A long holiday weekend. I turned a year older :)

A lot has happened over the past few weeks and I am not sure where to start. There were a lot of Christmas parties I attended, and I turned another year older :) . My mother came over a week before my birthday to have her interview at the US embassy for her US Visa so thankfully I did not spend Christmas and my birthday alone. Unfortunately that meant my father spent Christmas alone at our house. My mother and I spent most of my birthday shopping for her upcoming trip to the US. We bought a nice green checkered luggage (on sale) since she found my 2 wee…

Saving up for Christmas

Piglets and smiley Originally uploaded by Jepster . I was in Toy Kingdom during the weekend and I spotted these nice piglet coin banks. They looked so cute that I impulsively decided to buy a pair. Here they are on top of the television set with my smiley stress ball. The stress ball was a gift from last Christmas. As you can see it still looks quite new. It must be a sign that I am relatively stress free. Haha. I remember my nephew’s stress ball looking all battered and worn out. I also seem to recall a few bite marks as well… Oh wait! That wa…

Mouse and Cow

Mouse and Cow Originally uploaded by Jepster . A nice picture of 2 keychains I got in KL. Just the perfect subject matter to test out my new camera's macro functionality. My brother sent me a Panasonic D-Snap AS30 multifunction SD device. It's a 3 megapixel camera, an MPEG4 movie recorder, a digital sound recorder and a digital digital music player capable of playing MP3, AAC and WMA all in one compact and slim device. I have been playing with it the whole week and I am very satisfied with it. I do have some complaints but nothing major…

Spooky Carved Out Head

Spooky Carved Out Head Originally uploaded by Jepster . No it's not a pumpkin. That's a picture of what is left of a soup in a breadbowl meal I had last weekend. It was a creamy potato and mushroom soup. The bread was nice and soft on the inside but crusty on the outside. It was so nice that it was a shame to leave out the crust (too bad I was extremely full). So I thought I'd entertain the service crew by leaving behind this lovely work of art. Hehe. :) This was taken using a mobile phone so the image is a bit fuzzy.

Death in the Family

An image of a wreath of white flowers with a lone candle in the background. Image generated with Opera's Aria AI. My aunt died last night. She has been sick for some time now and I knew that they rushed her to the hospital the night before because she was having difficulty breathing so her death didn’t exactly come as a shock. She had a myocardial infarction but her body has long since been weakened by cancer. I was woken up very early in the morning not by the usual sound of my 3 alarm clocks getting off (2 alarm clocks set to go off 10 minutes apa…

Sick Bunny

Sick Bunny Originally uploaded by Jepster . The PinkBunny is sick and I really hope she gets better. Everybody is praying for you. Take it easy and don't get too stressed out :D

Mildew Attack!

It has been raining intermittently for the past few weeks and our house feels a little damp. There's an unvarnished bookshelf in the living room and I noticed it has a slightly greenish hue. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be molds of some kind. Yuck. About half a can of disinfectant later I was busy cleaning the rest of the house hunting for signs of fungal growth. I also bought a can of wax-based furniture polish so hopefully, the treated wood won't absorb as much moisture. I was wearing a dust mask hoping fervently that the fungal sp…

Confetti anyone?

I am very pleased to announce that I am the very proud owner of a new paper shredder! I saw it in a display window of a bookstore and I just couldn't resist. It's a choice between a cheaper but bigger shredder that makes wide paper strips and a more expensive but sleeker and smaller model that makes itty bitty cross cut confetti. Well you can guess which one I bought. It was love at first sight. I'm now at home deliriously shredding away and I have never been happier. I just hope I don't get carried away and inadvertently shred something…

Powerless!

Something is wrong with the power outlets in the apartment near my place of work. I don't know what could have happened. I just came back from the weekend and the first thing I noticed is that the spot light for the turtle tub is not working. All the lights are working fine but all except 2 power outlets are working. One is powering up the refrigerator (thank goodness for that) and the other near the kitchen powering the exhaust hood. I managed to get my computer working by using a long extension cable from the kitchen to my computer's UPS. I sh…

Learning how to use Blender

Blender Originally uploaded by Jep F. . For the past few weeks, I have been struggling to learn how to use Blender. OK before you start thinking about how mentally challenged I am for not being able to figure out how to use it in just a few minutes, let me clarify my statement. I said I do not know how to use Blender and not "a" blender (for those of you who are so fond of correcting grammatical and spelling errors on my blog -- Hah! You thought you caught me with another one didn't you). No, it's not the kind you use to liquefy stuff.…

What's new?

I was feeling a bit "slow" in the office today. I was feeling a bit sleepy and was halfheartedly trying to finish some reports I needed to submit to my boss. I went to the restroom to "take a leak" and noticed that the right most urinal out of 3 was out of service. I took the middle one and happily did my thing. Then our Human Resources manager walks in and occupied the urinal next to me and suddenly blurted out " What's new with you? ". I don't know about other guys out there but for me I really don't like peop…

Backup, Backup, Backup!!!

Whew! I just finished reconstructing the Pink Bunny Blog after the original free hosting my brother used for the graphics turned into an exclusively pay service. It took me the better part of the evening today but it looks quite good now. Fortunately I found a backup copy of the files on my computer. I used to have a link of that blog here but some screw-up when I was tweaking my blog caused my blog template to be corrupted. I know, I know... I learned my lesson now. Always have backups! The posts looks longer than usual, that's because the code th…

Dead fish in the tank and an old journal

There's a dead fish floating around in my fishtank and I'm too lazy to scoop it out. It died a few days ago and it is starting to decompose. I thought about picking it up with chopsticks but I was afraid that at the present state it's in it will just disintegrate. Hmm, I wonder what the other fishes are thinking. I found something interesting last weekend while I was cleaning around the house. It's a bunch of old computer paper printouts of some stuff I wrote 8 to 9 years ago! I used to keep an electronic journal of sorts writing down al…

Black ooze

Black ooze Originally uploaded by Jepster . A friend of mine took these pictures. It looks like a huge mountain when seen up close like this but it's actually just a few inches tall. It's what happens when trapped gas forces its way up sticky sludge. The whole area is actually a sludge pit with some organic materials present. Anaerobic digestion of the organic material by bacteria causes methane to form in pockets beneath the surface. When enough gas is formed, it pushes its way to the surface and voila these nice land formations are formed.…

In search of a home

An image of a house with a sold sign. Image generated with the help of Opera's Aria AI. Soon to be homeless The contract for our current rental apartment is nearing its end so we were thinking about our options. Since my brother was moving out eventually, I was the only person that would be left behind. I tell you that I'm definitely not looking forward to moving out anytime soon. We tend to be packrats in the family so we have accumulated a lot of junk over the years (roughly 13 years? Has it really been that long?). The main problem will be wh…

Red Hairy Thing

Rambutan Originally uploaded by Jepster . It looks like something that will crawl away when left alone but this red hairy round object is actually a fruit called rambutan. It tastes quite nice (very sweet and juicy). It's apparently in season again since I saw a lot of streetside fruit vendors selling it on my way home last friday. There are canned ones available but it's best eaten fresh and properly ripe. *yum* I couldn't afford a decent macro lens for my camera so I bought this macro filter. This picture is one of the first few shots I…

Morbid thoughts

An image depicting a crime scene. Image generated with the help of Opera's Aria AI. When we reported for work last Monday morning, employees on the 2nd floor noticed a foul smell emanating from the office pantry. They initially dismissed it as "stale" air since the central air-conditioning system conked out the entire week before and it was scheduled to be commissioned after it had been repaired over the weekend. Instead of dissipating, however, the odor became more intolerable. The person who went up to investigate could not stand the ste…

I raised B$12 Million! I'm rich woohoo!

Well not really. I should say "I'm virtually rich" to be more accurate. By using the word "virtually" I do not mean the classic dictionary definition of "almost, but not quite" or "practically" or "nearly". I mean "virtual" as in "simulated" or as used in the internet "virtual worlds". I don't think I'm doing a great job explaining this so I better start from the beginning. Have you noticed an icon at the bottom right side of my blog that says "Listed Blogsh…

Stranded!

Saturday evening was like a nightmare! After spending the whole day in a water theme park (strange that I work near the best dive sites in the country and my work friends would opt to relax in the artificially generated waves and heavily chlorinated waters of a water theme park -- it was fun though) I was thoroughly exhausted and just wanted to stay at home and rest. We were very lucky. It was bright and sunny the whole day despite the weather forecast of heavy rains due to a big typhoon that veered off its course. We were not on the direct path of the …

Poolside Dinner Party

I did not participate in the activities on the second day (it was a videoke challenge - yikes!) so I just stayed in my room and played WoW the whole night. But on the last day, it was free food and that changes everything hehe. I purposely arrived what I initially thought of as a little bit late (so I could start with the eating and skip most of the pre-dinner program nonsense) but as it turned out I was still early. I really couldn't figure out this being fashionably late thing at parties hehe. I ended up helping the organizers string flowers for l…

Movie Marathon and More Balloon Twisting

The committee for the employees club decided to go all out this year. Instead of having a one night club party where we have free food and live entertainment, this year they opted for a 3 day bash with various activities lined up. The first day will include the kid's art exhibit, a kiddie bingo, movie marathon and a mini fair. The second will be a singing contest and the third night will be a poolside dinner party. I was informed last week that I will have a booth during the mini fair. It seems that the kids liked my balloon animals so much (I have …

Burning Bananas

My sister bought me this exercise gadget a few months back. Well it's not an exercise machine exactly but a device that tracks down how much exercise you have done for the day. It's a pedometer that you attach to your hips and it will give feedback on how far you have walked, average speed, how many calories you have burned and how many steps you have made during the day, each of these information is displayable in the LCD screen depending on which option you set on the device. Mine is the istepX1 from www.sportbrain.com and it's really coo…

A close call

A few months ago, when I was alone at the house during a weekend, I was cooking dinner when suddenly the fire in the gas stove snuffed out. Puzzled, I came closer to investigate thinking that I ran out of LPG in the middle of the night. I noticed a faint hissing sound and the distinctive smell of mercaptan. I realized that the hose connecting the LPG cylinder and the oven has completely come off and it was leaking LPG into the room!!! I immediately shut off the gas cylinder and the oven. Conscious of the fact that I wasn't supposed to turn on or of…

Seafood Paella

I love to cook. I don't know if I have ever mentioned this in my previous posts. I probably enjoy cooking more than eating. Hehe. What makes it more enjoyable is when you are cooking for somebody. Cooking for 1 is a bit more difficult and with my brother not living with me anymore, I almost exclusively cook for just myself both during the weekdays and weekends. I remember a time when a group of friends would meet at my house during the weekends and we would eat together (we would sometimes take turns cooking -- or at least those who knows how to co…

Nifty feature or stalking tool?

Can you imagine yourself going back to the lifestyle you had when you didn't own a mobile phone? For most of us, I think not. Cell phones have become a necessary part of our daily lives and it's among the things you check you have with you when you leave the house together with the house keys and your wallet. Coverage has also improved quite a lot since several years back with the addition of more and more cell sites. You don't hear about dead spots anymore even in basement parking lots in malls thanks to mini cell sites that they install in…

Travel Diary Part 1

Sunday 30 January 2005 Morning Panic Woke up really late today. I'm leaving for Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon. I'm a bit excited. I haven't left the country for quite some time now and I have always loved traveling. I was timing my departure from the house so that I would arrive 2 hours before my flight. Upon checking my printed itinerary, however, written in smaller font at the very bottom of the page was the advice that I should be there 3 to 4 hours earlier to avoid missing the flight! Must be for the additional security precautions. I pa…

My Recipe Vault

Pancit Molo Originally uploaded by Jepster . At long last, I am very pleased to announce the launching of my recipe vault (see right side panel for the link). It's actually an entirely new blog with its own URL but I would like to think of it as an extension of this main blog. I'm very excited about it and I had been busy the past few days setting it up. I have started off with 2 recipes and I would add to this gradually in the coming months. It won't be updated as frequently as this main blog but I will try my best to add recipes to it …

Turtle Eggs

I'm so sleepy. I slept very late last night. It's a combination of arriving late last night and excitedly going through some packages sent by my sister (most of the stuff she sent wasn't for me but I still enjoyed perusing the items she sent for other family members though and trying on the colognes she sent my father hehe). Turt (my pet red eared slider turtle) was also being more active than usual throughout the night (it sounded like she was scratching the sides of the tub and making splashing noises). When I woke up this morning, …

Wild Penguin

Swimming Penguin Originally uploaded by Jepster . A friend of mine was asking for more "wild animals" posts. I do not exactly understand what he meant by "wild animals" so I just searched my photo archive and this is the best I could come up with. The penguin was not photographed in the wild (this particular shot was taken from the Singapore Zoo I think) nor is it particularly vicious. He was however flapping wildly about in the pond when I got this picture so you can say that he's somewhat "wild" in that respect. …

Holiday ranting and some car trouble

I'm glad the year is over! Things weren't going very well for me last December. There were a total of 4 non-working holidays that was on a weekday for the second half of December last year. Plus the weekends, that's just 8 days total until the new year. I should have been at home enjoying the time off from work. Instead, I was on duty at the office during most of the holidays. Bummer! Being on duty doesn't mean I have to report for work the entire day, although it meant waking up very early in the morning to attend a meeting at 7am in…

Tardiness for the new year?

Originally uploaded by Jepster . I woke up at 8:30 this morning! I panicked when I saw my alarm clock. I have been late everyday since coming back for the new year that my boss is beginning to take notice. Is it my imagination or is he frowning at me every time I see him. It could just be my overactive imagination but I can't be sure. I was supposed to go early starting today. Oh well, I suppose I could start that tomorrow. It's a good thing that I had a meeting taking up the rest of my morning. I only knew about it the moment I arrived (the p…

Some very sad news...

Originally uploaded by bratkun . Brat, our cute and loveable Persian cat, died of pneumonia last December 14 after staying at an animal hospital for 2 days. He will surely be missed most especially by my brother who was his constant companion for almost 10 years. My brother and I enjoyed his company on our drive to our hometown. We left him with our parents since we were taking the plane going back. He was almost a part of our family and it's not the same without him around. My parents buried him beside a mulberry tree at the back of our house.…

A very happy new year to all!

Sparkler star Originally uploaded by Jepster . It's been a while since I last updated this blog since the early part of December. Hmm... strangely enough, I started that post with these very same words. It's not that there's nothing interesting going on in my life, it's just that between the time I spend playing online games, doing heaps of backlog work at the office, and time spent in the new mall which opened in the neighborhood, it's very hard for me to make the time to write in this blog. I just hope that none of you loyal re…