There’s just so many things to do and so little time… I just wish there’s like 48 hours in a day…

The baby is due end of this month. We still have quite a number of things to do and prepare like (in no particular order):

1. Pack the bags - hospital admission, hospital stay and when baby is out of hospital

2. Paint the room Just completed at 1130hrs

3. Clean refrigerator (or maybe we should just get a new one since we’re going to move to our new house by end of the year anyway)

4. Baby’s car seat (need to do more research into this — seems like there are so many types that it’s gotten to a point where I got confused as to what is what — serious! there’s the stroller, stroller-and-car-seat-in-one, stroller that allows lying down and seated, etc)

5. Steriliser? Or just use tablets? Or use boiling water? Seems that plastic milk bottles may release Bisphenol A or BPA which can cause chronic toxicity. Over the weekend, we bought 2 glass milk bottles — ya, we managed to find them.

6. Wash baby clothes, napkins, etc… We are using some hand-me-downs from relatives and friends. So have to wash them first as some have been stored for months (or I was told, even years!).

7. Clean up room. Currently we have lots of books lying around in our room (have to read up on how to be good parents, etc) and there’s a bit of dust now. Will probably need to store them in plastic containers so it will be easier to clean.

8. Baby cot… Hmmm… What kind of mattress? Spring? Latex? I think we’re kind of decided on this — coconut fiber. I think its coconut anyway.

9. Diapers… Errr… Do we stock up now? What size? How much will we need? *sigh*

10. Baby grooming set - nail clippers, etc… I just found out that you can’t use the normal nail clippers for the baby!

…The list just goes on and on…

I give up.

I don’t really have much time to spend on working on this ’simple’ template. And the last Wordpress upgrade sort of really screwed things up.

Even before the upgrade, the formatting looks a bit weird on Firefox but looks fine on IE.

So, anyone wanna volunteer and help me do up this template so it don’t look so cacat-ed?

The bird died…

Mrs Tai said it died while her colleague was trying to feed it with the antibiotic the vet had given. It was trying to peck Mrs Tai’s colleague and was struggling. Then it just dropped dead…

So its Goodbye #1.

I also said goodbye to my hamster. That’s Goodbye #2.

Today, I also said goodbye to…

My Proton Waja

We have had our ups and downs. For almost eight years we have worked as a team. Eight years is a long time but I guess it is time to say goodbye. I was using this car when I first met Mrs Tai. We picked up Gerger using this Proton Waja. The sale of this car was quick. Hand over the keys and that was it. It was only 10 minutes later that I realised I would never see that car again. I didn’t say ‘goodbye’ to it. But in a way, that was Goodbye #3.

And say Hello to…

My new car - the Proton BLM now known as the second generation Proton Saga

Yes, Proton BLM or what is now known as the new Proton Saga. Once I get a hang of this car, I will do a ‘review’ it.

This bird has a story to share…

Mrs Tai sent me this photo via her mobile phone this afternoon saying that this bird had hit the fan and broke its wing. I thought it was just a minor accident and the wing was just injured a bit. So I didn’t call her back.

Later on, I called back to check on her and asked about the bird. She told me that her colleague had taken the bird to see a vet. The vet said that the next 2 days will be crucial for the bird. It’s a live-or-die situation. Hmmm… I still don’t get it. I’ve seen little birds get hit by the fan and was just knocked unconscious for just a few minutes. Maybe this one had some broken bones and internal bleeding of some kind, I thought to myself.

When I went to pick up Mrs Tai from her place, I decided to take a closer look at the bird.

It is a very beautiful bird. Wow, I’m surprised we can find such a colourful bird in Petaling Jaya. But I was warned by Mrs Tai’s colleague that the bird was aggressive — it would peck on anyone who comes near. I guess I can understand. The bird is wounded and afraid. I took a closer look at the bird. Yikes… It’s lost one of its wing! I don’t call that ‘broken’!

I found out from Mrs Tai’s colleague that the bird had flown into a classroom and hit the fan. The fan had severed its wing. Poor bird. And I pity the kids in the class too! They probably has a shock of their lives when they saw the bird having its wing severed!

Anyway, the vet had given this bird some medication - antibiotics. Hope it gets better. Mrs Tai’s fren said that he will care for this bird if it survives… I hope it does.

Can see from here that its only got one wing left

Oh ya… Now I’ve only for 1 hamster left - Lengchai. Namesless just died…

Many of our concerned family and friends have been asking about our baby. I guess some are also worried since this will be our first time being a mum and dad (which one is nicer - dad, daddy, papa, pups, Daddy T, Daddy A, Big T?).

We are touched by the many kind gestures as well. Besides advice, many of our family and friends have also offered us stuffs like baby napkins, baby cots, clothes, pump, feeding bottles, etc… Words just cannot express how grateful we are to have so many wonderful family and friends.

Mrs Tai ended up going to the hospital alone for the last 3 follow-up visits because I had some problem getting leave from my present job — which is partly why I decided to quit my present job and look for a more ‘family-friendly’ work environment. I felt bad about all this because I was not able to be there for my wife as well as my baby. To me, this is not a very good start.

But from what Mrs Tai have told me, the baby is doing alright. She is growing very healthily and normally. Ultrasound scan shows everything else is fine, other than the earlier suspected condition - congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Yes, doctors have told us that the baby should a girl.

On her latest check-up (just two weeks ago), Mrs Tai also got to meet up with a neo-natal specialist. He advised Mrs Tai to consider the option of planned delivery (we had originally wanted to try natural birth as we read that it is much better for the baby) as this will allow the hospital to be ‘ready’ for our baby - the pediatric surgeon can be put on standby as well as the necessary equipments. We have until early May (the next follow-up) to inform the hospital of our decision.

What the neo-natal specialist have told us is quite true and logical. So we’re most likely to go with planned delivery instead — just not too sure if its induced or Ceasarian section. Will need to check with the hospital again on the next visit about ‘planned delivery’.

To be honest, there are still quite a number of things that we have yet to work out, like confinement lady’s services (do we still require one?), where will baby be sleeping when she comes back from hospital (we have the baby cot but where to put the cot is another question), do we buy a new refrigerator (we need lots of freezer space and since we will be moving to our new place by year end, should we get the refrigerator now?)… So many questions. So many little things to think and do. But we know from past experience that eventually, everything will fall correctly into place.

Oh ya, we’ve got a name for our baby already…

This one was originally published on http://adriantai.blogspot.com back in 2007. Reproducing it here since I think it does make a nice read.

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Mrs Tai (that is what I call my wife) asked me to help her do some banking on Saturday morning since she had to be in school (she is not the student, in case you need to know).

She handed me her ATM card and a piece of paper with instructions (yes, that’s how bad my memory can be). Very simple task, really - withdraw money and deposit into 2 different accounts.

How difficult can that be, right? It can be very difficult, actually, when you’re confronted with this screen:

Sh1t, which one is withdraw money la…?!?

We forgot Maybank actually remembers your preferred language and Mrs Tai’s preferred language is chinese. And I can’t read or write in Chinese! So how? Press Cancel and wait for her lor…

Cr4p! Actually, it can be a good point because if it is a snatch thief trying to withdraw money, the fella may not even know how to withdraw money. Bad point… When it is a genuine case like mine. I am so helpless… Shy only…

I kid you not… Even the people who used to call bloggers names like ‘monkeys‘ are now bloggers.

What? Suddenly they (actually, I’m referring to the politicians) all became so free (like what some of our politicians used to say about bloggers — too much free time on hand)… Or maybe some of them lost their job after the recent election…

Anyway, here are some of their blogs (no, I won’t be adding them to the links at the sidebar — waste of space):
http://drchua9.blogspot.com/
http://drkhir.blogspot.com/
http://mohdalirustam.blogspot.com/
http://www.rembau.net.my/

Feel free to add to the list (in the comments section). You can also check this site for a more comprehensive listing…

(actually, I’m not sure if the blogs mentioned above actually belong to the real person or its just someone trying to pull a fast one)

I had my first experience with the new rounding mechanism last Sunday. The Jimat dan SENang (translated to English, it means SAVE AND EASY - the SEN is used as word play) is the government campaign aimed at introducing the rounding mechanism based on the TOTAL amount of a bill. The total amount is rounded to the nearest 5 sen.

Last Sunday, I went to Pet Family to buy some bedding for my hamsters. The bill came to rm6.98 but I ended up paying rm7.00 instead because of the rounding mechanism. The new mechanism didn’t save me any money… I ended up paying 2 sen more! So much for the JIMAT part…

Last week had been an eventful week for me.

The same could also be said for the past few weeks, actually. Many things have happened — I have had time to reflect on my life, my family, my work, the people around me, etc… I did some thinking, some talking (to family, friends and a few others), did some more thinking…

The baby is due soon — May. There are still so many things to get ready. And I personally feel I’ve not spent enough time with my wife and have not done my share of things for the baby — skipped the last two routine follow-ups with the specialists, etc…

So last week, I tendered my resignation…

If I have a very bad stomach discomfort and know the gas coming out of my rear end will be ‘lethal’, is it OK for me to fart around my fellow colleagues so I get to share the noxious gas with them?

If I have just had petai or even durian, is it OK for me to burp next to my colleague or somewhere nearby so they can smell it?

If you answered NO for all the above, then I’m sure you will agree with my next statement:
People who want to kill themselves by smoking should smoke far, far away from others.

They should not be smoking in the toilet, especially if there is no proper ventilation in the toilet. They should not be smoking in the staircase area. I have nothing against smokers. If you wanna smoke, by all mean, do go ahead. But please be thoughtful enough to smoke far away so you don’t cause discomfort to the non-smokers.

Every time I go into the office toilet or use the stairs, I end up smelling like a cigarette butt! My shirt stinks! My throat gets irritated. I start to cough (I have a slight sinus problem). Worst is when the smell gets into the office ventilation system and I smell it even in the office! Ya, I have a sensitive nose.

Even people who have accidentally farted or burped something very awful will apologise for their action. I don’t see that from smokers.

*sigh*