While the Boulevard shopping mall was blasting away with a short countdown fireworks display on the 31st of December, I was shooting from a distance away. Safe from the traffic and crowd. As I clicked away, clocks around Kuching ticked their way into a whole new year.

Moments ago, I was blowing out the candles on my birthday cake as my family briefly celebrated my turning into 19 years old. In a few hours, it’ll be 2009. That’s how long I get to be 19-years old in 2008 - a mere 24 hours. It’s a fact people seem to dawn upon upon knowing my birthdate, while I look on for that sure chuckle that would follow.

Although, this - uh I meant - last year, I get to spend my birthday a single second longer than usual. They say every second counts, don’t they? =P

Thing is, the highlight of that day wasn’t that minute second that was added to it. Rather, it was the fact that I got my first dSLR! Contrary to popular belief, I was still dSLR-less when I wrote my previous post. =P

Thank you so much, Dad for agreeing to sponsor half the price of this beauty! I’ve been wanting a dSLR all my life. That urge only got stronger when I got to experience my uncle’s Canon EOS 40D in early December, which is that dSLR I was playing with in the photo in my previous post.

When it was clear that all that pestering and hinting of getting a dSLR wouldn’t budge my parents, I resorted to working for it. But being a student with no full-time job, there is no way I could afford a dSLR all by myself. It was then when I realised I could only actually cover half of it.

Upon getting a green light from Dad, I grew excited and started to scour for the cheapest entry-level dSLRs available in the market today and ended up with two choices - the Sony Alpha A300 and the Canon EOS 1000D. Initially, I leaned heavily toward the A300 as it was a much better deal both in terms of features and pricing.

The A300 had a better Live View system that wasn’t as clunky and slow as the one on the 1000D. The A300 has in-body Image Stabilisation (IS) which works regardless of what lens you’ll use. The 1000D on the other hand, doesn’t have IS built-in but comes with a IS-enabled kit lens. The A300 also has a tempting 2.7′ titlable LCD compared to the 1000D’s 2.5′ fixed LCD. Then there is a factor of lens and accessories for which Canon has the upper hand, having been in the dSLR market for a longer time. Sony dSLRs were rather new, and as such, accessories are a tad bit harder to find. I was virtually torn between the two.

Trips to camera shops revealed that both models are selling for the same price in Kuching. Double dilemma.

The shop’s tauke recommended I go for the Canon EOS 1000D. My Dad, an ex-amatuer photographer from those old days of film-based SLRs with his Canon EOS 888, was also in favour of Canon. The 1000D felt comfortable both in my hands, and it’s interface, for I’ve been using a Canon IXUS 75 point & shoot camera for more than a year now. So, in a way, I felt more at ease with Canon.

And so, after much consideration, on the 31st of December I decided on the 1000D and jumped on the dSLR bandwagon, just in time to usher in the new year.

The next day, my family headed to a good family friend’s house situated pretty far out from the city for lunch. I tagged along hoping I could make use of the rural setting to snap away with my new toy. The results are the select few photos you see scattered above. They’re not perfect, mind you. I still have a lot to learn.

That dog above is their dog, Brandon, an 11-year-old which is equivalent to about 60 human-years old. He sure looks full of wisdom, doesn’t he? =)

I’m still struggling with the manual mode, trying to get used to balancing the shutter and aperture values for that perfect shot. It is definitely not as easy as my previous point & shoot, but that is what dSLRs are for right? To allow a photographer greater control over how your camera take a photo.

Now if you’d excuse me, your’s truly, the photographer-wannabe has a dSLR to master!

P/S: Thanks also to Cedric, Fahriee and Teddy for those invaluable advice and tips you’ve poured when I was torn in the decision making for my first dSLR. I owe you guys one!

It might be a little late already, but as part of a tehCpeng.net tradition, I’ve updated the header to reflect the festive season! I must say though, of all the header’s I’ve done this one’s gotta be the most intensive one I’ve worked on. I had much fun working on it though!

Which reminds me, I been wanting forever to update my portfolio with all that headers I’ve put up before. Not to mention quite a few websites I’ve designed over the past few weeks.

So yeah. I’m still alive.

The holidays has been.. wait for it, hectic. That’s all you hear on my blog right. Seriously though, other than the few trips to the beach and a couple of movies with friends, I’ve been busy on a few web design projects (sounds familiar?) throughout the holiday.

And as far as our home is concerned, the holidays meant household projects. First we had the relawning project which I might be blogging about when it’s done. Then we had to spring-clean the house and trust me that was exhausting. It’s still going on now by the way, I just sneaked onto my laptop for a much needed update.

Hopefully though, all work can be done before my Aunt’s family comes over from KL on Boxing Day, where we’ll be having a short trip to Batang Ai and a much needed break.

So here’s a christmas tree I guess every Kuchingnite would’ve seen by now to lighten up the festive mood around here.

Damn. I need a dSLR so that night shots like the one above can stop becoming absolute disasters. =(

Oh wait, I already have one.

Bwahahaha.

I’ve always wondered why would we humans find solace in that strip of sand where land and water meet, even when it is a 45-minute drive away. You see, we humans are a rather peculiar species.

I bet if we were fish, there would be sand resorts built on that same strip where we would flock to flip around in the sand. =\ And of course, we would call ourselves humans despite having gills and fins and whatnot.. and those dumb two-legged creatures wandering around on land would be called.. fish. Blah.

Humans being fish aside, a few form 5 classmates and I went for a three-day-two-night stay at the Permai Rainforest Resort in Damai. Originally meant to be a full-scale Form 5 reunion, the girls couldn’t make it and so they all bailed out, leaving a bunch of us guys.

The hormone imbalance didn’t spoil the fun tough, for it became an all boys trip (save for Zhi Xian and his girlfriend) armed with boys toys - four laptops, PSPs, games and whatnot. Armed also with five whole kilos of marinated chicken wings for BBQ, beef patties, hotdogs, snacks and instant noodles, 10 of us set for Damai in two cars.

We checked into Cabin 4, a single-storey two-room cabin with a capacity of six. It wasn’t long before all of us were on our way to the pool for a dip before we headed to the sea. We came back all wet and soggy only to find out that apparently, the Resort had this policy of charging 10 bucks per head to those who brought in outside food for BBQ if you don’t opt to get your chicken wings from the Resort cafeteria.

So we had to pay up RM100 extra just for that. We spent 15 bucks a person for our own BBQ food and now we have to pay 10 bucks extra per person for not getting food from the Resort. Awesome.

Not wanting to fork out a 100 bucks extra, Ah Bin demanded that the manager call us back, who 5 minutes later came knocking on our cabin door. We tried to reason with him and threw everything onto the table but he didn’t budge with the extra charge, adding, “I know that there are more than six of you staying in this cabin, the extra four of you would have to be charged RM20 per head and will have to leave immediately”

Double whammy.

We froze and decided to buy time to extend the manager’s ultimatum for the extra of us to leave to 30 minutes later. We almost decided to call the whole trip off when weighing our options. We headed for the check-in counter and discussed our options with the manager, this time, rationally.

In the end, we returned to the cabin with an upgrade to a 9-person capacity two-storey cabin and 50 bucks cut off from the BBQ food fee.

That night, we had a bloody good BBQ dinner despite being a tad bit more expensive having to pay an extra of 5 bucks each.

The breakfast could be better though. But because of the complications regarding the room arrangements, we exploited the extra breakfast coupons and had extra helpings of omelets. =P

And so we spent much of the time there down at the beach where the waves were humongous-ly fun. The waves were so huge they literally sweep you off your feet.

We took precautions though and didn’t go far out. And no, there were no sharks. =D

The weather throughout our three-day stay was perfect - cloudy. Which meant zero sun burns. =)

Baywatch Permai Version.

Before.

We had dinner the second day at Buntal’s Lim Hock Ann Seafood Restaurant. Nothing’s better than seriously good seafood fresh from the sea.

After - in not more than 2 minutes.

The food was so good, the bunch of us must’ve looked like cavemen when we wiped freshly served dishes sparkling clean in 5 minutes tops.

After a buffet breakfast the morning of the last day, we took another group photo courtesy of a waiter. It might not appear to you so but we were actually looking up from the balcony a floor below where the waiter took this photo. =D

James and I in Dennis’s

By 12pm, we checked out and headed back to Kuching in Dennis’s car at 90km/h windows-down.

It was definitely a fun three-day stay despite the scare on the first day. Perhaps that’s what that make trips to the beach fun.

We humans, after all are a peculiar species.

Seems like it was only yesterday we were prepping our battleguns. If only tomorrow would seem like the holidays already!

The past week though, was grueling. I’ve never had a worst study week.

It’s a period of seven days where your mind floats between crushing exam stress and the sunny post-exam holiday paradise. On one hand, you’re frantically worrying about circuits, integrals and whatnot. The other, you’ll be drifting along the freeway at 190mph steering your 370Z around sharp bends in Undercover and how to tackle that backlog of games and movies after the exams.

The only thing keeping my will to live on during this dark period are these:

SERIOUSLY.

If I’d manage to secure results good enough for a Merit Scholarship this semester, Kinder Bueno’s would single-handedly hold full credit.

No other wafer bars come close to these absolutely creamy milky heavenly bites. RLC Circuits are suddenly so darn interesting. So here’s another picture to keep you salivating.

Wish me luck! =)

The wonders of a three-week-lack of updates.

The next few weeks will be crucial to both SPMers, STPMers and university students as we charge head-on into the exam season.

Best of luck to all.

Dad gave up navigating the 3rd-mile maze of four-storey shophouses. All dressed in formal and in our very best, we were due to be at the My Wedding Collection studio for a photoshoot appointment at 4.30pm. Nobody knew exactly where was it, only a vague idea that it could be in 3rd-mile.

The clock ticked 5.30pm. Regretting he hadn’t made sure of its location beforehand, Dad rang up the studio.

“Hello? Is this My Wedding?”

Sis and I let out a chuckle.

“May I know where is your studio located? Near Hung Hung Inn? Okay.”

Which is, of course, nowhere near 3rd-mile.

So we made it to Hung Hung Inn but the studio was nowhere to be found. As if things couldn’t get any worse, it started raining really heavily. The 5pm rush hour traffic wasn’t of much help either. So we circled the area scanning every nook and canny for the studio while Mum tried frantically to call the studio to reaffirm their exact location.

Desperate, I used Dad’s phone to do a Google search on the studio’s address but found nothing but negative reviews of My Wedding Collection on a few discussion boards. Little did I know I’m gonna write one myself.

Because, guess what, we must have called them a good 20 times or more but nobody bothered to answer. Even the answering machine got sick of trying to get the point across that nobody’s picking up.

Frustrated, with a good two hours after the appointment time, tired, hungry and worried with the negative reviews of the studio’s service on the Net, we aborted the photoshoot and headed back home. We never heard from My Wedding Collection studio ever since that day.

The set at the Hollywood Bridal studio.

The next day, Mum managed to arrange another appointment. This time with the Hollywood Bridal studio, who were good enough to update my mom on a free slot available when they earlier said they were occupied for the rest of the week. My Wedding Collection studio didn’t even bother to contact us considering we didn’t show up the day before. Go figure.

So for the second time in a week, we dressed up in formal and all. This time taking no chances, knowing fully well the location of the studio and departing well before the appointment time.

Look at what my mum’s standing on!

So screw My Wedding Collection.

The photos turned out so good, we have only this to say to our experience the day before: Good riddance.

The Family.

A week later, the photos were ready for collection - two 8R prints, a 4R print and two 4R-sized soft copies.

The sister and yours truly.

Damn, my sister’s catching up with my height. Can’t..Lose. Gotta. Eat. More. Grow. Taller! =(

The prints were a nightmare to scan though, as they came with a bloody matte textured surface. Photoshop couldn’t be of much help.

That’s what you have to resort to when they charge a whopping 20 bucks each for a soft copy. =\

I’m so gonna run a photo studio with that kind of moolah!

One of which, is mine:

Introducing, the TI-84 series of graphical calculators - the world’s most overrated.

It’s fat, ugly, slow, ancient, and expensive.

You see, we were told to get ourselves a graphical calculator since the day we stepped into Swinburne. But getting one could set us back about 600 bucks. And so we persevered throughout two semesters of Math in Foundation using our faithful Casio fx-570MS from the days of SPM.

Everytime we’d find a way to solve different Math problems using the fx-570 (when it is thought that only the TI’s can solve them), we’d pride ourselves at how we manage to save 600 bucks - yet again and again. I must say I’ve discovered a lot about the abilities of the fx-570 more than I’ve ever knew in Form 5. Like I never knew it does matrices!

Of course, we all know it draws boobies rather well:

=D

Unfortunately, even the faithful fx-570 couldn’t hold up anymore in degree-level Math.

We had to get a calculator that draws what the fx-570 couldn’t draw, other than boobies - graphs.

Thanks to Kiam, we managed to get used TI-84 Silver Editions for merely 450 bucks each rather than its original sub-RM700 price. And so we reluctantly joined the rest of the class tapping away on the TI-84.

There’s a reason why I never really liked the idea of getting a graphical calculator such as the TI-83/84 series - the price just doesn’t justify what we’re paying for.

Other than its outrageous pricing, the TI-83/84 series calculators are down right dinosaurs in today’s age. They’re absolutely bulky and inferior to the say, iPhone - the real gadget of today’s age.

Get what I mean? It’s so huge it feels awkward to hold it with a single palm.

I need not remind you of what the iPhone is capable of, albeit being at a (much) smaller size. It’s a cell phone, mp3 player, internet browser, camera, video player, touch-screened, and another 1001 features with its support for Apps - including, yes, graphing.

Heck, imagine graphing apps on the iPhone!

And the TI-83/84? It’s..a.. calculator, and a uh, *fumbles through the TI-84 guidebook*.. one that draws graphs. =\

Heck, it doesn’t even draw graphs well. Thanks to its 15Mhz processor (psst, the one in the iPhone runs at 620Mhz), it draws graphs a painstaking pixel-by-pixel!

In all it’s fat glory.

I haven’t even gone into comparing the technical specs of the two gadgets which would leave you wondering just what the engineers over at Texas Instruments are doing.

Okay I’m aware of the huge price difference between the two (~RM700 for a TI-84 Silver vs. ~RM2500 for the iPhone 3G). I’m aware that it’s cruel to pitch the 2004 TI-84 against the 2007-released iPhone. I’m aware that few gadgets out there do if ever, come close to rivaling the iPhone in its features-to-size ratio.

I just wanted to point out that the TI-83/84 series calculators could either be slimmer given the limited functions it performs. Or, it could have more features given it’s humongousity.

Oh well, I guess that’s enough bashing.

If there’s one thing I like about the TI-84, it’ll be this:

Woots! Block Dude rocks! =D

Apparently, in Malaysia, you’re screwed big time if you report a thief. You get accused, slammed, and grinded for publishing a story telling of what a thief does as thief.. stealing things. For what’s worth, in the end, you get detained without trial as a mere reporter.

And the thief.

Oh boy did he got away.

He got a little slamming and grinding. He also got an easy three-year house arrest. He gets to keep the things he stole. He was caught stealing again.

But wait, where’s the arrest?

Just who, is wrong here?

Wow.

It’s been more than 72 hours of exhaustion.

Short story: My blog was down for more than 72 hours due to a massive DDoS attack on my host. It has since been resolved and hopefully won’t reoccur again. *crosses fingers*

Long story: It was Wednesday night, 3rd September when tehCpeng.net wasn’t loading anymore. I reached my host via WLM and was informed of a DDoS attack on the server at 140mbps.

So began the long and exhausting ride over the past few days of pestering my host on the status and hoping the attacks would somehow alleviate. After 48 hours, all helpless and frustrated, I posted a lengthy support ticket ranting about how slow their IM support seems to be replying and hesitating to fill me in on the details.

The support team made a rather quick and prompt reply, reassuring me of the situation and detailed the measures they’ve taken to block the attack. That calmed my frustration a little, but the attacks went on and on yesterday afternoon, 6th September, my host cited the attacks were still incoming at 500mbps. Bloody hell. By the time, tehCpeng.net has gone down for about three days.

Which totally sucked. I understand the amount of pressure my host is going through to get their network back up. But you just can’t help feeling frustrated over a helpless situation.

All sorts of measures were tried, including moving my blog to a US-based server and yet, to no avail. The DDoS attacks were too persistent.

Fast forward this morning, more than 72 hours after I last saw my blog, I found the attacks still ongoing. I checked back on a lowyat.net thread on the attacks and found that my host were updating the domain IP’s one by one to pinpoint which domain is the problem. They updated mine and ended, rather instantly, the longest ever downtime I’ve experienced.

I can only hope that this frustrating experience would be my last. It’s been a long week. =\

*exasperated sigh*

It’s time we cherish the moment, put aside all our differences, our insufficiencies, our beliefs, and celebrate what we all have in common - being proud citizens of Malaysia.

This year, tehCpeng.net would be paying tribute to Mohamad Hamzah, an architect, who 61 years ago, designed Malaysia’s national flag. I guess nobody would be more proud to have his own design paraded all over the country 24/7 for 51 whole years.

It’s every designer’s wet dream I tell you.

Like this humongous one erected only once a year every Merdeka month atop the Sultan Iskandar Building.

To commemorate his achievement, I tried to replicate how would his sketch look like as he made a proposal for a flag design competition held in 1947. Okay - he might not have used English in his sketches, and the Jalur Gemilang isn’t known as the Jalur Gemilang until 1997.

Also, Mohamad Hamzah first designed his flag to have a five-pointed star instead of the 14-pointed one on the flags we see flying today.

So for today’s sake, let’s just assume he did all that on his sketches.

Happy 51st Birthday Malaysia!