers, would like very much for each and every member of the team to be a strong and dedicated contributor to the department's goals and objectives.

Alas, at times, reality can be far from ideal....

A decade ago, I got my first job working as a process engineer in a locally-owned semiconductor manufacturer. Knowing next to nothing about real working life in a factory, I can, by definition call myself stupid at that point in time. Fortunately, I had a good mentor and tutor, in the form of a very capable engineer by the name of Ng Chew Huang (Angie), who set me on the right path towards being an engineer. Not so much as telling me what to do, but HOW to figure out what to do. Also at that time was the incumbent General Manager, Matthew Ong, who was also very supportive. He taught me that a good engineer uses his hands, not just his head. With their help, plus the support of my fellow colleagues, I found that I quickly became good at what I was doing.

Fast forward to the present, in a new company (same field though - manufacturing discrete semiconductors), up until recently, I have made good use of my experience and affinity for technical stuff to progress in my career as an engineer (now under Product Development).

After a long time on my "home turf", I jumped forward into the unknown realm of management. Management, as opposed to Engineering, is a completely different ball game. Therefore, I am, by definition, stupid, once again.

Unfortunately, unlike my good fortune years ago, this time there were no Angies or Matthews to launch me off the management flight deck. I was on my own, in deep water, and no one was around to throw me a lifeline. Well, up until recently, but I really wished that she has joined very much earlier....

After a lot of self-effort, I have progressed significantly since my first foray into the management field year ago. However, to this day, my capabilities as an engineer still surpass by far my skills as a manager.

Coming back to the quote from the sleepy-eyes, fuzzy-haired scientist, if my net worth was appraised solely on my performance as a manager, I would, for now, come across as mediocre in the eyes of my colleagues. Worse, I may also start to actually believe that I am nothing more than just an average performer. Well, I can't change the way other people think or act, but if I myself believe this fallacy, then all hope is surely lost.

It's interesting to see how many people easily forget years of excellent performance, but never fail to pick on mistakes and faults time and time again.

Of course, in life, you should always put your best foot forward and capitalize on your strengths. Always do your best! If you're Tiger Woods, and have to challenge someone else to a game of your choice, would you rather pick Golf or Swimming? (I assume here that Tiger Woods is at best, an average swimmer).

If you're finding it hard to make heads and tails of your current job, you might be doing the wrong job. You are not the right person for the job! If your employer is unable to make you a better performer in your current field, then he should probably have better luck hiring someone more suitable and assigning you to do something that you can do really well.

We are all good at something, but people look at us and only see what they are looking for, or hope to find. Sometimes, you look so hard to find the gold that you don't see the oil field right in front of you...!

Just because someone thinks you're stupid doesn't mean he is right, just as you thinking he is stupid for thinking that you are stupid does not make him more stupid that he already is. Think about that for awhile...! :)

In the meantime, take the effort to develop other areas that need reinforcement. As you should not put all your eggs in one basket, do spend some time polishing your other skills, as you'll never know when you need to count on them. As skills need to be used to really hone them, it helps if you have some opportunity in your routine life to use your abilities to keep time from becoming rusty.

Be the fastest swimming fish that you can, and get the recognition you deserve. But it's OK to crawl out of the water and climb up a tree from time to time, when no one is looking...! :)

From Blogspot to Blogger to... [what next?]

When I first created my blog here, I name it "MCWK on blogspot.com", clear under-utilization of creative thinking. To this day, the site remains with its created URL of marvinchong.blogspot.com (again, did not exercise right side of my large grey matter). Heh, heh - with such an unimaginative name like that, no wonder I don't get much visitors...! :)

Originally, I started blogging on Multiply.com, the very early social network that I like to think of as "the One who could have been Facebook today, instead of Facebook". (but more on my thoughts on this in another post). Anyway, a social network which none of your friends are on, no matter how good, will probably not appeal to you. Hope that Google Plus doesn't go the same way...!

Any friends out there who are also on Multiply? Hope we can connect there too. Haha, just in case, the threat to FB from hackers actually becomes a reality : http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/08/09/anonymous.facebook/index.html

Just a quick recap on why I started blogging.

Primarily, I have always prided myself on keeping abreast with ongoing IT developments and trends. Having missed the IRC boat (didn't have a proper internet back then), I made up my mind, at least if I don't continue doing it, I should at least start up a blog to experience first hand, what it is all about. And strike off one more reason to be called a "dinosaur" off my profile...! :)

What to blog about? Well, at the beginning, and still holding true today, my interests have been:-

• Cars (especially, my then-new Honda Civic FD2)
• Photography (Nikon DSLR user, probably for life)
• GPS (opened up a whole new world, or rather, to places which I could never find my way to before)
• Events (Family / Company / Clubs, anything not private, too personal and not company confidential)
• Philosophy (I'm not a philosopher, but I come across wise words and teachings from time to time, that I'd like to share with my friends and anyone who cares to follow my blog).

Well, I've always thought of my blog as my own personal journal and life story, so it might appeal more to my friends and colleagues rather than the general Internet populace. Still, my recent in-depth involvement with photography and car clubs such as the 8GCC (Eight Gen Civic Club) have allowed me to discover some interesting things from time to time, that I would also like to share with my small readership.

As most of my time is taken up by work and for family matters, I can't deny that the frequency of my postings have been on the decline as of late, as I mentioned in my post on my great blog backlog. Ah, well....

Anyway, as I'm still blogging (latest one to date at the time of this writing being, of course, this post you're reading right now), the news that Google will retire the Blogger brand and rename it to Google Blogs of course caught my attention.

Link to online sources confirming this is on the Mashable site : http://mashable.com/2011/07/05/google-blogger-picasa-rebranding/

Google launched it's own social network not long ago, Google Plus / Google+, so I guess this exercise is to rebrand all it's services to somehow include the "Google" keyword in the the name.

Well, when this happens, I'm not sure if they will leave intact the "blogspot", which happens to be the middle name of my marvinchong.blogspot.com website URL, or if they will initiate a change to something else. It would be a real pain if they did that, not only to me, but to other "blogspot" users as well. Besides having now to think up of a new name for my blog, I'll have to take care about any links from external sources to my posts. If that really happens, at least I still have Multiply as the "contingency plan"....

Let's see how it goes in the weeks to come - I'm sure the giant Google will be rolling out the changes to Blogger and other acquired services soon!

My Honda Civic's minor collision

It's a bright sunny morning. You get into your car and drive off to work as usual. At the first T-junction, you patiently wait for two oncoming cars to pass from the right before you're can proceed to turn left. Just as you are about to take your foot off the brake pedal, the sound of grinding metal instinctively brings you to a halt once again. Your eyes train in the direction of the sickening sound, to find the front right hand side of your car in contact with the side of a white Perodua Kancil....

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, "you" above was none other than me - barely 30 seconds out from my front gate!

Sigh. And I just got my new tires. Looks like my car too is affected by my recent "series of unfortunate events" aura....

Though I was well behind the intersecting road, and clearly on the correct side of the road, the driver of the other car did not keep to his side of the road when turning off the main road, thus resulting in the accident. The other car was definitely well into my side of the road, since there was room on the left for the van behind it to pass. It was a two lane road, one lane per direction! As I was stationary at that time, there was nothing really that I could have done in terms of taking evasive action....

I drove off to the side of the road, where it was safe, and alighted from my car to assess the situation, I noted the other driver was an elderly gentleman (in my opinion, he looked no younger than 70). My front bumper was knocked out and protruded slightly from the usual position. Fortunately (for the other guy), the main body of the car, tire / rim, headlight and fog light were all undamaged. Saved by the bumper indeed!

As I turned to the other driver, he was very apologetic and start giving lots of excuses (not working anymore, cannot afford to pay for my damages, etc.). It is entertaining to note that a majority of people seem to care about money first, and forget about other things that matter.

Trying not to establish a co-relation between the age of the driver and his competency, I gave him a short lecture about the correct way of turning off the main road (without "eating" into the other lane), and reminded him that he was "fortunate" to have knocked a civilized driver like myself. There would be dire consequences had he knocked a road bully or a lorry / trailer, or what if he had hit a motorcyclist or a bicycle instead?

As he appeared genuinely apologetic, and seemed to register my message, inline with the upcoming Ramadan month just around the corner, I let him off with a verbal warning and a handshake. I noted that my bumper had grazed the length of his car, and damaged the door AND the body, so I reckon that it would require more extensive repairs than mine.

A slight push of the hand and my bumper was back in position, just slightly out of place as the screws / clips that held that portion in place were broken. If it weren't for the damaged paintwork, you'd be hard-pressed to realize that there had been an accident in the first place.

The entire episode took less than 5 minute to resolve, which was good, as I had a meeting to attend than morning.

The 2 lessons to be learned here are :

1. You can do everything correctly, but due to the actions of others, accidents can still happen. As you cannot assume every other person on the road is as competent as you are, always be cautious of every other driver by default. Drive defensively!

2. You cannot control the actions of others. You only have control over your own actions and responses. Always be aware of the situation and what you do, otherwise you will be no better than others who act irrationally. And remember, irresponsible actions of others may affect us in an unfortunate way, so again - drive defensively!

My car has since been repaired; tell you more about it in a future post!

Nexen N6000 215/45/17 tires on my Honda Civic FD2

You can put an assortment of anti-roll bars, plus-size rims and the ultimate race-tuned coil-over kit on your car, but in the end, the tires are where the rubber meets the road, literally speaking!

Since I got my Honda Civic FD2 some 4 years ago, I’ve been through a number of tires. Starting with the dismal Goodyear NCT5 (205/55/16) which came with the stock 16” rims, moving on to Yokohama DB501s (which were almost devoid of road noise, at the expense of grip (especially on wet roads), and next, the Goodyear Asymmetric F1, which complemented my then-new OZ Allegerita 17” rims. The transition to 215/45/17 tires was smooth, cornering grip and while braking hard improved dramatically, with practically no noticeable increase in fuel consumption.

The Goodyear Asymmetric F1 tires were noisier than the previous Yokohamas, but more than made up for it with their superior handling (specifically, better grip and reduced body rolls when cornering hard, possibly due to harder sidewalls). With the Asymmetrics, the car turns and goes where you want it to. With the Yokohamas, cornering hard is more like drifting! :)

Alas, high performance tires tend to rely heavily on soft compounds for their construction, and hence suffer from a higher wear rate compared to “normal” tires. After just 25,000 km, my tires appeared heavily worn out. It was high time to get me a new set of tires. Of course, during this time I have been to the track at Batu Gajah and Sepang (twice), so the casual driver would most likely get more kilometers out of the Asymmetric F1 tires than me...!

So, what brand and type of tires to try out next? I was quite eager to try out the Nexen N8000, which had been receiving a lot of hype lately among the local Civic online community. This would be a first for me, using a tire that was made in Korea. I called up my preferred tire service center, Quicksave, and made an appointment with Leon.

Alas, due to some “inventory cross-over” issue, on the day I went to Quicksave, there were only 2 Nexen N8000 tires in stock. Thus, I settled instead for Nexen N6000. I have feeling that the N6000 wouldn’t be as good as the N8000 (psychological, as the bigger the number the better?), but I guess it would be OK to try them out. I don’t plan to visit the track again (at least not in this car), so getting a more passenger and comfort-oriented tire would be OK.

Links to the two tires on the manufacturer's website:-

N6000 : http://int.nexentire.com/product/prod_view.asp?prod_id=P4

N8000 : http://int.nexentire.com/product/prod_view.asp?prod_id=P2

Note, the radar charts for both tires are different, so unfortunately, cannot use them to make apple-to-apple comparison! :(

There was practically no one at Quicksave that day, so I thought it would be a rather quick swap of tires. When the tires were removed, it became apparent that one of my rear tires was extremely worn out - to the point where the underlying metal mesh was now visible! This was along the “in” side of the tire, which was practically hidden from normal view. A really good thing I had decided to get my tires changed, as any further delay could have meant an automotive disaster....

During the tire balancing, the crew at Quicksave detected one of my rims was severely bent. Not surprising, given the road conditions between my house and workplace. To be honest, I could not visually discern the distortion in the affected rim, but any imperfections in the geometry would be amplified during rotation, especially at high speeds, and would result in vibration, instability and possibly increased tire wear. It was possible to fix the distortion, though it would take some time (so much for the planned quick stop to change tires). Fortunately, I did not starve for half a day, as Leon was around to take me for lunch.

Well, after silently bidding a fond farewell to my trusty old Asymmetrics (who have definitely saved my skin more than once these past thousands of kilometers), I started the journey home and paid special attention to the driving sensations with these new Nexen N6000 tires.

Typically, fresh new tires don’t grip as well, as a result of residual mold release chemicals left over from the manufacturing process. So, until they were properly broken in, I would have to drive extra-cautiously, especially when braking and cornering. In a nutshell, drive slowly!

The journey home was a pleasant one indeed. These tires were very silent, compared to the previous ones. Ride comfort was also improved, evident as the N6000s soaked up the many minuscule holes and bumps on the city roads. Cornering ability was somewhat poorer than normal. Apart from the tires being somewhat more slippery (which was expected), I feel that there is now more body roll than before. Perhaps the side walls are softer, which could explain the better comfort. The slippery feeling will wear off as the tires are seasoned, but I think the body roll will persist. In spite of being classified as an Ultra High Performance Tire, I would say this tire is more akin to my earlier Yokohama DB501s.

So far, with some 800km on my Nexen N6000 tires, the experience is quite similar to my first impression. A moderately sharp left turn off ramp that I frequently traverse on my way to work, which I usually take on without much thought at 80+ kph, now has to be cautiously handled at just 60+ kph. Even at this reduced speed, I can already feel the limits of traction, and of course, the increased body roll.

In a FWD car like mine, this further increases under-steer, so my FD2 now starts to feel very much like a Toyota - safe but boring. :)

I’ve only refueled twice since switching to these new tires, but I notice a slight increase in fuel consumption. Too early to say, so I’m collection more data before I can draw a conclusion on whether the difference is practically / statistically significant.

Hmm, once I get more mileage on these tires, I’ll see if I can minimize the under-steer to "improve" the handling, especially around corners. But that is another story for another day....

My Honda Civic's 55,000 km PM Service

Due to increased work commitments in the recent weeks, I've had very little time to do anything else, much less find the time to write. Today, I find myself with time to kill and my trusty laptop by my side, so I figured I'd take the time to "contribute" to my increasingly dormant online memoirs....

It was time for me to bring my Honda Civic FD2 in for routine preventive maintenance at 55,000 km. Of course, it didn't exactly turn out to be *routine*, a bit more on this later below....

As usual, I made a service appointment at the GS Tay Honda Service Center in Muar. As I've mentioned before here, even though this is not the closest service center to my house, the quality of service and friendly staff justifies the need for me to drive the extra distance, all the way to Muar.

I arrived at the service center around 2.30pm. Today's service was a minor one, which basically required only a change in engine oil. My Civic doesn't run on anything exotic, just on Honda's own brand of engine oil (the fully synthetic variant, though). Approximately 5 liters of engine oil are needed for the stock 2.0 liter K20Z2 that sits under the hood. As engine oil comes in either 4 liter or 1 liter containers, 1 of each are used for each service.

During the course of the service, the service advisor recommended a change of wipers for me, as the current ones were already worn out. It was really some time since I last changed them, so I agreed to the change. Also, he pointed out that the valve cover gasket appears to be leaking, and required a change as well. Now, this was something out of the ordinary. Removing the valve cover to replace the gasket was quite labour-intensive, due to the claustrophobic engine compartment and the way they shoe-horned the engine in.

After a long sequence of systematic nut and bolt removal, the valve cover finally came off, and I got to see the two overhead cams for myself. Sure enough, there were two cam profiles at the intake, but only one at the exhaust side. That's essentially the key feature that sets the K20Z2 apart from the K20A....

The gasket was a thin black piece of rubber barely 1 cm thick all around, that lined the joints between the engine block and the valve cover. In removing the old gasket, the tech took great care to inspect all around the engine block for remaining remnants from the old gasket, which would cause a poor seal if not removed prior to the installation of the new gasket.

Finally, after replacing the gasket, then comes the task of re-assembling everything. I counted more than 30 nuts and bolts - I hope our friend does not misplace any of them!

The drive home was not significantly different. The car and engine felt as smooth as it always has been. Then again, the whole idea of "preventive" maintenance is to reduce that chances of something breaking down, not to fix a problem.

Well, another successful service, another satisfied customer. True, today's service took longer than usual, but that's justified because of the extra activities involved in replacing my wiper and valve cover gasket.

A good thing about GS Tay Auto is that a few days later, one of their staff makes a follow-up call to check on things. A good practice in terms of customer after-sales support. They do all makes of Honda vehicles, so if you'd like to try them out, do give them a call at +606 954 8389 to make a service appointment.

Thanks a lot to the staff of GS Tay Auto, see you all again at 60,000 km!

Present Petrol Prices (June 2011)

It's no secret that as of 16 June 2011, the new RON97 price announced was down RM0.10 to RM2.80 per liter. The graph below charts the trend that has until recently been going steadily up since the start of the year:-



Lucky it came down this month. From the trend, I was braced for the possibility of the per liter price of RON97 to exceed RM3.00. As of now, RON95 and Diesel prices remain fixed at RM1.90 and RM1.80 per liter respectively.

Unaffected by this development would be the typical Malaysian driver who by now has switched over exclusively to RON95. Owners of high-performance vehicles like the Civic Type-R will be the ones who benefit slightly.

Speaking of fuel, the Government has also banned foreign-registered vehicles from purchasing RON95 or NGV, though this ban does not apply to foreign-registered motorcycles. And the following day, the Government extended the ban, so now, even Malaysians who drive foreign-registered vehicles can no longer purchase the subsidized RON95 (though it's not clear if they can still purchase NGV). While I understand that by banning the sale of RON95 to foreign-registered vehicles, they can still fill up with RON97 to keep on going. What about cars that run exclusively on NGV? I hope that they will not be left high and dry because they are not allowed to refuel once they are in Malaysia!

Locals are also affected, as beginning 1st of June, the Government has withdrawn the super-subsidized diesel enjoyed by commercial lorries and trailers (RM1.45 or RM1.48 per liter, I'm not quite sure). Also, deep sea trawlers no longer enjoy the even lower rate of RM1.25 per liter. All these reductions in fuel subsidies will do well to add to the Government's coffers. I hope that the money will be well spent, and not squandered on some trivial, non-transparent stuff, like tourism promotion and setting up an e-mail account for every citizen.... :)

Well, with the small reduction in RON97 prices (unlikely to affect a significant portion of the population) and with rising fuel costs of commercial transport and deep sea fishing, we'll have to brace for the potential of price increase for related goods and services (not to mention more expensive sea food). Despite strong advice from the Government not to transfer the additional fuel costs downstream to their customers, it's too soon to say if those affected will increase their prices anyway, take advantage of the situation, go on strike, or simply give up the ghost and "close shop" if they really cannot afford to sustain the increased overhead costs.

Sources:-

• RON97 price down by 10 sen (16 June 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/16/nation/8912138&sec=nation
• Diesel super subsidy for commercial lorries abolished (2 June 2011) - http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Diesel-super-subsidy-for-comercial-lorries-abolish.aspx
• Foreign vehicles to be barred from filling up on RON95 petrol and NGV (14 June 2011) - http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Foreign-vehicles-barred-from-filling-up-on-RON95-p.aspx
• Govt expands RON95 sales ban (15 June 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/15/nation/8900828&sec=nation
• Re-look diesel subsidy reduction, says MCA (15 June 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/15/nation/8902143&sec=nation
• Transportation charges will go up without diesel subsidy (28 May 2011) - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/5/28/sarawak/8776996&sec=sarawak

My experience using the BlackBerry Storm 2 (9520)

Over the years, I've used a large assortment of different handphones, from Motorola (which was quite famous waaaay back then), Nokia (the company that literally put a handphone in every household), Sony Ericsson, and of course, BlackBerry.

There are plenty of real, professional reviews of this phone on the Net. What I'm writing here is my personal experience and opinions.

The Screen

Now, the typical BlackBerry signature appearance is the rather squarish outlook, with the tiny QWERTY keyboard occupying the lower half of the phone. A design that was also featured by Nokia in their E-series phones. The Storm 2 breaks away from the mold by offering a unique 360 x 480 pixels, 3.25 inch capacitive touch screen, which functions as a large button itself (more on this later).

The front portion of the phone is completely void of any buttons, so operating the phone relies exclusively on the touch screen interface. Being a capacitive touch screen, it doesn't work with a stylus, so you have to use your finger. I have a general peeve regarding capacitive touch screen devices in general, be it a GPS, mobile phone (such as an iPhone) or a tablet (like an iPad) - they all quickly tend to get smudged with more fingerprints than an entire season of CSI!

The touch screen of the Storm 2 is unique, in the sense that to select something, you have to put your finger over the right portion of the screen and actually "press" the screen down to "click" on something. In the case of the onscreen keyboard, the key that the phone thinks your finger is over will light up, reducing the chance of pressing the wrong key.

This works well on a tablet with large screen, but on a handphone, especially when in full QWERTY keyboard mode, it's quite hard to see which key is being highlighted (especially if you have a large hand / fingers like me! There's the Suretype keyboard, which effectively combines two keys into a single button but frequently, words I use are not part of the built-in dictionary (either they are technical terms like "optotriac" or words in Bahasa Malaysia). Typing in landscape mode with full QWERTY keyboard is slow but manageable for short messages (like SMS).

As to your fingers, the entire screen is one smooth surface, there is no way to type reliably on the phone without looking at it, therefore you cannot type while... walking, for instance (of course, SMS-ing while driving is illegal, so I'm not going to use that as an example).

Due to the need to click-press the screen each key, typing is quite slow. I originally intended to write this entire post using my Storm 2, but after the 2nd paragraph, I'm falling back to my laptop. Creativity and flow are severely hampered by the speed of typing on the Storm 2 - by the time the first sentence is completed, some of the ideas and momentum are already lost.

This holds true for other devices as well, even though, typing on a large screen tablet like the 9.7" IPad or the 10.1" Galaxy Tab would be less cumbersome than typing on the handphone with a screen slightly larger than 3 inches across the diagonal.

The OS

I'm currently on Blackberry OS version 5.0.0.497 (so many decimals, my Maths teacher would surely cringe at this). This is the latest version of the OS at this time, using the official Blackberry Desktop Manager software. As far at Net feedback is concerned, it looks like this is as far as the Storm 2 will go. Though Blackberry OS 6 has been out for some time now, it appears that there are no plans to make this OS update available for the Storm 2. In fact, if what I read is true, it's not even possible due to hardware limitations (limited on-board memory).

Well, so much for being able to upgrade via software. The inability to keep up with current developments is a severe let down. Looks like the design team lacks some long term vision here - what were they thinking?

Of course, there are "hybrid OS" versions out there, that I have not attempted to tinker with yet. There's the risk of turning my Storm 2 into an expensive paper weight (or "brick" being the commonly used term). The again, what is life without adventure...? :)

Web Browser

The Storm 2 has it's own web browser that is has some compatibility problem with the current web standards. How bad? Well, with a score of only 26/100 on the Acid3 test (http://acid3.acidtests.org/), the Storm 2's browser is only good for the most basic of websites with simple HTML coding.

Connectivity

Not entirely the Storm 2's fault, but plain unfortunate, due to the telecom operator's practice. My Nokia E75 sets up different access points to the Internet. I have my home WIFI set up as an access point, and the phone is configured to use that particular access point to connect to the internet. My Storm 2, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have specific control over it internet connections. There's only one general setting for "Data services" which you can only set to either ON or OFF. When it's OFF, even though I'm connected to my WIFI router, the phone CANNOT connect to the internet. I have to turn the "Data services" setting to ON. Here's where it gets complicated. When set to ON, the phone can either make use of the WIFI connection or opt to use the carrier's (expensive) data services (2G/3G). Now, by default, I never applied for activation of the carrier's data services. However, for whatever reason that you are free to speculate, the telecom carriers here have made it very easy for anyone to activate and use the 2G/3G services on their phones. Just by attempting to connect to the internet, the carrier will send over the appropriate configurations over the air and in an instant, your phone can now connect to the internet. Using their expensive data plan. You will have to write to them NOT to do this, otherwise it all happens automatically. Thus, using the WIFI connection on my Storm 2 to access the internet requires me to first disable the mobile network, activate WIFI and switch "Data services" to ON, before the web browser can work. Once done, I have to turn "Data services" to OFF, deactivate WIFI and finally reactivate the mobile network before I can make calls / SMS once again. A lapse in compliance to this procedure resulted in a hefty phone bill one month of RM200, when my phone "took the initiative" to use the carrier's data services over my WIFI when the WIFI connection was lost. Sigh, getting caught by a simple mistake, almost feels like falling for the 4 step checkmate when playing Chess....

I shall not mention which telecom carrier gave me this bad experience, anyway I believe all of them are the same. If you must know, let's just say the telecom carrier shares the same name with the developer of "Simcity". :)

By the way, I'm not using an special Blackberry plans with my Storm 2, so effectively, it's a standard handphone with WIFI access. Due to the nature of my life (or lack thereof), I'm either at work (where there's no time to use my Storm 2 for non-work-related things) or at home (where I already have a WIFI router), neither of which justifies the additional monthly overhead for a separate Blackberry mobile data plan.

Closing Remarks

Well, so much for my first Blackberry. I'm a technical person, so I like to tinker with my stuff. Keeping the software and firmware updated on my gadgets is something I look forward to doing, and not shunned like the plague. Embedded systems like GPS and handphones are basically fixed from hardware perspective, unlike desktop PC's. Therefore the software that they run on, and that run in them, are essentially their "life blood" that keeps them functional in this world of ever-frequent releases of new products. Sometimes, I wonder if it is an intentional move by the equipment manufacturer to cease software support after a brief period to "encourage" it's end users to change their equipment (to make more money, even though the old stuff still works fine).

Who knows what to expect from Blackberry, whose logo somehow bears a passing resemblance to a silhouette of 7 tombstones (turn it 90 degrees counter-clockwise)....

From this experience, I'm reluctant to continue to stick to the Blackberry brand after my Storm 2 finally goes to that big recycle bin in the sky. Don't know what my next phone will be. Nokia is the de facto standard in consumer mobile phones, so it's always a safe bet, though I might evaluate on something new from Korean manufacturers or even one named after a doctor-repelling fruit next...! :)