I’ve not been feeling too well the past two weeks or so… Mouth ulcers, cough, more mouth ulcers…
I think its the hectic schedule and the stress (new house, etc)…
Will write more when I can find the time… Right now, I just wanna sleep. 
For the first time in the past few weeks, we are actually not spending out weekend working on our new home in Setia Alam. It is partly because the developer has yet to fix the defects we have highlighted to them… But more importantly, it is Derrell’s wedding.
Derrell is a childhood friend. I’ve known him since primary school. I can still remember the time we used to cycle to each other’s house or meet in the playground in SS3. Those were the days… More than 20 years ago.
Today, he gets married to a wonderful, funny and caring girl, Su Fei… I wish you two long life and happiness and all great things… Congratulations and welcome to the ‘married’ group!
First of all, Mrs Tai was not harmed in any way. She’s considered very lucky.
We went to make a police report last night. It is more of statistics purpose (more on this later). Also, hopefully with a high statistic, police can increase their presence and patrol that area more often.
Mrs Tai was walking to the LRT station when she heard motorcycle sound behind her made a U-turn. She knew right away that something was not right (any snatch theft victim will tell you the same thing). She stopped and opened the umbrella and looked at the motorcyclist and the accomplice as they rode the motorcycle in front of her and stopped. The accomplice jumped off the bike and pointed a knife at her. Mrs Tai promptly threw the bag at him (we had a good laugh at the police station when the police officer asked Mrs Tai if the thief had said anything and Mrs Tai said the thief didn’t ask — she just ‘gave’ the bag to him). Actually, since the guy was carrying a knife, is this still theft or robbery?!?
If there’s something Mrs Tai did wrong, it was that she took a ’shortcut’ which was a small road in a residential area. She should not be using small and quiet road… But yesterday, even the main road was very quiet at that time.
Anyway, the thief took the bag and rode off. Immediately, Mrs Tai stopped a passing car (with a young couple inside) and asked them to drive her back to her workplace, which is just about a minute away. Mrs Tai wanted to quickly get out of that place because she knew the bag had nothing inside except for some school books. Mrs Tai was worried they will turn back when they realised all they had stolen were school books!
According to the police officer who took down her report, there have been a few cases done by these two guys. But their MO (Mode of Operation/ Modus Operandi) is that they don’t injure their victims. In a way, you can say Mrs Tai is lucky to have met these two instead of those that will slash first then snatch later.
Note: I don’t know if we should be proud of this Wikipedia entry on Snatch Theft (taken on 11th Sept 2008):
In Malaysia and Southeast Asia in general, snatch theft is a criminal act of forcefully stealing from a pedestrian’s person while employing rob-and-run tactics. It is typical for two thieves to work together and ride a motorcycle to make theft and escape easier. A person steers the vehicle while another does the act of theft itself. However, some snatch thieves work alone or do not use a motorcycle to rob.
A growing problem in Malaysia, some instances of snatch theft have caused fatalities through subsequent acts of violence. This, combined with the apparent lack of police control over crime, has prompted outrage among its citizens enough to take justice into their own hands in apprehending thieves.
When Mrs Tai was pregnant with Seraphine, we had a few CDs that we would play for Seraphine. Mrs Tai would use my very old CD player and put the ear phones on her tummy so that Seraphine could listen to the songs.
According to Mrs Tai, there was one particular CD which Seraphine would always move a lot more when she ‘heard’ it. So we figured it was her favourite CD.
During the last few hours with Seraphine, we played the same CD for Seraphine. Even though she was sedated, Seraphine actually moved when she heard it. This was the one time Mrs Tai got to see Seraphine move…
Both Mrs Tai and myself enjoy this CD as well because its really soothing and relaxing. We ordered a few hundred of this CD (it’s FREE for distribution). While the bulk of it was given away by Brother Lee who had helped us duplicate the CDs, we kept some for our family and friends.
In every song, there is a bit of chanting but otherwise, its instrumental. We would like to share Seraphine Tai Ern’s Favourite Song with everyone. Just click on that link to listen. It’s quite big (7+MB) and its in WMA format. I’ll try and convert it to MP3 format later (anyone can help me with this?).
If you do enjoy this song and would like a copy of the CD, we’re more than happy to pass a copy to you. Just email me your postal address and I’ll gladly mail the CD to you.
This weekend will be spent in Setia Alam painting my new place…
It’s going to be hectic and tiring, but its going to be FUN!!! Nothing beats having to DIY your own place to add a personal touch. Every smudge on the wall is… Unique.
Everytime Google launches a new product, I get all excited because Google is one company that can count on to come up with innovative and new ideas…
So when Google announced recently that they have launched a new web browser, I wasted no time in downloading and trying it out. How is it? Am I impressed?
Well… It’s a Google product. Of course I’m impressed. Google’s new browser is called Google Chrome. The interface is very ‘clean’ and simple. No separate bars for address and search. Everything is just in one bar.
It can even tell from the history if a particular word has appeared before on a site I have visited. In the example above, the word ‘Wii’ had appeared on my website (www.adriantai.com).
When you first start Google Chrome, you are greeted with this very plain and blank page.
However, after you start to browse a bit, Google Chrome will start to have history and populate the ’start’ page. You will then end up with a start page that looks something like this…
What I find to be a ‘cool’ feature in Google Chrome is the drag-and-drop… When you drag a tab ‘out’ of the browser, it becomes a ‘file’ on your desktop (it’s actually a shortcut). But that’s NOT really the ‘cool’ part. The cool part is when you drag the tab around… It’s translucent!
But how does it fair as a browser? Well, I’ve to say that it loads faster than Firefox but slower than IE6. And it displays webpages correctly, unlike Firefox. Just take a look at this:
Firefox does not seem to be able to render my website properly (even IE can do it properly — so shame on you, FireFox). As you can see, there’s supposed to be an empty line after the photo… But on FF, there’s no empty line. Here’s a closer look at Google Chrome:
Even though Google Chrome is still in Beta, I think good and safe to install and use. After all, their GMail is also still in ‘Beta’.
I’m not sure if its just me… But Google Chrome’s logo reminds me of Pokemon…
About three months ago, I had a visitor from Australia. It was her second time in Malaysia but she can hardly remember her first visit. After a few days, she said she noticed that the Malaysian guys are generally quite un-gentleman. They rush through the doors – pushing their way through instead of letting the ladies past first (that was just one example – she had more but you get the point).
Thinking about it, I think she has a very good point. I remember back in my schooling days when teachers taught us to be polite and always smile. The TV would be playing songs about how friendly Malaysian are and how we always smile. There would also be songs about how we visit one another during the festive seasons. There was even one I remember which showed people visiting their sick neighbours in hospital.
It seems we have lost those days when we started to ‘develop’. In our rush to become a modern and developed country, we seem to have put aside things that make is ‘human’ and a proud Malaysian. Now, everyday we only hear of bribery, road rage, robberies, etc…
About a month ago, I was crossing a stret with Mrs Tai at a pasar malam when this taxi suddenly made an illegal u-turn and almost hit us. Instead of apologising, he looked at us and yelled “Mahu mati ka?” (You want to die?).
And I’m sure many would have encountered at one time or another on the road… A rude driver yelling if you’re looking for a fight.
Yesterday, I had an encounter with a rude Malaysian. I was parking my car at Giant Mall in Kelana Jaya when this car suddenly reversed very quickly towards my direction. I sounded the horn and just in time, the car stopped (in fact, I think it hit my car as I felt my car shake a bit). I’m very sure if I had not sounded the car horn, my car would have been in the workshop now.
The driver of the other car then parked across from my car and casually walked away without so much as look at my direction or even apologise. The family (the driver, a few of his grandchildren and what probably looked like his daughter) just walked away. I checked my car and luckily there were no dents.
Still, I walked to the driver and asked if he had even realised he almost (or in fact) hit my car. The daughter suddenly answered loudly and very rudely asking what is my problem… She asked why I had not said anything much earlier (that’s like just 1 minute ago and they had quickly just walked into Giant and avoided my direction). Very loudly, she continued to ask what I wanted… Did I expect an apology and her admission that they were wrong?!
Personally, I think its pointless to talk further as clearly she’s not in a rational state of mind. She continued to loudly say that she’s more than happy to apologise and then very mockingly (in my humble opinion) said sorry. I had already walked away… To me, it’s not the apology. It’s only common courtesy and decency to say sorry if you’re in the wrong.
I can see why we have so many cases of road rage now. Instead of trying to be nice and try to solve the issue in a polite manner, many would just prefer to raise their voice, hoping to intimidate the other. One common phrase would be “Mau lawan ka?” (Wanna fight, is it?)…
This is breaking one of my personal rules about this website, but this is just one exception… To the lady who was in this grey Proton Waja bearing the number plate WKA 3356, do you think your behaviour is that of a Malaysian that we can all be proud of? Have you ever thought of the kind of message you are sending the the children who were with you at that time?
While I was in Giant shopping, again, rudeness was everywhere… There was this one salesgirl who pushed her cart (those where they use to prepare samples) and knocked my from behind more than ones! Hmmm… Maybe she’s trying to get my attention?!?
Anyway, on a lighter note… I saw this in Giant and first thing that came to my mind… This must be some new species…
I took a closer look and realised… It’s actually JAPANESE cucumber spelt the Malaysia way…